The Geneva Project - Truth (26 page)

Everything was exploding—the sky, my mind, Jemma’s fury.  Luckily, not too many people seemed to notice Jemma’s fall since it perfectly coincided with the beginning of the fireworks.  Even now, everyone’s faces were drawn skyward, watching the spellbinding eruptions of color and light.  I could feel the aftershock of each explosion boom through my chest and I was struggling to tell whether the terror I was feeling on the inside was purely from my fear of the fireworks or that of Jemma’s wrath. 

Remi hadn’t even taken time to bow.  He was back in the pack and we were struggling to get to each other as our year was corralled off stage. I tried to stay put while the other orphans funneled around me, but I kept getting swept up in the crowd.  It didn’t help that I had to try to keep an invisible marmouse sheltered as well.  I caught sight of Sparrow linking arms with Remi and I breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t alone and let myself get ushered backstage. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit staging area again, and when I finally got my bearings in the swirling crowd of orphans I spotted Nova and ran straight into his arms. I couldn’t help myself.  I was fighting so hard to keep everything together that when I felt him wrap his warm arms around me I melted, completely dissolving into the true mess I felt like inside.

“
Nova?  What are we going to do?” I breathed into his chest.  “Did you see what…”

“
I saw,” was all he said and then he pushed me back away from him and looked me in the eyes.  “Are you sure you still want to do this?”

All the fury and determination I felt when we fled the lockers returned, surging through my veins, fueled even stronger by Jemma’s wickedness tonight.  It had to end tonight.  No more excuses.

“
Yes.”

Nova nodded at me as the others arrived.  We all gave each other tense glances, but then Sparrow fell into a fit of giggles. 

“
What’s wrong with you?” I hissed, starring at her wide-eyed.  But then Remi dissolved into laughter as well and we all couldn’t help ourselves.

“
You’re mental, you know that?” I said, rolling my eyes at Remi as I tried to stifle my own laughter while giving him a playful shove.

“
I don’t even know what came over me.  It just happened.  But I wish you could have seen her face!  I don’t know what part was better, the shock and fear as she fell, or the pure embarrassment when she got up?” Remi snorted.

“
Her voice was pretty great, too!” Journey added, grinning widely.

“
Alright, I agree it was funny, but we need to stay out of her way for now because she’s going to want revenge for getting embarrassed like that and we have more important things to worry about,” Nova added, bringing us all sharply back to reality.

We recomposed ourselves and lined up for our final act of the night, the Troian Center Promenade.  All the orphans had to line up by year and parade slowly across the stage showing the number boldly tattooed upon their shoulder, hoping some compassionate citizen would take pity on them and offer to adopt them.  After an adequate time on stage we all bow and head back to the Troian Center, fading into the night, merely an afterthought to the citizens until the next year’s Gala deems us necessary again. 

I always hate this part of the evening.  It feels so degrading to walk across the stage one by one, showing every angle, with the hope that someone will find you interesting.  It made me feel so vulnerable and exposed.  Like I said, I don’t hold out any hope that I’ll be fortunate enough to be adopted.  In my experience the citizens only want babies or very, very young children that they can raise as their own.  But by now, I’m sure their opinion of us is that we’re all a bunch of lost causes.  Nothing more than lowly, dirty locals, living in squalor and doing the manual labor that they would never dream of participating in.  It is interesting to see how some of the other orphans hold out hope still.  They seem to have different strategies to get noticed.  Most of the Johns will walk straight and tall and flaunt their muscular build, while others, mostly the Janes, will try to play on the sympathy of the citizens by looking meek and fragile, almost frightened.  It’s hard for me to hold back my aggravation when I see this behavior from the same not-so-fragile Janes who help Jemma torment me daily.  Jemma, for as much as I despise her, at least handles herself with dignity on the stage.  She walks tall and proud and smiles brightly to the crowd, giving a little curtsy before she walks off. 

