Underground Pizza Delivery

Chapter 2 - Lost & Found

The whole summer, all Dennis could think about was the first day of school. He fantasized about the thrill of meeting the new high school teachers, being allowed to eat in the high school cafeteria, and while he didn't talk about it much, he did in fact look forward to meeting high school girls. However, that day Dennis didn't enjoy any of those things. From the moment Dennis discovered the book he accidentally stole from the surface; he was obsessed with it.

As soon as he and Vance went their separate ways, Dennis began thumbing through the pages while walking to class, careful to cover the front of the book with his hands. His eyes opened wide with fascination by the bright colored images on every page. He flipped through the chapter titles and saw names of major events, scientific discoveries, and economic revolutions. He opened it up to a random page in the middle and was amazed by a beautifully detailed portrait that stretched from the left page to the right. In the center was a man dressed like a comic book superhero, wearing a dark blue cape, a black mask, and a bright red utility belt, while carrying a child in each arm out of a burning building. The title of the page read, "Captain Skylark" in bold letters. On the sides of the hero, were little facts and details about him, like where he was from, what his abilities were, and what all the different parts of his utility belt were for.

He remembered hearing Vance's mom once say that heroes like that used to exist everywhere in old Prokopios before the dome went up, and that they were called, the "Gifted". While he wasn't completely sure at that moment if this meant that they were real, he knew he had to read more.

He quietly and intently read while walking to class, ignoring all the other excited freshmen around him talking about their summer and what teachers they had on their schedule. He barely looked up from his book, bumping into just about every trash can, table, and bench along the way.

With every slow and crisp turn of the page, his mind was whisked away into what seemed like a new world, all the while unable to determine for himself whether or not he really believed that these things actually happened in Prokopios. Either way, all he wanted to do was learn more. Even after getting to class and finding his seat, Dennis couldn't pay attention to a single thing the teachers said that day. How could he? Nothing they could say would be nearly as interesting or exciting as what was in front of him. They could've said that school was canceled, and every student had another week off, and he would've still been glued to his book. He even sat in the back of all seven of his classes, something he's never done once before, just so he wouldn't be distracted.

Many of the teachers who were excited to have him in their class, having heard great things from the middle school teachers, were surprised to call on him and discover that he couldn't answer a single question. As the school day went on, he read stories of great kings and epic battles that were fought on the island of Prokopios. War was something that had been virtually unheard of since the dome went up. Even a civil war would have been impossible considering how much power the Kingdom had. Besides, there was nothing to fight about. Prokopios had been a seemingly perfect utopia since Estaphar put the dome up, so reading about the blood that was shed on their island was surreal. It was terrifying and fascinating at the same time.

By the time the bell rang, Dennis had started from the beginning, and was almost a quarter way through the entire 400-page textbook. He couldn't wait to share his discovery with Vance and the others if they were all together, which they usually were. His other two best friends were Paul and Ricky. Paul and Ricky lived in the same orphanage together, so they were friends by default. Vance and Paul were family friends, so they knew each other since they were babies. Paul even lived with Vance, after his parents died, until the government found out how little Vance's mother made at work and brought Paul to the orphanage.