chapter ONE
Kallos pulls her blanket over her head as the sun shines through the window. She doesn't want to get up. Maybe she can hide in a deep dark hole and never come out. Today is her first day of high school in a new town. Her dad was a teacher and was offered the position of principal here. Now, she gets to suffer for three years with him watching over her every single move at Fallenvale, with a measly population of four hundred. Her mother says that living in a small town will be nice and that it will help her blossom; Kallos disagrees.
She is ripped from her hopeless thoughts as she hears footsteps on the stairs. Kallos takes a deep breath and holds it in for a few seconds as she hears her mother's voice outside her door, “Kallos, dear, you need to get up.” She moans, as she falls out of bed, and grabs her robe before stumbling to the bathroom.
After showering, Kallos joins her parents at the kitchen table. As usual, her mom sets golden stacks of pancakes and fried bacon in front of her. She kisses Kallos’ cheek and says, “Good morning, Sweetie.” Kallos smiles as Mom asks, “Are you excited for your first day?”
As Kallos shovels in a bite of pancakes to avoid answering, she nods. To be honest, though, she isn't excited; she’s only frightened. Although, she doesn’t seem to understand the reason she is so petrified. She has been getting this weird feeling since they got into town a little more than a week ago; it’s as if something is trying to warn her. Her birthmark has this precarious burning sensation ever since she has gotten to this forsaken town. As Kallos finishes her last piece of bacon her dad stands up and announces, “Time to get going.” He walks over and grabs his jacket.
“Dad, I want to walk to school,” Kallos says while rolling her eyes. She still doesn't understand why he is treating her as if she was a child.
“I don’t think that would be wise on your first day. Wait until you meet some new people. I don’t want you walking to school alone, Kallos.” She picks up her plate; dragging her feet as if she is stalling to the sink and hands it to her mom.
Her mom looks up at Kallos, smiles, and turns to start washing the breakfast dishes, “Go get your backpack Sweetie and please hurry. I don’t want you to be late on your first day.” She looks from Kallos back to her husband.
“Whatever,” Kallos mumbles, rolls her eyes and runs up to her bedroom, glancing in the hallway mirror. She notices her skinny body is starting to change; it is starting to get more curves. Her skinny-legged jeans don’t seem so skinny anymore with her newly found hips. Her dark brown hair hangs to the middle of her back; it has a red tint that is only seen when the sun shines on it. Her light blue eyes are shrouded with dark lashes. Kallos laughs to herself because her mom is always telling her that she has perfect eyelashes. She walks into her bedroom. Today, she is wearing light-washed jeans with a long sleeved red shirt. She pushes up her sleeves and sees her quarter-sized, dove-shaped birthmark on her left wrist. People are always asking her if it's a tattoo.
Kallos turns, walks over to her desk, and grabs her pink and black backpack. She lifts it over one shoulder and leisurely strolls downstairs; she is in no hurry to get this retched day started. Her mom, as usual, is standing by the door waiting to give her a hug and plant a kiss on her forehead. Kallos looks intently at her mother and realizes she is an extraordinary beauty. She has long, blonde hair and light green eyes. She always wears a dress because she says it makes her feel pretty. Kallos smiles at her and takes one more hug before walking to her dad. As they walk over to the car, he opens the passenger door and Kallos slides in.
The five-minute car ride was quiet and uneventful. They pull into her dad’s reserved parking spot, and he hands her the class schedule. They get out of the car and walk towards the entrance. Kallos notices that the sidewalk is cracked and uneven; she prays she doesn’t trip and fall. The building has red bricks and the trees that line the sidewalk which have already started changing to their fall colors. Beautiful reds, yellows, and orange line her path to the two glass doors that lead into the school, and many people around.
“Well, if you need anything, you know where to find me,” tells her dad as he leans in and wraps Kallos in a hug. She quickly avoids it by pushing him away.
“Dad! Not now, I’ll be the laughing stock of the entire school!” It's going to be hard enough being his daughter.
He chuckles and says, “Okay, Sweetie.” He switches to a whisper, “I love you. Have a good day.”
“I love you too, Dad. Now run before anyone sees you.” Her dad laughs and smiles to himself.
He walks to the doors and disappears inside, leaving her standing alone. Glancing around, Kallos realizes she isn't actually alone, although she feels she is. Curious glances from the other students are being thrown in her direction, but no one addresses her. She starts shuffling into the building; there are posters on the deep maroon walls saying “Football,” and “Homecoming Dance.” She walks by a trophy case, and quickly glances at the sport team’s photos. Kallos realizes how much she misses her best friend. Breanna and her grew up together; she hated she had to leave her behind. Their goodbye was the hardest farewell she ever had to endure. Kallos wishes she were here to help her through this. Her parents said Breanna could visit and Kallos plans to hold them to that.
