by C J Benjamin
“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 rubble pile and on the journal, and she got it on the first try.”
“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 asked, “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 a watermelon. I watched it hover above my hands and decided to try something. I willed it to stay afloat while I backed away 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 I commanded it to stay. When it complied, I smiled and wiped my hands back and forth matter-of-factly. “How’s that?” I asked.
“Let’s not get cocky just yet, Tippy,” Nova said, but he was smiling too.
“Okay, Sparrow, go for it.”
We turned our attention to her as she broke into a run. She was heading straight toward 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 upward. She was bounding diagonally off of trees, soaring between them effortlessly. She looked like the monkeys that traveled 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 toward 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 and giggling, Sparrow gave me a big hug.
“You did it! You were amazing!” she gushed.
“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!”
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 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. It had been a rocky start, but it was turning into everything I knew it could be. We were 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 glowing orbs. What a night; and I had a feeling it was just getting started.
I looked at Journey. “Okay, your turn, what can you teach me?” I asked him.
He looked at Sparrow for confirmation that he should share his powers with me and she nodded to him. He looked doubtful, but he took a few steps toward me and picked up a stone from the forest floor and crushed it in the palm of his hand. When he opened it there was nothing but a pile of dust.
“Wow, I’m glad we didn’t end up coming to blows,” said Nova, with a nervous laugh.
“You expect me to crush a stone,” I said looking at Journey like he was slightly crazy. I already knew he was massive and insanely strong just from looking at him. Was this really something he needed magic for?
“Okay,” I said sounding unsure. I searched around for a medium size stone and picked it up. “How do I do it?” I asked.
He reached for my hand. “Pull strength from me.”
I closed my eyes and held Journey’s hand with my left and the stone in my right. I closed my fingers tightly around the stone and felt it resist as I tried to clamp down further. Then I felt a surge of power rush through me from Journey’s direction and I knew I would have no trouble crushing the stone. I tightened my grip around the stone and felt it crumple as if it were made of nothing more than sand. I opened my eyes and smiled at him. I slowly opened my palm to show the others and watched the dust slowly fall through my fingers.
“That was awesome! I could feel your strength when I needed more power to crush the stone,” I said to Journey.
It felt amazing and I almost wanted to hug him, but I was still a little unsure of him, so I just smiled and patted his shoulder.
“Try it again without his help,” Nova said in a serious tone.
“Alright.”
I picked up another stone. This one was larger and heavier than the last one. I had to use two hands just to hold it. I pushed my palms against the cool hard surface and felt the stone resist. I pushed harder and this time I could feel little fractures beginning to form. I channeled my energy and focused on pulling the inner strength I felt from Journey. I could feel it surging through me and I knew soon the stone would crumble under my pressure. Sure enough it did, bursting into pieces of rubble and dust.
“I did it! That’s so cool, Journey! What else can you do?”
“I’ve got a fun one for you to try,” he said. He was actually smiling, and I saw a flash of the young boy that must’ve been lost behind his massive façade.
“You’ll need to turn off the lights for this though,” said Journey. “And I’ll need your help as well,
” he said looking at Sparrow and Nova.
He must have telepathed something to them because they both nodded.
“Lights!” he said, and I went to work.
I walked to the center of our little meeting spot and looked up at my orbs. There had to be hundreds of them. I didn’t really know the best way to do this, but raising my arms seemed to be a good start. I could instantly feel the sensation that I commanded over the orbs. It was empowering to know they responded to me. I pulled my hands together into a loud clap and instantly it was dark. It was as if all the light in the world had been vacuumed out. I stood in the inky blackness listening to the gentle rustling of leaves and the soft footfall of my friends. Where were they going? This must be part of the test.
“Journey?” I whispered.
“Over here,” he answered sounding nearby. “Can you see me?”
“I can’t see anything,” I replied.
“Look for my eyes. Focus.”
