Geneva Sommers and the Secret Legend

by C J Benjamin

  “Hollis, I really appreciate you helping me. I wonder if I could ask you for one more favor?”

  “What is it, child?”

  “Well, my friends, they’re Truiets too, and they’re still in the forest. We got separated when a swarm of civer ants attacked us. Anyway, I need to find them, and since Jovi is sleeping, I can’t really leave her to go do that. Would you be able to help me find them and bring us too them?”

  “Civer ants? Why would they attack children?”

  “I don’t know, but I really need to find my friends. Will you help me?”

  “Certainly. Where did you last see them? I’ll send Isby out to scout for them. ISBY!”

  The room thundered as Hollis’s voice boomed through it, seeking out Isby. The ornery bird flew at me from a darkened corner and I barely had time to duck as he soared over my head. Hollis filled Isby in on my request and sent him out on the task of finding my friends. He squawked disapprovingly, spreading his shiny, black wings and making quite a racket.

  “That’s enough Isby,” said Hollis and with that, the grumpy bird took a few hops while staring at me before lifting off and flying from sight.

  “I don’t think Isby likes me very much,” I said.

  “Oh don’t mind him. He’s always that way. Ill-tempered since the day I met him.”

  “Does he live . . . in you?”

  The room shook as Hollis gave a rumbling belly laugh. “Of course, child. He’s my obliguile.”

  “What’s an obliguile?”

  “You really don’t know anything about rovers, do you? How is it that a Truiet child, like yourself, is so uneducated about its kin?”

  “Well, I was orphaned by the Flood and grew up at an orphanage called the Troian Center. Have you heard of it?”

  By his gasp, I assumed he had.

  “That is an atrocity! You should have been raised among your people, learning our way! No wonder you have so many questions.”

  Hollis spent what felt like an eternity filling me in on rovers, while we waited for the grouchy bird to return. As it turns out, Hollis found Isby when he was just a fledgling. He was hatching when a black jungle mamba had come upon his nest. The massive snake greedily gobbled up all the eggs and was about to make Isby a meal, when Hollis rescued him. Saving his life had made Isby an obliguile, indebted to serve Hollis to repay him for saving his life. Apparently, every rover needs one to tend to their magical interior. As I looked around at the shabby state of things, I wondered if Hollis knew how poor a job Isby was doing?

  I drummed my fingers on the overstuffed chesterfield I sat in, watching the patterns they created in the dust. I was growing impatient waiting for Isby, but Hollis didn’t seem to notice. He happily continued to tell me all about rovers. I tried to pay attention to the sing-song rhythm of his voice, as he relived the history of his kind.

  He told me how rovers are the oldest living descendants of the Truiets. That they had existed on this island well before any other gods or man. They roamed the island peacefully, keeping to themselves until one day a child who was fleeing a tarcat stumbled upon one. The story goes that the rover was so huge that the child was able to crawl inside his shell for shelter to hide from the vicious tarcat. It turned out that the child’s parents were immortals and to thank the tortoise for saving their child, they granted him immortality and gave him magical powers. They turned the interior of his shell into a spacious shelter for others and gave him the ability to converse with all living things. It is said that much later on, the same rover tortoise came upon another child in the forest in need of shelter during a horrible storm. He let the child climb inside and after the storm had passed, he lent his magic to the boy and he shared it with the Beto people, creating the Truiets to connect man and nature harmoniously.

  “ . . . but it all went horribly wrong.”

  “I’m familiar with the rest of the legend,” I said.

  “They taught you the Legend of Lux at the Troian Center, did they?” Hollis asked, sounding surprised.

  “Well not exactly . . .”

  Now it was my turn to tell Hollis about myself. I told him about my life at the Troian Center and how I had recently discovered my sorted past in the Book of Secrets, and how it spawned our quest to return to the Center—where we hoped to find and free the other Truiets being held there. I didn’t get into too much detail about who we were particularly searching for. I figured the less anyone knew about our search for the four Pillars the better. Besides, I had a pretty good suspicion that another one of them had been right under our noses this whole time. After I finished talking with Hollis, I decided I needed to check on Jovi and explore my hunch.