Kallos looks at her schedule to see that homeroom is in room one hundred and eighty six. The room next to her says one hundred and forty. She has no idea which direction she is supposed to go. She hunts for the next door and it says one hundred and forty one. Kallos is too busy noticing the room numbers go by; that she isn’t paying attention as she runs into a dark haired figure. His books drop to the ground as his hand finds Kallos' arm so she doesn’t fall. When she looks up and finds his baby blue eyes looking down at her in amusement, she forgets how to breathe for a moment.
“Are you okay?” He had to be at least six feet tall. He smiles down at Kallos, and she could see the cutest dimples appear on his perfectly smooth cheeks. She can’t form a coherent sentence; so she just nods. “Good. I don’t recognize you; you must be new.” Again, she nods. “I’m Ian Hunter.” As he stares at her she feels as if she has known him for years; as if something deep inside her says he is made for her. Wondering why he keeps staring at her before she realizes he is waiting for her name.
“I’m…Kallos Dean.” She finally manages to stutter out. She realizes his warm hand is still on her arm. Feeling the heat rising to her face; she blushes a perfect shade of pink. She bends down to pick up his books and to hide the pink on her cheeks. Both of them reach at the same time to pick up the books and smack! Their foreheads hit hard enough she is pretty sure they heard it down the hall.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Kallos says as she is holding her head. She cannot believe what just happened.
He just smiles and says, “Don’t worry about it.” Ian says as he rubs his head lightly while wincing at the bruise that is surely forming.
Kallos bends down and starts to gather all of his books and stands up. She hands him his books, but keeps her eyes away from his crystal blue eyes. “Well, I’m sorry I ran into you.” She says quickly and turns to walk away not before she hears him say, “See you later, Kallos.”
****
Ian watches Kallos walk away. He cannot believe that Kallos is so beautiful; he can get lost in her deep crystal blue eyes. When he looked into them he could swear he saw her soul staring back at him. He has seen many pictures of her, but seeing her in person, he almost lost it. He wasn’t paying attention, and he ran right into her, knocking his own books to the ground; he shakes his head at his own stupidity. Ian already found out that she is in his homeroom and hopes he will get to sit next to her. When he was touching her, he could feel the sparks and the prickling in his birthmark. It felt like he shoved his hand into an electrical current. He smiles to himself. This is going to be a great day.
“What has you smiling?” Ian's smile doesn't fade when he hears his brother’s voice it just grows wider.
“I just met Kallos.” He turns around to look at Sean and starts to laugh. Sean doesn't look too happy that he didn't get to meet her first.
“What! I was supposed to meet her first! I’m still the oldest!” Sean yells at Ian. Ian just puts his hand on his shoulder in a condescending reassurance.
“Will you keep it down?” Ian says quietly, and Sean narrows his dark turning eyes.
“I thought you’re with Nikki,” Sean says, and smiles at Ian.
Ian rolls his eyes. “That's old news. Besides Kallos is the one; I can feel it.” Their parents have told them that Kallos was their soul mate, but to only one of them. They have kept a watchful eye on Kallos as she grew up, hoping that one day she would be the one to fall in love with one of them. They have waited sixteen years for her to grow up. Now she is here among them.
“Well you might want to forget her now. You know girls always choose me over you.” Sean smirks then winks at Ian and walks away. Ian knows that Sean will be meeting Kallos really soon. He is a little nervous for her to meet his cocky player of a brother.
Ian laughs as his brother walks away. He really hates how sure Sean is. He knows there is something there with Kallos; he felt his heart speed up when he saw her and when he touched her his heart nearly stopped. He kind of feels sorry for his brother because Kallos is his soul mate, not Sean’s. He heads in the same direction as Kallos just walked, hopefully to the same classroom.
****
As Kallos walks briskly, watching only for people in her path and numbers on doors, she knows that she is still blushing and doesn't know why. When she finally finds her homeroom, she only has two minutes to spare before the bell rings disrupting her train of thought. She looks around and finds an empty seat in the middle of the room. The girl seated in the small wooden desk to Kallos' right smiles at her, and Kallos returns her smile as she introduces herself. “Hello, I’m Kallos.”
“Hi, I’m Karissa.” She notices Karissa's long, dark blonde hair is wavy and her eyes are a beautiful shade of green. Suddenly, the room gets quiet. As Kallos looks up, she sees Ian walk in the door. Her heart flutters and the butterflies threaten to overtake her breath again; she realizes that there is only one seat left and it is next to her. He walks over and smiles at Kallos as he sits down. Lucky for her it’s right next to her.
