I'm back!

I've just finished the Heroes of Olympus and I love it! Honestly, Jason and Piper have become my absolute favourite ship – after Percy and Annabeth, of course. And omg Leo and Calypso! I totally approve!

I got a review yesterday from Charlee56, which was just lovely. I'm afraid I have to destroy your good opinion of me – I really haven't planned well for this story at all, just a vague outline. Mostly I'm just going where the characters take me. They have a mind of their own and they don't like being forced, you see. Still, it was the highlight of my day. Thank you so much!

I also agree with you about 'the right time', partly the reason why I stopped it when I did.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 14: The Three Diamonds

Calypso was no stranger to goodbyes.

Odysseus. Francis Drake.

Percy Jackson.

She had never seen any of them after they left and she wasn't a fool to believe that somehow Percy would find a way to come back to Ogygia. The Fates never made mistakes. She was cursed to remain alone forever.

She had known when he left that she would never see him again. There hadn't been a day which passed when she hadn't thought of him – of the kindness in his sea green eyes, the way he smiled at her, the way his black hair fell into his eyes. She had wondered what had happened to him, if he had managed to defeat Kronos and fulfil his role as the hero of the prophecy.

It was Hermes who had told her the truth two years after the war ended, that Kronos had been in defeated, and that a great part of the reason why was Percy.

The Percy she saw now wasn't the same boy who had left Ogygia. He had grown taller, so much so that she had to crane her head to look up at him. There was an air of strength and maturity about him that hadn't existed before, as if he had been forced to grow up too fast in too short a span of time.

Calypso let her gaze travel to the pretty, blonde-haired girl next to him. Her grey eyes reminded Calypso of the mist she saw on days she sat and watched the sunrise.

The bitterness returned with a vengeance.

How convenient was it that the gods could just forget about her? That everyone else could be free to walk around but she stayed trapped on her island?

"Calypso?" His voice was tentative, cautious.

"Percy." When she spoke, her voice was low and cold and it surprised even her. She regretted it when she saw the look of guilt appear in his eyes - the very eyes than ensnared her heart in the first place - but she couldn't quite bring herself to take it back.

"Calypso, Annabeth is injured. I've healed her but I felt you should come and take a look at her, just to be safe."

Calypso turned towards Poseidon and forced a smile. Over the many centuries she had been imprisoned, he had been one of the only gods to be kind to her. The island of Atlantis could travel anywhere in the ocean it chose, and normally Poseidon would let her have some company for the few years it stayed above water.

She could only access Atlantis if she was invited; and he couldn't do it too often but he called her over to spend time with the nymphs whenever she could. Calypso yearned for those years; something to break the endless monotony of living alone with no one to talk to.

As if someone else was inhibiting her body she felt herself walking towards Annabeth, who was still sitting on the floor, shocked. She felt her hands gently caress the broken ankle but she avoided looking at the girl's face.

It was hard enough for her to remain in the room now that she had seen Percy; but to look in the eyes of the girl who had caused him to leave was asking for disaster.

She murmured the healing incantation she had often used to heal minor injuries. Unbidden, an image came to her mind of doing the same to Percy, of fixing his injuries and talking to him, of how nice and kind he had been, how she had enjoyed talking to him and spending time with him even though she knew he had to go.

Over the many years, Calypso had trained herself to push away the memories, to keep herself busy with tasks, to form a barrier against the thoughts of the heroes who had left her.

Was it truly better, she had often wondered, to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all?

Calypso knew of the punishments that the gods had inflicted on others in the past, punishments that many would consider to be far worse than just being imprisoned on an island.

But no one knew of the times that she had buried her head in her knees and cried her heart out, the times she had turned, instinctively, to speak to a person who was no longer there, the times that the pain would suddenly return at full force and drive into her heart like a jagged glass shard.

Physical pain would end but heartbreak never would. She would never be completely whole again.

"Calypso, I –"

"Percy, you should go." It was Annabeth.

