A/N: Hey guys, Happy Friday! Hope you all had fabulous weeks. I apologise in advance for the shortness of this chapter but even with my rewriting it became difficult to try to lengthen it. Calypso and Caleo feels next chapter promise!
Also, because you were all so fantastic last chapter, new question: WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO READ A CHRISTMAS FIRSTS SPECIAL IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS?
I also have a small request, DO YOU GUYS MIND IF I'M LATE IN REPLYING TO YOUR LOVELY REVIEWS BECAUSE I'M A HORRIBLE SHIT?
Much love,
Shy x.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The first time Festus told him he'd reached Ogygia, Leo cursed putting in that stupid pleasantly modulated GPS voice. It felt like it was mocking him.
It had been a day and a half since his run in with Ketos and Leo was exhausted, sunburnt, reeked of sweat and kraken acid spit, and the numbness in his arm was spreading up his shoulder. Needless to say, Festus' misfiring was not helping his mood.
"Festus!" he complained as the dragon circled an empty expanse of ocean. "There's nothing here!"
The automaton merely opened its mouth and "You have arrived at your destination" was all that came out.
"No I haven't." Leo muttered under his breath as he leaned forward to study the astrolabe and crystal which now shimmered a faint silver colour. "I want to go to Ogygia, not the middle of Zeus knows where!"
He double checked Festus' wiring for a kind of fault, steered him away from the spot in an attempt to recalibrate, even removed the crystal, wiped it off and replanted it but all Festus had to say on the matter was: "You have arrived at your destination."
Frustrated, Leo steered Festus upwards and let him hover in mid air while he thought over the problem. He'd tried fixing Festus but the astrolabe seemed to be quite sure that Ogygia was right below him. For a horrible moment, Leo wondered if this was where Odysseus had found Ogygia, if perhaps the astrolabe only took the user back to one of the many places Ogygia appeared.
But the crystal's silvery sheen was different to anything he'd seen, reminding him of the glow Calypso's cave took on at night more than anything else. No, the astrolabe, Festus and the crystal pointed to here.
"What am I missing?" he wondered aloud, rubbing the sweat from his eyes. He hated when things didn't work correctly but by all accounts, Festus was running fine. It must be something else.
He looked down at the waters below but there was not a shred of evidence to suggest Ogygia was there. No island, no crystal cave, certainly no Calypso. The water was a similar shade of blue to the island's bays but then again, all the bright blue water in the Mediterranean looked as though it had been altered by a computer.
"Come on buddy, what am I missing?" Leo repeated, frowning. He recalled Chiron's goodbye and his mystic advice.
Ogygia is encased in godly magic. Chiron had said. It is bound by ancient rules. But you should keep in mind that Ogygia's rules extend beyond its phantom nature…
"Godly magic, ancient rules…" Leo clawed his hair in exasperation. "I am so sick of god palabrerío!" he bellowed up at the sky but there was no response. "Okay, okay. Think Valdez, what are the rules of Ogygia?"
Calypso's curse was to stay trapped on the island. An island that disappeared and reappeared, an island that existed outside the rest of the world. Heroes in need of aid showed up from time to time and Calypso fell in love with all of them as she tended to them. When she did, a raft appeared, sailing the heroes away who would then never return.
He wracked his brain but the answer didn't seem obvious to him. In fact, his brain was starting to feel foggy and he wondered, drearily for a moment if Ketos' acid mouthwash might be affecting his concentration. The skin of his arm was getting worse. The pus-filled welts had begun to spread up to his elbow and the skin was bright red and swollen.
He shook it off. Calypso is waiting for me. He couldn't afford to waste tried recalling the notes Piper had helped make about Ogygia and Calypso and the mention of her in the Odyssey, Chiron's cryptic advice and his memories of Ogygia but nothing seemed to click.
