The Geneva Project - Truth

by Christina Benjamin

  “Ah, where there’s Ria and Khan, there’s Greeley,” I thought.

  I knew now was my chance to catch them off guard. I needed to act fast. I swung expertly from limb to limb until I was close enough to pounce. I wanted to land between Greeley and the tarcats and her first line of defense. “Now!” I swooped down landing steadily on my feet with a thump. The Grifts hadn’t seen or heard me, but Greeley did. She stopped abruptly and narrowed her eyes at me while Ria and Khan were startled and crouched in positions of attack, hairs raised and bristled.

  “Looking for me?” I called to her.

  “Ah, 65, there you are. As a matter of fact I am looking for you,” she sneered. Then her voice turned sweet and patronizing. “And what of your friends? I was hoping to find them as well. What kind of headmistress would I be if I left you children out here all alone in the forest?”

  “They’re not out here. They… they didn’t want to come.”

  “Oh, so you managed to frighten them away did you?” she laughed. “Perhaps they’re smarter than I gave them credit for. No matter, as I said, you’re the one I’ve been looking for. You took something of mine and I intend to get it back.”

  “You took something of mine!” I shouted, holding my ground. “The truth about my life is in that book and I have the right to know it.”

  She rocked her head back and let out a hearty, terrifying laugh.

  “Don’t worry about your past little Jane, it’s your future that should concern you,” she said; and that’s what I was waiting for. She gave the signal to her tarcats who were slowly pacing a wide circle around me. They were poised on each side of me, tails twitching, waiting for their master to give them the sign to attack; and when it came, they were ready. They sprang forward, roaring towards me, teeth bared. I stood still, crouching low, waiting, with every muscle in my body tense and coiled. I counted each of their steps in my mind as they closed the ground between me. Then at last, just as they were about to reach me with their massive clawed feet outstretched in their final lunge, I leapt upwards. I hovered above them as they crashed into each other, temporarily bewildered. Khan angrily snapped at Ria who shook her head in confusion. Then, before they knew what was happening, I had strategically let myself fall, landing atop of them, balancing precariously on their haunches. I grabbed hold of their thick bejeweled leather collars and spoke to them as I turned the collars to stone.

  “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m going to set you free, but you must promise not to come after my friends or me. And there is one more thing that you owe to me before I let you go.” I looked into their luminescent yellow eyes and could see that they understood what I needed them to do. Without another second, I crushed their now stone collars from their necks, releasing them from my hold and Greeley’s simultaneously. I leapt up into a smoldering tree as they shook the stone from their pelts and watched as Greeley shouted at them angrily, commanding them to attack me. But instead they started to close in on her and the last thing I saw was Ria pounce and rake a massive paw across Greeley’s throat. She disappeared into a swirl of black and white fur that quickly became stained with splashes of crimson. The blood-curdling screams followed me as I retreated back into the forest.

  Without Greeley driving them, the Grifts all scattered back towards the Troian Center. I held my position safely above them until I was sure they had all dispersed and wouldn’t be any more trouble for us. I set to work retaining the fires they set and managed to put them out by turning the flames into bursts of light, that dissipated into my harmless orbs, which I left hovering to light my way. Then I quickly returned to where I left my friends. I came upon the translucent safety bubble where I left them and was stunned to see another figure hunched over right outside the barrier. She was covered in dirt and ash and her dark hair looked utterly disheveled. I cautiously approached her where she lay heaving for breath, worried that this must be one of Eja’s tribe members, injured in the fires. The others were all huddled near her on the other side of the invisible wall. They were nervously mouthing things to me that I couldn’t make out, so with a wave of my hand I released them from their protective bubble and went to lay a gentle hand on the girls shoulder. As I touched her she flinched and turned to me in shock. Both of us stumbled away from each other in alarm. The frightened face that greeted me was none other than Jemma’s!

  I was blinded by rage and wanted nothing more than to call the tarcats on her, but Sparrow was shouting at me, tugging on my arm. Although I released them from the barrier that kept them safe while I dealt with Greeley, I still couldn’t hear them, because my mind was reeling with fury, deafening me from the words of my friends. How did she get here? Why was she here? Did Greeley send her to finish them off while she dealt with me? I was seething mad and the only thing that brought me out of my rage was when Sparrow put Niv back into my arms. He wiggled around with his tail curing around my arm while he showered me with kisses, licking my hot, salty skin. I blinked a few times to bring myself back to reality. The others had all gathered around me, while Eja and Nova tended to Jemma. It angered me beyond reason to see Nova paying attention to her, attentively holding her hands while Eja tended to her wounds. It seemed she had injured her ankle. She had a deep gash that was oozing an almost black-tinged blood. I wasn’t disappointed one bit to see her suffering.

