Fitz paced back and further in front of the only door separating him from his child and wife. Suddenly the door opened and he rushed inside, heart pounding hard against his chest he thought it would burst out. He saw her holding steady on the bed with two little bundles in her arms. He smiled at her. Happy to see Sophie safe. Happy to see his kids safe.
He walked over nervous, he ran a hand though his hair wondering what could happen. Then it all went away as Sophie, his wife, held his hand and brought him close. They shared a kiss and he took one of the cute little bundles. A boy and a girl, twins. Fitz held his daughter in his arms both proud and nervous for her. She seemed to refuse to open her eyes or speak. Sophie held their son in her arms and he opened his eyes almost immediately. Teal eyes stared back at them both and he spoke his first word.
"Fly."
They looked at each other knowing now was the perfect time for naming. Sophie gave him a smile. "You choose." She spoke, her voice a little shaky and Fitz held her hand in his. "How does Soarin sound?" Sophie smiled and nodded. Baby Soarin laughed and repeated his name like it was a joke to him.
They both then turned to the baby girl. She stayed quiet but breathing and still had not opened her eyes. They both knew that there was no reason to worry. Yet.
Fitz rushed to his son's side at once as the baby called out Foxfire to the Leapmaster 500 after learning of the prestigious academy. He just barley managed to pull him away before he stepped into the light. Fitz sighed and took Soarin to the living room with Sophie, Grady, Edaline, Alden, and Della. They all sat in a worried circle. It had been almost two weeks and still no sign of anything other than sleep and closed eyes eating from baby Calla, a name given to her by her mother. Soon the rest of Sophie's guests came. Biana and Tam Song, Dex and Linh Dizznee, and Councilor Keefe Sencen.
Fitz nodded at everyone as they gathered around Calla. "Still hasn't woken up from her beauty sleep?" Keefe joked to lighten up the mood but Sophie brought it back down again by shaking her head. Calla shifted to get into a more comfortable position on Grady's arms. Eventually they decided she would come around in her own time and put her in a special crib. They ate as they spoke in soft words about the child who even under the watchful eyes of Sandor was an escape artist. Sandor burst into the dinning room and with one look at Sophie she stood, stuffing her face with her mallowmelt and raced back to the living room. The house was searched top to bottom till they found the baby in the fire place laughing like her parents horrified faces were the best joke she had ever heard. Linh immediately got water and splashed the fire out and Calla stopped laughing. She looked around at the wet timber with a quiver to her lips.
Seconds later Elwin burst through the front door. He sighed. "You know I should just move in at this point." He chuckled at Sophie's un-amused face as everyone else tried to hold their laughter in. Elwin checked Calla over and over again and shook his head every time.
"There's nothing wrong with her." He said turning to Sophie and Fitz. He turned back around for one last check and his blood ran cold. "Where's the baby?" He said and soon it was another house-wide search. Until Calla was found hanging by the crystal chandelier in Sophie's old room. "How?" Dex muttered to himself as he got the baby down and came back to join the rest. "Guys I found her...whats with those faces?" He asked at everyone's shocked face as they looked at him but he soon realized it as someone else they looked at, someone in his arms. Someone who was on fire at the moment. Literally.
Dex screamed and ran to the nearest bathroom to extinguish the fire and jumped in the shower. Calla tried to shove herself into him like she didn't like the water. Dec turned it off and she relaxed a bit. Then lit on fire again. Instead of panicking he watched the baby closely and saw her wet hair dry up in seconds and so did the clothes around the spot where she was. Then her chocolate brown eyes met his periwinkle ones. They had the same flecks of gold her mother's had.
Once she was dry she seemed happier. Dec came out of the bathroom with a fire engulfed baby and gave a soft and awkward smile.
"Congrats, she manifested a Pyrokinetic at 2 weeks. Also, she hates water." All mouths fell to the floor. Linh approached the baby and Calla moved away from her in Dex's arms. "Well, she hates water and everything related to it," Keefe said stating the obvious.
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It had been four years and the twins ran circles around each other excitingly. Calla was behind a few feet trying to catch up with her brother but he was faster than her. She then got an idea and then fire emerged and spouted from her feet giving her a kind of boost but one she wasn't in complete control of.
She was shot forward with a stream of flames behind her and she tackled her brother to the ground in a fit of laughter. Then their mother's voice rang in their heads as if she were standing right next to them.
What did I say about getting dirty and playing rough?
Both children dusted themselves off and transmitted back.
Sorry, mom.
