by Celeste Raye
Calypso shrugged. “Frank trusts her, and we need her help. I think that pushes it over the edge. We are to the point Stephen, that we don’t have a lot of options. I’ve come back from the dead for you. I am not going to let anything happen to me. I just worry about you. Don’t go down, Stephen. If you have to run, then you run.”
Stephen frowned at her. He knew why she said it, but he didn’t like the idea that he would actually do it. That wasn’t in his nature. He couldn’t just run and let everyone else deal with it.
“I can’t do that, Calypso, you know that. Besides, if what the witches say is true, it’s not like we can hide and run anyway. They will just keep coming, destroying everything in their path until they find me. That doesn’t sound like a very good idea to me. We have to take them out, or no one will survive. This isn’t something that we have a choice about.”
She sighed loudly. “I know, but you don’t have to be a hero, okay?”
He took it as she was trying to keep him safe, but he couldn’t help but feel like it was because he had failed before.
“Just worry about yourself and that witch. If they say they are evil, be careful. I know you think you’re invincible, but you’re not.”
“I know. I just don’t have a choice but to go. If they are the only way that we can stop the Schell, then so be it.”
“What about what Bhut said?”
“He’s dead. I guess he didn’t know everything after all. We have to try this way. There is no other way right now. I never got the rest of his theory.”
“He said that we should be together.”
“I need you at the coast. This has to be the way.”
He wanted to argue with her, she could see it in his face, but Stephen just kissed her one last time and then stalked off. He wasn’t happy about it. She wasn’t either, but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that the two of them figured out a way to stop the Schell. After that, they could worry about happily ever after. There was going to be none of that, if they didn’t get rid of them first.
Calypso watched him go, but her heart hurt. She did remember the last time that she spoke to Bhut quite well and he had seemed to think that it was love, their love, that was going to save them. They had to merge, but she didn’t know what that meant, so how was she supposed to make it happen?
Maddie was ready to go, and she looked hopeful.
“Are you ready for a ride?”
The witch nodded, but her trepidation was written all over her face. She didn’t want to get on the back of what Calypso turned into, but their need to go far and fast made the decision that much easier. Maddie held on tight; Calypso could feel her tension, but after a few minutes of flight, she seemed to calm down quite a bit. Both of them were worried about what was going to happen next, but they had a mission to focus on. They didn’t have time to freak out, and Calypso was more grateful for that than she would ever realize.
Once it was all over, then she could break down.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Frank and Stephen made it to the coast in a few hours, and the only reason that it took that long was that they were picking up help on the way. Frank had warned many people of the coming storm, and many had been more than willing to help. That made it easy to get a pack of dragons from all bloodlines to work together. Their land was in danger, and they had to protect it.
“I wish we had learned a way to stop them altogether.”
Frank agreed. “At least we know that fire won’t cut it. I made sure that everyone knew that. Decapitation and pulling them apart is the only way to even temporarily stop them.”
Stephen pressed his lips together. None of this is what he wanted to be doing. Every moment that he was away from Calypso, physically hurt him. Frank seemed to pick up on it and asked him if he was okay.
“I just don’t know how this will turn out, Frank. I finally found Calypso, and I can’t lose her now. Not again.”
“It will be okay, Stephen. I know that somehow, this whole mess is going to turn out just fine. You have to trust me on this one.”
“Do you have more secrets up your sleeve, old man?”
He shook his head that he didn’t. “Not at all. I wish I did. This was what everyone tried to stop from happening. It was taken seriously because it was a very serious thing. Freya didn’t care. Calypso’s mother was just as spirited. She wouldn’t let anyone tell her what was right or wrong, what she should do. Know that Calypso is just like that. You two will be back together. True love really can conquer all, no matter how cliché it may sound.”
Stephen smiled and thanked Frank for his kind words. He wasn’t sure if he believed them or not, but he was glad to hear them, nonetheless.
“I sure hope you’re right, Frank. I didn’t think I would have this much action this summer. It was just supposed to be some training with my uncle.”
“I think that the time for training is done, nephew.”
“Too bad my girlfriend can put me on my ass.”
Frank chuckled. “I won’t tell anyone.”
The two stayed together, talking about old times, while others paired up all along the coast. No one knew what they were supposed to expect, just that they were coming. They had to be coming, though the other coast was covered as well. An SOS had been sent to everyone that could help.
It was getting to the hour of the day when the sun wasn’t sure if it was going to go down for the night or linger on the horizon forever. Stephen heard a shout down the coast, and before long, he was hearing them to his left and his right. It was easy to imagine what it was. The Schell. No one living had seen one except Calypso.
