15 years later
Aria heard the notification on her phone as YouTube notified her that a new song had been added to her favorite channel. She eagerly unlocked her phone and opened the app to find Notestoremember's channel with the latest song.
The video started like all of them on the channel did, with a woman in a mask that hid everything but her mouth. The woman stared into the camera silently with her soft lavender eyes. Lightning flashed behind her in stormy skies. A moment later, the music started, splitting into multiple screens as each view showed her on different instruments. The background of each window was different, but they were all some kind of surreal landscape. The virtual backgrounds always changed with the mood of her music, complimenting it perfectly.
The music itself was a supercharged religious experience. The artist hadn't produced a single song that wasn't a hit. They had found the perfect blend of the right instruments, drawing heavily from orchestral ensembles mixed with modern rock, and producing a poignant melody that never failed to reach deep into your soul. There was a feeling of transcendence when listening to her music that was both intensely powerful and beautifully sublime. Some people thought she had cracked the code of how to stimulate a kind of mania using music.
She wasn't just a genius at composing sublime music. She could play just about every instrument with the skill of an expert musician. Whole YouTube channels were dedicated to dissecting her guitar playing technique.
The positive effect of the music was compared to studies showing that classical music stimulated certain areas of the brain. Her music always left people feeling inspired to be better people, regardless of their ideological background. She had climbed the YouTube ranks over the sixteen years of her channel until she was number one, a position she maintained with a comfortable margin.
There were a lot of theories about her eyes. Most people believed that her lavender eyes were contact lenses or digital overlays. Digital forensic experts had weighed in and claimed it wasn't an overlay, and that it must be contact lenses. There was a large group of people who believed they were her natural eyes, and that she wasn't human. Her mastery of the instruments and the magic of her compositions were proof to many of her non-human origin.
Aria was in the minority of the population who knew that those were her real eyes. She still remembered with vivid detail the day that Calypso had visited her in the hospital. There was no doubt in her mind that the beautiful woman had saved her life somehow with the music she created.
It had been fifteen years since that life-changing day. At twenty five years old, Aria had graduated high school several years early and had just finished her college courses with a degree in physics a year ago. She was convinced there had to be a way to replicate the magic of Calypso's music through science. She had hoped to find the link between healing magic and music.
The hospital had been stunned when the doctors had returned to run some tests and complete additional treatment the day after Calypso's visit, only to find that Aria was completely healthy. They had reviewed the treatments she had undergone previously, convinced that something they had done had to be responsible for her miraculous recovery.
Her sister had similarly recovered from her own struggles with the same cancer within a few days. The two of them had made a pact with each other to never share the identity of Calypso with anyone. It was obvious that their savior had wished to remain anonymous; revealing her identity to the world would be a poor way to repay her for saving their lives.
"Hey Tweedle-dee, you visiting any interesting planets out there in space?" Clarice asked in an amused tone.
Aria blinked as she reigned in her reminiscing thoughts and looked at her roommate. The two of them had forged a friendship of titanium bonds after their recovery. Aria loved Clarice as much or more than she would have loved a biological sister. After graduating college, they had decided to rent an apartment together. Living alone was boring and just a little scary. Having a sister to watch your back was comforting.
She was sitting across from Clarice at the kitchen table. They had just finished playing Catan, one of their favorite games. Clarice had long, straight midnight hair and dark brown eyes. She had one of those perfect pretty girl faces that was frequently smirking, leering, or laughing. She had an overdeveloped sense of humor and reveled in one of her favorite hobbies of making Aria blush. She claimed it was to help align Aria's facial coloring with her brilliant long red hair, because the gods clearly intended for them to be the same color.
Aria's own features were similarly captivating, which seemed like a curse sometimes. Too many people didn't accept that no meant no; it didn't mean keep trying and maybe I'll give in eventually. They had both had stalker incidents in their past. As a result, they spent several years learning how to defend themselves once they started college. Plus, they were always there to watch each other's back.
"Calypso just released a new song," Aria told her with an eager grin. "I was just getting ready to listen to it, but I got lost going down memory lane."
"I get lost in thought all of the time," Clarice noted with a smirk. "It's unfamiliar territory."
"It feels like it was only yesterday that we discovered she had a YouTube channel," Aria mused, absently twirling a long lock of red hair in her fingers. "I can't believe it has actually been twelve years."
"I can't believe she can crank out a new song every week for fifteen years and never get repetitive," Clarice said with a sense of awe. "I mean, you would think there would be a few duds in there, but every single one is as amazing as the previous songs."
"I wish we had some recordings of the stuff she played in the hospital," Aria sighed longingly. "It was a very different style than what she has on her channel. I wonder if she has another channel hiding out there with those songs."
"I'm not sure why I didn't think of this before," Clarice declared, sitting up straight with a triumphant grin. "But I just had a brilliant idea."
