Chapter 3

Calliope almost fell out of the tree. Heath withdrew hurriedly, looking apologetic and a bit scared.

“I’m sorry, I… I don’t know what I was thinking.” Heath made as though he was going to climb down the tree, but Calliope reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder.

“No, no. It was… it was wonderful.” 

The trip back to the meeting of recognition was made in ecstatic silence. Calliope’s fingers were tingling, and the events of the last half hour had caused her to forget what was going on in the ceremony, so that when the two burst into the building, they didn't bother about their noise level. 

The door banged behind them, and all heads turned. Calliope froze, but Heath saved her. He took her hand and led her back to her seat, where she carefully squeezed past the people in the seats in her row before taking her own. Heath had also sat down, and he looked expectantly up at the stage. 

Calliope noticed that the group of children leaving the stage was a different one than when she had left. That meant that it was the Eights, and Padme’s group was up next. 

Calliope tried to concentrate on watching the ceremony, but the memory of what had just happened was distracting her. Her face was split in a wide smile, and she kept glancing towards the first row. 

“Calliope.” Calliope turned her head slightly, and saw Devlin glaring at her. If looks could kill, Calliope would be dead ten times over. 

“What?” Calliope whispered.

“You shouldn’t be with him, Calliope.” Calliope was astounded.

“Who are you to say who I should be with?” She hissed. 

“I’m just saying.”

“Who do you suggest I spend time with, then?” Calliope said a little too loudly. The people around her glanced in her direction.

“I… I’m not suggesting…” Devlin sputtered. 

“Will the two young ones in the back please be quiet? We are trying to hold a ceremony of recognition.” The woman at the podium said loudly. Calliope went red. Devlin sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. Padme was staring, wide-eyed, at her sister. 

Calliope took a deep breath and looked up at the stage. The woman on stage turned back to the Nines. 

“Ambrose, Padme.” Padme took a shaking step up to the podium. “Your trainer will be… Aella Feldgrau.” The smallest and oldest trainer smiled at Padme, and Calliope was pleased to see her little sister smile. The woman she was assigned to was the least intimidating of the lot. 

Calliope sat in the hard chair until it was time for the Sixteens to be tested, when she filed up onto the stage along with the rest of her age group. She shifted from one foot to the other, scanning the audience to find her sister and parents. Before she saw them, however, she caught sight of the little gray-eyed girl from earlier. She was sitting in the second-to-last row in the crowd with a strict looking woman Calliope had never seen before. Her eyes were closed, and she was sitting stiffly in her seat. 

“Ambrose, Calliope.” Calliope started, stepping forward hurriedly. “Your trainer will be… Darius Greige.” A tall, tanned man motioned to the seat in front of him, and Calliope hurried over. She sat, then looked her trainer in the eyes, which kept darting to the left in a shifty manner.

“Hello?” Calliope said after a few moments.

“Ah, yes. You’re Calliope Ambrose, are you? I’m Darius. Darius Greige.” Darius’ voice was surprisingly steady and confident. “This test will be fairly simple; all I need from you is this packet, completed, by the end of the hour we have together.”

Calliope took the stack of paper from Darius and set it down on the desk. She picked up the pencil that had been placed there for her, and began. 

1. 
   

   List all elements of the periodic table below:

   
   

Calliope smiled at the simplicity of the test, then put her pencil to the paper and began to write.

After approximately fifty minutes, Calliope sighed happily and set down the pencil. Darius smiled as she handed her test over, and his smile didn’t slip a notch as he flipped through it. That was a good sign, Calliope thought. 

She watched as Darius placed her test into a small black box and set a matching lid on top. When he took it out again, it was covered in black ink. He pressed it down on a separate page and it printed a copy of the questions and Calliope’s answers.

“Good luck.” Darius murmured so as not to be heard over the scratching of pencils on paper.

Calliope took a deep breath. As long as she couldn’t be heard, she could ask anything she wanted.

“Do you see the girl in the second-to-last row?” Darius’ eyes traveled along those seats until they alighted on the tiny figure.

“Odette Zaffre? Yes, I know her. Quiet little thing, though.”

