Calypso watched helplessly as the image of Leo drifted farther and farther away, until he was gone. Calypso sat up in bed and tried to control her breathing.
For weeks, she'd been having reams about Leo leaving. This one had been him being taken by the sky. In previous dreams, he'd been taken by the sea, the earth, nearly anything you could name. She just wanted to have them stop.
Just one vision, she thought. Just one dream to let me know he's alright.
She knew it was silly. She could never leave Ogygia, no matter how much she wanted to. Besides, even if she could leave, time worked differently on Ogygia. Calypso could get out there and find that Leo was - no, she refused to think like that. She would never know, because there was no way she was ever leaving this island.
Unless. . . Leo said something about her being able to leave because the gods promised to release her. If that was really true, then - no, she couldn't afford to get her hopes up like she'd done with every hero ever to visit Ogygia: Odysseus, Drake, Perseus Jackson, and Leo. It was her fatal flaw (yes, she had a fatal flaw; she was the daughter of a Titan, immortal or not).
Calypso got out of bed. She hadn't bothered to continue wearing Greek dresses, so she was still wearing jeans and a simple turquoise shirt. She walked to the entrance of the cave and drew back the curtain that Leo had so generously fixed for her. Outside, the moon was high in the sky and reflected itself on the small lake. Moonlace dotted around the island, giving everything an eery silver glow.
"It truly is a beautiful island," said a gruff voice from inside the cave. "You've done a beautiful job over the millenia. Although I'm not one for beauty."
Calypso turned around to find the god of blacksmiths and forges, Leo's father. "Lord Hephaestus," Calypso greeted, curtsying.
"No need for formal greetings," Hephaestus rumbled. "You wished for a vision, and I'm here to grant you that wish."
"My lord, what wish?" Calypso asked.
An invisible wind servant offered the god a Pepsi. "Oh, I'm not falling for that again," he exclaimed, and the wind servant walked back outside. "To answer your question, Calypso, you asked for knowledge of my son, Leo. Or is that no longer your wish?"
"No, it is my wish," Calypso said quickly. She was confused, but she understood enough to know that if she refused, she would never know if Leo was okay. "Show me."
Hephaestus waved his hand and a golden light flashed. When the light faded, there was a screen similar to an Iris Message floating in the air. The screen showed Leo on the Argo II, talking to Percy Jackson.
"-made an oath," Leo was telling Percy. "I swore on the River Styx."
"What is he talking about?" Calypso demanded. "What oath?"
Hephaestus sighed. "You aren't going to like this." He waved his hand and the scene changed.
Calypso recognised her island in the background. There was the raft that came for Leo, with Leo on it.
"I'm coming back for you, Calypso," Leo said. "I swear it on the River Styx."
The screen dissolved. Calypso stood there, shocked. "So Leo is going to die?" she asked quietly as a tear trickled down her cheek.
"Not necessarily," Hephaestus said. "You see, the oath would be destroyed if Ogygia ceased to exist. And the only way Ogygia would cease to exist, is if you left."
"You mean. . ." Calypso trailed off.
"I, Lord Hephaestus, release you, Calypso, daughter of Atlas, from Ogygia," the god declared. "It is your decision whether you stay or leave. There's a raft waiting for you on the beach. By the way, you might want to check on your moonlace." Hephaestus started to glow. Calypso knew to look away as the god revealed his true form. Soon the light died, and all was quiet.
Calypso opened her eyes, but saw nothing but total darkness. Funny, it was never dark on Ogygia because the moonlace was always glowing. She grabbed a torch and lit it. Fire danced on the stick, but stayed far away from Calypso's hand. She took it outside, where she was met by a scene she'd never imagined she'd see.
The moonlace was dying. Calypso stooped down to inspect a plant. It was wilted and had only a dim glow. The grass beside it was yellow and dry. Not only the moonlace was dying; the whole island was nearly dead, the garden she'd spent millenia planting wilted. And it was all Gaea's doing.
Calypso stood up, more sure than ever. Her options were simple: stay on Ogygia and die with it, or leave to find Leo and let the island die without her.
Calypso went off to pack her things.
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One single flower, still glowing brightly. This moonlace was the only living plant she'd found. Calypso dug it up and put it in a pot with a little bit of dirt. If she had to leave Ogygia, the least she could do was take a little bit of the island with her.
She had enough food for three days, all prepared by her wind spirits. They were sick, dying along with the rest of the island. Calypso felt terrible leaving them and her island to die, but if she left, their deaths wouldn't happen; they would cease to exist. She supposed that would be better than slowly and painfully dying.
The raft was on the beach, just as Hephaestus promised it would be. It didn't look like much, but when she put her hand on the wood, she could feel the magic pulsing through the small boat.
Calypso struggled to move the raft to the water (that thing weighed more than it looked). Then the raft started moving faster. Calypso let go in shock and would have stumbled into the water if one of the wind spirits hadn't caught her and lifted her to the raft.
"Thank you," she whispered. She hugged the spirit as well as you can hug wind. "I'll miss all of you."
She wiped tears off her cheeks and sat down on the raft. "Athens, please."
The raft sped off, leaving Ogygia behind. After a few hundred yards, the island shimmered and disappeared like a mirage, but Calypso knew it was no mirage. Ogygia, the place of her birth and imprisonment, her island, was gone. Through her tears, Calypso smiled.
Leo's oath was destroyed.
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TADA!
I haven't decided the next chapter's POV, so Annabeth can't spoil anything, and you can actually have a good surprise! See y'all.
