Callisto Moon

By Crystal Crichlow

Rose Petals. White Lilies. Earth Movers. Dark Warriors. These are the four races that reside on Callisto, a moon billions of miles away. They have never seen war, felt what it’s like to grow old, get sick or die. Callisto Moon blessed them with immortality. It sustains life for all eternity, not death. But that was all going to change...on Callie’s wedding day. Callisto Moon is a place of love, and in the end, love will be the only thing that saves her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Class Act Books
• Release date: Apr 14, 2015

Book preview

Chapter 1

A New World

The darkness closed around us like a fist, sealing off any hope that we were going to make it out of this nightmare alive. Our small spacecraft shook back and forth like a boat. I was trying to imagine myself back home on Callisto Moon but for the life of me I couldn’t picture it. I only heard the engine of our ship fighting to keep us up. I only saw the darkness that would bring us certain death. I felt nothing but fear. Jack and I soared through the big black sky at unimaginable speeds, dodging meteors as they barreled toward us like they were on their own secret mission to knock us out of our path to safety. Their jagged edges of death missed our ship by inches. The fear crippled me. I wasn’t used to feeling such terror.

Where are we going? I asked Jack, a fellow Rose Petal from our planet, although the answer was obvious.

I could see the vibrant blues of its oceans against the vast back-drop of space. My head was spinning in circles.

For a moment I forgot why we were doing this, why we were in the silent abyss. I fought to hold onto my memories. When did we board this ship? The last things I can recall were bombs, chaos and lots and lots of blood. I don’t tell this to Jack. I could hardly explain it to myself. Even more, I knew that I was angry with him, but I can’t remember why.

Have I been poisoned? It’s not like that matters anyway. It’s clear that landing is going to be tricky and when I say tricky, I mean deadly.

Earth, Jack yelled back to me.

It’s so beautiful I almost forgot the horrors awaiting us there. Earth was the last place in the universe I wanted to take refuge. I’d heard horror stories of the crimes, murders and hatred committed by these microscopic humans who disregard life…who lack the comprehension to understand it.

Earth people fight over land and borders, they enslave one another over race, experiment and kill the beautiful beasts that fly and walk…wear them, eat them. My mom told me it was easier for them to pretend those creatures felt no pain than to accept the harsh reality that they were monsters, plain and simple. It’s been said their planet would not be destroyed by the sun’s rays or by some streaking comet. They were depleting the land’s natural resources and not because they didn’t know better. Their hearts were filled with greed, and the air is thick with pollution, thick enough to make us sick. It’s a miracle they survived this long.

Our moon was nothing like that. Our race only knew peace, love. I couldn’t fathom being a part of their civilization. No! This wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to go home.

I tried to plead with him. We have to go back, I screamed. Or to anywhere else besides Earth. Anywhere but there.

We can’t, Callie. You know why we left.

Do I? We can’t just leave them, I persisted.

We have no choice. Our home was attacked. If we turn around, we risk the chance of being caught, or worse, and we can’t take those sorts of risks, especially when it would cause a ripple effect for the entire universe.

I knew he was right, but still my heart and everything that was in me yearned to return.

What about Nate? You know I can’t leave him. It’s not possible. Not with us.

Jack sighed with grief, an unusual emotion for our kind. It pains me to hurt you this way, but Nathan will be fine.

I don’t see him behind us. I looked around frantically. What if he didn’t make it?

What does your heart tell you?

I searched for the connection that I knew still lingered in my bloodstream. Our bond could only be broken by the one of us dying. I felt him in every part of me. His love coursed through my veins like a cool breeze, making me shiver as it warmed its way up to my heart.

It tells me he is safe.

Then he is. He will meet us there and he will find you.

What if he can’t?

He won’t stop until he does. You know this.

I felt a little bubble of hope build inside me. I know, I admitted. I guess I just wanted to hear someone else say it. What about the others? Do you think they will be okay, too?

Jack exhaled deeply, his eyes staring furiously ahead. We need to focus on making it to Earth in one piece. We’ll have to worry about the others after that.

I’m worried about the others now, I wanted to say, but didn’t. Concentration was needed if we were going to make it to our new home intact. It was then that I remembered why we’re here.

Our race has never known or seen war, but the ability to protect and defend our home flows through our veins and only emerges in the presence of violence, and violence was something we never experienced. Our family and friends were there, on Callisto Moon, fighting a war I didn’t think we stood a chance at winning. How could we? We never prepared for such an event.

The Dark Warriors were prepared, though. This I didn’t know until the bombs started falling, blasting through our homes and streets. Still, there weren’t enough of them. All the ports were destroyed, damaging the fleet of ships meant for evacuation. Hidden beneath the ice and stone of our planet was a bunker with two small aircrafts.

I felt guilty leaving when no one else could. Nate and I were too ‘important’ they said. What was worse than leaving my family and friends behind was leaving him behind. We couldn’t take flight together. Someone had to man the ship and neither one of us knew how to do that. I only hoped that once we arrive at our destination, Nathan, my soulmate and soon to be life companion, would be waiting.

