WHO...?
Ariana woke up feeling like she was still on fire. Her skin stung. Her throat felt as dry as sand.
At first, she thought she was dead but then she opened her eyes and found herself in pure darkness.
Confused, she stood up.
"You should stay sat down." A voice called out.
Ariana spun around and shouted. "Hello? Who's there?"
She was a tall girl, lean and muscular in build. Her brown hair was long, but it wasnt tangled .
Her dark green eyes were full of determination, like she was made to survive in the water. On her neck was a pendant, it was a necklace decorated with a tiny silver trident.
Ariana reached for her ring gems, but they weren't there. She had nothing to defend herself with.
"Who are you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at the unknown woman.
"You know me Ariana." She spoke with a kind smile, one she often saw on Percy's face.
Ariana gave her a weird look. "Uh, I don't think I do-"
The woman, who seemed to only be slightly older than Ariana, sighed. "Has your father not told you anything about me?"
Ariana's heart dropped, as she connected together all of the pieces of information. They appeared young, she knew her father, she reminded Ariana of herself.
"Are you my-"
She smiled and nodded. "I am your mother dear."
"But how are you-"
"Here?"
"Well, yeah."
All Ariana knew was that her mother was dead, when the daughter of Hades was around one years old.
"I made a deal." Her mother admitted. "I wanted to see you but I can't stay for long. Your father has banned you from trying to contact me, if you wish to try that." She rolled her eyes. "But I couldn't leave you in the dark. I died trying to protect you."
"But-" Ariana tried to speak but her mother held up a hand to silence her.
Her eyes narrowed, flooding with water. "Listen. Don't be foolish, Ariana like I was. I broke a sacred oath and yes I regret betraying my sisters but I do not regret having you. You are destined to do great things but you cannot let your fatal flaw ruin it for you. Remember who your family is, my dear."
"Your a HalfBlood." Ariana said.
Her mother nodded. "I am."
"Who's your godly parent then?"
The girl frowned. "I cannot tell you that. You are not ready."
Ariana was growing angry. "How can i not be ready for it!"
"You can barely control your powers nevermind more information."
Ariana felt the shadows closing in on them. "I must go now but remember what I've told you. Goodbye, Ariana."
"Wait!" Ariana shouted but the shadows had taken her away, leaving her alone.
A tear fell down her cheek, she hadn't even gotten her mothers name.
Then, she fell to the ground once more. The next time Ariana woke she was in a cave, but as far as caves go, she had been in a lot worse.
The ceiling glittered with different-color crystal formations-white and purple and green, like she was inside one of those cut geodes you see in souvenir shops.
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."
"But that's not fair," Ariana said, "just because you're related doesn't mean you support him. This other daughter we knew, Zoe Nightshade she fought against him. She wasn't imprisoned."
"But, Percy, Ariana." Calypso said gently, "I did support him in the first war. He is my father."
"What? But the Titans are evil!" Percy exclaimed.
"Are they? All of them? All the time?" She pursed her lips. "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?"
They didn't answer. She had a point. Last winter, after they had saved Olympus, the gods had had a debate about whether or not they should kill her and Percy.
That hadn't been exactly good.
"Perhaps I was wrong in the war," Calypso said. "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."
"You don't have any friends?" Ariana asked. "I mean...wouldn't anyone else live here with you? it's a nice place."
A tear trickled down her cheek. "I...I promised myself I wouldn't speak of this. But-"
She was interrupted by a rumbling sound somewhere out on the lake. A glow appeared on the horizon.
It got brighter and brighter, until Ariana could see a column of fire moving across the surface of the water, coming toward them.
Percy stood and reached for his sword. It was only then did Ariana realise her rings were back on her fingers. "What is that?"
Calypso sighed. "A visitor."
As the column of fire reached the beach. Calypso stood and bowed to it formally. The flames dissipated, and standing before them was a tall man in gray overalls and a metal leg brace, his beard and hair smoldering with fire.
"Lord Hephaestus." Calypso said. "This is a rare honor."
The fire god grunted. "Calypso. Beautiful as always. Would you excuse us, please, my dear? I need to have a word with our young Percy Jackson and Ariana Parker."
Hephaestus sat down clumsily at the dinner table and ordered a Pepsi. The invisible servant brought him one, opened it too suddenly, and sprayed soda all over the gods work clothes.
