Little Lightning

Chapter 40

Kalypso stared at her hands. She twisted her fingers together, her thumb rubbing the purple mark on the back of her hand. It had become a habit the past few months since she'd seen Lyrical and Kirtash last. 

"...so what do we do?" Azalea asked from next to Kalypso. When no one answered, Azalea's tone dropped from one of questioning to one of frustration. "So thats it then? We just give up?" 

"Azalea..." Zaylee said tiredly. Kalypso looked up in time to see her drag a hand across her face. "We've been over this. We want to save them both as much as you do. But we've hit dead end after dead end. Theres no way to capture the leader of the Bluetiens without it being a suicide mission for all of us." 

"We can't just give up on them!" Azalea shouted, desperation and anger seeping into her voice. "We can't just leave them in the hands of your grandfather, who, in case you don't remember, said he'd kill Kirtash and use Lyrical for Galas-knows-what if we don't succeed!" 

"I know! I know, ok? I understand where you're coming from, but--" Zaylee snapped back, fed up. Kalypso sighed internally. These past few weeks, the meetings all ended up like this, with yelling and fighting. It made her head hurt.

"No, you don't understand." Azalea shook her head fiercely. "Lyrical is like a sister to me and Kirtash half raised me! They are the only family I have left!" 

Before Zaylee could respond, a beep split the air. A comm. Zaylee turned and pressed a button on the dashboard of the ship, opening the comm link. 

"Captain Zaylee of the Arrow, what is the problem?" 

"Ms. Zaylee." Everyone in the room stiffened at the voice over the comm, including Kalypso. "We have news." Mr. Sagitta said ominously. Kalypso pressed down hard on the diamond shape on her hand, the pain focusing her thoughts and keeping her from freaking out. The Formus checked in once a month, but they had already checked in this month. Something was wrong. "I'm afraid it isn't good news." He paused, and Kalypso wanted to reach through the comm and shake it out of him. "Ms. Lyrical has been taken."

"Taken? By who?" Zaylee inquired, visibly struggling to keep her voice even. Kalypso already knew the answer. 

"The Bluetiens, we believe. We will need you to return to the Formus immediately for reevaluation of the situation. Your grandfather has made some decisions you might want to hear about." 

"Very well. We are on our way." Zaylee spoke brusquely, and closed the comm link. Kalypso stood abruptly as Zaylee turned to face them, her face drained of color. She couldn't do this anymore. 

Her hand tingled as she rushed out of the room, running to the engine room, where she often found solace in the calming humming of the machinery and the quiet clicking of the tools hitting each other in the tool box as the ship shifted. 

The tingling spread from her hand up her arm and into her chest. 

"No, not now." She whispered, gritting her teeth as she sank to the floor, back to one of the engines. "Please, not now."

"Kalypso?" Zyan's voice called. She sucked in a breath and sat up, white spots starting to appear in her vision. He was the last person she wanted to see her like this. She managed to crawl around the engine so that she sat in between two power cells, both big enough to hold a human. "Are you in here?"

Clenching her jaw, she braced herself against the pain she knew was coming. Foot steps sounded, coming closer to her, but she couldn't move, her limbs locked in place. White covered most of her vision and she squeezed her eyes shut, tears slipping out from underneath her eyelids at the stabbing pain that started in her hand and slowly made its way up her arm. 

"Kalypso?" Zyan's voice sounded from next to her, worry clear in his voice. She gasped and opened her eyes, but all she could see was white. "Kalypso, what's wrong? What's happening?" He asked, his voice becoming more panicked by the minute. She tried to smile. 

"Don't worry, this is normal. I'm fine." 

"Your eyes are completely white and you're crying. You are definitely not fine, and this is definitely not normal." 

"It's ok, really." She ground out. She let out a gasp as another wave of pain hit her, making her bend over and causing her fingers to grip her arm so hard her nails broke skin. Zyan reached out, hands on her shoulders. He pulled her towards him, her limbs weak enough from the pain that she couldn't resist the movement. Her head landed on his shoulder, face in his neck. The pain spread to her legs, making her teeth clack together audibly. Tears streamed, soaking the shirt Zyan was wearing. It smelled of motor grease and of something distinctly Zyan. "This happens... all the time." She gritted out, of her teeth, barely able to say anything. 

"Shh shhh." He whispered in her ear, tone steady but an undercurrent of panic audible beneath it. He held her close, arms around her, thumb stroking her arm gently. "Relax, I got you." The pain subsided in the upper half of her body, replaced by the tingling there was before. Even that faded. The white began to clear from her vision and she could see again. Finally, the tingling was gone from her entire body. Her body went limp, done fighting against the pain that had plagued her only moments before. She couldn't find the strength to move out of Zyan's arms. So instead she lay there, listening to his heartbeat, body trembling weakly. "Better?" He asked her quietly, chest rumbling beneath her cheek. Her face heated as she nodded. "What was that, Kalypso?" 

She forced herself to sit up, stars swirling in her vision as she steadied herself for a moment. "I don't know." She whispered quietly. "It happens every week though." She shook her head, trying to reign in the tears that threatened to escape. "The worst is when it happens in the middle of the night and I wake up to pain wracking my body and being unable to move." 

"For how long has it been happening?" Zyan asked gently, eyes on her. She couldn't look at him. 

"Since that guy gave me his power, or life force, or whatever he called it." She said quietly, looking down. 

"That long? And you didn't tell me?" Zyan's voice was filled with hurt. 

"I didn't want you to worry. We have too much going on already, with Kirtash being held captive and Azalea and Zaylee always fighting, and now with Lyrical captured..." 

"Wait, Lyrical was captured?!" Zyan exclaimed. Kalypso winced at his loud voice, the headache that always happened after one of these episodes already raging. She had forgotten that Zyan had been repairing one of the four power cells and wasn't at the meeting. 

"Yeah, your da--um, Mr. Sagitta called and said we're supposed to come to the Formus immediately." Kalypso stood, or tried too. Her knees buckled and she fell forward. Strong hands caught her and hauled her up. Her legs trembled weakly. She had forgotten that it took a few hours for her strength to return. He scooped her up, bridal style, and walked out of the engine room. Kalypso's face burned.

"This is embarrassing." She mumbled.

"Embarrassing or not, you can't walk. And lucky for you, I happen to be around to lend a helping hand." 

"Lucky." She scoffed quietly. "Lucky is not the word I would have chosen for it." But despite her mumblings, she let him take her to her room, quietly grateful that he had been there.