the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter thirty-one

his hands were the size of catcher's mitts, but he handled the spider with amazing skill. he disassembled it in two seconds, then put it back together. "there," he murmured to himself admiring his handiwork. "much better."

the spider did a happy flip in his palm, shot a metallic web at the ceiling, and went swinging away. hephaestus glowered up at them. "i didn't make you, did i?"

"uh," annabeth said, blinking at him uncertainly. "no, sir."

"good," the god grumbled in almost a relieved tone that irked ashanti. "shoddy workmanship."

"excuse me?" ashanti asked the god, her eyebrows raised in actual surprise. no one had ever told her the mix of her dna was shoddy workmanship.

he studied ashanti first, then, percy and annabeth. "half-bloods," he grunted. "could be automatons, of course, but probably not."

with the way ashanti was glaring at the hephaestus, offended by his comment, percy tried his luck instead, "we've met before, sir," he told the forge god.

"have we?" the god asked absently. ashanti got the sudden feeling he didn't care one way or the other. he was just trying to figure out how their bodies worked, whether it was a hinge or a lever or what, probably still secretly thinking that they were automations. "well then, if i didn't smash you to a pulp the first time we met, i suppose i won't have to do it now."

"these gods get better, and better, don't they?" ashanti murmured to percy, trying to mask her agitation.

the poseidon boy merely gave her a teeny smile, "the trick is to sass 'em so you don't notice their personalities." hephaestus grumbled at percy's whispered sentence to ashanti causing a tiny smile of amusement to break out on her face.

the god looked at grover and frowned. "satyr." then he looked at tyson, and his eyes twinkled. "well, a cyclops. good, good. what are you doing traveling with this lot?"

"uh... " said tyson, staring in wonder at the god.

"yes, well said," hephaestus agreed immediately, fondness shown clearly on his face for the cyclops. "so, there'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me. the suspension on this corolla is no small matter, you know."

"sir," annabeth said hesitantly. "we're looking for daedalus. we thought—"

"daedalus?" the god roared in pure anger. "you want that old scoundrel? you dare to seek him out!" his beard burst into flames and his black eyes glowed.

ashanti couldn't help but heave a sigh. she knew it wasn't the athena girl's fault, but she kept screwing up. "uh, yes, sir, please," annabeth said, her tone starting out shaky before evening out.

"humph. you're wasting your time," hephaestus said simply as he frowned at something on his work table and limped over to it. he picked up a lump of springs and metal plates and tinkered with them. in a few seconds he was holding a bronze and silver falcon. it spread its metal wings, blinked its obsidian eyes, and flew around the room.

tyson laughed and clapped his hands. the bird landed on the cyclops' shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately. hephaestus regarded him. the god's scowl didn't change, but ashanti thought she saw a kinder twinkle in his eyes. "i sense you have something to tell me, cyclops."