  “Hollis, thank you for everything. I’m going to go check on Jovi while we wait for Isby to return.”

  “You are most welcome, my Eva. I am but your humble servant. I will do everything in my power to help you.”

  I found her lying where I had left her on the worn wooden kitchen table. She looked peaceful, covered with a tattered blanket, her head resting on a soft floor cushion. I stroked her hair and her eyelids fluttered open.

  “Geneva?” she whispered as she tried to sit.

  “Let me help you up, Jovi,” I replied, cautiously helping her rise.

  “Where are we?” she asked with wonder.

  “It’s a bit of a long story. What’s the last thing you remember?”

  She looked blankly up at me and when I saw tears begin to well on the rims of her brown eyes, I knew she remembered it all.

  “Quin?” was all she managed to squeak out before she burst into tears.

  “It’s okay, Jovi.” I said, pulling the tiny girl to my chest. I stroked her tangled brown hair as she sobbed against me. “Quin’s okay. She is so brave. I told her how proud you would be of her. She saved us.”

  Jovi stopped crying and raised her head to look up at me. “She did?”

  “Yes! She dug a tunnel out of the fissure and led the civer ants away from us.”

  “But what if they catch her?” she asked, her lower lip quivering.

  “She’s too fast. They’ll never catch her.”

  There was a brief pause while Jovi pondered my words. “Quin is really fast,” she said, smiling.

  “The fastest,” I agreed hugging her again, relieved to see her bright spirit returning. I secretly prayed Quin really had been able to outrun the civer ants. It would devastate Jovi if Quin didn’t survive. I pushed the depressing thought from my mind and refocused on another pressing issue. I figured now was as good a time as any to talk to Jovi about what I suspected. If I was right, I didn’t want anyone else to be around for this discussion.

  “Jovi, there’s something I have to ask you.”

  “I know,” the little girl said looking down, legs swinging back and forth nervously as they dangled from the table.

  “You do?”

  “Yes, and I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry about?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. And I’m sorry I’m not better at it. My mom made me promise not to use my power when she found out what I could do.”

  I shook my head. So Vida had known? No wonder she wanted her to come with us. She must have expected that we’d figure it out. I knew she wanted to keep her daughter safe, but that didn’t excuse her from keeping this secret from me. Hadn’t Jaka just told us how important it was that we were honest with each other? And this wasn’t just some little, insignificant attribute she’d forgotten to mention. Her daughter was a Pillar! One of the very people we were risking our lives to save!

  Jovi’s head was in her hands now as she sobbed quietly. “I’m so sorry, Geneva. I should have told you, but she made me promise not to. She didn’t know if she could trust you, but I did. She said this power is too dangerous and that you’d figure it out when you were meant to. That’s why she wanted me to come with you. She said you’d need me. But I’m sorry no good. I never get to practice. Except for when we play morf tag, but she doesn’t know
about that.”

  I collected my thoughts, as I let the unsettling fact, that Jovi was a Pillar, wash over me. I had suspected the possibility of her having some sort of power relating to the wind when I saw her controlling the squalls during morf tag. I had dismissed the thought almost instantly though, attributing morf tag to the unique magic of the Bellamorf trees that all Betos had access to. Not to mention, my friends had seen Jovi’s morf tag display and none of them offered her up as an option during our Pillar discussions. Plus, she was just a child. None of this made sense.

  I sat next to Jovi in silence. I was trying to figure out what this all meant. What it meant for us, for her. How was it possible that this little girl was one of the four Pillars that controlled the elements? She was so young and didn’t even fully understand how to control her power. I doubted she even knew how powerful a gift controlling the wind was. Or, that it might be a curse, coveted by an evil force.

  When I looked at her thin frame and delicate features, I wanted to cry. Why? Why was this happening to all the people I cared about? First Nova and now Jovi? Why did she have to be one of the four? She wasn’t ready for the consequences of such power.