Trying to focus, Leo concentrated on the Olympians secretive remarks in the Throne Room of Mount Olympus, which felt like it had happened eons ago rather than weeks. Immediately, his brain filled with unhelpful memories of the hidden mechanics inside the room's marble columns and Leo tried to shake it out. He fought to imagine Zeus' unamused expression, the wry spark of his dad's gaze, the coy twist of Hera's mouth, Aphrodite and her tinkling coo and Demeter's scrutinising stare.
The terms of her imprisonment have been interwoven over a long age.
If he finds the island twice then he will have broken half the curse anyway.
Only a god can send a hero to Ogygia.
Leo Valdez, if you can find the phantom island, we will release Calypso from Ogygia's curse.
With a few conditions, of course.
A valiant quest to earn his love! Oh yes, this will do quite well I think.
He mentally threw out Aphrodite's stupid remarks and ignored Hera's mention of conditions. They said Calypso's punishment had been interwoven over the years, like the separate parts had become all linked together. And Demeter said that just finding the island would break one half of the curse anyway.
Then his dad said-
Oh.
Oh.
"You're kidding me right?" Leo called up at the skies with wide, stunned eyes. "Right?" But there was no response.
Chiron's advice made more sense when Leo thought about what his father had mentioned. Ogygia is bound by ancient rules. The ancient rules being that only gods could send heroes to Ogygia. And not just any heroes.
Heroes in need of aid.
"Oh great," he muttered, staring down at the water.
"Focus Valdez." He told himself, watching the ocean below. Ogygia was down there, he was now certain. Down there, hidden by the island's magic, Calypso was in her cave or on her beach or making a new goddamn dining table and he couldn't get to her because, by definition, he was not a hero in need of help and the gods had no reason to send him there.
"You know I did just fight off a skyscraper, you know! I could be dying! Don't I qualify yet?" he bellowed.
But there was no response. Mortally injured was apparently the requirement for the gods' attention and Leo was willing to bet it was Hera who needed him bleeding and half-dead to qualify instead of just flesh-eating-acid-spray. Leo wasn't sure if he should be ticked off or reassured that he wasn't about to die from the wound on his arm. Either way, he was apparently not a hero in need.
But he could be.
Leo knew then what he had to do but if he was wrong, he was likely to kill himself. "Dad, I hope you're watching this or we're gonna have a long talk when I reach Elysium." He told the air and in his imagination, the wind heated slightly in reply. Slowly but surely, he steered Festus upwards, higher and higher until he was above the clouds, the oxygen turning thin and hard to breathe. He estimated he was at about 30,000 feet, maybe a little higher. Definitely not Leo-friendly heights.
"Sorry Festus buddy," Leo apologised, sincerely as he reached forward and held is hand over the eject button next to Festus' control disk port. Squeezing his eyes shut, he pressed it and the disk popped out like a cheeky tongue sticking out from the back of the dragon's skull.
In a split second, Festus' wings froze, his whole body slumped-
Mechanic and dragon began to plummet from the sky.
First the clouds rushed up to meet him and Leo clung to Festus' bronze body, his hand hovering over the disk though it slipped and slid as the dragon began to spiral downwards as a blinding speed.
The wet mist of clouds brushed against his face and then the blue sky appeared again, reflected in the bright aqua water below. Leo recalled the last time he had been hurtling into the Mediterranean and cursed his stupidity as Festus hurtled even faster toward the ocean. Stupid vlakas! He berated himself. What kind of stupid plan is this? Getting yourself killed? Great idea. We should do it more often!
The air seared against his face but Leo couldn't take his eyes off the ocean reaching up to meet him.
"AHHHHHH!" he screamed, unable to help himself. 10,000 feet he guessed, blindly as the wind whistled through his hair, his clothes, even his teeth. Then 8,000 feet. By the time he reached four thousand, he was sick of counting and instead screamed out mentally to his father: DAD, NOW WOULD BE A REALLY GOOD TIME FOR YOU TO HEEEEEEEELLLLP MEEEE-!
