by C J Benjamin
“There’s always birds and other rodents around out here. I don’t think anyone will notice from time to time, but we need to be careful that no one notices him with us too much.”
The rest of the afternoon was actually enjoyable as Remi and I continued to work, talking quietly about the possibilities of our powers, while we watched Niv play on the rubble pile. It was almost too fun to even consider it work. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow and long, cool shadows. There was even a dry breeze that often wafted scents of sweet barley coming from the fields. Soon it was time to pack up Niv and head back to the Center with the rest of our year.
27
At dinner, we all found each other at our usual table. We made small talk for a little while, discussing Niv’s adventures on the rubble piles. This gave us all a laugh. From the outside, we looked just like all the other orphans, harmlessly enjoying a meal with our friends.
“Well, since you said he did so well at work today, I guess you can bring him with you to the forest tonight,” said Nova lowering his voice.
I gave a nod, but there was something else on my mind. I wanted to tell them about Remi, but I felt a cold chill come over me when I noticed Jemma staring at us from her table of lackeys. I didn’t know whether the chill was what alerted me to her stare or if it was her stare that gave me the chill, but either way I quickly averted my eyes and telepathed to the others that she was watching us. Remi jerked back as soon as I telepathed and I instantly realized what I’d done. From his look of shock, this was obviously the first telepathic message he’d heard and he was reacting about as crazy as could be expected. That was the last thing I needed. I didn’t want him drawing Jemma’s attention to us any further.
“Remi,” I whispered, “Calm down please, we can talk about what just happened later, okay?”
He still looked startled but he nodded at me and slumped forward as he was before hearing my voice in his head. The rest of our meal passed pretty quietly, with only small talk here and there. The fact that I just discovered Remi’s secret power, one that he himself didn’t even know he possessed, made me suspicious of everyone. I was afraid that there were others like us. Maybe some of them were with Jemma and I was afraid they could be spying on us. I mean if Remi was able to follow us and see what we were up to, couldn’t any of them do it? Perhaps we needed to come up with a better plan. When I looked across the table I saw Nova eyeing me. Crap! Had he totally just heard my thoughts? Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. I guess I’m an open book to him, and I’m fine with it right now since I could definitely use his help to safeguard us a bit more. He gave me a nod and a wink that signaled he was on it or perhaps already a step ahead of me.
Gong!
The bell chimed, signaling that dinner was over. I quickly collected everyone’s scraps for Niv and headed back to room 13, dreading the grueling rehearsal that lay waiting for me.
Another night of rehearsing for the New Year Gala only meant another night of torture for me. We were broken into groups to sing our parts and as luck would have it, I was with Jemma and her henchmaids tonight. All rehearsal I listened to Jemma correct me and whine about how insufferable my pitch was, while her minions snickered at the seething comments she hurled in my direction.
“Honestly, 65, my ears are bleeding. Why don’t you just give up and mouth the words for all our sakes?”
I’d be happy to, I thought to myself. As much as my voice pained her, it pained me more to spend time with her. I was busy looking down and trying to contain my anger and embarrassment when Miss. Sprigg cleared her throat to get our attention.
“Alright everyone. The New Year Gala is only three weeks away. I think it’s about time we try putting all these pieces together and see how we sound. What do you say?” she asked cheerfully.
She was faced with grumbling and resistance, but she still managed to get us all together, standing in tiers so she could see all our apprehensive faces. Then she started flitting her long fingers back and forth, keeping time for us as the music swelled and we started our song. The basses set the beat, and the tenors added a rich sound and then it was our turn to sing. I started just mouthing the words until I could find my pitch and mix my voice as smoothly with the others as possible. Jemma would elbow me each time I would fall behind, all while keeping her sickeningly sweet little smile on her face. How is it even possible to smile while you sing? I was sneaking a glance at her out of the corner of my eye when I watched her expression change suddenly. It was as if I was looking at her for the first time. The smug little mask that she normally wore seemed to shatter, suddenly giving way to the ugly, darkness that I knew lay deep within her. It startled me and made me lose my place. I tried to follow her line of sight to see what had made her so angry and instantly saw what it was. Remi and Sparrow had just stepped forward to start their solo. I looked back at her and she had already composed herself, replacing her perfectly masked emotions.
28
After our singing lesson was over I felt exhausted. I flopped myself down on my cot bed while everyone else gathered their books to get started on studying. I wanted to wait a bit so I could go to the wardrobe after everyone cleared to feed Niv. While I was waiting, mindlessly flipping through my sheet music, Sparrow came over to join me.
“So, how’d we sound?”
“Oh, you guys were great. But…”
“What? Did I mess up the words?” Sparrow asked, suddenly anxious.
“No, I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”
“Be careful singing? What do you mean?”
“I was standing next to Jemma today and I get the feeling she’s really not happy you’re doing the solo this year,” I said.
“Oh well, Tippy what can she do? Miss Sprigg already assigned it to me and Remi.”
“I know that, but just the look on her face… She just makes me nervous is all.”
“Thanks for looking out for men Tippy,” Sparrow said with a smile, patting my hand.
