The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

twelve

Ariana was lying on a comfortable bed with feather pillows and cotton sheets. The cave was divided into sections by white silk curtains.

Against one wall stood a large loom and a harp. Against the other wall were shelves neatly stacked with jars of fruit preserves.

Dried herbs hung from the ceiling: rosemary, thyme, and a bunch of other stuff. My mother could've named them all.

There was a fireplace built into the cave wall, and a pot bubbling over the flames. It smelled great, like beef stew.

She sat up, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her head. Not long after, she passed out again.

The next time she woke it was night, but she wasn't sure if it was the same night or many nights later.

Ariana was in the bed in the cave, but she rose and wrapped a robe around herself and padded outside.

The stars were brilliant thousands of them, like you only see way out in the country. She could make out all the constellations Annabeth had taught her: Capricorn, Pegasus, Sagittarius. And there, near the southern horizon, was a new constellation: the Huntress, a tribute to a friend of theirs who had died last winter.

"Percy, what do you see?"

Ariana's head spun around at the voice. Percy was here?

"I was just looking at..." he found himself staring at her face. "Uh...I forgot."

She laughed gently. "Well, as long as you're up, you can help me plant these."

"Percy?" Ariana called.

The next thing she heard was running and then she was being pulled into a hug.

"Ariana! Your alright." He exclaimed, pulling away.

"Yeah." She sounded confused, looking around. "Where are we?"

"Welcome, I am Calypso." The girl next to him has the one who'd called herself Calypso, had caramel hair that was plaited. "Come let's have dinner."

Percy was telling her about New York and Camp Half-Blood, and then he started telling her about the time Grover had eaten an apple while they were playing Hacky Sack with it.

Calypso laughed, showing off her amazing smile, and their eyes met. Then she dropped her gaze.

"There it is again," Percy said.

Ariana stayed quiet, she was still very much confused as to the situation here. One minute she was speaking to her dead mother and the next, she was on an island.

"What?"

"You keep pulling away, like you're trying not to enjoy vourself."

She kept her eyes on her glass of cider. "As I told you, Percy, I have been punished. Cursed, you might say."

"How? Tell me. I want to help."

"Don't say that. Please don't say that."

"Tell me what the punishment is."

She covered her half-finished stew with a napkin, and immediately an invisible servant whisked the bowl away.

"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."

"Because your father was Atlas."

She nodded. "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."