The Girl He Forgot

Calypso

I watched as the girl walked up the water. I expected her to waddle into the water and disappear under the surface. What I did not expect was for her to walk onto the water and keep on marching angrily until she was nothing but a speck. A very loud, but very tiny speck.

"THIS IS NOT FUNNY! FIRST YOU ALLOW ME TO GET KIDNAPPED AND RAISED IN TARTARUS BY TARTARUS AND THE FREAKING EARTH, THEN YOU MAKE EVERYONE FORGET ME WITHIN A TWO DAY SPAN, THEN I GET CLAIMED TWICE ,BY DIFFERENT GODS I MIGHT ADD, AND I'M ALWAYS PUT IN MY BLASTED BROTHER'S SHADOW! IF I EXPLAINED HOW MUCH BULLCRAP YOU FILLED MY LIFE WITH WE WOULD BE HERE FOR HOURS! YOU ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES, YOU DOGS! ALL OF THIS FOR STUPID POWERS I DON'T EVEN WANT! UGH!"

As I listened to her rant I felt sorry for the girl, but mostly I felt she had the right idea, "A girl! It's bad enough you didn't free me like you promised, but to send a girl? As if you haven't tortured me enough already! And by putting that girl through so much just to send her here? So we can, what, be depressed together! Like she said, this is NOT FUNNY!" I sat down. Yelling felt good, but that girl was still here. The gods already torture me by sending people I have to fall in love with here and then have them leave, but why would they send a girl?

A small thump on the sand next to me let me know the girl had sat down next to me.
"You know Percy?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, "He's my brother."
"Oh. May I ask your name?"
"Alexis, spelled with an I not a U. You can call me Alex."
"Why do you dress like Hades?" She laughed without humor.
"I'm not usually this gloomy. Something happened with my brother."
"Is he in trouble?"
"He's in Tartarus. And I went down there to offer my help, and he betrayed me by asking someone else to do it."
"I-I didn't know he was capable of doing such a thing."
"No one did."

I had to admit I was in shock. It was hard to think about him already. It was even harder now.

We continued to chat. She told me her life story. How she was kidnapped at a young age by Gaia and Tartarus and raised in the pit. About her adventures in the real world with her lions and her settlement in Camp Half-Blood. People forgetting her, the crew of the Argo II, and the woman she saw before landing here.

"Could you do me a favour?" Alexis asked.
"Alright. What kind of favour?"
"I need you to make me something." She then brought out a yellow piece of clothing with white flowers on it.
"Is that a dress or trousers?"
"It's about to be a dress. Come on, I'll show you."

I led her to the house and she showed me the style on an electric square that showed pictures (she called it a phone). What really surprised me was the glowing blue delta on the back of the silver contraption. "Daedalus's," she said, "found it in the river Cocytus." she went on a "website" called "Google. I know it sounds weird but it's super helpful" and searched "yellow summer dress wrap around with ruffles" it made no sense to me but she said, "the key to Google is to keep your searches short and sweet." She then showed me a picture of a, well, a yellow wrap around summer dress with ruffles.
"That's an awfully low cut isn't it?" The neckline was below the model's chest.
"Keep it like that. I have something I can wear under it that works."
She walked me through the design of the dress on a "3D program" and I got to work. Alexis helped me through it even though I told her repeatedly that I could do it myself. She insisted on being my assistant. It was sundown when we finished, and we went to the dining table for dinner. The aerial servants laid down beef stew and apple cider, which sent me on a trip to memory lane.
"Let me guess," said Alexis, as if reading my thoughts, "This was the first meal you had with my brother?"
"It is."
"Well, he kind of has a girlfriend. And let's be honest you're out of his league." I looked at her quizzically, "I'm saying you're too good for him. Now, let's eat the first meal you have with me." We continued to chat as we dined. I thought back on my other visitors, and remembered the times we shared. None of them were like this. In none of those memories was I as happy as I was now. I did love Alexis. I truly did. But it was so much more than anything I had ever experienced.