Calypso

The Story of Percy - Part 4

Dinner. Food that I'd barely touched.
I just didn't want it to happen again.
Percy was sitting across the low table, telling stories about Manhattan and his Camp Half-Blood and his friends. His friend Grover, a satyr, was especially hilarious.
"And as soon as I kicked the hacky-sack-slash-apple into the air, Grover snapped it right up in his mouth!"
I couldn't help it; I giggled. Our gazes collided, and I looked down again. I couldn't. I just couldn't do this again.
"There it is again," he said softly.
I looked up at him, surprised. "What?"
"You keep pulling away, like you're trying not to enjoy yourself."
I stared at my glass of cider, not trusting my gaze to hide to flip-flops my heart were doing. He'd noticed.
"As I told you, Percy, I have been punished." I hesitated. "Cursed, you might say."
"How? Tell me. I want to help."
My heart did another leap, then crashed to the ground. "Don't say that. Please don't say that." I was already falling hopelessly in love with you.
"Tell me what the punishment is."
I made the sign for an invisible servant to take my bowl away. I still couldn't look Percy in the eyes.
"Percy, this island, Ogygia, is my home, my birthplace. But it is also my prison. I am under... house arrest, I guess you would call it. I will never visit this Manhattan of yours. Or anywhere else. I am alone here." Alone and heartbroken a million times over.
"Because your father was Atlas."
I nodded slowly. "The gods do not trust their enemies. And rightly so. I should not complain. Some of the prisons are not nearly as nice as mine." I clenched my fists under the table at my lies. I knew better than to curse the gods; I still held a small bit of hope that they'd release me if I could convince them that I'm not a threat. I didn't know why; I'd done so for a millenia and it hadn't done me any good.
"But that's not fair. Just because you're related doesn't mean you support him. This other daughter I knew, Zoe Nightshade--she fought against him. She wasn't imprisoned."
"But, Percy," I said gently, hoping that I could get this point across without making a big deal. Hoping that maybe the gods wouldn't rethink it and keep me locked up for another eternity. "I did support him in the first war. He is my father."
"What?" But the Titans are evil!"
I felt my breath quicken with anger. I couldn't hold my tongue this time. "Are they? All of them? All the time?" I pursed my lips, trying to think of a way to make a point. "Tell me, Percy. I have no wish to argue with you. But do you support the gods because they are good, or because they are your family?"
He didn't answer, and I knew that I'd hit home.
Then I remembered that the gods could probably hear this whole conversation. I swallowed and hurried to cover up my mistake. "Perhaps I was wrong in the war. And in fairness, the gods have treated me well. They visit me from time to time. They bring me word of the outside world. But they can leave. And I cannot." If only it were as simple as that.
"You don't have any friends? I mean... wouldn't anyone else live here with you? It's a nice place."
I felt a tear trickling down my cheek. "I... I promised myself I wouldn't speak of this. But..."
A rumble echoed over the sea. A wisp of smoke curled into a spark, then a flame... Until there was a column of fire roaring across the beach towards us.
Percy stood and pulled out a strange, black stick from his pocket. "What is that?"
I sighed, not trusting myself to say anything more. "A visitor."
When the column reached us, I stood and bowed formally as it shaped into the god of fire. "Lord Hephaestus. It is a rare honor."
He grunted. "Calypso. Beautiful as always. Would you excuse us please, my dear? I need to have a word with our young Percy Jackson." I flinched at the 'my dear.' I was just about as far from dear to him as one could get.
I hurried away. I wanted to eavesdrop, but I had a feeling that the god would notice.
I rushed to my garden and started planting, weeding, watering... Anything to keep my heart far away.