Dancing with Death

Dinner and a Show

Someone laughed in the darkness - an earthy melodic laugh.

She spun, trying to spot the strange presence, but everything was black. "Who's there?" She scanned the solid wall of darkness. "Juno?"

A pale sleeping face appeared among the shadows. "Not quite." The woman's mouth moved, but her eyes remained closed. It was unnerving.

Her heart skipped a beat. "Gaia."

"There's a clever girl." The earth goddess circled her threateningly.

She followed Gaia with her gaze. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

The goddess chuckled. "Haven't you realized? I'm here for you."

The word bounced through her mind. "What could you possibly want with me?"

"Nothing yet." Gaia smirked venomously. "Not until you know who you are." She chuckled.

"I'll never help you." She clenched her fists and glared down the earthen goddess.

The pale face lurched forward, whispering in her ear. "We'll see about that, but, for now," she pulled away. "your "friends" need your help." She retreated into the shadows and a pinprick of light broke through the darkness.

Eliza gasped as she jolted awake. She was hanging upside down, wrapped in a thick chain. Three Cyclopes sat around a massive fire talking about how best to cook them. She noticed Piper and Jason dangling beside her. Jason was unconscious and Piper had a gag shoved in her mouth.

The biggest of the monsters, presumably the leader, noticed her. "Well, look who's finally awake." Her gravely voice tore at Eliza's ringing ears. Her back was on fire, sending waves of pain shooting through the rest of her body.

The cyclops grabbed Eliza's chain and shook it, swinging Eliza wildly. The monster licked her lips. "A bit scrawny, but that fall made you plenty tender." Her breath reeked of garbage and animal... remains.

It made Eliza want to vomit, but she choked back the bile rising in her throat. (Not an easy task when you're hanging upside down.)

Something moved in the shadows of the equipment.

Eliza met Piper's gaze and knew that they'd both seen it. Leo. He wasn't with them. The cyclopses must have missed him when they were rounding up their prey.

"You don't want to eat me." Eliza spoke up, trying to draw the attention of the massive, one-eyed monsters. "I'm just skin and bones. Not a very good meal."

The cyclops holding her chain studied her, jerking her up to eye-level. She ran a claw gently down Eliza's side and raised an eyebrow. "You may not look like much, but there's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there."

Eliza glared into the woman's big brown eye. "So I've been told."

The cyclops grinned menacingly at her. "I wonder, if I sliced you open, what power would pour out?" She brandished her sharp claws next to Eliza's head, twirling a thin strand of her brown and red hair around her fingertip.

Suddenly, something dropped from a crane and clattered against the floor.

The cyclopses whirled and spotted Leo crouched next to a disassembled control panel.

"Half-blood!" The leader shouted, dropping Eliza so she bounced and swayed nauseatingly.

Everything turned to chaos and Eliza couldn't comprehend what exactly was going on. Before she knew it. The cyclopses exploded into dust and Leo began lowering them to the ground. He retrieved Piper first, then she helped him get Jason, who was still unconscious, and, while Piper was waking Jason, Leo lowered Eliza, being careful not to hit her head on the floor.

Once she was free of her chains, Eliza stood, rubbing her arms where the chains had dug in. Her back still ached, but not nearly as much as it had a few minutes ago.

Jason groaned and sat up. "What happened?" He grabbed his head where the cyclops had bludgeoned him.

Eliza shrugged. "We got captured by cyclopses. Leo saved us."

Jason met Leo's gaze. "Thanks, man."

Leo was almost blushing. "It was nothing."

Eliza noticed the golden dust shifting and moving across the floor. "We should go."

"Agreed." Jason took Piper's hand and pulled her towards the door to the warehouse with Leo and Eliza in close pursuit.
                                       *   *   *
Eliza breathed in the cool air as they zipped towards Chicago on Festus' neck.

"How's your back?" Jason's voice interrupted her peace, bringing back the flood of questions and worries she'd been trying to ignore.

She took a deep breath to quell her annoyance. "Fine. Why?"

"It's just..." he paused. "when I found you..." he drew a long breath. "It looked bad. I thought... you might've..."

She twisted around and grabbed his hand. "I didn't. That's what matters." She cracked a smile. "I thought you weren't going to blame yourself for what happens to me on this quest."

He sighed. "Yeah... well. I guess I underestimated how much I care about you."

Eliza rolled her eyes. "Could you be anymore sappy?"

He smirked. "I don't know. Should we find out?"

"Oh gods, no." She turned back to face the front.

Jason chuckled.

Piper gave them a sidelong glance over her shoulder. She looked away when Eliza noticed. Eliza felt bad for her. Piper probably thought that, without his memories, Jason might go for Eliza. Gods, she hoped not. She didn't like him that way. At least... she didn't think so.

This whole amnesia thing was really annoying. She had way too many question that she couldn't answer. How did she and Jason know each other? Where did they come from? Why did they default to the Roman names of the gods? Who was her godly parent and why hadn't they claimed her? Why did Juno hate her? And, most importantly, what did Gaia want with her? What possible use could the earth goddess have for her? The sheer amount of unknowns made Eliza want to pull her hair out. She hated not knowing things and, right now, she was clueless. She didn't even know if her godly parent was her mom or her dad? She had... nothing. She hated it.

A/N
Okay, so... who do you think Eliza is? 🤔
I've tried to put subtle hints in the story, but I'm curious to know if anyone's picked up on them. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
-Cheshire