  Jovi was fidgeting with the hole-riddled blanket draped over her lap while I lost myself in thought.

  “Geneva?” Jovi said, interrupting my sullen musings.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m scared.”

  I pulled her close and hugged her tight.

  “Me too,” I whispered into her hair. “Me too.”

  I made a decision right then and there. I wasn’t going to lose any more people that I loved. I pulled Jovi out of my embrace and looked deep into her honest brown eyes.

  “Listen to me, Jovi. I need you to do something for me. Can you keep a secret?”

  64

  Just as I finished swearing Jovi to secrecy, Isby came squawking back into the room. He circled my head and then flew back out of the rover tortoise, beckoning me to follow.

  “Jovi, I think he found the others. Can you stay here while I go out and get them?”

  “But I want to come too . . .”

  Before I could argue with her, Hollis interrupted us.

  “I think you should both stay inside where it’s safe. I will follow Isby and bring you to your friends.”

  “Hollis, thank you. That is very kind, but I really don’t mind going out to follow Isby. Besides, my friends might be a little frightened of you.”

  “Nonsense! It is my duty to help you, my Eva. Please let me fulfill it. I insist.”

  Then without warning the room swayed into motion. It was obvious that Hollis wasn’t waiting for my response. He was already on the move, hopefully heading in the direction of my friends.

  It took me a while to get used to Hollis’s undulating motion. It’s what I imagined being on a boat might be like; swaying in the sea. After quite a dizzying trek, Isby flew back into the room and circled around us noisily before disappearing into the darkness of Hollis’s impossibly large interior. Shortly after, I heard voices. I ran to the edge of the sitting room and was confused when I didn’t see a door. Isby had been coming and going and it was where we’d landed when we first arrived in the cozy interior of the rover tortoise. But right now, I was faced with a solid wall.

  “Hollis! How do I get out?”

  “I’m not certain it’s safe for you outside, my Eva. We’re surrounded by six others and two of them have spears!”

  I smiled, the two with spears had to be Nova and Journey. “Can you tell me what they look like?”

  “Two females, four males. One has gold hair almost as light as yours.”

  Nova! My heart sang his name as my mind thought it.

  “They’re with me. They’re the ones I’m looking for. If you let me out I can tell them you’re a friend and they’ll put away their spears.”

  Hollis hesitated. “I’m still not sure it’s safe . . .”

  It was sweet the way the rover tortoise was protecting me, but also kind of frustrating. I needed to find a way to reason with him.

  “Hollis, just as it is your duty to protect me, it is my duty as the Eva to protect my friends. Please let me out so I may speak to them.”

  “As you wish,” he conceded and suddenly the wall in front of me vanished. I could see the bright daylight streaming in and hear the voices of my friends clearly. It was definitely them; Nova, Journey, Remi, Eja, Sparrow and Jemma. But the loudest voice I heard was Quin’s and I was flooded with relief that she had survived!

  “Quin!” Jovi squealed with delight, leaping to her feet. She bolted past me and was already hugging the excited wex by the time I landed on the ground next to her.

  “I don’t believe it! You found a real live rover,” Journey exclaimed as he circled around and around the giant tortoise.

  I turned to look at the rover tortoise as I dusted myself off. The top of Hollis’s shell rose slightly above Journey’s head, blocking him from my view until he bent down to examine the tortoise’s scaly brown legs. They resembled coarsely barked tree trunks, until you noticed the thick yellow nails at their base.

  I was still amazed that Jovi and I had been inside of his spacious interior. Even though I’d experienced it first hand, I was still full of questions and disbelief. Hollis was large for a tortoise, but there was no way you’d ever suspect he was large enough to house a house!

  The others all looked dumbfounded, their mouths agape and eyes wide. All except Jovi, who was tangled in the curly fur coat of her beloved wex, being showered with kisses. She was all smiles and giggles as she crooned her thanks to Quin for saving us from the civer ants.

  “His name is Hollis,” I said, “and he helped save us.”

