Resurrected

Charlie's POV

August 20. The 20th day I had to redeem myself. And we were still on the boat.

So yeah, we were most of the way to Ogygia, but I was getting antsy. I needed to get back to Camp before the end of the 31-day period, or else I would be screwed. But I couldn’t worry about that for now. I had to focus on my quest.

Percy and I had been talking for a while when Leo shouted from the helm, “We’re here! We’re here!”

Percy and I both looked at Leo, who couldn’t see, and then looked out. We thought that we weren’t going to see anything, but then there it was. It was the most beautiful island that I had ever seen. White beach surrounded a crystal overhang and cave, and the whole island was covered in the most beautiful continuous garden I had ever seen. It was amazing.

“Leo, how did you—” Percy started to ask, but then I shouted, as I ran up to Leo,

“Leo, you did it man! You actually found the island that nobody else could find! Holy Hephaestus, man!”

But Leo didn’t look happy. Silent tears were streaming down his cheeks as his eyes, still milky, looked stoically over the landscape. Softly, he sank to his knees, and I beckoned Percy over, gently wrenching Leo from the wheel. Percy took to the helm as I carried Leo away, saying,

“You okay, man?”

“An oath to keep with a final breath,” He whispered, and I was confused, but Percy caught my attention before I said anything, waving his arms wildly. The message was obvious: Don’t say anything yet. Just let Leo cry for now, he’ll fell better soon.

“Okay,” I said vaguely, open to any interpretation. I brought him away from the helm as Percy awkwardly guided the Argo II to a landing, 50 yards from the island.

The sand glistened with sunlight, almost unbearably bright. Percy maneuvered the boat to nudge against the beach, and we disembarked.

“No way,” Percy murmured, “we’re really here. No way.”

Leo was silent as I jumped off of the ship’s rail with his small frame in my arms. He was so thin, it made me wonder again how this kid had bested the likes of Gaea herself. Maybe he was just looked at as the repair boy. The seventh wheel. I was used to that as a Hephaestus kid. Everyone knows the names of the swords from Ancient Greece, no one knows who made them.

We landed softly on the cushion-soft sand, and I set Leo down, him grunting in appreciation. We walked around for about thirty seconds when the most pretty girl, correction, second most pretty girl I had ever seen, walked out of the crystal cave. Calypso herself. She must have been.

She had eyes the color of sparkling emeralds, a deep and powerful green. Her hair, braided down one side of her silky smooth body was the coffee, dark brown with streaks of black throughout. Her face was pretty, but in a way that wasn’t complicated or fussy. I realized that she looked simple because she was that beautiful without makeup. In that moment, I was glad I had Silena to think about, because if I didn’t, I might have ruined Leo’s day.

“Calypso,” Percy murmured in awe, echoing my feelings. Something in his voice was funny, but I didn’t pay any attention to that.

When she saw Leo, her face lit up with a mixture of supreme joy and utter confusion. Then she saw Percy and me, and her confusion deepened. She ran over to us, her white cotton dress fluttering in the light breeze. As I looked around, I realized that this place really was Paradise.

“Leo!” She shouted when she was within range.

“Calypso?” He asked into the wind. Then, she was there. She crashed into him and took him in her arms. Then, she pulled away and kissed him, locking her eyes shut. I could see that Leo was doing the same. Absentmindedly, I had kept holding his arm, and I let it go as they pulled away. Calypso looked into his eyes, and then hers filled with concern.

“Leo, your eyes!” She screamed.

“Calm down, Calypso!” He assured her, “I’ll be fine. We actually came here because of my eyes. It’s not permanent.”

“Hopefully,” I put in.

“What do you mean, hopefully?” She asked, glaring at me.

“Well, I…kind of…blinded him. I’ve been cursed you see, and—”

“What?” She asked, completely furious, “Back up, the whole story, tell it.”

So we did. I started with my story of coming back from the dead, Percy putting in pointers about what had happened since he had last visited. Percy looked like he was feeling a mixture of jealousy at Leo, wistfulness and nostalgia for Calypso, and guilt for that wistfulness.

We ended the story, and she just nodded intently, asking, “So, basically, I need to heal Leo ?”

“Yep,” He responded with a smile.

“What do I need to do?” She asked, starting to smile.

“Well,” I started, “I don’t really know.”

Percy had been staring at Calypso for a while, and I was beginning to think that I should remind him that Annabeth was his girlfriend. I mean, he was really staring at her. But then, in a quick glance, I realized he wasn’t star-struck by her. He was investigating her.

I quickly told Leo and Calypso, who were happy holding each other, to hold on for a second. I pulled Percy aside and asked,

“What’s up with Calypso? I know you think something’s going on.”

He nodded and whispered, facing his face and mouth away from the couple, “That’s not Calypso.”

I looked at him, forcing myself not to shout What?!, but the question was in my eyes.

“Calypso has cinnamon colored hair, Beckendorf. And eyes like the color of almonds.”

I looked over my shoulder to see Fake Calypso walking Leo towards the cave. I realized Kronos’ plan. I cursed silently and Percy and I walked towards the couple, trying not to make it look like we were onto Fake Calypso.

“Calypso?” I asked, trying to keep my voice emotionless, “Where are you guys going? I haven’t told you how to heal Leo yet.”

She turned around with Leo, guiding him to face us. Fake Calypso had a murderous look in her eyes, like an animal of prey going in for the kill.

“You’re not Calypso, are you?” I said, and Leo’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Calypso?” He asked, confused.

“No,” Fake Calypso growled, “Perseus Jackson, you have quite the eye. Too bad I’ll have to kill all of you now, starting with Mr. Valdez.”

She pulled out a dagger and brought it down towards Leo with lightning speed, but Leo was quick. He blocked the strike with his forearm, letting his wrist take the blunt of the strike. He screamed in pain as Percy and I rushed forward. He kicked Fake Calypso away and crawled away on his back, scrambling in his blindness for life.

Percy uncapped Riptide and I brought out my war hammer, Fulcrum, which I concealed in a Leatherman multi-tool. We both charged Fake Calypso, who was now a full-grown dracanae. Percy and I had dealt with monsters like this routinely in my first life, but with Leo involved, we had a sense of desperation and fear around us that was abnormal.

We charged her, and in reality, she had no chance. I slammed Fulcrum into her snake flank, and Percy sliced at her torso. She went from stabbing Leo to sulfurous dust in less than five seconds.

“Leo!” I shouted, but he was already trying to get up, his forearm bleeding.

“Where is she?” He asked with an angry edge to his voice, breathing hard.

Then we all realized. We had no idea where the real Calypso was, whether she was even on Ogygia anymore, or whether she was…no. She couldn’t be. Where was the real Calypso?

Notes

Enjoy!

-Grafon