To RandomFanAuthor- yes. Spam the reviews. We need to get to 300 before the story ends! ^_^
To JasonGraceIsNAPPING- IT'S NOT OVER YET
To HoO Fan- thank you for reviewing twice! And I didn't get why she would 100% lose her powers after being an immortal sorceress for eighty thousand years or whatever. HAPPY (BELATED) INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!
Louisa carried Calypso over her shoulder, once she had healed her leg. It had taken roughly half an hour and had been placed rather high on her list of Never Again's. Leo led, with his fire and magic-item tracker, looking back every few feet. Neither of them knew how Calypso had managed to dispel the eidolon. Leo recounted their first encounter with the spirits- shockingly, Louisa did not remember- but they had no Piper or Underworld children to back them up.
"It's Callie." Louisa shrugged her free shoulder. "She's scary."
"She is scary." Leo agreed. "But she's also not waking up."
"Dude, she got a manic possessive ghost out of her noggin. Think she can have a nap." He gave a quiet noise of agreement. "Are we gettin' closer?"
"I… think so?"
"That's reassurin'."
"It's magic. I am not built to work with magic."
"Just wonky dragons."
"He's not wonky!"
"He is incredibly wonky."
"Oh, shush." He tapped his palm on the side of his contraption irritably, listening to its fussy beeps and sighing. "This way."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
It wasn't that way. And it wasn't any other way either. When Leo started swearing rather loudly and rather profusely in Spanish, Louisa suggested they head back. "I mean, how badly does she need that butt corset anyway?"
"It's a task from a goddess, Lou. And it's Aphrodite. I'd rather not fail her."
"Mm."
"And it's still not a butt corset."
"But it's a much better name!" Louisa insisted, grinning. Leo rolled his eyes. He moved to the side and sat, putting his invention down a little harder than necessary. Louisa set a still-sleeping Calypso down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. She sat on his other side, reaching into his tool belt for food. "Here." She said, offering a cereal bar. "Maybe you're just hangry."
"Maybe." Leo muttered. "Or maybe we're on a wild goose chase in the maze of dark, haunted catacombs of Paris with eidolons that like to mind-jump us." Louisa bit into her own cereal bar.
"Nah, that can't be it."
"I just want to go home."
"'N' we will."
"When? We've not seen everyone else for… nearly four and a half months now. They don't even know we're alive, Lou." Her smile faded for a moment. She hurriedly brought it back in an attempt to comfort him, but he wasn't interested. He slouched, picking miserably at his food.
Neither spoke, unsure how long the quiet stretched out. She did not want to fill his head with false hopes and promises, and he had fallen into a funk, hardly touching his cereal bar, Calypso snoring lightly on his shoulder.
Leo sighed. "I'm sorry." He said.
"You are?"
"Yeah."
"For what?"
"If I could fix Festus better, we'd have been home sooner."
"'N' have Callie miss out on everythin'?"
"It's not like it's all been fun and games."
"I know. Most of that's my fault."
"I would love to be a fly on the wall with you. But don't think it's your fault, Lou. Yeah, OK, about ninety-seven percent of people we meet that want to kill us want to kill us because they want to kill you for… stealing door hinges or whatever, I don't know. You're weird."
"Pfft, you're the weird one."
"But we've got through it, right? Or… getting through it, at least." He nudged her gently. "Ready to find a butt corset?"
"You mean carry ya girlfriend while ya swear at a machine that's supposed ta be lookin' for the butt corset?"
"Is that not what I said?"
"Oddly enough, no."
"Cal up. We can find this thing."
"Ooh, someone's suddenly plucky." He nodded, pulling her up.
"I decided to add this to our list of 'stuff-to-get-through'."
"Good for you." Louisa crouched, lifting Calypso over her shoulder again. "Which way then?"
"I don't know!" He laughed. "Let's wing it!" And he was off, marching away determinedly. Louisa sighed.
"Oh, we are so gonna die down here."
They walked for another half hour more. Leo had disbanded his magic-tracker, shoving the parts back into his belt. He walked with a bounce in his step, humming and encouraging Louisa on. She swore blind it was his singing that woke Calypso up.
"Hmm," she groaned, "why am I upside down?"
"Callie? Hey, Callie's awake!" Louisa quickly put her down, sitting her on the floor. She crouched, holding her by the shoulders as she swayed sleepily.
Calypso squinted at them both, blurry shapes of muted colours either side of her. The warmth of Leo's fire washed over her face. "You alright?" Louisa asked, feeling her forehead.
