by C J Benjamin
“What do you mean the rest is history, Nova? I’ve heard parts of this story before from the locals, but if it were true wouldn’t we all be living in peace and harmony in beautiful seaside houses in Lux? It’s nothing but an old folk tale.”
“That’s just it, Tippy. It’s not that old, and I’m not done yet. Do you want to hear the rest or not?”
“Alright, but get on with it!”
“After Jaka sacrificed himself into the volcano he set in motion what we refer to as the Flood. He said the island would be reborn, but he neglected to say how. He said that those on the island who had become evil and poisoned by the war would be eliminated. That is what caused the rains, the winds, the lava, and the peril. Everything had to go so the land could be cleansed and start anew.
“Yeah, but we didn’t all die, did we? You’re still here and so am I.”
“Exactly!”
I gave him an impatient look.
“You see we were the innocent, we survived the Flood because we were meant to.”
He paused for a moment, looking into my eyes; searching for more understanding than I could give him. He leaned forward and took my face in his hands and continued.
“And some of us were meant to do even more,” he said almost pleadingly.
I was mesmerized by the way he gazed at me. I found myself drowning in his languid green eyes. I felt my mind spinning and my cheeks flushing. My heart quickened again and I felt short of breath. Why did this keep happening to me? Damn Nova and his hold over me. I loved and hated it at the same time, and yet was powerless against it. Nova released his hold of my face and my soul simultaneously.
“Are you alright? You look flushed. Maybe this is enough for today. I’ve given you a lot to think about.”
I shook my head. “Oh no, all you’ve done is tell me some old fairytale. None of this explains what happened between me and Jemma, and why everyone but me has a name, and why I all of a sudden have friends on my side? You need to do a little better than this.”
“Ok, I will, I promise; but it’s getting late.”
I looked around and he was right. The shade from our palm had grown into a shadow that cloaked the courtyard in darkness. My time with Nova had slipped away too quickly as usual.
“Nova! You missed Flood work!”
“Let me worry about that, okay? Now, this is the deal. You remember how your window works?”
I nodded. Finally we were getting to the window!
“Okay, tonight and every night for that matter, at 11:00 sharp, you’ll use the window and come meet me outside the Center.”
“But how will I know when it’s 11:00, Nova? And won’t a Grift see me?”
“Tippy, a little trust,” he smiled. “I’ll call for you when it’s 11:00 and I’ve taken care of the Grifts. Just do as I say and soon you’ll have all the answers to your questions.”
7
I didn’t have any time to protest because Nova kissed me on top of my head and then slipped silently out behind the palms. I dusted myself off as I stood and stretched my aching limbs. We must have been sitting for longer then I imagined because my legs felt heavy with the static pain of pins and needles. I shook them out and pushed myself out from behind our palm’s wide, protective leaves and into the deserted courtyard. Nova was gone, disappeared into the night. All I could do was walk slowly back to my room with my mind swimming in wonder.
I never imagined my world would be changing so rapidly. Just a few weeks ago I had only one friend in the world, I believed none of us knew our real names, and I had never heard of Nova. I was starting to wonder if the world was a safer place for me back then. I had a strange foreboding feeling in the pit of my stomach. Suddenly I was snapped away from my thoughts as I walked straight into Jest, one of the Grifts we all tried to avoid. His foul smell and yellow sagging skin was enough to keep you at bay, but his propensity to alert Greeley of our “difficult” behavior was what worried me the most about encountering him. I stumbled backward and landed with a thud on my rear.
“Oh… I’m sorry, I… uhh…”
I let a little gasping sound escape as I realized who I had bumped into, and that was a mistake because Jest always assumed that we were gawking at his missing limb. He lost his arm from just above his elbow in the Flood. I’d heard that it was so badly burned from the lava that it had to be amputated and that it accounted for his sour disposition. The stub that was left hung awkwardly at his side and was still a blackened, vein-covered mess, laden with sores that constantly attracted beat flies, menacing little biting creatures. He leaned toward me and my nostrils burned as his putrid smell encroached my space. His hollow grey eyes narrowed as he focused on me.
