Calypso broke the water, feeling the silkiness of it quickly envelope her as she sank downward. Then she turned her body around and resurfaced. She floated on the surface of the pool for a minute, and then headed toward the edge of it. Pulling herself up, she soaked up the silence of the pool. She reached the high dive ladder and clambered up. This was her true home- on a high point, about to spring into the void. As she stood on the board, a thought occurred to her. She looked around furtively, making absolute sure no one was around. If someone caught her… She dove through the board, then reverted her body back to solid and executed a perfect flip sequence before once more dropping into the water.She made sure her eyes were the only thing showing above the water and peered around again. When no one appeared, she gratefully popped her nose and mouth above. Suddenly feeling tired she got out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel. She took a quick shower and dried off, but her hair was still soaked. Looking around again she made the change and when she was back to ‘normal’ again, her hair was dry. Just another odd quirk of being ‘special’. Thanking no one in particular as she gathered up her bag she treasured the emptiness of the pool. It opened early enough that no one was around when she was. Swiftly she finished changing and left the Y, impervious to the fact that she was being watched.
His eyes followed her as she got into the car. For the past six months he had tailed her with an obsession that bordered insanity. No one else could or would be able to understand and keep up with why he did it- no; this was his burden to bear. He had been at the hospital that night, seen her, had witnessed what she could do. But now he had gathered all the information, obtained from hours, days of carefully spying. The job would be finished soon, he thought as he watched her car speed away, and that would finally be the end of Calypso Levise.
*****
Calypso slammed the door shut. She had little time to prepare. Inside she was greeted by her cat Ops who jumped down from the top of the staircase. Calypso smiled. They both liked heights. She dumped her bag by the door and made her way up the staircase to her room. Maybe she could take a nap before all the last minute checking and planning. She closed the door, but not before Ops sashayed in. She looked around the room and went over to her full length mirror. Examining herself critically, she turned a few times and then transformed. She looked at herself calmly. The initial panic was long gone. Now that she had been like this for six months, one week, and four days, she could stare at herself without revulsion. Normally she had light brown hair, ice-blue eyes, and a muscular body. Now she was almost colorless, her body flickering slightly as if she wasn’t quite right, wasn’t quite there in the proper sense. Glancing again down at herself, her eye caught a picture tucked into the top of her mirror. It was of three people: two women and a man. The two women looked very much alike with the exception of their ages- one looked about twenty, the other, forty-five. The man was the same age as the older woman with blond hair. All three of the people were laughing and smiling at the camera. Calypso looked away quickly and closed her eyes. Unwillingly she was thrown back in time, her mind reliving what had happened that awful night…
Smoke. Smoke everywhere. Pushing at her face, choking her. Giving up, struggle useless. She would die here, she knew it. In her final moments, she forced her brain to work. How did this smoke get here? This couldn’t be happening. Normal people’s houses didn’t just go up in flames. And then her mind gave out from lack of oxygen and all was black.
She opened her eyes. White. She flinched away from the brightness and immediately regretted it. Pain everywhere, shooting up her body. She froze. If she stayed still, it was held at bay. How long could she hold? She gave out. Maybe she could escape through unconsciousness. Then footsteps neared her door. No, the pain would have to go on a little longer. She relaxed into an easier position to stay in but even that brought it up. She couldn’t do it. A cheery doctor bustled in, smiling as he checked the charts by her bed. “Hello Miss Levise,” he practically sang. “You’ve been out awhile. We were wondering when you were going to pull through.” Seeing her perplexed expression he added, “It’s the 8th of January.”
January 8! She had been comatose for almost four days. She tuned to look at the doctor, pain splintering up her as she did, but he was busy injecting some clear liquid into her IV. “There you go! That will hold the pain off for a little bit. You sustained quite a few burns. You’re lucky to be alive…”
At this she started. “Where are my parents?” she asked urgently.
His smile wavered. “Well, they had injuries much worse than yours. There’s no need to worry about it now. They’re quite stable.” At this he grimaced. Calypso wanted to ask him more, but the morphine he had injected into her IV had taken a full hold on her system. She was once again fighting unconsciousness, safe this time, but the consequences of slipping away just as dire as before. She fought the morphine in vain and once more plunged into darkness.