  “What’s she doing here?” I asked to no one in particular.

  “She came to warn us that Greeley was coming,” Remi said.

  “Yeah right! Like she cares what happens to us! She’s the one who practically delivered us to Greeley!” I shouted.

  “It’s true,” came a foreign sheepish voice that I never associated with Jemma. “I was a fool to do that and I know you’ll never forgive me, but I never thought anything like this would happen. I didn’t know that she… or you… It doesn’t matter. I know you hate me, but I thought I could at least warn you that she was coming.”

  “And how exactly did you know right where to find us? It’s a little too convenient, Jemma,” I scathed.

  “I… I don’t exactly know how I do it, but I just do. If I concentrate on someone hard enough, I just know where to find them.”

  “You’re a tracer,” Eja said smiling at her stupidly. Even in this state, she still managed to charm him without even trying.

  I rolled my eyes and said, “I’m not buying it. I think she was spying on us for Greeley. But you don’t have to worry about that anymore because Greeley’s gone.” I said.

  The group all stopped what they were doing to stare at me. It was painfully quiet. All I could hear was the smoldering crackle of the trees nearby. Nova walked over to me and looked deep into my eyes. It was as if he was reading my soul and I looked away, breaking the connection when it became too painful.

  “You did what you had to do, Tippy,” was all he said and he squeezed my hand, pulling me into an embrace.

  I didn’t want to dissolve into a puddle of tears in front of Jemma, so I stiffened and pulled away from Nova, shaking off my feelings of distress. I gave my friends the brief version of what happened to Greeley. Telling them that the only thing that mattered was that she wouldn’t be coming after us anymore.

  “Where’s the book. Have you read it yet?” I asked wanting to change the subject.

  “No, we can’t get it open,” Journey said.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” I retorted, taking the book from him.

  I slid my hand across its aged leather cover. It felt cool and smooth against my hand. It was heavy and I sat down with it upon my lap and slowly ran my fingers along the binding, feeling for any sign of how to open it, but there was nothing. So I closed my eyes and hoped with all the strength I had left that it would open. As I reached for the edge of the cover and pulled it gently towards me there was a stiff groan and I felt the delicate pages brushing past my fingers. It was open! My eyes popped open, blazing into the ancient book lying unlocked in my lap.

  “You did it!” Remi yelped.

  Cha
pter 53

  Everyone crowded around. We all looked at the pages anxiously, only to be met by a foreign text. I could feel the wandering eyes around me looking to each other, not knowing what to do next. My eyes welled up in frustration. We came all this way and now we couldn’t read the language of the text! To be stopped now was too much. I pushed the book off my lap and stood up abruptly and stomped away from the group. I needed to clear my head. Niv hopped along behind me, squeaking until I scooped him up and let him ride on my shoulder. When I was far enough away, I stopped walking and slumped down on a lava-hardened rock. I looked at the smoldering fire around me. Daylight was breaking above the smoking tree line and the weight of the day finally became too great to bear. I broke down and let the tears fall. My tired body shook with tremors of fear and waves of disappointment. I let all the heaviness drain out and squeezed Niv tightly to my chest. After a while my well of misery ran dry and I caught my breath again. I looked down at my happy little marmouse, and he looked more alive and healthy than ever. I owed all of that to Remi. I looked back to my group of tattered friends and couldn’t help but feel a small wave of comfort spread over me. All in all, the day could have gone much worse. Niv was alive, as were my friends. So what if we couldn’t read the stupid book of secrets. Maybe it was just as well. I was starting to feel like my friends and Niv were all the family I needed. I picked him up and headed back to the group. They were all still pouring over the book of secrets that was now resting in Eja’s lap. They were so deep in discussion that they didn’t even notice my return. Jemma was sitting next to Eja, injured leg outstretched. I knelt down in front of them and cleared my throat. This got everyone’s attention. They all stared at me. Sparrow’s mouth dropped wide open, and Jemma’s eyes widened. Remi stood and moved towards me. They all looked like they had seen a ghost.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, letting that familiar sinking feeling set in.

  “65, we found you.” Eja said. “The book is written in an old dialect of Truietian. I’ve been deciphering it and we found you.”

  “Where?” I asked anxiously walking around him to peer over his shoulder. “Where am I?”

  “Everywhere,” he said pointing to the heading of the page.

