Oath Kept

Chapter 4

Leo's task for me really wasn't that difficult at all. Most of the wires were intact. All I really had to do was remove all of the armor plating.

When Leo came back two hours later, I'd already been done for quite a while. I'd simply decided to organize the plates by size and damage.

"Got the chip done," said Leo. "You finish?"

"Yep," I said. "Those plates," I pointed to a small pile of celestial bronze plates, "are undamaged as far as I can tell."

Festus looked odd without any out his plating on. Apparently he thought stop too as he seemed pretty stood conscious.

"Nice," said Leo. He walked up to me and gave me a kiss then turned to Festus and installed the new chip.

"I also separated the damaged ones," I said. "Those ones," I pointed to the smaller of the remaining two piles, "I think are salvageable. The others aren't, I think."

Leo examined the two piles. He looked at each individual plate, sometimes putting it in a different pile.

"And the wiring is all good?" Leo said.

"There weren't a lot of damaged wires, but there still seems to be a lot of damaged parts in him."

"You did good," he said.

"Thanks."

"It's going to take a lot more than I anticipated to fix him. Maybe a day or two's work at most. Do you want to find something else to do while I do this?"

"Don't think I can handle this?"

"You have no knowledge on this line of work."

"Then teach me."

"Teach you?"

"Yeah. Take me in as your apprentice."

"Okay," he said in an impressed tone. "So where do you want to start? Metalworking or engineering?"

The next two days were some of the most enjoyable days I've had.

All the stuff Leo started teaching me came a lot easier than I'd expected. I was by no means an expert yet or good enough to do anything on my own, but I was taking in the information rather easily.

Finally, Leo and I stepped back to admire our work.

"He's as good as new," Leo said.

"So is he just going to strut around the island aimlessly?" I asked.

"Pretty much. But we can think of a use for him later."

"Later," I agreed. "Right now, we need to eat."

We walked to the table and sat down. I willed my invisible servants to bring us stew.

After taking a few spoonfuls, I said, "You haven't told me much about your past."

He thought about it for a moment. "Have I told you about Tia Callida?"

I shook my head.

"Tia Callida," he said, "is Hera. She used to be my babysitter."

"Hera was your babysitter?" I said.

"Yep. She wanted to prepare me for the prophecy of seven. She'd have me doing all kinds of dangerous things, like playing with snakes, teaching me how to wield a knife. At one point she stuck me in a fireplace."

"Did she know you're immune to fire?"

"I don't know. But finally, my mom decided that Hera wasn't going to babysit me any more. She just took me with her to her machine shop." He paused for a moment. "Then one day when we were about to go home, she said she forgot her keys and went back inside. The door closed and locked her inside. Then Gaea showed up. I tried to attack her but the flames went through her," he choked up.

I reached across the Yankee table and put my hand on top of his. "Leo," I said in a sad tone. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"No," Leo said. "I needed to talk about it. Ever since she died, I've been burying my emotions under humor, hiding from the pain."

He stared straight into my eyes.

"After she died, my horrible Aunt Rosa turned my remaining family against me. I was sent to several foster homes until I ended up at Wilderness Survival School where I met Piper and Jason. From there we went to Camp Half Blood."

"I'm sorry you had such a rough childhood," I said.

We looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Leo brought another spoonful of stew up to his mouth.

"What about you?" Leo asked. "How was life before the island?"

"It feels like it's been so long," I said.

"Are you kidding?" Leo said with a smirk. "It was only three thousand years ago."

I returned his smile. "I honestly don't remember what life was like before Ogygia. I feel like the memories I have belong to someone else."

"Alright, let's try an easier one. How was life alone on the island?"

I thought about it. "Boring," I said finally.

"Boring?"

"Yes. I enjoy gardening, but it was the same repetitive pattern over and over again for three millennia. Wake up, tend to garden, eat, go to sleep. I also had weaving, but you can only have so many clothes. At several points I'd completely unweave several of my dresses just so I could have some differentiation in my schedule."

"Did it actually feel like three thousand years?" Leo asked.

"Time is difficult on Ogygia." Leo rolled his eyes. I couldn't blame him. I said that a lot. "It feels like eternity," I clarified. "All I've know is the island."

"How did you maintain your sanity?" Leo asked.

I laughed. "Good question."

I took the last bite of my stew and my bowl was whisked away. Soon after, so was Leo's.

"So," said Leo. He looked uncomfortable for some reason. "When heroes landed on your island, and you fell in love with them—"

"Leo," I said.

"Did you prefer it? Was it worth the sadness of them leaving just to get out of your endless cycle of boredom for just a little while?"

I pondered. An extremely thoughtful question from Leo Valdez.

"I don't know," I said finally. "Either way was torture. Perhaps the sadness created diversity in my emotions and that helped me maintain my sanity. Perhaps insanity just strictly isn't possible with my curse." I thought for a couple more seconds. "Negative emotions are one in the same," I summed up. "It was neither worth nor not worth it."

"One last question," Leo said. "The story says that you trapped Odysseus on your island for seven years."

"That is not true," I said. I felt my face growing hot. "The person who wrote that book got it completely wrong. His stay barely felt like a couple of days and I didn't force him to stay."

A smile was forming on Leo's face.

"What?" I said.

"You're cute when you're upset," he said.

I rolled my eyes as Leo stifled a yawn.

"I'm tired," he said.

"I am too," I said.

We got up from the table and walked to the cave entrance. I laid down on the bed and then he laid down next to me. I turned on my side so I was facing him. He did the same. I scooted closer and planted my mouth on his. I intended it to be just a quick peck, but pretty soon he'd slipped his tongue into my mouth and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to him.

Then we rolled over so I was on top of him, my knees on either side of his waist.

It might have been minutes, it might have been an hour. But finally, I pulled out of the kiss. Leo's eyes showed disappointment. Whether it was because the make-out session was over or because nothing further happened, I don't know. But I rolled over to my side of the bed and closed my eyes.

"'Night, Sunshine," Leo said.

A/N: Alright, really short chapter today, I know. Sorry. I just wanted to get it out today. But we'll be getting Calypso and Leo introduced in Absolute Mortality tomorrow (hopefully), so look out for that.