"Oh?" Aria raised an eyebrow. "I'm all ears, your brilliance."
"Let's go back to the hospital and see if she still visits sick kids," Clarice suggested, her eyes eager. "We could actually see her again!"
Aria stared at Clarice blankly for a moment before smacking her palm to her forehead. "How have we never thought of this before?"
"Probably because it's been fifteen years," Clarice noted with a shrug. "She must be near forty by now. That's a long time to be visiting the children's ward every week."
Aria frowned as she thought, absently brushing her long red bangs behind one ear. She was pretty sure Calypso had been visiting more than one hospital. After they had returned from the hospital fifteen years ago, her mother had tried to check in on Calypso in an attempt to repay the favor in some small measure. One of the things that had led to them being at that particular hospital was the successful recovery rates for patients there. It had been a regional statistic though, with many of the children's hospitals within a few hundred miles also having high recovery rates. When her mother had called some of the other hospitals, they had confirmed that a young woman visited every few weeks to play music for the children.
"How are we going to figure out which hospital she is visiting if she is still visiting?" Aria asked pensively. "We can't just show up at one of the hospitals every night in hopes of running into her. That could take months."
"Let's just call them and see if someone still visits to play music," Clarice said dryly. She leaned back on her chair and kicked her booted feet up onto the table. "You know, extrovert stuff."
Aria groaned loudly. "That's so uncomfortable though. Everything we want to know in life should just be available via internet search."
Clarice was already looking up hospitals on her phone. "You just leave it to me then. I'm not a chicken."
"Bok bok," Aria squawked lamely.
"I'm going to start with the one we were at," Clarice told her as she put her phone on the table and set it to speaker before dialing.
"Yogushi children's hospital, this is Julia, how may I direct your call?" a woman's voice answered.
"Hi Julia, I'm trying to find out if there is still a volunteer woman that shows up every couple of weeks to play music for the kids there," Clarice spoke hopefully. "Do you know who I need to talk with to find out?"
"Ah, yes, you must mean Calypso," the woman replied with a smile in her voice. "Yes, she is still coming around every two weeks. May I ask what your interest is in Calypso?"
"She sang to us fifteen years ago," Clarice said, her voice tightly controlled with excitement. She pulled her feet off of the table and leaned closer to the phone. "We've been wanting to thank her for a long time now."
"Oh, that would just be lovely," Julia gushed enthusiastically. "She'll probably be out here next Thursday if you would like to speak with her. I think it would be great for her to hear from someone from her past."
"Thank you so much, Julia," Clarice said sincerely. "I really appreciate it."
"No problem at all," Julia said brightly. "I'll hope to see you Thursday."
She hung up the phone and then jumped up and did a little dance, swinging her hips around. "Woot woot, we're going on a road trip!"
Aria felt stunned. She couldn't believe Calypso was still visiting so frequently. "She must have no personal life at all. She's still releasing a song a week on her YouTube channel, which seems like a pretty big production. If she's also composing everything that she's playing at the hospitals how does she have time for anything else? Does she even sleep?"
"That's some seriously selfless behavior," Clarice agreed fervently.
"I wonder if any of the other patients she healed have tried to visit her," Aria wondered thoughtfully. "We can't be the first ones, right?"
"I'm kind of surprised none of the other former patients have collected on the reward people are offering to reveal her real identity," Clarice said with a frown as she sat back down. "I mean, I know she saved their lives too, but some people are just assholes and would sell their own mothers."
"Maybe nobody else has made the connection," Aria suggested doubtfully. She folded her arms and leaned onto the table. "I mean, it seems hard not to make the connection. Her lavender eyes are burned into my brain, but that is the only thing that connects the two together."
"Well, it is possible we are wrong about her being the owner of the Notestoremember channel," Clarice pointed out, flipping her long silky black hair behind her back. "I mean, it could totally be someone putting colored contacts in their eyes. Hell, it might even be a former patient trying to imitate her look."
"No, it's her," Aria insisted firmly. "The shape of the mouth and neck are also the same. How many people wear that shade of lipstick?"
"Like I said, it could be a mimic," Clarice said pointedly. "Another former patient that was inspired to learn how to play all of the instruments and wear the same makeup."
"Except that her channel's been up for sixteen years," Aria disagreed. "She didn't look older than twenty at most. The math doesn't add up. She couldn't have been healing people for very long, and nobody would have been old enough to create the channel that long ago."
"Oh, you're going to bring mathmetatics into it, huh?" Clarice squinted at her in an attempt to look belligerent, but it just ended up looking cute. "But I see what you mean. It really must be her. Which means that someone else still should have figured it out in all of this time."
"Well, let's ask her when we see her if we are the first to come back to thank her," Aria suggested. She finally gave in to her itching fingers and walked over to the counter and took the hair brush, then went behind Clarice and started brushing her hair. "Even if we are, I'm still a little worried about someone else leaking her identity. She's clearly trying to remain anonymous."