Calypso felt a fleeting sense of gratitude towards the blonde. She was still bent over Annabeth's ankle, her hair falling over her face and hiding her eyes from Percy. She couldn't talk to him now, not when the jagged hole in her chest was still ripping further into her every time she took a breath.

"Annabeth-"

"Percy, trust me. Please."

She heard him sigh and then his footsteps as he left the room. Poseidon and Celia followed Percy, leaving Calypso alone with Annabeth. She wasn't sure if she should talk, or just focus on her job. What do you say to the girl who stole your love away?

Annabeth made the decision for her.

"He didn't want to, you know," Annabeth told her.

She looked up, willing the tears not to spill over and reveal her bitterness to the daughter of Athena. That would be showing weakness and Calypso hated doing that.

"They never do," Calypso replied and her voice was hard, emotionless. She had been keeping it all in for the years that he had been gone and now she was too used to it.

In some corner of her mind, she wondered what happened to the girl who had planted moonlace and sang to herself, the girl who had been gentle and kind and accepting of the fact that it was her punishment to remain on Ogygia forever. When had that girl become so bitter and hard and – and angry?

Maybe when Hermes had told her that Percy had asked for her to be released from her prison; and the gods had still forgotten about her. Maybe that was when it had started.

Calypso turned her head back to her work, strands of her long brown hair brushing against her hand. "He didn't have a choice. He had a war to fight," Annabeth spoke louder now, her voice more defensive.

"I know. He said so," Calypso said dismissively, willing her voice to remain calm. She had known from the moment Percy landed on Ogygia that he would have to leave. The source of her anger wasn't that Percy had left her, forgotten her; it was that he had promised something and hadn't delivered.

Calypso locked her hands around Annabeth's ankle and twisted, hearing the girl's sharp intake of breath as she did so. It must have hurt, but it had to be done.

"There." Calypso pushed her hair out of her face. "You are healed. Just be careful when you are walking on it for a few days."

Annabeth nodded and got to her feet. "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure," Calypso replied politely, but the words were meaningless. Annabeth looked at Calypso sharply and gave a dry laugh. "You don't have to be that polite, you know. I'm most probably the last person you'd ever have wanted to meet."

Calypso gave a wry smile and was about to retort when her eyes were drawn to the pulsing at the girl's neck. She saw the necklace, and the diamond which was now a deep blue; and her eyes widened.

It cannot be.

She stepped closer to Annabeth, eyes locked on the diamond nestled in the hollow of the blonde's neck. "May I see that necklace, please?" she asked.

Annabeth's hand locked around the pendant protectively. "Why?"

"Because that diamond – I have seen it before. And if it is what I think it is, then…" Calypso's troubled expression must have been enough to convince Annabeth to hand over the necklace. She unclasped it and handed it to her.

She examined the diamond carefully. "I need a test," she murmured to herself. "Annabeth, could you call Percy and Lord Poseidon back in, please?"

"Why?" Annabeth asked, her quicksilver eyes narrowing. "What is it about this necklace?"

"Just call them in, please."

Annabeth looked suspicious but did so. When Percy and Poseidon had arrived, Calypso momentarily cast aside her panic and pain about Percy, and walked up to him. His green eyes widened, looking puzzled. "Calypso?"

She pressed the diamond to his chest, where his heart would be. It turned a deep violet colour, just as she had thought it would. Moving on to Poseidon, she did the same thing and the diamond once again changed colour but now to a navy blue.

"Just as I imagined," she muttered to herself. The necklace was indeed what she thought it was.

Calypso glanced up to see Percy and Annabeth standing next to each other, their eyes locked on her. How had Annabeth gotten possession of the necklace? It was supposed to belong to Lady Amphitrite unless…

Oh no. Please, please, no.

"Annabeth," Calypso started carefully. "Did this necklace indicate any kind of magical properties before now?"

Annabeth nodded. "The diamond keeps changing colour. When I'm with Percy it's normally a purple, or a blue. But just now when Triton was here…"

"It was a dark red?"