The two children smiled and then ran back to their house, it stood at three stories at most. Millions of rooms and a Leapmaster 500. It dazzled in the warm sunlight so brightly it seemed to vanish at times. It over looked the ocean and had the best view of the clear blue waters. Cliffs that were blocked off by a gate to the left and to the right a lush green forest. The twins thought the same thing and ran in happily unaware of the danger and the price it would cost their family.
Calla ran ahead of Soarin and laughed when she hid and her brother could not find her. She had tucked herself away in an old hallow tree their parents told them never to go to since it could break. When ever they asked why it was hallow and not green and alive like every other tree their parents would go silent and have trouble talking. Stumbling over their words and the twins just let them be with no further questions.
It was close to a small cliff that led to rough seas and sharp rocks but Calla kept low to the ground in case the tree really did break under her. She held back a laugh when she heard her brother struggling with finding her and moved closer to the tree. Suddenly gloved hands went right over her eyes and mouth stopping her from seeing whoever it was and screaming for help. They roughly shoved her away from the tree and she fought back with what little strength she could use. Then an idea hit her although she was told not to it unless being attacked, and this certainly seemed like one. The hand on her mouth disappeared and was replaced by a very sweet-scented rag. She lit her body on fire thinking hurt over ad over again in her mind and a silent muffled scream answered her question of if she was even inflicting damage or not.
She used this opportunity to break free of the mysterious elf's hold and she did but her legs wouldn't function correctly. She wobbled as the world spun not giving her a clear vision and unable to detect her attacker. She stumbled as she fought with all her might to stand up straight and not pass out or throw up.
Her head was killing her, the pounding and throbbing in her ears, the muffled sounds and voices. She could see a blurred face and a long black cloak but couldn't hear the voice. In her mind her brother's voice rang and thrashed around in her head as she held her skull, the pain made tears come to her eyes as his voice boomed.
Where are you?
She did her best to transmit two words before she could an even more skull breaking pain hit her.
Get mom.
She could feel him nod and then since she had been so distracted her attacker swung his arm and it hit her hard on the side of her face. Knocking her back a few feet and she lost her footing and nearly fell down the deadly fall of it had not been for a rock that was deep into the ground. But she knew she couldn't hold on forever. She was bound to fall eventually and her attacker thought that eventually was too much time and stomped at her hand. She squeaked in pain and she could see his cruel crooked tooth smile looking down at her.
He then took her bruised hands in his, the rough feel of the gloves and the ash-covered scent stuck in her mind. He then threw her down and she found her voice to scream. He glimmered away without a second glance her way. Then three figures appeared, her family. Her brother's teal eyes looked at her in horror, her father held her mother back from jumping as she felt him reach out to her with his mind. But her mother was the one she focused on the most. The same chocolate brown eyes they shared, the golden flakes that simmered in the sun. Calla reached out her hand for her and she noticed how her mother did the same.
Suddenly her head crashed into something hard and sharp sending skull-rattling pain into her head knocking her unconscious. She was sent somewhere dark, somewhere she felt familiar but also lost. It was warm and she felt a tingling sensation explode in her pain filled body. She didn't want to be in there but she didn't want to face cold reality again. She wanted to go somewhere safe, like the human world her mother often spoke about. The one with tiny houses and weird things called cars since humans couldn't light leap. Suddenly it felt really warm and she could see light up ahead. She was scared and debated about whether she should go or not but if it meant she could be safe again she passed through the hole in the dark and she hit hard cold ground and passed out.
/
Sophie watched in horror as her baby girl hit her head on one of the many sharp rocks below and sunk into the rough seas that carried her little body away. Blood stained the rock she hit and Fitz had to hold her back from jumping in herself. She screamed when her body didn't come back up for water and she used her telekinesis to float down to look for her. She reached out her mind to her daughter but she couldn't feel it anywhere. This was not good news. Even unconscious she should have been able to feel her mind. How could this have happened? Fitz held her close as she cried and when Soarin tugged her sleeve and asked the most heartbreaking question she had ever heard.
"Mom, when's Calla coming back up? She's gonna be okay right?"
Sophie cried and hugged him and sobbed into his tiny shoulder as she repeated one thing to him over and over again.
"It's okay sweetie, I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry."
And with that, it dawned on Soarin what had happened to his dear sister. She was in trouble, someone had done this. Anger boiled hot like the Everblaze and it coursed through his veins. He swore to find his sister's murder and avenge her. He swore to get stronger, to be the best, to find her killer, to help her rest in peace knowing she didn't die unavenged.
