Twenty-Five: Kalypso
Solar Deities are Creepy and Need Restraining Orders
The most frustrating thing about Kally's nightmare was simple: she'd already beaten Python by using her godly nova blast, but it never worked in the nightmare. She'd be choking for air, paralyzed by fear and wishing Pax could make her as angry as he had in Howe Cavern. Then she could defeat Python. Then she'd be free.
But this time, like the last two times she'd been saved in dream world and when she'd beat Python in real life, it took an external force.
"Be gone foul creature!" someone roared.
Python completely ignored the shout. A dim sparkle of light sprinkled around both of them. The shimmer looked like someone was trying to promote Python on a dating simulator.
Another voice teased, "Really? You've only been out of the game for what? A few thousand years? And that is all you can do?"
A different, rosier light warmed Kally's body, loosening the coils.
Last time someone saved Kally from a dream, she'd learned her lesson on accidentally kissing strangers, since they could end up being your long lost half-brother's completely homosexual boyfriend.
With the way these two saved her from her nightmare, Kally wouldn't have even considered it.
Someone slapped through Python's coils with a cheery, "Goooooood MORNING!"nailing Kally in the face.
Kally jerked awake—er—she jerked out of Python's nightmare. Upon a frantic glance around, she could tell she was still dreaming. Or she hoped she was.
Everything blazed with a glaring light. There were celestial bronze columns around an audience chamber. The walls were completely covered with emeralds, glowing Kally's favorite color. The ground felt cold under her fingers—marble? Mirrors reflected more light across the chamber, like the set up in Cabin Six.
But the place looked hollow and empty. There were only two figures standing in front of Kally.
The more her eyes came into focus, the more imperfections she noticed. There were cracks in the columns and emeralds that had fallen off the walls to reveal blackened holes. For some reason, something her priest used to say fluttered through her head: All material things fall. The only immortal thing is the kingdom of God.
Here was a god's throne room starting to decay.
Then Kally felt the overwhelming pain in her cheek from being sucker slapped by a goddess.
"Oh good! You're up! That's so exciting! Did you have a nice sleep? You don't look like you did. That's my favorite time to wake people. At dawn when they haven't slept at all."
The woman standing before Kally spoke rapidly and with enough cheer that Kally could imagine Euna punching her through several skyscrapers. She would probably agree with Kally: morning people made the worst super villains.
The woman was young, maybe nineteen with brown auburn hair that flowed loosely down her shoulders. She wore a pink pair of yoga pants and a tight work out shirt with floral print. She hopped back and forth and giggled, like she was warming up for a race. Her fingers, hands, and forearms were stained a deep pink and Kally had to wonder how many flowers were killed in the making of those hands.
There was a Starbucks coffee cup in her hands with the words Mornings Rule! on the side.
The man beside her was terrifying. Not in the ax-murderer way though. His hair was golden, flowing in curly locks over his shoulders. His shoulders were broad and Kally could imagine he'd be handsome if he stood up straight and smiled. He wore a dirty purple sheet like a cloak and a ragged, torn shirt and shorts. Instead of looking handsome, he looked like, well, her dad—if Apollo had become a hobo and tried out for the Walking Dead. But none of that was scary. It was his eyes.
They burned like the sun setting along the horizon. Kally felt like those eyes were as ancient as the sun and as omnipresent as light during day. "It's not dawn for her," he chastised the woman.
She giggled. "You know what they say? It's 5:00 AM somewhere." [footnote 1]
"That's not how that saying goes."
"Hey!" She folded her arms and gave him a playful scowl. "Dionysus stole that from me with those military shenanigans. Augh, I used to be so much more popular before the Industrial Revolution! Stupid Antoine Redier!"[footnote 2] She dramatically shook her fist downwards.
Kally really didn't want to interrupt their conversation, but she had no idea what was going on or what the Industrial Revolution had to do with this little inception. "Um, excuse me but—who are you?" she asked timidly.
The woman put a hand to her chest. "I am the beautiful, coveted, adored—"
"Don't listen to her. She kidnaps people to get affection," the man interrupted.
"Helios!" she cried and swatted his shoulder. "Don't spread that rumor! They come to me. You're as bad as Hemera."
Helios… Hemera… Kally remembered Axel mentioning something about people Hemera knew.
"Eos!" Kally said. "You're Eos. You're the Titaness—er—Goddess of Dawn. The one that poured out all of Hemera's grains so Euna, Joey, and Axel had to collect them." After everything that happened that day, Kally couldn't believe she remembered that little bit, but Axel had been particularly angry about why they were doing their activity.
"Eh, Titaness. Goddess. I accept eith—wait—no! I did not pour out all of her grains. Is that why Hemera was so indignant all morning? She seemed even snipper than usual. I keep telling her an hour ahead of schedule is a perfectly considerate amount of time to arrive at a house. I mean, Aphrodite was even earlier than I was!"