"Yes." Calypso's heartbeat quickened, her head spinning. "What's wrong with the necklace?" the daughter of Athena demanded. "What does it do?"

Calypso sighed. "You might want to sit down."

"We'll stand, thanks." It was Percy who replied tersely, his tone worried and she knew he was wondering if there was another war coming. She prayed to the gods that nothing was happening; that everything she had just thought was wrong.

Calypso started to explain, her almond eyes fixed on the sea outside, remembering.

"Lord Poseidon, when you and your brothers first chose your regions of power, the three of you also decided to choose consorts for yourselves. As you all know, Lord Zeus took Lady Hera, Lord Hades chose Lady Persephone, and you picked Lady Amphitrite. Now I presume you do not know this, but the day after the three of you chose your consorts, each of them received a gift."

"A gift?" Poseidon inquired, his eyebrows furrowed.

Calypso nodded. "The Three Fates each sent a gift to Hera, Persephone and Amphitrite."

"What sort of gift?" Annabeth questioned, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Something that would help them in their time of need. Although they were gods, they could still be harmed, you see. Being the chosen consorts of the Big Three could put them in danger from enemies. The Fates sent the three goddesses a gift which would protect them from harm – three diamonds, set in different pieces of jewellery."

Annabeth looked thoughtful. "When Triton was about to hurt me, I suddenly felt a surge of power and his hands were covered with blisters. It felt like there was an invisible shield around me."

Calypso nodded. "No one knows precisely how it works, but from what you just said, we know that the necklace sensed an intent to harm you and it worked to protect you."

"How do you know this?" Percy asked.

"In the first Titan war," Calypso explained. "My father, Atlas, suggested destroying the necklaces. Make the three goddesses vulnerable, and abduct them – then the gods would have no choice but to concede to the demands of the Titans. Gods can't be killed but they can be tortured very, very, badly."

Percy looked as if he wished he had never asked.

"The necklace was supposed to protect Amphitrite," Calypso continued. "Yet she never wore it, did she?"

This question was directed to Poseidon, who shook his head.

"That was because," Calypso said softly, "the necklace only protects those who are pure and good of heart. It must have sensed what was in Amphitrite's mind and for that reason it refused to protect her. For something that is made of good cannot protect that which is evil."

"So it chose me?" Annabeth asked.

"If the necklace did not accept the consort, it could be passed on. Preferably, it would go to a direct descendant but it could also go to someone pure of heart, someone who was a true hero and who would need protection."

Only one part of this seemed to have registered with Percy.

"Someone who would need protection?" he demanded. "Why would Annabeth need protection?"

"Oh gods," Annabeth looked up at Percy, her worry clear in her eyes. "Please tell me it's not another war…anything but that."

Poseidon frowned. "I have been noticing disturbances in the sea lately. The sea creatures have been more restless, and ancient sea monsters – the likes of which I have not seen in many millennium – have stirred. Neither am I the only one…some of the other gods have also been facing problems."

"What sort of problems, Father?" Percy asked.

"Hephaestus has been having trouble in the forges. The Cyclopes have been refusing to make Celestial bronze weapons, and for those who do work, the weapons have been…malfunctioning."

"Gods of Olympus…" Percy looked like he wanted to punch the wall. "Is it really so hard to live in peace?"

"For demigods, Percy?" Annabeth asked with a bitter smile. "We got three years of peace, and that's more than most half-bloods have."

Calypso walked over to the enormous window that spanned the length of the wall, pressing her fingertips to it to feel the coolness of the sea glass beneath her skin. She gazed out at the sparkling blue waves, the dolphins leaping playfully, the nymphs chattering as they went about their daily business.

The scene looked so normal, like any other day in Atlantis. But she sensed – she didn't know how – that this peace was going to be shattered. Everything was going to change.

"Whatever is coming," Calypso murmured, almost to herself, "it won't be good."