Calypso

I wake up before anyone else. Dawn is just breaking and my fireball seems to have disappeared of it's own accord. I carefully stretch and slide out of my sleeping bag. Treading on the balls of my feet as not to wake Piper, I pick my way to the tent door. I grip the zipper tightly as I unzip the door, making sure not to make any noise.

I'm in grey tracksuit pants and a long sleeve top. Both of my sleeves are covered in holes and are barely staying on. I tear off the the long sleeves, turning my top into a short sleeve. I stuff the fabric in my pocket and shiver from the change from the warmth of my tent to the cool morning. When I was packing my bag, clothes didn't seem like a priority

If I was still on Ogygia this would be my prime hunting time. I had only brought a bunch of fruit on the quest because I'd figured I could hunt on the way. Might as well keep up my old habits. I will my finger to catch fire and I burn a message into a dead log. Gone hunting.

"What are you doing?" A voice asks from behind me.

Much like on my first day on Ogygia, I act on pure instinct. I summon my bow, notch an arrow and turn around. The arrow is pointed at the speaker's throat. This happens in milliseconds.

Leo holds his hands in the air. "Cal, it's just me. I didn't mean to scare you, don't go all 'man-killing hunter of Artemis' on me!"

I lower my bow but scowl at Leo. "I have hunted with the Hunters for years, do not insult them in front of me!"

Leo puts his hands back at his sides in a rare moment of seriousness. "It's true though. They kill men without question."

I can't defend the Hunters on that one. "That is why I haven't joined them. They do have a reason to hate men. That doesn't mean they should go around killing them, but they have been blinded by the actions of one man."

Leo's newfound seriousness lasts another second as he nods in silence. He then perks up. "You never answered my question, where are you going?"

I gesture to the burnt log. "Can't you read? As you noticed yesterday, we've got no food. I'm going hunting."

Turning my back to him, I grip my bow in my right hand and set off towards the woods. I take a deep breath and close my eyes when I enter the forest line. It smells like home. Like Ogygia.

My moment of peace is disturbed by loud footsteps. Leo catches up to me. "Hey. I'm coming with you."

I give him a disbelieving look. "You'll scare all the animals away! Did you hear how loud you were just then?"

Leo raises his hands for the second time today. "I was just making sure I didn't scare you!" I give him a look. "And besides, I'm an experienced demigod!"

"You didn't bring a weapon on a quest," I deadpan.

"Anyone could forget their weapon!"

"Not an experienced demigod!"

"I'm coming with you!"

I grit my teeth, "Fine. But don't be surprised if I leave you alone, a few miles out."

Leo pales but follows me when I take of into the woods.

Fifty metres in, I stop. I rest my hand on a tree. We haven't encountered any animals yet. This part of the woods simply isn't dense enough. "Leo, grab my hand," I order.

He looks at me, confused."What do you mean, 'Grab my hand'?"

"I mean grab my hand! This part of the forest isn't dense enough!" I say angrily.

Leo grabs my hand.

We appear another mike further in and I get rid of my bow. I tilt my head slightly. I can hear the lapping of water that indicates a river. The trees are more strongly built and much, much taller. The grass is a darker hue of green. This is the perfect place for an animals home. That means this is also the perfect place to hunt.

I wander around a bit, trying to find a good tree to look around from. Eventually I find a good, twenty metres tall tree, with many footholds. I smirk at Leo, "Let's see if you can live up to your claim of being 'experienced'."

I step onto a low branch, stamping a bit to test its strength. It hold securely in place and I put all my weight onto it, grabbing onto a higher branch just in case it snaps. I stretch to a bend between two branches and pull myself up. At a deft pace, I go higher and higher until I no longer want to look around the area but to reach a point to watch the sunrise.

I watch a mother bird feed it's chicks while I wait for Leo to join me. Many curses and snaps of branches later, a slightly battered Leo joins me. I smirk at Leo. "Nice tree climbing skills. You realise you need to test a branch before you put your full weight on it, right?"

He ignores my comment. The way that the branch is bent, forces Leo to be sitting very close to me. Not uncomfortably so, but every once in a while, our knees bump against each other.

After a few minutes I get bored and carefully stand up. I nimbly jump to a thick and sturdy looking branch, a metre to my left and slightly higher than the previous branch. I hold my balance with the grace and ease of a huntress. I hear a sharp intake of breath behind me.

I grin at Leo, "Scared I'd fall?"

The worry has faded from Leo's eyes now that I am safe and seemingly comfortable with my position. "No. I was more worried that the branch would snap from how heavy you are. I'm surprised you haven't knocked down the whole tree yet!"

I draw my bow and casually aim an arrow at him. "You were saying?"

Leo gulps. "No-nothing?"

I fire the arrow.

