The Geneva Project - Truth (16 page)

“
Well,” I said, “I’m not sure how you got here, but I’m actually really glad you’re here and that I don’t have to keep this from you anymore.”

“
Yeah, I think you’re going to have to do some explaining, 65.  What are you and how can you do those things?” asked Remi wide-eyed.

“
What about you?” shot back Journey.  “Why couldn’t I see you?”

“
Because it’s pitch black out here in case you haven’t noticed,” Remi said gesturing to the now brightly lit forest around us.  “Well, it was before, before, that thing,” he said pointing at my orb of light.

“
That was me,” I smiled proudly.  “I light our way out here, but I couldn’t see him either,” I said turning to Journey who looked agitated.  “That’s not supposed to happen, right?”

“
Right,” Journey said.  “Unless he’s hiding something from us.”

“
Like what?” said a confused Remi.  “Are you mental?  It’s pitch black out here without the light.  It was all I could do to follow your light and then when it went out I panicked.  I thought I was going to be lost out here forever.”

“
Well, Remi, you know how I can make this light?  Well, Journey can see in the dark and he’s taught me how too.  It’s like how nocturnal animals see so they can hunt.  We can see everything, it’s amazing.  But what’s puzzling is that we couldn’t see you.  That’s why Journey is confused, I think it’s abnormal to be unable to detect that you were following us.”

“
Nothing about this is normal!” Remi shouted. 

“
He’s a Truiet,” came a small voice behind us. 

It was Eja.  He reappeared again and was approaching us. 

“
How do you know that Eja?” Sparrow asked.

“
Same way I know you’re a Truiet,” he said, bringing his hand to his heart.  “I feel it.”

“
Who is he?” Remi asked me.

“
I can show him!” said Eja excitedly.  “I can show you all.”

“
That would be wonderful Eja,” Sparrow said.  “How do you show us?”

“
In here,” he said pointing to his head.

“
Okay, I think it’s time for us to be heading back,” said Nova sarcastically, not buying anymore of Eja’s quirkiness.

“
No!” I said stopping him in his tracks. “This is why we came out here.  We all need this, we’re in this together, right?”

“
Fine,” Nova sighed.  “Let’s just do this fast okay, we can’t stay out here all night.”

“
Sit, sit,” Eja said, making a sweeping circular motion with his long, tanned arms. 

We all took a seat on the damp, mossy forest floor.  Eja sat next to me and held my hand, nodding for us all to follow suit.  Once we were holding hands, he told us to close our eyes and he took his free hand and placed it on my forehead.  There was a sudden flash of light and then rapid images began flashing before me.  Images of the Beto tribe, their history, their way of life, morals, powers, beliefs, the fable about Ravin and Mora, the war with Lux, then the story of Nesia and Kai, and Jaka sacrificing himself to the volcano.  And then I finally got the rest of the story that Nova never finished telling me.  That a chosen one would come, one who would restore Hullabee Island to all its glory.  The person would bring free will and equality to all of the island’s people, and be someone destined for greatness.  This person was called Eva, meaning new beginning, restorer of light among the dark.  Then I gasped at what I saw next and recoiled away from Eja.  This broke our little circle of knowledge and everyone’s eyes flew open. 

“
What’s wrong?” Sparrow asked.

“
Tippy?” Nova said looking concerned. 

The others just stared at me.  Even Eja seemed shocked.  I sat there wondering if they saw what I did.  I saw myself as the image of Eva!  It couldn’t be true.  There was no way I was the one to unite everyone and restore Hullabee.  Maybe they all saw themselves, maybe Eja was playing some trick with us to get us to help him with some devious plot.  We didn’t even know him; maybe Nova was right, maybe we should have left earlier?  Who knows who Eja really was or what he wanted from us.  I looked to Nova pleadingly, but the expression on his face said it all.  He
did
see what I saw.  He saw me as Eva and he believed it.  My eyes began to water.  This wasn’t at all what I wanted.  I wanted to find out the truth about my name and my family, not be thrust into some crazy destiny to unite a ruined island!  I wasn’t going to let this happen.  I stood up.

“
We’re done here,” I said wiping my eyes.  “Thank you for sharing with us Eja, but we need to go back now.”

“
You still seek the truth?” he asked.  “You have a mission and I can help you.”