  “This . . . thing saved you?” Remi asked in disbelief.

  He was only half looking at Hollis. He’d been distracted by the stain on my shirt, pawing at it with worry written across his brown eyes.

  “Oh, I’m fine, it’s not mine,” I said, having momentarily forgotten about the blood on my shirt. “It’s Jovi’s. She had a little nose bleed.”

  I grabbed Remi’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly, smiling when I saw Niv peek out of his pack. I let him scramble up to my shoulders and received my own shower of kisses from him. Once Niv was satisfied with his affection and settled down, I realized the others were still looking at me expectantly.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry. I deterred the civer ants long enough to send Quin off as a decoy. When they followed her, I knew I needed to find a place to heal Jovi and I put her on top of Hollis, thinking he was a large boulder. Once I figured out what he really was, he let us hide inside and helped us find our way back to you.”

  Eja laughed light-heartedly, shaking his head at my mistake, most likely thinking that any normal Beto would have known Hollis’s shell was no boulder. I blushed a bit at my inexperience, but smiled anyway. No one seemed to be judging me for my error since they found Jovi and me in one piece. My friends were actually in great spirits after narrowly escaping their brush with the civer ants and certain death.

  “Jovi, are you all right? Is that blood all over your shirt?” Sparrow asked, circling around the little girl, picking twigs and leaves out of her tangled hair like a protective mother hen.

  “She fell while we were fleeing and bumped her nose pretty hard,” I interjected before Jovi could answer.

  Jovi looked up at Sparrow and nodded her confirmation, flashing her infectious smile. “It was just a little nose bleed. I’m fine. See?” she said, rolling up her shirtsleeves to reveal she was intact and spinning in a dramatic circle. Quin tried to jump into her arms and she collapsed into a pile of swirling fur and laughter.

  “Good enough for me,” Sparrow said stifling a laugh and looking more relaxed.

  Sparrow, Eja and I were all chatting rapidly, filling each other in on what happened after I’d left the group to go after Jovi and Quin. Everyone else continued circling Hollis in awe.

  “How did you stop the civers?” interrupted a
shrill voice.

  Ah, leave it to Jemma to spoil the mood.

  “Yeah, how’d you get rid of them?” Journey asked, his interest piqued.

  I knew I’d have to tell them what happened at some point, but I’d secretly been hoping they’d be so happy to see us that maybe they wouldn’t ask too many questions. I hated lying to my friends. My palms had already begun to sweat just thinking about it. But I needed to protect Jovi. Everyone was staring at me expectantly now. Especially Nova, with his beautiful piercing gaze and I was starting to second-guess our cover story.

  “She was awesome!” Jovi piped up. The focus of the group shifted to her, catching me by surprise.

  “You should have seen her! She blew them away! Literally! She made this big gust of wind and that blew the civer ants away from us. But they came back! So then she made this big bright protective bubble and they couldn’t get to us. That’s when Quin saved the day. She tunneled out and led them away from us so we could escape. Then, we found Hollis and he let us inside so we would be protected in case they came back again/ Geneva and Quin are my heroes!” she said while hugging Quin tight to her chest and smiling at me. “Oh and you too Hollis! Thank you for helping us.”

  “Huh? What?” mumbled the startled rover tortoise.

  We couldn’t help but laugh at Hollis’s confused expression. He must have fallen asleep during Jovi’s tall tale and I was thankful for that because I wasn’t sure how much of our battle with the civer ants he had seen and I didn’t want him contradicting our story.

  “Jovi was just thanking you for taking us in.”

  “Oh! Honored to do it. I am a friend to all Truiets. Anything you shall need, I am privileged to help you with, my Eva,” he said while lowering his head into a bow.

  Nova spoke up, “There is something you can help us with.”

  He had been strangely quiet up until this point. I looked at him quizzically, not sure what he was about to say to Hollis.

  “We’re traveling to the Troian Center. We’ve already encountered some dangerous obstacles along the way. Do you think you could help us get there?”