Redemption (Stand-Alone, Spin-Off to Reaper Series), page 6
Suddenly, Javan turned his head as he noticed movement nearby. Holding up his arm to shield his eyes from the rain, he saw something red and white nearby.
The bird girl. She was standing among the trees, waving to him, gesturing for him to follow her. Intrigued by the bright colors of her feathers and hair, Javan turned from his path and followed the bird girl.
Eve led Javan deeper into the trees, the rain and cold not seeming to bother her, despite the dampness of her hair and dress. With Javan following close behind, she walked towards a rocky wall, covered in thick vines and plants. Eve turned back to make sure Javan was still with her, and smiled when she saw that he was. Javan stood hunched in the rain and cold, beginning to shiver as he watched Eve with interest.
Eve turned back to face the rocky cliff-face, reaching out and grabbing a handful of thick vines and large fronds. She pulled back the plant-life, revealing behind them a small opening in the cliff. Javan lowered his head and peered inside, seeing a cave within the rocks. His instincts told him shelter! Survival! Without a moment of hesitation, or sparing even a glance at Eve, he quickly ducked inside the cave, squeezing his broad shoulders through the narrow opening. Eve followed him, letting the fronds and vines fall back into place behind her.
Inside the cave, Javan curled into a ball in a corner, shivering, hugging himself for warmth, but finding none. Eve looked down at him sadly, concerned for his wellbeing.
“You need warmth,” Eve said in the Angelic language. “A fire.”
Javan gave no sign that he heard, as he certainly did not understand. He continued to shiver violently, his teeth chattering and his breathing erratic. He was aware of the bird girl moving about the cave, but he paid her no attention. He had no care for her bright colors now. He needed to survive.
Suddenly, light began to flicker within the cave, causing Javan to look up from the stone floor. He saw Eve kneeling over a pile of wood and leaves, all burning merrily. Where she had gotten them, though, Javan could not say, as the inside of the cave was barren and lifeless, while anything outside that could have burned was too wet to do so. Regardless, there was light. There was warmth. There was survival.
Javan quickly scurried closer to the fire, still hugging himself, but already feeling the heat wash over his body. The fire was tall and bright, the smoke gently wafting out of the cave entrance and into the wind, which whistled loudly against the space in the rocks. Javan held his shaking hands closer to the fire, watching the flames flicker at him. He lowered his hands closer, wanting to get as much heat as possible.
“Argh!” Javan cried as the fire licked against his hand. He snatched his hand away from the fire and growled at the flames.
“Not too close, Javan” Eve said. “The fire brings life, but it can also bring pain.”
Javan glanced at her, then sneered at the fire. He held his hands out over it again, once more bringing his hand too close to the flames.
“No,” Eve insisted, reaching out and taking hold of Javan’s wrist, gently pulling his hand away. “The fire can hurt you.”
Javan glared at Eve, then snatched his hand away from her, leering. He shuffled around the fire, away from Eve, and held his hands close to the flames yet again.
Eve sighed. “I wish I could make you understand.”
Suddenly, a strange look appeared in Eve’s eyes. She studied Javan curiously, ignoring her hair steadily dripping water onto the stone floor.
“Maybe I can,” she said slowly to herself.
She slowly rose from her knees and stood over the fire, still looking down at Javan with a strange look in her eyes. Javan paid her no attention, he was completely focused on the biting fire and getting warm. Eve walked around the fire towards him. Her approach was what finally made Javan take notice of her. He snapped his attention from the fire to her, watching her apprehensively as she slowly walked closer around the fire. He sniffed, uncertain about the proximity, but not feeling threatened. Eve slowly reached out to him with her hand, letting him see her palm, moving as though she was approaching a stray dog she wasn’t sure would bite her or not.
Javan watched her hand with trepidation, but didn’t shy away. Instead, he simply stared back at Eve as she gently lowered her hand onto his head, placing her palm flat against his forehead.
“I can see a spark of sentience within you,” Eve said quietly. “Please, allow me to give it life.”
