III

The next morning, Leo woke up feeling calmer than usual. The trembling in his hands had disappeared, and his mind felt empty.

Even after just two nights, he could already feel the magical effect of Ogygia. Days felt like they passed much faster than usual. He wondered how much time had gone by in the real world by now.

He and Calypso had finally started to prepare to leave the island. Every time she thought she was packed and ready, she remembered some piece of clothing or a necklace or some other trinket. Leo could tell it was difficult for her. After all, Ogygia was her life. Everything she'd ever done was right here on full display. Leo had to break the news to her that she couldn't take everything.

After several hours of Leo assuring her that they would be OK, the two slowly started bringing as many bags of clothes, food and other resources to the shore and plopping them on top of Festus, who seemed happy to carry the weight.

By the time they had finished, the Sun had just begun to fall behind the horizon, and the moon became visible behind him. The scene reminded Leo of when his mother had taken him to see a choir one time on the weekend.

Apparently, his mama was in the school choir when she was younger. He'd often catch her singing Frank Sinatra or some melancholy tune while she was working. Sometimes Leo would even find himself humming the tune of Fly Me to the Moon.

Leo turned to face Calypso "Ready now? We can't fit anything else."

Calypso exhaled anxiously. "Are you sure we have everything we need?"

"Positive. And if I knew any better, I'd say you're stalling."

Calypso stepped atop Festus, and looked back at Ogygia. She rubbed her shoulder and sighed. Leo held her hand, reassuring her in their decision. Confident or not, leaving home was never easy.

Leo turned his attention to the ocean in front of them, his senses reveling in the salty breeze. He and Calypso had talked about where they wanted to go first, and they ultimately decided to start with Europe. As much as Leo wanted to go back home to Houston, it would have to wait. Cal came first.

"Festus, buddy! Are you ready for another adventure?"

He creaked in excitement, this much more than usual. For the first time, they'd actually be going on a fun adventure without the existential threat of the Earth turning against them.

"Alright then. Plot a course to Portugal!"

For a second Festus looked confused, and Leo thought the island's enchantments were still blocking his GPS. Then, suddenly, his body jerked about 45 degrees to the right, causing his and Calypso's body to sway, before beginning to gracefully drift through the water. He'd have to do some more maintenance on him later to smooth that out.

For a while, Leo studied Calypso in silence as she watched the island fade behind her. She waited anxiously, and Leo muttered a silent prayer to his father.

When the island was almost out of view Calypso broke the silence.

"Usually, when it goes out of sight, I turn around and find myself right back…" She promptly turned around, and gasped.

Leo followed her gaze, which was on a rock pointing out of the water. "What? It's just the ocean. Water. I mean, I don't like salt water either, but it's not that bad."

Calypso rolled her eyes. "No, Leo! The island! I've never seen that rock before. Usually I turn around and I'm right back where I started."

The realization of a thousand years finally dawned on her face.

"The curse. It's actually broken! Valdez, you glorious zombified son of Hephaestus! You actually did it!"

"Woah!"

She hugged Leo so hard, they almost tumbled off the side of Festus into the ocean.

"Sorry! I… I can't believe… after all this time… I'm finally going to leave…"

Leo couldn't help but smile as Calypso tried to string together a coherent sentence. She sounded like her heart was about to implode. Calypso rarely tripped over her words, so he assumed he was just that awesome.

"What can I say? I'm amazing."

Calypso laughed wholeheartedly, and punched his arm playfully. Even though her godly aura had almost completely faded, she still radiated loving energy. She also still packed one heck of a punch.

They watched the ocean intently, as Calypso took in everything she could, from the floating pieces of driftwood to the birds flying in the sky. Immortality had starved her of a potential life; and now she was finally feasting on what the world had to offer.

The moon stood still in the sky, casting white light onto the ocean surface. Despite the darkness, Calypso was still watching the water intently, wondering about the world lying beneath the water. Leo had told her stories of all the creatures that swam below, and how he once met fish people underwater who gave him a really good brownie recipe that he'd never used. A shame, really.

Suddenly, the water around them began to glow a bright warm blue. Bioluminescence. Patches of it began appearing all over the ocean surface. As the blue light illuminated the dark sky around them, casting blue light onto their faces, they peered out over the water, watching as more and more blue patches of light began to appear. Calypso gasped, and Leo couldn't help but watch in awe.

He reached into his toolbelt, and pulled out a small glass bottle. It obeyed. He bent down over the water, and used the bottle to scoop up as much of the blue algae as he could. After filling a few bottles, he put them back inside his toolbelt. The stuff was incredibly bright, and would make for a good light source if they needed it.

Calypso squinted her eyes, concentrating on the water beneath her.

"Hey Leo," she motioned for him to come over, "I think I see something down there. It looks… like a silhouette. Is it getting closer?"

Leo peered into the water, and his eyes widened.

"Festus! Activate night mode! Now!"

His eyes blinked heavily, and then the metal sheets below them extended into a protective bubble of steel. It wasn't thick, but he hoped it would be enough to take a hit. Leo pulled Calypso away from the side of the water, and braced for impact.

"Leo! Wha-"

SLAM.

A massive dent appeared in the metal at their feet. Calypso yelped. Leo could hear a deep bellow coming from outside the shield. They were thrown upwards slightly due to whiplash, but not hard enough to do any damage. Leo quickly checked on Calypso, who he was still holding. She had a look of bewilderment on her face. He waited a moment before Festus had stopped bobbing. He sighed in relief.

"Festus! You okay? That one hit us pretty hard. You can disable night mode now."

He groaned in response. Leo could tell he'd been hit hard.

"Leo, what was that? Was it a monster?"

