Beta by Hidden Firecracker.
I do not own Percy Jackson or anything associated with it.
Secrets of the Moon
Chapter 21
The next morning Dante finally got to meet the Fremont Troll.
Under the north end of the Aurora Avenue Bridge, the reclining stone troll rose eighteen feet, its head almost bumping on the underside of the bridge. The troll looked just as Rachel had described him: long hair, one shiny metal eye, and crawling on its belly. His right hand spread on the ground, and its left fist was griping a small car.
Dante climbed up behind the troll peeking out from the darkness under the bridge. "This is a good spot for someone to hide and shoot arrows at the giants. Since Cassidy is an expert shooter, I think she's the best option for this. What do you think Abby?"
For more than an hour, since they arrived at the troll, Abby and Dante had been trying to come up with contingencies to set up traps for the giants under the bridge. The idea was to try and turn the disadvantage of being surrounded into an advantage, and turn a defensive position into an offensive one.
"Yeah I guess she can be good for that, at least," Abby said. "Also, I just thought of something. During the night, this whole area will be in the dark, right? So Nico would be able to hide in the shadows and take out some of the giants from within."
Dante climbed off the troll, "That's a good idea- or if things start going south for us, Nico can shadow travel us out of here. We should keep that one in mind as a possible escape plan."
Abby gave him a nod then she said, "But there's something I can't understand. Why would the giants choose this place for the whole ransom/exchange thing? I mean, what's so special about this location?"
"Well as far as places to set up a trap goes, this one is real appropriate for it," Dante said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well think about it, behind us is a wall with the statue of a troll in it, no escape through there. In front, we have the canal, which at night the water must be freezing so no escape through there either. The only exits are through the sides which can easily be blocked making this place one solid steel cage for us. No doubt that even if we had paid the ransom the giants weren't gonna let us go. Not that I thought they would."
Abby seemed surprised by his explanation, "When did you figured all this out?" she asked.
"Right after Nico dropped us off here," he answered with a small self-satisfied smile.
"It figures, you being the son of Artemis, a hunter, must be easy for you to set up traps and figure them out as well," she said.
Dante turned to her the smirk gone, "Abby... Cassidy told me about what happened to your sister, Elizabeth."
Abby tensed. "Did she now?...What else did she tell you?"
"Only that your sister was a hunter too and that she died only a few months ago. Abby, how come you didn't tell me before?"
"Tell you? Why should I have told you anything? This is none of your business."
"Umm... maybe it is. Considering that I think that was the reason you stopped talking to me when you found out who I was. Look I just..."
"Stop it, OK. Just stop," she practically spat. "I don't want to talk about it. We're here to try to save your hunter friend so let's just focus on that OK?" She strode past him toward the other side of the bridge.
"I think we'll have a better chance of beating the giants if we attack them before they make it all the way here," she suggested. "But for that we would have to know from which direction they'll be coming from."
She was trying to avoid the topic, but Dante couldn't let her. Too much was at stake. "I just want to know if everything is OK between us," he pressed. "You know are we still friends?"
She glanced at him and didn't answer.
"Can I still count on you for this, Abby?"
Abby's eyes tightened, and her mouth did too. "Are you saying you don't trust me anymore? Because of Cassidy?"
"It has nothing to do with her. I only need to be sure that you-"
"Dante look," she said, her voice reasonable but with an edge. "I told you I was gonna help you save Thalia didn't I, and I'm gonna do that. So that I can repay my debt to her and also... because that's what Elizabeth would want me to do."
Dante nodded slightly, "OK then, that's all I need it to hear. C'mon lets continue with what we were doing...And Nico if you're done eavesdropping you can help us too." Dante said turning his face toward where he knew Nico was hidden in the shadows.
Melting out of the darkness, the son of Hades didn't seem surprised that Dante's heightened senses would have betrayed his position, and he said softly, "Sorry-didn't mean to."
"How long have you been there?" Abby asked.
Nico shook his head, "Not long, just got here."
