A/N: Okay, warning guys: SUPER LONG CHAPTER! THIRTEEN PAGES IN WORD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK AND SCHEDULE BREAKS OKAY? READ RESPONSIBLY.
Now, glad to see you're all vehemently disliking Dionysus at this point. I was pleasantly surprised to find how many of you chose frying pan as your choice of weapon against him so good job, here's your reward for being fantastic readers :3
THANKYOU EVERYONE!
Shy
PS. GUYS GUYS GUYS did you see OH MY GODS did you see, you guys made this story over 1000 reviews! Like a 1 and then a thousand reviews! GAH! LET ME JUST DIE OF SCREECHING HAPPINESS OKAY THANKYOU GUYS!
CHAPTER THIRTY
The first time Leo left Calypso on her own at Camp Half Blood, he refused. Multiple times.
"Chiron, demigods don't go on scouting trips!" he complained, furiously to the centaur. Calypso had retreated entirely to Ancient Greek, muttering angrily under her breath behind him but the mere presence of her by his side was nice. They'd refused to risk exposing Jason, Hazel, Piper and Frank to Dionysus' wrath but Calypso was adamant that the wine god was only doing this to punish her and insisted on coming with him.
"Ordinarily yes…" Chiron began, looking pained and tired. He seemed to have been arguing about this for a long time.
"But it is at the leisure of the camp director." Dionysus butted in gleefully from his arm chair, where he was aggressively sucking down can after can of Diet Cola.
"Tró̱ne ta kó̱prana ton ageládo̱n!" Calypso spat at him, eyes glinting. Dionysus simply chortled in reply.
"Calypso, language please." Chiron admonished, sternly.
Leo had no idea what she said but he was 99% sure that he agreed with her. "This isn't fair," he ground out. "Mr D's punishing me 'cause I brought Calypso back and he's an overgrown brat! Besides, I just got back from a quest for the second time. Can't I have some time off? Isn't there some kind of law against demigod abuse? I have rights!"
"Watch your tongue, you insolent little-!" Mr D suddenly snarled, his cheeks flaring into bright cherry red. Leo could suddenly feel a tingling sensation in his feet and when he glanced down, his shoes had suddenly turned hard like tree bark and his shoelaces were vines twisted up around his ankles.
"Dionysus-" Calypso added, warningly, her own hand tightening to fists and the tingling stopped, although Leo could still feel dirt in the bottom of his trainers. It seemed to take far more strength on her behalf than on Dionysus'
"Mr D, please refrain from trying to turn Leo into a shrub." Chiron sighed, gustily.
With one deep breath out his nostrils that felt like it should've been on fire, Leo continued, trying to keep his tongue in check. It seemed to take far more strength on her behalf than on Dionysus' and he didn't want her struggling to keep him from going leafy. "Campers don't go on recruitment trips and the only reason Mr D is sending me is to try to get me killed."
Chiron looked back at him, pained. "Leo, Mr D's word as camp director is final and must be respected. You're being sent on this trip because Gleeson has never been to Chicago and you have."
Calypso paused momentarily in her growling match with Dionysus and glanced at him. "You've been to this place before?" she asked, surprised.
"Once. I've been there once." Leo corrected, tossing a dirty glare at Mr D who was getting more and more on his nerves. He didn't like remembering Chicago. He'd been thirteen and had thought he was invincible. Chicago was the city in which Leo found out just how fallible he really was.
"You'd ask me to send a satyr of Gleeson's age to a city filled with monsters on his own?" Dionysus interjected, mock-disapprovingly. There was a harsh, bright humour in his eyes and Leo was suddenly reminded of stories of how Dionysus used to like to watch his followers tear cities apart just for kicks. "That's hardly safe! Just imagine his poor pregnant wife!"
Leo bit his tongue so hard, he swore he could taste blood but the image of an incredibly pregnant Mellie appeared before his eyes anyway. "Then send someone else." He suggested.
"Can't. Gleeson won't hear of it." Dionysus shrugged, uncaringly.
"Choiron anasa!" Calypso screeched, looking about ready to pluck Mr D's flaming violet eyes out of their sockets.
"Ápistos mégaira!" Dionysus shot back and this time, Leo could definitely catch the word 'hag' in their somewhere. His Greek was shoddy at best but he picked up the occasional word.