Kally really didn't want to get into whatever dispute was going on between the Goddess of Dawn and the Goddess of Day, but it wasn't like she could snap her fingers and have an Uber drive her home. "Um, if you didn't, then who did? Not that you would," she quickly added, hoping it wouldn't make Eos angry. Kally figured that people who made this goddess angry just darkened the stains on those rosy fingers.
"That's part of why we're here," the man said. He gave Kally a dazzling grin, literally dazzling since she had to look away or be blinded. Then the light dimmed. "I'm Helios," he said simply. There was a sad emptiness in the explanation.
Eos groaned. "Oh, go on. Say it. 'I used to drive the sun chariot.' And whose fault is it that you don't now? I keep telling you. Early bird gets the worm."
Helios's eyes dimmed further until the glare of his eyes looked filtered by water. "I wouldn't expect you to know who I am," Helios said. "Most of the gods think I've already faded." He touched his forehead, like he was adjusting an invisible crown. His eyes gazed at one of the blackened holes in the wall. "What I wouldn't do for one last ride in my chariot—to watch Pyrois, Aeos, Aethon, and Phlegon galloping westward, to see Hemera ahead of me, scattering her mother's mist to prepare the path for the sun." He sighed and closed his eyes.
From his description, Kally could almost envision it. Those must have been the names of his horses. There must have been a lot of glory in striding across the sky—
"And the chicks," Helios added. He opened his eyes and cocked his head thoughtfully to the sky. "That chariot is a babe magnet and Apollo kicked me out before low cut shirts were in fashion. That scoundrel."
Eos swatted him. "Helios! That's gross!"
"What? You spy on people showering in the mornings."
Were all day deities this creepy? Kally didn't remember Axel describing Hemera as this creepy.
"Um..." Kally prompted. "About why you're here..?"
"Oh! Yes! I have an itinerary," Eos said. She snapped her fingers, her coffee disappeared, and a papyrus scroll appeared in her hands. She read aloud, "Scold Kally for not doing her sun salutations to greet her dad…" Eos glanced over her list, frowned, pointed one finger at Kally and said, "Shame."
Helios rolled his eyes.
Eos kept reading. "Wake Kally up so she can save Leo Valdez. Remind her to do sun salutations to greet the morning deities. Startle hiker awake and off a cliff—okay!" She snapped her fingers and the scroll was replaced by a white mug that read Here Comes the Sun and a picture of Kally's dad. "No one has seen Hemera in two days, since that whole cereal incident, when Aphrodite said she had some handsome heroes over to clean up the mess." Eos giggled. "Maybe Hemera isn't fading after all if she's having handsome heroes over. Now, if you ask me, that old bag is being overdramatic and playing hookie—"
"She's not. I worked with Hemera for thousands of years. She's reliable and never takes a sick day," Helios said.
"Except those few months on the North and South Pole—" Eos waved her cup of coffee around.
"Nyx told her to stay home and she deserves some vacation time—"
"Socialist. You know, I'm just as reliable—"
"You're annoying," Helios said. The fiery blaze of his eyes returned as he glanced back at Kally. "Mount Olympus has too many problems for anyone to worry over Hemera's disappearance."
"Aren't they in a time of peace right now? And what was that about Leo Valdez?" Kally asked. Although she hadn't sat through many explanations from the Athena Cabin about the gods, she hadn't heard of any wars going on or problems in Olympus. And Leo seemed in fine shape before she… how had she fallen asleep in the middle of the morning?
Helios shook his head. "I would say the usual fights, but none of them make any sense. Not that their fights ever do—and trust me, I helped sort out all the craziness with Persephone. Man, does she have a creepy husband. But these fights make even less sense than usual. Hephaestus is mad at Aphrodite and Ares for going off on vacation—"
"Which is false because Aphrodite is scheduled for an exfoliating session with Hygieia today and she would NEVER let anything get in the way of that," Eos said like it was common knowledge. She winked at Kally. "It was an article in this week's edition of The Glade."
"Athena and Poseidon are in the middle of a fight over some museum that wasn't supposed to originally feature either of them. It was originally supposed to feature Pontus…" Helios gave an exhausted sigh. "How I miss Pontus. Regardless, Artemis and Apollo are trying to chase down the Teusmessian fox, both claiming the other challenged them to it, while Apollo is still trying to hide from Zeus. And Hera and Zeus just got into another fight over some lover or another that Zeus hasn't seen in years—"
"I feel bad for whatever mortal Hera runs into first with her little riddle, 'who knows how to have the secret to a happy marriage better than the goddess of marriage.' If she'd only cheat, she'd be so much happier." Eos giggled.
That might have explained Joey's encounter. Kally thought about her mother with Apollo and felt sick. Every time she heard about a Greek god, it sounded like fidelity was as high on their list of priorities as protecting LGBTQ+ rights was for the Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe people fell out of love after several hundred years but…
"Wait—Did you say Hemera went missing two days ago? Euna, Axel, and Joey helped her yesterday," Kally said.
"You've been asleep for a day and a half," Helios said.
Kally gaped. A day and a half? She didn't even get to do that on weekends.
