The Story of Paul Cooper: Book Two

The Garden of Calypso

Let’s just say that Jack heard me shriek like a little girl. When he actually got into my room, he saw me on the floor, unconscious. This is what Kate and Zach told me.

                Jack, according to Zach and Kate, passed out, too, when he saw who was standing there. I’m not really sure why we passed out, but I’m pretty sure it’s because our friends just appeared on Olympus, a place where most people don’t know where it is.               

                Anyway, Emily helped us wake up by using something to do with herbs. When I looked at my room again, Kate, Zach, Arlia, and Zoë were spread out, and Emily was kneeling between Jack and I. She smiled gently when she saw us waking up.

                “A little surprised, I guess,” I muttered.

                “A little? How do you think I feel? I was just planting some roses and suddenly  I’m here, after I ingested some disgusting pink smoke,” Emily sighed, and gagged, a poof of gold and pink coming from her mouth, like a dragon without fire.

                Jack sat up next to me and rubbed his head. I noticed that everyone else, meaning the new arrivals, were now all dressed in traditional Greek clothes, like the rest of us (me and Jack).  I stood up quickly, and looked around. Kate was admiring a circular bird cage, with some golden bird in it, Zach was making sparks between his fingers, Arlia was checking out the weapon rack, and Zoë was reading. Zoë and Arlia were the only two not in white.

                After giving Jack and I a few minutes, Jack and I decided to attempt to give a tour, even though we barely knew the place. We decided against showing everyone the Council Hall, so we just winged it when we found an arch that led into a garden.

                I stopped short.  The girl I was looking at wasn’t Hailey or Aurella, and not a goddess or nymph, or anything like that. She was tan, for one thing, and had sort of…I guess you could call it dirty blonde hair. She was standing underneath the largest tree in the garden, an all white one, with a few faded green leaves.

                “Who is that?” Zach said, from behind me. (Jack and I were in the front of the parade.) I shook my head,  but apparently, the girl heard us. She stared right at us, a hobby very common on Olympus, so far. Then, I noticed her eyes: they were really green, but not like Kate’s blue/green eyes. They were…different.

                She looked at each on of us, and then spoke.

                “Are you going to keep staring, or are any  of you going to say something?”

                “Why don’t you tell us who you are, for starters,” Jack snapped. I could tell he didn’t like her. “Or, we can all be in preschool, and go around and introduce ourselves.”

                The girl smirked.

                “I’m Calypso,” she said. The goddess/witch lady? “And no, not the goddess.”

                “Well,” Arlia said, and I could hear an arrow being fitted into her bow, “I’m Arlia, and if you don’t give us a little more, I’m very keen on protecting my friends.”

                Calypso laughed, a girly laugh, but one that was sort of mysterious, too.         

                “You think I’m going to kill you? Here? Your mother would kill me,” Calypso continued. I heard Arlia lower her bow.

                “You know who I am?” Arlia snapped.

                “I know who you all are,” Calypso sighed, and her eyes flickered quickly from Jack, to myself, to Kate, and to Zach. Zoë and Arlia were in the back.

                “My mother’s not going to be happy about this,” she muttered. “Anyway,” Calypso continued in a louder voice, “I’d be happy to walk around with you all. I’ve known you were coming here, anyway. There are a few others you need to meet…”

                With that, Calypso turned and walked briskly away from the tree and us. For a moment, we hesitated, but Kate, Arlia, and Zoë were first to follow, all of their weapons drawn, but not raised in challenge.

                Eventually, we managed to catch up with Calypso, who happened to walk really quietly. I had drawn my bow, and had three arrows ready. We walked with her to a larger, slightly darker part of the garden, with a white wooden gazebo in the middle. In the center of the gazebo was fountain, and it kind of looked like a bird bath. Two boys were standing there, and both looked older than me. One boy, who was holding a golden pitcher, had black hair, but not as dark as Zach’s. He looked confused, and was staring at the water in the basin. The other boy looked a little older than him, and was a lot taller. He had reddish hair and looked really strong, and he was staring right at Calypso, who had just walked up to him.

                Then, he came to us, leaving Calypso and the other boy near the water.

                “Well,” he snorted, once he was right in front of me. I felt like I was angry, even though he hadn’t done a thing to me. “Welcome to the Garden of Calypso. No, not the goddess. That Calypso,” he said, nodding to the girl we barely knew. “The gods told us that a few of you needed to look in the water. Oh, and by the way, I’m Sam, son of Ares.”