Piper, Annabeth, Chiron, Jason, Leo, everybody clearly warned her not to eat more than a piece of Ambrosia. Layla hated to admit that she was in trouble because she didn't listen to their advice and decided to play the hero.
The side effects included, a constant feeling like Festus has blown fire on her, dizziness, nausea and her body glowing in the darkness. The last one was particularly dangerous as she could easily be spotted by momsters. Fortunately she hadn't bursted into flames, yet.
Key word, yet.
Suddenly, she heard a distant sound. Looking around, she tried to find the source of it. Layla couldn't she details in the dark but it looked like a male figure that had his back turned to her direction.
She quietly approached. As she got closer she realized that the figure was in fact a boy and that his hand was on fire. However, he didn't seem to be affected by that. What kind of sorcerer was he?
When she was close enough she pinned with her hand against a tree pressing her sword point to his chest.
"Gods, Layla. Can't a person even sneeze without putting his life in danger?" Leo protested. Layla imidiately lowered her sword.
"I didn't know it was you. It's hard to tell in the darkness." She protested.
"It's okay." He said. "What are you doing here, anyway? Weren't you supposed to wait with Jason and Piper? And wait, what the fuck, Layla. Why are you glowing?"
"Jason and Piper went off to look for you and I didn't want to stay alone. Don't worry my leg is fine, now." She ignored the last question on purpose.
"You took more Ambrosia, didn't you?"
"I might have. But I'm okay, don't worry. I haven't burned up, yet. So, what happened? Where are the guys? Did you find Festus?"
"I did. It was easy to repair him. He's now in suitcase mode. As for where the guys are... I have no idea."
She was about to ask about the fire thing Leo did with his hand but was interrupted by a voice. Piper's voice.
"Leo, help me." Being as quiet as she could Layla montioned Leo to follow her.
After a while the reached the warehouse again. From inside they heard Piper voice again. "Leo, help me please."
"So, we split up." Layla motioned at the warehouse. "You go right, I go left. Do you have a weapon apart from breath mints and duct tape?" Leo pulled a giant hammer from his belt.
"This belt's full of surprises." Layla muttered and took out her sword as well. "Let's go find whatever thing kidnapped Piper."
Layla saw it first. Or saw them, more likely. Of course, with their luck there were two of them. They were tall, almost four times her size and really ugly. On the top of their head had only one eye. That could only mean one thing. Cyclops.
"Told you it was nothing." The green eyed Cyclops said in a deep voice.
"Leo, help me! Help me please." Layla knew that Cyclops were able to change their voice but the fact that a huge monster like that was speaking in Pipers feminine voice seemed very weird. "Bah, there's nobody out there." He changed his voice back to normal. "No demigod could be that quiet, eh? Seems like our trick didn't work, huh?"
Green-eyed chuckled. "They probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about the two more demigods. Let's get cooking."
The monsters main course wasn't something Layla would want to try. Hanging from the ceiling, right above a huge pot with water, chained with a thick rope were Jason and Piper. They were both gagged. The girl was struggling to free herself but did no good. Jason however hadn't moved a muscle. Layla hoped he was just unconscious and not dead.
"Can I take her gag off now? I like it whan they scream." One of the cyclops asked. He didn't wait for an answer.
"Scream, girl! I like funny screaming." He said as he ripped the gag of her face.
Big mistake.
"Oh, Mr Cyclops, you don't want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go." Having access to her best weapon, which was her persuasive voice, Piper could now easily convince the giants to let them go just as she had done with the Boreads. Layla had no doubt it would work. She still however watched anxiously from the corner.
"She's kind of pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go." Green-eyed agreed falling right into Piper's trap.
"I saw her first, Sump." Torque, a.k.a blue-eyed, said. "I'll let her go."
"Fools!" A third, this time deep female voice bellowed, interrupting their stupid argument. A third Cyclops? Of course there was. "The girl is Venus spawn. She's using charmspeak on you. Gag her again."
"Please, ma'am-" Piper didn't get to finish because Torque put the gag in her mouth again. Once he did the Lady Cyclops started shouting something about Torque and Sump being irresponsible sons. Once she calmed down, she ordered Sump to go get some salsa because according to her demigods were not to be eaten without it.
