Chapter 1- Calista

Calista felt a sharp sting in her pinky finger. Her eyes were heavy and didn’t want to open. Her body ached and she reached out for someone. Someone did end up clutching her hand. “Doctor! Can we get a doctor in here?!” Calista’s older brother, Zachary, yelled.
“Zach…” Calista croaked, grabbing his arm with her free hand. “Zachary.” Calista felt Zachary’s arm underneath his white button-down shirt.
“Calista, it’s okay. It’s okay, you’re okay now,” Zachary placed his hand on the side of her face. He pushed her blonde curls out of her face. She struggled to open her eyes to look at her brother. “Somebody get Dr. Myers now!” Zachary shouted over his shoulder to no one in particular. Calista’s eyes opened to Zachary’s light blue eyes looking at her. She tried to sit up in her bed to which Zachary pushed her down gently. “Not yet.” Zachary was clutching Calista’s hand firmly as if it was the only thing keeping her awake. Even though Calista’s eyes were slowly opening, the call and lure of sleep was tempting.
“Where’s Mom?” Calista pushed against her mattress and tried to push upwards.
“Lis, come on please lay down.” Calista's eyes opened completely to look at her brother. He was similar but not the same. Same blue eyes, same unruly blond curls, same round face, but he was grown. More mature.
“No, where’s Mom and Dad?” Dr. Myers entered the room as Zachary tried to lay Calista back down. Dr. Myers was a tall, skinny woman at about 60 years of age. Her brown hair was shot with gray, and her skin carried age however, her walk and stance did not. She had helped birth the Beaulieu children, watched them grow over the years. Her hands were steady as they laid on Calista’s forehead and face.
“Welcome back to us, Your Highness. You were truly missed,” Dr. Myers mused as she went into her bag.
“What are you talking about? Zach, what is going on? Where are Mom and Dad?” Calista asked, sitting up in bed, her blonde curls stuck to her head. She felt energy rush through her body, she wanted to get up and leave.
“Your Highness, I need you to calm down. Lay back down for me please.”
“Lis, please. Let Myers do her assessment, and then I will tell you everything. Please.” Zachary’s voice broke, pleading with her.
“Myers isn’t doing anything until I know what the hell is going on here.” Calista yanked her hand away from Zachary.
“I don’t know where to start, a lot happens in two years.” Calista couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Two years?
“What do you mean two years? I’ve been…” Calista looks at Zachary whose face says everything. “God’s blood?”
“You had a 95% chance. Mom and Dad wanted to take the risk. Still unsure of what it developed into. 2 years is unheard of for length.”
“Where are they? What did they do to me?” Calista looked at her hands as they shake. She felt her world around her falling.
“Mom and Dad…” Zachary started looking down at his hands in his lap.
“No, no they couldn’t have. They didn’t.”
“About 8 months ago, Dad disowned Sebastian. Sebastian retaliated and killed both him and Mom in their sle…”
“You’re lying! This isn’t real!” Calista screamed at Zachary throwing a pillow at him.
Zachary caught the pillow before it hit him, placing it back on the bed. “Lis, it’s okay. Just calm down. Breathe.”
“Breathe? Breathe?! Mom is dead! Dad is dead!” Calista started to hyperventilate. Dr. Myers approached Calista pulling a syringe and medicine bottle out of her bag. “No, no, no, no, no, no!” Calista scampered off the bed and over into the corner near her bed. Her rose-colored nightgown dropped slightly above her knees.
“This is only to calm you down, once you wake up, we can discuss what has happened further.” Her body curled into a sitting fetal position, attempting to make her as small as possible. Dr. Myers prepped the syringe and stepped over to the other side of the bed.
“No, I refuse. Please don’t,” Calista begged. She looked at Zachary who refused to meet her eye. He sat in his chair next to the bed. “I don’t want to go back to sleep.”
“It’ll only be for an hour. You’ll wake up feeling much better, Your Highness.”
“Lis, come on. You’ll be okay. Just let Dr. Myers do what she needs to do.”
“No!” Calista yells, sending Dr. Myers back hitting against a wall, without laying a hand on the doctor. Zachary stood up abruptly, sending his chair to the floor. “What- what was that? What did I just do?”
“Telekinesis,” Dr. Myers stated, getting up from where Calista pushed her down. “This ability isn’t on any record I’ve seen. Makes sense, after what they did to you. Definitely wasn’t what they were hoping for. I’m pretty sure they wanted something a little less dangerous and volatile.” Calista stood from the corner she was in and walked towards her bed.
“Lis, please, just come lay down and let Dr. Myers resume her assessment. I will talk to you about everything once it is complete.” Zachary stood his chair back up and readjusted his white shirt. “Come on Lis, please.” Before Calista had made her decision, Dr. Myers stuck her syringe into Calista's neck.
Calista found herself sliding down to the floor as the effects of whatever was injected in her took effect. “I apologize, Your Majesty, it is my recommendation that you place sular repeaters around the bed to ease her transition. I trust you have some in stock?” Dr. Myers commented towards Zachary.
“We should have a repeater or two somewhere in the castle” Calista tried paying attention to their words to stay afloat in consciousness, but failed, slipping away.