"Where's Cassidy?" Dante asked him next. "Wasn't she with you?" Early that morning, prior to Dante and Abby coming to the Fremont Troll, Cassidy had told them that she had an idea on how to get information on the Lastrygonians. For that reason, she had wanted to go to a place called Gas Work Park. That's where she and Nico had been for better part of the morning.
Dante had thought that Cassidy's idea must be exceedingly great since she had even agreed to go there with Nico alone and shadow travel again. So Dante was real curious to know what that had been all about.
"Oh yeah," Nico said. "She's back at the motel waiting for us. C'mon you need to hear what we found out."
(/)
When Dante and the others walked into the motel room, Cassidy was already waiting for them. She was in jeans and a gray vintage GRRRRL Power! T-shirt that was a rarity for a girl, who as far as Dante knew, her wardrobe consisted only of hunting clothes.
When she heard them, Cassidy turned, "Hey, finally you're back. Well, how did you see the situation on the bridge?"
Dante took a step forward. "Well we did manage to come up with a few ideas, but no matter which one we choose to go with, our chances of successes are slim at best. How about you? Nico said you guys found something about the giants that can help us. So tell us, what's up?"
"Yes please tell us," Abby said. "We're dying to know what you learned during your walk through the park, while we were trying to figured out how to save your lieutenant."
Cassidy frowned and waved that off. "I didn't go for a walk in the park. I went to talk to the nymphs that live at the park. To ask them if they knew anything about the Laistrygonians that might help us save Thalia. Turns out, they did know a few things about them."
Nico, seated at the edge of one of the beds, shook his head, obviously bewildered. "Few things!... They didn't stop talking about them for more than an hour. The Laistrygonians do this, do that, they smell like this..."
Cassidy ignored him and continued, "Anyway after talking to the nymphs, I think I know where Thalia is been held at."
"You do?" Abby said narrowing her eyes at Cassidy.
With a quick nod, Cassidy said, "Yes according to the nymphs, the giants have the habit of going around the city kidnapping mortals and taking them back to their home to eat them."
Dante frowned, "Their home?"
Cassidy said, "Yes, the Laistrygonian's home is actually in Lakeview Cemetery. That's where the nymphs said that Thalia is most likely to be at."
"Cassidy," Dante said to the blond hunter, "Are you sure this is true?"
The blond nodded, "The nymphs wouldn't lie to me."
Dante's eyes widened and brightened with something very much like a thought. "In that case I just got an idea."
Nico, who'd stayed quiet on the sidelines, just taking it all in, smirked humorously and said. "Oh! Oh! Something tells me this idea is gonna be more dangerous and crazy than trying to ambush the giants under the bridge."
"Dante what are you thinking?" Abby asked.
Dante drew a deep, slow breath; then he let it out and said, "I'm thinking that we are not gonna wait for the drop anymore. Instead, we are going to visit the Laistrygonian's home. Today."
Abby looked at him as if he were insane, "The four of us... just drop by?"
"That's the new plan." Dante said.
"Told you it was gonna be crazy," said Nico from where he was sitting at.
Shaking her head, Abby said, "Wait! Wait! Wait! I think its best if we stick with our original plan. You know set up a trap under the bridge..."
"No," Dante said shaking his head. "This is better; they won't be expecting us. We'll have the..."
"The element of surprise," Cassidy finished. "It might actually work. I'm all for it."
"I still think is crazy, but yeah why not, I'm in too." Nico said. "Besides its a cemetery I'll be able to summon lots of back up for us, if we need it, which I think we will."
Abby sighed, "Fine let's do it. I'm in."
"Great," Dante said. "Get ready to leave in an hour."
(/)
An hour later Nico shadow traveled them right in front of the gates of the Lakeview Cemetery. Immediately the group of half bloods moved through the gates into the cemetery, moving cautiously as they cut across the lawn away from the paved road. The road actually sliced through the cemetery and ended near the Laistrygonians HQ, but they had decided to avoid taking the direct approach. The Laistrygonians had numbers, so it was extremely important that the demigods had the element of surprise on their side.