Stephen stiffened up. His first reaction was to run to the yelling, but then he realized that there was something coming up out of the water. It was like they were walking on the bottom and had finally gotten to an area that was shallow enough to see them. One head came up and moved towards them. He whistled to Frank, but he didn’t need to. Frank’s eyes were on the creatures as well. There were quickly at least eight in front of them. It was happening all down the coast. Stephen wondered if the West Coast was getting hit as well. He also had to wonder what happened to all of the people and dragonkin on the way. He shivered at the idea.
“Remember, lop their heads off and throw them far.”
Stephen agreed and shifted into his dragon form. He could see more wings and bodies in the sky. Some were even using fire, because that’s what was normal for them. It felt weird not to use fire on the Schell, but it would do no good. Instead, he divebombed them and took off their heads with his claws, throwing them far off into the ocean. It wasn’t long before the wave of Schell had stopped.
There was a loud cry around him. It was a cry of victory, and he took a moment to let the feeling slip over him. He knew that it was most likely not the outcome that they expected. He knew that they were going to get up again, that’s what everyone who knew about them said, but he liked to hope that they wouldn’t. Maybe the prophecy had just made it seem scarier than it really was.
Frank and Stephen moved back to their human forms and watched the horizon. The color was almost gone, but the moon was merciful, and it was about an hour before more shrieks came from the dragonkin around him. They were coming back to life.
From that point on, his eyes were on the water and any disturbance. The Schell kept coming, one after another, but it wasn’t a concerted effort like the first wave. Each one took time to piece itself back together under the water, but the instinct was the same.
By morning, the line was exhausted, and Frank was calling in more people to switch out. They would have to hold the line as long as they could. They had to hold it until Calypso found a way to fix it. It wasn’t too bad one on one, but when they came back to back for hours, anything alive was feeling like they might drop dead.
“I don’t know how much longer we’re going to be able to hold out, Stephen.”
“We have to hold it as long as we can. There is no alternative. Ha
ve you heard anything from the West Coast?”
“No one has seen anything yet, but they are looking out for them. I have reinforcements coming so that we will be able to take a break. I think you should check on Calypso after you get a little rest. We need to know what is going on with the witches.”
Stephen thanked him because they both knew that his heart was with Calypso. He wanted to make sure that she was okay and as much as he wanted to tell himself that she was, Stephen needed to get his eyes on her to make sure. It was all he could think about and the more he tried to push it out of his head, the more it was in the forefront of his mind.
“Just be careful. We will hold this line, Stephen. You have most of the dragonkin working together. This may never happen again, but there is a lot of power in our kind.”
“There is. You be careful too, Frank.”
“You’re not going to call me old man?”
Stephen shook his head. “No, you have held up just as well as us young bucks. I have nothing to say about that, even in jest.”
Frank didn’t let him see it, but he was beaming. As much as he knew that everyone was joking about his age, Frank was certainly feeling it at the moment. He felt every year and then some.
“I will be back soon. If we can take the witch down, you will know it. Those damn things will drop and go back to where they came from.”
“Here’s to hoping.”
Frank waved at Stephen, and both of them had to wonder if they were going to see the other again. That was no longer a guarantee, and it made the goodbye that much more important.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The feeling that Calypso got when they were close to the Benite house was nothing short of dread. She felt like her whole body was fighting against being there. The closer they got to the house, the tighter the knot in her stomach became. She feared that this was not going to end well.
They landed, and Maddie got off of her back before she switched back into her human form. Maddie seemed to be affected as well.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Calypso agreed that she did, but it didn’t help the feeling that was coming over her. She knew that there was no way that they could walk away from it all. The witches there were the only ones that could help. Calypso wouldn’t let herself wonder what would happen if they refused. How would she be able to make them?
“I don’t want to go in there; every fiber in my being is telling me not to.”
Maddie shook her head and looked up at the house with trepidation. There were a few lights on, but it wasn’t a relief that someone was home.
“They aren’t necessarily evil, though, right, Maddie? I mean, no one is good or bad. We are all just a little of both.”
“I wish that were true. Once a witch starts doing dark magic, it changes her, makes her stronger, but at a price. All magic has a price, and I can’t even imagine what was paid to have so many undead reanimate after so long. They are messing with strong dark magic, Calypso. We have to be careful.”
Calypso agreed again, but she was getting more nervous by the moment. Whatever was going to happen next, Calypso knew that she was going to have to be prepared. She was as much as she could be, and that was going to have to be enough.
Maddie let her get ahead just a little bit, and that didn’t help Calypso to feel any better. Nothing was going to help until this deed was over. The closer they got to the house, the darker it started to appear. The trees were thick and it almost blocked out all of the sunlight that was coming in from above.
Calypso got up the courage to finally knock on the door, and she was doing her best not to let her nerves show. It was harder than it sounded, particularly because she was visibly trembling. Maddie put a hand on her shoulder, and she could feel warmth radiate out of it. No matter what it was that she had done, it calmed her down almost immediately.