“So, who do we have here?” he growled.
I crawled on my backside a few paces before scurrying to my feet.
“It’s just me, sir. 65. I’m on my way back to my room for the night, sir. I was just using the Jane’s room,” I quickly lied.
“Were you now, 65?” he questioned sarcastically.
I nodded quickly as I started to slowly take side steps in the direction of my room.
“Well, how is it that I find you past the dining hall when the Jane’s room is in the other direction?”
Shoot! He was right, I was proud of my quick response, but hadn’t thought it through. I was nowhere near the Jane’s room, which was only a short walk to the left after leaving room 13. Jest had found me just outside the entrance to the dining hall, which was in the opposite direction of my room. There wasn’t much past the dining hall other than lesson rooms, rooms for the other orphans, and the entrance to the courtyard. None of which I should have been visiting at this hour. From the way his colorless lips were curled into a grin Jest was surely relishing the idea that he caught me in a lie and was about to turn me into Greeley.
“I…I…um..”
“Come with me, 65,” he hissed as he latched onto my shoulder squeezing it much harder than necessary. I couldn’t help but let out a little whimper as I saw his jagged yellow nails dig into my flesh.
“Knock off your sniveling, Jane, you’ll soon have something to cry about!” he snarled.
“What’s going on out here?” I heard from behind me.
We both turned our heads to see Miss Breia pop her head out of her office.
“Miss Breia!” I cried. Why hadn’t I thought of her? I was only a few feet from her office. I should have said I was on my way to see her because of my fall. Maybe she would buy that my head was hurting?
“I found this one sneaking around the halls,” Jest said.
“Oh, 65, what’s wrong? Are you feeling ill again?” Miss Breia asked when she saw it was me.
“I, I was just going to the Jane’s room, but I got dizzy and…disoriented.”
“Oh my dear, that’s to be expected, you took quite a fall,” she said as she bustled around me, feeling my forehead and checking my pulse. Jest released his grasp on my shoulder and backed away for a moment, but was growing impatient with Miss Breia’s meddling.
“I’m taking her to see Greeley, she shouldn’t be out here. She’s nowhere near the Jane’s room!” he grumbled.
“Oh no you will not!” Miss Breia said, pulling me toward her, almost smothering me in her oversized chest. Normally I would have squirmed away in protest, but anything that kept me shielded from Jest and Greeley was okay in my book.
“This poor little Jane has had a traumatic week. She’s the one that fell from the rubble pile and gave herself a good old fashion head knocking. She’s had enough trouble for one week. I’ll take it from here,” she said as she sheltered me against her and headed toward her office.
I never felt so much love and respect for Miss Breia as I did in that moment. She had just stood up to Jest and delivered me safely to her office. Without her I would have ended up in front of a just-woken and extra-ill-tempered Greeley, and would have definitely been spending my night in the locker. Miss Breia released me and took a step back to look at me once we w
ere inside her office.
“Now, what can I do for you, little Janey 65?” she asked cheerfully.
I couldn’t help myself, I just stepped forward and hugged her, stretching my arms as far as I could around her broad waist. She laughed and hugged me back.
“Well aren’t you a sweet one?” she chuckled. “Don’t worry about old Jest. He’s just cranky on account of that arm. I’ve told him I could treat it about a dozen times, but the old bog won’t let me near it. No need for him to inflict his suffering on others. Anyway, are you still feeling dizzy? Because I can give you something to help.”
“No, I actually feel much better now. I think I can find my way back to my room, I just want to get some rest,” I said. “I can find my way from here. Thank you!”
“Dear, don’t you need to use the Jane’s room? Here let me take you.”
Oh yeah, the Jane’s room! I forgot that had been my excuse.