“Who is she? I’ve never seen her before.”

“She doesn’t live in the neighborhood. Don’t know where she lives, really. Why?” Calliope stared into the audience, looking as if she was in another reality.

“I don’t know. It just seems important.”

Darius looked up at the ceiling, and that sparked Calliope’s memory.

“Darius! What does it mean when you do that?” Darius looked confused.

“What?”

“That!” Calliope said, as Darius raised his eyes again. “When you glance at the ceiling like that. I saw the little girl doing that too.”

“I… I don’t know. It just makes me feel… calmer. Like there’s something that calls me up there.” Calliope narrowed her eyes in thought, and just then, the woman on the podium called to the room at large. 

“The time for testing has passed. Sixteens, please file off the stage in an orderly manner.” Calliope stood and followed the dirty-blonde swinging ponytail of a girl in front of her, who Calliope knew from school was named Lenora. Calliope walked all the way to the last row and took her seat, Devlin and Faye following.

“That was much easier than I thought it would be!” Faye whispered. Devlin nodded, keeping his eyes on the stage. Calliope found herself staring at him and quickly looked back to the stage for instructions about the rebel testing the following day.

“I’m sure everyone has done a wonderful job on these tests, and, after working your brain so hard, the Sixteens especially should get a good night's sleep before the second round of testio\ng tomorrow: the one that will determine our future rebels! The applause was overwhelming. “Every student who applied for the tests please report to the Council Hall at five in the morning. We want to get an early start!” 

“Five in the morning?” Calliope breathed. Faye’s mouth had dropped open.

The woman at the podium smiled at the indigent mutterings of the Sixteens, revealing rows of white teeth. 

“Time enough for you to prepare for the extremely challenging nature of the test. And don’t forget about the blood testing!” Out of the corner of her eye, Calliope saw Devlin clutch his finger convulsively, evidently trying to preserve its unscathed state. 

“Goodbye, dear Salus, and goodnight.” As one, the crowd stood and began to exit the building in silence. Calliope shivered in her thin dress as she stepped out into the purple dusk of early evening. She heard footsteps behind her, and Heath was soon by her side. 

“Cold?” Calliope nodded, blowing into her hands for warmth. Heath removed his jacket and draped it over Calliope’s shoulders. “Better?” He asked, not heading his own arms now exposed to the wind.

“Thanks, Heath, I…” Before she could finish her sentence, she felt someone knock into her from behind. Heath caught her and steadied her carefully, then glared at the back of the person who’d ran into her. Maybe Heath didn’t know the person well enough to recognize that back, but Calliope did. The brown hair sticking up all over the head, the slightly slouched posture, the thin scar along the left arm from wrist to shoulder, all pointed to Devlin. 

“Some people.” Heath growled in the back of his throat. 

“It’s fine, Heath. Don’t worry about it.” Calliope pulled her hovercraft out of the rack and mounted it. Heath yanked his out of the space a few feet away and kicked off the ground. Calliope glanced around to make sure her family was ready to go, then followed Heath to the sky.

Calliope soared up to the clouds and dodged through and around them, not minding when the condensation dampened her hair, making it stick to the back of her neck. She loved flying at night. The darkness enveloped her, with only the faint sounds of people calling to each other from their own Personal Hovercrafts to disrupt the silence. The soft whirring of the hovercraft below calmed her, and multiple times Calliope had to shake herself to keep from falling into a light doze. 

The ride was long, but Calliope didn’t mind. By the time she reached her house, only her family remained flying near her. 

Padme was asleep when they landed, and Calliope’s father carried her inside. Calliope was exhausted, and she had barely dragged herself into her room and flopped down on her bed when she heard her mother calling from downstairs.

“Time to get up! Big day ahead!” Calliope sighed as she got out of bed, still in the dress from the night before. It was still dark out, for it was four in the morning. 

Calliope threw on the first outfit her fingers met, then went downstairs for breakfast. A styrofoam container waited for her on the table, and while she scarfed it down, she found comfort in the fact that by this time tomorrow, for better or for worse, it would all be over.

