gone girl.
━━━ chapter two

❀

It was a boy. His hair was singed at the edges, his clothes were torn up and he had some scars on his arms, that didn't seem to be new. He seemed to be around her age, strangely enough. And... apparently he was a son of Poseidon, which did made sense considering that, if he wasn't, he should have been dead from the fall.

After feeding him some nectar, they had carried him inside their hut and put him in Amaryllis' bed. He was still unconscious, though he had previously woken up for five seconds before closing his eyes once again. Whatever he was going through, it was obviously rough for him.

Amaryllis was laying in the hammock, as she felt the summer sun hitting her skin and warming her body. It was too early for her to be awake, but she hadn't managed to get any sleep since everything that happened. Though she had grown used to the occasional visits, this one was different and she could feel it.

That boy shouldn't exist. The eldest gods, the Big Three as they called them, had taken an oath to never have children with mortals, as they would be too powerful. Thus there were no demigod children of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades in Camp Half Blood. Amaryllis wasn't surprised that the gods hadn't obeyed their own rules, actually it was very much in character for them. Still, it was shocking to see a son of Poseidon up close, even more shocking to see him in a state like this.

Kind of unimpressive, if she was being honest.

Calypso had spent much time taking care of him. She had healing powers after all and her singing worked as a healing spell of some sort, so she was determined to nurse the demigod back to health. Amaryllis couldn't really help the boy and besides, she cared more about Calypso than the boy. She had to occasionally remind her to eat something or drink water, as she was too focused on him to remember how to take care of herself. That was how Calypso was - she put others above herself and then expected them to do the same.

Amaryllis heard feet dragging through the sand and turned her head to the direction of her friend coming her way.

"Is everything okay?" Amaryllis asked, giving Calypso the peach that she was about to eat. "Here, eat something."

"Thanks." She sat next to her and took a bite of the fruit. Though she was basically a goddess and her physical appearance was never less than perfect, spending so much time with her had given Amaryllis the ability to see the little things. Her eyes were misty and it seemed like she hadn't gotten any sleep. "I'm a little tired. I've been using my powers all day."

"How's it going with him?"

"His name is Percy," Calypso said, causing Amaryllis to raise her eyebrow at her. "He talks in his sleep," she explained but quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, I think he's slowly getting better. He's going to wake up any time now."

From her voice, Amaryllis could tell that she was really looking forward to actually talking to him. It made her sad - she recognized the pattern, the behaviour Calypso was exhibiting every time a man came to the island. The Fates were cruel and part of her punishment was that she'd fall in love with those who ended up on her island, but they'd never feel the same and love her enough to stay with her. It would always start like this but when the men finally left the island, they'd take a part of Calypso with them as well.

Amaryllis didn't want the same happening now, but she couldn't really do anything to stop it. In the end of the day, it was their fate. Percy would leave and Calypso and Amaryllis would stay.

"That's great," she lied.

"You didn't sleep at all last night," Calypso stated, though it sounded like a question at the same time. "Why?"

"I was just thinking about what you said. You know, the Big Three weren't supposed to have children," she replied.

"Well, if the rules are made by you, it's easier to disobey them. And if no one's willing to hold you accountable because they're scared of you, then you have nothing to lose." She took a breath. "It shouldn't work that way, but it does."

"He must be very powerful." Calypso looked at her with a knowing look. "I'm just saying. A son of Poseidon? I'm pretty sure no one would want to mess with him."

"All powerful people have enemies, Mar."

"But at least they have a chance to survive," Amaryllis argued. "Us average people? We have been blessed with mediocrity and the life span of twenty years max."

The caramel haired girl nudged her gently. "Don't talk like that."

She sighed. Amaryllis didn't use to be like that - bitter and wallowing over how unfair life was. She used to be optimistic, the kind of person who saw the glass half full. Now she was just fighting the urge to take the glass and throw it in some god's eye. She supposed years of isolation away from everything she ever knew and loved could do that to a person.

"I think I'm going to try and take a nap."

❀

When she woke up, it was dark outside. She had fallen asleep by the beach, which was in no way comfortable and that only proved how much she needed to sleep. She got up and dusted herself off the sand, although her hair were probably still full of it. She didn't realise someone was approaching until she heard him clear his throat.

His dark skin was glowing under the moonlight. He was wearing the clothes that were previously torn up, but now had been fixed, probably by Calypso's servants. He didn't seem like he was in bad shape, until she saw how he limped, trying to get closer.

"You're, uh, Mar, right?" he asked and she was immediately taken aback by the fact that he knew her by nickname.

She nodded, still thinking of how she should approach the situation. When men came to the island, she was always very nice to them, doing the favour to Calypso. But she still wanted to appear tough, as a reminder that if they hurt her sister, she could very easily make them regret their existence.

"I'm Percy," he introduced himself.