Meanwhile, Chiron sat behind his desk, his face carved with frustration and a vein in his forehead pulsing. Leo wondered how badly Mr D had been complaining to the centaur since Calypso had arrived and felt a moment of pity. "Leo, the demigods in question are on their own in the middle of Chicago approaching winter." Chiron said in a low voice. "Monsters tend to swarm the city this time of year and from what I understand, these two are young and unarmed."
"Why can't Calypso come with me? Or some of the others? Or any other camper?" Leo asked but he knew he was being unfair. Why should the others have to pay for Mr D's petulance when it was directed at him and his girlfriend?
From the knowing look on Chiron's face, it seemed as though the centaur was thinking the same thing. Chiron replied in a quiet, pointed tone. "It would helpful to have someone who has visited the city before."
"Once." Leo repeated, grumpily. "I visited once. For a week and half." But his voice was low and grudgingly accepting.
"Besides, the Titan is not permitted to leave Camp Half Blood at this time. She might coerce the new demigods." Mr D sneered.
Calypso nearly twitched but refused to look at Mr D, instead stepping forward a little to Leo's side, silently lending her support to whatever he decided.
Which is how Leo ended up packing his bags.
"Stupid drunken god." Leo mumbled as he started cramming clothes, shoes and supplies into a rough hewn backpack.
"I thought heroes liked adventure." Calypso said, trying to mask the disappointment in her voice with teasing. It didn't really work. He had snuck her into his room again and Jake, the other counsellor of Cabin 9, had agreed to look the other way since he felt kind of sorry for his half brother.
"No," Leo whined, flinging himself back on the bed beside her. "I don't want any more adventure. I want to enjoy hanging out with my mechanical dragon and my friends and kiss my girlfriend without the threat of looming mortal peril."
"Looming mortal peril?" she echoed, dryly.
Leo rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. This is a punishment."
"I know." She sighed, grouchily. "But maybe it's better this way."
"What?" his head snapped upward and he stared at her in horror. "What's that supposed to mean?" Was she sick of him already?
Calypso looked thoughtful. "Do you know how long I had to listen to Hermes gloating about winning that ridiculous war with the mortals and the gods? The one with the horse?"
Leo frowned, still bewildered by his girlfriend's bizarre thought process. "You mean the Trojan War?"
"Yes! Hermes spoke it for centuries. But eventually he found new pursuits and paths and passions. Do you know how long it took for the Titans to forget their defeat at the hands of the Olympians?"
"…a long time?"
"They never forgot, Leo." Calypso corrected, shrugging. "Gods will gloat over their triumphs for an age before they move on but until they are revenged, they never forget their defeats. Maybe letting Dionysus have this triumph is worth the suffering he might unleash later on if you don't go."
He groaned. "But I'll come back. And that'll just make him angry again. We can't win!"
"He'll lose interest for a while though." She pointed out, pulling her legs up to her chest and settling her chin on her knees. "And who knows how long that could be for."
"That could be for a day." Leo grouched but he could see her point.
"Or it might be for a century." She added, smiling weakly. "But I can practically guarantee we won't have any peace until he wins, at least for a while."
"You know I kinda hate it when you make sense." He told her, bluntly. "Can you go back to yelling at me and calling me stupid names?"
She snorted in a most un-godess-like way. "Sure…repair boy."
Leo visibly cringed at the name. "Piper's been running her mouth hasn't she?" he asked as he started stuffing his things into his bag again.
"Piper is very kind but it was Jason who told me that particular 'stupid name'." Calypso snickered.
He rolled his eyes. "Should've guessed. This is in retaliation for calling him Peter Pan in front of his sister when she visited after the final battle."
"Speaking of visiting…" Calypso wheedled, innocently. "You didn't tell me you've visited this…Chicago…place before."
He raised his brow, unimpressed. "How long have you been waiting to bring that up?"
"Long enough to know you don't want to answer the question." She retorted immediately.
Leo scratched his head and zipped his bag after a struggle with his spare pair of sneakers. "Can we talk about it when I get back?" he asked, hesitantly. "I'm not keeping it a secret or anything, it's just-"
Calypso tilted her head until she caught his eye again. "A topic for another day?" she suggested, quietly.
He sighed. "Yeah. Sorry."
"Don't apologise, I can't expect you to spill all your riddles all at once." She retorted, leaning back on the bed until her hair brushed the ground on the other side.
"After I get back." Leo told her, flopping alongside her. "Urgh, Chicago in the winter. I'm gonna turn into a Leo-popsicle."
"You'll survive."
