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Previously: "Then we have work to do," I said, already knowing what I would have to do. "We must get you back to your ship."

CALYPSO –

I used work to distract me.

To keep my mind clear of the fact that in just a few weeks, or maybe even days, Leo would be gone. No annoying, scrawny git to make me laugh and say ridiculous jokes, a grin lighting up his face and his eyes.

I kept my brain and my hands busy, focusing intently on everything I did, working at twice the pace I normally did. I found supplies for his journey when he left – food, water, herbs and medicine, I made miles of rope and wove a sail in about two days. When I'd finished all of that, I went to Leo and asked if he needed any help. I knew that if I wasn't busy, if I had time to think, I would fall into the depressed spiral of rejection I knew so well. Except this time I had a feeling it would be so much worse than usual.

He had looked up from a complicated piece of circuitry he was delicately putting together and smiled. "If I didn't know better, I 'd think you were anxious to get rid of me," he said, and I laughed grimly on the inside. Exactly the opposite. I turned on my snarky façade. "That's a bonus," I said, my voice surprisingly convincing.

He was silent for a minute, and stared at me, emotions swirling in his chocolate eyes. I blinked hard, and tore my gaze away. "So?"

"So…what?" he asked, sounding confused.

"So can I help? How is it coming on?" I referred to my original reason for visiting him.

"Oh. Uh, I'm good here, I guess. If I can wire this thing up to the boat, I should be able to navigate back to the world." I tried to keep my face devoid of any emotion, hiding the twinge of disappointment I felt at his words, and realised with a start that I had been hoping to work with him, if only for the chance to watch his long, nimble fingers dance around the machine, his eyes glittering in a way they only did when he was building or fixing something.

"Now all you need is a boat," I said. That would buy me some more time with him, we'd have to build a boat as well. Then I remembered his story about the Argo II, and the hope vanished entirely. He'd built a trireme. It would probably take him less than half an hour to make a sailboat.

"What Gaia said…" He paused for a moment, apprehension in his eyes. "About you getting off the island. Would you want to try it?"

I felt something leap inside my chest. Get off the island? It sounded like something undeniably strange, foreign.

"What do you mean?" I scowled, trying to stifle the thing that was still jumping inside me.

"Well, I'm not saying it would be fun having you along, always complaining and glaring at me and stuff. But I suppose I could stand it, if you wanted to try."

He wanted to get me off this island. He wanted me to come with him, despite my 'complaining and glaring', and the thing in my chest went crazy.

"How noble," I said softly. "But no, Leo. If I tried to come with you, your tiny chance of escape would be no chance at all. The Gods have placed ancient magic on this island to keep me here. A hero can leave. I cannot. The most important thing is getting you free… so you can stop Gaia. Not that I care what happens to you," I added quickly, trying to cover up the fact that I'd just admitted that Leo was more important to me than escaping Ogygia. "But the world's fate is at stake."

He seemed to pick up on it though. "Why would you care about that? I mean, after being away from the world for so long?"

I thought for a moment. Why did I want Leo to defeat Gaia? Partly for Leo himself of course, but I also didn't want the world to be destroyed, despite having been kept apart from it for so long. "I suppose I don't like being told what to do – by Gaia or anyone else," I mused out loud. "As much as I hate the gods sometimes, over the past three millennia I've come to see that they're better than the Titans. They're definitely better than the giants." I shuddered internally. "At least the gods kept in touch. Hermes has always been kind to me. And your father, Hephaestus, has often visited. He is a good person."

He was Leo's father, after all. He couldn't be that bad.

I smiled to myself as I noticed Leo's mouth hanging open. Unable to resist the temptation, I reached forward and closed it. My fingertips tingled from the contact and I quickly withdrew my hand. "Now, how can I help?"