We sat quietly for a while, not an awkward quiet though. It was more like a comfortable, confident quiet. Like for once I wasn’t the one on the outside looking in. I felt like everyone else was on the outside now. Even though my status around the Center didn’t really seem to change too much with the other orphans, I knew that for the first time I was with the “in” crowd. Sparrow, Remi, Journey, Nova and I were the ones who truly knew what was going on, or at least we were getting there. The others didn’t have a clue yet, but I had a feeling this was the calm before the storm, and soon everyone would be clinging to us for refuge. I’m not really sure what caused this foreboding feeling to wash over me, but it felt empowering and I liked it.
Sparrow nudged me, shattering my feelings of superiority, like a rock through a pane of glass. My thoughts fell away easily, revealing a dim reality. For now I would just have to be satisfied with sitting on a cot bed, with my friend, in a room full of orphans who were ignoring me as usual.
“Now’s a good time to feed Niv,” she whispered.
I looked around and she was right. Everyone was engaged in studying or lively conversations.
“Okay, but can you stay here and keep watch? If anyone is coming my way, telepath me,” I said.
“Sure.”
I made a beeline for the wardrobe and shuffled some of the books on my shelf around so I could get to Niv’s, which I had hidden in the back. I hesitated a moment before opening it and then quickly flicked it open and dumped in the scraps of food we scrounged up from dinner. He yawned and stretched and made some sweet little grunting sounds. I wanted to scoop him up and hug him right then and there, but I knew it was too risky.
I scratched him under his chin and whispered to him. “Good boy. Eat your dinner and stay here just a little longer, then I promise to take you out to stretch your legs tonight.”
I patted him on the head and closed the book, resituating it safely in the back of my cubby before heading back over to Sparrow. It amazed me how much the little guy could sl
eep, but I was thankful for it because I really didn’t know where else we could safely hide him. We couldn’t let him roam around the Troian Centery with the tarcats around. Plus the Grifts would be sure to see him and try to get rid of him or worse, tell Greeley. I wish I could trust the orphans in my year because then we could at least let him run around our room, but with Janes as cruel as Jemma and her friends, I was sure they’d sell him out just to hurt me. I was also worried that Niv would be getting bigger soon and then we’d really have to come up with a new plan. My worry must have shown on my face because Sparrow asked me what was wrong when I sat back down.
“Oh, nothing right now. I’m just trying to think ahead to what we’re going to do with him when he gets bigger. He can’t live in a hollowed-out book forever.”
Sparrow smiled at me and said, “Don’t worry, we’ll think of something when the time comes. Right now we need to concentrate on our homework or we’ll really have something to worry about.”
This made us both laugh and helped take my mind off all my other worries. We got up and joined Remi and Journey at the table to begin tackling our assignments.
29
Finally, it was time to go. I managed to transfer the book with Niv inside to my shoulder bag before bed and now I was lowering it to Sparrow through the window. I quickly followed, and then Remi. Journey was the last one inside, standing guard with his night vision to make sure no one else was watching us. The three of us started making our way to the forest, knowing that Journey would catch up to us, but after a while, Sparrow stopped.
“Guys, I think something’s wrong. Journey should have been here by now.”
“Maybe he just got held up, Sparrow. Let’s just get to the forest for cover and wait for him,” I said. “Besides, he’d telepath if something went wrong.”
She kept trudging forward with us but still seemed worried. We swiftly reached Nova at the forest’s edge and explained to him what was going on. I was starting to feel uneasy about Journey’s delay, too. I took Niv out of my bag and cradled him in my arms while he sniffed the air curiously. He climbed up to my shoulder and tickled my ear with his twitching whiskers while we all settled into the shadows to wait for Journey.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Nova said.
“I agree. Sparrow, will you try to telepath him?” I asked.
“Journey, what’s going on? Are you okay? Do we need to come back?”
We waited patiently for a response and that gave Remi a chance to ask us some questions.
“So, how does that work? I can hear you in my head. It’s creepy,” he said.
“So, you can hear us?” Nova questioned with his perfect eyebrow dramatically arched.
“Remi, we can speak to each other telepathically because we’re all Truiets and we’re linked to each other through our powers. Once a Truiet shares a power with another Truiet they create an unbreakable bond that connects us to each other and allows us to speak to each other secretly. It was created to keep us safe,” I explained to Remi.
“Well, look at you, Tippy! You learned a lot from Eja, didn’t you? What a good student,” Nova said playfully. “But as she said, Remi, you have to share a power with us in order to be privileged to our thoughts. I don’t recall seeing you share anything with us,” Nova challenged.
Remi looked between us nervously, settling his dewy brown eyes on mine pleadingly.
“He shared it with us without even knowing what he could do, Nova. I figured it out today while we were at Flood work and we tested it out to be sure.”
“You tested it out at work?” he questioned, his joking tone absent.
“Yes, but we were careful. Anyway, it works, he can become invisible when he wants to and now so can I,” I said, quickly calling on Remi’s power to vanish me from sight.
“Show off!” Nova said, back to his jovial tone. He turned to Remi, “I have to admit, that’s quite impressive. You really didn’t know you could do it?”