"Yes. The guy who fell from a hole in the sky and I almost drowned trying to save." Okay, she was being a bit dramatic, but that was just how she was in general. She couldn't help an amused smile when his face immediately dropped.

"Oh. Sorry about that."

"It's fine, I'm just teasing you. My name is Amaryllis by the way." She extended her hand for a handshake, which seemed to have confused him for some reason.

"Maryllise?"

"You should learn how to say my name, because I don't really like nicknames. It's Amaryllis," she repeated.

Percy's eyes widened a little, as if he realised something very important and she looked at him curiously. "I know you!"

"That's impossible," she chuckled. "We've never met before."

"Your last name is Kalomiri or... something like that, right?"

Her heart dropped. No one had called her by her last name for so long, it almost seemed like it didn't belong to her anymore. "How the hell do you know my name?" She instinctively took some small steps back, almost tripping over herself. For a moment she wondered whether the boy in front of her was a god and that was some sort of cruel test.

Percy must have realised that he freaked her out because his expression immediately shifted into the kind of look you give a scared cat when you're trying to convince her that you're not going to hurt her.

"Everyone in the Camp knows you. You're the girl that mysteriously disappeared four years ago, right?"

"A god brought me here. I didn't disappear, it was more of a kidnapping situation." She replayed his sentence again in her head, until she figured out exactly what had caused her to panic. "Did you say four years?"

He nodded and she froze, suddenly feeling weak at the knees. Amaryllis knew time worked differently in Ogygia, but still she had never thought she was gone for so long. Four years. Everyone must have thought she was dead. The mere thought of her mother grieving over the loss of her only daughter made her physically ill.

She looked at him, trying to control her emotions before they controlled her, but tears had already started falling from her eyes. "I need you to tell me everything you know."

He sighed. "Look, all I know is that you were... kidnapped some days before I came to the Camp. There were search parties for a long time but eventually..."

He didn't have to continue and he was hesitant to. "They gave up on me?" she asked, voice cracking.

"They thought you died." Percy scratched his neck nervously. "I wish I could help you, but that's all I know." He seemed genuine, so she didn't press the matter even more. "I don't even know how I ended up here. I was with Annabeth when-"

The name earned her attention. "You know Annabeth?" She was reminded of fierce gray eyes, untamed curly blonde hair and endless card games.

He seemed surprised, which only meant she had never talked about Amaryllis before. Lovely! She was pretty sure everyone had forgotten about her at this point.

"She's my best friend," Percy replied and Amaryllis wanted to scoff at his face. She used to be her best friend four years ago.

She felt overwhelmed, feeling all those things at once. Jealousy, anger and most of all, complete and utter sadness. She couldn't be around him anymore, mostly because she needed to have a proper mental breakdown somewhere private, let it all out before she snapped and lashed out on him, like it was his fault that her life was so shitty.

"We'll talk again tomorrow, Percy," she said, as calmly as she could before leaving. She needed to be alone. But most importantly, she needed answers - answers that no one seemed to have.

❀

When she returned to the hut after hours, she found them having dinner. The sight and smell of the food made her stomach growl and she realised she hadn't eaten or drank anything for at least half a day.

Calypso noticed how hesitant she was to join them. "Mar, are you okay?" she asked, genuinely worried. When she didn't answer, she continued. "Come sit with us."

Amaryllis noticed that Percy wouldn't look her in the eyes. Perhaps he felt guilty for being the bearer of the bad news. She sat opposite to him, while the invisible servants brought her a plate and filled it with meat. "Thanks," she said to no one in particular. She wasn't even sure if these servants understood her, but still, they deserved some gratitude once in a while.

"Percy told me what happened," Calypso said gently and held Amaryllis' hand. "I'm sorry."

She just nodded, unsure of what to say.

"I don't get it," Percy started and she mentally prepared herself for what was about to follow. "Both of you seem to be miserable here. Can't you just leave?"

"Genius, how come we didn't think of that?" Amaryllis muttered.

Calypso glared at her with her usual be nice look, before reluctantly replying to the boy. "As I told you, I have been punished. Cursed, you might say."

"How? Tell me. I want to help."

She stared at him. He seemed different than the rest of the men that had ended up on Ogygia. You could see it in his eyes that he was genuine in wanting to help them.

Calypso drew a sharp breath and Amaryllis could sense her stiffen up. "Don't say that. Please don't say that."

"Tell me what the punishment was," he insisted.

There was an awkward silence as Calypso debated on whether she should tell him or not, so Amaryllis decided to speak in behalf of her.

"She's basically under house arrest, she can't leave the island. It's her punishment for supporting Atlas in the first war," she started, still holding Calypso's hand. She knew how hard it was for her to talk about this matter, especially with the visitors. "As for me, I have no idea why I'm here. But last time I tried, I couldn't leave either."

"You supported Atlas?" Percy looked shocked. That had been Amaryllis' initial reaction as well when she first found out about it. But in the end, she understood. It was her father after all. "But Titans are evil!"