I thought about protesting but then, on second thought, it wouldn’t hurt to have an escort in case I ran into Jest or anyone else in the halls. I followed Miss Breia to the Jane’s room and she stood outside the door waiting for me. I figured I might as well use the facilities while I had the chance. I was going to have to sneak outside to meet Nova soon, and who knows what he had up his sleeve. I took the opportunity to wash up a bit while I was in there. It wouldn’t hurt to look a little more presentable. I scrubbed a layer of grim from my skin and soaked my blonde hair with the cool water running through the sink basin. It felt refreshing and it seemed to relax me a bit. I pulled my hair back and quickly braided it to the side, tying it with a piece of twine I normally kept wrapped around my wrist for such occasions. I gazed at myself in the mirror for a moment, admiring how my normally bright-blonde locks looked almost brown when wet. It made me feel like I fit in a little more. I splashed some cool water on my face and stepped closer to the mirror to inspect my grooming job. The moonlight bounced across my freckled cheekbones and caught my eyes, lighting up my clear-blue irises like they were electric. There was nothing I could do to dull those eyes. I would always be different. I sighed at my reflection, feeling heaviness in my chest again.
“Are you alright in there?” Miss Breia called, pulling me away from my thoughts.
“Yes, coming,” I replied.
I swiftly crossed the Jane’s room to meet her at the door.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I smiled. “I just wanted to wash up a bit before bed.”
“No worries, love.”
We walked down the hall the short distance to my room and as we were reaching the door I turned to Miss Breia.
“What time is it?”
“Why it’s bedtime silly,” she laughed.
“I mean, what hour is it?”
“65, are you sure you’re alright? You know we don’t keep hours that way around here.”
“I know, it’s just, I was curious to see if you maybe knew hours that way since you know medicine and all.”
She looked at me quizzically.
“We learned about it in lessons and it made me curious, that’s all,” I lied.
“Sorry my dear, I’ve never had use for the hours here.”
Great! So how exactly does Nova think I’m going to figure out when it’s eleven o’clock?
“Never mind. Goodnight Miss Breia,” I said as I slipped through the door to room 13.
Luckily everyone in my year seemed to be asleep, so I didn’t have to answer any questions from them. I tiptoed to my cot bed under the window and lay there fully dressed, staring at the ceiling, hoping there would be some sign of when I was to meet Nova. I lay there wide awake for what seemed like hours, just replaying the events of the last few days. I had met Nova, found out my best friend #26 had a name – Remi. I also learned that the raven-haired bully of my year, #31, was actually named Jemma, and that she had a little sister that died in the Flood; which apparently she didn’t like being brought up, because that resulted in my trip to Miss Breia’s nurse station after my supposed fall from the rubble pile and my black eye. Not to mention the secret-invisible-magic punch that I apparently delivered to Jemma, and the new-found friends Sparrow and Journey, it attracted. Then Nova, who was supposed to help explain it all, just told me some crazy fairytale and that I was special or something. And now, I was supposed to climb out this window and meet him at 11:00 with no way to know when that actually was.
How did I get myself into this situation? Had I asked for it? I was always daydreaming about another life, where things were better and I wasn’t an orphan. Had the gods grown impatient with my whining and chosen to show me I didn’t actually have it so bad? Or, was this what I wanted? I was learning names, making friends. Maybe this was the path that would take me to what I craved – my name, my family, a life away from the Troian Center? And then there was Nova. I had a feeling I wouldn’t trade any of the fear, pain or frustration of the past few weeks away if it meant I wouldn’t know him. I had only scratched the surface of Nova. I felt that there was something special about him, something that made me trust him and drew me uncontrollably toward him. I knew in my heart that I would follow Nova into the mouth of the volcano if that was his intention. I had hopelessly fused my soul to his that day he scooped me onto his back and showed me his secret world behind the banana palm in the courtyard.
8
“Tippy!”