An instant later, there was a bright red flash that seemed to emanate from beneath Eve’s hand, the light filling the cave for a split second so that Javan momentarily saw nothing but red. He didn’t recoil, though, because he could not. He felt frozen, paralyzed, his face set in an expression of shock. He felt an electric current flowing into his head, but there was no pain. The sensation was warm, like the fire before it bit him, except it flowed into him, filling his head, and not just warming his skin. His eyes rolled back into his head as he felt the warmth flow from the bird girl’s hand and into his head.
The red light still glowed from Eve’s hand as she looked down at Javan with concentration. Finally, Eve pulled back her hand, the red light dying at once and leaving only the light of the fire, flickering against the cave walls. Eve slowly backed away from Javan and kneeled on the floor before him, watching him closely, holding her breath.
Javan’s mouth had been wide open in shock, but he slowly began to close it, blinking rapidly. He looked around the cave, looked down at the fire, looked at Eve, all as though he had never seen any of these things before. As Eve watched him, he placed his hands close to the fire, but this time it was different. He was more cautious. He moved more slowly, testing the limits of the heat. When he found that he had moved his hands too close and felt the heat begin to pinch his skin painfully, he retracted his hands to a safe distance, now safely enjoying the warmth of the fire.
Eve grinned. “You understand, now.”
Javan looked up from the fire at Eve, looking at her with seemingly new eyes. He grunted once, then frowned, as though the sound had aggravated him.
Eve shifted slightly on her knees as she moved a little closer. She lifted her hand and pressed it against her chest, smiling with excitement. “Eve,” she said, tapping her chest with her fingers. She then pointed at Javan. “Javan,” she said.
Javan blinked at her, confused by the sounds she made. Eve tried again.
“Eve,” she said, tapping her fingers against her chest. She pointed at Javan and said again, “Javan.”
Javan stared at her, but his brow was furrowed as he thought. That in itself caused Eve to grin. He was thinking. Not just following instincts, but thinking.
“Eve,” Javan grunted.
Eve almost laughed in her excitement. She nodded, pointing at herself. “Yes, Eve!”
Javan then pointed at himself, hesitantly. “Javan?” he seemed to ask.
Eve nodded again. “Yes! You are Javan.”
Javan seemed to notice her excitement and must have decided he had done well, because he smiled and began to utter his grunting laugh. He then looked down at the fire with curiosity. After staring at it for a moment, he looked back up at Eve, pointing at the fire and grunting once.
“Fire,” Eve said slowly, pointing at the flames. “Fire.”
Javan looked back down at the flames. “Fire,” he repeated.
“Wow,” Eve whispered. “It worked.”
“Wow,” Javan whispered, echoing Eve’s words back at her. “It worked.”
Eve grinned and laughed. “Javan,” she began. “You are a very special person.”
Javan grinned back at her, showing too many teeth. “Special,” he repeated. “Javan - special.”
For days, torrential rain poured and the hurricane winds blew through the jungle, whistling against the cave entrance as though crying to come inside. Javan waited out the storm in the shelter and warmth of the cave, accompanied by Eve and the crackling fire. Eve took it upon herself during that time to teach Javan as much as possible, mostly how to speak. Javan took to his lessons with surprising enthusiasm, listening intently when Eve would tell him a word or sentence to say, which he would repeat almost perfectly, albeit slightly guttural. When it became apparent that Javan was growing hungry, Eve easily solved that issue. With only a slight wave of her hand, the stones that made up the floor of the cave broke apart and a small tree began to sprout out of the exposed dirt. Javan watched in awe as the tree grew branches before his eyes, which then grew leaves, finally growing bright red apples. The tree stood no taller than four or five feet, but Javan stared at it in pure amazement. He had never seen apples before, and carefully reached out to poke the fruit, watching it swing back and forth on its stem. Javan turned to face Eve, crouched on the ground as he pointed at the red fruit.
“What this?” he asked, his deep voice full of curiosity.
“Food,” Eve said, reaching out and pulling an apple from the branches of the small tree. She raised it to her mouth and took a bite, the flesh of the apple crunching loudly under her teeth. Javan watched with stunned amazement.
“Food from tree?” he asked, like he couldn’t believe it. “Not ground or… or animal?”
