Geneva Sommers and the Quest for Truth

by C J Benjamin

  “My heartbeat?”

  “Yeah, we can hear really well, too. I can block out all the other noise and just focus on one thing. It makes it easier to find your prey.”

  “Can you not use that word? I’m already freaked out enough,” Remi said swallowing hard.

  “Fine, but when I heard your heart beating it seemed really familiar and I figured out it must be you out here because I didn’t know anyone else well enough to know the sound of their heart beating.”

  Remi just stared at me wide-eyed. He seemed stuck between admiration and sadness. It contorted his face in a twitchy way that made me think he was going to cry. I didn’t want that to happen at all and I put a comforting arm around his shoulders. He looked at me with such honesty in his big chocolate-brown eyes and asked, “What’s happening?” But before I could say anything else, Nova interrupted us.

  “She can try to explain that to you later, but right now we need to be leaving. We’ll return here again tomorrow to meet with Eja,” Nova said.

  He had such a commanding tone to his voice that for once I didn’t challenge him. He reminded me of the war leaders we read about. He had such poise and confidence that we all fell in line like obedient troops, marching single-file through the dank forest, following his firelight. No one spoke, but I did keep a watchful eye on Remi, who seemed to jump with every snap of a twig or nocturnal sound that found us. I was subconsciously using my powers to see in the darkness surrounding us and listening to the strange sounds of the forest at night. I heard them so often now that they were starting to sound as comforting to me as the crickets outside my window. I hummed along to the night song as our merry band of misfits made our way back to the Troian Center. Even though tonight was overwhelming and had once again not gone as planned, I couldn’t help feeling elated now that Remi was a part of our group. I was so happy to not have to hide things from him anymore. I was sure that once I found some time to fill him in on everything that was happening to me that we could go back to being best friends.

  24

  We were just a few yards from the opening to the fields when something stopped me in my tracks. Journey heard it too because he stopped and motioned for us all to come toward him.

  “What’s going on, Tippy?” Nova telepathed.

  “Not sure yet. I think there’s something out here. I think it’s a tarcat!”

  “What?”

  “Just stay with Sparrow and Remi. Journey and I will track it.”

  Nova gathered the others and huddled with their backs to a large mossy tree, while Journey and I fanned out, keeping in constant eye contact with each other. I kept hearing the heavy panting of a large animal nearby, as well as the frantic sounds of other smaller animals trying to scurry away. We swung wide off of the trail and were instantly upon it. There, with its back to us was a large tarcat with its face buried deep in the earth, rooting around for something. It was slashing its massive paws, with its long claws gleaming in the filtered moonlight. I was frozen with fear watching it thrash a marmouse it just pulled from a hole in the forest floor. The marmouse screamed in pain as the tarcat clamped its massive jaws around its helpless, writhing body.

  “65, let’s go. It’s not after us and I think it’ll be distracted long enough for us to get back to the Troian Center.”

  “What? No! I’m not going to let it murder that helpless marmouse! We have to do something.”

  “Yeah, and that something is get the heck out of here before the tarcat catches our scent. These aren’t like the tame tarcats we’re used to at the Center.”

  Journey reached for me, but I balked and gave him a threatening look. I knew better than to cross him again, but he also knew better than to force me to defend myself.

  “You can go, but I’m staying here!”

  I turned my attention back to the tarcat and knew I had to act fast, because the amount of blood pooling on the ground was spreading, flowing from the marmouse in massive amounts. I was frozen in place at first. In an eerie way, the pooling blood reminded me of when I spilled my ink well. Knowing how quickly the ink ran out sprang me into action at once. Without a plan, I produced a large orb and hurled the flash of blue light at the tarcat, temporarily blinding it. My orb was enough of a shock to cause the tarcat to lose hold of the marmouse, but the poor thing was so injured it could do nothing but lay panting in a pool of its own blood. The tarcat whirled around and laid its hungry eyes on me. He licked his blood-stained muzzle, exposing his dagger-sharp teeth. He was seemingly contemplating whether he wanted to mess with me or go back to the easier prey because he kept looking back toward the marmouse. Either the prospect of taking down larger prey seemed too cumbersome to him, or the metallic smell of blood that was filling the air was too powerful to turn away from; but whatever the case, the tarcat began to turn back toward the maimed marmouse.

