by Celeste Raye
Calypso was shocked. “You know I can’t do that. I can’t hide while everyone I know dies.”
“Yes, I know, Calypso. That is why I knew that you were worthy of training. You will use it to save people.”
Calypso wanted to believe him, but she needed to know more.
“May I come with you so that we can talk.”
“No, you stay here and wait for the guests. I will be back, Calypso. Just know that you’re stronger than you think, and just when all hope is lost, you will find a way. Your love for Stephen will play a huge role in what’s to come.”
Calypso waited for Frank and Stephen to catch up, but it was almost an hour before she heard another sound outside. She thought that it was them, finally coming, but when she went to look, Calypso was then face to face with something that wasn’t alive and wasn’t dead. The eyes were so black, they looked like empty sockets, but they could see.
Whatever it was stopped in front of her and smelled her for a moment. All of her training went out the window. She wasn’t prepared to fight. She wanted to learn, know what was in front of her.
“What do you want?”
“Dragons.”
Instantly, Calypso knew what it was. The Schell. Whatever they were, Bhut had been warning her about them ever since they’d met. He’d known all along what was going to happen, and he hadn’t let her know the full truth, and Calypso didn’t understand why.
She expected the beast or whatever it was, to jump at her, kill her like it was going to kill all of the dragonkin, but Bhut was right. It didn’t want her. It walked away after a moment, moving through the temple, looking for something. Calypso wanted to follow it, but then she saw more. They all did the same thing, smelling her like they weren’t sure and then walking away.
Calypso knew that she had to get out of there before Stephen and Frank walked into whatever was going on. She didn’t understand much of it at all. Bhut was nowhere to be seen, and since he was a human, she knew that he was safe. The love of her life and Frank were not.
A part of her fully expected that she would not be able to change into her dragon form. Bhut had her convinced that she was this fenghuang, but she didn’t believe it. The army of undead descending on the area didn’t seem all that bothered by her. But she was still a dragon. Her color was a bit different, darker black with several other colors splashed on. Her exterior was different, but she was just as powerful as she remembered.
She set off to find her two companions, wishing she would have kept with them, though Calypso realized that she would be neck deep in scary undead guys if she had.
Not far from the temple, she saw them in the distance and made a gesture for them all to meet at the bench in the clouds. It was almost impossible to get there without wings and Calypso was hoping that those things didn’t have a way to fly. She didn’t know enough about them. Rule number one, was always to learn as much as she could about the enemy. They were certainly the enemy.
“What is going on?”
They had all changed, and Calypso hugged Stephen. “It’s not good. The Schell have risen, and they are coming for all dragonkin. They were back at the temple, so you guys can’t go there.”
“You were just there?”
“Yes, but I am no longer viewed as dragonkin now.”
Stephen wanted answers, but she didn’t have any to give him. It was clear that there was a lot that had to be said later, but considering what they were and what was beneath them, ready to strike, she just wanted to get him out of danger.
“We need to get back home and warn everyone. This isn’t going to end well. I need to go back and talk to Bhut, but you can’t come with me. I will go find him, but that place is crawling with Schell.”
“What are they?”
Calypso thought for a moment. “They are sort of human but decomposed some.”
“Like a zombie?”
“Yeah, if a zombie was like a bloodhound looking for you and had intelligence. I haven’t seen one in action, but I’ve seen one up close, and I don’t think that it’s an enemy that many are going to be prepared for.”
Frank piped up about warning Christian.
“Bhut has already sounded the alarm for them. You have to get back and warn everyone else. They are coming, and I have a feeling it won’t be long before home is crawling with them. People need to know what is coming.”
Frank agreed and left towards home, but Stephen stuck around.
“We didn’t have time to talk about anything.”
“I know, we will. This has to be done now.”
“I don’t want to leave you, Calypso. I just watched you die.”
“Well, I am back, and they won’t attack me. They pass right by me. You, on the other hand, I have a feeling that you will be their main target. Bhut said that us being together could stop them. I need to go find out how and you need to stay safe.”
Stephen kissed her, and she melted into his arms. That was exactly where she wanted to be, even though there were a million other things to do. Calypso wished that she could just hide, her and Stephen, and let the Schell burn out. They wouldn’t be animated forever, would they? She needed specifics and pulled back after a long kiss. “I will see you in a few. I will probably catch up to you before you get home. Just be careful, Stephen. I don’t want anything to happen to you.
Stephen scoffed. “I just watched you die a while ago, Calypso. There is nothing worse than that feeling, knowing you can’t do anything to make it better.”
She rubbed her lips against his and pulled him in for a minute. “I promise you that I’m not going anywhere. We are going to get through this somehow, and everything is going to be okay.”
“I sure hope so. Meet up with us soon. Stay only as long as you need to.”