"I'm from Texas. I don't like the cold."
"Well, think of it this way," Calypso said, turning her head until she was so close, the tip of her nose touched his. "You can see this…Chicago and next time, you can take me."
"You haven't even been to New York yet." He pointed out but with her so close, his head felt kind of heavy and it wasn't his best retort.
"You can show me the city." She continued, drawing nearer and nearer. "And all the sights. We'll get that…pizza you talk so fondly of…"
Having her so close without touching him was too tempting so he closed the distance and felt her face grow warm with surprise when he shyly tasted her bottom lip. "Well if I get my pizza, I guess it won't be so bad." He added with a snicker when he pulled away.
Calypso narrowed her eyes at him, her breaths a little harder than usual and her gaze focused on his smirking mouth.
They didn't leave his room for another hour.
The morning he left with Coach Hedge, Leo met the overenthusiastic satyr at the Big House and cheerfully glared daggers at Mr D who was enjoying his victory with a few rounds of on his Pacman arcade console (which Leo was considered messing with to get back at the god for hitting on his girlfriend a few centuries ago. Petty? Sure. But damn satisfying, Leo mused).
Chiron explained in greater detail that the demigods were causing all sorts of trouble because they had chosen to stick together rather than separate. The news reports were filled with strange property damage, odd bewildering eye-witness accounts, misshapen eagles flying at night, hippos appearing in parks- the kind of tip off that screamed Hi we're demigods, come kill us. Several of the reports included mention of a pair of young teenagers running away from the scenes.
Hazel and Frank had already grudgingly left for Camp Jupiter but Jason, Piper and Calypso met him outside the Big House while Mellie said her goodbyes to her husband nearby.
"Whoa, she's huge." Jason muttered, astonished by the size of the normally petite cloud nymph.
Piper nudged him in the ribs, pointedly. "Don't say that to her."
"Hormones are hitting her harder than expected apparently." Leo agreed in a low voice with Jason who couldn't seem to look away from the enormous bulge of Mellie's belly. "Coach is pretty eager for some time away."
Calypso rolled her eyes. "Hormones would hit you hard too if you had to carry that around for eighteen months." She told him, dryly.
"Eighteen months?" Piper echoed, horrified.
"Takes twice as long to mature a satyr as a human." She explained, wincing.
"No wonder Coach wants to get away for a while." Jason mumbled and Leo nodded discreetly so the girls wouldn't be tempted to throat-punch the pair of them. "Have a good trip and don't get killed, got it Valdez?" he said at a louder volume, briefly hugging his best friend.
"Sure Peter Pan." Leo replied, grinning. "If I died, Piper would kill me."
"Of course I would." The beautiful demigod agreed, pleasantly, hugging Leo as well. "Be safe."
Calypso saved her embrace for last, making sure her hand was out of sight when she tucked a small vial into Leo's pocket. "What's this?" he whispered in her ear, curiously.
"Ambrosia mixed with dog-brush and a few...other things. Old Titan magic. I'm not really supposed to make it." She told him under her breath with a small grin. "But just in case you get hurt."
"Any time now!" Mr D called out, cackling from inside the Big House.
"Pao falakros!" she called back, rolling her eyes. Leo let out a bark of surprised laughter.
"Did you just tell an Olympian to 'go bald'?" he asked, still laughing.
Piper, who had heard Leo's recount of his trip to Mount Olympus and his comparison of Zeus to an ostrich, simply sighed. "You two are actually perfect for each other." She said, simply.
"Stay alive, hero." Calypso told him, mock-sternly as she hugged him once more and kissed his cheek, shyly. She wasn't entirely comfortable with inordinate displays of public affection (which was alright because honestly Leo liked getting to keep her to himself).
While Piper scolded Jason for staring at Mellie again like she was an alien (although she was sneaking a couple of astonished glances herself), Leo lowered his voice. "I'll probably be a week or so. Chiron gave us an idea where to start."
"I know. Then you'll be back." She said, simply with a small smile.
"And Percy won't be back for another week either." he added, quietly. He and Annabeth had gotten caught up in applications apparently but Leo wondered if he wasn't dodging the bullet. He also wondered if he wouldn't have minded having some time to prepare too, to be perfectly honest.
Calypso bit her lip and gave a small nod. "I know. We'll deal it with it when it comes. Don't worry about me Leo, I have survived the last few thousand years without you, you know." She added, trying to lighten the conversation.