“All right, you’ll have to leave in a few minutes, your lunch is being made by the Automatic Food Supplier, remember to grab it before you leave.” Calliope’s mother bustled into the room, carrying a basket of laundry. Calliope watched with glazed eyes as her mother tossed the clothes into a large, metal bucket of water. 

“What are you waiting for?” Calliope’s mother said.

Calliope, realizing what time it was, leaped up, grabbed the second styrofoam box waiting in the Automatic Food Supplier, and dashed out the door. 

She slowed to a walk when she reached the corner of the street, then turned onto the main road. She met no one, so she suspected everyone was already at the Council Hall. Sure enough, when she reached it, a crowd of her fellow classmates were waiting by the doors, blinking away sleep from their eyes. Calliope scanned the crowd for Faye, and eventually spotted her near the doors to the Council Hall. 

Faye didn’t speak as Calliope approached her. She looked about as bad as Calliope felt. When she reached Faye, Calliope leaned up against the walls of the Council Hall to await further instruction. It soon came. 

“Students! Please follow me to the wood.” The woman who had stood on the podium now came walking towards them, pointing towards the small forest behind the Council Hall. She was wearing a white jumpsuit that buttoned in the front. Everyone crowded toward the forest, while the woman still shouted behind them.

“My name is Alaina Phlox, and I am the Head Tester. I have jumpsuits for you, just collect the one with your name on it and change in the shacks installed behind the trees.”

The woman, Alaina, placed a stack of fabric on a bright white table, so out of place in the rustic woods. Calliope shifted through the pile until she found the one marked ‘Ambrose, Calliope’ in curly script. She picked it up and stepped over to the so-called shacks, though Calliope would definitely not have used that name for the structures in front of her. 

They were bright and blinding white, complete with shingled roofs. The grass and underbrush surrounding them had obviously been recently cut to accommodate them. 

Calliope stood behind a tall girl with curling brown hair who kept shaking her head to make her curls swing gently around her shoulders. In the line next to her stood Heath, who gave her a small nervous smile. 

“Good luck.” Calliope whispered. Heath looked like he wanted to respond, but after opening his mouth three times in succession, just swallowed and nodded. 

Calliope was first in line to change now, and when the curly haired girl exited the stall, Calliope stepped inside. The building was about ten square feet, and the walls and floor were cleanly tiled. Calliope set her jumpsuit on a small marble ledge protruding from the wall while she undressed, then pulled on the outfit, which was made of sturdy, rough fabric. 

Calliope set her clothes in a chute in the back wall, then watched them travel down the long metal shaft, turn a corner, and vanish into darkness. Then she opened the door and made her way out of the small room. 

She sat down on a marble bench to wait for her classmates to finish changing, and the next time she looked up, Alaina was standing in front of her holding a pair of well made black boots. Without a word, Calliope took the boots and began to pull them on. Alaina, however, sat beside her on the very edge of the bench. 

“Hello, Miss Ambrose.” 

Calliope snuck a look up at the woman sitting next to her, taking in her black hair streaked with gray and her prematurely lined face. 

“Hello, Chief Alaina.” She said stiffly.

“How do you think you’ll do in the Rebel Testing?”

“Um, fine, I guess.” Calliope had no idea why this woman was asking her all these questions, but she would bet anything that it wasn’t a customary action. 

“You interest me, Miss Ambrose. There’s something different about you.”

Calliope narrowed her eyes in defense. “I’m not that different.”

“Not in the way you’re thinking of. Special, I mean.”

Calliope actually shook her head in dismissal. 

“I’m not special. I’m just…” At that moment, a whistle blew across the arena. 

“Goodbye, Miss Ambrose. I’ll be seeing you.” Calliope watched Alaina walk between the rows and rows of obstacles toward the seat which towered high above the students below. 

“Ready?” Calliope hadn’t seen Heath behind her, but when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she smiled and turned to look at the boy behind her. She noticed that his eyes had dark circles under them, and she brushed his hair out of his face gently to comfort Heath’s sleepless worry. 

“I think so. You?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Heath managed a small smile before the whistle blew again and Alaina began to talk, perched high on her seat. 

