The Geneva Project - Truth (10 page)

“
Whatcha working on?” I said nonchalantly.

“
History and Trade, and you should be, too.  Greyvin gave us a lot of reading if you don’t recall.”

“
Oh yeah, I should get on that. Let me go find my book and I’ll join you.” 

I scurried away to grab my book before he could protest and was back in a flash.

“
So, what pages were we supposed to read again?” I asked.

“
You really are hopeless,” he said with almost a smile. 

“
Here,” he said, pushing his notebook towards me.  “These are the notes from class today and our reading assignment.”

Now he really was smiling.  It seemed like he had already forgiven me, even without the apology I had been readying. He was such a good friend.  I always admired his kind heart and it made me feel almost worse that I had even been fighting with him to begin with.  I reached for his hand and leaned in close to him and whispered,

“
Remi… I’m really sorry I…” but he cut me off before I could get anything else out. 

“
I know.  Don’t mention it, okay?”  He stared at me with his big brown eyes and squeezed my hand.

“
So, we’re good?”

“
We’re good,” he smiled.  This made me smile, too. 

For a little while we worked side by side on our reading.  I would interrupt him occasionally to have him clarify his notes.  

“
You really should practice your penmanship,” I joked with him.  “This is
atrocious!
” I mimicking Miss Neilia’s high-pitched accent. 

“
Like yours is any better,” he said reaching for my journal.  Before I could stop him he was fanning though the pages.  His expression slowly changed from playful to confused. 

“
I don’t get it, you were writing in this all night, but it’s empty.”

“
Oh, that was a different notebook,” I said snatching it back from him.

Gong

Saved by the bell again!  This chime meant it was the end of our day and we had about twenty minutes to get changed and into bed before the final bell, signaling lights out.  I leapt up out of my chair startled by the sound of it, and grateful for it all at once.  I grabbed my things and smiled at him before turning to head to the Janes wardrobe.  He continued to stare at me suspiciously.  I could feel his eyes on my back as I disappeared into the crowd of Jane’s milling about as they got ready for bed. 

I pulled my oversized night shirt on over my work clothes and quickly hopped into my cot bed and under the covers before anyone noticed how lumpy my long grey night shirt looked.  Although no one ever paid me any attention, I still felt nervous that someone would take notice.  As I lay in bed I had to concentrate on slowing my heart beat that was surely loud enough to give me away.  Well, maybe only to Sparrow and Journey. 

Gong

The final bell rang and the room went dark.  The struggling electricity ceased its laborious buzzing and began its nightly slumber, leaving us in an eerie silence without its powerful hum.  I lay wide awake bathed in the moonlight from the window.  I was even more nervous tonight because not only did I have to escape, but Sparrow and Journey did, too.  I wished I could talk to her to make sure she was still coming.  Wait a minute, I could!  I could telepath her! 

“
Sparrow!  Sparrow!”

“
Yes?”

“
Oh great, it’s working.  This is how I’ll tell you it’s time to go tonight.  You’re still coming with me, right?”

“
Of course!”

“
What about Journey?  Did you have a chance to talk to him about it?”

“
Yes, he’s with us.”

“
Okay, be ready to go when I call you again.”

I laid awake for what seemed like an eternity before I heard Nova’s voice.  It hit me like a lightning bolt, sending a current of excitement tingling through my whole body.  This was it, time to get Sparrow and Journey and go. 

“
Sparrow, it’s time.”

“
Okay, what do we do?”

“
I’m going to climb out the window and once I’m clear you can follow, one at a time.”

“
Okay, good luck.”

“
You too.”

I sat up slowly and scanned the room like last time.  No one stirred.  I slipped off my night shirt and stuffed it under my pillow.  Still no movement in the room.  I turned towards the window and took a deep breath, giving it a good push at the bottom pane.  This time I was able to push it open far enough to slip out in one attempt.  I still landed with a bit of a thud, but was more graceful than last time.  I scooted over to the right of the window, waiting for Sparrow and Journey to appear.  It seemed like it was taking too long.  I was holding my breath when suddenly Sparrow slipped out of the window.  She was so silent and graceful that she didn’t even interrupt the insects’ night song.  I was instantly jealous.  She crawled over to me just in time to avoid being crushed by Journey.  Even he managed to be stealthier than me.  I really needed to work on that. 

“
Okay, follow me,” I said.  I pushed my way through the bushes to the clearing ahead, where I stood to check that the coast was clear.  It looked as calm as it had last night, so I motioned for them to follow me and I took off at a run across the field.  I ran all the way to the forest line without stopping.  Once there I turned to look for Sparrow and Journey.  They were a good ways behind me still when I felt Nova grab me and jerk me in beyond the tree line. 