"Are they? All of them? All the time?" Calypso pursed her lips. "Tell me,
Percy. I have no wish to argue with you, but do you support the gods
because they are good, or because they are your family?"

That seemed to shut him up. He glanced at Amaryllis - after all, both of them were demigods. But if she was being honest, she didn't care about the gods anymore. None of them cared for her, even in the slightest. Not even Apollo, her own father. They had completely abandoned her, so why would she ever support them?

Evidently, he didn't feel the same way.

"Perhaps I was wrong in the war," Calypso said. "And in fairness, the gods have treated me well. They visit me from time to time. They bring me word of the outside world. But they can leave and I cannot."

"That's not being treated well," Amaryllis argued. They had this conversation many times, but they never agreed. "They treat you like a pet! If they cared, they'd let you go."

Perhaps she was self projecting just a little bit, but she was still right.

"So am I the first person besides you two who has been in the island?" Percy changed the subject and Calypso bit her lip. That was a sensitive subject for her and Amaryllis was aware that she didn't want to discuss the whole story with him yet.

The Titaness got up and wiped her eye, pretending to suddenly remember that she has to water some of her plants. Subtle as always, Amaryllis thought as she made up an excuse to leave the conversation and go to her gardens, her safe place.

Now Percy and Amaryllis were alone and last time that happened it didn't go great.

"How did you end up here anyway?" she asked, ending the awkward silence. She was genuinely curious, considering his entrance was one of the weirdest things she had ever seen and the fact that he had almost died.

Percy cleared his throat. "I was, uh, in Mount St. Helens for a mission with Ann- with my friends," he quickly corrected himself, remembering how Amaryllis reacted the last time he spoke the name of the daughter of Athena. "I was fighting some telekhines and I somehow created an explosion. That's all I remember."

"Explosion?"

"Yeah. I didn't know I could do that either."

"Considering your father is the god of earthquakes, it shouldn't be a big shock," she said, finishing up her glass of cider. "What kind of mission are we talking about?"

Once again, he froze when he realized she had no idea what he was talking about. "Oh. You don't know."

"Great! More surprises!" she yelled frustrated. "Let me guess. Is World War Three happening?"

"Actually, you're not too far off." He didn't seem too fazed by the shocked look in her face.

And he proceeded to explain. She urged him to explain everything in detail, so she could keep up in chronological order. He told her everything - about Luke Castellan stealing Zeus' lightning bolt and then everyone thinking it was Percy, the Golden Fleece, their fight in the Garden of the Hesperides and the Huntress' death, the upcoming war against Kronos, the Labyrinth and their mission to find Daedalus. The Prophecy, that pretty much determined that Percy would be the one to save or destroy Olympus - turns out that guy's life was just as shitty as hers!

It was too much to handle but she didn't interrupt him. She was gone for four years and now the world was about to get destroyed by Titans. Luke Castellan, her first crush ever and also the guy who taught her how to fight was apparently the bad guy now, a master manipulator that was working for the evil Kronos. For a second she thought that the story was so ridiculous that he must have been joking, but seeing how sad he looked while he was talking about Bianca Di Angelo and Zoë Nightshade, the two Huntresses that died last year, she realised he was telling her the whole truth.

"That... was a lot."

"Yeah, try living it."

She thought about it for a second. "No thanks."

He was about to smile, when a weird sound came from the lake. A
glow appeared on the horizon and eventually, a column of fire started moving across the surface of the water, coming towards them. Percy immediately got up and reached for his sword, but Amaryllis only sighed.

"What's that?"

"A god," she said nonchalantly.

When the flames dissipated, Hephaestus appeared in front of them. It was the first time he visited the island, at least it was the first time he did it while Amaryllis was in Ogygia. She still recognized him though - he had a metal leg brace, his face was smeared by something that looked like oil and his long beard was smoldering with fire.

Neither Percy or Amaryllis bowed, but surprisingly he didn't seem to mind.

"Percy Jackson. Amaryllis Kalomiri. Just the people I wanted to see," he said, his voice deep and serious. Still, he barely looked at Amaryllis. "I'd like to speak with the young girl first. Alone."

Percy looked just as confused as Amaryllis, but he reluctantly gave the girl and the god some privacy.

Hephaestus sighed. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?"

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.

▊okay i know that was a long chapter, but i realised that if i want to use the book's canon plot and stuff, ill have to write long chapters, otherwise just act one will be a hundred parts.

▊i really want to hear your thoughts on the story so far! amaryllis and calypso's dynamic is one of my favourite things ever and also i love writing amaryllis hating the gods.. my baby is fed up, as she should.

▊any predictions on what the plot twist will be? it's still way too early to tell, but i have already dropped some very subtle hints hehe.

❛ gone girl. ❜
( part 𝒐𝒏𝒆 of gone girl series )
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