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Calla lumbered along the sidewalk bored. Her team had won another game but she was in no mood to celebrate. They only won because another person on the opposite team hurt themselves trying to catch her home run. They had twisted their ankle so badly they nearly broke it. Then the bench warmer came to replace them but they weren't very good at all. Her team had seen it as a good game and wished the kid who got hurt a good recovery. When she had come up to apologies the look in the child's eyes told her that they didn't want to hear it.
She walked home with her head down feeling terrible. Her stomach knotted so many times she doubted that she would be able to eat the victory dinner her family had prepared that morning. It was tradition in the Marquis family to make a victory dinner for the achievements that Calla and her twin sister Betty made.
Betty was a perky 12-year-old and wanted to try everything. She was the smart one of the two but also the most clueless. She was oblivious to the fact that she turned men's heads and broke hearts with just a smile. Betty was the beautiful and happy twin who didn't care much for appearances. Unlike Calla who was tall, lanky and awkward.
In fact, people were quite shocked to find out they were twins at all. Betty was a short ginger with freckles all over. Her happy green eyes and perky attitude was a polar opposite of her twin. Calla had dirty blond hair in a whole family and generations before of red heads. Also to be the only one in the whole family to have brown eyes was even stranger. In fact, she was different from her whole family in every way.
Tall, lanky, perfectly tan skin, flawless and freckle-free skin. Her dirty blonde hair cut short like a pixie but it was growing back. Her mother often described her as a 12-year-old model. Even though it was a lie in Calla's eyes. If anyone was the model it was Betty. Calla was just the prototype before the official beauty came out. Between the two Betty was the youngest and attracted boys like bees to the queen. Calla was the older one who was off limits since she refused to date.
She was athletic and just barley catching up with everyone else in her class. Something always nagged her in the back of her head telling her that everything she was learning was wrong and it was some odd scrambled way that didn't make any sense. And to put icing on the cake she was dyslexic. She couldn't understand a single letter written at all. Betty had to help her out since Calla refused to move schools to help with her dyslexia.
But there was another thing that separated her from her family, something that left a gap so wide it could fit an infant amount of Mt. Everest and the whole world's population including the dead and still have space for more. Calla could do things that no one else ever could. She could read minds. Sure people thought this was just some comic book fantasy but it was true. She could read people's thoughts and its what helped her in school the most sometimes. Although it could be annoying she learned to block people out of her head. She had yet to find someone who's mind she couldn't read at all.
She put on a fake smile and her best smirk. She opened the door to see her parents and Betty in the living room with proud eyes and happy smiles. Betty was the first to shot out of her chair like a rocket. She came at Calla with great speed and nearly made her lose her balance and fall to the floor. Her father chuckled and his thoughts flooded into her head along with her mother's and Betty's.
How was it kiddo?
Oh, and another thing. They already knew she could read minds so being the freak of the family was a little easier when people already knew you were a freak. She smiled at him and puffed out her chest. "We won obviously." Her mother squealed and hugged her. Most thought her dyslexia had come from her recklessness. Her mother had gotten sick with some illness where her jaw could no longer move at all. Nerve thing. But good news was Calla's ability to read minds. They communicated that way every day.
I'm so proud of you sweetheart!
Her mother's thoughts were always the loudest and strongest of the family. She shared the thought with everyone else and they nodded. "Yeah kiddo, we're all proud of you. And," Her father said, his green eyes shinning with pride and joy. "Report cards came in, on the table next to your Advil." She nodded and went to the kitchen to open the envelope. They always waited for the whole family to be there for report cards. Another Marquis family tradition.
As everyone took their seats at the table, Betty and Calla across from each other with their parents at each of their sides. Calla's father at her side and her mother at Betty's. Calla held the envelope in her shaky hands. She hoped all her hard work on last semesters' test had paid off well. She hadn't even checked anyone's mind like she promised to even if it was to read the question. She felt Betty's hand touch her knee and Calla reached down to hold it. They held hands as they ripped the envelopes open. Calla almost dropped her sister's hand looking at the grades. Three B's and only one C with an A at the end. Betty like usual had the best grades of all A's but this was the best Calla had gotten so far.
She showed her family the paper and they celebrated with Calla transmitting her mother's thoughts to everyone else. Dinner that night was filled with the taste of victory. The kid who had gotten hurt at the game that afternoon was still on her mind feeling bad but right now she was celebrating with her family so she tucked her worries away to a small nook in the back of her mind. She hugged her sister and smiled. That night was peaceful and quiet besides the sound of birds and dogs barking with a few crickets. She hugged her brown bear she named Soarin, she didn't know why she chose that name it was just in her mind when she thought of a name for the brown bear. Hugging Soarin tight she snugged deep into her blankets and had yet another strange dream.
