He found Eurylochus hiding under the kitchen table, which had been laden with snacks. Bowls of olives, trays of crackers and sliced meats and cheeses, and a huge tray of sliced fruit. Eurylochus had a plate of food in his lap, and Odysseus grabbed it, setting it back on the table.
"Hey!" Eurylochus protested. "Come on, Odysseus, I'm starving."
"I have good news and I have bad news," Odysseus said. "Good news, its time for dinner. Bad news... Athena caught me and I think we're all in trouble."
Eurylochus' face fell, and he stood up slowly. "I think I just lost my appetite," he groaned.
"Where's Polites?" Odysseus looked under the table again, but it was empty.
"Here," Polites' voice carried from down the hall. The two boys poked their heads out from the kitchen to see him waving from the living room.
He was sitting on the floor, and Cassandra was crying into his lap. A plate of crackers and fruit was sitting beside them, as well as the pits of several olives, already eaten.
"I can't get her to stop," he said helplessly.
Odysseus came over, and knelt beside his friends, reaching out to pat Cassandra on the back lightly.
"Hey, what's the matter?" he asked.
"I can't do anything," Cassandra's voice was muffled as she sobbed into Polites' knees. "I'm too little, I don't have my visions, what good am I to anybody?"
Polites looked at Odysseus. "She just started crying when I brought her the food," He said. "She nearly choked on an olive pit, I think that she just got scared."
"You could have just let me die..." Cassandra sobbed in her tiny voice. "I'm just going to—to slow you down."
"Hey, you're one of us, Cassandra," Odysseus shook her shoulder gently. "We'll sort this out and be back to normal in no time."
Cass finally looked up, tears still falling down her cheeks. "You think so?"
"Of course. We can't go back home looking like this. Gods, Penelope would freak out!"
"The *crew* would freak out," Eurylochus said. "I don't think they'd let us back on the boat."
"Well, I'm still the captain," Odysseus said, pulling his knees to his chest. "They'll just have to do it anyway."
"Maybe Athena and Hermes will back us up," Polites suggested.
"Oh!" Odysseus shot to his feet. "I forgot! Dinner!"
YOU ARE READING
Defying Fate
FanfictionI read a Tumblr post while back about Odysseus meeting and adopting the prophet Cassandra, who had been cursed so that "Nobody would believe her." Of course, if he's going to adopt Cassandra, whom he never met in the original story... why not adopt...
