Leaving home was kind of a relief. Having been stuck there for centuries only to be comforted and tormented by passers by only to see them go and live on their lives was almost a torture. But, having Leo there beside me as we boarded the most uncomfortable and scary plane ever was the best thing that had ever happened to me. But, Leo couldn't have built a sofa in between all the wires and cogs could he? Well, he probably could have if he hadn't been busy dyeing and coming back just to see me. I was his top priority, or so he told me. I believed him though. He didn't want to go back to his home with friends, family and allies. He just wanted to be with me. I wasn't at all afraid. I just felt free.
Free... I never thought I'd be able to think or even say these words with truthfulness to them. But, somehow, Leo had managed it. "I'm FREE!" I shouted to the winds loud enough that even the gods of Olympus should've been able to hear me. Leo laughed from up front. "Woo-hoo!" He yelled as he made us do a loop the loop and go even faster. I enjoyed this scary ride we had together. I didn't want to waste time being scared of petty things like heights or plummeting to my death from thousands of miles from the sky. I just wanted to be alive. Be free.
As the island disappeared from view I made the terrible mistake of tempting the fates into thinking everything was going to be all right. As soon as I thought these words a sharp pain ran through my whole entire life force. it felt like someone was stripping away a layer of my skin.
Later Leo had to tell me what happened. We were sat on the roof of some mechanic store, we needed to fix our ride as soon as possible. He wanted to send a message to his friends and then travel the world and underworld with me-although between you and me, I really hoped he was joking about the underworld bit.
"So, after I started screaming what happened?"
"You started shaking and your nose and eyes bled. I reached for your hand but it was so could that even my fire could not even notch it up a degree. I was scared I had killed you by dragging you away from your home. But, then you stopped screaming, you just surged forward. It took all my strength not to drop you. You suddenly weighed thousands of pounds. Calypso, what exactly happened?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think that was my immortality being stripped away. Although I've never heard stories where it hurt so much. I guess it was probably Zeus trying to not make me get away without a punishment."
"Haven't you already been punished enough?"
"Zeus is still angry from the war, I think he'll need a few decades, or centuries to recover from Kronos and Gaia almost rising."
We sat in silence while Leo got to work on Festus. It was mid morning-three days later-by the time Leo had finished all his routine checks and double checked everything about forty million times. The streets were empty, which was strange for this time of day, usually tourists would be filling the streets and there'd be loud noises from factories and cars. But, they were deserted. I had a gut feeling something bad was going to happen. There could've just been a bright neon sign that read 'TROUBLE COMING YOUR WAY' it was that obvious. "Leo I-" I turned towards him but nobody was there. I stood up and cautiously walked towards Festus and where Leo had just been. "Leo!" There was nothing there, I turned to look all over the roof top and all the other roof tops around. Nothing. When I looked back Festus was nowhere to be seen. I reached down for my knife and spun back to where I'd last seen Leo. He was back where I'd left him. But, he was surrounded by a group of men-no teenagers- dressed in strange combat armour. They had Leo in a head lock, several swords-which looked more like thin strips of wire-were pointed at his head. Their leader locked eyes with me as I raised my dagger.
"Now, now princess. Don't do anything you'll regret."