Eos took a long sip from her mug and glared. "Someone used Morpheus Dust on you and your group. You know that crust you get in your eyes? If you can collect it off Morpheus from one of his naps, it's like, my anti-venom. I tried waking you all morning yesterday but it was like you'd had three bottles of Nyquil."3
"When you do wake up, remember to look out for Hemera. Apollo might not care to watch out for his business partners—" Bitterness seeped into Helios's voice "—but I care. This isn't like Hemera. No one has any qualms against her. I mean, she and Nyx fight a lot, but I don't think Nyx would ever harm her."
Eos gave Helios a skeptical look. "Hemera is too boring for anyone to have qualms with her. Anyway, you're about to wake up. Things will be clearer for you about how to help Leo Valdez and find Hemera."
There was no way Kally would be useful in any situation that one of the Seven couldn't help themselves. "Uh, couldn't you just tell me how things will be clearer now?" she squeaked.
Helios and Eos gave each other a bewildered look. "Do… gods just TELL heroes things now?" Helios demanded. "That's so… distasteful."
Sensible was the word Kally wanted to supply him with, but she felt a chill creeping along her face. Until she fell through the floor, she hadn't realized how warm it was in the audience chamber.
When Kally woke up, things were not clearer. Her vision was—in fact—blurry, but she could see two furry creatures curled in her hair. One wore an orange Hero-In-Training shirt and the other cradled the remains of some kind of toy. A… decapitated man's head? Bleeding stuffing. Well, it used to be a centaur. She remembered seeing those at Camp Half-Blood's shop.
Someone nearby was crying. It was a quiet, continuous sob, one that made Kally chest hurt with sympathy pangs. She hated when you'd been crying to the point of chest pains and couldn't stop.
"But he'll leave me. You know he will," Pax whined to… someone.
Kally willed herself to stand to see the other person. Her limbs wouldn't work. Everything felt numb. It wasn't the right time of day. Hadn't it been morning? Early morning? Now it was dark, with nothing but her glow stick and a campfire lighting up Hunnie and Baller's fur. When she remembered that weasels liked to store dead things in people's clothing for snacks, she wished she could recoil. From the look of it, Hunnie was… still unmoving.
Every few seconds, Baller would perk up, yawn, and twist his body to climb all over Hunnie. When she didn't react, he'd give her ear a halfhearted nip. After pawing at her, he'd give up and curl back up with his tail dangling over her face.
Oh, my little terror muffin, another voice spoke. The voice was feminine and warm in a noxious way, like a pillow pre-fluffed to smother someone. Kally wasn't sure she could hear it aloud, but it echoed in her head. Although Kally's arms didn't feel strong enough to lift her body weight, she strained to reach for Hunnie and Baller.
I'm sorry you might lose your brother forever, Ajax. Here's a voucher for free ice cream to cheer you up.
Kally managed to get up to her elbows. The weasels rolled out of her hair, Baller with a soft huff. Someone had tucked her into the Morpheus sleeping bag—Pax once told her it belonged to Alabaster, a friend of his from Mount Othrys. Supposedly it granted good dreams, though she was struggling to remember hers clearly. Around her, she found Merry, Joey, and Euna also tucked into various sleeping bags. Whoever had taken care of them—definitely Pax, judging from this last part—had unceremoniously plopped a blanket on the upper half of Calex and left his feet exposed. That was something Kally could see Pax finding evil.
The others in the distance blobs of color. Sometime in the night, her contacts must have dried and popped out of her eyes. Her eyes definitely felt sore and dry enough for it. She fumbled in her bag to produce her backup glasses and slipped them on.
Centaurs and nymphs lay scattered around the campfire. She could hear a rhythmic creaking sound. Upon seeing the startling shine of bronze highlighted in the flickering flames, she realized Festus was snoring on the edge of the camp.
"Forever?" Pax hiccupped. "I'd give up ice cream for the rest of my life if I could stay with Axel. He's all I have left."
That's a serious ultimatum, the person warned. Ice cream is delicious. Remember how much you love Reese's Sundaes.
"Even Reese's Sundaes, Mom. Even. Reese's. Sundaes. And what are you saying? Is Axel going to die if he goes to arrest Dad?"
Kally picked up the furry, serpentine bodies of Hunnie and Baller. She expected Baller to bite her. Instead, he curled up into her arms.
Oh, he'll die if he goes alone, the woman said, like it was an assurance. But he was always going to die before you Pax… Well, unless your little nightmare-prophecy comes true.
Pax recoiled from… a weird thing sitting in front of him. His legs were crunched up, his elbows resting on his knees, and his hands tugging at his hair. His face looked puffy from crying. At his feet, there was some… weird mix of various creatures: goat parts, feline part, bat wings, and horns. Looking at it, Kally didn't know if she was still dreaming or if a taxidermist had decided to play Mr. Potato with various animals.
"That nightmare won't come true. Axel wouldn't do that," Pax snapped. His tone shook with fear and anger, but tapered almost apologetically. "I don't think. I—I'm sorry. But—but you said alone. Will he be okay if he has his proper fan club?" He gestured vaguely towards Kally and the others without looking up. "How are we supposed to be his Sailor Scouts if he doesn't want us there?"