We all looked around, wondering how he could know what we were up to. 

“
I share with your mind as you share with mine,” he said. 

“
You were rooting around inside our heads just now!” barked Journey taking a menacing step towards Eja.

“
That’s how it works.  I can’t help it.  Your minds were completely open when I was sharing my mind with you.  It was impossible not to see your thoughts and plans,” replied Eja.  “I mean you no harm.  I’m here to help and I can see you need my help.”

We looked around at each other for a few moments feeling uneasy.  It was true that none of us like the idea of being forced to work with this boy we barely knew, but he saw inside our minds and knew about our plan to get sent to the locker to learn about the legend of Lux.  He obviously knew we had powers as well.  It seemed we had to work with him or risk that he would use this information against us.  I could tell we were all on the same page with this.  Well, all of us except Remi.  He just seemed frightened and utterly confused.  I spoke up first breaking the silence.

“
Eja, can we trust you?”

“
Yes, yes.  I told you, I can help you.  I knew you were here and I heard you asking for my help.  That’s why I led you here, so I could teach you what you need to know.”

This was a step in the right direction, but the group still didn’t seem completely satisfied.  Sparrow approached Eja slowly edging her way past Journey. 

“
Eja, are you alone out here?”

“
Oh no, no.  I live with the others in the forest,” he said nonchalantly.

“
The Betos?” she asked.

“
Yes, of course,” he smiled.

“
That’s impossible,” said Remi unable to keep quiet any longer.  “Everyone knows that there are no Beto people left.  Those who weren’t killed in the war were wiped out in the Flood.”

“
That does seem to be what everyone thinks,” Eja said with a sly smile, “and we like it that way because no one bothers us now.  No one from Lux comes to fight with us anymore.  It’s safe again.”

“
So you mean to tell me that you and the rest of the Betos have been hiding out here in the forest all these years?  How has no one seen you?  We work out here every day with the locals and the Grifts,” Nova argued.

“
Ah, yes.  We see you out here.  We know when you will be coming so we take caution then and stay out of site.  We’ve had the Truiets help us charm the forest so that we will be alerted if someone is getting too close. We have gotten very good at hiding over the years.  None of you saw me all the times you came out here at night.  Not even the one who can hunt,” said Eja, as he nodded his chin towards Journey.

“
We can both hunt,” I said defensively.

We were all silent for a moment considering the information Eja just gave us.  He had a point.  None of us knew he was out here watching us.  Even our powers hadn’t alerted us to him or any other Beto people.  Again it was Sparrow’s kind words that opened the lines of communication once again.

“
Eja, can you teach us to be like you?  So we can go undetected?  It’s very important to our goal.”

“
Of course! That’s why I’m here,” Eja smiled proudly.  “But, I am more curious to know how this one went undetected by even me.  Maybe we should have him teach us,” he said pointing at Remi, who was turning bright red and backing away.

“
Yeah, Remi, how did you manage to get here without being seen?” questioned Journey.  “Even I couldn’t see you when I was using my powers,” he continued.  “But somehow Tippy knew it was you.”

“
I don’t know!” Remi croaked, looking more flustered than ever.  “I don’t know what’s going on!”

I blocked Journey’s path to Remi and tried talking to him on my own.

“
Guys, can I have a minute with Remi?” I asked.

The group mumbled and nodded and gave us some space.  I walked Remi a little further away and then began whispering in his ear.

“
Remi, seriously.  How did you get out here without us seeing you?  Journey and I have this special night vision and we can see everything as bright as day, but I never saw you.  The only way I knew it was you was by your heartbeat.”

“
My heartbeat?”

“
Yeah, we can hear really well, too. I can block out all the other noise and just focus on one thing.  It makes it easier to find your prey.”

“
Can you not use that word, I’m already freaked out enough,” Remi said swallowing hard.

“
Fine, but when I heard your heart beating it seemed really familiar and I figured out it must be you out here because I didn’t know anyone else well enough to know the sound of their heart beating.”

Remi just stared at me wide-eyed.  He seemed stuck between admiration and sadness.  It contorted his face in a twitchy way that made me think he was going to cry.  I didn’t want that to happen at all and I put a comforting arm around his shoulders.  He looked at me with such honesty in his big chocolate brown eyes and said, “What’s happening?”  But before I could say anything else, Nova interrupted us. 