The strange dreams came to her every night, they always ended up with her sitting up right tangled in her own bed sheets and covered in cold sweat. This time it was different. This time she wasn't in some dark nightmare realm like before and how it tried to suck her away to some odd happy world where a crowd of voices would fill her head with sad thoughts but the loudest and most painful of all would be a young boy's voice, deep and crisp. He would plead and beg for the suffering to end. His mind would connect with her's and terrible scenes of a little girl falling to her death replayed over and over again till anger and hate replaced it all with vengeance. The boiling hated for someone unknown and then a lovely tree would pop up.
It was tall and full of life, it had oak bark that circled the tree in perfect swirls. Amber brown bark came into the mix now and again. Red vines coiled around its lanky form, then orange, then yellow. Sandy yellow leaves like the Autumn ones she saw at home that turned golden brown at the tips. Chocolate brown berries with golden specks dangled from the arm like branches. But this time it was different.
Here she wasn't in the beautiful sad place where the boy's mind would replay the horrible scenes, here she was somewhere hiding. It was dark and cold, Calla tried to use her other ability which was to ignite on fire but she couldn't. It was strange, like she was in her own body but couldn't move. It felt familiar with a warm tingling sense. She could open her eyes and see a place, a home. It was a bit crocked but nice. Alone in an island, palm trees lining up like a wall from where the grass stopped and the white-pink sand leading to where a clear teal beach started. Two people stood there at the edge of the water staring at the rising moon. They held hands and sat in the sand, a woman and a man. The man had eyes like the beautiful sea before them, teal and deep. His dark brown hair was pushed back by his hand as his arm wrapped around the woman's shoulders. She had lovely blonde hair that fell into perfect waves like the calm sea, her chocolate brown eyes with golden flecks that reflected the silver moon's light.
They stood tall and strong as a young boy around her age walked to them. He ruffled up his dark brown hair similar to the man's. His dad maybe? Calla had thought to herself. The boy's shinning teal eyes glimmered with fresh tears, he strolled to his parents pushing back his dark hair back with his hand like the man from before. A song danced with the wind making it into soft whispers that came with no music but lyrics. The lyrics were scrambled but soon came into understandable words to Calla's ears. They were soft and calming but also sad. It was like a work of art, she didn't get it but at the same time she understood. Tears weld in her eyes and she blinked then away and moved as far as the island would let from that family.
She sat down, feeling the cold wind blow on her face in gentle swirls, the white-pink sand felt so real in this dream too. Calla could feel every piece of sand as it slipped silently through her fingers. Then she got and idea and pinched herself. Startled and surprised that she actually felt that she stood with a gasp escaping her lips. Instantly her hand shot up to her mouth to cover the sound but it echoed through the dark silence as if she had yelled. Foot steps could be heard behind her and she raced to the calm water not caring if her clothes got wet or if every movement she made was a loud splash and swooshing sound. The footsteps got closer and closer. The song played louder and louder in her mind and soon the wind picked up trowing her hood at her face and she used it to cover her head.
Suddenly a sharp crisp voice cut through the now howling wind, the waters got rougher like a message to go back. Bur she couldn't.
"Hey!" the voice cut out with a strange accent Calla couldn't quite place. "Who are you, come back." The wind then threw off her hood letting her dirty blonde hair fall into her eyes. She turned around to see the boy from before. His eyes were visibly red and puffy but no tears showed themselves. She brushed the hair from her eyes and the couple from before suddenly appeared from the palms. They all looked at her with the same shocked faces. Their thoughts merged as one since they all thought the same thing.
Calla?!
In a hasty panic to get back home, back to her soft warm bed with little Soarin, back with her perky twin, back with her happy smiling family she splashed and dove into the cold waves and soon the dark void like place surrounded her and the next thing she knew she was back in her room. She stood right in the center of it, cold and her clothes stuck to her body like glue because of water and droplets still fell from her dripping wet hair. She marched over to her dresser and changed clothes. She couldn't go back to sleep thinking that if she did she would be taken back to that strange place again and she defiantly didn't want to go there. So she stayed up, and then when she couldn't handle the silence anymore she took her ukulele and a house key, left a note for her parents in case they checked in on her and walked to the park.