“
Nova!”

“
Shhh…we’ve got company.”

“
Um yeah, about that.”

“
What did you do, Tippy!?”

“
Don’t be mad, I asked them to come.”  And before he could scold me, I slipped out of his hold and waved them over to me. 

Sparrow was out of breath and looked nervous.  “What are we doing out here?”

“
We’re meeting Nova,” and right on queue he waltzed out of the forest calmly.

“
Well now that the gangs all here,” he said glaring at me, “Shall we?” he said motioning towards the forest.

“
Come on,” I said to Sparrow and Journey, “We need to get under cover.”

We followed Nova and walked silently for a while into the depths of the dark forest.  I could feel the tension among our little group.  Nova was definitely a little pissed I had just sprung Sparrow and Journey on him.  And Sparrow and Journey seemed on edge about being in the forest.  Finally, Nova stopped and produced his flame, eerily lighting our faces.

“
Well, I’m sorry guys, if I’d known we were having a party I would have been more prepared,” said Nova, directing his sarcasm at me. 

“
Okay, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you they were coming, but it’s not exactly like we have the time to discuss these things at the Center and I figured this would be the best opportunity for us to learn from each other.  Sparrow has already taught me so many things today and if we all put our heads together, I bet we can get me up to speed even faster.”

Everyone just looked around at each other in the little circle we had formed.

“
Come on you guys.  I really want to figure out my powers and learn how to use them.  You all know we’ll accomplish more together,” I pleaded.

After a long pause, Nova took a deep breath and turned to Sparrow.

“
What did you teach her?” he said accusingly.

“
What did
you
teach her?” she fired back.

“
I asked you first,” Nova said taking a step towards her. 

Before I could try to intervene, Journey had placed himself in front of Sparrow, blocking Nova’s path to her.  There was something about the way his amber eyes glowed almost red in Nova’s fire light that stopped him in his tracks.  I think he could have stopped a charging elephant with how intimidating he looked right then.  His jaw was set and his huge shoulders were squared, posed to attack if necessary.  I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of Sparrow behind his hulking frame. I had to do something to diffuse the situation and fast.  I started by trying to push my way between them, but they seemed oblivious to me.

“
Nova, please, it’s fine.  They’re on our side.  Journey, we’re all on the same side.  Guys, please!”  No response. 

They both stood there, squared off, waiting for one of them to make a false move. I was so angry.  This was not at all what I wanted to happen.  I needed some way to break this standoff before something horrible happened.  I wedged my way between them and was preparing to try to produce my orb but something unexpected happened.  I had produced light, but it wasn’t in the form of my little bouncing orb this time.  This time my whole hand was glowing, and so was my arm for that matter.  My whole body was glowing.  It looked like my skin was bursting from the inside out with light.  It was pulsing through every pore in my body, flowing out of me effortlessly.  I turned my palm over and back, watching the light reflect off of the forest around me.  It looked like gazing up at the sun from under the clear-blue waters of the sea.  Light was bouncing and dancing around me.  I caught sight of Nova and Journey, who had now backed more than a few feet away from each other.  It had worked!  This hadn’t been my plan, but it had the desired effect anyway.  I sighed with relief and my light instantly retreated back within as I lowered my arms. 

“
What was that!?” exclaimed Sparrow. 

“
I don’t know!  But it was pretty cool, huh?” I said smiling.

“
How did you do that?” Nova asked.

“
I’m not sure.  I was trying to produce my orb but that happened instead.”

“
Okay, remember what I said about triggers?  What were you thinking about right before you started, well, glowing I guess?”

“
I was just angry at you all for being so pigheaded, and I felt frustrated and desperate to stop you two from getting into a useless fight.”

“
Good, so it was emotions again.  Anger again, mixed with frustration and desperation.  You need to remember these triggers, Tippy.”

“
You should write them in your journal,” piped in Sparrow.

“
In her what?” Nova asked.

“
Oh, that’s a great idea Sparrow.” I said smiling at her.  I turned to face Nova, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.  Sparrow is helping me with this, too.  She showed me how to keep a journal about all the new powers I discover.  I can write the triggers that cause them so I can keep better track of how this all works.  It’s been helping me figure out how everything works and I can write down all my questions.”

“
Do you really think that’s such a good idea, for her to write down all our secrets?” Nova said to Sparrow.

“
I taught her how to enchant it so no one else can read it.”

“
It’s so cool, Nova.  I just tell it to restore when I’m done writing and everything disappears and then I say reveal and it all comes back!”

Nova looked impressed, “You’re a healer?” he asked Sparrow.

She nodded. 

