Amortal Song

11.Ichor

Calypso

I watched her lip curl into a triumphant grin as she murmured, "That...was an unexpected twist."

I answered determinedly, "It was the right one." Stunned silence passed between us and I didn't dare look at Arden's face, already aware of the seething gaze he was sending my way. Keeping my eyes on Vespera's cruel, hard smile, I prayed I had made the right choice doing this. She dug her fingernails into my palm and I returned the favor, digging in hard enough to turn my knuckles white.

She turned to Arden and cocked a smile, "I was correct, wasn't I? You got a smart one this year, Arden dear. Too bad it'll be your last." She reached for the dagger again, her grip on my hand loosening just enough for me to gain control and use my force to swing her forward, sending her toppling to the ground and bashing her head on the table, sending bronze blood spewing everywhere. It wasn't ichor, no, it was something less but just as deadly.

I didn't want to stick around to see what would happen if any of us touched it, nor what would happen if Vespera awoke again. I looked frantically at Arden, who was just as stunned as I was.

"We don't have much time," I said, my shaking legs carrying me out of the gazebo to look at Vespera, her face covered in the bronze substance. She hadn't hit her head hard, only a long gash running down her head, giving way to the ichor. But it wasn't enough to keep her knocked out. Already time was slowly ticking down and each second we spent staying there was another second we could've been out of that realm, away from her tricks and flowers and tea.

I looked at Arden again, who was still frozen, either from shock or panic, I didn't know. Instead, I grabbed his arm and pulled him, attempting to grab Odysseus' ghostly arm as well, and then realized I couldn't. "Come on, Arden, I don't know this place as well as you."

He snapped out of whatever state he was in, taking a panicked glance at Vespera's still figure and looking at Odysseus. His attention then shifted to me and he said quietly, "I thought it was real, I thought you had joined her."

I shook my head fast, "No, I wouldn't do that..." My voice trailed off and I didn't add No matter how tempting it was. Because it was. And I would be lying if I said it didn't. I knew what she had been saying about Arden was true, all validated by the way Arden had grit his teeth and didn't want to meet my gaze.

The power was tempting, the way I could have fixed the rights and wrongs of my life and other amortals if I had just taken the power. Vespera wanted to use her power for wrong, I would have used mine for good. A good that also benefited me in the process.

Because I wasn't a villain. I'm not. I can't possibly be.

No matter how many lies I may tell to cover the truth, they're only little white ones, ones that will be made up eventually- that doesn't make me "bad".

How can a villain be black when the world is color-blind?

How can I be one if I'm only a gray?

How can someone define the standards between right and wrong, good and bad, if that person isn't on one side or the other? There is no black and white.

There's only a lovely shade of gray.

And I'm that gray.

Arden's voice pulled me out of my jumble of thoughts, his hand taking my arm as we broke into a hazy sprint away from the gazebo- Odysseus keeping pace beside us. "Calypso! What were you thinking back there?"

I snapped at him, "Getting us out of there alive when you were too busy glaring daggers at Vespera and me instead of coming up with a plan."

"I was coming up with a plan!"