The creature flicked its reptilian tail up to stroke Pax's cheek. I'll do what I can to keep the family together. Just keep calm and use that voucher. There should be more for you to steal in Leo's shack.
Kally wiggled out of the sleeping bag. Despite her attempt to be quiet, the zipper whined.
The creature disappeared.
Pax jumped to his feet. "Kally! You're awake?!" His yellow and black eyes widened in alarm. He rubbed his face on his duster jacket sleeve. "I mean, completely sincere sounding, 'Yay! You're awake!'"
Kally tried to talk. Her mouth felt like it was full of ferret bedding. She adjusted the weasels so she could lean down to withdraw her water bottle from her messenger bag. Once she took a swig, coughed once, and put the water bottle away, she approached Pax.
Morpheus Dust.
Eos's words lingered from her dream. Kally couldn't recall the full conversation, but she slowed down. "What's going on?" She remembered the party and Hera giving Joey her quest, and something about Morpheus Dust. Why had Eos mentioned it?
"Everyone fell asleep after Leo started making Axel's unbreakable buster sword. Except Axel, Leo, and I. I think it's because we're Latino and awesome," Pax said. He perked up and sniffled. "But now that you're awake, we can draw on everyone's faces. Leo said he'd be done with the sword soon so we probably don't have much time before Calex wakes up."
Something about Leo Valdez. All the warmth from the sleeping bag sapped out of Kally. The evening November chill made her shudder, huddling into her sweatshirt. "Where's Leo?" she asked. That's what she was supposed to do. She was supposed to protect Leo. How? Kally wasn't sure. She assumed it would involve her sacrificially tripping and rolling into an enemy so Leo had enough time to get away.
"He and Axel are at his forge, but we could cause way more chaos if we stayed here and—"
Kally walked up to Pax and set her weaselless hand on his arm. "I—" Her mind ground to a halt. What would Merry say? She was so much more assertive and better at this type of thing.
That didn't matter. Merry was asleep. It was completely on Kally to screw this up and either crumble to Pax's wishes and write I love Manchester United all over Calex OR to not be a doormat and put herself in a life or death situation to save Leo Valdez from... something. Assuming her dream with Helios and Eos had been more than just a dream…
When Kally took too long to finish her sentence, Pax supplied her for, "… love chinchillas?"
"What? No—well, yes, but no. That isn't what I was going to say." Kally took a deep breath. "I want to go check on Leo and Axel. Please Ajax."
Pax's eyes narrowed. The alarmed hopefulness of his expression melted into his standard devilish grin. He stood and took a step closer, so he could stroke under Baller's chin, his finger brushing against Kally's sweater as he did. Baller's head bobbed sleepily with each pet. "You know Cyclopes, the only people allowed to call me that are my childhood friends, my family, and my lovers."
In the tiny repertoire of retorts Kally had prepared—pretty much a single retort—Kally wasn't ready for Pax to say that. She felt her face heat up. He's just trying to distract you, the logical part of her brain reminded her. The rest of her brain was encouraging her to walk back to her sleeping bag, hide her face for the rest of eternity, and pretend the conversation never happened.
"Because if you're building a time machine to become one of my childhood friends," Pax said. He tapped her nose with the hand he'd been using to pet Baller. "I would want to know your intentions. I would love to use modern technology to scare some settlers into thinking we're ghosts. We could create some nice mass hysteria."
Kally did her best to glare. "Leo and Axel," she said again. As the grogginess of sleep retreated to awareness, the weirdness of the situation hit her. What had Pax and his mother been talking about? Had that been his mother? She'd never seen a goddess show up in a form like that. Before asking about that, she needed to make sure they were on their way to Leo.
"Maybe I can talk to Axel about… about us coming with him to arrest your dad," she offered.
As much as the Pax boys were great at putting them into life threatening situations, and as scary as Santiago sounded, she didn't want anything bad happening to them. Their ragtag team of seven was pretty strong. If nothing else, she was sure Calex could make Santiago fall in love with a toaster and Joey and Euna could tie him up in some Clematis bindings while he was serenading it.
Pax puffed up his cheeks and popped them. He took the hand she had on his arm and laced their fingers. "You heard Mom and me talking?" he asked.
"Yea. Your mom was…"
"An awesome whatever," he supplied like that described it perfectly. Without being a helpful term at all, it did do his mother justice. "Kally," Pax hesitated and rolled his thumb across her knuckles. The motion had grown more comforting than panic-inducing over the last month. "He's… he's not a villain for young adult novels. He's a big kid villain, for like, an R-rated movie. Are you sure you're okay with that?"
Considering how Python wanted to murder she and her half-brother Will and how the Aphrodite Devils attempted to rip she and Pax apart, she wanted to protest that Santiago would probably feel at home with their other villains. "I'm pretty sure convincing your brother will be way harder than defeating your dad. Axel's pretty stubborn."
Pax hugged Kally. Baller made a loud chirping sound at being crushed between the two of them. Kally squeaked when she felt Baller squirm and claw at her sweater.