"I wonder why she doesn't monetize her channel," Clarice murmured thoughtfully. She leaned her head all of the way back to stare up at Aria as she brushed her hair and smiled gratefully before lifting her head back up. "She would make a fortune. I guess she just doesn't need the money."
"That would be my guess," Aria agreed. "Shall we get ready for a road trip? It's a good three hours away."
"I'm so ready for a road trip," Clarice replied contentedly as Aria continued brushing her hair. "Two hotties, taking the world by storm as they seek mystery and adventure."
"Something like that," Aria murmured distractedly as she put all of her focus into brushing Clarice's glossy black hair. She had been obsessed with brushing Clarice's and their mother's hair since their parents met almost eighteen years ago. Clarice didn't seem to mind.
XXXXX
"Should we hang out in the parking lot and waylay her, or find her inside?" Aria asked as they pulled off of the interstate.
"We should probably wait until she is finished singing," Clarice answered, pulling her long black hair into a pony tail as she steered with her knee. "After all, she probably has a schedule that we don't want to disrupt."
"Good point," Aria nodded approvingly. "I hope we don't freak her out. I kind of feel like a stalker."
"That's cause we are acting like stalkers," Clarice pointed out with a suggestive wink. At Aria's deadpan expression, she sighed and continued. "I feel like she'll be okay though. From the little I remember, she seemed extremely capable. I think she could probably turn us to stone or something if we threatened her."
"What, you think she's a magical elf or something?" Aria asked dryly, her green eyes sparkling.
"Yeah, pretty much," Clarice nodded confidently. "She's not human, that's for sure."
"I wouldn't go that far," Aria scoffed, a skeptical expression on her face. "She could just be a psychic or something."
"How's that any more realistic than an elf?" Clarice demanded critically.
"The idea that a human has tapped into a higher field of mental potential than the rest of us seems a lot more plausible than bringing fantasy creatures into the realm of possibility."
"Does mental potential include violet eyes?" Clarice asked sardonically, glancing at her pointedly.
Aria remained silent, unable to think of a good reply. She wanted to say that they could have been contacts, but she vividly remembered those lavender orbs staring into her soul. She would be lying to herself to claim they were contact lenses.
"Whatever she is, she seems to have a hell of a lot of compassion," Clarice said softly, her eyes becoming introspective. "Do you know how much time I've spent volunteering to help those in need? None."
"I've seen you give out twenty dollar bills like they were candies to people on the streets," Aria objected.
"Do you know how much effort it took for me to hand over a piece of paper?" Clarice replied disdainfully, gesticulating for emphasis. "That's not remotely comparable to someone volunteering their actual time to help others. I keep telling myself that I'm going to try and find a soup kitchen or shelter to volunteer at, but something always comes up and I don't do it. Calypso does this every other week for one hospital. She gave me another chance at life, and I'm not paying that kindness forward very well."
Aria nodded grudgingly. "Me either."
"I say we fix that. Right now," Clarice declared, her voice full of determination.
"What did you have in mind?" Aria asked curiously. She watched her sister with a fond expression. She had always had a heart of gold. She was the brave kid who would stand up for the underdogs at school, or the good Samaritan stopping behind stalled cars on the highway to offer help.
"We're both musicians," Clarice replied thoughtfully. "Pretty damn good musicians too. How many other survivors from these hospitals do you think have become musicians? I'll bet a good number of them have."
"Yeah, I could see that," Aria agreed slowly. Whatever Calypso had done to heal them with music had left a permanent musical mark on their souls. They had both been drawn to music like a bee to nectar. "So what?"
"What if we start reaching out to the other kids that were healed by Calypso and try to arrange a fundraiser with a concert?" Clarice suggested, looking over at Aria excitedly. "What if we rent a large concert hall and put on a fundraiser for the children's hospitals? We could play the music from Calypso's YouTube channel. Wouldn't that be ironic? We would be the only ones who knew that Calypso's channel has the same composer as the person who healed all of the kids."
Aria's first impression was to dismiss the idea out of hand. It would be extremely expensive and require an insane amount of coordination and work. However, as she thought of the prospect of doing something that would potentially help so many children the way they had been helped, the more she warmed to the idea.
"It's going to be a crazy amount of work," Aria pointed out hesitantly. "And I'm not sure how we are going to find all of the other kids that were healed like we were."
"We could start a website for the fundraiser and then do some ad campaigns asking specifically for volunteers who feel like the power of music saved them when they were in a children's hospital as a kid," Clarise said, pursing her lips as she thought. "We could word it in a way that would make it obvious to anyone who Calypso saved but would seem unremarkable to everyone else. We could also ask them to help with the expense of the production. If they are like us, I don't think they will balk at giving something back."