I bolted upright. I just heard someone calling me. Had I fallen asleep? I looked around the room. All was dark and still. The only sounds I heard were the steady breathing of the other orphans. I hung my legs off the side of the bed and they swung, still inches from the floor. I craned my neck toward the large straw bed to my right where all the Janes lay huddled together under their threadbare tan blankets. They all seemed much more comfortable without me taking up another space in the communal bed. The scene to my left was the same. All the Johns slumbered undisturbed in their bed. I could see my shadow cast eerily on the floor from the moonlight shining in from the window behind me. The angle made me appear tall and long. It made me smile for a moment, getting lost in the idea that I would one day grow out of the short, slight frame I inherited.
“Tippy!”
There it was again! This time I knew it was Nova. No one ever called me Tippy but him. This had to be the signal. But how was he calling me without waking the others? It was almost as though his voice was inside my head! I scanned the room for movement one more time, but no one stirred. I pulled my legs back onto the cot bed and folded them underneath me until I was crouched in a sort of kneeling position, facing the window. I slowly pushed on the bottom pane of glass as I had done that morning. At first nothing happened and I began to panic. I tried again with more pressure and this time the pane swung out so suddenly that the top half of my body went with it. I found myself dangling from my waist out of the window, with the pane resting lazily on my lower back. I began to wiggle my hips back and forth until I gained enough momentum to slither the rest of my body out the window as silently as possible. I landed unceremoniously on the sand below. Graceful 65! All the sounds of the buzzing nightlife around me stopped the instant I thudded to the ground. The silence was unbearable. I sat for a while until the insects picked up their songs again. Then I stood up brushing sand off of me and smoothing my hair. I guess bathing was unnecessary after all.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness so I could get my bearings. It appeared I was behind some foliage right outside the Troian Center. I gingerly pushed through it to the clearing ahead. The plants were thickly wound together and they resisted my progress, roots tripping me along the way. As I neared the edge I paused to look around. To my right, I could see the sparkling lights of Lux in the distance; to the left I could see the entrance to the courtyard. There weren’t any Grifts posted there as there should be. That worried me, because maybe it meant they heard me and were coming to look for me! This thought dropped me into a crouch among the bushes.
“Tippy! C’mon!”
The
re was Nova’s voice again. Where the heck was he? It irritated me immensely because his voice kept startling me and interrupting the thoughts and conversations I was having with myself. Well, now or never I guess? Nova said to trust him, so here goes nothing.
I stood and broke free from the shelter of the plant life and darted straight ahead at a full sprint. I had gone a good distance when I realized I didn’t know where I was going. I stopped and knelt down, suddenly feeling overexposed being out in the open. I looked over my shoulder at the dim light coming from the Troian Center. All was still. I stood again looking to the inky blackness of the thick forest ahead of me and slowly started making my way toward it. All of my senses seemed to be straining to overcompensate for my lack of vision. I heard the crunch of each footstep I placed and smelled the thick earthy scent of the forest approaching. I didn’t know why I was walking toward the forest since Nova neglected to tell me where to meet him, but something was pulling me that way. It was as if a magnetic force grabbed a hold of me and was guiding my steps. As I reached the edge of the forest I felt all of my senses tingling. I was nervous and excited all at once. The damp soil and the heavy perfume of the tropical plants were intoxicating. The smell reminded me of Nova, and like that, he was by my side!
“Nova!” I squealed, half startled and half relieved.
“You made it! Great work. Come on we have a lot to do.” he said as he grabbed my hand and started forward.
“Wait, what are we doing out here?” I whispered nervously as I pulled against him.
“I thought you wanted answers, Tippy?”
“I do.”
“Ok, then let’s go. Your answers await.”
I could see his white teeth gleaming as he smiled at me and pulled me onward. As usual, he melted away my inhibitions with his charm. We walked a little way deeper into the forest and soon I felt that we had been swallowed by the night. It was so dark that I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. Not even the moonlight could make its way into the thick forest. Just as I was about to protest that we go any further for fear we’d never make it back out, I saw a little burst of light. At first it was large, but then it shrunk to the size of an egg and danced in front of Nova. I clung to his side not sure what to do. As I looked closer I saw that the dancing yellow light was a flame floating directly above Nova’s open palm.