Pax started to babble in some other language, then switched over to English. "—go talk to him. Maybe you can convince him to leave Leo's memory alone too. Kally, thank you! I'm sure this'll blow up in our faces, but at least we'll be miserable together!" He released her, allowing Baller to scamper down her leg and disappear into the grass.
"What about Leo's—"
Pax squished Kally's cheeks together with both hands, gave her a kiss, then tugged her towards Leo's shack. With his other hand, he picked up a quiver of arrows off the ground.
As they walked, Kally tried to keep focus and ignore how Pax's lips had felt. She desperately hoped her face wasn't as red as it felt. To distract herself, she asked, "Why do you have a quiver without a bow?" She remembered Pax saying he hated long distance weapons other than his darts. And there didn't seem to be a lot to shoot other than stationary centaurs.
"Axel needs it to make the sword."
Maybe she hadn't paid attention when Nyssa or Matt explained Blacksmithing 101, but that sounded like saying you needed turpentine to make pancakes. "You need a quiver to make a sword?"
"We descend from Greek gods. Recipes get messy sometimes…" Pax glanced over his shoulder at her. "Hey, uh, if you ever want someone there when you talk to your mom, or for ice cream and cry support afterwards, I'm here. Or to punch your dad in the face. I'm always up for punching a god in the face."
Kally's stomach clenched at the thought. She was still terrified of talking to her mother. "You're too much of a coward for that," she managed.
"Yea," he admitted without a hint of offense. "But I could put something in his drink that will make him flatulent. That'll make him WAY more upset than a silly punch."
They laughed. For a moment, Kally forgot that all her other friends were unconscious in the clearing and Leo Valdez was in some kind of danger. She could pretend Pax and she were going for a nighttime hike in the forest. Alarms went off in her head at the words, put something in his drink.
Morpheus Dust. They'd toasted before everyone fell asleep hadn't they? Pax had given them Kool-Aid. Kally squinted at Pax's utility belt in the moon and glow stick light. There was a third vial beside his Sleep and Poison (Do not mix up). It was the same one he'd pulled out for Calypso "that worked better than a dream." The vial was mostly empty, only a thin layer of glitter at the bottom.
"You, uh, don't have a thing for Axel, right?" Pax asked. He slipped the quiver's strap over his shoulder so he could take Hunnie from Kally's arm and stuffed her into his jacket like a toy.
Kally glanced away from the vial, hoping she looked calm. Why would Pax do that? He and Axel had done dumb stuff before for "noble" reasons. They'd kidnapped Rachel, so they could save her and gain the trust of the Greeks—all to get the proper equipment to take out their father. But what didn't they want them seeing now? That was just so invasive, and creepy, and overall wrong.
"What?" Kally asked. She needed to keep it cool. But she also had to make sure Pax didn't have a reason to dart her and tuck her right back into the sleeping bag.
They walked around where Festus creak-snored. The shack was bigger than she thought it would be. Around the back, she could see several work benches and a forge two dozen feet away. There were some kind of hybrid torches—lights surrounding the work space. Various types of tools littered the ground. Over to the right was a small greenhouse. Kally had to wonder—if Leo and Calypso hadn't settled down in one spot for long—what kind of transformer move this place did to fit on the dragon.
The ground around the workspace, other than the greenhouse, was bare dirt in a wide radius.
Axel sat on one of the work tables with his legs crossed pretzel style. Although he might have been meditating, Kally could envision a tail irritably flicking behind him. His head twitched at their approach.
He wore what looked like a reflective jumpsuit, complete with booties and gloves. Despite the circumstances, Kally almost hoped he'd do some astronaut break dance. As they got closer, Kally could see the material was… uncomfortably tight on him.
Pax hadn't noticed her unease. "I didn't know if you had a thing for Axel and you were turning me down because of that and not because you're wisely not trusting me."
That was weird to consider. Axel was definitely one of the reasons Merry suggested their group take a trip to the pool at some point. He was an excellent fighter and charismatic leader and the muscles under that silver suit were quite obvious. But…
"Your brother is too cool for me," she said. Plus, she wasn't sure she could trust either brother with how this night was turning out.
"You're… right." Pax added a skip to his walk. "He is too cool for you."
"You don't have to—"
"Kally?!" Axel demanded.
She and Pax froze when he rounded on them. For a split second, his jaw was clenched in fury as he rose to his feet. Then he relaxed and he gave her a rough smile. "I'm glad you're awake," he said evenly. As the words came out, he shot Pax a quick glance. "Everyone fell asleep after Leo started working on the blade. I should have known something like that would happen with the curse."
The practiced ease of the lie scared Kally more than the lie itself.
Pax's hand tightened on hers. He set the quiver down on a workbench. "She woke up all on her own, like a big kid," Pax said. "Nice suit. Good for preventing alien abduction and mind reading."
"I've been helping Leo at the forge. He said it would be safer if I wore Calypso's fireproof clothing." As he spoke, Axel examined Kally's face. That was a familiar look, the same one her parents gave her brother, John, when he'd messed up: a forcibly neutral expression that said I still care about you, but what am I going to do with you now that you've screwed up?