“That’s it!” Sparrow exclaimed before Remi could answer.
Up until that point she seemed to be lost in thought, and not really paying any attention to the rest of us, but now she was staring at the spot where I had been smiling brightly.
“What?” I asked, letting myself come back into view.
Sparrow walked over to me and lifted Niv off my shoulder, nuzzling him and stroking his shiny hair.
“That’s how you can hide Niv!” Sparrow squealed. “I told you that you’d think of something.”
“Oh! No way?” I exclaimed, suddenly catching on. “He disappeared, too, didn’t he?”
“Is anyone else confused?” asked Remi.
Nova laughed. “I may be able to read minds, but sometimes even I don’t know what these two are talking about.”
Sparrow sighed, feigning impatience. “Earlier Tippy was worried about hiding Niv, because he’s going to get bigger and we can’t keep him in that little box forever. But she just made him vanish into thin air, so if she can share her power with him for long enough, then he can hide in plain sight at the Center!”
“Huh!” Nova said. “Ya know, that gives me an idea. We need to get to Eja though. What’s taking Journey so long?”
“I don’t know but something doesn’t feel right,” Sparrow replied staring back toward the Troian Center. “I think I should go back.”
“Then we’d all have to go back,” Nova said shaking his head. “Journey’s a big boy, I’m sure he can take care of himself.”
“Nova! He’s one of us, we need to look out for him,” I snapped. “Sparrow, if you want to go back, I’ll go with you.”
“No, if you’re going back, we’re all going back,” Nova said rolling his eyes.
As we stood there arguing over who was going back, we finally heard from Journey.
“Everything’s fine. Sorry, but I can’t join you guys tonight. I’ll explain later.”
“See, I told you he was fine,” Nova said triumphantly.
“What are you talking about? He doesn’t sound fine. He didn’t even tell us what’s holding him up,” Sparrow whined.
Remi piped up. “Okay, guys, this is going nowhere and neither are we. Do we go back or go find Eja?”
We all stopped bickering to look at him. He was right, so with slumped shoulders, Sparrow agreed to find Eja and worry about Journey when we got back. To make her feel better I let her carry Niv. It seemed to work because she had a smile on her face in no time as she cooed unrecognizable words to him, grinning from ear to ear when he would nuzzle her neck. We made it to the clearing to meet Eja much faster tonight and it was a good thing since we wasted so much time waiting on Journey. Eja was nowhere to be seen, but I could sense him. I quietly called his name and he dropped down from a tree behind me, making us jump.
“Hello!” he called cheerfully.
“Jeez! Do you have to do that?” croaked Remi.
“Sorry, habit. I can never be too careful out here. You should be better prepared though. I could have had the jump on you dropping down like that. Where’s the big guy? I bet he would have seen me.”
“Journey? He’s not coming tonight,” I said. “But we’re all here, so how about you tell us how you can help.”
“Who is this?” Eja said his eyes widening as he approached Sparrow. Niv was perched on her shoulder, looking back at him with his features twitching with excitement.
“Oh, this is Niv,” she said. “We rescued him last night and we’ve sort of adopted him.”
“Niv, what a curious name. Do you know what it means?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Journey said it means survivor.”
“Indeed. I guess it’s fitting, isn’t it? All of us are survivors, aren’t we?” said Eja.
This made us all smile as Niv leaped from Sparrow’s shoulder into Eja’s arm and started licking his face, setting us all at ease. We settled into discussion with Eja as we let Niv forage around nearby. He was having quite a good time chasing insects and coming up with a snout full of dir
t. He was so cute, ever mindful of where we were and if he strayed too far, he’d come darting back with his tail between his legs until one of us pet him and reassured him that he was okay.
Nova filled Eja in on his plan to get us into the locker so we could explore the legend of Lux. We all wore looks of concern as he spoke because of the apparent risks involved. One of us would hesitantly shoot down each of his menacing ideas.
“I don’t think antagonizing the tarcats is a good idea. Not after what we saw them do last night,” I said shivering slightly at the fresh memory.
“Yeah, and don’t you think it might be a little obvious if all of us pulled something together? I don’t want Greely to figure out that we’re working together,” Remi said.
“Well, from what you’ve just told me about your powers, I think you already have a solution to getting into the locker,” Eja replied.
“What do you mean?” Sparrow asked.
“Will that work?” Nova asked, always a step ahead with his mind-reading abilities.
“Will what work?” asked Remi, frustrated again.
“You and Tippy can walk right into the locker anytime you want with your nifty little disappearing act,” Nova replied.
“That’s brilliant!” I exclaimed.
“Yes, that way only one of us will need to get sent to the locker and you two can follow,” Nova said.
“What about the rest of us?” Sparrow asked.
“Well, originally I thought we would all go in, but it doesn’t seem necessary. We can relay the information back to you.”
“And besides we need someone to stay behind to take care of Niv,” I said. The worried look in Remi’s eye made me add, “Just in case,” to that sentence. He forced a smile but still looked uneasy and I couldn’t blame him after his last turn in the locker.