Leo yelps loudly as the arrow flies towards his head... and completely misses him. He peers down from the tree. "Nice shot."

I jump from my position and land rolling. I stand up next to the dead deer and examine it. I pluck my arrow from it's eye and it disappears from my hand. "αιώνια ειρήνη," I mutter.

I turn and look up at Leo. "Next time, Repair Boy, that will be aimed for you. And you just saw how good a shot I am."

Leo makes his way down the tree, once again snapping many branches and having to grab the tree trunk to stop himself from falling. Thirteen metres from the ground, Leo moves his left foot to another branch. When it holds, he also puts his right foot there and lowers his weight from the branch he's grasping with his arms. With Leo having his luck, the branch snaps and he free falls thirteen metres to the ground.

I laugh until I notice the way Leo is cradling his ankle. I crouch beside him and hold my hand over his left ankle.

"Broken," I mutter.

Leo hears my observation and groans loudly. "Really? I survive the cyclopes, the mutts and you, only to break my ankle falling out of a tree!"

I help him up. "If you weren't already hurt, I would shoot you for adding me to that list."

I lift the deer onto my left shoulder, supporting it with both of my arms. Balancing the weight with my left arm for a second, I sling Leo's arm around my shoulders. His forearm is resting against the dead deer and I can't help but inwardly smirk about how squeamish that must make him.

I go back to supporting the deer with both of my arms. "I'll have to heal you when we get back. If I heal you now, I might not have the energy to teleport us back."

I focus on the spot that we first entered the woods. The spot where Leo and I had our argument. I stumble a bit when we reappear. Teleporting twice in one day with someone else as well as having to carry a heavy deer and support a heavy boy is not good for my health. I'm even feeling the effects of burning that message into the log. Being blessed by Hestia as well as being a sorceress makes my gift of fire come easily and naturally, so using my fire powers barely costs me any effort. Normally.

Leo notices me stumble and tries to lift his arm from around me but I shake my head. "It's just the teleporting," as well as the heavy deer and the heavy boy. "If it wasn't such a short distance I would've passed out already. I'm fine, though. Come on, let's get back to Piper and Jason."

Leo, being Leo, buys my answer and balances his weight back onto me. I heft the deer into a more comfortable position. This deer seems like a particularly sturdy and fat one. And with the effects of two teleportations waning on my strength, I don't currently appreciate the fact that there is going to be more food to eat later on.

I walk as well as I can, trying not to look as exhausted as I am. I mean, it's only about eight in the morning! Piper and Jason come rushing towards us from our temporary camp.

"Oh my gods," Piper says, coming to a stop. "What happened?!"

Our continued movement towards the camp forces Piper and Jason to walk backwards. I note that neither Piper nor Jason offer to help me.

"The idiot fell out of a tree," I state, annoyed.

"Then why haven't you healed him yet?!" Piper stresses.

Piper is an amazing fighter and an even better friend, but when it comes to the people she cares about, being hurt, she turns into a true daughter of Aphrodite. Unable to think properly and very unhelpful.

"Piper, calm down," Jason instructs, laying a hand on her shoulder. Piper calms under Jason's touch and I can't help but shudder in disgust at how perfect they are together. I swear, if I ever end up like that, I'll kill Aphrodite myself.

"Calypso will heal him as soon as we get back to camp, right?" Jason continues, turning to me.

I honestly doubt that I will have enough energy but now that it's been proposed, I'll have to. Despite my lack of energy and the fact that Jason has made it worse, I still send a grateful look at Jason and nod in answer to his question.

I set down the deer on a clean patch of grass and have to suppress a sigh of relief. My shoulders are aching and I stretch, disguising it as supporting Leo even further. I help Leo sit down on the burnt log and kneel with him. Luckily its a clean break.

That's when Leo remembers my previous exhaustion. "Calypso, are you sure you can-"

I cut him off before he can alert Piper and Jason. "I'll be fine."

I ignore Piper and Jason's confused looks and Leo's worried look and hover my palm over Leo's ankle. I focus on my last remnants of energy. I've never actually dealt with a break, but I know I can do this. I focus completely and cut off what's going on around me. I ignore Piper and Jason's hushed voices and Leo's irregular breathing and close my eyes tightly.

I can practically feel my remnants of energy as they flow through my body and into my hand. I close the gap between my hand and Leo's ankle and pour the energy into him. I shudder violently as the energy leaves me and I can vaguely hear Piper yelling.

I collapse on the ground, motionless and without energy. My body starts to send me into a deep sleep to regain some energy.

Before I'm fully unconscious, I feel myself picked up bridal style and someone kisses me on the forehead. "Thanks, Cal," Leo's familiar voice murmurs in my ear.

He continues to whisper to me but his words are lost and replaced with silence. The darkness embraces me.

-Stars