"Here?" I echoed, my voice barely louder than the pounding in my ears at the sudden change-up. Calypso had been nothing but sweet since I'd arrived on the island. She was like a Pinterest board come to life—everything about her screamed summer evenings, fireflies, and cozy evenings tucked under a warm blanket. I wasn't sure someone like her could even feel negative emotions.
Seeing her face now though, taut with a potent blend of fear, anger, and surprise, was almost as scary as fighting those demon dogs on Mt. St. Helens. "Like, here here?"
Her fingers dug into my shoulder, each one like a small, determined anchor, holding me in place. Droplets of water clung to her lashes, shimmering like tiny prisms. She nodded, her gaze flicking back toward the beach, haunted, like she was trying to see through a veil I couldn't even sense. She turned slightly, her gaze catching something in the distance, and a soft breeze stirred a few strands of her hair. It was almost enough to make me forget what we were doing here, enough to make me forget that the whole world wasn't just made up of soft sunlight, green water, and Calypso's silhouette standing in the middle of it.
"Yes. I…there's something wrong," she whispered, her words brushing the air between us like the barest edge of a blade. She swallowed, and I saw the slight quiver in her throat before she spoke again, "On the island. With us."
Just as I was sinking deeper into that moment—her words sliced through my stupor, snapping me out of my daze like a bucket of cold water dumped over my head. I blinked, the scene shifting from this dreamlike haze back to reality, and suddenly, I remembered where we were and what we were supposed to be doing.
It hit me all at once, like a heavy, uncomfortable weight settling back on my shoulders. That old, familiar tension—the kind that coiled itself around my insides and squeezed every time something monstrous was about to go down. I hadn't felt it in…well, in days. Not since I'd landed on this weirdly perfect island where the sky was always blue, the water was always warm, and nothing seemed in a rush to kill me.
But now, I could feel the stress creeping back in, like an itch I couldn't scratch, a weight pressing down on me, reminding me exactly who I was and why peace was always temporary. The kind of stress only a demigod could ever know—the certainty that, at any second, things could explode into chaos and I'd have to step up or else.
I clenched my fists, trying to shove it down, to pretend I could just ignore it. But it was no use.
"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling a chill crawl up my spine. No, wait—it was just Calypso's hand sneaking around the back of my neck, her fingers cool but firm. I winced as her nails pressed slightly against my skin, just hard enough to leave an impression.
She shook her head, pulling her hand back and already turning away, water splashing around her ankles as she waded out of the lagoon. "I don't know," she muttered, yanking her dress back on in quick, almost frantic movements. "Come on."
"Yeah, sure," I replied, pulling my shirt over my head as I hurried after her, half stammering, half praying I didn't faceplant in the sand. She was already darting up the rocks, her dress fluttering behind her like a banner caught in a storm. "Hey! Calypso! Wait up!"
She didn't look back, didn't slow. She just kept running, her figure a blur as she bounded down the beach. Her footsteps left shallow divots in the sand.
A knot twisted in my stomach as I watched Calypso dart ahead, her silhouette growing smaller and smaller against the backdrop of the beach. Panic welled up, hot and insistent. She was running toward who-knows-what without so much as a glance back at me, and all I could think about was how things could go south in the worst way possible.
I slid through the rocks, feeling my own heartbeat pounding in sync with each step. The strange rumbling from before grew louder, vibrating through the beach like the ominous roll of distant thunder. At first, it felt like it was coming from the earth itself, a deep tremor radiating up through the sand. But as the sound intensified, something felt…off.
I slowed for just a second, scanning the horizon for some sort of clue. Then it hit me—it wasn't coming from the ground. It was coming from above.
I looked up, squinting against the light, and an icy shiver darted down my spine. The sky itself was roaring, an unsettling, almost predatory growl that reverberated through the air, rattling my bones with each pulse. One second, the sky was clear and bright, the kind of sky you see in movies and think, wow, that's just a little too perfect. Then, without warning, that calm blue was swallowed up by a dark, furious maroon. It looked like the sky itself had decided it was done pretending everything was fine.
The clouds thickened, twisting together, coiling like they were ready to explode. Sunlight struggled to pierce through, but the beams turned a sickly shade of orange, casting jagged, warped shadows across the sand, that scattered like puzzle pieces on a tabletop.
Please let that be global warming.
My lungs burned as I chased after her, my feet pounding against the sand. When I finally caught up, Calypso was already standing at the beach's edge, staring at something far beyond the horizon. Her face was expressionless, her eyes locked on something I couldn't see. But I could tell there was tension in her, like a bowstring pulled too tight, on the edge of snapping.
"What do you see?" I asked, catching my breath as I fell into step beside her. I squinted, trying to spot whatever she was staring at, but all I could make out were the churning waves, angry and gray.