He smiles and says, “I told you I’d see you later, Kallos.” He shifts his gaze to Karissa and says, “Hey Kris, how are you?”
Karissa smiles, “I’m great! How about you?”
He stares into Kallos’ eyes as he says, “Great.”
Kallos averts her eyes as the teacher, Mrs. Kendall, walks in and quiets the class. “This class is to study and for your class meetings; for today, you guys can talk. But don’t get used to it. It’s the first day and I have a lot to get ready for the year.” Suddenly, she feels Ian’s eyes still on her. She doesn't have the guts to actually look at him.
Karissa turns toward Kallos and smiles as she pushes her hair behind her ears. “So, I heard your dad is the new principal.” Kallos was hoping people didn’t already know, but apparently it was false hope. She nods. “That’s nice. I also hear he’s a hottie.” Kallos just shakes her head. She is used to her friends telling her that her dad looks like Brad Pitt with black hair, but she can’t believe this stranger is telling her this. As if jolted with a bolt of electricity, she jumps when she feels someone touch her shoulder. She has a strange warming sensation coming from deep in her body, as she jerks away from Ian's touch. He laughs in response.
“So what do you hide behind those goddess like eyes?” Ian reminds Kallos of a movie star. She was staring again and mentally shook her head to remember the question he just asked.
“What do you mean?” She could see him smile from out of the corner of her eye.
“Have you ever been to a party?” She hadn't. It isn’t easy being the daughter of parents who had to know where she was every second of everyday she was gone. She hadn't even been on a date.
Kallos blushes, “Sure I have.” She lies because she doesn't want to feel like a loser, not in front of him. He gives her an “eat your heart out” grin.
“Well, there’s a party this Friday; I would love it if we can hang out.” Kallos tries to hide her giggle at his heart-melting smile. She fails as she smiles back at him.
“Okay, that sounds good.” He reaches for her hand and she lets him hold it.
He takes his warm hand away from her. “Good, I was hoping you would say that.” He writes seven digits on a piece of paper. “Here is my number; you can call anytime and I’ll pick you up.” She takes out her cell phone and adds his number. Then, he lifts her hand and kisses her knuckles. Chivalry is obviously not dead with Ian as her blush darkens as he stares into her eyes. “Please, stay safe, Kallos.”
The shrill bell rings before she can ask what he means by his cryptic statement. Ian stares at her for what seems like forever and her mind takes her back to his last statement, ‘Please, stay safe Kallos,’ is echoed in her head over and over. He lets go of Kallos' hand so she can grab her backpack. She watches him walk away before she realizes that she didn’t give him her number. Kallos sees Karissa walking out of the door with another girl. Kallos smiles in her direction. “Hey, what class do you have next?” Karissa shouts from the doorway.
Kallos glances at her schedule. “Mr. Nelson.”
“We do too! Oh, this is Kellee. Kel, this is Kallos.”
They smile at each other and Kallos notices Kellee's short, reddish blonde hair and green eyes as we head toward our next class. She looks down at her phone and opens a new text message.
Now you have my number, Kallos She grins as she presses send. She quickly ran to her locker to put her phone away, she doesn’t want to get in trouble on the first day of school.
Throughout the morning no one really tried to talk to her; she heard some whispers that she was under Ian’s wing. Kallos turns the knob around as she puts in her combination to opens her locker she finds her cell phone, and is disappointed when she finds there is nothing new on it. No new text messages. Kallos puts her books in and puts her phone in her back pocket. Entering the lunchroom she looks at the walks and a bright yellow fills her vision. More of the posters cover the wall about the Homecoming Dance, and to join different clubs. Kallos quickly finds Ian sitting at a huge table. However he has two girls on either side of him. The one to his right is Cali girl; the typical short shorts, perfect makeup and even in the harshest of artificial lights her skin still glows. She has to be breaking the dress codes.
She is wearing a skin-tight white sweater that showed off her ample bosom. It makes Kallos wish that she had more to show off. Her jeans are so low you could almost see her butt crack. The one on his left has short black hair cut into a bob. She has on all black, but the outfit is just as skimpy as the blonde’s. The V-neck of her shirt goes past her black lace bra. She can't really see her black skirt, but she is guessing it was really short. They both looked at Kallos as she comes closer. That’s when she sees their eyes. The blonde has hazel eyes, and the other one has deep green eyes. They are glaring at Kallos, as she almost comes to a standstill.
