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I remember it was another night of rain. The hidden port town of Freyr sat in silence with only the rapid plip plip plip of the water droplets making noise. Freyr was an odd town, shaped in a circle. The town square in the middle. The market surrounding it. The empty vendors and shops sat silently among the dark. Past that the apartments and town buildings stood tall and clustered tight together. Leaving very little room for alleyways and exits to the rest of the town. They were old looking. In a Georgian urban style with sagging roof tiles and weathering paint. They looked sad with the rain falling over the brick walls. On the western side of the circle were the farms and the arena. On the eastern side were the docks and cliffs.
One would have described Freyr as the saddest place in the world. But I would have said it was a hole for the wicked and mistreated. Sometimes, it was hard to tell which was which. Sometimes, the wickedness of others could twist the one who was being mistreated into something just as wicked. If not more wicked, leading to an endless cycle of pain. Which is why it was always so hard not to mistrust when you were there among the people who only saw you for what you could give them. But that is neither here nor there.
Most of Freyr was surrounded by a cloud from Hypnos that night. The people relaxed and sleeping in their beds. Except for one. A short woman of 4′11 with chocolate brown hair in a pixie style cut. Her chocolate brown eyes were bleary and tired as she took another swig of the sweet wine, stolen from a cellar at a party two towns over. Yes, as she stood out in the rain, I watched her get drenched. I watched her pale skin get paler with the cold, and hair fall flat on her head as the water dripped from the chocolate strands. Her pink lips stood out on her face and it had almost looked like they shimmered in the dark night. She looked sweet enough to eat and cold enough to die, but it seemed my dear friend was in no mood for either as she took another long swig from the bottle.
Her name was Calypso Petros, and I remember her well. She was the first woman I ever saw from the modern age known as the twenty-first century, that truly intrigued me. And she was one I kept an eye on in this town. You see, Calypso was Legacy. And little did I know at the time the trouble she would cause for me, along with her two friends.
Out of the shadows stepped a man. A boy really. A boy about to be a man. He had hard onyx looking skin. The color as dark as the night around him. His eyes a deep ebony, giving way to no light, seemingly two black holes that sucked in everything around them. The lack of hair made him look like a statue and he quickly rushed over to Calypso, towering over her 4′11 body with his 6′9 height.
This was Silas. He was one of the friends I was telling you about earlier. He often had a disapproving frown when it came to Calypso and her late nights out. He grabbed her arm and I watched as she looked at him with a sigh. Almost too tired, or fed up, to really pull away.
She lifted the nearly empty bottle, “Drink? I runnin’ low but I think we can make it work. You might even get buzzed.”
Silas glared, “What the hell do you think you are doing out here? If you were caught by anyone other than me then-”
Calypso waved a hand at him, pulling her arm away at last, “Then what? Will they kill me? Punish their favorite little Legacy just for the hell of it? And why? Because I got a drink?” She tossed her arms in the air, spilling a bit of the wine as she did, “Oh, dear heavenly gods! Please forgive me of my treachery, as I have so daringly stolen a bottle of wine, that isn’t even yours! To drink myself drunk and contemplate the reality that is my life as your plaything.”
Silas rushed over to her and yanked her away from visibility. I remember the intensity of his gaze on her in the alleyway. He took the bottle and shook it in her face, growling the words to her in a venomous whisper, “This? This is what you would risk your neck for? If you haven’t forgotten, the gods pay attention. And they come for us every day. You are beyond lucky you have no one assigned tomorrow.”
Ah yes, the assignments. For those of you who do not know, Legacies who were born to a pair of demigods who had committed a crime were sent here, away from their parents as punishment. You never knew who your parents were, what your name would have been, or if you had parents who loved you.
Sometimes, you were sent here by your parents so they could get rid of you. If they didn’t like your eyes, your nose, your pouty lips, or even just didn’t like you, you could be sent here. To the town of Freyr, where you were barely raised by demigods who lived in luxury and worked for the gods who could do anything to you because they owned you. I can still hear the cries of hungry babies not being fed by foster mothers who couldn’t even bother. Freyr was a miserable town with miserable people. And the gods like me? Well, the gods like me pitied them. Especially when it came to conversations like this.
Silas threw the bottle and it shattered on the street. Calypso was about to speak, anger crossing her angelic face but Silas silenced her by yanking her down the alleyway and to an open door with a warm orange light seeping out into the darkness.