“Everyone, everyone. Please gather around.” Calliope stepped forward a few feet, weaving between the fallen tree branches to get to a spot right in front of the wooden poles holding the seat aloft. “Thank you. This test will be challenging, so please do your best. After the test has concluded, we will make our way inside for the blood testing.”

Calliope shifted nervously, leaves crunching beneath her feet. She turned towards Heath, and gave him a small, reassuring smile. She caught sight of Faye whispering to Devlin nearby, and quickly looked away when Devlin made eye contact. Alaina kept talking, unaware of the slight disrest below her. 

“I will separate you into groups, then your groups will take it in turn to complete the obstacle course.” Calliope scanned the forest briefly, then her eyes snapped back to Alaina as she began to split up the crowd. 

Calliope held a whispered conference with Heath about the probability of them completing the obstacle course until she heard her name.

“Ambrose, Calliope.” Alaina pointed towards a place marked by a cluster of trees, and Calliope only stumbled a little when she heard, “Brazilwood, Devlin.”

Calliope sped up to avoid Devlin overtaking her, and studied the ground hard when she reached the small group. She felt a presence shift closer to her, and closed her eyes, whispering prayers inside her head. 

“Nervous?” Calliope opened her eyes to see Lenora standing beside her.

“Yeah. Yeah, a bit.” Calliope replied, and she heard her voice as if someone else was speaking from a long distance. 

“Me too. How many of us did they say would pass?”

“I don’t know.” It was a lie. Calliope did know, but for some strange reason, she didn’t want to tell the girl next to her. The real number was fourteen out of the hundred and eighty-four people trying out. 

“Well, good luck.” 

“You too.” Lenora bit her lip nervously as she walked off. Calliope took a deep breath, then turned towards Alaina as she began to speak.

“I will assign you each a number, and if the letter you receive tomorrow morning has your number on it, you have been accepted to the Rebel Ranks.” With that, Alaina began to hand out tiny silver badges with a single number on each. “Please pin these to the front of your outfits.” She called over the clinking of the metal. 

When she reached Calliope, she took one of the last badges out of a stark white box and handed it to her. Calliope looked down at the badge and read the number ‘174’ carved into its surface. She pinned it to her shirt, her hands suddenly shaking so hard that the tip of the pin dug deep into the back of her hand.

“All right, let’s start with this group over here.” Alaina pointed to the crowd of people right next to Calliope’s group. She saw Heath walking forward with the others near him and gave him a small wave. He returned it without smiling. 

Calliope watched Heath with glazed eyes, registering vaguely that he was better than anyone else in his group. Too soon, the first group had finished, and it was Calliope’s turn. She walked forward, hoping that her shaking wasn’t as noticeable as she thought. The people around her began to move again, and Calliope realized that Alaina must’ve given an instruction. She hurriedly followed behind them, and when they came to a halt, she stopped too. 

“Now, all you have to do is get around this obstacle course while dodging the traps set around the arena. You can collect the weapons if you can reach them. Do not aim for faces. If you get cut around your face, you’re still in the running. If you get cut around your jumpsuit, a purple liquid will cover you and you will please come sit down over here.” Alaina pointed to a long bench. “Now, go!”

Calliope hadn’t been ready, so her feet shuffled in place for a second before she took off. She raced towards a tall structure made of wood, which she estimated to be about thirty yards away. As she ran, she caught sight of a knife camouflaged against the rough bark of a tree branch. She smiled. Trees were her speciality. 

She changed direction to hurtle towards the tree, but as she ran, a long arrow flew past her, searing off several layers of skin on the tips of her fingers. She paused for a few seconds to examine her hand, but presumed that the cut wasn’t bad. The few moments she stopped, however, were almost her downfall. 

The whistling of a spear flying through the air was her only tip-off. She dropped to the ground and executed a forward roll, looking up to see a spear lodged in the ground right where she’d been standing a milli-second before. 

She jumped to her feet and ran straight for the tree where she’d seen the knife. She scaled it quickly, all the while scanning the area for opposition. When she reached the tree branch, she immediately saw the knife nestled in the crook of the bough. She grabbed it and leaped out of the tree, landing on the ground with her hair tumbling into her face. She looked up, then was on her feet in a flash, running toward a figure who was picking people off with a bow and arrow. 