Hephaestus roared and spat a few curses and swatted the can away.
"Stupid servants," he muttered, "good automatons are what she needs. They never act up!"
"Hephaestus," Percy said, "what's going on? Is Annabeth-"
"She's fine," he said. "Resourceful girl, that one. Found her way back, told me the whole story. She's worried sick, you know."
"You haven't told her we are okay?" Ariana demanded, trying to keep her temper under control.
"That's not for me to say." Hephaestus said. "Everyone thinks you two dead. I had to be sure you both were coming back before I started telling everyone where you were."
"What do you mean?" Ariana said. "Of course we are coming back!"
Hephaestus studied them skeptically. He fished something out of his pocket - a metal disk the size of an iPod. He clicked a button and it expanded into a miniature bronze TV.
On the screen was news footage of Mount St. Helens, a huge plume of fire and ash trailing into the sky.
"Still uncertain about further eruptions," the newscaster was saying, "authorities ave ordered the evacuation of almost half a million people as a precaution. Meanwhile, ash has fallen as far away as Lake Tahoe and Vancouver, and the entire Mount St. Helens area is closed to traffic within a hundred-mile radius. While no deaths have been reported, minor injuries and illnesses include-"
Hephaestus switched it off. "You two caused quite an explosion."
Ariana stared at the blank bronze screen. Half a million people evacuated? Injuries. Illness. What had they done?
"The telekhines were scattered," the god told them, "some vaporized. Some got away, no doubt. I don't think they'll be using my forge any time soon. On the other hand, neither will I. the explosion caused Typon to stir in his sleep. We'll have to wait and see."
"We couldn't release him, could I? I mean, we are not that powerful!" Percy protested.
The god grunted. "Not that powerful, eh? Could have fooled me. You're the son of the Earthshaker, lad. And you girl, well you don't know half your family. You two don't know your own strength."
Maybe Ariana was too dangerous. Maybe it was safer for their friends to think she was dead.
"What about Grover and Tyson?" Ariana asked.
Hephaestus shook his head. "No word, I'm afraid. I suppose the labyrinth has them."
"So what are we supposed to do?"
Hephaestus winced. "Don't ever ask an old cripple for advice, lad. But I'll tell you this. You've met my wife?"
"Aphrodite." Percy confirmed.
"That's her. She's a tricky one, ad. Be careful of love. It'll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong."
"Is this part of her plan?" Percy asked. "Did she land me here?"
"Possibly. Hard to say with her. But if you decide to leave this place and I don't say what's right or wrong-then I promised you an answer to your quest. I promised you the way to Daedalus. Well now, here's the thing. It has nothing to do with Ariadne's string. Not really. Sure, the string work.
That's what the Titan's army will be after. But the best way through the maze.. Theseus had the princess's help. And the princess was a regular mortal. Not a drop of god blood in her. But she was clever, and she could see. She could see very clearly. So what I'm saying I think you know how to navigate the maze."
"Yeah," Percy said. "Yeah, I know."
Ariana also knew. The answer was Rachel, the mortal girl they had first encountered last Christmas and the girl Percy had befriended.
"Then you'll need to decide whether or not you're leaving."
"I..."
"Don't decide yet." Hephaestus advised. "Wait until daybreak. Daybreak is a good time for decisions."
"Will Daedalus even help us?" Ariana asked. "I mean, if he gives Luke a way to navigate the Labyrinth, we're dead. I saw dreams about... Daedalus killed his nephew. He turned bitter and angry and-"
"It isn't easy being a brilliant inventor," Hephaestus rumbled. "Always alone. Always misunderstood. Easy to turn bitter, make horrible mistakes. People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can't be fixed."
Hephaestus brushed the last drops of Pepsi off his work clothes.
"Daedalus started well enough. He helped the Princess Ariadne and Theseus because he felt sorry for them. He tried to do a good deed. And everything in his life went bad because of it. Was that fair?" The god shrugged. "I don't know if Daedalus will help you, lad, but don't judge someone until you've stood at his forge and worked with his hammer, eh?"
"I'II-I'll try."
Hephaestus stood.
"Good-bye. You two did well, destroying the
telekhines. I'll always remember you both for that."