"Why are you checking for fever? She had an eidolon, not the lurgy."
"I don't know, I just did. Shut up, Leo." Calypso sighed. They were never going to change.
"Cal?" Leo called softly.
"I'm… I'm alright. Just a headache."
"How'd ya do it?" Louisa peered into her eyes curiously, squinting. There was not a single trace of gold, although rather bloodshot. "How'd ya get rid of the brain ghost?"
"Eidolon." Calypso corrected, squeezing her eyes shut as her head span. She swallowed sick, coughing. "I don't know. I just…" She trailed off, humming uncertainly. Leo retrieved a water bottle from his belt, helping her take little sips. "Have you found the butt corset yet?"
"We're lost."
"We're not lost!"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Valdez." Louisa nodded, rolling her eyes. Calypso clicked her tongue impatiently. Louisa snorted. "Alright, Grandma. I'm sorry. You alright ta keep movin'?" Calypso managed a minute shake of her head, regretting it instantly as her queasiness skyrocketed. Leo immediately supplied a sick bag. Calypso held her hand up, taking deep breaths through her nose. She would not be sick.
They continued to walk. Louisa was giving Calypso a piggy-back and warning her not to be sick. Leo still led, juggling fireballs in his boredom. "Are we ever gonna find this thing?" Louisa sighed.
"Better yet, are we ever going to get out of here?" Calypso asked quietly. She was trying to minimise how much she opened her mouth, Louisa's warning forefront in her mind.
"Optimism, ladies!" Leo smiled. "We'll find the butt corset, get out of this incredibly terrifying maze of tunnels with walls that stare at us and get some more of those eclairs!"
"Can I kill him?" Louisa muttered.
"No." Calypso replied curtly. Leo didn't hear them, inspecting the floor.
"What've ya got, Valdez?" Louisa called. He didn't answer. She stopped at his side. On the floor, was writing, white lines scraped into the stone. "'Love's power needs love ta flower'?" She read. "Huh?"
"Is that what it says?" Leo asked.
"Uh… yeah."
"It's in Latin, Lou." He pointed out. She looked back at the writing, sifting through the letters. How had she not seen that? "Look, there's more there." Two metres in front of them, more Latin.
"'Hearts aglow, love will flow.'"
"Do I have to set a heart on fire?" Leo puzzled. Calypso tutted. "Shutting up." He confirmed.
They found two more.
Love's power needs love to flower
Hearts aglow, love will flow
Truth be told, the future will hold
Paths intertwine, paths align
"I think that's all of 'em!" Louisa called back. She had set Calypso down and Leo sat with her, holding the sick bag ready and rubbing her back. "Any ideas?"
"It's not a prophecy." Calypso wheezed, Leo repeating it louder for Louisa. "It sounds too disjointed to be a prophecy."
"Maybe they're clues?" Leo shrugged. She nodded and he beamed.
"Love's power, that's got to be Aphrodite's girdle."
"Butt corset." Louisa corrected, sitting beside them. "Does that mean we can find it?"
"I think so." Calypso nodded, grimacing and pulling the sick bag closer. Louisa held her hair back, leaning away. Thankfully, Calypso wasn't sick, but she was looking greener by the second. "I think… to find it, we need love to flower." They looked at her blankly.
"I'm allergic to flowers." Louisa eventually said.
"Not that kind of flower." Calypso shook her head. "It needs to flower; it needs to bloom. Like it's new."
"Am I setting a heart on fire? Follow-up question, does anyone have a spare heart?"
"No, no." Louisa patted her chest, fidgeting. "Aglow, like… like it's happy? I feel it means happy."
"Oh, that makes so much more sense." Leo laughed. Calypso's brow creased.
"Lou, what was the rest?"
"Truth be told, the future will hold. 'N' paths intertwine, paths align. Wait. Paths?" Uncertainty crossed her features, fingers coiling in the material of her shirt. She couldn't look them in the eye. "Is that… does that mean my paths?"
"Not if they intertwine. It can't be all yours." Leo rubbed at his forehead.
"Lou's future is tied to ours." Calypso reminded them. Something in her tone caught Leo's ear.
"What is it?" He asked. "Have you figured it out?"
"I… think so."
"But?" He prompted. Calypso didn't answer. She was watching Louisa, who was toying with her hair nervously, leg jiggling. She startled when Calypso's hand shot out, grabbing the front of her shirt. She was yanked forward, brain firing panic signals, and then Calypso was kissing her.
72 to go! ^_^
