Lukas stirred awake. He was feeling a little calmer about being Calliope\u2019s servant, the frequent bubble baths with her were helping him. Now, he needed to know his third labor. He stretched and slowly swam out of bed. He then had his breakfast and poked his head out to reveal Calliope\u2019s eel merman scout, the muscular Sly, outside his door. \u201cOh! Good morning, Sly,\u201d greeted Lukas. \u201cHas\u2026Has Mistress Calliope decided on my third labor today?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe sure has,\u201d replied Sly. \u201cShe\u2019s in her bedroom, waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVery well.\u201d Lukas knew where her bedroom was and swam to it. He knocked on the cave wall outside the curtain that served as the bedroom door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome in!\u201d sang Calliope\u2019s voice. Lukas pulled back the curtain and swam in to see Calliope getting ready. \u201cAh! Lukas! There you are!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGood morning, Mistress,\u201d said Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure you guessed why you\u2019re here,\u201d said Calliope as her lips changed color to look like she was wearing lipstick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy third labor, yes,\u201d replied Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, it\u2019s a bit of a breach of manners,\u201d admitted Calliope as she put on her massive sea wool sleeves. \u201cYou see, to really make your wish come true\u2026I will need to know your FULL Zodiac sign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cM-My full sign, Mistress?\u201d stammered Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes. You see, this kind of spell requires a person to be at their zenith in order to work. Perhaps, if it will make it easier, I can tell you my sign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cY-You don\u2019t need to-!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, but it\u2019s only fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c\u2026V-Very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought so. My full sign is Black, Immortal, Water, Sea, Blue, Bat, Lotus, Deal, Octopus. All within the 3rd<\/sup> Zodiac Era, you understand.\u201d Lukas thought for a bit, then steeled himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery well. My full sign is White, Immortal, Earth, Sand, Blue, Mouse, Marigold, Crystal, Dragon. Same era as you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cExcellent!\u201d cheered Calliope. \u201cWe\u2019ll have the labors done in reverse Zodiac Sign order, hm? For now, you\u2019ve gotten farther than most others that attempted this deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Y-You mean\u2026they didn\u2019t tell you their full signs?\u201d asked Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo, and I couldn\u2019t tailor the remaining nine to them. So sad. They had to be planted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c…I\u2026I see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think I know what I want from you!\u201d said Calliope, pinning her sea lotus hair adornment into her hair. \u201cNext month, I will need 10 scales, each from a different sea dragon, and scales that were shed are more than acceptable. I\u2019d rather not have you eaten by a sea dragon that hasn\u2019t shed. The month after that, I\u2019ll need nine different crystals from the Crystal Cave near here. After that, eight sea marigolds, then seven sea mice the next month, then six blue stones, then five phials of sand from different kingdoms, then four phials of earth from four different parts of our world, then three drops of blood from three different immortals, then the last month will be two white pearls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026That first one seems rather tame, even by the standards of sea dragons,\u201d remarked Lukas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike I said, I don\u2019t want anyone to die on these things, or come to any harm. What do you say? Sound fair?\u201d Calliope\u2019s tentacles were coiling around Lukas\u2019 tail. Lukas smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery, Mistress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen our pact is fully sealed\u2026with this.\u201d Calliope then pecked him on the cheek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lukas stirred awake. He was feeling a little calmer about being Calliope\u2019s servant, the frequent bubble baths with her were helping him. Now, he needed to know his third labor. He stretched and slowly swam out of bed. He then had his breakfast and poked his head out to reveal Calliope\u2019s eel merman scout, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1022,1023],"tags":[1028,1027,936],"class_list":["post-7219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calliopes-lair","category-the-labors-of-calliope","tag-kiss","tag-labor","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7220,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7219\/revisions\/7220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samueljvinton.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}