Eve nodded. “That’s right. You can find food from a lot of places that might surprise you. Try it. You’ll like it.”
Javan furrowed his brow at the apple tree, but took an apple from the branches anyway. He lifted the apple up in both hands, turning it over as he studied it, sniffing it. He stuck out his tongue and licked the side of it, frowning. After a few moments of scrutinization, he finally took a bite.
His eyes lit up with surprise at the taste. He crunched the apple, staring at it in surprise. He look to Eve as he chewed and, without swallowing, said, “It like chewing water. Firm, but wet.”
“That’s the juice,” Eve explained. “It’s also good to drink.”
“Drink food?” Javan asked, his eyebrows lifting. “You trick Javan?”
Eve giggled. “No, it’s true. I’ll show you.”
It went on like that for days. Javan asked his questions and Eve taught him more and more. He retained knowledge at an amazing rate, his language improving in mere hours. On the third night in the cave, Javan was playing with a piece of charcoal that had fallen from the fire and cooled. He was scribbling it on the stone floor, watching the markings it left behind. He had been quiet for a while, uncharacteristically so, which concerned Eve. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching Javan play with his charcoal.
“Is something bothering you, Javan?” Eve asked.
Javan frowned. “Javan is… different,” he said.
Eve nodded. “Yes. You’re special. You’re probably the most intelligent of your species.”
Javan shook his head roughly, his long, tangled, hair bouncing around his face. “No. Before Eve. Javan always different. The others… They do not like Javan.”
“Why not?” Eve asked.
Javan shrugged, scratching the charcoal on the floor around his knees. “They not accept Javan because Javan… different. Javan made this.” He pointed at the spear he had been carrying, which now rested against the wall of the cave. “To hunt. Better kill, clean, protect Javan. Others do not like this. Then other steal it. Stronger man. Use it, kill with it. All others like it then. Forget Javan make it. Forget Javan.”
“They just don’t understand you,” Eve said. “They don’t see that you’re smart. That your intelligence could save them.”
“Yes,” Javan nodded. “They not understand. They not smart. They just… animal.”
“What about the one who took your spear?” Eve asked. “What’s his name?”
Javan shook his head. “We have no names. Javan only name Javan ever know.”
“Well, what would you call him now?” Eve asked.
Javan thought for a moment, then frowned. “I call him Boulder. He strong, like stone. Cannot be moved. And lumpy face.”
Eve giggled. “Well, if Boulder didn’t like your invention, why did he take it?”
Javan scowled. “Boulder takes what Boulder does not have. Boulder saw Javan with spear. Javan was proud of spear. So Boulder took spear. Threw spear, killed animal. Food for tribe. Boulder provide food, so others like Boulder… Others stupid.”
“They’re not stupid, Javan,” Eve said softly. “They just don’t know any better.”
“They stupid,” Javan insisted. He stood up and walked over to the nearest wall. He stared at it a moment, as though he saw things there that Eve could not, then he raised the charcoal in his hand to the stone wall and began to draw. He drew several stick figures, all standing together.
“We out on hunt once,” Javan explained as he drew. “Javan, Boulder, others. We cannot find food. All hungry. Then we see great beast. Large, larger than us. Four legs and a nose that reached like arm. Two white, curved, spears on face, like great teeth.”
Javan then drew a rough picture of a prehistoric elephant, close to the stick figures he had drawn previously.
“Beast kill three,” Javan said, using his thumb to wipe away three of the seven stick figures he had drawn. “Then beast run away. Javan think we safe, but Boulder shouts and chases beast. Others follow. They try to grab legs of beast, drag it down, hit beast with rocks. Beast kill two more.”
Again, Javan wiped away two stick figures.
“Javan and Boulder remain,” Javan said, pointing at one stick figure to indicate himself, then the thicker stick figure to indicate Boulder. “Boulder roar like animal at beast, but beast not care. Beast walk away. We not hurt it at all. Javan and Boulder go home hungry. Stupid.”
Javan turned to face Eve, the light of the fire flickering over his face. “But Eve fix, now,” he said. “Eve make Javan smart. Javan think. Plan. Understand.”