When it comes to my turn, I just try to get it over as quickly as possible, scurrying across the stage, spinning in my circle in the middle with a pause for a half-bow, before retreating to the darkness and safety of the curtains on the far side of the stage.  I sigh, finally feeling relaxed knowing I made it through the evening, with Niv safely hidden and all of my friends still intact; so far.  I’m sure Jemma would have more to say to us at the feast when we returned to the Center, but for now I was trying not to think about it.  I breathed in the contentment I felt for surviving the night thus far, and took my final look at the sparkling city before we would depart on our journey back to the Troian Center.

The way we exit Lux is never as grand as how we enter.  We leave through a back door in the stage and file silently uphill along a white walled passageway until we reach the gate, where we unceremoniously filter out into the dark, cold night.  The finality of the slamming gates rung freshly in our ears, reminding us that we are not part of this beautiful city we just visited.  We will fade away from the citizens as unnoticed as the dissipating smoke from the fireworks. 

The walk home seems to go by quickly.  Everyone is at ease with the performances behind them and they eagerly chatter to each other about the awaiting feast at the Troian Center.  Orphans take wild guesses at what kind of treats will be served this year, making wagers and comparing favorites.  The Johns tease about what types of creepy-crawlies might be covered in chocolate, making the Jane’s squeal and squirm.  A debate about chocolate-covered civer ants versus chocolate-covered beetles has broken out and seems to be getting heated.  Someone else is shouting that candied jellyfish beat both.  Despite the happy mood of the group and the fact that I’m walking with Sparrow, Journey and Remi, I don’t feel much like celebrating.  I’m not even looking forward to the deep-fried custard cakes that I dream of all year long.  All I could think about was Niv and Jemma.  My mind was still buzzing, unable to figure out how she found him in the first place, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that she had more in store for us tonight after the stunt that Remi pulled on the stage.  I was keeping a keen eye on her bobbing raven head in the distance.  As long as I could keep her in my sights I felt a little less panicked. 

Journey and Remi were still reliving Jemma’s fall even as we entered the courtyard.  They were hooting and ribbing each other.  Remi’s actions seemingly moved him up a notch in Journey’s opinion, and the two of them were in cahoots more than I’d ever seen.  Sparrow was rolling her eyes, but every so often she’d let her composure slip and a giggle would escape her pursed lips.  I was grateful when I felt Nova nearby.  I headed in the direction from which I felt his presence, wanting to talk to him as soon as possible. 

“
Quite a night, huh?” he said, eyebrows raised.

“
I don’t even know where to begin,” I said smiling back at him.

Even with all the craziness that we just encountered and knowing there was surely much more in store for us tonight, Nova’s smile had a way of soothing me.  For half a moment, I felt like everything was going to be alright.

“
You okay, Tippy?” he asked giving my shoulder a squeeze.

“
Yeah, I’m just a little shook up from everything that happened at the Gala I guess.  I just want to get tonight over with.  And I don’t want any more hiccups.”

Nova studied my face, narrowing his piercing-green eyes a bit.  This always made my skin burn hot, feeling his eyes studying me this intensely.

“
Tippy, what aren’t you telling me?” He asked. “What else happened?”

“
What do you mean?” I asked, genuinely sure I wasn’t intentionally hiding anything from him at the moment.

“
I don’t know, I just feel like something’s off?  Something’s got you spooked.  What’d you see, a ghost or something?” he joked, giving me a little nudge with his shoulder.

Just then my eyes lit up!  The ghost!  After all the commotion backstage, finding Niv, and Jemma tripping, I had totally forgotten about the figure I saw in the mirror. 

“
Yes,” I gasped, feeling the icy gooseflesh race up my spine and spread out over my cheeks. 

“
Jeez, I was joking with you, Tippy. What’s the matter?”

“
I think I really did see a ghost.  I meant to tell you earlier so you could check it out, too, but I got so distracted.  I found this mirror and when I looked at the reflection in it, it wasn’t mine.  I… I think it was Nesia,” I whispered.

“
Okay, I think you might need to sit down or something.”

“
No, I’m not crazy.  Nova, I know what I saw and it wasn’t me.  The girl looking back at me wasn’t even a girl, she was a woman, and she was beautiful.  She had perfect red lips and ice blue eyes that almost glowed, and her blond hair was even brighter than mine, and perfectly braided, and…”

I stopped talking when Nova took my chin lightly in his hand, softly brushing his thumb over my parted lips.  I held my breath, not knowing what was coming next.  But he released me and showed me the red smudge on his thumb.  I stared at it perplexed, as he lightly touched the crown of my head, releasing my wild blonde hair, cascading down my back. 