I scanned the emptiness in front of me. Nothing. I turned searching, pleading myself to find him. Then out of nowhere his eyes appeared! I was so shocked I jumped backward and fell flat on my back. When I sat up they were still there, a pair of bright red eyes staring back at me, blinking calmly.
“Journey? Is that you?” I whispered in amazement. I really hoped it was him or I was about to get eaten by something with glowing red eyes because they started to advance toward me.
“You try.”
“Try what? To turn my eyes red?”
“It’s more than that. You’ll see. Grab my hand and slow your breathing. Let yourself be absorbed into the shadows and truly see your surroundings.”
I felt him grab my hand, which I was grateful for because I would have been groping aimlessly for his. I could feel his calm and steady composure wash over me. I felt instantly at peace with the darkness of the forest. Like it was a comforting cloak resting over me. I could hear my heart beating, slow and steady, humdrum, humdrum, humdrum. Then I heard Journey’s join in the percussion. Humdrum, drum hum, humdrum, drum hum. It had a catching beat. I looked over at him and to my surprise I could make out his features. An ashen glow cast over his whole body, but he was there, every detail. His short brown hair, his chiseled face, broad straight nose, and his wide-set glowing-red eyes.
“I can see you now,” I said.
“Good, you need to use sight and sound for this exercise and we need to communicate like this so we don’t scare our prey.”
Prey? I didn’t like the sound of that.
“What are we hunting?”
“Sparrow and Nova.”
That’s what I was afraid of. I knew this was just a training exercise, but why did Journey have to make everything sound so menacing? I tried to think of it as hide-and-seek as we spread out into the forest. It had always been one of my favorite games to play at the Center when I was younger. I would still love to play it now, but such foolishness would never be tolerated by orphans our age. Eager to play, I decided to make the best of this test and reverted back to my childhood memories of crouching in the fields, and hiding behind trees as I moved silently through the forest in pursuit of Sparrow and Nova.
I tried to focus as Journey taught me. I slowed my breathing and listened to the sounds around me. I pushed the hum drumming of my heart into the background and that allowed me to truly hear what was around me. There seemed to be so much more life in the sleepy forest than I was aware of before. I could hear civer ants marching nearby collecting leaves for their colony. I could see the tree frogs waiting patiently for an insect to land within reach of their sticky tongues. There were even families of lemurs touring about the tree tops. How had I missed all this before? The forest had a nocturnal life that I never noticed before.
I pressed forward, listening painstakingly to every inch of forest around me. Soon I heard another heartbeat. It sounded just like mine, but it wasn’t. It was louder and faster than mine. I walked in the direction of the sound and suddenly Nova’s blond hair gave him away. It appeared shockingly white with my newly acquired night vision and almost seemed unfair that he didn’t know it was sticking high above the palmetto palms he was crouching behind. I crept silently behind him, unable to help myself from launching a surprise attack on him.
I pounced. “Gotcha!”
“JEEZE! Tippy, you scared me to death!”
I landed on his chest and got a full glimpse of the panic on his face. I was rolling in a fit of laughter. “You should have seen your face! That was great! This is so much fun!”
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Tippy. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.”
“Oh come on, you have to admit this hide-and-seek part was pretty fun. It reminds me of being little. Imagine if I knew I could do this stuff back then! I would’ve been unstoppable!”
“From what I remember, you were pretty good back then, too. No powers necessary.”
I sat up and looked at him. He was inches from my face and I could feel his warm breath on my neck. Could he really have remembered playing hide-and-seek with me all those years ago? I always went after the older kids, loving the challenge, but they never took me seriously. Even after I tagged them, they’d just keep on playing, waiting for someone worthy to find them. But not Nova, I remembered finding him hiding high atop a tree and he said I’d have to climb it to tag him…
“Or it wouldn’t count,” he finished for me.
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“I remember a lot of things about you, Tippy.”
