Calisto could not move, even to understand how to do it was impossible because she was unable to feel her body. As if she was part of the emptiness just dissolved in the surrounding s.p.a.ce.

How much time she spent in such a state was difficult to say, but finally, from somewhere far away, appeared some sounds. She tried to approach them, but it was also impossible to understand how to do this.

First, an absolutely calm girl suddenly started to get angry.

But why?! Cali was not sure herself.

It was like her mind was divided into two parts. One merely drifted with the flow. She was a part of the surrounding nothingness, and it suited her perfectly. But the second half, for some reason, was very angry. It did not want to be here.

Suddenly the world was filled with colors. Before Cali was a meadow. Everything was so beautiful that the girl shut her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, two figures appeared in front of her in that meadow. A man and a little girl.

The child walked beside her father, holding his hand and her huge blue eyes kept staring at the man"s face.

"Daddy, what are we going to do today?!" - said the little girl tugging at her father"s hand.

"I do not know, baby! What do you want?"

"Can we go to Paris?"

"Sunny, you know how busy he is, he is studying now."

"To become as smart as you?"

"Well, not exactly. I guess to become as strong as Uncle Davenport."

The girl"s big eyes seem to have become even larger, she also raised her brows in surprise and opened her mouth.

"Daddy, but you are also very strong!"

This made the man chuckle.

"Duke Davenport is much stronger, but don"t be upset. I"m much smarter than him!" - The man leaning towards the girl and whispered in his daughter"s ear as if it was a big secret.

Cali quickly realized what she was seeing. These memories were hard to forget. Although she managed to do this for almost six years.

But now it was pointless. Cali was even glad that she could see her past so clearly now.

The past, in which she was still happy. When she could sincerely smile and talk nonsense when her father seemed to love her, and the world was full of new beautiful discoveries.

Watching a couple chirping among themselves, Cali relaxed and therefore did not notice how a man stepped out from behind the bushes. It was the manager and personal a.s.sistant of her mother, Parson.

"My Lord, I apologize, but the mistress is looking for the little lady!" - Parson said in a strange voice. It always seemed to Cali that he was talking like through a trumpet. The sound was nasty and somehow pompous. Hearing what the steward said, the baby immediately shrank and looked at her father imploringly.

"Daddy, do I really have to go? You promised we will have a walk. Just the two of us!"

"I know, my little b.u.t.ton, but first you need to finish cla.s.ses with your mother. Paris is working hard, and you should also study, you know?!"

"But before mother did not even come to see me. Why now, every day?" - The girl obviously started to wind herself up. Tears flowed down her cheeks, she bit her lips and squeezed her fists tightly.

"Mom was very busy, but now see how much time she spends with you. She"s trying for you. To make you the most beautiful young lady." - the father tried to soothe his stubborn imp.

"But she screams at me. You never scream. Daddy, I don"t want her, I want to be with you," - the girl clutched at the father"s thigh. Hysterical notes began to appear in her childish voice.

The father was about to give in to his daughter"s persuasion and even opened his mouth to order the steward to leave them, as Parson suddenly grabbed the little girl, and raising her to the level of his face. He quickly whispered something to the baby. The girl squirmed at first but quickly subsided in the hands of a man.

The father looked clearly displeased, but he didn"t say anything. He understood perfectly well that he was pampering his daughter, but the lost expression of her eternally shining eyes made his heart squeeze.

With pain, Cali watched her father let go of her little version. She wanted to shout at this moment. Make sure that her father did not give his little girl to this witch. Stop this instant. But it was already late, and the images began to spin again before her eyes.

Now in front of Cali was an elegantly decorated ballroom. A gaggle of girls, at the edges of the dance floor. Chic dresses, lace, the smell of perfume and powder, complicated hairdo and glitter of gold around. All this made the moment intoxicate, forced to do stupid things.

Cali looked at the crowd of debutantes. The slim figure of a girl with tight as if not real spirals of curls, which were framing a serious, concentrated face full of makeup. Next to her stood a red-haired girl, chirping non-stop, but the other girl didn"t listen much, examining everything around from under long curled lashes.

Cali watched with sadness everything that was unfolding before her eyes. The words of the mother again sounded in Cali"s head. As back then, at each step, she was hunted by the cold hard voice of Countess Marsters.

"You must behave with dignity. Do not pay attention to these hens. They are only puppets in your hands. Remember, you have no friends, everyone are enemies. Each of them will not hesitate to take away what is rightfully yours. Your only goal is a prince. You must show that you are better, smarter, more beautiful, more elegant than others. They are just stupid crowd. Every move you make, every word, every smile, must be calculated and thought out. If you make mistakes, you"ll become a laughing stock. Do not disgrace me!"

Cali watched with sorrow as the young Countess Marsters tried her hand at deception and duplicity for the first time. Slightly touched the other person"s elbow, she smiled softly. The red-head girl halted and looked with such admiration and love at her friend. Poor girl, she didn"t even know that young countess was just using her back then.