Calypso agreed, but she was still stunned at the situation. Everyone was in danger because of her. How was she going to make it right? Bhut seemed to think that he knew how, but the only way she was going to get that information was to fly past an army of undead out to kill her. Maybe they didn’t bother her because she was already dead herself.
Calypso didn’t like the idea of that. Answers were the only thing that would clear her mind.
Chapter Twenty-One
Stephen caught up to Frank, and the two men went about doing everything they could to get home quickly. No one knew about the undead army coming to get them all. There were going to be no survivors from what the prophecy foretold.
As soon as they landed, they could tell that the place was deserted.
“So much for this being a refuge for our kind.”
“It’s better that they spread out. From how Calypso was acting, there is no way that we want to battle them. How do we kill something that is already dead?”
Stephen was asking questions to himself, but Frank answered anyway.
“I think that we are going to have to stop what has animated them again.”
“So, the witch?”
“That’s what I would put my money on. One witch’s spell could maybe counteract this one, hell, I don’t know. I think everyone has been afraid of this particular prophecy because it’s so old. In all of that time, no one has found a way to stop it. They wanted to keep it from happening when Calypso’s mother was young and in love. They were kept apart for over a century, but true love finds a way, and she was born.”
“Why did I never know?”
“Because you young people don’t worry about the past. In our world, the past can become the present very quickly.”
“So, what are we supposed to do?”
“First, we need to know what they are and how to stop them. Then we can set up a plan. A few of us will run, but once a plan is in place that will work, everyone else will pitch in. We won’t go down without a fight.”
Stephen wasn’t as sure as Frank about that. He had watched everyone scamper away, and it was hard not to see them doing it again. He wanted to believe that everything was going to work out fine, but he didn’t kno
w if that was true.
“Calypso will be here soon. She’s talking to Bhut, trying to get some information. He seemed to know how to end it.”
Frank nodded, and both men tried not to appear as nervous as they were.
“It’s all going to be okay, nephew.”
“D0 you really believe that?”
“We have to believe that. If not, what is the point?”
Stephen agreed, but he didn’t say it out loud. He wanted to believe that something good could come out of all of it. He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but he was still hoping that he and Calypso could be together. He’d watched her die already. It was only up from there.
Calypso was sure that she was going to find the temple untouched when she got back. Bhut had been clear that the Schell were only going to go after dragonkin. That was their sole purpose in rising. Once they had done their job, they would go back to where they had come from.
She thought that Bhut and the other monks would be spared, so when she came upon the temple from the air and saw it in flames, Calypso was shocked. She didn’t know what to think, but she knew that it was all her fault. They had been her friends, and because of that, they were all gone.
The aerial scene was not pretty. She could see fellow monks scattered in all sorts of grotesque ways on the ground. They were unmoving, and she didn’t need to get closer to know that they were dead. She had no idea why they were attacked, but she knew that she had to at least see if she could help.
Landing wasn’t as easy as before because of the flames. Everything looked like it was burning, and as soon as she landed, several of the Schell came out to meet her. They were running towards her like they were going to attack her, and she blew a mouthful of fire at them in defense. But even with a hotter and longer flame than before, they moved through the fire like they were unfazed. Only when they were close enough to smell her did they start to back down.
“What do you want?” she asked one of them as they were walking away.
She got a new answer: “Traitors and dragons.”
Calypso knew that Bhut was going to be in that first column. She wanted to attack the beast, but it wasn’t going to help matters at all. All she could think about was getting to Bhut. She wanted to make sure he was okay, but she also had to get some information out of him. He might be the only person that would know how to stop them. He had warned her from their first day of meeting about the coming of the Schell, she now needed to know the rest of the story. The part of it, that was going to tell her how she was to stop them.
She frantically ran through the temple. Calypso was looking for Bhut, but she was also looking for survivors in general. She was so sure that she would find him alive that she collapsed when she found his body. There was no life left in him, and Calypso cried for several moments.
The heat of the fire around her burned on, but she didn’t even feel it. All she could do was cry. Her one shot at helping everyone and fixing what she had unleashed was gone. Calypso didn’t know what to do, and only when the temple that she was in started to crumble did she leave the building. Everything and everyone was gone.
Calypso didn’t have time to wallow or even grieve. Her mother hadn’t even been buried properly, might never be buried with the ceremonies that were required. That included bringing in many families and dragonkin to celebrate her life.
Calypso left alone, back to the club and the devastation that was going to be there soon. She had seen it all with her own eyes, and Calypso knew that it wasn’t going to be any better for anyone left. It was a mess. One big mess, and it was all happening because of her; she had to figure out a way to make it right.
Calypso needed redemption.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It was a few hours after Frank and Stephen touched down that Calypso arrived at the club. She walked the empty hallways and she couldn’t help but feel lonely in the large space that was supposed to be filled with people. It was also in the last place she’d seen her mother.