A tension spread through Kally's chest. She wanted Pax to let go of her hand and Axel to take a step back.
"Man, I really don't like this thing. It gives me the heebie-jeebies—"
Kally exhaled in relief when Leo walked out from the shack, something oblong in his hands. His arm and face were covered in soot and sweat. Those elfish features were slack from exhaustion and worry. When he glanced up to see Kally, his brown eyes lit up with excitement. "Someone is up? Are the others awake? Is Calypso okay?"
As he asked, he rushed over to another work table. Until then, Kally hadn't registered the comatose person. Calypso was on top of the table, curled up on a roll-out matt with several layers of blankets, including a fancy electric one.
"Hey, Sunshine, stop being so lazy! Wake up… please," he called to the resting girl. When she didn't stir, he frowned and punched the edge of the table.
"I'm the only one up," Kally said. She wanted to tell Leo that Helios and Eos were worried about him, but he didn't need the extra stress. This kid looked like he hadn't slept in… well, a day and a half.
"I told you they'd probably start to wake up once you finished the sword. Maybe the curse just needs to wear off," Axel supplied. He took a step closer to Leo, examining the object in Leo's arms. It was wrapped in a colorful beach towel. Well, Kally assumed it was normally colorful. In the dim torch lighting, the towel was just striped.
"Calypso had better be okay," Leo muttered.
"If Kally is up, I'm sure the others will wake up soon," Axel said. He glanced at Pax, like he was looking for affirmation.
Pax lifted his hands up, Kally's included, as if to say not it, bro.
If Kally hadn't been suspicious of the Pax brothers before, she took that exchange as a plea of, guilty and shameless.
Axel turned back to Leo. "But you did finish it, right?"
"This sword isn't worth all the trouble," Leo grumbled. He released the towel with one hand to stroke Calypso's cheek. Judging from the smears of soot across her head, Kally assumed this had been a standard procedure each time Leo walked past.
He wrapped his hand back around the towel and turned to Axel, glaring. "I don't know how to explain it hombre, but it didn't want to be a sword. I had to really fight with the metal. I know we had a deal, but the deal was to make the sword. Not to have my girlfriend cursed into Sleeping Beauty. I feel like I'm carrying around thirteen black cats and a broken mirror with this thing. If she and the others don't wake up in the next hour, we're melting it."
"Of course," Axel agreed. "Kally, Pax, can you go check on the others to see if they're waking up? We probably shouldn't leave them vulnerable in the forest."
Every muscle in Kally's body encouraged that notion—that survival and snacks were back towards the others. But something about this whole scenario was giving her goose bumps. Although Pax was already tugging at her hand, she didn't budge.
"No," she said.
The Pax brothers stared her.
"I—"
You're not a doormat, she scolded herself. And it's just Axel.
"I want to see the sword first," Kally said. That wasn't true. She never wanted to see what had caused all of this, but she wasn't supposed to leave Leo by himself. Her instinct had made that much clear.
There was a pause where she wouldn't have been shocked if Axel told her to go to her room, in his best Dad impression ever, disregarding the hundreds of miles preventing that.
Axel clenched his jaw.
Then he sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Very well. Leo, let's see if this was worth all the trouble."
"It wasn't, but whatever," Leo grumbled. He shoved a set of tools off a work table to put the towel on it. Axel, Kally, and Pax all gathered around as Leo unwrapped the towel.
Kally shuddered.
The sword was a xiphos, a double-edged, one-hand Greek blade. Those were common in Camp Half-Blood. What was uncommon was the coloration of the blade. One half gleamed with celestial bronze. The other half shined with steel.
As Axel's fingers wrapped around the grip, Kally heard an undeniable growl from the blade, Hello Lieutenant. A wave of malice billowed from the blade, like its past occupation was decapitating puppies.
"Yea, and that's the creepiest part. That happens sometimes when you touch the metal and it sounds about as friendly as a clown in a dark parking lot," Leo said.
Pax whispered, "Don't discriminate against clowns. They have funny feelings too." Although he tried to joke, Kally could hear the tremble in his voice. He pulled her gently from the table.
Axel's arm seized. He grunted and lifted the blade. He began to shake and sweat.
"Why do you even want this sword man? It's no bueno," Leo said. "Uh… man?"
"Because…" Axel's voice dropped to a gravely tone, the same he used to scare her brother John. Kally felt the pressure drop. Her ears popped. The torches around them dimmed with the next gust of wind. One sputtered out.
"Its name is Backbiter," Axel growled. His arm stopped shaking.
"It was reforged to fight oppression and dethrone rulers that should have rotted with their archaic methods centuries ago." Axel spun the sword in his hand. The blade flashed wickedly in the disappearing torch light and Kally thought she could hear it scream.
Pax dragged Kally backwards a step. "Bad timing for him to have an episode," Pax whispered.
An episode? Kally wanted to demand, but she was too scared. With each movement Axel made, she felt herself tremble more. What was happening?