Today was to be our wedding day. Sure, I was only seventeen years old, but where we’re from age doesn’t matter. I am Princess Callie and two weeks from now, Nathan would have been my prince. Oh, Nathan. I hope you’re okay.

Violence jolted me back to reality. A meteor hit the windshield creating a tiny hole in the glass and shattering my world apart. It was a small little thing, a tiny pebble I caught in the same instant that it forced itself into our ship. The size didn’t matter. It unsteadied our craft.

I examined the little monster in my fingertips and crushed it to dust. Who knew something so tiny would cause such trauma? I cried as a violent tremor shook us. Jack didn’t have time to respond. Every memory I’d ever had played out in front of me in such rapid succession that if I blinked mentally, I would miss it. Whatever dark magic poisoned me was getting harder and harder to overcome. Even Nathan’s love that once ran undiluted in my veins was dissolving away.

This morning had begun like any other morning; a run through the snow, breakfast with Mom and Grandma. The afternoon had the possibility of being the best day of my life as I prepared for my wedding, as I walked down the aisle. How did everything get so warped so quickly? How did I end up on a collision course with Earth, separated from Nathan and my home? Home? I struggled to remember home. I could feel the black space sucking the memories from my brain like it sucked up our air supply.

All of a sudden I felt myself fall vertically, spiraling downward as we did an unexpected nosedive. I studied Jack’s face. He didn’t look as nervous as I thought he would be, or as anyone who was plummeting thousands of feet to his death should be. His eyes roamed the blue skies. His hands were steady on the control column. Even when pieces of our craft began to slip away bit by bit, his face stayed the same.

We tilted slightly to the left, narrowly missing a cliff that looked deadly enough to scrape us into oblivion. Below was a vast ocean of unexplored beauty. It’s funny, I thought, knowing that I was about to die and all I could see was the beauty that would be my demise.

My ears made a sick popping sound.

Very few things I remembered after that…Jack shoving my mask on and then trying unsuccessful to fasten the life vest around me amidst the tremors and shakes. The only thing that really stayed with me, even until this day it rattles my bones, was the deafening crash our vessel made when it split it two and smashed through the seas below.

~ * ~

How disorienting.

One minute I was flying through the air and now I’m gasping for it. My throat was too full of water for me to breathe, and the more I struggled against the rough current, the faster it pulled me under. It felt like the sea had its giant hands wrapped around my ankles like iron bars. The salty water burned my eyes, my nose, my throat, but that feeling only lasted awhile and then I felt nothing. I was oddly at peace, but still I felt nothing.

No pain, no burning, no fear.

Then suddenly I was free, the grasp the sea had on me was broken. I wasn’t sinking into the bottomless abyss. I was floating upward, into a new world.

When my head broke the surface, all around me was nothing but water and blackness. The waves heaved sickeningly in every direction. Water poured from my mouth in endless volumes. I rolled with the waves, letting it take me out further. What was the point of fighting such a powerful force of nature? All I could do now was keep my head above water for as long as I possibly could.

I drifted along the sea in endless darkness.

I sat straight up, coughing, gasping like the water was still choking me.

Easy, a familiar voice whispered as he gently lay me back down.

Instantly, I became aware of my surroundings. The walls were faded with streaks from where it had been wiped clean over and over again. There was this annoying beeping sound next to me, and wires and tubing were sticking out of my arms and nose. The bed was rigid and uncomfortable. It reminded me of a distant memory.

I turned my head slightly. What happened?

I couldn’t remember everything clearly, just water, lots and lots of water. It made me thirsty.

You were in a plane crash, the man answered.

A plane crash? I must have heard him wrong. The loud ringing in my ears was enough to drown out the sound of everything, but it didn’t. It seemed like the ringing was a loud variety of things; car horns, tires screeching, planes above, birds, people talking and heartbeats, really loud, irritating heartbeats. I shook my head to clear the sounds from my brain.

Plane crash?

He eyed me doubtfully. Yes, Princess. Don’t you remember?

Princess?

He nodded. I mean Callie, he amended.

Callie? Is that my name? I couldn’t remember. A sharp pain poked me in the head so I pressed my hand against it, trying to keep myself together. Faded memories swirled inside my head as I try to sort them out. I was in the hospital, I knew that was true, but how did I end up here? What circumstances led to me to being in this institution?

The sound in my head got louder, like metal colliding in a loud bang. Even my thoughts, like the images in my brain, were tangled together in a mess. Callie? The man said that was my name, Callie. It didn’t ring a bell.

No, I told the man. I can’t remember anything.

His face crumpled. Do you remember me?

I glared at him, trying to pull his image from my memory. He had high cheek bones, a head of red curls with a stunning pair of eyes to match. I didn’t remember him. I shook my head hopelessly.

His head hung. That’s unfortunate. He spoke in a low voice.

