Chapter 18: Odysseus' legacy

                                    

                                          

Malcolm turned his attention back to the valve, gesturing for Will to join him. "Anyway, help me out here. This thing's jammed."
They both began to turn it together, with Will wishing Jake were here to give them a tip to unjam it. Finally, it turned. They both heard weird mechanical sounds outside.
"What the hell?" blinked Will.
"Let's go check it out," said Malcolm.
They returned to the fountain, and weirdly, this time the muses were on elevated platforms, each with a valve of it's own.
The central piece, which resembled an olive tree, was elevated as well. On its platform there was an inscription in ancient Greek.
"Can you read it?" asked Will. "The script seems more ancient than the one taught in class."
Malcolm squinted. "I think I can, thanks to the ancient text deciphering sessions I've been having with one of my sisters. She's into literature a lot. Let's see."
He then began to read and gasped. "This is not possible!" 
"What... what's wrong?" asked Will praying that it didn't give yet another prophecy.
"It appears that this inscription is in the hand of none other than the owner of the bow you want, Will," said Malcolm. "King Odysseus himself. I wouldn't have believed it but the time of the script matchs the period he was from. So he hid it here before the final encounter that killed him."
Will blinked. What were the odds?
"What do you mean by 'final encounter'? Didn't he die of old age?"
"That's the fake belief as a result of The Odyssey being more popular," said Malcolm. "He was actually accidentally killed by his son."
"Telemachus killed his father?" asked Will. Telemachus had always seemed like an obedient, good guy who wouldn't lay a finger on his family.
"Once again, wrong," said Malcolm, shaking his head. "That guy was literally an ancient version of you. I mean his other son. According to the Telegony, the official sequel to The Odyssey, despite Penelope's loyalty, Odysseus slept with the sorceress Circe during his return joirney home, his son Telegonus was born. Let's just say this Telegonus guy was an ancient version of Percy and Connor combined, personality-wise. 
Will tried to imagine what that it seem like but it only gave him images of a mischevious gremlin. 
" How come this is the first time I am hearing of him?" 
"Because the Odyssey became the definitive tale, overshadowing the Telegony and most copies of the latter was lost to time. People appreciate a good hero’s journey, not a messy, tragic family drama."
Will certainly couldn't argue with that. 
"Anyways Circe was overprotective and kept Telegonus on her isle until he was seventeen until my mother, Athena, revealed to him who his father was. So being the gremlin he was, he fled home to go to Ithaca. Little did he know that Odysseus had received a prophecy that his son would be a threat to his life. He had already kicked Telemachus out of his kingdom so he could be free of any threats." continued Malcolm before pausing.
"When so he landed in Ithaca, Telegonus pranked one of Odysseus's cowherds to steal a cow which he wanted to sell, to buy some food. Odysseus was passing by and mistook Telegonus for Telemachus, attacking him out of paranoia. While Telegonus tried to flee, the poisoned spear he had got from Hecate brushed Odysseus' cheek and killed him."
Will's jaw dropped as he tried to process the horror of what Malcolm had just revealed. " So the poor guy ended up killing the father he was eager to meet by accident while escaping?"