Daughter of Wine

Hazel

Calli slept for a whole day. Like, a full twenty-four hours. Piper kept insisting she'd explain what happened when Calli woke up, so we've been on the edge of our seats for twenty-four hours. Jason has already spoken with Auster, the god of the South Wind, and explained why we're docked at his port. But none of us know exactly why we're here. 

When Calli wakes, the entire ship lurches. She cries out in anger, as if she's still fighting. 

Piper and I rush to her cabin, and find her looking around wildly. "What happened?"

Piper and I glance at each other. Piper looks terrified. She's been afraid to even walk past Calli's room since whatever happened happened.

"Come on, crew meeting." I tell her, walking in and offering her a hand. Piper's eyes are wide as I fearlessly pull Calli up and out of bed. She nearly stumbles, and has to hold on to me for balance. 

"Can I pee first?" Calli asks, gritting her teeth. 

I laugh. "Sure, but I'm not helping you in there."

Once we get her to the mess hall, Calli grabs a plate and starts to eat. I gather the rest of the crew, and we all sit around the table. 

"Okay, Piper, what happened?" Frank asks. 

Piper takes a breath and starts from the beginning. As she speaks, Calli quickly begins to lose her appetite. Her expression darkens as she begins to remember. 

"Then Khione... she... she launched Leo up into the clouds." 

Calli pushes away her half-eaten plate of rice and beans. "I remember now." Her voice is heavy and hollow. A goblet of wine appears on the table in front of her, and she grabs it, leaning back in her seat. 

Piper continues, explaining how Jason and Calli were frozen, and how she tricked Khione and the Boreads into following her over to Festus, and how she spoke Festus to life. 

"Not possible." Calli mutters under her breath. 

"But it worked." Piper insists. He defrosted you when he melted the Boreads. Then, it was just me and Khione. She was going to kill me, when you..." her voice fails her, and she looks down at her hands. 

"When I what?" Calli asks dryly. Her usual pep is gone. 

I suddenly remember a story Percy told me. Calli had held the sky on her shoulders to save Annabeth. Right now, her shoulders look like they're bearing the weight of the sky, the way they're slumped. She looks absolutely, utterly defeated. It breaks my heart. 

Piiper takes a breath, steeling her nerves. "The best way I can describe it, is you went mad." She says, her voice shaking. You were glowing, the ice belowdecks melted, the snow stopped moving. Your eyes, I looked into them, and the things I saw..." Piper shudders. "You hit Khione with your thyrsus and she disappeared. Then, the ice bomb exploded, and... you held it in your hands."

Calli looks at her hand, which seems fine. 

"I think that the only reason we're not on the other side of the world is because you blocked most of the blast." Piper tells her, avoiding her eyeline. 

"So where are we then?" Calli's voice keeps sounding drier and raspier every time she speaks.

"Northern Africa." Jason finally speaks. "At the palace of Auster. Or, Notus, for you Greeks."

Calli furrows her brow. "Why?" She stands quickly. "We need to go back to where we lost Leo. We need to look for him. He got launched into the sky, he had to come down somewhere. He's not orbiting in space."

"Calli," Piper says gently. "Khione said he's somewhere he can't come back from. Besides, the engine is shot, the oars and sails are broken, and-"

"So I'll fix it!" Calli's voice nearly shakes the room. "I'll fix the ship, and we'll sail."

"We need permission from Auster to leave the dock." Jason says. 

"Okay, let me talk to him." Calli snaps. "I'll get us permission."

"That's... that doesn't seem like a good idea right now." Frank tries. "Maybe you should... I dunno, have a cup of tea, take a breath, first?"

Calli narrows her eyes at Frank. "What are you saying, Zhang?"

"He's saying you need to calm down first." Jason says firmly. He walks over to her side and speaks quietly. "You remember what Cupid said? Love and madness..." 

"I know what he said." Calli's voice returns to the hollow, shaky voice she had moments before. "Okay. Okay. Sorry, guys." She runs trembling hands through her hair. "Piper, I'm sorry I scared you. Let me just... let me go take a look at the engine." She's speaking quietly and quickly, as if afraid she'll explode again. She pushes herself up from the table and quickly leaves the room. 

"That could've gone better." Frank grumbles. 

Piper shakes her head. "You guys don't understand. I saw a different version of Calli yesterday. She wasn't herself. She was... she was like a god. She did things I didn't think were possible."

"She's angry." I try. "Leo is gone. You know how much she loves him."

"Loved." Frank interrupts.

"Loves." Piper insists. "He's not dead."

"No, he's not." Nico says from behind me. 

Piper, Jason, and Frank all jump, startled by his sudden presence.

"Leo isn't dead." Nico repeats. "But, if Khione was telling the truth, and he can't come back, Calli is going to have a hard time. It's hard to love someone, knowing you can't be with them."

We all stare at him. 

Jason clears his throat. "Nico is right. Look, I'm going to go talk to her, see if she's okay down there."

"No, I will." Nico offers. He and Jason exchange a silent argument, which Nico clearly wins. I can't believe that Nico is offering to go console someone right now. I know he hates people. But he's known Calli for a very long time. Maybe he cares about her more than he lets on. 

He disappears from the mess hall. 

"So," Piper speaks finally. "When the ship is repaired, are we going to let Calli go and look for Leo?"

Jason shakes his head. "We can't. We're already losing so much time, and we're so far off course. And if Leo is gone, looking for him will be useless." He doesn't sound happy about it. 

We're all upset about Leo. It's not that we're not. But we need to keep moving. That much we can all agree on. 

Well, all of us besides Calli. I'm worried about how she's going to handle it when we tell her we're not going back to look for him. She's a smart girl. She has to understand that it's pointless.