"Okay, I think I'm kind of liking this idea," Aria said, a slow smile lighting up her face. "And it would be really fun to play Calypso's music. I just wish we had some of the music she uses at the hospital." She turned her head and looked at Clarice in admiration. "Clarice, you're pretty brilliant."
"Pretty and brilliant," Clarice corrected giving Aria a slow, sensual smile and a wink.
Aria blushed, then tried to cover her cheeks as Clarice dissolved into a fit of giggles.
"You are so bad," Aria accused her, shaking her head in exasperation.
The two of them began planning the logistics of the project as they navigated the final stretch of their journey. It was just getting dark in the Spring skies above Rochester when they arrived.
"I've seriously got butterflies in my stomach right now," Aria confessed as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.
"Yeah, me too," Clarice tittered nervously. She looked at Aria and her expression became determined. "I guess we better get in there before we lose our nerve."
Aria nodded reluctantly, forcing herself to get out of the car. They walked into the lobby and found Julia, the receptionist they had spoken to on the phone.
"Hi, Julia," Clarice greeted the receptionist. "I'm Clarice and this is Aria. We talked to you on the phone about seeing Calypso."
"Oh, hello Clarice," Julia smiled welcomingly. "And I even remember you Aria. I had told Calypso that you probably only had a couple of days to live and wouldn't be able to join the other kids for the performance. She begged me to let her play for you in your room. She's such a dear."
Aria felt tears on her cheeks as Julia talked. Knowing Calypso had specifically attempted to visit her in her room after hearing about her terminal condition, she suddenly realized just how close she had come to death. If Calypso had just been content to help the kids that she could reach easily, Aria wouldn't be here now. The magnitude of the compassion Calypso had shown her made her realize just how much the beautiful healer had done for her.
"I'm sorry," Aria said thickly, quickly accepting a tissue from Julia. "I never knew she had made me a special case like that."
"She's a little angel, our Calypso," Julia said gently. "She never seems to tire of coming out here to perform her music for the children. Sometimes I think she is the reason we have such a higher success rate with recoveries."
"I could definitely believe that," Clarice said fervently.
"She'll probably arrive in about half an hour if you want to wait for her," Julia told them.
"We were thinking of talking to her after her performance," Clarice replied. "We didn't want to delay her at all."
"We would love to watch her perform too, if that is okay?" Aria asked hopefully.
"Of course, my dears," Julia replied with a motherly smile. "If you can just sign this visitor form I can give you a visitor's pass and you can make your way down to the conference hall."
They thanked her profusely and quickly filled out the paperwork. As they walked down the hallway, Aria was flooded with memories of her time as a child. She had been sick for so many years that she had forgotten what it was like to feel healthy. Hospitals had become like a second home to her as she spent more and more time receiving treatments that caused severe side-effects. She remembered the embarrassment of losing all of her hair and being ashamed to be seen by other people. Now, it seemed like a distant nightmare that had nearly been forgotten.
"I remember this place," Clarice said with a grimace. "I almost feel a kind of PTSD being back in a hospital."
"Me too," Aria said hoarsely.
Clarice wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a comforting sideways embrace as they walked.
"I think this might be why I never came back to see her," Clarice said with a sigh. "I think I subconsciously avoided the place."
Aria nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
They arrived at the audience hall and used their visitor cards to gain entry. There were almost two dozen children sitting around the hall, some of them in wheelchairs. The ones that were not in wheelchairs seemed unexpectedly healthy as they roughhoused with each other and darted around the room.
"They seem pretty healthy," Clarice noted with a raised eyebrow.
"I wonder if those ones were here last time she visited," Aria said thoughtfully. "Maybe they have already been healed."
Clarice nodded slowly. "Yeah, they tried to talk mom and dad into keeping us here longer after we were healed to do more tests and continue treatment. Mom seemed to know we were healed and was adamant that we leave."
"Let's go sit at the table in the back of the room," Clarice suggested with a nod at the back corner. "We don't want to interfere with anything."
Aria followed her over and sat down, still feeling a sense of dread in one of the places that had caused her so much pain.
"You okay?" Clarice asked, her eyes full of concern.
Aria took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I think so."
Clarice reached across the table and held her hand comfortingly. "Maybe you'll feel better after Calypso gets here."
Aria squeezed her hand gratefully and tried not to think of all of the horrors she had endured as a child.
They waited another ten minutes before the doors opened and Calypso entered, pushing a familiar looking cart. As soon as she entered she was mobbed by excited children. Most of them were telling her that they were leaving because the treatment had worked, and they were going home. Her radiant smile seemed to light up the room with warmth as she observed the excited children.
"Does she still look twenty to you too?" Clarice asked quietly. She was staring at Calypso in fascination.
