The Owl Princess

Book 4: Chapter 3- Hecate's Plan

Calypso walked along the shore of Ogygia Beach as Leo tried out his newly finished raft. He pushed the raft along with an oar since he had not yet found a piece of fabric for a sail.
The raft was constructed from bits of driftwood and the two pine trees that had been hit by lighting during the storm, tied and nailed together with bits of rope and nails which had washed up on the beach.

Calypso noticed something white, golden-brown and shimmering buried in the sand. Digging around, she unearthed a small nautilus shell.

She picked it up and rinsed it in the water. The was a tiny hole in the back curl of the shell, just large enough to thread a length of cord through to make a necklace.
"What do you think?" Leo called to her as he jumped off of the raft and pulled it onto the shore. "Isn't she the finest ship since the Argo?"
"The Argo II," Calypso joked. "It has a nice ring to it."
"How would you like to try her out for yourself?"
"Is it sturdy enough for two people?"
"Sometimes, you just have to take chances."
Leo offered her his hand and helped her onto the deck of the raft. It shook upon receiving Calypso's weight but soon steadied itself. Calypso looked up and stared straight into Leo's large brown eyes and catlike smile. She grabbed an oar and helped him row the raft around Ogygia.
"It'll go faster when I've put up the rigging," Leo told her. "I still need to find fabric for a sail."
"I'm sure I can find some for you."
"Are you sure you're not a nymph? It seems as though you've been sent by the Gods to help me."
Calypso smiled and her cheeks turned as pink as the inside of a conch shell.
This was the first time she had ever gone sailing. Their raft glided across the choppy waves, guided by their oars. Wind blew the strands which had frayed from Calypso's braid into her face, brushing against her sunburnt cheeks.
The sky and the sea shone like burnished bronze. Thin, wispy clouds sailed through the sky and were reflected on the shimmering surface of the water. Their raft bounced over white-caped waves.
Calypso felt as though she was flying.
Glauce the owl gracefully passed through the air, flapping her brown and white speckled wings and swooping over Calypso and Leo's heads. She let out a joyous shriek which rang across the cloud like rocks of Ogygia. Calypso could understand the bird's joy and answered her shrieking cry with one of her own.
"Let's see if we can sail this thing out past those rocks," Leo cut in.
In her excitement, Calypso had forgotten about the seashell necklace she was wearing.
A strong current swirled through the rocks at the mouth of Ogygia Harbor. Leo and Calypso rowed their oars but the they could not get their raft to move any further. A series of large waves knocked them back towards the shore.
"Is there another way to leave the leave the island?" Leo asked after the raft had run a ground. He stood in the surf, shading his eyes with his hand.
"The beach and your cave are the only safe places to land or launch a boat," Calypso told him, clutching her seashell necklace. "You might be able to get past those rocks if I'm not with you."
Leo shot her a confused looked.
"Just try to sail past those rocks again."
He rowed the raft into deeper water, then beyond Calypso's line of sight. She feared that he would sail all the way back to Athens and never return. When she saw the raft coming back through the mouth of Ogygia Harbor, she let out a sigh of relief. She knew he would leave her soon but she did not think she could bare if he did so without saying goodbye.