The first time someone crashed onto Calypso's beach, she hadn't been angry. It had also been the first time Calypso had a visitor not sent to her by the gods. In fact, Calypso was fairly certain that Amelia had not been the gods' idea at all, and how she managed to find Ogygia would forever remain a mystery to Calypso.
According to Amelia, the island had mysteriously shown up on her radar after the plane survived an attack from Scylla and the engine was failing. The only word Calypso had understood out of that was 'Scylla.' The rest went right over her head.
"You were flying through the Sea of Monsters?" Calypso questioned incredulously. "In this?" She gestured to the burning contraption of metal.
"Well," Amelia said in a dry voice and accent Calypso recognized as American. Her hands were planted on her hips, ginger hair curled around rosy cheeks. She had several burns and scrapes, but otherwise seemed unharmed. "It looked a lot better when it wasn't broken."
"What were you even doing, flying through it?' Calypso questioned, stepping gingerly around a piece of burning wreckage. Amelia turned to her.
"What do you mean, flying through it?" She gave her an odd look. "Aren't we in it?"
"The Sea of Monsters?" Calypso barked out a laugh. "Hardly. What would Circe do if she had to share territory with me?" At Amelia's blank face, she sighed. "Ogygia is magic. It isn't tied to one location. Injured demigods wash up here...when they need assistance."
Well, it wasn't quite the truth, but it would do. Better than explaining her curse to a stranger, whom Calypso was decidedly not going to fall in love with.
Amelia's face had cleared. "I guess that explains it." She gave her plane a kick. "Though I'm not exactly the injured one."
"Amelia," Calypso ventured. "May I ask you a question?"
"Just did."
"Another one, then."
"Fire away."
Amelia crouched down, picking off a piece of scrap metal. It must have still been hot, because she winced and threw it out to the sea. Calypso tilted her head. "How do expect to fix your machine?"
Amelia and Calypso stared at each other for several long moments.
"You know," Amelia said. "I don't actually know."
They found out how later that night, sitting inside Calypso's cave and eating her stew. There came a gruff noise from outside, and then Hephaestus appeared at the mouth of her cave. "Evenin'."
"Ah, good evening to you!" cheered Calypso, who was in a particularly good mood. "Have you come to join us for dinner?"
"No," Hephaestus replied shortly. He looked uncomfortable, and had to hunch over further to fit under the cave roof. "Just came by to talk to Miss Earhart."
"To me?" Amelia blinked.
"Yes, you. You weren't supposed to have landed here, and Zeus sent me 'round to fix it."
Ah, so something had gone awry. Calypso shouldn't have been surprised; all curses could bend the rules, but hers had been millennia without faltering.
"So you're here to get me out?" Amelia's eyes were bright. She jumped when Hephaestus dumped a bucket load of scrap bronze on the cave floor.
"I'm here to tell you to fix your plane and leave the island. You're interfering with the magic here."
Amelia pouted. "It wasn't my fault," she murmured petulantly.
Hephaestus, apparently, didn't care to hear it. With a look back to Calypso, he turned and vanished into a pillar of smoke.
"Nice guy," Amelia commented.
"Oh, he's lovely," Calypso admonished. "He's the only god who's ever paid me a visit simply because he wanted to."
"How cruel of the others." Amelia looked down at her scrap metal, then at the darkening sky. "I suppose I can work on this in the morning?"
"Certainly."
It was through her night with Amelia that Calypso realized just how sorely she missed female company. She had grown up with fifteen half-sisters, after all. As wonderful as heartbreaking visits from handsome heroes were, there was nothing like lying in bed and gossiping with another girl.
Calypso didn't share any of her stories. She listened to Amelia, laughed in all the right places, winced when she shared the embarrassing story of her first love. "It was the worst," she assured Calypso. "Don't choose the boy of your dreams at age six."
They hardly slept, and when Calypso awoke in the morning, Amelia was gone. Calypso wandered out to the beach to find Amelia with a shiny contraption that looked almost as good as new. "You work fast," she commented.
"Those pieces were custom-fitted," Amelia said, hopping down. "And I am a quick thinker. Daughter of Athena, and all."
Momentarily, Calypso's vision turned red. She shook it away quickly; it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if she's Athena's. "Does this mean you'll be leaving me?"
"I guess." Amelia glanced around. "You've got a real nice setup here, Calypso."
"It's alright, but I do miss the world."
"The world isn't that great," Amelia said. Calypso frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"War. Humanity." Amelia slowly climbed back into the machine. "You asked me why I was flying through the Sea of Monsters. Well, I was exploring. Adventuring. Looking for a place better than..." her face clouded. "Well, better than I don't know. Just better."
"I refuse to believe it could be that bad."
"Yeah? Ask the next hero you get."
"I certainly will."
Amelia started her engines with a great roaring sound. "See you around, Calypso!" She shouted.
"Safe travels!" Calypso cried, but she wasn't sure if Amelia heard. She stepped out of the way as the plane went down the beach, slowly lifting off into the air. The sand blew in her eyes.
Calypso waved, shielding her face. She didn't know for sure, but as the plane turned, she could just see Amelia waving back to her.
back again, baby
My creative juices are finally flowing wow now if only I could get that wretched history paper done.
Why was Amelia looking for a better thing than humanity? Why did Calypso get angry at the mention of Athena? Are these things going to be addressed again? Is this going to get a lot angstier? Tune in to find out more!
ps. changed the title from Shania Twain lyrics to campfire song lyrics. i am the coolest of the cool.