Aria nodded slightly, staring at her savior in awe. All thoughts of PTSD fled as she stared at the beautiful blonde woman. She really did look exactly the same as she had fifteen years ago, as if she hadn't aged a day. There was a presence of pure love that surrounded her and permeated the entire room. She was like an angel walking among mortals. She was taller than Aria remembered, at least six feet tall. She had an hourglass figure and wore clothing that accentuated her beautiful figure. She had a white skirt with emblazoned dragons that went just above her knees and a white button up blouse that showed off her generous curves without being trashy. She had white boots that ended just below her knees. The all white look really worked for her, giving her an angelic appearance that didn't miss being sexy as hell.
After a few minutes of talking with the kids, she looked up and noticed Aria and Clarice. She froze, her expression filled with uncertainty.
"Let's go let her know she doesn't need to worry about hiding from us," Clarice told her with another squeeze of her hand.
They walked up to where Calypso stood near the front of the room, watching them warily.
"Hi, I'm sure you don't remember us, it's been so long," Clarice began, but was interrupted by Calypso.
"Hello Clarice," Calypso smiled, and it was like the sun rising. "Hello Aria. Your hair is even more beautiful than I had imagined."
"Hi," Aria mumbled shyly, her face turning bright red at the compliment.
"Hello, Calypso," Clarice smiled back at the seemingly ageless musician. "We just wanted to let you know that you don't need to worry about us. You don't need the glasses for our sake."
Calypso studied both of them for a moment, and it was like she was peering into their souls. Whatever she saw must have pleased her. She smiled again, pulling Clarice into a tender embrace for a moment, then doing the same to Aria.
Aria's face had just started returning to a normal color, but as Calypso hugged her it turned beet red again. Calypso's body melded to her in ways Aria wasn't prepared to deal with. She didn't dare to look at Clarice, knowing her sister would be laughing at her blushing face. She couldn't believe Calypso could remember their names! She must have visited thousands of children over the last fifteen years. Did she remember all of their names too? All thoughts of names vanished as an explosion of love filled her as Calypso squeezed her tightly. It triggered a recall to that day fifteen years ago when Calypso had hugged her, filling her body with warmth and light.
"So, you figured out my secret?" Calypso said with a resigned sigh. "I guess I'm surprised it took this long for someone to make the connection."
"You don't have to worry about us," Aria assured her quickly. "We would never reveal your secret to anyone else."
"I know you wouldn't," Calypso replied confidently. "Life just has a way of extrapolating events after they happen once. I'm sure there will be more people making the connection soon."
"Don't let us keep you from the children," Clarice said as she noticed the kids eagerly waiting for them to finish talking. "We can talk to you more after you are finished. Do you mind if we watch?"
"Not at all," Calypso smiled radiantly, filling Aria with warmth. "I would love to have you watch. I never get to see the children after they leave here. It's wonderful to see you all grown up and healthy."
Aria walked back to the table in the back of the room with the sense that she had just spoken to an angel. Clarice had a thoughtful expression as she sat down across from Aria.
"Do you still think she's human?" Clarice asked archly, leaning forward and putting her elbows onto the table.
Aria shook her head with a rueful smile. "I was pretty out of it last time we met. I don't think I was aware of this benevolent presence saturating the area."
"She didn't look any older up close," Clarice noted, tapping her lips thoughtfully. "She's got to be in her mid-thirties to early forties at least. She doesn't look a day over twenty."
"Yeah, she doesn't seem to age," Aria agreed, watching the enigmatic woman as she spoke with the excited children.
The children were beginning to find their seats as Calypso set up her speakers around the room. Aria shared an excited look with Clarice as they waited to hear what Calypso would play for the children.
Just like that day fifteen years ago, Calypso stood with her harp and began to play as her laptop began broadcasting the accompanying instruments. The music was just as beautiful as she remembered, filling her soul with a fire to fight on against the adversity in life. When she began singing it was like an electric shock to her system as the powerful voice told the tale of heroes and victories. Calypso's large eyes were filled with passion as her voice wove an intricate weave of magical lattice throughout the room. Aria looked around in surprise as she heard the accompanying vocals serenade the room around her. There was no way those additional voices were coming from the speakers. She stared in awe at Calypso as she realized the woman was somehow singing in harmony with herself. The multitude of harmonies penetrated deeply into her soul, filling her with hope and determination. There was so much energy in the air that it should have been buzzing like a high voltage line.
Aria shared a wide-eyed look with Clarice as they listened to the magical music mold reality to her story. The children were completely mesmerized, watching Calypso with a focus that was unnerving. Aria studied the children who were clearly ill. Their faces were slowly transforming from weary resignation to a powerful optimism.
There was a moment after Calypso was finishing her third song where Aria saw the moment when the illness in one of the children was crushed. She could almost feel the toxic cloud of tainted vitality shatter, leaving the child staring in euphoric wonder as the weight of her ravaged body was freed of contamination. The same thing began happening more frequently with the remaining children as Calypso continued singing song after song for almost an hour. By the end of the hour, all of the children were glowing with untainted vitality.