~ * ~

Two Weeks Later

Why was there so much suffering around me? Even after I was discharged from that war zone they called the hospital, violence and pain seem to be at every turn.

The first night we left that place, Dad pulled up into an old run down shack they called a motel. We stayed there for a couple days while my dad searched frantically for a new home. He never did explain to me where we lived before the plane accident, only that we were from Canada. The one time I asked him to elaborate, he changed the topic entirely. I didn’t question him any further on the matter.

I flipped through the TV for the majority of our stay, hoping there would be something there to jog my memory. I got nothing, not even a small hint of a face or name. Sometimes I would get these fragments…stars, sparkly water, the moon, green pasturage, snow, a kiss, but that was all they were, fragments. When I say fragments, I mean worthless pieces of nothing, broken shards of glass that cut me whenever I tried to put them back together.

Maybe I should ignore the past and just focus on the future, but it’s always there, nagging me. It’s driving me crazy that I can't piece anything together. I'm losing hope, but still there’s always a slim chance, isn't there? A slim chance that something would ignite a flame in my brain and return all the faces, the smells, the love, the touch, everything that was once mine would be mine again. It’s all about slim chances now.

The news was heart wrenching. I cried at the things I saw, like I was experiencing violence and death for the first time. A child was beaten senselessly at the hands of an unforgiving parent. A young woman was murdered by a mugger while walking home from her job. A man, so distraught by the circumstances in his life, committed suicide by a single bullet to the brain. Mother Nature created atrocities in one nation after another…tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides and tsunamis. Animals were being neglected and tortured.

Dad saw me watching and switched off the tube. He didn’t want my mind filled with such things, at least not until I regained my memories. Neither one of us knew when that would be. Not even my doctors were certain. They said I had amnesia, with no apparent signs of head trauma, so the cause of this sudden memory loss was a mystery.

My dad told me I had a talent for repressing unpleasant things. It would be nice, though, if I could remember my own father, Jack.

He drove us to our new home a few days later. It was seventy-five degrees on the road to Greenwood, so I rode with the windows rolled down, letting the cool air tousle my hair in the breeze.

Looks like you’re enjoying that, Dad said, smiling as he kept his eyes fixed on the open road.

I smiled automatically. His smiles were always contagious, like yawning.

The air feels nice, I replied, then sniffed. It smells sweet too.

I suppose it will have to do. Dad was always saying weird stuff like that.

Do you know another place with better quality air? I questioned.

The best. It looked like he was imagining this place in his head, like he wished he were there instead of here.

I felt his longing for it. I wanted to be there, too.

You’ll have to take me there sometime. I told him.

Someday, he replied wistfully.

Then we stared out the window in silence, watching the wall of green.

Eventually we made it to the small, two-bedroom house with a white picket fence. The picket fence was a prerequisite in his search. I got the bedroom that faced out over the front yard. To my intense surprise, I loved it.

Of course it would need to be fixed up a bit. The old house still held the remains of a past life…furniture covered with sheets, the beds and dressers were empty but still in place, and broken pictures of a family of three still lined the stairway. My room had wooden floors that creaked even if I applied the lightest step. The walls were burgundy, covered in dust, and spider webs. Still, I could see myself living here for a very long time. It definitely had potential.

As beautiful as this home was, it was beyond my understanding why Dad chose this location for us to live. Our house was the only house on this street and trees enclosed us like iron bars. I guess if you wanted privacy, this would be the perfect place to create a new life, but people only needed that kind of privacy when they had something to hide…

Wow, Dad, this is really cool!

His eyes squinted. Cool? Then he shook his head. I guess it was only a matter of time before you picked up on their language.

Their? I asked, confused.

Dad paused for a moment, like he’d said something he shouldn’t have. You know, teenagers.

Oh.

Anyway, Princess, I’m glad you like it. We may have to stay here for a while.

Fine by me, I said, plopping down on my new double bed. Well, new to me. The action sent a puff of dust into the air and I sneezed.

Dad laughed at my expression, then went off to get started on his own room.

First thing I did was put up a light blue curtain. Then I got rid of all the dust while Dad took care of the yucky spider webs. I had very few clothes to pack away, so the task was over before dinner time. We ordered vegetarian pizza and drank soda, which was by far the tastiest food I’ve ever eaten, I think. Dad read novels, while I went through magazine after magazine, familiarizing myself with anything that tickled my curiosity.

Everything seemed so foreign to me, like I was living in someone’s body, seeing this world through another person’s eyes. I didn’t like it.

After that I told Dad I was tired. Really, I just wanted to be alone and not have to smile and look happy, when deep down inside everything was a jumbled mess. I couldn’t explain all these feelings I was having. Why my throat suddenly felt like there was something big stuck down it or why this wet substance rolled out the corner of my eye and down my cheek. I caught the drop with my index finger, examining the clear liquid. I’ve heard people on TV calling them tears, though I don’t remember experiencing it until now.

I stared dejectedly out