“
That’s impressive.  I’ve never met one before.”

“
See, this is what I mean.  We can learn so much from each other.”

“
And I think she’s a Parallel,” Sparrow said gesturing to me.

“
Really?  That would make a lot of sense actually,” Nova said.  “She’s picked up everything I’ve shown her really quickly.”

“
Exactly, I showed her how to use my healing power on the gems in the ruble pile and on the journal, and she got it on the first try.”

“
Yes, and I showed her how I produce my flame and she ended up almost setting the whole forest on fire with her light source!  And we all just saw her little glowing trick.”

“
Don’t forget about the whole mind reading and telepathy, too,” I chimed in. 

They both turned and looked at me, like they had forgotten I was there.  Then Nova smiled at Sparrow and said, “Shall we?”

“
Why not, I bet she can do it.”

“
You’re on,” he said shaking her hand.

“
Hey, are you guys telepathing about me?  Not fair!”

“
We have a little test for you, Tippy.  Sparrow’s going to show you something and we want to see if you can do it.  I want to test this Parallel theory.  Can you give us a little more light?”

“
Sure,” I said with a smile.  I produced an orb this time and grew it to about the size of watermelon.  I watched it hover above my hands and decided to try something.  I willed it to stay afloat while I backed away from it and it worked.  It bobbed slightly suspended about four feet above the forest floor.  I lifted my hands still concentrating on the orb and it lifted higher off the ground.  Once it reached a good height to illuminate a large enough area of the forest for us, I commanded it to stay.  When it complied, I smiled and wiped my hands back and forth matter-of-factly. 

“
How’s that?” I said.

“
Let’s not get cocky just yet, Tippy,” Nova said, but he was smiling too.

“
Okay Sparrow, go for it.”

We all turned our attention to her as she broke into a run.  She was heading straight towards a large tree and I started to worry she was about to smash into it, when she took a step off of its mossy trunk and propelled herself upwards.  She was bounding diagonally off of trees, soaring between them effortlessly.  She looked like the monkeys that traveled effortlessly through the forest canopies.  She wasn’t exactly flying, more like gliding and floating between wide expanses that would have been impossible for a normal human.  I was intrigued and in awe of Sparrow’s grace.  I wanted to do that too, and that’s when I remembered this was a test to see if I could. 
Well, here goes nothing
I thought as I broke into a run, towards the same tree that Sparrow had vaulted off of.

It worked! I was soaring, bounding higher and higher into the tree tops.  I couldn’t believe I was doing it.  I didn’t know how I was doing it, but my body seemed to take over like it was the most natural thing in the world for me to be bouncing from tree to tree, clearing impossible gaps.  I landed on a precarious limb and steadied myself, pausing for a moment to find Sparrow.  It was harder to see so high up here.  My orb looked about the size of an apple so far below.  I needed more light.  I produced another orb and let it float in front of me.  Then I smiled, having a brilliant idea.  I shoved off and headed for another tree, producing orbs as I went, leaving a trail of bouncing balls of light behind me.  This quickly lit up my play ground and I found Sparrow bounding to a tree below me.  I quickly set off to catch her and I landed on the same limb as she did simultaneously.  Out of breath, we both started giggling at each other and Sparrow gave me a big hug! 

“
You did it!  You were amazing!”

“
I can’t believe I did it!  That was so much fun!”

“
Come on, let’s go down and see how impressed the boys are!” she smiled.

We bounded down to them, still laughing and smiling. 

“
So?” I said.

“
Okay, I’m impressed, Tippy.”

“
Me too,” said Journey.  That was a huge compliment coming from him since I rarely heard him speak at all.

“
Thanks,” I said.  “It was so much fun.  Oh wow, look at my lights!”

We all leaned our heads back, admiring the light trails I had strung among the tree tops.  It reminded me of the stars in the night sky that were blocked out by the thick vegetation of the dark forest.  They twinkled beautifully high above our heads.  I sighed, reveling in the idea that I had created this magical scene. 

“
It reminds me of the New Year Gala,” said Journey breaking the silence.

“
Yes, you’re right.  It’s just like the candles and paper lanterns at the New Year celebration,” I said.

“
Well, maybe we can have our own New Year Gala out here now that we know what Tippy can do,” joked Nova.

“
If it means I don’t have to sing, I’m in!” I said.

This made us all laugh.  I was so happy this night turned around.  There was a rocky start, but it was turning into everything I knew it could be.  We were all working together and getting along and I was learning new things at a rapid pace. I mean, I had just about flown through the treetops and lit up the forest with my string of orbs—and don’t forget I can also glow.  What a night; and I had a feeling it was just getting started.