There in the doorway stood Lilith, a soft caramel colored girl with eyes the shade of honey and hair to match. It fell way past her waist and down to her knees in tangles. Her hair was almost as long as she was, at 5′7. Lilith wore nothing but a silk nightie that looked wrinkle at the edge as if someone had been yanking on it all night. She had a bruise on her cheekbone and a few on her thighs and wrists were visible as well. Oh, how it angered me. But it wasn’t an uncommon sight, with most of her assignments being my brother Zeus, Hera, Ares, and Pan. I sometimes felt like they gave her those particular assignments just to be cruel.
“Soso, Silas, are you two okay?” Lilith quickly grabbed Calypso and hugged the much shorter, much wetter, girl.
She looked at Silas who just shook his head in disappointment, “I don’t know what I am going to do with you, Calypso. What if you had been caught? What if-”
“Oh, shut up, Sci-Fi. You always bitch at me about this. I didn’t get caught, and I am not dead. So just...lay off. I’m in no mood. Come on, Lily. I am hungry. Was there anything to eat today?” She pushed off of Lilith, who quickly scrambled behind her to head inside.
Once inside Calypso took a deep breath before pausing and looking at Silas, “I’m sorry for worrying you. I just have a lot on my mind.”
Silas squared his shoulders and walked over to the two girls, picking them up into a tight hug. He set them down after a moment and kissed their cheeks, “Just don’t do it again...”
He quickly walked away. Leaving a very drenched Calypso, and a very bruised Lilith, to their own devices. Which soon lead to them staring after the spot where he was. The girls both sighed dreamily and giggled with one another.
Lilith tossed her arm around Calypso’s shoulder and pressed her head to the shorter girl’s wet hair, “That was stupid to do, you know that. Right?”
Calypso shook her head and moved away from Lilith, walking down the long hall. It was a tight fit through and it had several doors on either side with equally tight width. Lilith followed close behind keeping Calypso steady as they walked.
“So, you want to explain to me why you snuck out?” Lilith looked on at her friend, disappointment reaching her honey colored eyes.
I watched as Calypso turned to her friend with a broken look that, unbeknownst to me at the time, was not uncommon to see among Legacies. Especially those given up by their parents such as Calypso.
“I did it ’cause I could. Because...I think, after tomorrow...I might die. And not even Mama Thais can help me with this.”
I could never forget that silence. The fear in the air was thick. The smiles were gone, the hope that was never there, to begin with, seemed to drain from them both further. How that was possible for them, I don’t know. I just remember the quiet. And Zeus Almighty, that silence was deafening.
Lilith swiped a hand over her face quickly and looked away, “Who is your assignment?”
Calypso didn’t even breathe in her direction. Didn’t say a word. She just looked at Lilith with her big brown eyes and the two of them quickly came to an understanding. Lilith shook her head, her lips parting as she tried to take in a breath but Calypso lifted a hand. A motion that was all too familiar to me. Zeus had done that to me often. She looked down the hall where Silas had gone and turned away quickly trying not to think about how she was going to break the news to him.
“I think that is why they gave me the day off tomorrow. You know, before I would have to go meet him. Not to mention forty luxury tokens.”
Lilith blinked and understanding crossed her lovely features, “And why they didn’t bust you when left town.”
Calypso nodded, “It just...makes sense. He is going to kill me. I mean. Ysabelle was his last Legacy, right? And she didn’t come back. Not after that first day.”
“He could have let her go?” Lilith wished in a tone that almost sounded hopeful. But it just sounded false coming from her.
“Lilith, come on. You know that isn’t true.” Calypso looked up at the ceiling, tracing the cracks with her eyes, “Ysabelle is dead. And I am going to die the same way she had.”
The two were quiet for a long time. This time it felt different. No longer fear, but acceptance fell between them. Now if you have never felt the sort of acceptance that comes when you know something big is going to change your life forever, you will not get the quiet understanding that the two friends had with each other. Yet another silence that was almost too loud.
It is both comforting and terrifying all at once. Even for me.
“Well, let’s pray that you can beat Hades back with charm before he makes his move,” Lilith muttered, a little harrumph of air escaping her.
As the two marched away to find food and I remember the jolt I felt when Lilith said my name. The sadness. The anger. The venom. I remember every sensation of that night. But what I really remember is the look on Calypso’s face. It wasn’t solemn. Or angry. It was hidden. When Lilith wasn’t looking, Calypso let her true emotions show. She was...smiling. It was a smile of pure and utter excitement. Of glee. That smile was a smile you never saw on a Legacy. Not even when rewarded with Luxury Tokens. And it was clear in that moment to me that this girl was going to be more than just my servant. Much. Much more.
That smile was a spark of change in my life. And it scared the hell out of me.