She knocked again, harder this time, and her body shook still. It was coming and going in waves, and her teeth were starting to chatter. Calypso wasn’t usually afraid of anything, but it was hard not to feel that way when she could sense the evil in the air. It made it thick and was palpable.
Finally, the door lock turned, and she heard the click as it disengaged. Calypso didn’t know if she should be happy or not. Part of her had hoped that they were gone. They wouldn’t get their answer, but she would be able to get away from them.
A woman that was even shorter than Calypso opened up just enough to get her head out. She had the appearance of a young woman, but the eyes didn’t fool Calypso at all. She had a flash of memory, the woman standing over her bed, but it was an older woman. A much older woman, but Calypso knew instantly that she was the same one.
“You, I know you.”
“Yes, I suppose you do. I was wondering if you would remember me or not. Come in, Phoenix; we have a lot to talk about.”
Calypso felt her teeth grating at the name. If she was right and that was the same woman, this was the witch that had killed her. She’s the one that had made her a phoenix or whatever she is now.
“My name is Calypso.”
“I know who you are, girl. We’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen.”
Calypso felt a shiver go up through her and she looked around the entry room. The woman had said we, so Calypso wanted to know who else was there. She was under no false assumption that she was safe.
“And you are?”
“Deidre.”
“Benite?”
“Yes, child. Is that really want you want to know? From what I am hearing, the Schell are tearing through Europe and will soon be on our shores. I can’t imagine that you would be so fixated on my name. What’s in a name?”
“A lot, if you are the one that can help us stop the curse and put the Schell to sleep.”
Deidre smiled big. “Why in the world would we do that, child? We have waited for this day. After all of this time, do you really think that we would stop it? This is what was desired, and now it is finally coming to fruition. No, I don’t think I will be stopping anything.”
Calypso knew that it was going to be that sort of answer. She had known it as soon as she had seen her, remembering who she was. It wasn’t hard to see it even now.
Maddie spoke up and asked Deidre what she was going to do when the Schell passed by them. “No one is safe. They took out a monastery, temples, humans; what’s to say that they are going to spare you?”
“We started this.”
“You keep saying we. Who is we?”
Deidre motioned towards a chair in the corner. The person sitting there was not recognizable as a human. To Calypso, it reminded her of the Schell that she had met. The woman didn’t look the same, but she had the undead, reanimated look to her, and Calypso felt that familiar shiver running through her spine.
“That is my mother. She was the one that first started this all, and now she will finally get to watch you all die. It will be quite satisfying for her, and I will finally be able to let us both rest in peace. I am tired, and I know that she is too.”
Calypso had to stop herself from saying something smart that was on the tip of her tongue. They were not going to get any help there. It was best for them to leave. Calypso was thinking about what was said before, if the witch wouldn’t help. Then maybe the mother needed to die. Would she even be able to? It looked like she had passed into the land of the unliving long ago.
“We will be going then.”
“The Schell are close. Are you sure you don’t want to stay? I would love to see what they do to one of your kind up close.”
Deidre was looking at Calypso, but she didn’t mean her.
“I can’t be killed by them, remember?”
She grinned in an evil way, her lips curling up towards the top of her face. “No, dear, I wasn’t talking about you. I am talking about the one that will come for you. Then we will see it firsthand. I am sure Mother would love that. After what your kind has done to her, taken from her, it’s the least that
you can do.”
Calypso tried to turn to leave, but she was pulled towards Deidre. “Sit down, girl. I told you to stay.”
She was thrown into a seat and unable to move. This must be what they did to Stephen, she thought to herself. Calypso’s worst fear now was somehow being as powerless as he had described being while something was happening to the man she loved. She’d never be able to live it down and Calypso knew that he wouldn’t be rising from the dead as she had.
“Please, just let us go. You’ve done enough.”
“Child, we’re just getting started.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Stephen was moving fast, and though he didn’t know exactly where the two women were, he knew the area they were in. Once he got close, he was sure that he was going to feel something and know that Calypso was there.
The house came out of nowhere, and even though it was dark out, he could still see the windows lit up. He knew that Calypso was there, and she wasn’t hurt, but that was as far as it had gone. They certainly weren’t out front stopping the curse. A part of him half-knew that there was going to be some kind of showdown. It was a trap, he could feel it in his bones, but that changed nothing; he still had to go forward and do what needed to be done.
Stephen had thought a lot about what was going to happen next on the trip. He knew that he would give up his own life if he had to. Calypso was going to be okay, so in the end, he was going to be okay as well. The idea that she was going to get to carry on was enough to help him make the next decision. Stephen knew that he wasn’t going to be walking out of that house, but he was okay with it. After what he’d seen on the coast, Stephen knew that he would do anything to keep those things from spreading any further.
He went to the door and knocked. A part of him wanted to kick it down, sure that something horrible was happening on the other side of it, but he had no idea what was going on. Stephen just had to let it play out and hope that he would get to see Calypso again.
