CastAway

Chapter 11

Aquila non capit muscas
[An eagle does not catch flies]
⤧ℵ✬♛✬ℵ⤧

I followed Gojo up the stairs into the living room, which I assumed to be his or a jujutsu safe house. He didn't lean against the back of the couch nonchalantly. He stood directly in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. His bright blue eyes slightly narrowed in concentration behind his blindfold.

"How do we get you to your full capability?" He asked with none of the lightness I had grown used to.

Turning away from the heat in his gaze, I mimicked his position and gazed out the back window. Sunlight shone through the leaves on the tree, casting them in varying shades of green. If I focused, I could pick out each blade of grass and the ant carrying a leaf several times its weight. I watched as a gust of wind swept through the grass, picking up the leaf and carrying the ant along with it. With a shaky breath, I ran my hand across my face and brushed my hair back.

"I don't know what will happen, so we should do this in the backyard." I walked through the house to the door. "I don't want to burn the house down by accident."

The chill of winter was fading as we stepped outside. When I reached the center of the small yard, I turned around to face Gojo. He was staring at me with the same concentration as before. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back on my right leg. I knew I needed to do this, but I didn't know what changes to expect.

"You have to . . ." I trailed off and shifted my gaze to the cherry blossom tree in the neighbor's yard.

"Have to?" Gojo placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You have to say 'Calliope, I free you from your shackles' . . . as if to a lover." My eyes snapped the white haired man as his laughter rang through the air.

"That's it? Oh, sweetheart." He tenderly held the side of my face, leaning down until his lips caressed my ear. "Calliope, I free you from your shackles."

I cried out and closed my eyes, clutching onto his jacket as a rush of euphoric, agonizing pain wracked through me. Pulsing waves of electricity coursed through my skin and ice swam through my veins. The dam holding back my power had broken, allowing uncontrollable energy to rush through my body. It begged to be released and pushed against my skin, making my body feel as if it would explode.

"Back up." I grunted as I unfisted my hands and patted Gojo's chest. "I don' wanna hurt you."

He held me for a moment or so before he did what I asked and stepped away from me. I bent over with whiteknuckled hands on my thighs while I tried to figure out what the hell to do to make the pain go away. This was my power. It didn't control me. I control it. I'm a nature goddess. The nature goddess.

I dropped to my knees and dug my hands into the ground, fingers stained brown with the dirt in my fists. Grass and vines wrapped around my arms, making their way up to my shoulders while I tried to concentrate through the most excruciating high of my life. I could feel life teeming in the world around me and death, loss balancing it out. I could feel the worms and plants in the dirt, the birds in the air, the fish in the sea. I could feel everything. Most of all, I could feel the cycle of life that kept this planet alive.

With closed eyes and a deranged half smile on my lips, I grabbed the vines twisted around me and tilted backwards until my spine arched and hair rested on the ground. Shifting wasn't enough. I pictured my body turning into dozens of golden eagles. A familiar itch ignited under my skin, then everything pulled apart and snapped into place.

I took to the skies, gazing down at the world through hundreds of razor sharp eyes. Everything looked so much smaller, yet also wider like a giant had stomped on the ground and flattened everything out. I could make out small rodents on the ground as well as people's facial expressions. I spread out and flew across the neighborhood for a few minutes, enjoying the rush of the wind under my wings and ruffling my feathers.