Leo grimaced, teasingly. "How dull those years must've been."
"Get going, Wonder Boy!" she laughed, pushing him away. They weren't taking Festus. Coach Hedge blankly refused to go anywhere near the reconfigured dragon. Instead, one of Mellie's cloud relatives was going to give them a lift through some kind of woodland magic that Leo wasn't allowed to know the details of.
"I'll see you next week." He called to his friends as a dainty nymph with short fine white hair and pale grey skin gestured towards the woods impatiently. He raised his eyebrows back at them when the nymph pushed him forward as if to say this is so weird get me my dragon please. But he followed.
One moment they were watching his backpack through the trees and the next: Leo and Coach Hedge evaporated into thin air.
Internally, Calypso knew she had to learn to survive at camp without Leo. It wasn't fair to make him her boyfriend and her 24/7 guide for the new world. But to be honest, she was still getting used to calling Leo's friends her friends and many of the campers tended to steer clear of her.
Titan, they whispered beneath their breath when she passed. Immortal. Goddess. Trick. Enemy. Cursed. Atlas' daughter. Suspicious. Titan. Titan. Titan.
She wasn't really any of those things, not anymore but Calypso had to admit she was a rarity. The suspicion she was treated with wasn't anything new, per se but it was nerve-wracking. Dionysus' vendetta had not made things any better. Mr D's a wind bag, the murmurs seemed to say. But he's a god and he hates her.
She was beginning to wish she'd tried drowning Dionysus more completely when he arrived on Ogygia.
Leo didn't seem notice but Calypso did and so she didn't venture out by herself much, though Leo's friends, particularly, Piper, were kind and friendly. The real problem was that Piper and Jason were well-liked at camp and were often surrounded with many more, less-friendly campers. Even the two Romans Hazel and Frank, who had also treated her kindly (probably as a favour to their friend but Calypso tried not think about that), had left for San Francisco a day before Leo.
So she waved him goodbye as he disappeared into the trees with a slight wary glance and tried not to feel the initial surge of panic at being alone in an unfamiliar place for the first time in millennia.
She quickly tried to reason with her nervous mind and made her plans, her methods, her steps. It's just like on Ogygia, she told herself. There are steps to being alone and steps to waiting for someone to come back. Surely they can't be much different.
"Jason and I are going to grab some food." Piper offered as Mellie drifted away, waddling with her belly. "Do you wanna come?"
This is your chance, a voice told her. Say yes. Go ahead.
But the anxiety got the better of her.
"I think I'll go back to the Oracle Cave." She excused herself, glancing to the dining pavilion which was reasonably full of campers who didn't particularly like her. "I still have some cleaning to do."
Piper looked understanding as she and Jason left and Calypso sort of wished she didn't. Understand, that is, because Calypso understood as well. Understood that she was being an enormous coward.
She left the Big House behind, keeping to the woods' edge to avoid the centre of camp, taking deep breaths and trying to shut up the little voice in her heart that was calling her weak.
Rachel was gone from the Cave when she arrived and Calypso used the time alone to clear her head.
"The steps, girl." She muttered, shaking her head. "Find new steps. There's got to be a plan."
But it was hard to rearrange her thoughts. She was used to being left forever, not for a week. She couldn't use the method of Ogygia, which involved destroying her hero's memory and forgetting him entirely.
She pressed her palms into her closed eyes, thinking. "Fine. New steps. Get through the week." She told herself.
One week without Leo. It shouldn't be too hard.
Right?
Her (cowardly) first step was to circumvent the source of her panic (the other campers). She made plans to keep to herself and maybe hang out with Rachel a little (who was a rarity herself but an old spirit Calypso had known before and therefore, far less intimidating) but generally stay away from the majority of camp until she could muster her courage.
Until then, she had to keep busy and work out how to grow a spine.
Her plan would've worked fine. Except that her first day without Leo there, the miniature elephant toy Harley had made for her the day she arrived began to make an odd creaking noise when she wound it up. "What's wrong with you?" she murmured to herself but she didn't dare try to force the crank to wind, in case she snapped it in two. Her strength was still above average after all. One wrong move could snap the little thing.
It seemed like such a silly thing to worry about but she'd grown attached to the toy. Calypso figured a quick trip to Leo's workbench might help. Perhaps she could find the little boy who'd given her the toy in the first place and ask him to fix it for her?
"That's just one camper." She reasoned as she passed through the woods and came to the stream that looped near the Forge. "And he's just a little boy. Nothing to be nervous about."
