Luna Silver: Daughter of Artemis: Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – Culprits
It was Cuinn’s turn to drive that day, we were in Route 9 in Manhattan, and we were heading towards Savannah I-95 South taking our exit there. Nico slouched on the backseat, murmuring in his dreams. I sat half-asleep, half-awake in the passenger seat, my eyes felt as if it were going to fall off from their sockets in any moment. “Go to sleep.” Cuinn ordered while he gripped the wheels tightly, it was evening and there were no cars in the road (in a literal sense, ‘cause our car was invisible and no one can see it, making it seem that there is no car there).

“No way,” I muttered. “I’m not sleeping.”

“Why not?” he was about to argue, I can feel it.

“’Cause! It’s too easy… I don’t like it.”

“You mean no monsters attacking us, trying to kill us while having fun doing so?”

“Har Har.”

He chuckled then his voice became serious, “This is strange, indeed.”

“They’re planning something…” a drowsy voice came from the backseat, Nico was staring at the stars, and his arms were tucked under his head. He seem to glow under the bright moonlight, he looked out of place in the background full of bags and used clothes.

“When we get there, we’ll know what that is.” I said, stretching my arm muscles.

“I’ve always been wondering though,” Cuinn said in a casual tone, “how can those two giants ever have Artemis kidnapped.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Otus and Ephialtes are known to be morons. Not many giants are wise and smart, most of them get corrupted by the power they posses that they don’t even care if they were smart or dumb.” Nico added.

Cuinn nodded, his eyes straight on the path, “Exactly, that’s why I was wondering how they could have used the chrysó schoiní?”

“Chrysó schoiní?” I asked, “What is that?”

“It means Golden Rope in Greek.” Nico answered me with a yawn.

“The chrysó schoiní can only be found in Olympus.” Cuinn said with a sound of distaste, “How can the Aloadae have taken possession of it?”

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">I thought about it, deep in my mind, the questions and doubts circulating in my mind as if they were cats and dogs chasing each other. Yes, how can the giants take the ropes unnoticed in Olympus, they were huge, for crying out loud! Someone must’ve seen them…

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“And more than that,” Cuinn added ruefully, “Otus and Ephialtes wanted both Hera and Artemis. But why is only Artemis taken? Hera is still up there in Olympus.”

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“In the stories I’ve heard that it was Artemis that had cause them their deaths, was it not?” Nico interjected.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">I nodded grimly, remembering my dreams, “And in my dream, I saw the deer and peacock were taken by the Giants, but the peacock was saved by the eagle. And the deer was left alone, but the deer was wise enough to come up with a plan, that ended up the two brothers killing each other.”

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“The Peacock is Hera, the Eagle is Zeus…” Cuinn was saying.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“And the Deer is Artemis.” I mouthed.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">We were exiting in Savannah and merging in Interstate 95 already in just a few minutes. I haven’t realized we were moving this fast, and with all this craziness we were thinking about, it felt time had stopped inside the car while everything was being fast forwarded in the real world.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“Someone else is the culprit.” I said after a moment, Nico and Cuinn stared at me with a look of confirmation.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">I sighed, “But who would it be?”

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“The gods fight a lot with each other,” Cuinn was saying, “but I don’t see one of them asking the Aloadae to kidnap Artemis.”

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“Exactly,” Nico agreed, he popped his head between our seats, “Most probably, it might by a lower deity that has a grudge against Artemis.”

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“If we’re going to look for the culprit, it’s like looking a needing in a haystack.” Cuinn said grimly.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">“But we’re still going to find this culprit…No matter what.” I said.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt">Not before long we were heading towards New Jersey, Route 4 when we decided to take a stop and get some rest. We’ve decided to know more about the culprit later.

<p style="line-height:115%;tab-stops:499.3pt"> ℓʋиα ƨιℓvɛя iƨ α wιɛяdgιяl [ bαdɛ iƨ bɛck+jαdɛ ♥]  03:10, April 19, 2011 (UTC)