Broken Together [Perlypso] - Completed {Book 1 of 2}

X- Messenger

Percy

I awoke the next morning to the sounds of two voices talking. Confused, I quickly sat up, and ran outside as quickly and quietly as I could.

I saw a man and Calypso talking on the beach. Confusion set in, and I started racking my brain. The man wasn't Hephaestus, so he must be...

Hermes.

I watched them for a moment carefully, hidden in the cover of a tree. In a few moments, I had picked up on some of their conversation.

"He just ran off," Hermes said. "I think for the time he was in America, he bent the water molecules in the air to shield his aura and keep him hidden, so his smell was covered up. Very smart... he's a very powerful kid. We need him."

"That's crazy..." Calypso said. "How long in real time has it been?"

"6 months," Hermes said. "At first, everybody assumed he'd be back. Now, everybody's panicked. We assume he arrived here about 2 months ago. Some nymphs saw him buying a boat 3 months ago, and leaving the next day. He hasn't been seen since."

"It'd be easy for him to cloak his aura at sea," Calypso noted.

"Right," Hermes agreed. "It's his domain. However, he still left us traces to go off of. But in the past 2 months, there hasn't been one sign of him even existing. But anyways, the winter solstice is arriving, and everybody wanted Percy to come to Olympus. We've been searching day and night. Nobody thought to look on this island. Then I just happened to think..."

"He's been here," Calypso said quietly.

"We need him back, they've been looking like crazy for him," Hermes shook his head. "His father is going crazy, and that Annabeth girl. They're all driven out of their wits. I need to take him back to Olympus."

I saw the knives cutting through Calypso at the mention of that name. Anger, resentment, hatred, and hurting all at once flashed in her expression. I had learned to read her, as confusing as she was. It was difficult, but I loved a challenge.

"Back to Olympus?" Calypso asked dryly, as if it was hard for her to swallow the information.

Hermes nodded. "Yes."

"When...?" Calypso asked.

"Now," Hermes said.

"No," I stepped out of the cover of the tree. "No, I'm not going."

Defiant silence spread across the beach. Hermes and Calypso eyed each other carefully, until Hermes fixated his gaze on me.

"The council has ordered me to take you," Hermes said.

"No," I repeated. "I'm not leaving. And nobody orders me."

Hermes stared at me blankly. "I believe it was something you might be interested in, Percy. Nobody is taking you and Calypso away from each other."

I exchanged glances with her. "Can she come?"

Hermes thought for a moment. "Perhaps. She is free of the curse, after all. She can join us on the solstice, but I need you now."

Calypso took my hand, and then looked at me. "I'll be okay, Percy."

"Iris message me," I said.

"I will," she said before kissing me and then hugging me tightly. "You must go."

I stared at her longingly, before kissing her again. "I'll be back soon."

"Promise me." She said, throwing herself on me. I tried to imagine what she must feel like, after being alone for so long, and then having the person she'd spent so long with that she was in love with being taken away to who knows what.

"I promise," I whispered. "I'll see you soon."

"Here," Calypso said, fishing into her pocket. "Take this."

She handed me a leather cord necklace. On a small silver table was a moonlace plant, and inside it was a trident.

I grasped it between my fingers before hooking it around my neck. "I will."

She hugged me one last time, and kissed my cheek.

I walked over to Hermes. "Ready?" He asked.

I nodded.

•••

As we walked across the gardens of Mount Olympus, Hermes and I talked. "It's been 2 months. Have you freed Calypso of her curse?"

"I suppose so..." I said.

"To free her, one must be in love," Hermes said. "And must confess his feelings to her." Hermes turned to look at me, raising an eyebrow.

"I... uh... I haven't told her I loved her." I said.

Hermes cocked his head over to the side. "But... do you, Mr. Jackson?"

"Percy!" Yelled a voice. I looked up just in time to be tackled by Thalia, Grover, and Nico.

"Percy!" Grover bleated. "Ba-ah-ah!"

"You're alive!" Thalia gasped.

"Can't... breath..." I said. I rolled over and used a jiu jitsu move to gently push them off of me.

"Percy! I was worried sick!" Thalia yelled, crushing me in a bear hug.

"It's okay guys," I laughed. "I'm alright."

"Your disappearance set off the entire world, even Mount Olympus was set into an uproar," Thalia said.

"Camp fell apart," Nico said. "Both of them."

"I was worried sick, even the nature spirits were acting weird," Grover said.

"I never thought anybody would notice if I disappeared," I said, finally pulling away from Thalia's bone crushing hug.

"Oh, we noticed," laughed Thalia. "Some... more than others."

She stepped back to reveal Annabeth behind them.