Chapter 11

Calypso

Even though I'd heard Zeus agreeing to set me free with my own ears, I still couldn't believe it when I saw the ocean and the sky again.

Somehow, we were back on Festus's back, with me sitting behind Leo again. The latter let out a surprised cry, before Festus flapped his wings, and we were soaring above the clouds again.

I laughed, my heart feeling light and free. I was free! I could do whatever I wanted, go anywhere I chose. I could visit Sicily and see the ruins of the Roman civilization that I had never laid eyes on before. I could taste the cuisines of the world - especially the 'fast food' that Hermes had been raving about once.

"I'm free, Leo!" I exclaimed.

He remained silent.

"Leo?" I asked tentatively, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. The boy was being overdramatic, really. I'd already told him that he didn't need to worry about me being mortal, didn't I?

"If you regret this decision, it's all my fault," he said somberly. "Do you realize what you just did? No powers, no immortality. You'll be able to die very easily. I'm a demigod. I attract a lot of monsters."

"That's why I'm going to learn how to fight," I replied casually, wrapping my hand around the dagger attached to my belt. "I might have no powers, but I'm not powerless. I still remember a bit of combat from before Ogygia."

"Really?" Leo perked up. "You know how to fight?"

"Better than you, probably." I smirked. I didn't see any type of weaponry on Leo. I guessed that normally, he used his fire powers, or he made some kind of machinery on the spot as a weapon.

"Hey!" he protested.

"So promise that you will never regret your decision to let me lose my immortality?"

"Fine," Leo sighed, but I knew he felt better, nonetheless.

"So where are we going now? Camp Half-Blood?"

"Nah," Leo shook his head. "There's a mechanic in Albania some of the bros at Camp told me about. They said he carried some pretty good stuff in his storage. The best celestial bronze ever forged, apparently. I want to check them out, then use them to make Festus some new wings if they're really that good. I mean, I was going to go there sooner or later. So since we're out here, might as well go. Maybe I could make new wings with lasers in them? And I'm also going to have the guy in Albania do a check-up on Festus."

Now, I'd become accustomed to Leo's sarcasm and jokes, but I wasn't sure if he was joking or not about the lasers. On the other hand, Albania? Where was that? I wasn't naive, certainly, but the world had changed much since I'd become prisoner in Ogygia. And with my only source of information coming from the gods, periodically, I had a hard time keeping track of all the countries that changed their names, or conquered another city-state, or combined together because they intermarried. Did mortals even do that anymore? "Where's Albania?"

"Right above Greece," Leo explained. "and across from Italy. I just gotta punch in the coordinates of Tirana into the Archimedes sphere, and it should work just like a GPS…" he plunged his hand into his tool belt, pulling out a bronze sphere with designs - which I guessed were traces of machinery - embedded on its surface. He fiddled with it, which made me a bit nervous. For all I knew, the sphere could suddenly explode.

The sphere did a tiny beeping noise, which startled me just a little. Leo whooped in victory. "Coordinates in, ready to go. We're going to head north. So, we're probably in the Indian ocean somewhere."

Indian ocean? I'd heard of India, at least, the kingdom filled with silk and gold. I'd never visited the place, but I did want to.

"Can we go to India?" I asked Leo.

"Er, not now," he replied. "We gotta get back to Camp as soon as possible so that my friends don't get too worried. And - oh! I almost forgot!" He slapped his forehead, groaning.

"What?"

"I forgot to send them a message," Leo muttered sheepishly. He reached into his tool belt again to pull out a scroll.

"Mortals still use scrolls?" I scrunched up my forehead, confused. I thought, from what Hermes had told me, that mortals used "email" and "text messaging." However, the wooden rods of the scroll had the same embedded designs on it as the sphere. I guessed that Leo had tweaked it somehow to work like a machine.

"Nope. Since demigods can't use cellphones, I thought maybe I could make something like texting, but different. Watch this."

With that, Leo unraveled the scroll, and pressed something at the top rod. Instantly, a hologram of Leo standing up was projected from the scroll. "Gods!" I breathed. "That's amazing."

"4K quality," Leo boasted proudly, although I had no clue what he meant. "Now be quiet for a sec. I need to record my message."

He pressed something else at the top rod, which didn't do anything, as far as I could tell.

Leo spread his arms to the side, and the mini hologram Leo did the same. "Hey, guys! Sorry to leave you like that," Leo began, and hologram Leo opened and closed his mouth as if he were talking, too. "Bad news: I died. Good news: I got better! I had to go rescue Calypso. We're both fine now. We're taking Festus to Tirana in Albania. We'll be back as soon as we're done, I promise. We're going to cook tacos when we get the chance. Which is soon. ¡Vaya con queso! Love ya!" Leo ended his message and pressed the top rod again.

"We're going to cook tacos?" I snorted, amused.

Leo turned his head a quarter of the way towards me. "Tacos are amazing. The only thing that tops that is cheese."

As much as I hate to admit it, I was looking forward to cooking tacos. I was looking forward to everything, basically. I wanted to fight monsters. It'd been a long time since I'd been in action. I wanted to go to Tirana with Leo. I wanted to see how amazing tacos were. Now that my immortal life had ended, I couldn't wait to start my mortal one.