One Soul

Chapter Five: Strong Enough

"No, no, of course, it's not you. Just look at the facts, right? if you were infected we would've gotten sick a long time ago," her mother reassured her, but Calypso could only listen to the dark voice in her head. "Besides, do you know what your father has just discovered? The disease didn't seem to start anywhere near us, but rather on his side of Ouránia by the stables, where it spread over here most likely due to people coming and going between either side."

"But what if I'm just immune? Since I lived in Pandora for so long...?" Calypso was still unconvinced.

"There just isn't enough evidence to say where it came from-"

"Norene...! My friend's house is getting vandalized because her grandmother is sick, and I promised to help, but there isn't anything I can do then, is there?" She stood up, waving her arms around, overwhelmed by emotions.

"Darling, it's okay-"

"No, Mama! It isn't...people are dying everyday-who else is infected? Who else is going to die? I must find a cure before there aren't any more people to save...," Calypso looked earnestly into her mother's eyes, searching for answers that weren't coming.

"Blaise was the first person to get sick, but he's strong and hasn't had any of the symptoms quite as strong, and he's still pushing through it. That's why he hasn't been around...we're trying to trace back his footsteps and the signs do point to Pandora-but, not you! We get shipments from Pandora, and have been for years; even through the Great War, both sides got a heavy supply of coal from them for fuel and...well...making ink. It's startling, I know, but Ouránia doesn't have a stable means as to get either of these resources."

Calypso was still trying to process the fact that the very man who brought her to Ouránia was the first one infected, sending her into a downward spiral. It's my fault, it's my fault, it's my fault...I did this I'm the one who's killing these people and hurting them and my parents...my poor, poor parents...!

Feeling suddenly dizzy, Calypso nodded through a pounding headache and stumbled to her room seeing visions of bleeding eyes. In the distance, she heard her mother speaking to someone, probably an attendant, sounding more tired and worried than ever.

How could she make this right? As Calypso lay in bed, swathed in thick blankets of cotton and fleece, she could only think miserably of how powerless she felt. What if, what if she launched her own investigation? What if, what if she could make it all right and find out once and for all where it came from? Her mind thought of the coal, how its dust flew so easily into the air and left black powder on everything it touched. How it burned, how it was dug up deep from the depths of the island of Pandora. Someone must've tampered with it, right? For this is the first time there was a plague caused by contact with coal...and who could hate her enough to do this?

She stared out at the new moon, hanging low and dark in the sky outside her window. "The Graces," she whispered sadly, because it was them that treated her so terribly her entire childhood, and it was them who clung to her as she was leaving and had so much power on the island that they could easily infect a shipment of coal without question.

~-~

"You're doing what?" Norene exclaimed over the sounds of another cleanup crew scrubbing her door again. More vandals came in the afternoon when no one was home that was able to confront them. She seemed almost unfazed when Calypso walked home with her until she told her the plans for an investigation.

"I appreciate your efforts, but this plan sounds highly implausible," she fretted, pointing out all the questions Calypso was yet to answer. The main one being, how was she to go to and from Pandora, especially without wings? Norene had wings, but most angels and demons who weren't specially trained could fly carrying another person's weight. Many mothers or new parents had to walk when carrying their child, and schoolchildren who could afford it bought flying schoolbags. Norene was just one of the few who didn't mind the weight and was spending the money on more important things.

Besides, as Norene pointed out, it would be risky to bring a person to Pandora if that was where the plague had come from. An animal, such as a griffin or horse, might work since they didn't seem to be carriers for the disease, but Calypso had only one experience riding a horse, and Nephele had done all of the work. How was she expected to ride it, directing it to and from the mines?

"I can ask for lessons, then. I'll figure it out, Norene," Calypso assured her, hiding her worries as she realized how impossible this would be.

"I know you will, Calypso. And when you do...I want to come with you."

"What?! Norene, you can't come! It's too much of a risk-I might have more resistance because I was raised on Pandora. But you need to stay with your family...I'll contact you throughout the mission but I'd feel at ease if you were back here," Calypso exclaimed, placing her hands protectively over her friend's.

"Callie, what else am I supposed to do? Wait here to be infected? Wait as my house is vandalized over and over? I can't stay here and watch my grandmother die if I can help get justice for her instead!" Norene began tying her hair into a high ponytail, blowing her bangs out of her face. "This is my chance to save a life."

Calypso was still unhappy but recognized Norene wouldn't change her mind. She gave a grudging nod only after making Norene promise to leave at the first sign of danger. Nevertheless, she suspected that promise would be broken. Calypso was ridiculously worried for her best friend's sake but was still glad to have someone by her side for support.

"I'll ask my parents about lessons for us, okay? If we work really hard we'll be down to Pandora in only a week or so," Calypso said excitedly, counting on her fingers. "I suspect it's coming from the coal shipments...when the coal is burned the smoke travels everywhere, and I think Blaise manages the incoming coal shipments too so he would've had the first contact with it."

"That sounds like a reasonable prediction, but who would have done such a cruel thing?" Norene asked, looking sadly in the direction of another coughing bout.

"My foster parents, the Graces, they've always resented me for tarnishing their reputation, and they're on the High Council; that's the second most authoritative position beside the priests. They could easily get access to the coal before they're shipped out," My voice turns icy cold, though my hatred for them burns white hot from deep inside me. "A priest couldn't do it, their souls are too good. But the Graces..."

Norene rushed over and hugged her as Calypso felt her anger boiling over. Her fists unclenched and Calypso just realized her nails have been digging into her palms, which are starting to sting. She hugged Norene back fiercely, trying to make up for everything the Graces had inflicted on her family.

~-~

"Dad-" Calypso's urgent call was interrupted by a joyful greeting from her father. She supposed seeing how he didn't spend as much time with her, a call from his long-lost daughter was a pretty exciting thing...especially after dealing with a nation-wide plague.

"Hi there, darling! How are you?" His sprightly tone made Calypso's guilt even darker. He had no idea what she was planning to do, and how much risk she could be putting herself in by returning to an island with nothing but loathing towards her.

"Hi, Dad. Um...so I was wondering if my friend Norene and I could get equestrian lessons together?" Calypso asked, nervous even though she knew she had no reason to be scared. This wasn't Pandora, where a request by her would result in an explosion of yells and screams. Pandora...where she was trying to return to.

She didn't let herself think she could be making a mistake by confronting the Graces. instead, she focused on her father's jubilant agreement. Then, for the next few days when she felt sic to her stomach, she focused on Norene's determined eyes.

Every night, Calypso sent a silent prayer to no one in particular. That she would find the cure, the cause...that she would fix it all before it was too late. And at the very least, she wanted to save a life. Just one life would be enough if that was all she could possibly do.

Just one soul.