Chapter 3

I’m not like most girls. Not the ones that you know. Not the ones that I know. There’s one other person who might be like me but I’ve never met her. Chances are you haven’t either.

I first learned just how different I was when I was ten years old.

I was in PE, running track with the rest of my fifth grade class at Sisters of Mercy when it happened.

“Come on, ladies, pick up the damn pace!” Our gym teacher Mrs. Pinelli was certain that profanity would spur us on to greater athletic feats. She wasn’t a nun so technically she was allowed to curse at us.

My best friend Daphne and I trailed at the back of the class, dragging our butts and laughing. We wore identical ponytails with matching ribbons and barrettes. We took the same classes, planned to attend the same college, marry in a dual ceremony. We were inseparable.

Daphne also had a big brother she idolized and whom I crushed on – big-time. Fourteen-year-old Brett was the cutest, the smartest, and the funniest guy I knew. Each night, I would lay in my bed, just five feet away from Beatrix, and imagine us out on a date together, holding hands and smooching in front of every jealous girl in my class.

“Ladies! Now! Damn it!” Daphne and I rolled our eyes at each other and trotted ever-so-slightly faster to appease our gym teacher.

On the other side of the track was the boys’ class, our male doppelgangers, goofing around with the relay baton and hurdles just as we had. I watched for a moment, unimpressed until…

Brett appeared, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, both of which clung tightly to his body, showing off muscled limbs. He smiled easily, demonstrating to the boys how to pass the relay baton and properly clear the hurdles.

Obviously, Brett was the perfect guy. Just looking at him made me light-headed and I probably would have face-planted into the gravel had I not had Daphne’s arm to grab onto.

“Oh yeah,” Daphne said. “Brett volunteered to be a gym assistant.”

It was just as her words were ringing in my ear that the aura hit me. First the air sparkled and danced in front of my eyes, like millions of swirling dust motes, obscuring my vision with slashes of blinding white light - and then I was slammed full-force with a massive headache. My hands reached out in front of me, transforming me into Frankenstein’s monster, shuffling and swaying, my toes stubbing the gravel.

“Callie? Callie?”

Daphne’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard, high-pitched and scraping. I covered my ears with my hands but then felt my body pitch forward awkwardly.

“Mrs. Pinelli!” Daphne called to our teacher. “Something’s wrong with Callie!”

“No, no, I’m okay. Just gotta…”

And then I collapsed onto the track.

“Mrs. Pinelli! Mrs. Pinelli!”

Each time Daphne called out for help, I felt like someone had stuck a fist inside my head and wrung my brain; every sound was amplified until it resounded like a drumline. I rolled over and curled into a fetal position with my head tucked under my elbows.

Footsteps approached, trampling the dense earth and thudding against my skull. I could feel my gym teacher and some of the other girls from class hovering over me. The smell of their sweat and perfume hit me like a bag of bricks, suddenly overwhelming my senses.

“Calliope?” Mrs. Pinelli asked. “Is it your stomach? Do you have a stomachache?”

I rolled my head from side to side.

“Your appendix? Is it your appendix?”

I suppose the clutching of my hands to the sides of my head was too subtle a clue for my gym teacher. I wondered when she would ask me about my pancreas or if I had any liver pain.

“Beatrix,” I managed to get out. “My aunt…”

“Could we get some help moving Calliope, please?”

I peeked open my eyes then and looked up, expecting to see my teacher but instead of Mrs. Pinelli or any of the girls, I saw Daphne’s brother, Brett.

My heart began to race and my palms became sweaty at the thought of Brett Grace – my muscled and beautiful knight – carrying me to safety. I could feel my skin grow warm as I no doubt blushed from head to toe. Brett gently lifted me and ran with me from the track toward the school.

Ah, my soulmate, the love of my life, my future husband, I remember thinking as I felt the warmth of Brett’s arms holding me to his chest. The musk of his sweat was overpowering, but I didn’t care. I already felt a thousand times better just being in his embrace.

“You’re so amazing,” I said, trying to smile.

Brett smiled back at first and then I noticed his eyes cross in confusion and his mouth fall open. His face went pale.

“What? What is it?” I asked.

“I…I…” Brett stammered. He deliberately averted his gaze from me as he ran into the school and deposited me on the sofa in my Aunt Beatrix’s office. In my peripheral vision, I saw Brett hightail it out of there without saying goodbye but I couldn’t worry about it. By then, my whole body was pounding.

As Bea lowered a blanket over me, I noticed Daphne and the school nurse staring at me. But it hurt to keep my eyes open so I squeezed them shut and hoped the pain would go away.

“Miss Bellflower, I think Calliope should come to my office,” I heard the nurse say. “She really should be examined—”

“No, no, she’ll be fine,” my aunt insisted. “I know what this is. I have something that will help.”

“But the rules, Miss Bellflower—”

“I know the rules. If necessary, I’ll talk to Sister Catherine.”

There was a shuffle of footsteps and a door closing and then I heard Daphne say, “It was the weirdest thing out there on the track, Miss Beatrix.”

“Weird,” Bea repeated. “What was weird?”

“Well, I almost didn’t recognize Callie when my brother was carrying her here. She had, um…” There was a long pause. “Blond hair.”

“Blond? It must have been a reflection of the sun or something.”

“And her eyes were blue.”

I could feel Daphne staring at my supremely non-blond hair and non-blue eyes. Daphne was the one with blond hair and blue eyes. I had always admired those traits in my best friend, had often wished them for my own. I hated my black hair and dark green eyes. They were ugly.

“That certainly is odd,” my aunt said. I heard her usher Daphne out the door. “Calliope will call you later when she’s better, okay?”

Then I felt my aunt’s hand under my chin. “Open your mouth, sweetheart, and take these.”

I blinked, watching as she dropped two sky blue pills into my hand. “What…”

“You’ll feel better, trust me.”

I swallowed because I always trusted Bea.

“Now just lay back and relax.”

Relax? How could I relax? A zillion questions torpedoed inside my head. What was wrong with me? Why didn’t Bea want me to see the school’s nurse? What were the pills for?

I struggled to sit up, despite my aunt’s pleas for me to rest. “But, Bea…”

“Shhh…”

“Beatrix, tell me…what’s going on? What Daphne said about me, what she saw…is it true?”

My aunt tucked the blanket under my chin, futzing with the fringe so it wouldn’t stick to my lips, trying her best to make me comfortable. Her face was inscrutable but I saw in her eyes a flicker of sadness as she considered me.

“Yes, Callie. It’s called the shift.”