Calypso

Leo - Part 3

The next few days were average.
At times, I even forgot that he was on the island. The invisible servants sent him food and I would weave more clothes for him often. His name is Leo.
Then, one day, he started working. Smoke drifted through the trees, loud clangs of metal echoed through the whole island. I marched straight up to his makeshift forge.
"Smoke and fire. Clanging on metal all day long. You're scaring away the birds!"
"Oh, no, not the birds!" he replies sarcastically.
"What do you hope to accomplish?"
He looks up at me, nearly smashing his thumb into his working... thing. "I'm hoping to get off this island. That's what you want, right?"
I scowl. The really annoying thing is, I'm not sure. I throw the bread I brought at him. "You haven't eaten in two days. Take a break and EAT."
"Two days?" he looks surprised. Really, how does one not notice having not eaten for that long?
"Thanks," he mutters. "I'll, uh, try to hammer more quietly."
"Huh." What inspired that change of heart?
I shake my head. I'm imagining things.
I look down. The last thing I notice before I leave are his tattered clothes. Honestly, can't he make a little effort to keep them from burning right off?
Over the next few days, I weave and enchant a new outfit for him. I even make it special -- it's identical to an outfit he uses to wear. Then I trek back out to his tent.
I peek inside. "I brought you--"
Leo jumps, dropping a bunch of wires. "Bronze bulls, girl! Don't sneak up on me like that!"
"I wasn't sneaking," I say indignantly. "I was bringing you these." I show him the clothes.
"How?"
I flop the clothes at his feet and start to back out of the tent. "I do have a little magic, you know. You keep burning through the clothes I give you, so I thought I would weave something less flammable."
"These won't burn?" He picks up the jeans and rubs his fingers against the material.
"They are completely fireproof. They'll stay clean and expand to fit you, should you ever become less scrawny."
"Thanks," he says. There's a tinge of an attempt at sarcasm, but it's washed out by impress. "So... you made an exact replica of my outfit. Did you, like, google me or something?"
I tilt my head to one side, trying to think. "I don't know that word."
"You looked me up," he explains. "Almost as if you had some interest in me."
"I have an interest in not making you new clothes everyday. I have an interest in your not smelling so bad and walking around my island in smoldering rags."
He grins. "Oh, yeah. You're really warming up to me."
I feel my face redden. "You are the most insufferable person I have ever met! I was only returning a favor. You fixed my fountain."
"That?" he laughs. "I don't like it when things don't work right."
"And the curtains across the cave entrance?"
"The rod wasn't level."
"And my gardening tools?"
"Look, I just sharpened the shears. Cutting vines with a dull blade is dangerous. And the pruners needed to be oiled at the hinge, and--"
It's my turn. I mimic his grin. "Oh, yeah. You're really warming up to me."
Leo is speechless. I resist the urge to genuinely smile.
I point to his worktable. "What are you building?"
"Oh." He looks at a bronze mirror wired to some strange ball. "Uh, it's a seeing device. We found one like this in Rome, in the workshop of Archimedes. If I can make it work, maybe I can find out what's going on with my friends."
I shake my head. "That's impossible. The island is hidden, cut off from the rest of the world by strong magic. Time doesn't even flow the same here."
"Well, you've got to have some kind of outside contact. How did you find out that I used to wear an army jacket?"
I twist a strand of my hair around my finger. "Seeing the past is simple magic. Seeing the present or the future... That is not."
"Yeah, well. Watch and learn, Sunshine. I just connect these two wires, and--"
The bronze plate sparks. Smoke billows from the sphere. A flash of fire races up Leo's sleeve. He pulls off his shirt, throws it on the ground, and stomps on it.
I press my lips together and try really, really hard not to laugh.
"Not a word."
I glance at his bare chest, which is sweaty, bony, and streaked with old scars.
"Nothing worth commenting on," I assure him. "If you want that device to work, maybe you should try a musical invocation."
He snorts. "Right. Whenever an engine malfunctions, I like to tap-dance around it. Works every time."
I want to roll my eyes, but instead I take a deep breath and sing.
Leo just stares. After a few too many moments of awkwardness, I stop. "Any luck?"
"Uh..." He looks back at the bronze mirror. "Nothing. Wait..."
In the mirror, images start flickering to life.
What looks like the commons of some strange city shows up in the mirror. A girl shouts orders at other armored Greek warriors. A centaur marches through in battle armor. Greek Triremes float in a nearby harbor. Catapults line the city. Satyrs and pegasi patrol.
"Your friends?"
Leo nods numbly. "They're preparing for war."
I want to say 'duh,' but I don't. "Against whom?"
"Look," is all he says.
The scene changes. A phalanx of Romans marches through a moonlit vineyard.
"I've seen that before. That's not far from Camp Half-Blood."
Suddenly the Romans descend into chaos. Weapons fly, fists jab, but the two little blobs rushing through evade them all.