Two things sprouted along either side of Axel's hair.
Leo took a quick step back, towards Calypso. "Wow—dude—"
The voice was no longer Axel's, but a guttural mimic. "And it was supposed to be mine."
Pax spoke rapidly, "Hey, uh, Axel, you're doing that thing—"
Axel grunted. He crunched his eyes closed and clutched at his head with his free hand. As his fingers made contact with his hair, whatever was along his hairline disappeared.
Axel collapsed onto his knees. He hugged himself, breathing heavily. The sword was still firmly clutched in one hand.
"Okay! Sword is definitely being melted!" Leo shouted and stood defensively in front of Calypso's table. From what Kally could see, he'd already set his hands on fire. "Possessions are not okay at Camp Leo!"
"Hold up," Pax said. He released Kally's hand to kneel near Axel, though strategically out of sword slashing distance. "Ola," he said.
Axel grunted. "I'm okay." The voice sounded like his, though strained. "I'm okay."
He dropped the blade.
Leo immediately whisked it up.
"Wait," Axel called.
"You're in a no-waiting-zone," Leo stated. "This baby's gotta burn."
"I helped you make it. I want to help you destroy it," Axel gasped.
He rose to his feet. There was no golden glint to his eyes, like she'd seen in the van. There were no elongated teeth. He looked like a tired, sweaty eighteen-year-old, only standing due to determination. His limbs had stopped shaking and he straightened his posture. Kally couldn't place it, but there was still something wrong with him.
He'd given up too easily.
To get this far, Axel lied to the Romans and the Greeks. He'd kidnapped the Oracle. He'd risked fighting the automaton monster that killed his childhood guardian for the chance at this sword. Kally might not have known what just happened to Axel or what an "episode" was, but she knew he would never submit with so little fight.
"Kally, let's go stuff some crickets in Calex's sleeping bag before he wakes up," Pax suggested. He rose from where he'd been kneeling beside Axel, stepped to her side, took her hand, and pulled.
Leo raised a skeptical eyebrow at Axel. "There's not much to destroying it. Unless you want to roast marshmallows over the fire I'm about to make."
Pax tugged at her hand again, urgently. When she glanced at him, she saw his cheeks had puffed up. He nodded back towards the campfire. She shook her head and glanced back to Axel. No—no, she definitely wasn't leaving after whatever Axel just did.
Axel picked up a silver mask off one of the work benches. It matched the rest of the fireproof suit. When he slipped it over his head, the material seemed to mesh into the rest of the suit, making an impermeable seal. Kally had to wonder how he—or Calypso for that matter—could breathe in it.
Leo didn't wait for him. He got about two paces towards his forge.
Then Axel grabbed him.
The motion was too fast for Kally to shout a warning.
Axel stepped behind Leo and wrapped an arm around his neck. From the self-defense classes she'd been learning from Mr. Paine, she could tell Axel had pinched the arteries to Leo's head, crushing his throat between Axel's bicep and forearm.
Leo had seven seconds before he'd be unconscious.
With the same motion, Axel lifted Leo off the ground. With his other hand, he grabbed Leo's sword arm and snapped his wrist. The sword fell to the ground.
As it did, flames burst around Leo, engulfing them both.
The fire skyrocketed into the sky. She'd never seen anything explode like that. As they vanished, she could see Axel clasp Leo's last functional hand and Leo kick frantically backwards.
Heat nailed the exposed skin on her face and hands. The moisture wicked out of the air. There was no way someone could survive that.
Kally tried to run forward. She didn't know what she was going to do. There wasn't enough water around to dowse that fire, if she could dowse it. She couldn't see Axel to drag him off Leo, and probably couldn't wrestle Axel down if she could see him. And she didn't have a fireproof suit.
"STOP!" she shouted, hoping someone at their campfire would hear her. Maybe Calex could force one of them to fall in love with a random tree so they'd break it up or Merry could talk them down or Joey and Euna could snap up roots from the ground to separate them or Festus could do whatever dragons do that didn't involve killing Axel or stealing gold.
But all of them were asleep. When she felt Pax's hand clamp down on hers, she remembered why everyone was asleep.
"Kally—wait—" he said. His yellow eye gleamed fiercely in the firelight. The flicker of the flame cast shadows into his wild dark hair. Between that and the way his duster jacket billowed, Kally felt like she'd been fraternizing with a monster.
"Let go—" Kally yanked her arm away from him.
Pax stepped forward to brace against her. "This is just a misunderstanding. We didn't mean for things to—ha ha—flare up like this—and as long as Axel doesn't get—tee hee—carried away with Leo—"
Despite the laughter in his voice, he looked scared. He glanced past her at the conflagration. The flames were dying. Leo must have run out of time.
In that split second, she stopped trying to pull away from Pax, reversed her movement, and slammed her elbow into his gut. As Pax doubled over to clutch his stomach, she followed through with her other hand in an open palm strike. When her palm made contact with his jaw, light flashed out of the tips of her fingers, bright enough to blind someone wearing Apollo brand sunglasses.
Pax released her and toppled backwards.
