Leo swung from tree to tree while Calypso told him what had happened on the island. She talked in a hushed voice, as if afraid that someone was listening in, and as Leo looked at the desolated remains of what had once been a beautiful farm and the beginnings of a workplace, he understood why.
He was desperate to be close to her, in a way that he had never experienced before. He’d thought that his constant thinking over how to get to her would cause him to think of Calypso as more perfect than she actually was, but when he looked at her he saw the same beauty as he remembered from his dreams. Intentionally, he let his hand brush past hers, swung just a little too far ahead so he bumped into her lightly. She giggled more than once and then continued to explain herself, staying professional.
“It was Nico’s plan. We barricaded the entire island, put up limitations everywhere.”
“The apples?” Leo suggested. He’d taken one from its spit on his way to the raft, and suddenly he regretted having taken a bite from it before throwing it over his shoulder.
Calypso nodded and Leo froze. She laughed. “You ruined one of my apples, didn’t you?”
“How could you suspect me of such a terrible crime?” he said, but his voice sounded unsure.
“Don’t worry, once I casted my spell, the boundary became a mental one instead of a physical one. Otherwise Gaea could simply earthquake her way out of the trap.” She slid down a branch. Leo saw beach sand in between the thinner-growing trees and knew they’d reached the other side of the island. He sighed with relief.
He let himself fall down on the sand first and then reached back to give Calypso a hand. She jumped down herself, however, and took his hand afterward, pulling him along to the water. “We need to put up a few more of those apple-things and make the circle complete. Nico and I did most of it while you were travelling, but I feel like an extra few wouldn’t hurt.”
Leo nodded. He felt like they shouldn’t be talking about apples on sticks, or magical boundaries, or Nico. He wanted to talk about other things.
“Hold this for me, would you?” she asked, holding out a wooden stick.
“No offence, but this looks kind of ridiculous.”
“Which is exactly why I asked you to help me.”
“And here I was,” Leo said, flapping his hands around dramatically. “Thinking you wanted to be alone with me – I was such a fool!”
Calypso grinned. “You, Leo Valdez, are one of the most adorable, silly and hilarious human beings I have ever encountered.” Leo leaned into her, but she pulled away quickly, her face serious again. “Now, hold the stick.”
“That’s what she said,” he mused, but did as he was told.
She started some weird kind of ritual that reminded Leo of her powers; she wasn’t just a normal girl who happened to be good at mechanics and cooking. She was a witch with powers that had grown over the millennia.
Once she was done, they walked and performed the same task another seven times. Then, Calypso brushed her hands together and steadied her breathing. “That was it,” she said, her voice quivering.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “I need to do the opposite of the spell I did to banish her when you were her. We’re going to trap her on this island long enough to destroy her.”
“So?”
“The spell is hard…” she started. “What if I can’t do it? It didn’t work last time…”
