Defying Fate

Chapter 35 p1

Soon, Polites, Eurylochus and Diomedes joined him at the mast, and Athena slipped away with one more ruffle of Odysseus' hair.

The four of them watched the mysterious shore slide by from the safety of the center deck while the men around them rowed, chanting softly to keep rhythm. Odysseus found himself chanting along, and soon Polites and Eurylochus joined in.

It was an old song about the harvest, and the changing of the seasons, and the story of Persephone and Hades.

Diomedes sat listening for a little while, but he didn't join in, even though Odysseus knew he had a good voice. Then Diomedes caught his eye and smiled.

"If Athena could get you three in a classics classroom," he chuckled. "The students would have a field day."

Odysseus remembered the student from the university of Athens, with all the questions on their first day, and he nodded.

"Everyone's so curious about us, but why though? We're not that special. Not when actual gods are walking the earth."

"On the contrary, friend," Diomedes patted Odysseus's shoulder. "You are living legends, and your knowledge of the past could help a lot of people, while we..." he gestured at the gods further down the deck, "are just memories, faded with the passage of time. Reflections of the stories that survive about us. My memory is... it's got holes from that time. A lot of knowledge has been lost, and you could potentially help restore it."

"Forgetting everything sounds... awful," Polites said, eyes huge.

Diomedes shrugged, but he looked embarrassed. "It's not too bad. Beats being dead, I suppose."

"Do you like being a god?" Odysseus asked, at the same time Eurylochus said

"Did you get any godly powers?"

Odysseus tried to remember stories of other mortals who had been turned into gods. Asclepius? He'd been a healer... "You said you were an architect?" He said slowly.

"Yes, I've been mostly out in the United States—" Diomedes began, but paused at the other three's perplexed look. "A land far, far to the west. It's not important. There are a lot of people there who have lost their homes to forest fires, and hurricanes over there. I've been out there, helping them rebuild."

"That's very noble of you," Odysseus mumbled. "I wonder what it would be like, to be immortal. Never dying, seeing the world..."

Diomedes laughed out loud. "Are you jealous? Mr. 'I-have-to-go-home-to-my-wife-and-kid?' I've never seen you express any interest in 'seeing the world.' Nevermind that you— well," he stopped abruptly, clearing his throat. "That hasn't happened yet, sorry."

"What?"

"Nothing, forget I said anything."

"It's about that book again." Odysseus sank to the deck, hugging his knees to his chest. "I wish I could have seen what it said."

"Well," Diomedes sank down beside him, stretching out his legs. "Your journey is going differently than what's written," he said. "You didn't tell your name to the cyclops, for example."

"I killed him," Odysseus said, remembering the giant falling over the cliff-side. He'd nearly taken Odysseus with him, had it not been for Cassandra.

"You watched him fall into the sea," Diomedes said, not looking at Odysseus. "Poseidon's children tend to survive those kinds of things."

"Right..." Odysseus felt his stomach drop and he put his face in his hands. "I really messed things up. But—hang on. He acted like he didn't know me?"

"Oh, he knows you, Odysseus, and your legend says you managed to tick him off worse than anyone, and yet you still—"

"Diomedes!" Athena's voice rang out sharply and the man ducked his head as if to avoid a blow.

"Spoilers," he muttered. "Hasn't happened yet."

Odysseus pouted for a moment. It seemed everything was 'spoilers'. But if he couldn't ask about *his* adventures....

"So tell me *your* story then," he said to Diomedes. "Did you make it home? When did you become a god?"