Fighting Balance (Celestia series Book 1) Read online

  Fighting Balance

  Celestia Series Book One

  S. M. Whitcomb

  Copyright © 2020 S.M Whitcomb

  All rights reserved.

  The author has provided this book for the reader’s personal use only. It may not be re-sold or made publicly available in any way.

  Whitcomb, S.M.

  Fighting Balance

  [email protected]

  Edited by Amanda Hoffman

  Dedication

  This book is for my two daughters, Hannah and Abigail.

  Also, a big thank you for all the love and support I received from family and friends throughout this journey.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  I stood alone amidst the chaos of war. It was surprisingly quiet. In the distance, I could just make out the sounds of shouting and the metallic clanging of swords. Getting my bearings, I spun around to see a blood red moon being swallowed by the dark night sky, the chaos just barely illuminated around me by its eerie glow. I’d seen this all before. I’d been in this exact spot, in this exact moment before.

  It was a recurring dream that I’ve had since I was a little girl. I’m well aware that it is unusual for a young girl to dream of such darkness. To dream of death, war and chaos, but it was a dream that I had had a thousand times before, only this time I was determined to wake up before he could find me. I was determined to escape the black, lifeless eyes that had haunted my dreams for longer than I could remember. As soon as his eyes met mine, the warmth would be sucked out from my body, leaving me feeling frozen and dead inside, afraid that I would never feel warm and alive again.

  I crouched down behind a pile of bodies. The stench was almost unbearable. Even though I knew it was just a nightmare, it never felt like it. My senses were always hyper aware of everything. I could feel the cold from the battlefield creeping its way through my body. My eyes had just barely adjusted to the darkness when I felt him getting closer to my hiding spot. I was always able to feel him, his essence, his being. It was as if we were connected and I’d known him my entire life, even though I’d only ever seen him in my dreams.

  As the sound of footsteps grew closer, I pinched my arm to wake myself, but nothing happened. I raised my hand to smack my face when the man appeared from behind the pile of corpses. His eyes bore into mine as if he were looking deep into my soul. I sucked in the cool sharp air as I met his gaze. This time seemed different from the others. I wasn’t immediately empty and cold. I wanted to ask the man who he was and what the hell he wanted from me. I wrapped my arms around myself as he opened his mouth and said my name.

  “Calliope,” he smiled darkly. “We shall see each other soon.” My eyes flew open and a chill ran down my spine as I sat up in bed gasping for air and clutching my chest.

  I scanned my bedroom, my family portrait still sat atop my dresser and my clothes, despite my mother’s repeated attempts to get me to clean up, were scattered on the floor. Everything looked normal. My heartbeat slowed and I took a deep breath as the remnants of the dream faded. Throwing the covers off, I swung my legs to the edge of the bed. If I didn’t get moving soon, I’d be late for school. I took one more deep breath, slid out of bed and walked into my bathroom. I stopped in front of the mirror and took a good look at myself.

  I seemed to look like my usual self. Bluish black, wavy hair that fell right past my shoulders, slightly freckled cheeks, and piercing blue eyes. Yup, I was still me. Something was off though, because I felt different. But then again, it was normal to wake up on your eighteenth birthday and feel different, right? I shook my head. I wouldn’t know what normal was since I was always far from it.

  Every living being, on the day they are born, is given a red ribbon with their death date and their role in society neatly printed on it. Everyone except me. My parents told me when I was born my mother was handed a blank red ribbon. She tried to ask about it, but no one would, or could, give her answers. The death dates and roles were supposedly written by the great seer and no one had ever seen him or her in person. So, my parents took the ribbon and me home, deciding that I would be watched like a hawk because death would not sneak up on them and take me away.

  I set the timer on the shower for the allotted five minutes and quickly stepped in. I sometimes wondered if the timer on the shower was just how the Equality Control Force reminded us how equal we were supposed to be. From early on we were taught that everything in our world was supposed to be equal and balanced. From the clothes we wore to the houses we lived in, to the number of kids each family could have and the cars we drove. I was an unusual kid. For some reason not having a predefined role in society or a death date made me question everything.

  For my dad, who was an Equality Control Enforcer, this made him crazy. When I was ten cycles old, I met my best friend Sara, and that’s when I realized that every province in Celestia was built like ours. Sara and her family had been to all seven provinces and she told me that just like I’d been told, everything was created to be equal.

  That never stopped me from bending the rules though. For each day in the period we wore a certain color. I would always wear the right color, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t modify my clothing. I just didn’t think that adding a little lace to my skirt or taking a six-minute shower would bring the world to an end. I thought it was all a little insane to be honest. I rolled my eyes and sighed as the shower automatically shut off.

  Wiping the steam off the mirror, I examined my features and thought about how the Father of Creation hadn’t factored in looks when it came to equality and balance. Just looking at my class, there were some girls who were drop dead gorgeous and others who were well... ordinary. I scrunched up my nose and stuck out my tongue at my reflection. I would say I was average, and even though I noticed the looks the boys at school sometimes gave me, no one had ever piqued my interest.