  It was my tattoo LVX. #65. It was on top of the page he was staring at, as well as the next and the next. As he flipped all I saw was LVX. My heart pounded and I knelt down suddenly feeling weak. My mind was buzzing with white noise. This was more than I could have dreamed of. I had just about given up hope of ever reading the book of secrets. Thinking even if I did, I had to be prepared that it still might not be the answer to all my questions. But it seemed that almost the entire book was about me!

  “What does it say?” I asked breathlessly.

  “Well, there’s a lot to read, basically we were right in thinking you are the chosen one. It says only the Eva would be able to open the book.”

  “What else?”

  “Well, you were right about the 140 needed to find the book.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense, there were only seven of us in the room including Jemma and Greeley,” I said, glancing skeptically in Jemma’s direction.

  “Ah yes, but you’re thinking too logically. There were other numbers in that room, specifically the right combination of numbers,” Eja said grinning.

  I looked impatiently at the others’ tense stares. They obviously already knew what he was getting at and I grew impatient with Eja’s riddles.

  “What are you talking about Eja? Just tell me already!”

  “Think about it, you each have numbers tattooed on your arms. Tippy’s 65, Nova’s 18, Sparrow’s 42, Journey’s 22, Remi’s 26, and Jemma’s 31. The correct combination of your namesakes adds up to 140 and you were all a key part in locating and retrieving the book. You’re all bound together. The gods meant for you to unite. It’s necessary in order to save our people.”

  I was lost in thought, grouping together mathematical equations made up of all of our assigned numerical names, but none of them added up right.

  “You’re forgetting one,” Nova said softly, obviously listening in to my thoughts again. I looked up at him and then to the person to his immediate left and all the breath left my body with a violent shutter, as the pieces finally fit together. Me + Nova +Remi + JEMMA = 140!

  “No,” I said in almost a whisper. “NO!” I said again, louder this time, rising to my feet and backing away from them. “She’s not a part of this!” I yelled, turning to look at each of my friends from the Troian Center. None of them would meet my eyes, none except for her, which only infuriated me further.

  “Sit down, there’s more to tell,” Eja said calmly as he flipped through the book.

  Sparrow was at my side suddenly and she was taking my hand, leading me back towards Eja. “Please,” she softly telepathed to me. “It’s important.” I conceded and followed her obediently, taking my spot again, kneeling next to Eja. Sparrow sat cross-legged next to me, still holding my hand supportively. “Okay,” I nodded, signaling Eja to continue.

  “Jemma is a major part of this and I see that you may not be happy to hear this right now, but just promise to keep your mind open,” Eja urged me while he settled on the correct page. “Here,” he said, pointing to two foreign symbols. “These are Jemma’s parents,” he said. “Nesia and Kai.”

  My eyes immediately misted up at the words. After all the research we did on the legend of Lux, although I had resisted it, I had apparently let the thought seep in that the legend could be about me and that these mythical parents could be real and could actually be my parents. I angrily shook this thought from my head. I had been foolish to think I would have a fairytale ending, but it made me sick to think that Jemma was getting more than she deserved as usual. In bitter frustration, I leveled myself on the thought that my parents may be in this book, too. And then I immediately felt resentful that we were wasting time on Jemma right now when it was me who wanted to find this book to begin with. I took a deep breath and waited painfully for Eja to continue with Jemma’s story.

  “They had a daughter,” he said, pointing to another symbol that was familiar to me. It was the same tattoo that emblazoned her arm, XXXI.

  “So,” I shrugged.

  “She had a sister,” he continued, pointing out another symbol.

  This is where everything went fuzzy. The symbol he pointed out next was my earliest memory; perhaps the most permanent thing in my life. I traced my shaky fingers lightly over the fragile paper and the images began to blur. Whether it was from the tears in my eyes or the light-headedness I was feeling, I do not know, but no matter how indistinct the symbol was, I would recognize it anywhere, LVX. My fingers instinctively went to my shoulder, where the very same symbol was permanently tattooed. LVX.

  “Her name was Geneva. Geneva Sommers.” Eja said, barely audible above the pounding of my rapid heart.

  “We called her Eva,” whispered Jemma, looking at me with such sorrow and pain that I barely recognized her. Her words where soft and held an unfamiliar tenderness.

  “You’re my sister.”

  Chapter 54

  My name is Geneva Sommers. I didn’t know that until today. Until today, I’ve lived the past thirteen years of my life as #65. Jane 65 to be exact. Janes, that’s what they call us female orphans at the Troian Center. We live on Hullabee Island. Our way of life here is very simple, either you’re one of the lucky ones, or you’re not. I am not. Or at least that’s what I thought, until I found out the truth…

 

 

 
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