  “No!” I screamed.

  Strangely this stopped the tarcat in his tracks. He looked back at me, curiously cocking his head to the side. Then the most shocking thing happened. The tarcat spoke to me.

  “So you’d prefer to be my dinner then?”

  I was speechless. I frantically looked around to see who else this comment could have come from. There was nothing, no one. Journey already left me and I was standing alone. I was unable to deny that the deep throaty voice was none other than the tarcat’s. He stood before me, twitching his tail impatiently and took a threatening step toward me with a questioning look in his eyes. I knew better than to give up any ground. Tarcats feed on power and giving up even an inch to him would only encourage him to attack me. I’d become accustom to their temperaments since we were forced to encounter them daily as they roamed the grounds of the Troian Center. And I knew my best bet would be to show him respect and convince him that I was more dangerous than he expected. I took a step toward him, begging my legs not to fail me and gave a deep bow. This seemed to work. It stopped him in his tracks. We held this standoff for what was probably less than a minute, but it seemed like an eternity to me as I racked my brain for what to do next. I tried to steady my breathing and slow my heartbeat so I could concentrate and figure out what powers I had that could rescue me from this situation. I formulated the best plan I could on such short notice and decided now was as good a time as any to give it a try.

  “I don’t want to hurt you. I respect you and all creatures of the forest and that is why you must leave. If you do not leave, I will be forced to defend myself and that marmouse, which may end badly for you.”

  The tarcat lowered his head and glared at me, but I got the feeling he could understand me. He took a step back without ever taking his vicious eyes off of mine. I slowly stepped to my right until I was close enough to touch the large tree near me. I placed my hand shoulder height on its massive trunk and fanned out my fingers as wide as they would go. My hand began to glow and for the first time the tarcat wasn’t looking at me as a meal, he was focused on my hand and the slow, grey matter that was spreading in crackling waves from it. The hairs on his back bristled and stood as he crouched lower and growled. Now the hard grey stone began to spread rapidly. It climbed the tree, wrapping its way around the trunk higher and higher, choking the life out of it as it went. The ear-splitting sounds of the wood splintering as it gave way to the infection I was spreading, echoed eerily through the forest. Soon, what once were bountiful branches were now heavy stone limbs that began to fall. One hit right in between me and the glowering tarcat, who let out a startled hiss and with that he made up his mind to retreat. And I made up my mind to do the same. I dove behind a large boulder that must have been remnants from the volcano. I balled myself up as small as I could behind it and waited out the storm of falling rocks that I created. I was beginning to feel pretty awful with myself for killing this tree. It was a majestic relic of the forest and it was obvious I’d done too much damage to heal it. Maybe this is what worried Sparrow when Journey taught me this magic. I was starting to see how I could quickly lose control of it.

 
; I kept peering around the boulder to where the marmouse lay. I was terrified that one of the far reaching branches would fall onto it, finishing the job that the tarcat started. I couldn’t take the chance of waiting for the tree to stop dropping stone limbs, so I took a deep breath and propelled myself toward the marmouse. I used the powers that Sparrow taught me to quickly bound through the air, which brought me to my target almost immediately. When I came upon the poor thing I tried to pick it up as gently as I could, but it screamed in pain and thrashed wildly. I could see panic in the whites of its eyes.

  “I’m here to help you. I promise I don’t want to hurt you. I know someone who can help me heal you. Just let me take you to her.”

  Her eyes were still bulging and she was laboring immensely to breathe but she didn’t resist when I laced my fingers under her as delicately as I could. I took off running, holding her as gently as possible. I headed to where I had last seen my friends, shouting Sparrow’s name.

  “Over here!” Sparrow yelled to me.

  They were closer now than where I left them. They were coming to help me! Journey hadn’t abandoned me; he’d gone for help. I was glad to hear Sparrow’s voice and I ran toward it. When I reached my friends, I could see the shock on all of their faces. I was panting and struggled to give them a rapid recount of what happened so that Sparrow and I could get down to business and heal the poor marmouse.