  Walking to my closet, I glanced at the calendar on the wall. I was so glad today was Valesday, because that meant I could wear my favorite color, green, on my birthday. I picked out a light green V-neck t-shirt, and a dark green skirt that I had made a few alterations to. I liked to add my own spice to life and sometimes I liked to show that off. The neighbors and teachers at school would always glare at me when I wore my altered articles of clothing. My neighbor even once told my mother that if I wasn’t careful the Father of Creation would un-make me to restore the balance that I had so rudely thrown off.

  I rolled my eyes again, remembering that absurd conversation. I highly doubted the Father of Creation had time to worry about me and my alterations. I put my standard black canvas shoes on, grabbed my backpack and went downstairs. Unfortunately, just because it was my birthday it didn’t mean I could skip school. I probably would be un-created if I did that, or at the very least get more attention at school, which was the last thing I wanted.

  “Good morning my beautiful Calliope!” My mother sang as she spun me around to hug me. Next to her on the counter sat French toast with raspberries and powdered sugar, my favorite.

  “It’s Callie mother, not Calliope,” I muttered into her chest. She let go and smiled down at me.

  “Oh,
it’s such a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. I don’t know why you hate it so much!” She threw her hands up in defeat. “Oh well. Happy Birthday Callie! It’s the big one-eight. Do you feel any different?” I snapped my head around to look at her.

  “Why would you say that? What do you mean different?” My mother sat down at the table, seemingly unfazed by my sudden freak out.

  “Callie, it’s just something people say because turning into an adult is a big deal.” She took a bite of her toast and scanned the newspaper in front of her.

  “Right,” I replied quickly. I ate my breakfast and took my plate to the sink, “Well I better get a move on. I don’t want to be late. Sara will be here any minute.”

  “Okay dear,” my mother answered without glancing up. She was acting a bit strange today. She looked like her normal self with her short golden curls bouncing around her jawline and deep dimples when she smiled. I looked her up and down and though I couldn’t see anything different, again I felt off, like something had changed overnight. I walked over and placed a kiss on her soft cheek. She looked up and smiled at me, but her smile didn’t quite reach her hazel eyes. She almost looked... Scared? It was hard to tell when she was smiling at me. Confused by my emotions, my stomach began to swirl and clench with fear.

  Shrugging it off, I turned to the door and called over my shoulder as I left. “I’ll see you and dad tonight for my party! I love you!” With the door closed behind me, the odd swirling feeling that filled me inside the house stopped almost instantly. I felt calmer and back in touch with my own feelings. It was the strangest thing. It was almost as if I had been able to feel what my mom was feeling too. But that was crazy, right? She probably just threw me off when she asked if I felt differently now that I was technically an adult. Yes, that had to be it. Who knew adulthood would be so scary?

  Sara pulled up to the curb as I finished shaking the thoughts out of my head. Sara had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. We were practically attached at the hip. Our personalities were extremely similar, but our physical features were much different. She was tall where I was short, and she was super skinny, almost too skinny, where I was of average build. Sara had beautiful shoulder-length golden hair and brown eyes and had a smile that could dazzle you into seeing things her way. I’m not sure what I would do without her. She was like the missing piece to my puzzle and was more like a sister than just a friend.

  I started walking towards her car and noticed the snicker on her face. I cautiously opened the passenger door, tossed my bag in the back and plopped down on the seat. The moment I turned to her I saw her eyes widen with a hint of crazy behind them and felt that weird swirling feeling within me again, but this time it was a feeling of sheer happiness. Like there was sunlight bottled up inside me. Sara pulled something from behind her back and put it right in front of me. Before I could react, there was a loud pop and tons of colorful strands of paper and glitter were flying everywhere.

  “Happy Birthday Loser!” She shouted at me and started to laugh when she saw the look of horror on my face. I looked down and shrieked.

  “What the hell! You know I have a serious issue with glitter!” I cried out. She laughed even harder as I flung open the door, threw myself out of the car and started running in circles screaming, “You suck!”

  I swiped away as much demon glitter as I could and then wiped the remaining vile substance off my hands and onto the grass. I stomped my way back over to the car where Sara was still clutching her stomach with laughter. “Well I’m glad to see you’re having so much fun at my expense,” I huffed. I ducked my head in the car and shouted, “I could have lost an eye!” I sat back down and glared at her.

  “Oh come on, Callie! It’s not every day that your best friend turns eighteen. I had to!” She smiled her magic smile at me, coercing me to her side of things, as always. She continued with her plea, “I promise to wipe off the rest of the demon glitter, as you call it, when we get to school.”

  I crossed my arms and turned to face forward. “Fine, but I’m totally going to get you back for that. You’ll be sorry.”

  She chuckled, “I would expect nothing less.” Still grinning broadly, she started the engine and pulled away. We sat quietly listening to the radio as she drove. I always thought that those born with the role of musician or even actors were extremely lucky. I mean how fun would it be to be able to sing as your job for your whole life? My mind drifted as the music went on and I wondered what other surprises were in store for today.