Without answering, Calypso clenched her fist, and a spark of purple energy ignited in her palm. The glow crackled to life, casting flickering shadows across her knuckles and illuminating her face with an otherworldly light.
"Calypso?" I whispered, half entranced, half terrified.
"It's not a person," she murmured, her voice barely audible above the roaring waves. Her gaze hardened, and I saw her jaw tighten. "Whatever it is, it's not human."
Not human? I wanted to ask a dozen more questions, but the intensity on her face kept me quiet.
The water by our feet turned muddy, and wisps of mist curled off the filthy surface. Ahead, the horizon glimmered with a strange greenish light that reminded me of poison, something toxic and malevolent.
"Then what—" I started, but she didn't let me finish.
"I don't know," she replied, her voice cold and resolved. Without another word, she raised her hand, and for a second, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Then—BOOM!
A jagged bolt of purple lightning erupted from her palm, streaking through the sky in a blinding arc. It hurtled toward the water, striking something that screeched like it was alive. The sound echoed back like a war cry.
The impact exploded outward, and a shockwave of wind barreled back toward the shore. It tore through the trees, rattling branches and blasting grains of sand across my face. I blinked, rubbing my eyes, and as I looked over at Calypso, she turned, her face inches from mine.
Her eyes flared, amber sparking like embers catching fire, and for a second, it was like I was looking at a completely different person. Gone was the calm, grounded gaze I was used to. Calypso's golden eyes burned with an intensity so fierce that it was like looking into the eyes of a caged animal, one that had finally broken free. She was still her, but there was something ancient, almost dangerous, lurking in the depths. It sent a chill racing down my spine like I was face-to-face with a stranger who wore her face as a mask.
I froze, hand instinctively reaching into my pocket for a pen that was no longer there. Years of battling monsters had honed my gut feeling; everything in me was telling me I needed to be careful with Calypso, but my gut twisted with something else that didn't fit the battle reflexes I'd drilled into my brain. Her whole vibe was off, her shoulders tense, her breath quick, eyes blazing in a way that made me wonder if I was staring down a friend or a threat.
My instincts flared. Something primal shot through me, a feeling I couldn't even name.
I lunged, tackling Calypso just as the world seemed to explode around us. We hit the ground with a thud, and the impact sent us rolling down the sand like two mismatched tumbleweeds. My arm instinctively wrapped around her waist, her hair whipped across my face, and somehow, between the dust and the chaos, I caught a flash of her wide-eyed stare.
We kept rolling, our limbs tangling as we slid down the sandy slope, and I couldn't tell where I ended and she began. Every bump in the sand pressed us closer together until, finally, we skidded to a stop, my chest against hers, my face only inches from hers. Her amber eyes met mine, wild and intense, and for a second, I completely forgot about the danger we'd just dodged.
"Percy…" Calypso moaned. Her eyes were still fierce, still blazing with that fire, but there was something different now—something familiar. That wild, almost unrecognizable person I'd seen just moments before seemed to have vanished. In their place, Calypso looked like herself again, her gaze softened but steady, as if she'd come back to earth and was seeing me, really seeing me, for the first time in that tense moment. The wildness hadn't gone entirely, but now, it was her.
For a moment, silence blanketed the beach. The sky above seemed to calm, the dark light fading until it returned to a semi-normal color. The water slowly settled, losing that eerie glow.
My heart thundered against my ribcage. Somehow, I realized that my hands were still wrapped around Calypso. Her arms were on my shoulders, pinning me gently to the sand. One of my hands had accidentally slipped under her dress, and my hand was resting on the bare skin of her butt.
"Fuck," Her breath was warm on my cheek, and her gaze flickered to mine, a mixture of something unreadable lingering there.
"Are you alright?" I asked, my voice a little rougher than I intended.
Calypso took a shallow breath, her eyes gliding over my face. "Yes…thank you for the help." She shifted on top of me, but neither of us moved to pull apart. Her gaze darted down to where my hands rested, a small, almost mischievous smile tugging at her lips.
Heat crawled up my neck, but I managed a grin.
A massive metal object—a box, the size of a pool table—whistled past us, hurtling through the air with enough speed to leave my head spinning. It crashed into the sand a few feet away, sending up a gritty shower that clung to our skin like sticky sea mist.
"We need to secure the area," Calypso got off me with a shimmy and pulled me up. Her fingers lingered on mine for a beat longer than necessary, her thumb tracing a tiny circle on the back of my hand before she let go. The warmth of her touch stayed with me, buzzing like static.
My brain felt like soup. All I could think about was how she'd felt on top of me, but I managed to say, "Right. Secure the area."
Calypso patted some sand off her dress, casting a sideways glance at me as I turned toward the box. The thing sat atop the sand like it had been waiting for us all along, its heavy form daring us to come closer.
