A Tale of Romans and Slaves | PJO/HOO

Chapter 45: Leo

I couldn't believe that Annabeth was alive.

I had completely forgotten about her, seeing as it had been so long. The last time I had seen her was at her mother's funeral when I was five and she was seven, thirteen years ago. But now, all the memories came rushing back.

Some of the best pranks I'd ever pulled had been with her. She was a borderline genius, and always thought of complicated plots that were fun to execute. And her mother and my aunt, Queen Athena, helped us.

And I also remembered the funeral. King Frederick had already remarried at that point, and I remembered the look of sadness on Annabeth's face.

The dinner bell rang, distracting me from my thoughts. It was a good thing it did, though. I was starving.

At this point, pretty much every slave in the manor knew that Calypso and I were together. She sat with my little posse now. We spent as much time together as possible. Which wasn't much, seeing as they had tightened security at night after I killed that guard.

"Hello," Will greeted me as I sat down with my bread.

Annabeth and Calypso showed up a few minutes later, just as I finished my bread. It wasn't nearly enough food, and my stomach yearned for my night time gatherings. But I had finished off the last of my salted beef yesterday, and I had none left.

Eventually, Will got up and went to wherever he goes. Every night, he left just before dinner ended, like clockwork. Frustratingly, he never told us where he went.

Annabeth was looking at some woman across the courtyard. There was a strange look of sadness on her face.

Eventually, the bell rang, signalling the end of dinner and the beginning of cell time. It was my least favourite time of the day. At least in the smith, I was doing something.

I followed all of the men back to our cells, and sat down on my cot with a sigh. I was hungry, and not tired. Which meant I was going to spend the next couple of hours staring at a wall.

Eventually, everyone else started to fall asleep. But I was still staring at my wall.

Then I heard the voices.

"Stop following me!"

"Then tell me how you get into the building!"

"I hope you know you're putting both of our lives at risk!"

"I don't care! Tell me how you get in the building!"

"What the hell does Leo see in you?"

Then I just heard scuffling, like someone was moving something. I had identified one of the people as Calypso, and the other one sounded weirdly familiar.

"Happy now?" The unknown person asked.

"Yes," I heard Calypso reply.

Then I heard someone walking down the hall. Calypso stopped outside of my cell.

"Will is just so helpful," She said as she unlocked my cell door.

I grinned and followed her down the hall to Will's cell. Inside, was a small hole just big enough to squeeze through, and there were some bricks on the ground.

"Come back quickly," Will said. "The last thing I need is for some guard to find a hole in my wall."

Then we both squeezed through the hole, and, hand in hand, walked to the gardens.

"So," I said. "You tracked down Will and forced him to help you?"

"Are you really surprised?" Calypso asked.

"No," I replied truthfully. "I'm just wondering how you got out of your cell."

"Tunnel," She replied.

There was a brief pause as we stared at the sky.

"Moons almost full," She said. "Moonblood will start soon."

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I didn't ask.

"Hey Calypso," I asked. "I just realised that I don't know what city you're from."

"Thebes," She replied. "I was a lady, you know. My full names Calypso Titian."

"Really?" I asked. She nodded.

"My father was Atlas Titian," She said. "We were rich merchants. I can weave like a boss, and our main industry was wool."

"Cool," I said. "You know where I'm from, right?"

"Argos," She replied. "You were the prince."

I smiled. "Yup."

"I must say, you don't strike me as princely," She said.

"I was never really meant to be a prince," I said. "I mean, I never wanted to be one. And I sure as hell didn't act like one. If you wrote out all the things I did that a prince shouldn't, you'd have a list a mile long."

I sighed. "My father kept trying to mould me into the perfect prince. He'd put me in lessons, take me on trips, those sorts of things. It was why I like my mother so much. She accepted me for who I was.

"My mother was very inventive, and spent most of her time in the castles smith. She took me there all the time," I said. "But there was an accident. No one knows how it started, but one day, the smith burst out in flames, taking my mother with it. That was two years ago.

"After that, my father started focusing more on his ruling and less on me. I think it was because I reminded him of her," I said. "So, I guess that's why I'm not very princely."

Calypso was looking at me with sadness in her eyes. "Leo, I'm so sorry for your lose."

"Both of them," I whispered. "I lost both of them."

She pulled me into a hug, and we stayed like that for awhile. Eventually, we broke apart, and went back to our cells.

"About time," Will muttered as I climbed throught the hole and he started refilling it with bricks.

I walked back to my cell and sat back down on my cot. It had felt nice, telling Calypso about my past.

I hoped she'd come back tommorow night.