Ian must have noticed something because he looks up and mouths “Sorry” to her. There’s no place to sit next to him so she sits five people away, but she can still hear them. Someone taps her on the arm and in her clouded thoughts she just now realizes she is actually sitting beside Kellee. She smiles and Kallos returns the smile. At least she was making some girl friends here. She has a feeling that the two girls sitting next to Ian wouldn’t be her best friends. She looks over at Ian and notices that he is gazing at her. She looks down at the table to hide her smile.
“So Ian, we heard about your party. Are you going to invite us?” The blonde asks as the black haired girl glares at Kallos.
“Of course you’re invited, Nikki, and so are you, Vicky.” They both lit up and beam at Ian. “I always invite everybody.” Kallos wonders if Ian is just being nice to the new girl, or maybe trying to get in good with the principal’s daughter. She knew that it was too good to be true. Why would someone that is so popular want her? She looks up at him, and he is looking at her. He grins at her, but this time she doesn’t smile back, averting her eyes as he furrows his brow in wonder at her sudden aversions.
“Kallos how’s your day so far?” Kellee asks. Kallos looks away from Ian and at Kellee.
“It’s going good.” This is a lie. Everyone knows who her dad is and most of them aren’t too excited. No one has been totally mean to her, not really, not yet anyways. Now, she looks around and can see that everyone is talking to someone. She is an outsider. She pushes up her sleeves because she is getting hot.
“Oh my gosh, is that a tattoo?” Kellee asks as she points to her left arm. Kallos blushes and pushes her sleeve back down. Forgetting the mark on her wrist was so dark that people always ask questions about it.
“No it’s a birthmark.” She says, sounding very uncomfortable.
“Oh, I’m sorry. It looks like a perfect outline of a dove.” Kallos just smiles at her. She is used to people saying that. She senses a mysterious feeling come over her like something pulling on her body. She looks up expecting to see Ian, but she sees a blonde haired, gray-eyed guy sit across from her.
He grins at her, and just that slight gesture is enough to make her body tingle in a weird reaction. It’s almost the same feeling she has with Ian. She stares at him and can feel this invisible pull growing stronger.
“Hello, I am Sean.” He says with a smile. She just stares as he holds out his hand for her to shake.
“Oh… Hi, I’m Kallos.” She glances down at his hand and places hers in his; she just hopes her hand isn’t as sweaty as she thinks it is. She looks up to smile at him, but she sees his gray eyes flicker to pitch black. She gasps and pulls her hand back as if her hand were in a fire; his smile quickly fades. She glances down to where Ian was sitting and can see him glaring at Sean. She has no clue what is going on, but she doesn't like it. She turns her attention back to Sean. Maybe she was imagining Sean’s eyes changing. No one has blue-gray eyes one minute and black eyes the next.
“Kallos, did you hear anything I just said?” She looks over to Kellee. She hadn’t heard anything. She was wondering about Ian and Sean. There is something going on, and she doesn't know what.
“I'm sorry I didn't. But…I need to go!” Kallos quickly gets up and heads out of the lunchroom. She thinks she might be going crazy.
****
Sean watches her walk away. He can't blame her for leaving. He can’t believe how right his brother was. Kallos is so beautiful; she will make Aphrodite proud. When they touched, his mark felt like it was on fire. He can't believe that he let his eyes change. He is normally more careful than that. He can usually keep that part of himself under control, but for some reason he can’t around her. She seems to excite his other half, and that has never happened before. Maybe his brother was wrong. Maybe she is for him. He looks over at Ian and knows that he isn't happy with him. He doesn't know about this other half; he hasn't been through this yet.
“Sean! What did you do to scare away Kallos?” Kellee asks him. He looks at her and wonders if they have ever spoken.
He gives her his best suave smile. “Me? All I said to her was ‘Hi.’” He wonders if she saw his eyes change. Hopefully she didn’t.
“You did something. I just don't know what.” He looks back at his brother. Ian is sitting with Nikki and Vicky. Those two girls are so mean, and he has never seen why Ian is so nice to them. He saw the evil looks they gave to Kallos and it made him want to rip their heads off.
“I didn't do anything. You know I'm not a bad guy, unlike what you heard about me.” He hates that people always think the worst of him, and always expect him to screw up. He broke Karissa’s heart, he doesn’t deny that. There have been a few other girls, but he was always up front about his feelings, he wasn’t going to fall in love with them. He wants to be the better man for Kallos, and prays to his god she is his.
He gets up, glances over at Ian, and winks. He is going to make sure Kallos is okay.
