Daughter of Wine

Callida

After Kyle drops me off in Detroit and I buy him a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, he leaves. He's not a very friendly pegasus. The amount of times he threatened to dump me off for making "A pegasus walked into a bar" jokes grew too high for me to count. But he got me here. 

I'm in downtown Detroit, and it's getting dark again. A snowstorm has rolled in too, making it difficult to see. I need to find a place to wait out the storm in. 

I manage to find an old closed car plant. There's plenty of them around here. I do a quick peek, but I highly doubt there's anything inside. It looks totally abandoned. There are metal catwalks above my head, engines suspended by crane arms, and stopped assembly lines. It looks like the plant shut down mid-construction. 

I settle myself down beside a crane arm and a wall. It's a little warmer in here out of the snow. I could start a fire, but I feel like the light might draw unwanted attention. Instead, I curl myself up into a ball. I'm getting hungry. I'll have to get a breakfast before I leave tomorrow morning. Four days until the solstice. Tomorrow, it's three. I grow myself some grapes in the meantime. 

I drift off to sleep, but it's not a restful sleep. 

I'm back at camp. I'm standing in front of the steps of the Big House, looking into the valley. As I look, the landscape begins to shift. The trees move slowly, as if they're not moving at all. But they form a face. 

Callida Maria del Vino Rivera

I shiver. That's my full name. No one knows that. I can tell the voice is coming from the face, but the mouth doesn't move. She looks like she's sleeping. 

Suddenly, I'm back in Miami. I'm seven years old. I see myself waking up in the middle of the night because I heard voices outside. I thought it was a dream then. My mother was outside on the balcony of our ground floor apartment. She was talking to a woman. A woman made entirely of earth. She seemed to be yelling at her, waving her arms, telling her to go away. When my mom got freaked out, she'd switch between English and Spanish. But the earth woman simply smiled and continued. I remember I went out on the balcony, and the woman looked to me. I remember she turned to me and told me, "you will never achieve your dream, little one." 

I remember I asked her what she meant. And she told me I'd never get the ending I will wish for when I turn sixteen. My mother had told me to go inside, but this earth woman angered me. And there was something about the way my mom stood, as if she was trying to stand in-between me and the woman. 

I didn't go back inside. I got angry. I very specifically remember what I said. I looked the earth woman in her sleeping eyes and told her "What do you know? You're made of worm poop." 

It was the best insult that little seven year old me could muster. 

And I very specifically remember what the earth woman said to me next. She said, "Remember this feeling, little child of wine. I want you to remember well. Because this is what you will feel if you try and stop me." 

And then a stone erupted from her chest, straight through my mother. 

It was then that my father appeared, grabbed me in his arms, and teleported me to Camp Half-Blood. 

The dream takes me back to the valley. The woman speaks to me again. You remember, Calli.

I'm shaking. The fear resurfaces and I feel like a helpless seven-year-old again. 

You remember my warning. Turn around now. Go back to Miami and stay there. Otherwise, you will experience another loss like no other. I will take everything you love and hold dear, both now and in the future. Abandon your quest. 

Rage seethes through my veins. I feel myself levitating, up off the hill. Grape vines begin to grow in wild patches around me. "You're not taking anything else from me." 

Dirt-face chuckles. You will see, soon enough. My sons will rise, there is no stopping that. The Doors of Death are opened. Your fate goes beyond this quest. These friends you will make, they will be ripped from you one by one, just as I ripped your mother from you. I will make sure of it. 

"What do you know?" I ask, my voice shaking. "You're made of worm poop!" 

With that, I wake to the sound of voices.