“
She can try to explain that to you later, but right now we need to be leaving.  We’ll return here again tomorrow to meet with Eja,” Nova said. 

He had such a commanding tone to his voice that for once I didn’t challenge him.  He reminded me of the war leaders we read about.  He had such poise and confidence that we all fell in line like obedient troops, marching single-file through the dank forest, following his firelight.  No one spoke, but I did keep a watchful eye on Remi, who seemed to jump with every snap of a twig or nocturnal sound that found us.  I was subconsciously using my powers to see in the darkness surrounding us and listening to the strange sounds of the forest at night.  I heard them so often now that they were starting to sound as comforting to me as the crickets outside my window.  I hummed along to the night song of the forest as our merry band of misfits made our way back to the Troian Center.  Even though tonight was overwhelming and had once again not gone as planned, I couldn’t help being happy now that Remi was a part of our group.  I was so happy to not have to hide things from him anymore.  I was sure that once I found some time to fill him in on everything that was happening to me that we could go back to being best friends. 

We were just a few yards from the opening to the fields when something stopped me in my tracks.  Journey heard it too because he stopped and motioned for us all to come towards him. 

“
What’s going on Tippy?”
Nova telepathed.

“
Not sure yet, I think there’s something out here.  I think it’s a tarcat!”

“
What!?”

“
Just stay with Sparrow and Remi, Journey and I will track it.”

Nova gathered the others and huddled with their backs to a large mossy tree, while Journey and I fanned out, keeping in constant eye contact with each other.  I kept hearing the heavy panting of a large animal nearby, as well as the frantic sounds of other smaller animals trying to scurry away.  We swung wide off of the trail and were instantly upon it.  There, with its back to us was a large tarcat with its face buried deep in the earth, rooting around for something.  It was slashing its massive paws, with its long claws gleaming in the filtered moonlight.  I was frozen with fear watching it thrash a marmouse it just pulled from a hole in the forest floor.  It screamed in pain as the tarcat clamped its massive jaws around its helpless, writhing body. 

“
Tippy, let’s go.  It’s not after us and I think it’ll be distracted long enough for us to get back to the center.”

“
What?  No!  I’m not going to let it murder that helpless marmouse!  We have to do something.”

“
Yeah, and that something is get the heck out of here before the tarcat catches our scent.  These aren’t like the tame tarcats we’re used to at the Center.”

Journey reached for me, but I balked and gave him a threatening look.  I knew better than to cross him again, but he also knew better than to force me to defend myself. 

“
You can go, but I’m staying here!”

I turned my attention back to the tarcat and knew I had to act fast, because the amount of blood pooling on the ground was spreading, flowing from the marmouse in massive amounts.  I was frozen in place at first.  In an eerie way, the pooling blood reminded me of when I spilled my ink well.  Knowing how quickly the ink ran out sprang me into action at once.  Without a plan, I produced a large orb and hurled the flash of blue light at the tarcat, temporarily blinding it.  It was enough of a shock that it caused it to lose hold of the marmouse, but the poor thing was so injured it could do nothing but lay panting in a pool of its own blood.  The tarcat whirled around and laid its hungry eyes on me.  He licked his blood-stained muzzle, exposing his dagger-sharp teeth.  He was seemingly contemplating whether he wanted to mess with me or go back to the easier prey because he kept looking back towards the marmouse.  Either the prospect of taking down larger prey seemed too cumbersome to him, or the metallic smell of blood that was filling the air was too powerful to turn away from; but whatever the case, the tarcat began to turn back towards the maimed marmouse.

“
No!” I screamed.

Strangely this stopped the tarcat in his tracks.  He looked back at me, curiously cocking his head to the side.  Then the most shocking thing I’ve experienced yet happened.  The tarcat spoke to me.

“
So you’d prefer to be my dinner then?”