With one enemy less Layla desided this was the biggest chance they'd ever had to free them. She glanced at Leo. He was holding a complicated thing that looked like a remote control and was trying to make something out of it. The look on his face told her that he had an idea. His grin told her it was a crazy one. She mouthed him to do his thing while she would distract the monsters. Leo seemed to understand and he continued to fiddle with the remote.
Now to free their friends all Layla had to do was to distract the two Cyclops without getting killed. Only there was one tiny little detail she hadn't thought of. She had absolutely no idea how to do that as she had never actually fought something that big before. She needed a plan.
She didn't have time to make one. The lady Cyclops, who caught Piper starring at the corner where Leo was, became suspicious. She stood up to search and was now so close to the spot Leo was hiding.
So much for distracting the monsters. Layla did the stupidest but the only think she could think of at the moment. "Over here, overgrown idiots." She shouted at the top of her lungs.
The Monsters turned their attention to her. "What kind of glowing mouse is this? Torque, you idiot. Get it." The lady Cyclops roared.
Torque tried to catch Layla but she was smaller and therefore faster. She managed to run and hide behind a cupboard. Just as she started thinking that maybe she had a chance to distract them successfully, Torque lifted the cupboard and broke it in half. He took one huge piece of wood and slammed it down where Layla's head was.
Or more likely where Layla's head had been. The fast reflexes she had after years of swordfighting practice were what saved her from being smashed to the floor.
She ran towards the other edge of the room challenging the Torque to follow her. Both him and the lady cyclops did, which was bad since she was already struggling with only one of them.
After some time of dodging and slashing with her sword her ancle started to hurt again as the Ambrosia slowly wore off. Great timing. And just as she thought that her situation couldn't get any worse the door opened.
"Ma, I got the Salsa. Where should I-" Sump imidiarely stopped when he saw what was happening in front of him.
"Sump, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get that glowing piece of-!" Now she had three angry Cyclops in her tail. Great, just great. She hoped that at least Leo would finish what he was doing quickly because she wouldn't last long.
Five minutes of intense sword fight later Leo still wasn't done. Layla, then, decided that her bronze sword wouldn't help her anymore against them. She needed something bigger.
Snapping her fingers lightning fell from the sky opening a hole on the buildings roof. It drained her energy as it always did but it worked just fine at distracting the Cyclops. She would have used that power sooner, hadn't she been afraid that it would hurt her friends.
As the Cyclops where looking at the hole her lighting had created she had a unique opportunity. She climbed on top of a table to help her reach their height and with one huge jump she cut Torque's head off. The monster yelled in pain before disintegrating to yellow dust.
"No, you killed my son." His mother was even angrier than before. Both she and Sump walked towards Layla. The mother grabbed her legs as Sump got ready to hit her in the head with his piece of cupboard.
This time she couldn't dodge the hit. In one desperate attempt to save her life Layla snapped her fingers again. Lightning passed through the hole on the roof and turned Ma Gasket's other son to dust.
"No, my boys. I will struggle you with my own hands." Ma gasket threatened. With the world spinning around her and her sword in the ground, Layla wasn't able to do anything at all. The Cyclops massive arms squissed her until she couldn't breathe anymore. She even felt a couple of her ribs break and let out a scream.
She would have died if not for Leo. The son of Hephaestus finished whatever his was doing with the remote control perharps a little late but he did it. A mechanical arm hit the lady Cyclops to the head and she went to meet her sons in Tartarus. Layla fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.
"Wh-what took you so long?" She groaned as Leo used his mechanical arm to unhang Jason and Piper.
"A simple 'thank you' would have been enough." He replied and went to untie and ungag the guys.
"I would have thanked you for what you did if I hadn't almost been killed in the process." She bit back.
As soon as Piper was untied she rushed to Layla's aid. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Do I look okay?" She said through gritted teeth.
Piper searched her body for injuries. "Well, no. You've broken 4 ribs plus your ancle who seems to have re-broke. You also have a head injury but it doesn't seem like a big deal. You should get some ambrosia."
"Here's the thing, I've already eaten four pieces in a few hours. I don't want to be glowing again." Layla said groaning in pain.
"You got more ambrosia?" Piper scolded.
"You would have died if I hadn't, be grateful, child." She groaned again. "Why am I always the one who gets injured?"
Piper signed. "You should get some rest, then. There's nothing else to do." Layla didn't need to be told twice. She was exhausted. She only had time to mutter a sarcastic 'Thanks doc' to Piper before she passed out. The last thing she remembered was a pair of arms carrying her down the stairs.