A nurse entered the room and began taking the children back to their rooms. Calypso put her tinted glasses back on and spoke briefly to the nurse. The nurse was all smiles as she gave Calypso a brief hug and continued rounding up the kids.
Calypso quickly packed up her speakers and laptop before pushing her cart over to where Aria and Clarice were waiting.
Aria struggled to stop staring at Calypso with a kind of reverential awe. She had been listening to the life-changing music on Calypso's YouTube channel for over a decade but seeing her perform in person and work her healing magic was on a whole other level. She felt like she was in the presence of divinity.
"Calypso, that was beyond amazing," Clarise told the beautiful musician exuberantly. "You are amazing!"
Calypso's face lit up like a sunset under the praise, and she stutteringly attempted to reply several times before she was able to articulate a response. "Um, thanks."
"How many hospitals do you visit?" Clarice asked curiously.
"Eight," Calypso replied solemnly. "I wish I had more time in the day to visit more, but eight is the limit of where I can travel from my house while still having enough time to make new music."
"Do you always play new songs for them?" Aria asked in amazement. "Doesn't it work if you play old songs?"
Calypso shook her head, smiling sadly. "It only works with new songs. I've tried using songs from previous visits, but it's like the music's life has already been spent healing the previous group of children."
"How in the world do you come up with so much new content?" Clarice asked, looking dumbfounded. "Don't you ever hit a wall when trying to make unique songs?"
"Not really," Calypso shrugged. "Music feels like an endless reservoir of potential. It calls out to me each time I start writing a new song. Just think of how many songs exist in the world today. The number of variations possible with all of the instruments and notes available is so large that I could do this for a thousand years and never run out of options."
"Speaking of doing it for a thousand years…" Clarice said hesitantly. "I couldn't help noticing that you don't seem to age. Is that something to do with the music?"
"I don't?" Calypso asked in surprise.
Clarice shared a look with Aria. Was she unaware of her own appearance?
"You look exactly the same as you did to me fifteen years ago," Aria told her slowly. "I thought you would at least look like you were in your thirties, but you barely look twenty years old."
"Really?" Calypso asked in surprise. "I can't really remember the last time I actually looked into a mirror."
"How old are you?" Clarice asked hesitantly. "If you don't mind my asking."
"What year is it?" Calypso asked, her eyes calculating.
Aria shared another look with Clarice. Who doesn't know what year it is?
"It's 2025," Clarice answered slowly.
"Oh," Calypso blinked, looking flustered. "Wow, the time really flies, doesn't it?"
"So I've heard," Clarice agreed carefully. "How far did it fly for you?"
"Pretty far, apparently," Calypso replied evasively.
"It's okay," Aria told her quickly. "You don't have to tell us, if you don't want."
Calypso sighed in resignation as she peered at the two of them with a weighing look. "I suppose you haven't freaked out about anything else. What's one more oddity?"
Clarice smiled wryly, nodding her agreement.
"I was born just after World War One, though I'm not sure which year," Calypso revealed, watching them closely.
Aria's eyes widened in shock. She must be over a hundred years old!
"You're not looking too bad, grandma," Clarice told her with a teasing wink.
Calypso's anxious face relaxed as she broke into gales of laughter. The sound was like sunlight dancing on water. Even the lights in the room seemed to brighten with that joyous laugh. Her entire face lit up as she laughed, making Aria once again think of an angelic being.
"So did you really not notice a century pass you by?" Aria asked curiously.
Calypso's lips still twitched as she answered. "My life has been devoted to music for so long that I don't really pay attention to anything else. When I discovered that I could heal children with my music it became my life's mission to help as many children as I could. I guess I just didn't notice how much time was passing. I do remember when computers were invented, and I could start using more than one instrument at a time."
"Your YouTube channel is certainly evidence of how far you've come since the advent of computers," Clarice noted with an appreciative grin. "I get so excited every time I see a new song drop."
"You know about my channel?" Calypso asked in shock, her eyes wide.
"Um, yeah?" Clarice replied with a slight frown. "There aren't a lot of world renowned musicians with lavender eyes. In fact, there's just one."
"How did you even find my channel?" Calypso asked in amazement.
Aria shared a disbelieving look with Clarice before turning back to Calypso.
"You have the most popular YouTube channel in the world," Aria informed her with a puzzled crease to her brow. "Were you unaware of how popular your channel is?"
Calypso looked dumbfounded. "I just use it to upload ideas and test different styles."
"I'm getting a sense for this theme," Clarice said with a rueful shake of her head. "Let me guess: you don't ever watch TV or read news headlines because all of your time is focused on music, am I right?"
"Yeah," Calypso replied weakly.
"And when you are managing your YouTube channel you are just using a studio app to upload your songs," Clarice continued, her tone still wry. "And you never look at your channel stats or video comments because you're using a studio app and never go to your channel in an actual browser."