****
Kallos runs into the closest restroom and quickly gets her bearing to her of her surroundings. The scarred powder blue stalls seem to be out of place in the girl’s bathroom but something dripping keeps catching her attention. The four blue sinks with smoky mirrors above them seem to have an issue with water leaking. She rushes to the first leaky sink and turns on the cold water. She starts to splash water on her face and looks at her reflection in the mirror. Was she the only one who saw his eyes change or is she losing her mind? She has so many questions in her head. She tells herself to calm down. She started to count to ten, and when that doesn’t work, she continues on to twenty. Sighing she gives up and turns around to leave, just as the door bursts open and Sean walks in. He is truly beautiful, from head to toe. He has on a dark pair of jeans with holes above his knees. His gray shirt matches his eyes almost perfectly; he was staring at her as if he could see right through to her very soul.
“Don’t be afraid of me, Kallos.” He moves closer to her, and she puts her hand up to stop him. He just smiles and continues to come closer. “You have no idea what’s going on?” He pauses, shakes his head, and looks back at her, “Of course you don’t; why wouldn’t they tell you? Don’t they know that your change is coming?” Because of his close proximity to her she doesn’t know if she should take a step back or breathe in his scent even longer. She is still at a loss to what is proper in this situation.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She says in an unsteady voice. He is looking at her as if he is looking at something so precious, as she feels the ache in her head intensify. He chuckles, and it makes her whole body heat up. He seems to feel the change in Kallos's body because he grins at her.
“I’m not the bad guy. I can promise you that.” He cups her face with his hands as he moves his fingers lightly to caress her soft cheeks, which makes her head feel like it’s going to explode.
“You seem like a bad guy. Why are you doing this to me?” She has never felt this way before, and today she has already felt this twice. He slowly takes his hands away from her face, but he doesn’t back away.
“I want to help you.” He pauses and looks at her in complete shock. “You really don’t know, do you?” She looks at him and thoughts start running though her head. It was almost like voices. She shakes her head to get rid of the voices. “Kallos, you need to speak to your parents. Ask them about your name.” He reaches down and takes her hand. He brings it up to his lips and kisses her knuckles lightly lingering there for a moment longer than is proper. “When you finish talking to them, come find me.” He lets go of her hand and walks away.
As soon as he leaves and she is completely alone and the pain and heat seem to vanish. She turns around and looks at herself in the mirror. She doesn't know what is going on and what it has to do with her parents, but she plans on finding out, and soon. She isn’t really scared of Sean; she has a feeling that he would never hurt her. There is something weird about him and Ian. Why does her birthmark burn at their slightest touch?
****
Ian watches Sean leave the girls’ bathroom. He can't believe Sean told Kallos all of that. What was he thinking? Her parents know who they are and that one of them is her soul mate. When the time comes, then and only then, they will tell her. He and Sean are not supposed to say anything. He wants to go and make sure Kallos is okay, but he knows that there isn't much time before the bell rings and has a feeling she doesn’t want to see him. Not after what his brother just did.
“So, you have a thing now for girls’ bathrooms?” He chuckles at Karissa’s voice. “Or is it the girl inside?” He looks at her and feels sorry for her. He knows Sean broke her heart; he was the one to hold her when she cried for hours.
“The girl.” He says, as he smiles broadly in return.
“She is pretty. I hope she picks you.” He turns to his best friend, and can see all the hurt on her face. He saw it when Sean followed Kallos out of the lunchroom. He should let his mother take away Karissa's pain, but it is too risky. His mom can't be exposed.
“Me too.” Ian says. She grins and looks back at the bathroom.
“This is the first time you and Sean have been into the same girl. What are you going to do?” That is where she is wrong. Acidalia was a girl they both loved unconditionally, and she died. With Kallos they knew that she was for one of them and he isn't going to give up easily; he waited sixteen years for her.
“I don't know, but I'm not going to give up on her.” he says.
“What about Nikki?” Karissa looks back at him.
“There was never anything of consequence there between us. She wasn’t the girl for me.” Karissa looks down, and Ian knows she is thinking about Sean with her faraway stare as if she is a million miles away in her head. He wanted to kick himself. That is what Sean said to her, and he just reminded her of that. He knows that Nikki cares for him, but they were not meant to be. Kallos is the one. “I'm sorry.” He says and puts his arm around her shoulders. She is going to make some guy very happy one day.
“I know,” she whispers, and they embraced in a companionable silence. “I'm going to go. The bell is going to ring in a minute.”
“Okay Kris. I'll see you later.” She nods and walks away. He knows Kallos is coming out soon, so he walks away too.