"If you call a whale a monster, then yes," Leo responded. "We're lucky it didn't kill us. The glowing algae must've attracted it."

"A whale?" Calypso frowned. It took Leo a second before he realized she didn't know what a whale was.

After sitting down for an explanation, the shock finally hit her. "So you're telling me the largest animal on Earth just brushed up against us? It could have torn us apart!"

"Welcome to being a mortal!" Leo smiled. "Nothing beats a good mortality check. Now, let's try and get some sleep. I have a feeling we'll need it." Leo patted Festus on his head.

"And I'll be fixing you in the morning. We would've been pancakes if it weren't for you."

Festus snorted, but was grateful for the compliment. Without Leo even asking, Festus reactivated night mode, encasing them once again in a bubble of protective metal. He was really glad they'd added that feature.

Leo took a couple pillows and a blanket from the bags they had brought, and laid them on Festus's metal hide. The steel was warm to the touch. He was glad for Festus's internal fire, although he still had no clue about what kept it burning. He lied down gently, and motioned for Calypso to sit next to him.

They closed their eyes in silence, until Calypso broke the stillness.

"What's it like, being mortal?"

Leo shifted on the floor. "Well, that depends on who you ask. For me, It's been pretty miser-"

Leo paused. He knew what this was about. He wanted to reassure her that everything would be fine, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. There was always something; some kind of enemy, some kind of obstacle. Heck, they'd almost just been killed by a regular whale. That would've been a pretty lame way to die for a demigod and former titan.

He stared at Calypso's innocent face, and gave in. "-but I wouldn't worry; most of the time it's pretty good. You get to have a family, eat at restaurants, watch movies, travel, meet new people, fall in love, and do whatever you really feel like doing."

Calypso looked back up at the bronze bubble, contemplating what he had just said.

"It must be nice, having a family," Calypso said, "the only one I ever had wanted to take over the world. Twice."

"That's rough," Leo said flatly.

There was silence for a brief moment, until Calypso sat up straight, both her palms on the floor. Her voice was timid.

"Do you think… we could start a family?"

Leo sat up so fast he almost slammed his arm into Calypso's chest. He choked on his saliva.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Well, I just thought that… we've known each other now for a while, and… well, we both love each other… So why not?"

Leo laughed tentatively. "Calypso, I know the titans do things… a little differently, but we're still young. And you might as well be too, since you've never seen the mortal world before. We have our whole lives ahead of us to do that kind of stuff. Kids are not easy. Trust me, I was one. For now, let's just focus on exploring the world."

Calypso's face turned red, but she nodded like she understood. Leo hoped that his response didn't dampen her spirits. She was blunt, and it seriously made their relationship a lot easier. Still, Leo wasn't expecting that question to pop up so soon. Now, he couldn't stop thinking about it; a bunch of little Leos or Leo-ettes running around, causing mayhem and lighting things on fire. Maybe they could even live in the Roman camp, assuming Reyna would let him back in after his little… accident with the eidolon. Leo had seen demigod families there before, and they looked safe and happy.

As Leo mulled over their future, his eyes grew heavy, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

By the time he had woken up, Festus had already lifted their protective bubble. Leo yawned and looked up at Calypso, who was watching the sunrise with her legs dangling over the water. Her hair waved in the wind as the seagulls above her croned. She looked like a movie star. Leo wished he had a camera. Although it felt childish, he'd wanted to make a scrapbook of their adventures together. Once they found a tourist shop or something, he'd see if they had any print cameras. If not, he'd just have to make one himself.

Leo stood up groggily, and made his way over to Calypso, who smiled when she saw him.

"Good morning, Leo."

Leo chuckled. Calypso still had a habit of being overly formal; though he figured after being around more people that it would change pretty quickly.

"Good morning to you too, sunshine. See any land yet?"

She frowned. "Not yet. I've been looking, though. We're moving quite quickly, so it shouldn't be too long now."

Although their original plan was to make their way to Portugal, Leo was starting to realize how many flaws it had. First off, they had no idea where they even were; they needed to figure that out first. Second, they would technically be illegal immigrants anywhere they traveled. They'd get arrested if they were caught. Third, none of them could speak Portuguese; although Leo knew Spanish well, and the two languages had at least some similarities. Knowing Calypso, she could probably just figure it out in a few hours.

Then again, that hadn't stopped Leo from traveling across the world on his quests. But this time was different. He wanted to do things right.

Leo sighed. The world of magic and gods was suddenly looking much more appealing.

He kept his gaze on the ocean and stayed silent. Let's just take things one at a time, he thought to himself.

After a few hours of drifting through the water in silence, Calypso stood up, her hand covering her eyes from the Sun as she studied their current trajectory. She turned to face Leo, a frown on her face.

"Looks like a storm." Calypso pointed to the dark clouds in the distance. Leo grimaced. He just couldn't catch a break.

Festus turned his head towards him, whining in anticipation. The wind had already started to pick up, and the waves beneath them were starting to become larger and more unpredictable. Leo could hear the pitter-patter of rain hitting Festus' bronze hide. He wished he knew what ocean they were in; at least then, he'd have some idea of where they were.

Leo bent over the edge of the water, and brushed his hand over the crest of a small wave as it passed. He recoiled at the sensation. It was warmer than he'd expected. The gears in his head started to turn. Now that he was thinking about it, the air wasn't that cold, either. His eyes widened. They were in the Atlantic Ocean; and judging by the deep blue color of the water, they were probably several hundred kilometers away from any continent.

Their situation, if not already bad enough, had just become much worse. Leo turned to face the rolling storm in front of him, as the sound of thunder echoed through the air.