Everyone had already piled onto the bed by the time Odysseus reached them, but they'd left a space in the middle for him, and he crawled into the pile gratefully. Polites and Eurylochus put their arms over him almost immediately, and he took comfort in his friends' closeness. It would be hard to go back to sleeping alone after this.
But sleep didn't come easily to him that night. Athena's offer echoed in his mind. Was she not as confident as the others that they'd succeed? Why would she want him to wait? He curled into himself a little, closing his eyes against the fears. He had to go back. Even if Penelope didn't recognize him right away. He couldn't wait. It had already been too long...
Somewhere during his worries, he fell asleep.
They were back on their ship, and it was a beautiful day on the sea. But... when Ody looked down at himself he was still a child. The others stood around him, back to their normal selves. Cassandra bent down to him.
"You betrayed him. This is his curse. I'm sorry, Odysseus. You will never be able to go home."
The scene changed. The ship was beached off an island with a large palace on top of a hill. Eurylochus called orders, and they began to push the ship back from the beach. There was a cry from the front of the ship, and Odysseus saw Polites. His hands were bound and he thrashed against the men who stood to either side of him. Restraining him. They held him fast as the ship pulled away.
Odysseus looked around, but someone was missing.
"Where's Cassandra?"
"She stayed on the island," Eurylochus said, as Polites let out another cry and fell limp. "Get him below," he ordered the crew. Polites looked at Odysseus with dead eyes, as if he was blind, or couldn't recognize anyone around him.
"What happened—"
"The Sorceress had him in her thrall," Eurylochus said. "Get back!"
Eurylochus held Odysseus back as Polites let out another thrash, and a final, wordless cry, then he was pulled below, into the darkness of the cargo hold.
Odysseus woke up with a start.
"Polites?" He gasped, sitting up and searching the darkness. "Eurylochus!"
"What is it?" Polites' voice sounded beside him, high and childlike. "What's wrong?"
"Odysseus," Eurylochus grumbled from his other side. "You'll wake up the babies."
"I'm sorry," Odysseus breathed deeply, trying to get his racing heart back under control. "It was just a dream."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Polites sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"No, it's fine," Odysseus mumbled. "Go back to sleep, Polites."
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...
