Free The Geneva Project - Truth by Christina Benjamin Page B

there.”
    “ Me?!  You scared me! I thought you were turning my brain to mush or something!”
    “ I know, I’m sorry about all that.  I’ve never shared these secrets with anyone and I guess I didn’t think about how you might react.  I’m sorry, Tippy,” he said sounding downtrodden again.
    I scooted closer to him and grabbed his left hand, gently scooping out the little flame he was controlling. 
    “ All is forgiven,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder.  “And I’m sorry I called you a freak.  I guess we’re both freaks, huh?”
    Nova smiled and shrugged, “I like the sound of that.”
    We sat like this for a while, trading the light back and forth with each other. In Nova’s hand it was a flickering flame, in my hand it transformed into a white, gaseous orb.  The beauty of it mesmerized us.  Each seemed a fitting representation of us.  Nova’s flame was bright, bold and fiery, and my orb was ever-changing and seemed a bit unstable.  For the first time tonight I started to feel more like myself than ever before.  I couldn’t explain the feeling of ease and contentment I felt playing with this magical source of light on the damp forest floor with Nova.  It was like the feeling of finally coming home, even though I had no recollection of my actual home.  This feeling gave me strength, courage and peace that I was doing the right thing.  And it gave me trust in Nova, like I had never had for another person before.  I felt like our souls were meshed together like the flickering flames before us and that he would always be a part of me. Nova gave me a reassuring sigh of contentment.  I guess he was feeling the same way, or perhaps reading my thoughts.  I turned to look at him and said,
    “ Can you tell me everything about you?  I don’t want any more surprises and I won’t overreact, no matter what you tell me.  I promise.  I just want to know you.”
    He smiled at me and reached out his empty hand, pulling us to our feet. 
    “ Nothing would make me happier, Tippy,” he murmured.  “There’s a lot to tell, but we better be heading back, I think your light show woke up the whole forest.  We’re going to have to go deeper next time.  You’re a lot more powerful than I even imagined.”
    I beamed at his praise of my powers, and followed Nova, brushing the mossy forest floor off my legs as I walked.  I let Nova light the way, and held his hand to keep on the trail.  As we walked, Nova started to tell me about his life.  How he had grown up in a small village on the edge of the rain forest called Leone.  As farmers, his family worked alongside the Beto people to learn the best ways to farm the land.  They had a great relationship with the tribe, and Nova remembered playing in the fields with his little sister, Ivy, and their friends from the forest while their fathers worked. When the Flood came, his father brought him, his sister, and their mother into the forest to find higher ground, but they never made it.  When they entered the forest it had already begun burning from the lava.  Nova’s father told him to climb a nearby tree and not to stop until he reached the top.  That was the last he saw of his family.  He thought they were climbing the tree as well, but when the storm was finally over and he could cling to the tree no longer, he slid to the ground to find he was completely alone.  At first he thought they may have climbed other trees nearby, so he searched and he searched and soon realized that the trees held nothing for him.  He wandered aimlessly around the forest until he was eventually found by the Grifts and brought to the Troian Center. 
    “ And you know the rest,” he said.
    I pondered this for a moment.  I still had so many questions.
    “ When did you find out you had powers?” I asked.
    “ I think it first started right after the Flood.  After I couldn’t find my parents I was so alone and had no one to talk to in the forest, so I just did