orenda [leo valdez]

lxxii. The Return of Meg McCaffrey

He shifted uncomfortably. "I...hadn't been born yet."

Kira took a breath in, beginning to realize how truly old Calypso was. Kira had bad-mouthed and egged a Titan on to fight multiple times.

"Surely you know the song." Calypso began to sing.

Apollo took the lower part of the harmony.

Kira stared at them, trying to pretend to not be effected, but she had tears in her eyes.

Calypso edged toward the griffins. Apollo followed behind her. Kira rubbed her arm nervously behind them

Abelard ceased yanking at his chain. He prowled and preened, making deep clucking sounds. Calypso's voice was plaintive and full of melancholy.

Calypso put her hand on Abelard's head. He could easily have snapped off her arm, but he crouched and turned into the caress like a cat. Calypso knelt, removed a hairpin, and began working on the griffin's manacle.

Calypso popped the lock with a hairpin. With a clank, the iron cuff fell from Abelard's back leg. Calypso moved toward Heloise—a much trickier proposition, approaching an expecting mother. Heloise growled suspiciously but did not attack.

The two continued to sing, their voices in perfect pitch now.

Calypso freed Heloise. She stepped back and stood shoulder to shoulder with Apollo as they finished the last line of the song: As long as gods shall live, so long shall I love you.

The griffins stared at them. They seemed more intrigued now than angry.

"Tots," Calypso advised.

Apollo shook half the packet into her palms.

He proffered a handful of golden Tater Tots to Abelard. He scuttled forward and sniffed. When he opened his beak, he reached inside and pressed the Tots on his warm tongue. The griffin waited until he removed his hand before swallowing down the snack.

He ruffled his neck feathers, then turned to squawk at Heloise.

Calypso fed her Tots to Heloise. The female griffin butted her head against the sorceress in a sign of obvious affection.

Behind them, someone clapped.

Standing at the threshold, bloody and battered but still very much alive, was Lityerses, all by himself.

"Well done," said the swordsman. "You found a perfect place to die."

Kira bit her lip. She had no escape. As long as Apollo and Calypso left, it would be okay. She would be okay. Everything would be fine.

"Calypso?" Apollo said weakly.

"Yeah?"

"If we die here, I'd just like to say you aren't as bad as I originally thought."

"Thanks, but we're not going to die. That would deprive me of killing you later."

Lityerses chuckled. "Oh, you two. Bantering like you have a future. It must be hard for former immortals to accept that death is real. Me, I've died. Let me tell you, it's no fun."

Kira laughed bitterly. "If only I had been the one to kill you,"

"You're the son of King Midas," Apollo said. "You came back to the mortal world when the Doors of Death were open?"

The swordsman curled his lip. "We came through the Doors of Death, all right. Then my idiot father promptly got himself killed again, thanks to a run-in with Kira Willows and her crew. I survived only because I was turned into a gold statue and covered with a rug."