Calypso nodded, her eyes showing worry. "If it's really popular, it is bound to draw attention to my work here."
"It's not just really popular," Aria told her with a grin. "It is literally the most popular channel in the world. People have spent millions of dollars trying to figure out who you are in real life. Media companies are dying to interview you."
"You could have been a millionaire if you had monetized your channel," Clarice added with a smirk. "But I guess that's part of the mystery of your channel. People can't fathom an artist as famous as you not using sponsors or ads. A lot of people think you must be the daughter of some billionaire who doesn't care about money."
"This is bad," Calypso muttered distractedly, her eyes distant. "I hope it's not too late to delete the channel."
"No!" Clarice and Aria shouted at the same time.
Calypso blinked at them, taken aback.
"Your music has inspired and given hope to so many people," Aria told her urgently. "It would be a dark day for this world if you deleted your channel."
"So many lives have also been saved by your channel," Clarice added seriously. "People who had given up on life suddenly finding purpose after hearing your music. You may have saved as many lives with your YouTube channel as you have with your hospital visits."
Calypso's eyes widened, accentuating her innocent face. "Really?"
"Really!" Aria and Clarice assured her simultaneously.
"Huh," Calypso murmured, her eyes introspective. "I wonder if it would work…"
"If what would work?" Clarice prompted expectantly.
"Oh, nothing," Calypso replied absently. "Just a silly idea."
"I'm all about silly," Clarice assured her with a silly grin. "Now come on, give."
"I was just wondering if any of the healing music would work over YouTube," Calypso said with a dubious shrug. "I can't imagine it would, but if my channel is as popular as you say it is, I wonder how many people I could heal remotely if it did work."
Aria shared a stunned look with Clarice. "Oh my god, that would be the most epic event in history if it worked!"
"Why don't you think it will work?" Clarice asked Calypso with a frown.
"I feel like I need to be within a certain proximity to a person for it to work," Calypso answered pensively. "But I'm not sure about that. When I see a person's aura, I can tell immediately how long it will take for my songs to break the malice binding it. The problem is that I don't know exactly how I'm healing them. It's mostly intuition and guesswork. For a while I was certain that I was just giving people directions on how to heal themselves and letting their own consciousness do the rest. Before I start singing, I connect to something, maybe call it light, and then weave the power from that light with my voice."
Just what is she? Could she really be an angel or alien or something? Aria felt once again that she was in the presence of some kind of divine being.
"Maybe if it was broadcast live?" Clarice suggested contemplatively.
"Maybe," Calypso replied doubtfully. "I mean, I don't think it would hurt anything if it failed, so we don't have anything to lose."
Aria felt a thrill of excitement as Calypso said "we". Maybe we can become friends. How cool would that be?
Clarice smiled at her quickly as she also noticed the plural inclusion. Her dark eyes danced with excitement as she looked back and forth between her and Calypso.
"Before I get too sidetracked from our main purpose in coming out here," Aria said quietly. "I wanted to tell you thank you for saving my life. I don't think a day has gone by where I haven't thought about the night you healed me. Julia told us that you even had to plead with my parents to be able to come to my room to sing since I couldn't come down here. I owe you my life, and I want to be able to do something in return. What can I do to help you in your life or your mission? Anything at all. Don't you dare say nothing or I'll have to get creative."
Calypso's face was a mixture of shyness and pleasure. She had probably never had one of her survivors come back and thank her.
"You are so very welcome," Calypso replied warmly, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I'm glad you came back to see me. I always wonder how everyone turns out in life after they leave. You'll have to tell me all about yourself and what you have done with your life."
Aria felt like she was filled with warm light as Calypso hugged her. Her powerful presence that exuded love and wellbeing wrapped around Aria like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. Aria just wanted to stay there forever. All too soon, it ended as Calypso gently released her.
"Can I give you our numbers?" Aria asked hopefully. "We would absolutely love to stay in regular contact and help out wherever we can."
"Sure, I would love that," Calypso replied enthusiastically. "Let me get a piece of paper and pencil from my cart."
"You don't have a cell phone?" Clarice asked in amazement.
"Nope," Calypso answered her with a shrug. "I've never needed one. I have a phone at home though."
Calypso rifled through her cart until she found a scrap of paper and a pen. She took their numbers down with an excited glow in her eyes.
She's got to get lonely sometimes, Aria thought sadly. I'll bet she doesn't have any friends to relax and socialize with.
"When are you going to your next hospital visit?" Clarice asked curiously. "Maybe we could visit too, if that is okay?"
"We could even drive you there," Aria offered hopefully. "You must get tired of driving so far when you visit all of these hospitals."
"I'm going to the next hospital In two days," Calypso replied, her eyes looking both hopeful and hesitant. "But I would never impose on you like that. I'm totally okay with driving myself but thank you so much for the offer."