The Dynasty Club was completely different now. There were no waiters walking around with trays of drinks, and there wasn’t a guest to cater to, even if the waiters were there. Calypso went straight to her room and was thankful that her chambermaid had the sense to run. It was exactly what she should do, but there was nowhere to go. The Schell were going to come for Stephen, no matter how far they ran, so there was no point. Calypso knew that somehow; she was going to have to figure it out.
It was dark when she got in, and the room that she had for the summer was black as she entered. Calypso should have gone to track down the two men that she was supposed to meet, but she was beat. She wanted to come back with the plan to save them all, but she had nothing.
Her clothes fell off in heaps on the floor as she made her way to the bed. Calypso was exhausted and she didn’t even worry about the fact that she smelled like fire and brimstone. What a day.
When she got into bed, she heard a sound from the other side and was rather surprised that Stephen was there. “I was waiting for you to get back. I must have dozed off.”
Before she could say anything and give him the bad news, he pulled her closer for a kiss. His lips found hers in the darkness, and she mewled against him. It was hard for her to control the sounds that he pulled from her. Calypso couldn’t have stopped them, even if she wanted to; he just felt that good.
Finally, she had to come up for air. Reality was setting in and she knew that it wasn’t the time for that.
“If you’re going to be up for a while, we should talk.”
He shushed her and kissed her lips, telling her that they would have plenty of time to talk later.”
“Last time I went to sleep, everything changed.”
“I know. It is kind of crazy if you really think about it.”
“I know, but I don’t want to think about it. I want to feel you. I thought I lost you today and then being without you while you went back felt like a whole lifetime. I never want to be apart from you again.”
She giggled because he wasn’t wanting to just be close: he wanted to be inside of her, and she was shaking from the idea of it. The last time was all intense and a marathon night, but this was different. Stephen was holding her like she might fly off and be gone forever. He held her like he was never going to let go, kissed her like she was the last woman on earth, and slid inside of her slow and steady. It was too much, and she cried out as he made his second entry so much harder.
There was no one there to hear her, and she called out until her throat was raw. He played her body like an instrument, making sweet music that drove her insane. As much as she liked to believe that he was all she needed and wanted, there was something missing. It was only when they were done and Stephen was holding her in his arms that she finally felt complete.
It was also in that moment that a suffocating fear came over her and she wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to handle it. Now Calypso’s biggest fear was failing to get rid of the Schell and losing all of the dragonkin. More than that, she was scared to death to lose Stephen. Life wouldn’t be worth it without him. After waiting for years to find him, Calypso couldn’t imagine going back to a week ago, before she’d met him.
“What’s wrong, Calypso?”
“It’s just a lot, you know. Too much. I don’t even know what to say or what I can do to make this right.”
He pulled her in and told her that everything was going to be okay; the problem was that Calypso didn’t believe it. That was a hard pill to swallow, considering how messed up everything was. No matter what she tried to do or say, there was no way that Calypso was going to be able to fix it.
Instead of trying to talk it out, Stephen helped her to forget about everything. They needed to get through the night. In the morning, with the daylight, they could formulate a plan.
The next morning, the three met up in the kitchen and had breakfast. So much had been going on that they were all hungry and Calypso didn’t talk until she’d had breakfast, as
well as several cups of coffee.
“So, what did Bhut say?”
Frank asked this over his last bite of eggs, and she stopped dead in her tracks. He was sorry that he had said anything because he could see that she was upset. Frank knew that whatever he had hoped that she would get from her friend, she hadn’t.
“He didn’t say anything else. All he said before I met with you guys, was that me and Stephen had to come together, but he ran off, and I didn’t get an explanation. When I got back, the whole village was burned and everyone there was dead, including Bhut.”
“I thought that they only wanted us?”
“When I asked one what they wanted, they said traitors and dragons. I don’t know what that means, but maybe they think that the monks are traitors? I don’t really know what to think. I was hoping that Bhut would have some answers, but I was too late. It’s all up in the air now.”
Stephen put his arm around her to settle her, but that wasn’t what Calypso wanted or needed. She wanted answers, needed them; comfort wasn’t going to do her any good.
“I wish I knew what was happening and how we are going to stop it. I tried to burn a few of them but they walked through my fire like it was nothing. They were immune to it.”
“And they just left you alone?” Stephen asked. He was just as curious as Frank but had waited to ask all of the questions because of the state she was in when she got back.
“Yes. Apparently, I’m already dead, so they have no use for me.”
Her words made a shiver go up her spine, and Calypso tried her best to ignore it. She wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, but the facts were the facts. She had died yesterday, and now she was left with a big-ass mess and she had no idea how to keep it together.