The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4)

some more information here,’ he said. ‘You don’t want me in your face, that’s cool. I don’t want to be here either. But I’m not going to go die and in a corner. I have to get off this island. There’s
got
to be a way. Every problem has a fix.’
    She laughed bitterly. ‘You haven’t lived very long, if you still believe that.’
    The way she said it sent a shiver up his back. She looked the same age as him, but he wondered how old she really was.
    ‘You said something about a curse,’ he prompted.
    She flexed her fingers, like she was practising her throat-strangling technique. ‘Yes. I cannot leave Ogygia. My father, Atlas, fought against the gods, and I supported him.’
    ‘Atlas,’ Leo said. ‘As in the
Titan
Atlas?’
    The girl rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, you impossible little …’ Whatever she was going to say, she bit it back. ‘I was imprisoned here, where I could cause the Olympians no trouble. About a year ago, after the Second Titan War, the gods vowed to forgive their enemies and offer amnesty. Supposedly Percy made them promise –’
    ‘Percy,’ Leo said. ‘Percy Jackson?’
    She squeezed her eyes shut. A tear trickled down her cheek.
    Oh, Leo thought.
    ‘Percy came here,’ he said.
    She dug her fingers into the soil. ‘I – I thought I would be released. I dared to hope … but I am still here.’
    Leo remembered now. The story was supposed to be a secret, but of course that meant it had spread like wildfire across the camp. Percy had told Annabeth. Months later, when Percy had gone missing, Annabeth told Piper. Piper told Jason …
    Percy had talked about visiting this island. He had met a goddess who’d developed a major crush on him and wanted him to stay, but eventually she let him go.
    ‘You’re that lady,’ Leo said. ‘The one who was named after Caribbean music.’
    Her eyes glinted murderously. ‘Caribbean music.’
    ‘Yeah. Reggae?’ Leo shook his head. ‘Merengue? Hold on, I’ll get it.’
    He snapped his fingers. ‘ Calypso ! But Percy said you were awesome. He said you were all sweet and helpful, not, um …’
    She shot to her feet. ‘Yes?’
    ‘Uh, nothing,’ Leo said.
    ‘Would you be
sweet
,’ she demanded, ‘if the gods forgot their promise to let you go? Would you be sweet if they
laughed
at you by sending another hero, but a hero who looked like – like
you
?’
    ‘Is that a trick question?’
    ‘
Di Immortales!
’ She turned and marched into her cave.
    ‘Hey!’ Leo ran after her.
    When he got inside, he lost his train of thought. The walls were made from multicoloured chunks of crystal. White curtains divided the cave into different rooms with comfy pillows and woven rugs and platters of fresh fruit. He spotted a harp in one corner, a loom in another and a big cooking pot where the stew was bubbling, filling the cavern with luscious smells.
    The strangest thing? The chores were doing themselves. Towels floated through the air, folding and stacking into neat piles. Spoons washed themselves in a copper sink. The scene reminded Leo of the invisible wind spirits that had served him lunch at Camp Jupiter.
    Calypso stood at a washbasin, cleaning the dirt off her arms.
    She scowled at Leo, but she didn’t yell at him to leave. She seemed to be running out of energy for her anger.
    Leo cleared his throat. If he was going to get any help from this lady, he needed to be nice. ‘So … I get why you’re angry. You probably never want to see another demigod again. I guess that didn’t sit right when, uh, Percy left you –’
    ‘He was only the latest,’ she growled. ‘Before him, it was that pirate Drake. And before him, Odysseus. They were all the same! The gods send me the greatest heroes, the ones I cannot help but …’
    ‘You fall in love with them,’ Leo guessed. ‘And then they leave you.’
    Her chin trembled. ‘That is my curse. I had hoped to befree of it by now, but here I am, still stuck on Ogygia after three thousand years.’
    ‘Three thousand.’ Leo’s mouth felt tingly, like he’d just eaten Pop Rocks. ‘Uh, you look good for three thousand.’
    ‘And now … the worst insult of all. The gods mock me by sending
you
.’
    Anger bubbled in Leo’s stomach.
    Yeah, typical. If Jason were here, Calypso would fall all over him. She’d beg him to stay, but he’d be all noble about returning to his duties, and he’d leave Calypso brokenhearted. That magic raft would
totally
arrive for him.
    But Leo? He was