Using his hand Dante signaled Cassidy to peel off to the right. Cassidy was quick to obey- she walked swiftly across the grass, in and around the gravestones. Abby followed her looking kind of annoyed at having to team up with Cassidy. Dante and Nico took off to the left, also moving quickly and trying to keep the noise of their footsteps to the minimum. The idea they had come up with in the motel was to take the giants HQ from two sides.
According to what the nymphs had said, the giants' home base was an old mausoleum, not far from the graves of Bruce and Brandon Lee. In other circumstances, Dante would have loved to stop and visit their graves. Ever since he had seen the movies Enter The Dragon and The Crow he had been a big fan of them, but unfortunately, a rescue operation wasn't the best time for something like that. Maybe next time, he thought. If there is a next time.
The nymphs had also told Cassidy that prior to the giants taking over, the old mausoleum had been the home base of a mortal street gang called The Dragons, so called in memory of the late Bruce, but the Laistrygonian forces wiped them all out, years ago. Apparently the giants liked the idea of living in a place where human bodies were brought to them constantly. In fact as Dante walked through the cemetery he noticed that some of the graves had been dug up again, and if he stop and take a closer look he would most likely discovered that the corpses were gone.
The mausoleum stood maybe sixteen feet tall and was about thirty yards long, and was as wide as a small house. However, that seemed to have not been big enough for the Laistrygonians. The wall at one end was serving as a brace for a lean expansion that had been added to the mausoleum. The doors at both ends were wooden now, and the coffins that had formally been stored inside were stacked outside, the bodies inside missing.
Dante wondered if maybe the mist was concealing all of the giants actions from the mortals, yet again, any mortal stupid enough to come investigate most likely wouldn't be leaving this place either.
Within seconds of each other, both groups arrived on either side of the mausoleum. Summoning his bow, Dante notched a special bomb arrow that Cassidy had given to him, and took aim at the wooden door. It was the first time he had call upon the bow Artemis had given him. The weapon fit comfortably within his hands making him feel as he had used it all his life.
Their timing synchronized, both archers shot their bomb arrows at the wooden doors that exploded and splintered everywhere. Wasting no time after the explosion, weapons drawn, Dante and Nico charged in, the girls doing the same from the other end. The four heroes were ready for action, expecting anything... well almost anything. None of them expected to see what they saw inside the mausoleum.
"Gods," Abby said.
"Damn," Nico said.
"What the... what happened here?" Cassidy asked.
Dante couldn't believe his eyes either. They had come prepared to fight the giants and to rescue Thalia, but instead what they had found waiting for them was a massacre.
Golden dust was everywhere, and the bodies of dozens of mortals lay on the floor. Blood and gold dust painted the walls in a mixture of red and gold. Tables and chairs were overturned, a small TV had been smashed, and a long wooden table that had run along one of the walls had been cut in half.
From the looks of things, the Lastrygonians had been in the middle of their... lunch... when they had been attacked. At least more than fifty of the giants' weapons, their clubs, lay scattered around on top of piles and piles of dust. Most likely all them had been slaughtered and apparently they weren't able to put up much of a fight. There weren't any signs that the giants were able to inflict any casualties on their opponents' side.
The mortals, the kidnap victims of the giants, made most of the carnage in the mausoleum. Their bodies sprawled on the floor in various postures of violent death. Some of the bodies had clear signs that they had been killed by giants; ripped limbs, savage bite marks, but the rest had been stabbed and slashed. Whoever or whatever had done this had accomplished it with a sword, great speed, and no mercy, not even for the defenseless mortals.
Dante fought to keep his self-control flooding through him. He swallowed his shock and willed himself into a coldly business like state. His sense of purpose had returned to him. "Cassidy, Nico, cover the entrance quickly," he order them, " Abby you're with me."
Without delay, Cassisdy and Nico went back to the doors on both ends of the mausoleum. They stood guard in case whoever committed this carnage was nearby or planned to returned. Meanwhile, Dante and Abby crept through the room full of bodies, walking gingerly as if to not awake anybody. Although, Dante didn't want to think about it, they needed to search the room in order to make sure that Thalia wasn't among the casualties.
"You don't think Thalia did this, do you?" Abby asked.
"Of course not." Dante said his voice boomed through the mausoleum and echoed in his skull.