Oh no, I was having those feelings again. The flushed cheeks, the pounding heart, the goose flesh. Was this really just because of the powers we’d shared, or was there more?
“Found her!” shouted Journey from a few yards away. This broke me free of my Nova trance.
“We’re right here,” said Nova, producing his flame to give us some light.
He gave me a swift kiss on the forehead and a wink as he pulled me to my feet. I hated when he did that. It made me feel all fluttery and dizzy. I needed to remember to ask Sparrow if that was what she meant happened to her with the whole sharing powers connection thing, and if there was a way to control it. I didn’t like feeling so off balance.
“Well, that was a success!” said Sparrow with her usual enthusiasm. “What’s next?”
“I think we did great for tonight and we should probably start heading back since we went a lot deeper into the forest this time,” Nova said.
“I want to try one more thing before we go,” Journey replied.
I was impressed he was the one who was so open to training me. This was the most I’d heard him talk. He really did have a kind-heartedness about him. I was beginning to see why Sparrow trusted him so much. Behind his stern exterior and brute strength was a generous soul. He walked over to a nearby tree and wrapped his hands around the scrawny young trunk. Slowly, from where Journey’s hands were, the tree began to transform. The trunk splintered and fractured, making loud snapping sounds. I took a few steps closer, mesmerized by what I was seeing. Radiating out from where he gripped the tree, Journey was slowly turning it to stone!
“Are you kidding me?” I squealed. “I want to do that!”
Even Nova seemed to have lost his ‘I’m-too-cool’ attitude as he gawked open-mouthed at the stone tree.
“Okay, okay! That’s enough,” said Sparrow walking in between us and edging us away from the tree. “Can we please practice this on something that’s not living?”
She put her hands on the stone trunk and closed her eyes, restoring the bark back to its original form. When she was done, she took a step back to admire her work, confidently putting her hands on her hips and lifting her chin.
“There, that’s better.” She turned to look at us. “What? Trees have feelings too you know.”
“Sorry, Sparrow,” said Journey lowering his head.
I didn’t want today’s lessons to end without getting to try turning something to stone, so I picked up a dead log that had been
claimed by the mossy forest floor.
“Here, we can try this!” I said, waving the crumbling log under Journey’s defeated face.
He looked at Sparrow for approval, and she nodded. “That’ll do.”
“Great, let’s try it!” I exclaimed. “Will you help me?” I asked Journey, reaching for his hand.
I took it as a yes when he grabbed my hand and gave me a sly smile.
“I have a better idea. Drop the log and we’ll do something more fun.”
“Okay, any hints?”
“Just trust me. This won’t hurt so don’t be scared, it just looks a little crazy.”
“Okay, thanks for the warning, I guess,” I said and then laughed nervously out loud, which caused Sparrow and Nova to eye me suspiciously.
Journey closed his eyes and squeezed my hand a little. I looked down at it and began to panic as I saw my hand was turning to stone! It was spreading slowly up my wrist. My skin was turning grey and cracking and popping like sides of an erupting volcano. I didn’t know what to do. I struggled to pull my hand from Journey’s grasp, but he was holding me tight. I felt myself sweating, panicking, my heart was pounding. Suddenly Journey pulled his hand away from me, as if he burnt it on a hot stove.
That’s when all hell broke loose.
13
“Oh my gods, oh my gods, what’d you do?” I screamed.
I looked at my arm and it had turned to stone all the way up to my elbow. I grabbed at it furiously with my good hand, not knowing what to do. This brought Nova rushing to my defense.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Sparrow asked approaching us.
“My arm!” Journey yelped holding it up for Sparrow to see. “It’s stone!” He whirled around to face Nova, while pointing at me. “She’s an Echo, I knew it, she’s an Echo! You knew it too, didn’t you?”
“How dare you play with her like this!” Nova growled advancing toward him.
“ME?” exploded Journey, waving his stone hand right back at me.
Sparrow quickly put herself between the two boys to prevent any further advancements.