  “There was a tarcat, he’s gone now because I scared him by turning a tree to stone, but he injured this marmouse!” I said, gasping to catch my breath as I uncradled my arms, thrusting the marmouse toward Sparrow. “You have to help me heal her!”

  Sparrow looked at me with more sadness in her eyes than I’d ever seen.

  “Tippy, I think she’s gone.”

  “No! She’s not. She’s still breathing,” I croaked as my voice cracked, betraying my emotions. “We can heal her. Please help me!” I said as the tears started welling up, blurring my vision.

  “Okay, put her down and we’ll see what we can do,” Sparrow said kindly.

  I lay the quivering marmouse on my lap because even the mossy ground seemed too harsh for her ravaged body. Her fur was matted with blood and her sides were heaving as she struggled for each rattling breath. Sparrow and I lay our hands on her and we watched as the warm yellow glow from our palms slowly spread over her. Some of her more superficial wounds began to close up, but the deep, gaping ones seemed unable to find the means necessary to heal completely, leaving small ragged holes all over her body. I felt Remi’s hand on my shoulder and looked up to see the sorrow that had washed over the faces of each of my friends. That was when I knew we couldn’t save her and I began to sob.

  “I promised. I promised I’d help her,” I cried.

  Everyone was silent, and I watched Sparrow move her hands away from the marmouse in defeat. Then I heard a soft, squeaky voice that could only belong to the dying soul in my lap.

  “I must beg another kindness from you. Promise me to take care of my baby. I was protecting him from the tarcat. Promise you will protect him.”

  I nodded and softly pet her head, smoothing her silky fur away from her glassy eyes.

  “I promise,” I whispered.

  Then, the marmouse gave her final shuddering exhale. I began shaking with uncontrollable sobs. It was so unfair that this poor animal had to die. It was so unfair that I had all these powers, yet could do nothing to save her. It was so unfair that my life was so messed up and seemed like it was no longer my own. But what I found most unfair was that there was a baby marmouse out there who would have to grow up never knowing its mother. I knew what that felt like and it ripped me to the core to know that I had let that happen to another.

  I was shuddering and taking in rapid, sputtering breaths between my sobs. Remi, who was kneeling behind me, wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me tightly. We rocked back and forth while I let Nova gently remove the dead marmouse’s limp body from my lap. Sparrow tried to clean me up, but I could have cared less what I looked like. I knew I had to find the baby marmouse and deliver the bad news about its mother. The trouble was I didn’t know how I would be able to find the strength to do so. I felt like a pile of worthless mush and would have been happy to just melt into the forest floor and disappear forever.

  “You can’t, Tippy. We need you. The baby marmouse needs you. You made a promise and I’m going to help you keep it.”

  I couldn’t believe what Nova was saying. I knew he could hear my thoughts, but I didn’t think he could hear what the marmouse was saying. It made me feel so much better that he understood her too. I felt renewed energy in the fact that he was on my side and would help me do this. He instantly lifted my spirits by eliminating the burden of fighting with him about why I had to rescue the baby.

  I looked past the others to find him, but only caught a glimpse of his silhouette hunched over. At first it startled me and I stood up thinking he was hurt, or ill, but as I approached him, I saw something that melted my heart and raised a lump in my throat. Nova had dug a shallow grave for the marmouse under a tree and was working hard to carve a cross at its base. A new batch of hot tears streamed down my cheeks when he turned to look at me and I saw the way his eyes were welling up. It reminded me of the way the rain water pooled on the palms, creating a heavy sparkling droplet that swelled and stretched as far as it could before finally becoming too much and releasing into a free fall.

  I knelt beside Nova and began patting at the soft soil he had dug up. He joined me in smoothing the dirt on her grave and when our sullied hands touched I felt the familiar spellbinding sparks that Nova gave me. We seemed frozen for only a moment, yet that moment told me so much. It was more than telepathy, it was more like seeing into the depths of each other’s souls. It was shocking and comforting at the same time to see Nova’s sorrow over losing the marmouse and how it correlated too closely to his own feelings of loss over his family, just as it had with me. We were more alike than I knew and that calmed me to have his understanding. He looked at me longingly for a moment and I grew hot as he stared into my eyes. Then he retracted his hand and used the back of it to wipe at his forehead, leaving a big streak of dirt. I realized I was holding my breath until that moment and finally released it, reaching up to brush the dirt from his forehead but stopped half way when I became aware that the others were gathered around us and decided to just point it out to him so he could wipe it off himself.

