Ransom

Chapter 9: Castor Winehouse

Castor stood at the door of the shop while Allie looked around in the attic. "Why are you still looking? We found the keys, we shouldn't be snooping around this mans shop." Castor said.

Allie walked down a few stairs, just enough so that he could see her face. "Because, Cas, this guy had drachma and knows that Hades and the gods and monsters are real. Most people don't, unless they are one of us. He must be important. He has a reason to be here, just like you and I. Maybe he's a demigod. We won't know until we find out." She said.

And so, she stomped back upstairs. After a few more anxious minutes, Allie screamed. Castor unsheathed his sword and ran upstairs.

Tied to a pole inside yet another closet was a cyclops. "Who are you!?" The cyclops yelled. "I could be asking you the same question!" Allie yelled from the ground. Castor walked over to her and helped her up. "Who are you?" Castor asked sternly.

"I am Polyphemus." he stated as he sat down. When Polyphemus sat down, he shook the entire building. "As in the cyclops who Odysseus fought?" Allie asked.

She looked to Castor with scrunched eyebrows. She shook her head, her eyes telling him that this was not good.

"Yes. My eye hurts." Polyphemus pouted. "Who knew that you were such a baby." Allie mused. Polyphemus stood and asked "Where are you!?" He started to wave his arms around in the air and asked "Who are you?!"

"Nobody." Castor said with a smirk. "You are not nobody, I know that for certain." Polyphemus said.

"Thank you." Castor replied with a smirk. "You're making me angry." Polyphemus stated. "Why are you up here?" Castor asked. Allie glanced over to Castor and gave him that look that he knew all too well. The look told him to shut up before he got them killed, again.

"My capturer wants revenge for me eating his descendant. He was very tasty." The cyclops grinned. "How long were you here?" Allie asked.

"Maybe a week." Polyphemus replied. "How did you even get here?" Castor asked.

"My homeland is not that far away. Plus, he captured me and brought me back to his shop." Polyphemus replied. Castor then asked "Who captured you?"

"As I said, a descendant of someone I ate, one of Odysseus's men I think he said that he was." Polyphemus stated. "So, you don't know this man's name, the one who has captured you?" Allie asked him.

"No." Polyphemus stated. "Do you know which descendant of his you ate?" Castor asked.

"No, it was one of Odysseus's men." Polyphemus replied. The cyclops was getting angry, so they decided to not ask another question about Odysseys and his capturer. Castor nodded. "We should get going, we shouldn't even be up here." Allie said to Castor.

For once, Castor agreed full heartedly. They turned to leave just as Polyphemus stated "No, you can't leave yet."

They turned around and Castor asked "And why not?"

"Because, if you do, I won't tell you who took over the Underworld." Polyphemus replied with a smirk.

Castor and Allie both looked at each other with constricted facial expressions. Castor walked over to the far side of the room and motioned Allie to follow.

She did, and so he asked her "Is it worth it?"

She looked up at him and said "He could actually know who is doing this, but he could also be tricking us."

Allie was conflicted, so that meant that Castor had to make the decision.

"I say that we stay, find out if he knows, and if not, we can kill him." Castor replied. Allie nodded and said "Let's do that."

Castor slid his back down the wooden wall, and Allie followed suit.

"Tell us what you know, Polyphemus." Allie said. Her voice boomed with power and she said his name with utter disgust.

Polyphemus said "Of course," in a squeaky voice. He cleared his throat and said "Um...I was in the Underworld, obviously. Everyone called her the 'Mistress'. So, the 'Mistress' ordered for the doors to be reopened. Of course, no one knew how to open them, so she worked a little of her dark magic and it opened."

Castor cut him off and asked "Dark magic?"

"Yes, dark. When the power came off of her, it was pitch black." Polyphemus stated.

"Anyways," Polyphemus started. "'Mistress' ordered for a batch of 100 of us to be let out every day, and eventually that would shrink to every hour. It didn't, though. I was one of the last batches to exit, then the 'Mistress' ordered that it be one batch a month, but of 500 monsters. No one knows why she changed it. Then, she came down with some girl. She was beautiful, but not with all of the makeup. I forget what she called her. Princess, puppy, pippy-" He finished

Allie cut him off and asked in a shaky voice, "Piper?"

Polyphemus snapped his fingers, pointed to around where we sat and said "That's it!"

Allie squeezed her eyes shut and looked over to Castor. She shook her head, indicating that everything was about to go downhill. "What happened next?" Allie ordered.

"The 'Mistress' put her in some trance. Piper, as you called her, was literally trapped in a bubble. She was asleep, like that 'Sleeping Beauty' character I've recently heard about. I don't know if she's still asleep, but I do know that while asleep, she is shown visions of awful things. When awake, she was questioned. I heard that the 'Mistress' was using up too much of her magic to hold her in that state, so she might just be in a cage somewhere, like she was when she first came down." Polyphemus continued.

"Questioned?" Castor asked him. Polyphemus sighed and said "Yes, questioned."

"What about?" Allie asked him. "The obvious ones; Will you join me? Why haven't you yet? Do you know who I am? Do you want to die? You know what I mean, Allie." Polyphemus said.

"How do you know my name?" Allie asked him with narrowed eyes that shot daggers his way. Polyphemus stuttered and said "Th-The 'Mistress' demands for you in ransom for those trapped by her."

Allie took a deep breath, set her jaw and said through gritted teeth "Continue with the story."

"Okay, before I left, I was told to watch the girl while the 'Mistress' went out for a while to run an errand. The girl was nice, nicer than anyone that I had ever met. She asked me who the 'Mistress' was, but I was not allowed to tell her." Polyphemus said.

"Well, who is she?" Castor asked. He was getting irritated.

"The 'Mistress' is the primordial goddess of the night." Polyphemus stated.

Allie grabbed Castor's arm and asked "You don't mean Nyx, do you?"

Polyphemus sighed and replied "I'm afraid that I do."

AHHHHH
Do you think that Polyphemus is telling the truth, or at least the entire truth?
Let me know in the comments!
5 votes for the next chapter! 🙊 lets see if we can get there
Thanks for everything guys!
~camp_hero