The whole box was carved out of some dark, ancient-looking wood, with strange, angular symbols etched into every inch. It looked like it had been dragged out of the deepest corner of an ancient temple, but somehow it gleamed like it had just been polished yesterday. Bands of bronze wrapped around the edges, twisting into intricate patterns that reminded me of vines—or snakes. In the center of the lid, there was a circular emblem, shiny and silvery. At first, it just looked like a sunburst, but as I squinted, I realized there were tiny figures around the edges.
Warriors, maybe, judging by the spears and helmets. They all faced the center like they were guarding something. Or warning people to stay away.
"It looks…ominous," I murmured, not quite able to shake the feeling that the box was watching us back.
"Ominous is just another word for mysterious," she replied, her voice soft, leaning into the space between us as if sharing a secret. "And sometimes, mysterious things are worth exploring."
The box began to crumble as we moved closer, almost as if it was disintegrating under our gaze. Polished wood splintered, and tiny cracks spider-webbed across the surface. I could hear a faint creak, like the sound of an old door swinging open, and a few bronze bands snapped with a sharp ping, sending splinters of metal tumbling into the sand.
Then, suddenly, the emblem in the center darkened, its silvery sheen dulling to an angry black. The tiny carved warriors seemed to shift, their features stretching and narrowing as if they were glaring at us, warning us to back off. With every step we took, the cracks widened, and the box shuddered like it was alive and feeling its last breaths.
And yet, through the cracks, something glimmered, a soft flash of gold hidden within the heart of the box. As the last bits crumbled away, a gleaming shaft floated up from inside, its golden tip dripping with what looked suspiciously like fresh blood.
A piece of yellowed paper unfurled around the shaft, falling by the wayside.
Calypso's eyes widened, her hand resting lightly on my arm. "Is that…?"
I nodded, swallowing hard. Drops of red painted the sand. "Looks like it."
She sniffed the air, her gaze never leaving the spear. "It's fresh," she murmured, her tone carrying a hint of fascination and dread.
Her gaze lingered on the box, but after a second, she looked up at me, her eyes soft and curious. There was something vulnerable in her expression, a look that made my heart skip a beat.
"Maybe… it was meant for us," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
I picked up the scrap of paper that was tucked into the sand. "Listen you Jupiter and you Juno, Quirinus and all the gods of heaven, earth, and hell, listen: I put on witnesses injustice of this town, who refuses to return what is not theirs. Now the elders of my country will deliberate on measures to restore our rights."
Calypso looked at me like I'd grown a second head. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but no sound came out. "I don't understand."
"Because they have acted against the Roman people, son of Quirinius, and transgressed against him," I continued. "The Roman people, son of Quirinius has provided war; the senate of the Roman people, son of Quirinius, has proposed, sentenced, and decreed, and I and the Roman people declared it and I break the hostilities."
"No, I literally don't understand those words, Percy," Calypso muttered. She took the note from my hands and pursed her lips. "I…think they're in Latin."
"Quis erat—" I faltered, losing my train of thought as Calypso took the paper from me. It felt like I'd been unplugged. Concern flashed through Calypso's eyes as I tried to shake the brain fog. "What? What just happened?"
"You were speaking in a different language," Calypso said slowly. Something dark flickered on the edge of her tone, "I wasn't aware you knew Latin."
"I don't," I answered immediately. Unease squeezed my insides into knots. It'd already been a weird few days, but this was the insane frosting on the crazy cake. I was officially ready to start freaking out. "At least, I don't think so."
"What did the note say?"
I looked at the note again. This time, instead of words, all I saw were squiggly lines. It was like someone took the note I had and crossed out everything that was on it.
"Huh. Well, I think it was a message to someone named Jupiter. And Juno. Something about an injustice and taking measures to war."
"Are you sure?" Calypso asked, grabbing my shoulder. "Are you absolutely sure that's what you read?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I...I need to go check something. Wait here," Calypso mumbled, turning around. She abruptly turned back to me and pressed her lips to my forehead, before shooting back off into the distance.
"Alright, then," I said. "Waiting here."
AN: Woot woot! This is mainly to that one reviewer who said the next chapter wouldn't be out until Easter...how you like these apples? Kidding. Well, not really. Spite motivates me, but I also do have really big plans for this story and I do want to put them into motion as soon as I can, so...
I've updated both the picture and description for this story. It gives away a bit more, so hopefully that'll help you guys piece together a bit of what's going on here now.
Last but not least, if you have any questions or would like to be further in the loop with updates and my current priorities in terms of stories, please join the Discord server. They're made aware of updates before the site is. Just take the spaces out of this: Linktr . ee /maroooon
See you soon! And please review your comments/thoughts/theories. It helps me gauge how people perceived the chapter and the things they'd like to see going forward.
- Maroon