It sounded very final, that good-bye. Then he erupted into a column of flame, and the fire moved over the water, heading back to the world outside.
They walked along the beach for several hours. When they finally came back to the meadow, it was very late, maybe four or five in the morning, but Calypso was still in her garden, tending the flowers by starlight.
Her moonlace glowed silver, and the other plants responded to the magic, glowing red and yellow and blue.
"He has ordered you to return." Calypso guessed.
"Well, not ordered. He gave us a choice." Percy said.
Her eyes met his. "I promised I would not offer."
"Offer what?"
"For you to stay."
"Stay." Percy said. "Like...forever?"
"You would be immortal on this island," she said quietly. "You would never age or die. You could leave the fight to others, Percy Jackson. Ariana, You could escape your prophecy."
Ariana stared at her, stunned. "Just like that?"
She nodded. "Just like that."
"But... our friends." Ariana said to Percy.
Calypso rose and took Percy's hand. Her "You asked about my curse, Percy. I did not want to tell you. the truth is the gods send me companionship from time to time. Every thousand years or so, they allow a hero to wash up on my shores, someone who needs my help. I tend to him and befriend him, but it is never random. The Fates make sure that the sort of hero they send..."
Her voice trembled, and she had to stop.
Percy squeezed her hand tighter. "What? What have I done to make you sad?"
"They send a person who can never stay." she whispered. "Who can never accept my offer of companionship for more than a little while. They send me a hero I can't help.. just the sort of person I can't help falling in love with."
The night was quiet except for the gurgle of the fountains and waves lapping on the shore. It took her a long time to realize what she was saying.
"Me?" Percy asked.
"If you could see your face." She suppressed a smile, though her eyes were still teary. "Of course, you."
"That's why you've been pulling away all this time?"
"I tried very hard. But I can't help it. The Fates are cruel. They sent you to me, my brave one, knowing that you would break my heart. And they sent Ariana to ensure you would leave."
"But...I'm just...I mean, I'm just me."
"That is enough," Calypso promised. "I told myself I would not even speak of this. I would let you go without even offering. But I can't. I suppose the Fates knew that, too. You could stay with me, Percy. I'm afraid that is the only way you could help me."
Percy stared at the horizon. The first red streaks of dawn were lightening the sky. He could stay here forever, disappear from the earth. He could live with Calypso, with invisible servants tending to my every need.
"Percy-" Ariana started.
"I can't." he told her.
She looked down sadly. Ariana breathed in relief.
"I would never do anything to hurt you," he said, "but my friends need me. I know how to help them now. I have to get back."
She picked a flower from her garden a sprig of silver moonlace. Its glow faded as the sunrise came up.
Daybreak is a good time for decisions, Hephaestus had said. Calypso tucked the flower into his T-shirt pocket.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the forehead, like a blessing.
"Then come to the beach, my hero. And we will send you two on your way."
The raft was a ten-foot square of logs lashed together with a pole for a mast and a simple white linen sail. It didn't look like it would be very seaworthy, or lakeworthy.
"This will take you wherever you desire." Calypso promised. "It is quite safe."
Percy took her hand, but she let it slip out of his.
"Maybe we can visit you," He said.
She shook her head. "No man ever finds Ogygia twice, Percy. When you leave, I will never see you again."
"But-"
"Go, please." Her voice broke. "The Fates are cruel, Percy. Just remember me."
Then a little trace of her smile returned. "Plant a garden in Manhattan for me, will you?"
"I promise." They stepped onto the raft. Immediately it began to sail from the shore.
As they sailed onto the lake Ariana realised the Fates really were cruel. They sent Calypso someone she couldn't help but love. But it worked both ways.
Within minutes the island of Ogygia was lost in the mist. They were sailing alone over the water toward the sunrise.
Then Percy told the raft what to do.
"Camp Half-Blood." He said. "Sail us home."
Percy smiled as Ariana. "I'm glad your not dead." He said.
Ariana laughed then her face turned blank. "I saw my mother."
Percy looked at her.
She took a breath and continued. "When I lost consciousness I woke up in a room; it was full of shadows. My mother was there she spoke to me a bit, reminded me who my family was. If anything, she left me with more questions.."
"We'll figure it out, Ari." Percy said. "We always do."
Ariana sighed and placed her head on Percy's shoulder. "I hope your right seaweed brain."