"How can you be sure?" Abby asked. "I doubt Thalia played the quiet hostage. May be she broke free, and took out the giants all by herself. She's a daughter of Zeus after all so I thinking that's a possibility."
"Even if that happened, Thalia would have never done something like this." Dante said as he knelt over one of the corpses, the body of a child. The little boy couldn't have been older the eight or nine, and yet, he had been merciless cut down with a sword. Once again Dante fought to keep his emotions under control.
"Oh gods, this is awful," Abby said kneeling beside him. "He was only a little kid. How could someone do something like this?"
Indeed, Dante thought as he rose. He placed a hand on Abby's shoulder and said "C'mon we haven't finish looking everywhere." Abby swallowed and nodded at him.
The room revealed no sign of Thalia among the victims, but on the far wall was a shadowy hole that led to the extra wooden room they had seen from the outside. As they approached the hole Dante noticed that there was light beyond the opening, but he couldn't make anything out yet. Of course if Thalia was there she might had been tied up and gagged. But if so, whomever committed this atrocity would hardly have spared her.
"Careful, their could be trap in there." Abby warned him.
Still it was the last place where Thalia could be at. Willing himself to move Dante took a few steps forward. As he slipped through the hole cut in the wall he could see a person sitting on the floor against the far wall- a man.
It was a small room, about ten feet across; the room must have served as the place where the giants kept the mortals before they ate them. Dante let out as a sign of relief as he confirmed that Thalia wasn't in the room. There was a chance she was still alive somewhere.
"Dante, you better come to see this," Abby said standing next to the body of the man. He walked toward the seated body. By the type of clothes the man was wearing, he appeared to have been a homeless guy. There was a blood trail that ran from the middle of the wall to the bottom where the dead man sat. It appeared something sharp had impaled him at one point.
Without a word, Abby pointed to the man's head. Taking a closer look, Dante noticed some type of metallic object sticking out from his mouth. Whatever it was had a cylindrical shape to it. Slowly as the man's dead eyes stared at him, Dante buried the impulse to turn and flee. He withdrew the object from its mouth. It was Thalia's canister, and a letter was attached to it.
Dante turned to Abby, "Go and tell Nico and Cassidy to get in here now." As Abby went to do that, Dante gave the dead homeless guy an apology and wiped the saliva and blood from the canister on its shirt.
The other three entered the room a few minutes later, Cassidy saying, "I don't think anyone is coming back. Why would they when everyone here has already been killed."
"There's also no signs of any traps or anything like that. OH! There's still more bodies here," Nico said looking at the dead body.
At Dante's side, Abby asked. "Dante what's that?"
"That's Thalia's canister," Cassidy said, glancing over at the object in Dante's hand. "Where did you find it?"
"They left it here, for us to find," Dante reply. "Along with this letter."
"Well what are you waiting for? Go ahead and read it." Nico urged.
Abby, Cassidy, and Nico gathered around him. Dante looked from face to face among his friends. Then he let out some air and began reading.
Hello worm,
Immediately, Dante knew who wrote the letter. It had to be the same man he had fought in the forest the day Thalia had been kidnapped.
I knew I couldn't trust you to simply deliver the ransom so that you could have your friend back. You are too much like your mother to do that. So I figured you would rely on tricks to try get what you want, just like her.
But two can play that game. So that's why I employed the Lastrygonians to help me acquire my hostage. I knew you would track them down. And of course now that they served their purpose I had to disposed of them. It was really fun to slaughter them all. Ha! Ha! Ha!
"OK who writes "Ha! Ha! Ha!" in a letter?" Nico asked.
Well back to the real business. By now you must have figured out that your friend is in my custody. You want her back come to Blackwoods Island and get her.
"Damn it," Dante said his voice hard and cold.
And worm for the sake of your friend don't make me wait too long.
Ha! Ha! Ha! and more Ha!
With regards,
Ephialtes
Going over that name again in his mind, Dante shook his head. This had gone from bad to much, much worse.
To be continued...
[A/N] OK there you guys have it the latest chapter of this story I hope you'll like it. Well that's it for now until next time. See ya.