Calypso took entered the forges warily, remembering how she'd nearly been hit in the face with a catapult last time but the campers seemed to be focused on their individual projects today. Even so, the sight of so many campers around her at once put her on edge when she didn't have Leo beside her. She hurried through the forge with her hands curled into fists.
She found Leo's workstation easily enough and looked around for little Harley but the boy who was constantly underfoot seemed to have conveniently disappeared. "Figures." She muttered under her breath as she studied Leo's bench.
The tiny gadgets that lay strewn across the surface, including the small compass he'd taken from Ogygia that had one belonged to Drake, were an adequate distraction for her nerves. Beside it sat a series of sketches that seemed to detail the inside of the device as though Leo were certain one of the little pieces was the answer to its durability underwater. She fingered the surface, amused. Of course she'd ended up with a boyfriend who didn't accept magic as a proper answer.
"Hey, what are you doing?" a sharp voice snapped and Calypso whirled around to see Leo's half-sister Nyssa beside her, raising an eyebrow at the compass in her hand. "That's Leo's."
"Actually, it's mine." Calypso replied evenly though the girl's confident stature and strong physique were slightly intimidating. Being around so many people at once was disconcerting to her senses but she focused on the girl. She knew her. She remembered her. It was nothing to worry about.
"Oh," the demigod blinked suddenly. "Right. Leo's girl, yeah?" she clicked her fingers.
Calypso snickered, forcing herself to settle down. "I usually go by Calypso but I suppose Leo's girl is good enough…Nyssa?"
"Yep, that's me." Nyssa shrugged and pointed to the compass. "Any idea how that thing works?"
"No clue," Calypso replied cheerfully as she set it back down on the table. "But he's been driving himself mad over it."
"Tell me about it." Nyssa rolled her eyes. "What are you doing in here anyhow?"
Calypso held up the miniature wind up elephant to her eyes. "I'm afraid he's dying a slow painful death." She said, solemnly. Nyssa didn't waste time, merely plucked it out of her grip and turned it over.
"Harley's been getting into the scrap metal again." She sighed. "The gears are rusted."
"Can it be fixed?" Calypso asked. "I've grown attached, I guess." The more she spoke, the more Nyssa reminded her of both Leo and Hephaestus in the nimbleness of her fingers and the critical glint of her gaze. She became less frightening when Calypso thought of her that way.
"Sure." Nyssa replied, eying the former goddess thoughtfully. "Leo mentioned you were good with your hands?" Calypso held them up for inspection and the daughter of Hephaestus turned them over, thoughtfully. "Come on, you can work at my bench." She said, walking towards a chaotic blend of paper sketches, blue prints, metal scraps, nails and tools.
"I'm going to fix it?" Calypso said, wryly. "I'm afraid Leo normally does the directing."
This isn't so bad, she thought, warily hopeful. And it counts as keeping busy I guess…
Nyssa shrugged, pointing to where some kind of exploding mace sat glowing faintly with heat from a forge. "I can't touch it until it sets. Bronze can be touchy to work with so I've got free time. I'll show you how."
Nyssa grabbed a couple of replacement gears and let Calypso practise though she felt as though the demigod was testing her slightly. She seemed vaguely impressed by the strength and speed of Calypso's grip but the sea goddess was still a little lost when it came to the mechanics of it.
Nyssa wasn't the cheerful, joking teacher Leo was. She was sterner, more focused and she didn't tolerate anything less than perfection. Calypso wondered what the projects the half-siblings worked on together came out looking like: with Leo's often rushed and pieced together solutions and Nyssa's careful precision, she imagined they'd be either masterpieces or wholly destructive.
About half way through, one of Leo's brothers, a tall dark haired camper named Shane Brown stopped by, looking curious. "What'cha doing, Leo's girl?" he peered over their shoulders.
"Does he not call me by my name when I'm not around?" she asked, dryly, feeling a little more comfortable. It wasn't immediately obvious but Shane Brown had the same nose as his father and the little familiarity made her feel far less nervous around him than she had around Nyssa.
"Course he does," another kid from the next workbench over called out, overhearing. "It's just more fun to tease him."
"Leo's got a girlfriend!" a little girl from one of the far off benches chimed in, snickering.
She rolled her eyes and returned to the problem at hand, though Shane seemed to be playing with it himself. "It's not a bad piece," he admitted. "Harley's come a long way since he started. But it's boring."