“I could only do that because you were already smart, Javan,” Eve explained. “I just unlocked the parts of your brain that you couldn’t access yet. It only worked so well because you already had that spark of intelligence.”
“Spark?” Javan repeated, confused. “No spark. Just Javan. But Eve can help. Eve can make others think. Even if not so well as Javan, thinking man better than stupid man.”
Eve giggled. “It’s hard to argue with that kind of logic. But what about Boulder? If he and the others were mad because of your spear, how would they react to me? You thought once that they would attack me, that’s why you tried to scare me away when we first met. Wouldn’t they not like having me try and help?”
“Let Javan help,” Javan said eagerly. “Javan knows of some who more likely to like Eve and pretty feathers. Eve can make them smart. If enough others are happy, others will follow. Boulder will be problem, but forget for now. Eve will help?”
Eve thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. Eve will help. I’ll stay in a cave closer to your people and you can bring the willing ones to me. We’ll start slow, just a couple at a time. And I’ll unlock the parts of their brains that will make them sentient.”
Javan furrowed his brow. “Javan still don’t understand everything you say, but Javan know you helped. If not for you, Javan be dead, frozen in storm. You saved Javan. Now you save others, too. Thank you.”
Eve smiled, feeling pleased that Javan was so grateful, but also proud that she had improved him so much. She thought when she told her father about Javan, he would be proud, too.
In her pride, Eve failed to notice Javan turn back to the two stick figures on the wall. Eve didn’t see Javan lift his thumb and smear the figure of Boulder away, leaving only himself.
7
HIDING SOMETHING
E
ve returned to Javan’s suite a couple of days after her first visit, just as Javan had asked her to. As tempted as she was to just appear in Javan’s living room through a portal of swirling light and startle him, she restrained herself, reminding herself that it was better to be courteous and respectful. It was much more polite to announce herself at the reception desk with Lilith, allowing Javan to prepare for her to arrive.
Besides, she thought to herself as she rode up the elevator to the suite. What if I showed up and Javan wasn’t wearing pants or something?
As she giggled at the thought, the elevator announced her arrival to the suite level with a cheery ding and the doors slid smoothly open. Eve stepped out into Javan’s home and looked around, wondering where he was. An instant later, Javan came hurrying down the stairs and into the living room, offering Eve a welcoming smile. He was holding a cell phone to his ear and was talking into it in fluent Mandarin. He held up a finger to indicate to Eve that he’d be just a moment. A few seconds later, he wrapped up the call and lowered the phone, grinning widely at Eve as he walked towards her.
“Eve!” he said with enthusiasm. “Lilith phoned up and told me you were here. Your timing is perfect. Isaiah just brought up a package for you.”
“Isaiah?” Eve repeated, looking around.
Nearby, standing just beneath the painting of Eve’s own green eyes, Isaiah stood silently, smiling with apparent embarrassment at Eve, holding a large, flat, box, which was tied in a red ribbon. Eve immediately felt embarrassed as well, though she didn’t see a reason why she should be. She folded her hands together and smiled back at Isaiah.
“Good to see you again, Eve,” Isaiah said.
“Yeah,” Eve nodded, feeling like her brain was working too slowly. “You, too.”
As Isaiah turned away to hand the package over to Javan, Eve took a deep breath, half to steady her inexplicable nerves and half out of sheer frustration with herself.
What the Hell is wrong with you!? Eve screamed at herself inside her head.
Javan walked closer to Eve, grinning widely as he held the package out to her.
“I bought you something,” Javan said. “To wear to the benefit.”
“What, is there something wrong with my dress?” Eve asked, looking down at her white debutante gown. “This was my mother’s dress, you know.”
“And it’s a lovely dress,” Javan said patiently. “But this is a formal benefit we’re going to. One that is going to be attended by numerous wealthy and influential people. As beautiful as you look in your dress, the scrutinizing eyes that will be admiring you tonight will undoubtedly question if it belongs at a formal event like this. I feel like things would go a lot smoother tonight if you dressed a little more… to their tastes.”