Cali was full of arrogance and a sense of superiority at that time. This first ball was not a magical event for her, it was an exam, a test of her strength. And the mother watched from the far corner of the hall, noting every mistake.

At first, Cali tried her charms on debutantes, then on the elderly n.o.blemen and generals. Then their wives and finally the young men. She felt like a princess, everyone admired her, the fans repelled each other in hopes of the next dance. And in her head, the soft, insinuating voice of her mother never stopped sounding, filling the heart of a girl with poison and hatred.

Cali could no longer look at it. She wanted to slap her younger version on the cheeks. To wipe this arrogant little smile from painted lips.

She was so angry. At her own stupidity, at her mother, at everything.

Suddenly, Paris"s voice sounded in Cali"s head.

"Cali, I know you can hear me. You must return. You can"t leave it all this way!"

The girl confusedly turned around looking for the source of the voice. But it sounded right in her head.

"You can"t throw it all away."

"Why not? What so good about my life?"- beginning to get angry, answered Cali to the voice.

"You think if you run away last time, it"s fine to do it again? Don"t be a coward!"

Cali choked from such insolence.

"Run away? What the h.e.l.l? I was sold! I was betrayed! You do not know what I had to go through. Your vile squabbles are nothing compared to what I went through!" - She screamed on top of her lungs. Her insides started to boil with anger.

"What about Konrad, Cali? What about your friends? They survived so much pain. Do you want them to leave like this, without knowing what happiness is? Doesn"t your heart ache for them?"

"What can you understand, Paris?" - Cali began to yell in a frenzy. - "What do you know about pain?!!"

"Cali, you can still fix it. If you will be strong if you try. You can come back. Cali, honey, just try."

"d.a.m.n you!" - Cali yelled beside herself with rage when she heard her father"s voice, - "Try? Fix? Fix what? The fact that my soul was pulled out and trampled on? That my hands are soaked with blood? There is no future for me, as well as for my friends. We are trash! n.o.body needs us!"

"Baby, we need you! Your friends need you! You just have to try. Gorgon, you must subdue it. You are stronger than this cursed stone."

Cali screamed in helpless anger. What did they understand?! What could they know?

A sharp pain pierced her chest, forcing her to fall on her knees. With hatred, Cali grabbed a stone on her chest. d.a.m.n Gorgon! Cursed piece of rock!

Be strong, try! Everyone wanted something from her. But she was sick and tired of trying.

No ... Not everyone ...

A terrible picture appeared before her eyes.

Mark falls under the weight of the crowd that lunged at him.

Lance is knocked from the orc"s back by the shifter, whos claws deeply pierced through elf"s back.

Behind him, Chris, distracted by his friends, is stabbed in the back with a sword. Then again and again.

Next to Cali, Konrad falls literally swallowed by a wave of enemies.

Some big guy grabs Niels by the scruff and throws him hard against the wall. The boy falls like a broken doll under the feet of the attacker.

Anita with a last straight pushes through the crowd to the boy, covering him from the blows with her body.

Her squad, her friends. An hour ago, they were standing around her with a first ugly smile on their faces. They did not ask for anything, they demanded nothing. All these years they were just there. Even with a stony heart, their heartbeat sounded in unison.

Only now she began to realize how clearly she felt them. Their lost souls were connected all this time without even realizing it. Cali felt that she just needs to stretch a hand...

And she did.

In the dark, overcoming the pain and resistance she was looking for, she searching, calling. She was ready to accept them.

The first was Konrad, his warmth she wouldn"t confuse with anything. She strained, barely feeling only the familiar mist on the edge of consciousness. But as soon as she silently called, he immediately approached and surrounded.

Feeling his support and warmth, Cali reached for the others. Niels, Anita, Borgis answered her call. As if through a viscous fog, they broke to her, focusing on her voice.

Farukh, Chris, Mark, Lance and Karo, they all envelope her one by one, as if wrapping a terry blanket, giving her strength and calmness, their support and encouragement.

Now among friends, it seemed that she could do everything. And she tried. Having collected all of their and her strength, she mentally sent it to the Gorgon.

Fingers still squeezed the long-familiar seal, an eternal reminder of her weakness and fear.

But now she no longer wanted to be a puppet in the hands of someone. She would not allow herself to be manipulated either by the mother, or by the Arians, or by the Elders of Gunulbin, even that d.a.m.ned stone.

"I am the only mistress of my body, my destiny, my life," - she repeated as a prayer, trying to subordinate the stone to her will, to make it work as she wanted.

"I"m your mistress! And you will protect my friends and me!"

The pain overwhelmed the mind, but she continued to press, push. Something cracked, sagging. As soon as Cali felt like the gorgon succ.u.mbed, she gathered the rest of her strength into a fist and headed for the final mental blow.

Consciousness floated, but she did not give up, feeling the support of friends.

She will no longer retreat, will not surrender, and even if this is the end, she will fight for herself and her squad.

After all, she is the leader, their commander. She will protect them as they have protected her.