"What?" Nyssa replied, snarkily. "Do you want it to shoot lightning?"
"Well maybe not lightning…" Shane countered and somehow they ended up debating how to best upgrade the little wind up toy. Shane seemed to be pushing for arrows shooting out of its trunk.
"Give it wings," Calypso suddenly said, looking at the little creature. "Like Festus."
"I should be horrified to hear you compare that wonderful mechanical marvel with a toy elephant," Shane told her. "But sure. Why not?"
Nyssa took up the challenge and showed Calypso how to shred the metal of any burrs, how to shape it into the best aerodynamically sound attachments and arrange the tiny screws. Shane followed through with his proposition and helped her shape miniature arrow darts to fire from the creature's trunk.
By mid afternoon, the little elephant was stampeding again without a problem and blades attached to its back (Calypso was doubtful but Nyssa assured her that it was the same type of 'wing' as helicopters…whatever they were) were spinning tentatively. "Look at you," Calypso crooned, as she finished the last arrows and set to work trying to follow Nyssa's suggestion to adjust the wingspan. "My little Damocles."
"You're naming it Damocles?" Nyssa snorted. "Seriously?"
"With all the extra features, he's worthy of a good, strong name." Calypso defended, grinning. As she turned, a long lock of hair fell from behind her shoulder, right into the whirring rotor of little Damocles' propeller and it was sliced in a second, the auburn curl falling to the bench table. She pulled backwards suddenly with a yelp. "Damocles!"
Nyssa laughed, the first laugh she'd heard out of the demigod and tugged a bright red patterned bandana out of her pocket. "Tie your hair up and wear one of these if you don't want a free haircut." She suggested and Calypso wound her hair up behind her head tightly, tying the fabric like Nyssa wore hers.
"Is he ready then?" Shane asked, with a grin.
"Ready for what?"
He presented his hand covered in a thin rag and tore off the rag dramatically. In his palm sat a mechanical gorilla with oversized fists that stood and banged on its little tin chest. It was about the same size as Damocles, if slightly heavier.
Calypso shielded her elephant/helicopter immediately. "My Damocles is not going anywhere near that."
"Come on!" Shane whined. "I spent time on making King Kong!"
"I don't understand that reference but no." Calypso muttered, eying the gorilla, which banged its fists aggressively.
Nyssa snickered. "Go on, try him out. Whichever one's still standing when they wind down, wins. It'll be a good test."
"You Hephaestus children are bloodthirsty, aren't you?" she muttered, warily.
Reluctantly, Calypso set Damocles on a big flat table which Natalie, the little girl from before, hastily cleared away. The scene drew the attention of the others and soon they'd collected around the table, eager to watch. "Fight, fight, fight, fight!" the cabin 9 campers cheered as Calypso wound up the little elephant.
Shane put a small flashing chip onto the back of both toys heads. "We use them to test automaton warriors," he explained to Calypso as he wound up King Kong. "The technology is from Daedalus' workshop, it makes them fight one another. Even Jake hasn't cracked it yet."
The other campers crowded around the workbench as the two animals seemed to lock eyes and charge, unsteadily towards each other. King Kong charged his large fists into Damocles' side but the little elephant took off into the air, earning cheers from half the spectators.
King Kong charged Damocles again, this time hitting harder but the elephant merely flew away shakily and shot tiny gold arrows out of its trunk. Kong used his fists to brush them off and when Damocles landed, he launched an attack, the little creatures pushing and shoving like toddlers.
"Da-mo-cles! Da-mo-cles!"
"Beat him King Kong, you can do it!"
"Come on Damocles!"
"There's ten bucks on the gorilla!"
"I don't think so, the elephant can fly!"
When Damocles finally managed to launch a barrage of arrows that pushed King Kong over the edge, Calypso found herself cheering as the little elephant did a victory lap around the bench.
When the forges finally closed, Calypso followed the campers out with Damocles in tact and happily perched on her shoulder. Her bandana kept her hair away from the flying mechanism, just in case.
"Who do you eat with?" Nyssa asked, curiously. The dining arrangements had been altered slightly since the news of the Roman camp had arrived. Camp Jupiter did not organise their dining tables by family, they simply ate together according to legions. Jason and Percy had petitioned Chiron to allow a similar thing so now people were free to eat at separate tables, apart from their parents', though many chose to follow Camp tradition.