I was speechless.  I frantically looked around to see who else this comment could have come from.  There was nothing, no one.  Journey already left me and I was standing alone.  I was unable to deny that the deep throaty voice was none other than the tarcat’s.  He stood before me, twitching his tail impatiently and took a threatening step towards me with a questioning look in his eyes.  I knew better than to give up any ground.  Tarcats feed on power and giving up even an inch to him would only encourage him to attack me.  I’d become accustom to their temperaments since we were forced to encounter them daily as they roamed the grounds of the Troian Center.  And I knew my best bet would be to show him respect and convince him that I was more dangerous than he expected.   I took a step towards him, begging my legs not to fail me and gave a deep bow.  This seemed to work.  It stopped him in his tracks.  We held this standoff for what was probably less than a minute, but it seemed like an eternity to me as I racked my brain for what to do next.  I tried to steady my breathing and slow my heartbeat so I could concentrate and figure out what powers I had that could rescue me from this situation.  I formulated the best plan I could on such short notice and decided now was as good a time as any to give it a try.

“
I don’t want to hurt you.  I respect you and all creatures of the forest and that is why you must leave.  If you do not leave, I will be forced to defend myself and that marmouse, which may end badly for you.”

The tarcat lowered his head and glared at me, but I got the feeling he could understand me.  He took a step back without ever taking his vicious eyes off of mine.  I slowly stepped to my right until I was close enough to touch the large tree near me.  I placed my hand shoulder height on its massive trunk and fanned out my fingers as wide as they would go.  My hand began to glow and for the first time the tarcat wasn’t looking at me as a meal, he was focused on my hand and the slow, grey matter that was spreading in crackling waves from it.  The hairs on his back bristled and stood as he crouched lower and growled.  Now the hard grey stone began to spread rapidly.  It climbed the tree, wrapping its way around the trunk higher and higher, choking the life out of it as it went.  The ear-splitting sounds of the wood splintering as it gave way to the infection I was spreading, echoed eerily through the forest.  Soon, what once were bountiful branches were now heavy stone limbs that began falling off.  One hit right in between me and the glowering tarcat, who let out a startled hiss and with that he made up his mind to retreat.  And I made up my mind to do the same.  I dove behind a large boulder that must have been remnants from the volcano.  I balled myself up as small as I could behind it and waited out the storm of falling rocks that I created.  I was beginning to feel pretty awful with myself for killing this tree.  It was a majestic relic of the forest and it was obvious that I’d done too much damage to heal it.  Maybe this is what worried Sparrow when Journey taught me how to use this power.  I was starting to see how I could quickly lose control of it. 

I kept peering around the boulder to where the marmouse lay.  I was terrified that one of the far reaching branches would fall onto it, finishing the job that the tarcat started.  I couldn’t take the chance of waiting for the tree to stop dropping stones, so I took a deep breath and propelled myself towards the marmouse.  I used the powers that Sparrow taught me to quickly bound through the air, which brought me to my target almost immediately.  When I came upon the poor thing I tried to pick it up as gently as I could, but it screamed in pain and thrashed wildly.  I could see panic in the whites of its eyes. 

“
I’m here to help you.  I promise I don’t want to hurt you.  I know someone who can help me heal you.  Just let me take you to her.”

Her eyes were still bulging and she was laboring immensely to breathe but she didn’t resist when I laced my fingers under her as delicately as I could.  I took off running, holding her as gently as possible.  I headed to where I had last seen my friends shouting Sparrow’s name. 

“
Over here!” Sparrow yelled to me. 

They were closer now than where I left them.  Maybe they were coming to help me?  Maybe Journey hadn’t abandoned me, but gone for help?  Either way, I was glad to hear her voice and I ran towards it.  When I reached them, I could see the shock on all of their faces.  I was panting and struggled to give them a rapid recount of what happened so that Sparrow and I could get down to business and heal this poor marmouse. 

“
There was a tarcat, he’s gone now because I scared him by turning a tree to stone, but he injured this marmouse!” I said, gasping to catch my breath as I uncradled my arms, thrusting the marmouse towards Sparrow.  “You have to help me heal her!”

Sparrow looked at me with more sadness in her eyes than I’d ever seen. 

“
Tippy, I think she’s gone.”

“
No!  She’s not.  She’s still breathing.” I croaked as my voice cracked, betraying my emotions.  “We can heal her.  Please help me!” I said as the tears started welling up, blurring my vision. 

“
Okay, put her down and we’ll see what we can do,” Sparrow said kindly. 

