The Assumption (The Hypothesis of Giants Series, Book One)

Chapter Six: Breaking the Rules

"There's no connection between our names and the northern lights! It is purely a coincidence."

"What if there is no such thing as a coincidence? We are the only ones who could hear the conch shell."

Aurora and Boreas were in the Candlewick Private Library, having broken in with the help of their new travelling companion. Boreas had disabled the security camera as Otus stood watch outside since he was unable to fit into the miniature library due to his giant proportions. The two teenagers were now in a desperate search for information about the Geometric Storm.

"He's a nutcase," Boreas exclaimed, throwing another book on the pile. "I can't believe he said that Mrs. Taboo belongs to a spiritual party. I thought all religions were abolished by the Common Good Party."

"I guess there are still people working underground."

Boreas and Aurora continued to search through the mounds of books for any reference to a Geometric Storm, but were coming up empty. Guilt gnawed at Aurora's throat as she kept reminding herself that she was in the library illegally. Books were no longer available to the public, except for government-mandated textbooks used for teaching. Everything else could be found online. However, the problem with the material on the Internet was that everything was censored by the Common Good Party. If anyone had an opinion that differed from the Common Good, it was immediately taken down and destroyed. The people had agreed to this when the IDEAL had come to power fifteen years earlier.

Aurora held one of these rare relics, now a museum piece to be observed and never read. She ran her finger down the spine of the book and opened the thick cover to behold the yellowed pages within. Dust filled her nostrils, and she sneezed, fearful that she had awakened the silent books in this mausoleum. She cautiously turned the yellowed pages, expecting the paper to combust in her hand. She didn't understand how something this small could be so damaging.

"Wait, what is this?" Boreas whispered, thrusting a magazine article in her face.

Aurora picked up the magazine, and there in black and white was a picture of Mrs. Xiomy, their high school science teacher. She was around the age of twenty-one, wearing a shawl that covered the top of her head and wrapped around her shoulders. There was a look of pure agony on her face as she reached out toward a man being led away by two police officers in handcuffs, his back to the camera. Falling from her hand was a protest sign that read "Abolish IDEAL! Keep Freedom for All!"

"She was a protestor," Aurora said, astounded.

"Still as beautiful then as she is now!" he sighed, drooling over the picture.

Aurora grabbed the picture from his hands, aggravated. "Can we stay focused, Boreas?"

"Oh, um, yeah."

He shuffled his chair, turning a shade of mauve, and Aurora proceeded with reading the article. Since the Common Good won the majority party in government, their followers have already begun tearing down signs of churches, mosques, temples, and other places of worship and converting them into IDEAL meeting houses. The Religious Protest leader, IMAM, has been arrested as he attempted to barricade the doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City along with several followers. IMAM, also known as the rebel David Xiomy, got into a confrontation with one of the officers and construction workers looking to tear down the building. This lead to a brawl that resulted in fifteen killed and forty arrested. Without its leader, the organization has been dissolved, and the Common Good has finally declared to loud pandemonium and cheer that after two years of unrest and war, freedom of religion has been abolished. A brighter future has been initiated for all in the newly established United States of the Common Good.