  When we got to school, we grabbed our bags and scrambled out of the car. That little glitter stunt had us behind schedule. I was seriously not in the mood to write an essay on how important it was to be on time and not disrupt the balance that is maintained in the classroom blah, blah, blah. Just thinking about it gave me a headache.

  Sara walked to my side, “Okay, stay still so I can wipe the rest of the glitter off.”

  “Just hurry,” I whined. “I don’t feel like writing an essay today and Mrs. Brimmer has it out for me.” She finished patting me down and we took off towards the entrance. “Come on!” I urged Sara. We ran straight to homeroom and planted our butts in our seats just as the bell rang. The teacher stood up and stared us down.

  “Cutting it a little close, aren’t we ladies?” Mrs. Brimmer arched one eyebrow and rolled her eyes, exasperated with me as she had been every single day I sat in her classroom. I stared back at her unblinking, like I was in some sort of standoff and started to get the weird swirling feeling inside my gut. This time it felt dark, a pure feeling of disgust. I was pretty sure that feeling was for me and it was coming from Mrs. Brimmer. She just stood there glaring at me for almost a minute before looking away with her nose in the air.

  She cleared her throat, then spoke, “I’m taking attendance now. Please get your books for your first class ready while I call out your names.”

  I took my gaze off the teacher and opened my bookbag to get my history book out. I noticed again that once I wasn’t looking at Mrs. Brimmer, all I felt were my own emotions. And at this moment my feelings were confusion and shock. It seemed like whenever I was near someone or focused on someone I could feel what they were feeling. What in the world was going on? I knew some things changed when you turned eighteen, but I had never heard of anything like this. Looks like I was right all along, I was so not normal.

  My thoughts drifted back to the dream that I had last night. Everything was changing and it had all started with that dream. In all the years of dreaming about death and the great war, not once had the stranger uttered a single word. I know it was just a dream, but it had always felt so real and now it had changed. Why now, and why did it feel like something big was happening? These were questions that I would have to ponder later because someone was shaking me from my thoughts.

  “Hello Callie? Are you there?” Sara was asking as she looked strangely at me. “We have to get to history. Let’s go!”

  I shook my head and looked up. “Oh, right. I’m coming. Sorry, I was just thinking about my birthday party,” I lied. I’ve never lied to her before, but I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t want her to freak out.

  She linked arms with me and smiled brightly, “Oh don’t worry about your party. I helped your mom and dad pick out the perfect party supplies and made an acceptable playlist so no weird old tunes will be played tonight.”

  I smiled back at her. “You’re the best friend a girl could ask for, you know that?”

  “You bet your sweet ass I am.” She winked at me and took her seat in the back of the room. I followed, shaking my head laughing.

  I sat down next to Sara as Mr. Swanson, a short balding man began to speak.

  “Okay class, does anyone remember what topic we just finished up yesterday?” He leaned against his desk, shoving his chubby hands into his pockets and looked at us expectantly. Whoever decided we could handle a history lesson first thing in the morning, especially when we just seem to learn the same fundamentals
cycle in and cycle out, did not understand the teenage brain. I stifled a laugh as I looked around at my classmates, no one seemed to be fully awake today.

  Mr. Swanson cleared his throat and tried again, “If none of you want to be prepared for your test when you come back from our days of rest, that’s fine by me.”

  After another moment of silence, a haughty voice from the back of the room said, “We were talking about how lame the world used to be before we had the right to choose different clothing variations and colors for things like cars.”

  I looked at the redheaded girl who had responded, Amy Winters. What an overachiever. Of course it was her, she loved attention. I realized Mr. Swanson had begun talking about one of Sara and my favorite topics, cringe worthy Potato Sack Chic.

  “Everyone in Celestia used to all wear brown tunics, brown pants and shoes everyday of their life. In fact....” He droned on as Sara and I exchanged eye rolls.

  I leaned over to Sara and whispered. “Yeah everyone looked like they were wearing potato sacks.” We both chuckled and got a stern look from the teacher.

  “As I was saying, things began to change thanks to one man, Marcus Hollows. He was a bold man, questioning why we couldn’t have items that were the same yet different…”

  “Yeah like why we couldn’t wear something other than an ugly potato sack.” whispered Sara and we both snickered again. The teacher ignored us and continued.

  “The change was slow going but eventually he had the leaders of almost every Career Section on board. Can anyone give some examples of the changes?” He looked out for someone to call on. I avoided eye contact until Mr. Swanson zeroed in on Sara’s long-time crush, Brad. Poor Brad.

  “Bradley, please give us some examples of the changes that Mr. Hollows pushed for.” Brad groaned and Mr. Swanson put his hands on his hips, waiting.

  Reluctantly, Brad started speaking slowly, “Umm... I guess fabrics were dyed in different color inks and the technologists started experimenting.” That was all he was going to get out of the big guy. He didn’t like to participate in class either.