She hadn't knocked him unconscious—just bought herself some time. He sat on the dirt, gasping for air and clutched his eyes with one hand. Pax couldn't breathe enough to whine, "Ay!"
The heat disappeared off her back, replaced by a chilled wind.
Kally whirled towards where the flames had been.
Smoke sizzled up into the night air, half obscuring the scene. Sections of the dirt smoldered in a way that made Kally want to call for a fire alarm for any building within three miles, [footnote 4] though the dirt circle had been wide enough to avoid the trees. As the coils of grey dissipated, she could see two figures.
Leo lay in the dwindling embers, his neck bruising. Both his hands were bent at odd angles. Although Kally was terrified he might be dead, she had to note an oddity in his clothing. Nothing had even been singed. Kally didn't know they made explosion resistant clothing.
Apparently Axel's fireproof suit was made from the same material. Although blackened, she could see a silvery figure walk to a nearby work bench. Axel swiped something off the surface—the quiver Pax had brought out—and withdrew a cloth from therein.
He knelt beside Leo and pressed the cloth into Leo's face.
"Axel, stop!" Kally shouted and ran towards him.
She expected him to be a pile of ash, not smothering Leo with arrow dirt. That had terrified her. What had Axel been thinking?! Why would he do that?
When she approached, Axel withdrew the cloth. He pulled the mask off.
Kally dropped beside Leo to check his pulse and injuries. He was alive, but would need a lot of ambrosia. Despite the flames and struggle, Axel had done an expert job knocking Leo out without crushing his trachea.
"It's just water from the River Lethe, so he won't remember reforging Backbiter," Axel said softly. He grabbed a clasp on his neck. Once he touched it, the silvery suit expanded and peeled off, revealing his Ares hides from me at night shirt.
Kally needed to get her messenger bag from the area with the others. All her ambrosia was in there. She was rested enough to sing, but Will had taught her to start with ambrosia when—
"Axel, why…" Although her question began with a fury, she trailed off when she saw how intensely he examined her.
His eyes gleamed gold in the moonlight. He couldn't quite close his jaw because of how his fangs slipped over his lips. "The less people who know about the sword, the better," Axel explained. He'd detached the entire suit, except the gloves.
The way he said it made Kally think of how good a fighter he was. That and the horrifying bear trap of a mouth. She scrambled to her feet.
Axel rose beside her, except he was much taller than she remembered. Kally craned her neck to look up at him, stumbling a step back.
Axel stepped over Leo's body towards her, readying the Lethe-soaked rag.
"Axel—s—stop. You're scaring me," she whispered. Stupid. You, Kally, are stupid, her brain helpfully reminded her instead of supplying an escape strategy.
Axel paused in his approach, letting her increase the distance between them. When she glanced down, she saw he'd stepped on the edge of that cursed sword. "You should be scared of me, Kalypso Kassand, Daughter of Apollo," he whispered. His voice slipped into that gargle.
Kally shrieked when she backed into someone.
Pax stood behind her. From the way he still clutched his face with one hand, she figured he couldn't fully see. Instead of grabbing her, Pax slid between she and Axel. He held his other hand out in Axel's general direction. Although he was visibly trembling, Pax muttered, "You hit REALLY hard, you know that Cyclopes? Next time I'm in trouble for stealing, I'm cowering behind you."
"Bring her to me, Silver Tongued Snake," Axel growled.
There was a moment where Kally felt like the wind gods were holding their breath. She didn't have a weapon. Judging by the way Axel's calves had gained an awkward, animalistic curve, she figured she couldn't outrun him. Even if she could, she could also envision getting to the van and Axel and Pax patiently waiting outside, eating popcorn, as she stalled the manual transmission over and over. Fighting them would result in some sort of death or memory deprivation. No one else was awake to help.
Kally felt like she was caught in Python's coils again when all she had left to do was pray. But how much good did praying do when you know the gods didn't always listen?
Thanks for reading guys! I hope you enjoyed—even if that means you hated me a little bit for it XD
Here are some songs that inspired this scene:
(of course) Emperor's New Clothes—Panic! At the Disco watch?v=7qFF2v8VsaA
Don't Mess with Me—Temposhark watch?v=OMeWTcPOLGg
And MOST prominently, this male cover of Control, originally by Halsey: watch?v=k4zsvL3z348
Footnotes:
1 Random fact: Jimmy Buffett actually trademarked the phrase "It's five o'clock somewhere" and took legal action against a shoe company for using the phrase. Imagine if Rebecca Black could sue us every time we shouted, "It's Friday!" People would be getting wrecked at the end of every school week.
2 He patented the alarm clock. There were others before him that definitely had clocks that could ring at certain times of day, dating incredibly far back with ancient Greece and the Tang Dynasty of China, but Redier's patent lead to mass production. So next time you throw your alarm clock through a wall, you should make a bull's eye with the name "Antoine Reider" at which to throw it.
3 And Jack feels obligated to say: don't do that at home kids. It can definitely wreck your stomach.
4 Plus, it would disrupt classes for a bit.