Calypso opened her eyes. The flashback had been upsetting. She hadn’t wanted to go back to that day. But removing it from her memory was not something that could easily happen. After she had woken up again, a nurse had informed her of her parents’ deaths. She had been so wretched. It had felt like something had died in her, and strangely enough, she had felt like something had been born inside her also. Then she had wished to disappear. And bizarrely enough, she did. She was so shocked by her colorless state that she went through the bed. When she was released from the hospital she experimented with her newfound ability. She found out that what she was doing was actually turning her body into the body of a ghost. Something like that anyway. When she wanted to or let her guard down, she went through objects. It took a lot of concentration to not do it all the time.
It was because of her ability that she was conducting this test. Because of what had happened, she needed to be sure she could take care of herself in a life or death situation. She was going to jump off one of the cliffs surrounding the huge and completely dried up lake on the outskirts of her town. She had guessed that her form would hold and that she could reassemble herself after she dived through the lake bed. She had been working on the experiment for several months now, just after she moved to this insignificant settlement in Arizona. But now in less than 24 hours she would be plunging off of a cliff surrounding the lake. Finally she would find out if her endowment was worth anything. Finally she could start to move on from her parents’ deaths. She was ready to begin living again.
The Next Day…
Calypso stood on the edge of a cliff, feeling the early morning wind whip at her, trying to dislodge her before she was ready. She held her ground, waiting for the moment. As the sun rose, she would jump. If she actually knew anyone, they would accuse her of being dramatic. But that wasn’t the case now. No friends, barely any acquaintances. It was better that way. She shook those thoughts from her mind. Only a few minutes till sun rise. She could feel herself shiver with anticipation and adrenaline began to course through her veins. Only a minute now. Forty seconds. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. As she relaxed into her familiar diving position something caught her eye. A man was coming toward her, trying to keep out of her sight. There was a bulge in the pocket of his jacket. She immediately prepared to jump but with almost inhuman speed the man caught her arm in a viselike hold. He pointed a gun at her head. She panicked and forgot everything, especially her power to get out of this situation.
“Stop!” she frantically cried out.
“No way Miss Levise,” he snarled.” You’ve avoided me enough. The time has finally come.”
“Enough? I’ve never seen you in my life.”
“Yes you have. Think back to the hospital. I was there.”
She racked her brain. Yes, there had been someone there with the same hair and face but his jacket then had been covered with ashes…
“My parents,” she whispered. “My life. Why?”
He stared at her. “The very reason you’re jumping off a cliff. Your mutation.”
“But how...” she asked bewildered.
“There have been a lot more tabs on you than you think,” he responded. “You have to be watched and monitored. Otherwise you could-“
“What are you talking about? And what does this have to do with my parents?”
“Your parents died for their own good. And it was unlucky that you survived. But not long enough to keep me away from you.”
But only one sentence had registered with Calypso. She was furious. This man had set fire to her house, killed her parents and almost killed her. Fury unlike she had ever felt before surged through her veins. She was livid. As she looked up at him, he could see the change in her. He backed away, bur didn’t drop the gun.
“It was your ancestor Borack Uriel,” he stammered.
“Really,” she spat.
He looked nervous. “On your mother’s side. He was like you. Creepy. Unnatural.” He seemed to grow braver. “He had powers like yours. Only many more. I’m guessing that all of your family was a little gifted. Only trauma brings it out. Which is what happened to you when you didn’t die. Now I’m ridding the world of your family. We can’t have abnormalities taking over the world. You could if you tried, but now you will have no chance. You’re the last of your family. No way out, no way to carry on the gene.”
“Really Daren,” she whispered.
He froze. “How do you know-?“ He broke off. “It doesn’t matter.”
He aimed the gun at her but she quickly knocked it out of his hand. With a cry of rage he lunged at her- an act of stupidity on his part. She was standing at the edge of the cliff. She watched him come at her and at the last second she changed. He went through her and fell off the crag. He plummeted down, fifty meters from the edge of the precipice. She watched Daren Tearce as he dropped to his death. Then without another glance at him, she threw herself from the cliff.
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