Leo grins. He's cute when he grins. "Those beautiful little troublemakers! They kept their promise!"
I lean in to look closer. "Cousins of yours?" I tease.
"Ha, ha, ha, no," he says. "Couple of dwarfs I met in Bologna. I sent them to slow down the Romans, and they're doing it."
"But for how long?"
My question goes unanswered as the scene shifts again. A teen boy with ruffled blond hair, a wolfish look on his face, and fake animals tied around his waist is standing on a slab of grey stone with yellow lines marking a strange pattern. A building that flashes "SuperQuik" in bright, yellow lights stood nearby. Black rectangles on wheels and other Roman demigods surround him. He holds up a long pole wrapped in canvas. When he uncovers it, a golden eagle glimmers at the top.
"Oh, that's not good."
"A Roman standard," I note uneasily.
"Yeah. And this one shoots lightning, according to Percy."
Percy. A streak of hurt flashes through me. It isn't right. My heart is still so hurt, so pained by simply the mention of the names of these people. And it's not as if it were even their fault - usually. They had to go save the world. I take a deep breath and shove my emotions away.
A light brown pegasus thunders in, carrying a girl with long, dark hair. Her purple cloak waves in the harsh wind and her pegasus's eyes are wild. Gryphons and venti storm at her. She slashes and hacks at them. Then the screen goes black.
"No! No, not now! Show me what happens!" He bangs on the mirror. "Calypso, can you sing again or something?"
I take a deep breath to keep from shouting. I'm suddenly frustrated again. "I suppose that's your girlfriend? Your Penelope? Your Elizabeth? Your Annabeth?"
"What?" His expression is mystified. "That's Reyna. She's not my girlfriend! I need to see more! I need--"
'NEED.' The voice rumbles from the very earth. I shudder.
'NEED is an overused word.' A swirling figure emerges from the ground. Her face is gravelly. Her eyes are closed, but she doesn't seem quite asleep.
Leo uselessly throws a pair of pliers at the figure. It passes right through her.
'You want to live. You want to join your friends. But you do not NEED this, my poor boy. It would make no difference. Your friends will die, regardless.'
Leo starts trembling, but he shouts at the woman anyway. "What I DON'T need is more lies from you, Dirt Face. You told me my great-granddad died in the 1960s. Wrong! You told me I couldn't save my friends in Rome. Wrong! You told me a lot of things."
She laughs, and I flinch. I haven't heard that laugh in a long, long time.
'I tried to help you make better choices. You could have saved yourself. But you defied me at every step. You built your ship. You joined that foolish quest. Now you are trapped here, helpless, while the mortal world dies.'
He had resisted Gaea? A newfound respect for the hero flickers to life.
His hands burst into flames. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Gaea. You are not welcome."
'Ah, Calypso.' The woman raises her arms as if for a hug, and I force myselff to stand my ground. 'Still here, I see, despite the gods' promises. Why do you think that is, my dear grandchild? Are the Olympians being spiteful, leaving you with no company except this undergrown fool? Or have they simply forgotten you, because they are not worth your time?'
She's right. I'm MAD at the Olympians. They're hateful, self-important, and murderous. I clench a fist.
'Yes. The Olympians are faithless. They do not give second chances. Why do you hold out hope? You supported your father, Atlas, in his great war. You knew that the gods had to be destroyed. Why do you hesitate now? I offer you a chance that Zeus would never give you.'
Zeus. Just at the name, anger surges through me.
Then I remember what she'd said about the boy. He isn't a fool. She's just trying to get to me.
"Where were you the last millennia? If you are so concerned with my fate, why visit me only now?"
'The earth is slow to wake. War comes in its own time. But do not think it will pass you by on Ogygia. When I remake the world, this prison will be destroyed as well.'
"Ogygia destroyed?" I shake my head. I could be out of here.
'You do not have to be here when that happens. Join me now. Kill this boy. Spill his blood upon the earth, and help me to wake. I will free you and grant you any wish. Freedom. Revenge against the gods. Even a prize. Would you still have the demigod Percy Jackson? I will spare him for you. I will raise him from Tartarus. He will be yours to punish or love, as you choose. Only kill this trespassing boy. Show your loyalty.'
Anger rises up in my chest. She's asking me to kill this boy in cold blood -- in exchange for Percy? As some sort of slave? What kind of person does she think I am?
I thrust three fingers towards my grandmother in a ward against evil. "This is not just my prison, Grandmother. It is my home. And you are the trespasser."
Gaea vanishes into wisps of dirt and sand.
"Uh, don't take this the wrong way, but you didn't kill me. Are you crazy?"
"Your friends must need you, or else Gaea would not ask for your death." This isn't half of my reason, but it's the only one I feel like mentioning.
"I--uh, yeah. I guess."
"Then we have work to do. We must get you back to your ship."