At just over two thousand feet from the ocean, the waters flickered and the light spun, twirling in a dizzying pattern until suddenly-
Ogygia burst into life below him, a flourishing green island with white sandy beaches, a brightly coloured garden visible even from here and a stupid son of Hephaestus who was going to be flattened into its tectonic plate any second!
Leo clung tightly to Festus' neck but he didn't slow and there was no sign of any godly interference. "Arrrreeee yooooou kiddiiiiing meeeeeeee?" Leo howled, adrenaline ripping through his system as he realised the gods had sent him to Ogygia but he was obviously expected to save himself.
Figures.
Leo reached forward but with the wind slicing against his face, he couldn't find the disc port. His nails scrabbled against Festus' neck and the edge of the control disc poking out but Leo couldn't focus, couldn't keep his hand straight and he was going to die, he was actually going to fall out of the freaking sky on one of his creations and Calypso-
Calypso was going to see him do it and watch him die. No, he growled internally and narrowed his eyes against the spitting air slapping through his hair, his clothes, his face. Calypso is waiting for me. His fingers reached for the disc and finally managed to catch the edge. He slammed it back in with his palm and for an impossibly long moment, nothing happened. He continued hurtling toward the island without a hope in Hades and then-
Festus roared to life, rolling out of his death spiral and soaring upwards and around the west side of the island, his wings working furiously.
Leo let out a hoot of hysterical laughter, clutching Festus' neck tightly. "Oh gods above, you are the best mechanical dragon in the world!"
Festus growled back with a serious of clicks and clacks as if to say Don't EVER do that again! But Leo couldn't care. His victory was too sweet and as Festus circled back around to where Leo's camp was surprisingly still there, he felt untouchable.
He had returned. The Stygian oath's weight evaporated from his shoulders as though it were never there. He would find Calypso, tell the gods to hold up their end of the deal and take her back to Manhattan where he would show her movies and Google and everything else he'd mentioned. He was going to get to hold her hand and argue with her and maybe kiss her if he was really, really lucky and all the daydreams he'd had over the past few months were going to work out.
Right as soon as his hands stopped shaking.
A/N: Thanks for reading guys! You are all bright stars in the fandom sky and I love all of you for reading, following, favouriting and reviewing this story!
Now, Guest Review Time:
The Free Whore: Calypso next chapter I promise! I thought about trying to sneak in a Calypso POV but as you pointed out, her situation is frustratingly repetitive. Glad you enjoyed it and I hope the anticipation wasn't too bad- although I must wonder how big a godly Olympian pool is…
Ilovethisfanfic: I will admit, I didn't quite remember MoA before I wrote the last chapter- for the sake of this fic, let's just say that Ketos the sea dragon and Ketos the mother of monsters are two separate entities hmm? ;) Anyway, glad you liked it :D
V: Don't even worry about reviewing regularly, just as long as you're enjoying it so far :D Anyway, hope you liked the last chapter and this one: Caleo next update I promise!
Winonabcd: I PROMISE I'M NOT TRYING TO TORTURE YOU ON PURPOSE AND THAT I'M NOT RICK RIORDAN BUT I AM SO SO HAPPY THAT YOU LIKED THE FIGHT SCENE :D THANKYOU FOR READING AND CALEO NEXT CHAPTER I SWEAR!
Hannah: DON'T WORRY, CALEO NEXT CHAPTER I PROMISE!
Z: Props for the Incredibles reference and that is high praise indeed, gummy bears are pretty damn fantastic. Anyway, Ketos is only resting for now, he might make an appearance later :D Although I am SO SO SO glad you liked the fight scene, I usually have trouble with them :)
Tara Luna Apple: Great! Wait's over and I hope you liked this chapter too!
Rick Riordan: They are my OTP as well and I'm so glad you like it :) My update schedule is typically Monday and Friday, hope you like the new update!
LittleNodi: You are also awesome and I'm glad you liked Leo, he's my favourite :D Hop!e you like this chapter too!
HAPPY FRIDAY AND I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER, CALYPSO AND LEO REUNION CHAPTER NEXT TIME I PROMISE