"I usually eat with Leo at the table with Piper and Jason." Calypso replied although she didn't add that she'd decided to eat back at the Oracle Cave than face Leo's friends and the rest of the camp without him. She'd put it to the back of her mind for most of the day, working alongside her tentative new friends at Cabin 9 but now all she seemed to think of was how wrong the scene felt without Leo beside her.
Titans and stars, girl, she growled at herself. He's been gone two days!
Unaware of her inner conflict, Nyssa shrugged, suddenly awkward and Calypso was yet again reminded of her father, Hephaestus who had always done so much better with mechanics than people. "You can eat with us if you want." She offered.
"Are you sure?" she checked.
Shane grinned at the idea. "Sure. We can have a rematch at the dinner table."
"If you do, I'll tell Connor Stoll." Natalie insisted nearby. "He'll take bets, I'm sure of it."
Calypso chuckled, wiping her hands on her jeans. "Tomorrow night?" she proposed, warily. "I think King Kong needs an upgrade before he can compete with Damocles."
Shane laughed loudly. "You're on. I'll see you at dinner, Nyssa." He called, jogging back to Cabin 9.
Nyssa was about to follow him when Calypso remembered she still wore the demigod's bandana. "Oh, here." She said, pulling it off her head.
The daughter of Hephaestus looked at it thoughtfully for a moment and then at Calypso. "You keep it. If Shane's doing remodelling on Kong, you'll need it for when we make Damocles shoot lasers tomorrow." And then she was gone, following her siblings to cabin 9.
Calypso hid her smile and made her way back to the cave. "You know Damocles," she murmured, conspiratorially. "I think she might be starting to like me."
Perhaps camp wasn't all that frightening without Leo, after all.
A/N: …famous last words. Super surprise next chapter that I think you've all been subconsciously waiting for- HOPE YOU LIKE IT AND I WILL SEE YOU ON MONDAY!
TO ALL MY FELLOW AUSTRALIANS, HAVE A FANTASTIC AUSTRALIA DAY, HAVE FUN, BE SAFE AND ENJOY THE FIREWORKS WHEREVER YOU MAY BE!
Translations (naughty Calypso, wash your mouth out! Also, keep in mind, I don't speak Greek. These are estimations.)
"Tró̱ne ta kó̱prana ton ageládo̱n!"
Greek. Meaning 'Eat the faeces of cows!'
"Choiron anasa!"
Greek. Meaning 'Swine breath!'
"Ápistos mégaira!
Greek. Meaning 'Traitorous shrew!'
'Pao falakros!'
Greek. Meaning 'Go bald!'
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Red: hello again! Naww, thankyou for all those super sweet compliments and don't even worry, I squeal every time one of you guys follows, favourites or reviews so we're even ;) Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
AvidReader101: Haha, I may or may not have plans for Leo in Chicago which could be considered exciting ;) Hope you enjoy the new chapter and thanks for reading!
Caro: Sorry, brief separation but I'm not cruel enough to make it last longer than a few chapters, I swear :) And Aphrodite would not be the best person to call on for assistance in this case- she might take a special interest like she did with Annabeth and Percy and oh gods, look how that turned out. As for the Caleo fluff, hope you liked it this chapter, it'll be back in a little while! Hope you enjoyed the new chapter and thanks for taking a minute to review :3
Tara Luna Apple: Naw thanks! Glad you liked it and enjoy the new update (It's on time for once, shocking I know ;)
Guest: Thanks! Hope you like the new chapter too!
Starry: Mr D is gonna get his ass kicked by a truck load of angry Caleo fangirls but don't worry, I'm not cruel enough to separate them for more than a week ;) Enjoy the new update!
Artemis Daughter: Naw thanks :3 I really love writing Calypso and Leo like hormonal teenagers- the shower was just too good a scene to pass up ;) And yeah, Mr D is a pain but he'll be gloating about this for a while so Calypso and Leo might get a few chapters of peace at least *fingers crossed* Enjoy the new chapter!
Hannah: I never want to stop writing, so everyone wins! ;) Enjoy the new chapter!
Tseug: Not this quest I'm afraid. Maybe next time Mr D tries to kill of Leo ;) (KIDDING I WOULDN'T DO THAT TO YOU GUYS PROMISE) Enjoy the new chapter :)
Alright, that's it. THANKS everyone who REVIEWS, FAVOURITES, FOLLOWS OR READS this fic, you are all bloody legends, thank you SO much! See you on Monday!