The Librarian

Don't trust anyone...

Who did she mean by anyone? Apollo said I couldn't trust her so who? Who could I trust? What could I do? How could I find Nico? I felt like a hive of wasps had been let loose inside my brain, banging against my skull and rattling my thoughts with their vile buzzing.

I hailed a cab and gave the driver directions to Leo and Cally's apartment, unable to think of anywhere else I could go or anyone else I could talk to. The cab ride was horrible, the cabbie was silent and I was left alone again with my thoughts. Thoughts that I didn't really feel like being alone with.

It was a relief when I was able to pay the cabbie and get out into the fresh air again, locating and buzzing the apartment. The door was opened by a flustered and furious Leo.

"What the hell, Kimmi?" He demanded, letting me none-too-gently into the apartment. "We've been looking for you all day, and you just show up looking all innocent like you've done nothing wrong!"

"Look, I'm sorry. I jus-"

"You're sorry?" He growled. "You went and saw her, didn't you? That lady who sent the note?"

"You can't prove that."

"No but I'm guessing you can." He snapped. "Empty your pockets."

"No."

"Now."

"I don't want to."

"Kimmi..."

"Leo, who was at the-" Calypso stopped mid sentence when she saw me standing in the doorway. "Oh, she's back."

"And in trouble." Leo added.

"You're not my dad." I groaned.

"No I'm not, the lucky guy lives in Taiwan." He retorted.

"I think you both need to calm down a little." Cally said. "Why don't you come inside and have some coffee while we talk over this like adults." She shot a pointed look at Leo.

We both groaned but relented to a cup of coffee, letting her lead us into their living room while she boiled the kettle.

"She gave you another note, didn't she?" Leo asked as we sat down.

"No." I pulled my hand from my pocket where I had been fingering the note. He reached his hand out and pulled the small scrap of paper from my pocket before I had a chance to protest. He frowned and read over the note.

"What does this mean?" He asked, confusion overtaking fury.

I sighed and explained briefly what had happened at my meeting with 'M', leaving out my chat with Apollo afterwards. I still didn't know what to think of that.

"White poplar?" Calypso asked. "That sounds like Leuce."

"Leuce?" Leo asked before I had the chance.

"A water nymph, daughter of Oceanus. She was a little stuffy for my taste and totally two-faced. Your friend one minute and your worst enemy the next." Cally explained. "She was one of Hades' flings while he was married to Persephone. When she found out, Hades turned Leuce into a white poplar before Persephone could get angry and do something far worse to her. Needless to say she hates him."

"Didn't you just say that she got turned into a tree? How could a tree have kidnapped Nico?" I asked.

Calypso shrugged. "My best guess is that, like a tree nymph she can leave her tree but I'm not sure. Maybe she was killed when she was transformed and she came back to life when Gaia opened the doors of death? I honestly have no clue."

"Well what's Speigel Grove then?" I asked, pieces of information and ideas beginning to contain the wasps inside my head.

Leo tapped his head like he was trying to jog his memory. "A shipwreck off Florida, I think." He said.

I stood up from the sofa. "Let's go then."

"Hang on, this last line 'don't trust anyone'." Leo frowned. "This is a trap, Kimmi, you can't go."

I looked down at him coldly. "Nico is there and that's all that matters. I'm going. You can come with me or not; your choice."

And with that, I walked out the room, ready to do whatever it would take.

Whatever it would take to get back Nico.

Notes