Purple liquid spattered her face as she ran, temporarily blinding her. She wiped her eyes with the corner of her sleeve and didn’t stop in her course. Her line of sight fixed on her target, she hurled the knife at the person’s back. An explosion of purple moisture showered her, and she grinned, knowing she had hit her target. 

When she looked up at the person she hit, she stopped in her tracks. She knew that brown hair that stuck up all over its owner's head, she knew those broad shoulders, and when the figure turned, she knew those dark eyes. 

Devlin. 

He glared at Calliope, then stalked out of the arena. 

Calliope was jolted back to reality by a knife which flew so close to her head that it cut off several inches of hair. She dashed forward to retrieve the knife she’d used to get Devlin out of the running. Then something hit her back and sent her tumbling. 

The heavy weight of a boy she’d only seen in passing had struck her, and he was now holding her down with his knees while he prepared to dig his knife into her suit. But being small and quick had its advantages. She squirmed for a second, then fell quite still. The boy raised a bit of his weight to see whether or not he’d killed her, and that was enough for Calliope. She darted out from under him and thrust her knife forward. The boy looked down at the purple liquid streaming down his suit, then got up without a word and walked away. 

But it was while Calliope was scanning the arena for her next victim, something punctured her jumpsuit. She turned to see a black sheet of hair disappearing around a tree. It was Calypso. 

Calliope walked over to the bench and perched on the very edge of it, the purple liquid oozing from her suit staining the white marble. Were there more than fourteen people out there? She couldn’t tell. 

She watched without seeing until purple stained every tree and bush, and Alaina directed the dripping teenagers towards the Council Hall.

Calliope stared at the ground as she walked, wondering what the point was of getting her blood tested if she hadn’t lasted until the final fourteen. She followed the many feet in front of her for what felt like hours until they reached the towering white structure. A tall man dressed all in white, complete with a white mask which covered his entire face, stepped out from where he had been camouflaged against a pillar and began to speak.

“Follow me inside for the blood tests.” He beckoned with a long finger and the students followed him inside. Calliope’s heart was beginning to beat faster in her chest, thumping so loudly she was surprised no one heard it. 

When they entered a large back room Calliope had never seen before, her mouth fell open. Many metal contraptions lined the walls, hunched like old men, though the bulk of the machinery was concealed by white cloth. 

“Form eight lines in front of the machines. Quickly, please!” This voice came from over the intercom, crackling so that the words were almost incoherent. Calliope ended up at the back of one of the lines, and immediately wished she hadn’t. The sounds coming from the front of the lines were awful. Sharp gasps issued from mouths, and a few people screamed in agony. Beads of sweat were running down Calliope’s face by the time she reached the front of the line. 

“Hand.” The man behind the desk snaps his fingers impatiently. Calliope carefully placed her hand into the gloved palm, and the man guided the machine over to her pointer finger. 

A shrill buzzing filled her ears, followed by the most pain Calliope had ever felt in her life. She pulled her hand back and immediately realized it was a mistake. The needle, which was about two centimeters in width, skidded across her flesh revealing a deep puncture wound. The pain was overwhelming, and it mounted as the man held her hand over a container labeled with her name, allowing her blood to drip into it. 

Calliope’s breath was shallow, and she felt as if she was going to faint. She took a deep breath which seared her insides, then, as the man had released her hand, began to slowly walk away. Then her knees buckled, and she collapsed into a table. The head hit the side of one of the tables, and everything went black. 

When Calliope opened her eyes, she saw a set of pale eyes looking down at her. A figure dressed all in white was staring into her eyes. Calliope sat up quickly and skittered backwards on her hands and feet.

“What’s going on?” She panted, suddenly out of breath.

“You passed out during the blood testing, so we took you here. We’ve been giving you medicine for the last half hour, so you should be fine to go in a few moments.” The doctor shifted around the room while Calliope collected her thoughts. 

“I…” Just as Calliope began to speak, the doctor interrupted her.

“You have some guests waiting outside,