Aria heard the truth, despite Calypso's words. She was clearly someone who always gave all of themselves and never took back from others. She seemed to have a phobia of accepting help from others for fear of taking advantage of them. Aria had some of those traits herself. She could also tell Calypso was hoping they would see through her façade and insist on taking her. The ageless woman might not have known that she was lonely before, but something seemed to have changed since she met them. Aria could tell Calypso was desperate for some friends.
"Where do you live?" Aria asked flatly. "We are picking you up whether you like it or not."
Clarice looked startled at Aria's bluntness but caught on after a wink from Aria.
"Are you sure?" Calypso asked doubtfully. "I'm sure you have better things to do than cart me around."
"Better things to do than hang out with the most famous person in the world?" Clarice asked in disbelief. "Better things to do than hang out with the angel that saved our lives? No. No we do not have better things to do. Now where do you live?"
Calypso laughed ruefully, her large eyes betraying her exultant joy. "Okay, fine." She quickly scribbled down her address on a piece of paper and handed it to them. "Here you go. Thank you so much for doing this."
"No, thank you," Clarice insisted fervently. "You seem to have some sixth sense about people, so you must know just how much we want to do this."
Calypso peered at them, her eyes taking on that strange intensity that made it feel like she was looking into their souls. She suddenly smiled brilliantly, instantly raising the ambient light in the room by several million lumens. "Okay, good! I'm really looking forward to seeing you again. I always knew you two were special."
She gave each of them a long, soul warming hug before saying her farewell. She was positively glowing with happiness as she pushed her cart out the exit.
"Can you believe that just happened?" Aria asked in a voice filled with awe.
"I think I'm in shock," Clarice replied dreamily. "There were so many crazy revelations today that it feels surreal."
"I can't believe she had no idea that her YouTube channel was so popular," Aria shook her head with a chuckle. "She seems so focused that she has excluded everything else in life from her attention."
"I wonder what the full story of her life is," Clarice mused, her expression fascinated. "I wonder if she really didn't realize how old she was. She must have had some sense of passing time."
"I think she just didn't realize how long it was," Aria responded contemplatively. "The real mystery was that she didn't know how young she looked. I wonder if she is just insanely absentminded and didn't notice her face not changing as she aged. Could a person really be so oblivious that they don't notice that their face is eternally young?"
"And those hugs!" Clarice breathed in ecstasy. "I've never felt anything so divine. I never wanted it to end. It felt like my soul was wrapped in a warm blanket made of love."
"Oh my god, the hugs," Aria agreed rapturously. "We need to figure out how she does that. Maybe there is a trick to it."
"I think it's because she is an angel," Clarice said, her tone serious. "Either that, or a lifetime of dedicating herself to helping other people left an aura of love so strong that it radiates out of her."
"She also mentioned seeing aura's," Aria pointed out, pursing her lips. "She sees aura's and makes a connection to some kind of light source as part of her healing power. Maybe she is an angel."
"Just not the religious sort," Clarice clarified with a sardonic grin. "But aren't angels known for being in heavenly choirs and playing music?"
"She claimed that even she didn't know how she did what she does," Aria noted with a frown. "I think an angel would be aware of their nature."
"Maybe she's an angel with amnesia?" Clarice suggested dryly.
Aria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, cause angels can have amnesia."
"Well, we're talking about mythical beings," Clarice replied with an airy toss of her head. "So, we can make up any rules we want."
"I just had an interesting thought," Aria murmured with a contemplative frown.
"Oh yeah?" Clarice asked with an arched eyebrow. "What's that?"
"We call angels mythical beings, but where did the myth originate?" Aria asked, her eyes sparkling. "What if Calypso isn't the first of her kind and the idea of angels arose from someone like her thousands of years ago? Maybe the myth has an actual basis in historical fact. They aren't necessarily winged servants of some misogynistic bearded guy that hangs out in the clouds, but they are musical creatures that are associated with light, love, compassion, and healing miracles."
Clarice's mouth opened to object, but then she paused and closed her mouth with a thoughtful expression. "Hmm…that's actually an interesting argument. If we hadn't seen the things we saw today, I would have been laughing hysterically at the thought of us having a serious discussion about this."
A nurse poked her head into the room and gave a small start when she realized it was occupied.
"Sorry, I didn't realize this room was being used," The nurse apologized.
"No, you're fine, we were just leaving," Clarice told her quickly. "We just got lost in conversation and didn't notice how late it was getting."
The two of them made their way back to the hospital lobby to leave but were stopped by Julia's voice.
"Aria and Clarice," Julia called out to them. "I just wanted to thank you so much for coming in to see Calypso. I haven't ever seen her as happy as she was on her way out. She is so excited to meet up with you two again."
"Trust me, we are the grateful ones here," Clarice told Julia brightly. "It was so good to see her and tell her how much what she did for us meant."
"That's just wonderful," the motherly receptionist said happily. "I'm glad everything worked out so well. You two have a wonderful night."