  We all knelt and bowed our heads in silence, filling the air with our heavy sorrow. Although we hadn’t been able to save her, we’d done right to send her off with our humble burial. My eyes were squeezed tightly closed when I heard Nova start to speak the most beautiful words I’d ever heard.

  “Light to dark, bone to dust.

  Our souls to you we trust.

  Take us you may, to another day, not so far away.

  I do not fear for the ones I hold dear are just around the bend, where there is no end.

  Only love, light and eternity.”

  When he was done, I shuddered at the eerie beauty of his words and squeezed his hand with my thanks.

  He nodded at me and said, “Shall we?”

  I knew exactly what he meant, but the others seemed confused as they followed us back into the forest.

  “Nova, what are we doing? We need to get back! You said so yourself and that was before we stopped to fight a tarcat and bury a marmouse,” Journey complained.

  “Yes, Journey’s right. If we don’t leave now we may all be caught!” Sparrow added.

  “There’s something we need to do first and I need all of your help for this,” Nova said.

  I continued to lead us silently back to the spot where I encountered the tarcat. Soon we came upon stone limbs that lay shattered as if they were made of glass. Limb after limb covered the forest floor in piles of gray rubble. It looked like a stone graveyard and made me shudder. I almost couldn’t believe that I was the cause of such destruction. I didn’t have time to really see how bad
it was before because I was so busy trying to rescue the marmouse and not get clobbered by falling branches. But now, standing in the totality of my damage, I could only feel shame burning hot inside of me as I looked up to where the once majestic old tree stood. Nova put a comforting hand on my shoulder and drew the others around me. Sparrow was staring, mouth open in shock, while Remi’s eyes seemed so large that they were threatening to pop right out of his head. But Journey stood sternly with his arms crossed, looking annoyed.

  “So, what do you need us to do?” he asked patronizingly.

  “We can’t leave the forest like this. It’s too suspicious and we can’t afford to draw any more attention to us. We need to clean this up. Journey, you need to crush as much of this as you can. Sparrow, Remi, can you pile the smaller pieces up so they just look like ruins that we would bring back to the rubble pile?”

  Everyone nodded silently and got to work. Nova and I wandered around for a bit until I located the spot where the tarcat had been. At first I was disoriented since the surroundings all looked the same with the giant stone limbs everywhere, but once we stumbled upon it, there was no mistaking it. The ground was saturated with crimson blood. The smell was so strong that I could taste it and it made my stomach pitch violently. I felt my knees buckle under the weight of my sorrow. Nova once again came to my rescue, steadying me and pulling me into a quiet embrace. I could feel my body rattling and tried hard to fight the tears that were threatening to break through by burying my face into Nova’s warm chest.

  “It’s okay, Tippy,” he said while he stroked my hair. “Come on, we need to focus on finding the baby.”

  This seemed to bring me back to my senses. I straightened up and rubbed my eyes to refocus them on our mission. I turned toward the hole that the tarcat had been thrashing at. It was big enough for me to crawl into at the mouth. I gave a look back at Nova before I knelt to wiggle my way into the hole. It was hot and smelled strange, like musky earth. I gave myself a moment to let my night vision kick in. I noticed that the tunnel started to narrow as I moved further in. The mouth must have been so large from the tarcat’s attack and I was beginning to get nervous that I wouldn’t be able to go much further when I heard a squeaking to my right. I carefully turned my head and saw a set of tiny black eyes blinking at me. Its little nose twitched anxiously and it inched toward me curiously. Soon his coarse whiskers were tickling my face as his wet nose nuzzled my face. This filled me with such an overwhelming happiness and hope that I wanted to cry again, but this time because my heart was brimming with joy. The baby marmouse was alive and well. He seemed so happy and oblivious to what happened. He allowed me to scoop his warm little body up in my hands as I carefully backed my way out of the earth.