Calypso

Leo - Part 2

I jab angrily at the dirt with my spade. I'm probably killing just as many vegetables as weeds, but I don't care at this point. I want this to be OVER. I just... I just want...
I don't even know.
I quietly curse Zeus in ancient Greek.
"I think you've punished that dirt enough."
I look up to see the boy. I frown at him and wipe a tear off of my cheek. "Just go away."
"You're crying," he says, his voice softer than I've heard it since I met him.
"None of your business," I mutter. "It's a big island. Just... find your own place. Leave me alone." I wave vaguely in a random direction. "Go that way, maybe."
A glimmer of hope. Maybe I can live like this. He can't leave. He's stuck here forever. No more boys come. I can live here forever without another heartbreak.
"So, no magic raft. No other way off of the island?"
"Apparently not!" I snap, frustrated with myself for wishing my curse on someone else.
"What am I supposed to do, then? Sit in the sand dunes until I die?"
"That would be fine..." I realize something and curse at the sky. "Except I suppose he can't die here, can he? Zeus! This is not funny!"
"Hold up," the boy says. "I'm going to need some more information here. You don't want me in your face, that's cool. I don't want to be here either. But I'm not going to go die in a corner. I have to get off this island. There's got to be a way. Every problem has a fix."
I don't really know what to think of him now. I laugh bitterly. "You obviously haven't lived that long, if you still believe that."
"You said something about a curse..."
"Yes. I cannot leave Ogygia. My father, Atlas, fought against the gods, and I supported him," I summarize. I am so tired of telling the same story over and over. It's depressing, really.
"Atlas," he repeats. "As in the Titan Atlas?"
"Yes, you impossible little..." I bite back my words. "I was imprisoned here, where I could cause the Olympians no trouble. About a year ago, after the Second Titan War, the gods vowed to forgive their enemies and offer amnesty. Supposedly Percy made them promise..."
"Percy. Percy Jackson?"
I squeeze my eyes shut, and a tear trickles down my cheek. He was one of the most honorable heroes to set foot on my island.
"Percy came here," he guesses.
I clench a ball of soil. "I-I thought I would be released. I dared to hope... but I am still here."
"You're that lady. The one who was named after Caribbean music."
I give him a murderous look. "Caribbean music?"
"Yeah. Reggae? Merengue? Hold on, I'll get it." He snaps his fingers. "Calypso! But Percy said you were awesome. He said you were all sweet and helpful, not, um..."
"Would you be sweet," I snap, "If the gods forgot their promise to let you go? Would you be sweet if they laughed at you by sending you another hero, but one who-- who looked like you?" I actually didn't mind the way he looked, but that was besides the point.
"Is that a trick question?"
"Di immortales!" I turn and march back to my cave.
"Hey!" I hear him shouting and running after me.
He steps inside. I glare at him, but decide not to yell.
"So, I get why you're angry. You probably never want to see another demigod again. I guess that didn't sit right when, uh, Percy left you-"
"He was only... one of the latest," I growl. I don't think that mentioning Jake is a good idea. "Before him... Drake. Jason. Odysseus. Others. The gods send me the greatest heroes, the ones that I cannot help but..."
"You fall in love with them," Leo guesses. "And they leave you."
I can feel my chin trembling. "That is my curse. I had hoped to be free of it by now, but here I am, still stuck on Ogygia after a thousand years."
"A thousand years," he repeats dryly. "Uh, you look good for a thousand."
"And now the worst insult of all. The gods mock me by sending you."
Not quite as much because of the boy himself, but because of recent events. Anger boils in my stomach. I wish the poor boy could leave. I couldn't get close to him. If he ended like Jake...
"Fine. I'll leave you alone. I'll build something myself and get off this stupid island without your help."
I shake my head sadly. "You don't understand, do you? The gods are laughing at both of us. If the raft will not appear, that means they've closed Ogygia.You're stuck here the same as me. You can never leave."
I hope that 'can leave' and 'won't leave' are different enough to keep this newcomer safe.