I lay the quivering marmouse on my lap because even the mossy ground seemed too harsh for her ravaged body.  Her fur was matted with blood and her sides were heaving as she struggled for each rattling breath.  Sparrow and I lay our hands on her and we watched as the warm yellow glow from our hands slowly spread over her.  Some of her more superficial wounds began to close up, but the deep, gaping ones seemed unable to find the means necessary to heal completely, leaving small ragged holes all over her body.  I felt Remi’s hand on my shoulder and looked up to see the sorrow that had washed over the faces of each of my friends.  That was when I knew we couldn’t save her and I began to sob.

“
I promised.  I promised I’d help her.” I sobbed.

Everyone was silent, and I watched Sparrow move her hands away from the marmouse in defeat.   Then I heard a soft, squeaky voice that could only belong to the dying soul in my lap. 

“
I must beg another kindness from you.  Promise me to take care of my baby.  I was protecting him from the tarcat.  Promise you will protect him.”

I nodded and softly pet her head, smoothing her silky fur away from her glassy eyes. 

“
I promise,” I whispered. 

Then, the marmouse gave her final shuttering exhale.  I began shaking with uncontrollable sobs.  It was so unfair that this poor animal had to die.  It was so unfair that I had all these powers, yet could do nothing to save her.  It was so unfair that my life was so messed up and seemed like it was no longer my own.  But what I found most unfair was that there was a baby marmouse out there who would have to grow up never knowing its mother.  I knew what that felt like and it ripped me to the core to know that I had let that happen to another. 

I was shuttering and taking in rapid, sputtering breaths between my sobs.  Remi, who was kneeling behind me, wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me tightly.  We rocked back and forth while I let Nova gently remove the dead marmouse’s limp body from my lap.  Sparrow tried to clean me up, but I could have cared less what I looked like.  I knew I had to find the baby marmouse and deliver the bad news about its mother.  The trouble was I didn’t know how I would be able to find the strength to do so.  I felt like a pile of worthless mush and would have been happy to just melt into the forest floor and disappear forever.

“
You can’t Tippy.  We need you.  The baby marmouse needs you.  You made a promise and I’m going to help you keep it.”

I couldn’t believe what Nova was saying.  I knew he could hear my thoughts, but I didn’t think he could hear what the marmouse was saying. It made me feel so much better that he understood her too.  I felt renewed energy in the fact that he was on my side and would help me do this.  He instantly lifted my spirits by eliminating the burden of fighting with him about why I had to rescue the baby. 

I looked past the others to find him, but only caught a glimpse of his silhouette hunched over.  At first it startled me and I stood up thinking he was hurt, or ill, but as I approached him, I saw something that melted my heart and raised a lump in my throat.  Nova had dug a shallow grave for the marmouse under a tree and was working hard to carve a cross at its base.  A new batch of hot tears streamed down my cheeks when he turned to look at me and I saw the way his eyes were welling up.  It reminded me of the way the rain water pooled on the palms, creating a heavy sparkling droplet that swelled and stretched as far as it could before finally becoming too much and releasing into a free fall. 

I knelt beside Nova and began patting at the soft soil he had dug up.  He joined me in smoothing the dirt on her grave and when our sullied hands touched I felt the familiar spellbinding sparks that Nova gave me.  We seemed frozen for only a moment, yet that moment told me so much.  It was more than telepathy, it was more like seeing into the depths of each other’s souls.  It was shocking and comforting at the same time to see Nova’s sorrow over losing the marmouse and how it correlated too closely to his own feelings of loss over his family, just as it had with me.  We were more alike than I knew and that calmed me to have his understanding.  He looked at me longingly for a moment and I grew hot as he starred into my eyes.  Then he retracted his hand and used the back of it to wipe at his forehead, leaving a big streak of dirt.  I realized I was holding my breath until this moment and finally released it and reached up to brush the dirt from his forehead but stopped half way when I became aware that the others were gathered around us and decided to just point it out to him so he could wipe it off himself. 

We all knelt and bowed our heads in silence, filling the air with our heavy sorrow.  Although we hadn’t been able to save her, we’d done right to send her off with our humble burial.  My eyes were squeezed tightly closed when I heard Nova start to speak the most beautiful words I’d ever heard.

“
Light to dark, bone to dust. 

Our souls to you we trust.