“
Tippy,” he said quietly, “you were finally seeing yourself tonight.  You saw what I see, what we all see.  You are so beautiful,” he said reaching for my face again, inching his closer to mine, until I could feel his breath, warm against my skin. 

“
No,” I whispered, “it wasn’t me…” but then I couldn’t finish, I was lost in Nova, totally absorbed in his closeness, wishing his words were true, as they clouded the sharpness of the memory of what I thought I saw in the mirror.  I wanted to give in, I wanted him to be right, because I longed to be that beautiful girl in the reflection, but I still had a feeling that my eyes had deceived me.  I felt my breath catch as his lips drew closer to mine, and I closed my eyes.  But before we could connect, the sharp
gong
rang out through the courtyard, startling us and signaling the beginning of our feast. 

Shrieks of excitement erupted, filling the courtyard and infusing the air with so much jubilation and hopefulness that it was hard to recognize the Center as the same orphanage we resided in daily.  Nova smiled down at me and shrugged, suggesting we should head in as well.  We followed the crowd into the brightly lit dining hall.  This was the one time that we weren’t restricted to our normal order.  It was such a chaotic scene that I had to laugh.  Everywhere I looked there were orphans piling their plates with as much as they could carry, stuffing things in their mouths with sighs of delight, letting oozy syrups drip down their arms as they licked their fingers for every last drop of decadence. The scene was dizzying.  The normally dim dining hall flickered to life with hundreds of candelabras atop our tables, which were covered in bright papers and tropical leaves.  The whole scene was topped off by the strings of boldly colored lanterns draped with streamers hanging above our heads.  This was by far the best day of the year at the Troian Center.  It almost made the rest of the year seem bearable. 

I sighed when I spotted the rest of my friends, already enjoying the splendor of treats before them at our table.  They were cheering each other sloppily with mugs of mulled cider.  It made me feel hesitant to ruin this moment by making them come with me to get the book of secrets.  Maybe it would be better to do it on my own and let them enjoy their meal. 

“
Don’t even think about it, Tippy,”
came Nova’s voice in my head.

I sighed again, but this time I sat at the table and tried to enjoy a chocolate teacake, slipping pieces into my invisible shoulder bag when I could.  After a few more minutes of celebrating I decided we needed to get down to business.

“
Alright, if we’ve had enough to eat I think we should discuss our plan,” I said, interrupting Journey and Remi mid-toast.

“
Yea…awl’t…ls’do-ts…” Journey mumbled with a full mouth.  I stared at him no longer trying to disguise my disgust for his eating habits.

“
He means, ‘All right, let’s do this’,” Sparrow interpreted, with a shy grin.

“
Okay, good.  Well, here’s what I’m thinking,” Nova chimed in.  “The simpler the better.  Tippy and I will leave first and head to Greeley’s office.  Journey and Remi, you give us a good head start and then follow us.  Sparrow, we’re going to need you to stay here as our lookout.  If you hear or see anything suspicious telepath to Journey, okay?”

Everyone nodded, but started to look uneasy, realizing that this wasn’t just talk anymore; it was actually going to happen.

“
You’re sure the book is in Greeley’s office?” Sparrow asked.

“
According to the part of the legend we read in the locker, that’s where we think it will be,” I said.

“
What are you going to do with it when you get it?” Remi asked.

This made me pause for a second, realizing that I hadn’t really thought beyond finding it.

“
Bring it back to our room I guess.  We can do the invisible charm on it until we can take it out to the forest with us.”

“
Works for me,” Journey shrugged.

“
Okay.  Well, here goes nothing,” Nova said, winking at the others as he got up from the table and sauntered out of the dining hall. 

I took a last look around the table at my friends, thanking each of them with my eyes.  I looked to Remi last, locking eyes with him, feeling his concern and fear for me in each frantic thump of his heart.  I quickly looked down, not wanting to absorb his worry.  I pushed back from the table and walked out of the happy dining hall, and into the dark hallway of my destiny.