The Lost Hero

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Piper and Jason almost get eaten

THEY STOPPED AT THE DOORS AND TRIED to control their breathing. The voice of the earth woman still rang in Vivian's ears, reminding her of the attack.. The last thing he wanted to do was plunge into another dark warehouse. Suddenly she felt 12 years old again, alone and helpless as she tried to run away. Vivian was alright, only a broken wrist, but it was not a good experience.

Stop it, she told himself. That's how she wants you to feel.

But that didn't make her any less scared. She took a deep breath and peered inside. Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few lightbulbs flickered, but most of the factory floor was still lost in shadows. She could make out the catwalk above, the dim shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of their friends.

Before Leo could call out for them, Vivian clasped her hands over his mouth with a finger on her lips, signaling him to be quiet. There was a monster in the warehouse.

Somewhere on the factory floor, Piper's voice cried out: "Leo, help!"

But Leo held his tongue. How could Piper have gotten off the catwalk with her broken ankle?

Together they slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container. Slowly, gripping their weapons, they worked their way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis. Finally Vivian and Leo reached the assembly line. He crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery—a crane with a robotic arm. Vivian was hiding next to him.

Piper's voice called out again: "Leo?" Less certain this time, but very close.

Vivian and Leo peeked around the machinery. Hanging directly above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from a crane on the opposite side, was a massive truck engine—just dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there when the factory was abandoned. Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. Nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were two smaller shapes—maybe more engines, but one of them was twisting around as if it were alive.

Then one of the forklift shapes rose, and Vivian realized it was a humanoid of massive size. "Told you it was nothing," the thing rumbled. Its voice was too deep and feral to be human.

One of the other forklift-sized lumps shifted, and called out in Piper's voice: "Leo, help me! Help—" Then the voice changed, becoming a masculine snarl. "Bah, there's nobody out there. No demigod could be that quiet, eh?"

The first monster chuckled. "Probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about a third and a fourth demigod. Let's get cooking."

Snap. A bright orange light sizzled to life—an emergency flare—and Vivian was temporarily blinded. He ducked behind the crane until the spots cleared from his eyes. Then he took another peep and saw a nightmare scene even Nemesis couldn't have dreamed up.

The two smaller things dangling from crane arms weren't engines. They were Jason and Piper. Both hung upside down, tied by their ankles and cocooned with chains up to their necks. Piper was flailing around, trying to free herself. Her mouth was gagged, but at least she was alive. Jason didn't look so good. He hung limply, his eyes rolled up in his head. A red welt the size of an apple had swollen over his left eyebrow.

On the conveyor belt, the bed of the unfinished pickup truck was being used as a fire pit. The emergency flare had ignited a mixture of tires and wood, which, from the smell of it, had been doused in kerosene. A big metal pole was suspended over the flames—a spit, Vivian realized, which meant this was a cooking fire.