(Y/N)'s POV
As he floated along on what he first thought was a rainbow, but ended up being a cloud, with the colors of the rainbow over the top of it, something didn't seem right, there was an unsettled feeling in his stomach, and he was sure it wasn't because of his encounter with Khione.
"Something's not right, that was too easy." (Y/N) said as he hovered over Ontario, thinking back to the look on Boreas's face and realizing Zethes wouldn't have been held up by those statues as long as he was, and Cal shouldn't have recovered so slowly.
Fleecy's voice said, "What do you mean, you got away, and nearly died." "Exactly..." He mumbled, looking over his head for any snowstorms or strong winds, but the sky was clear. "Four gods, I shouldn't have gotten out that easily."
"I think the brothers were previously demigods." "Still. Boreas alone even, there was no way I should have been able to run away from him without becoming a popsicle. But he just sat there and watched."
"Khione shouldn't have let me leave her room, she's a goddess, if she wanted to stop me, she could have. Somethings up." "You think they let you go? Maybe Iris put in a good word." He shook his head, "No, that's too easy, it's something else."
"Well, the ice princess did seem to...like you..." he couldn't see Fleecy, only hear her voice, but that was all he needed to guess her blushing expression, "Maybe she didn't want to kill you. Maybe she wanted you as a nice sculpture."
"I'm not ruling that out, but after the fight started, even if she didn't want me dead, Cal and Zethes definitely did, but they didn't kill me either." He thought back to his time in the hotel. Thinking back to any clues he might have overlooked.
He thought about the fauns at the service desk, why did they take so long to send him up, were they waiting for confirmation for Boreas, or was it something deeper? Were they stalling him to prepare an attack? No, then it would have been attacking him on sight.
Piper, Jason, and Leo, had passed through, Boreas hadn't killed them, so what was the ice man's beef with (Y/N), there was something he was missing, something obvious, something right in front of him.
He thought about Cal and Zethes. He could still feel himself reeling from Cal's punch, they were plenty strong, they could have overpowered him, so why didn't they if the plan was to capture him?
"Fleecy. Is my nose broken?" He asked, once the adrenaline had worn off, pain pulsed through his entire face, he felt woozy, "Looks like it." She said absentmindedly, he didn't know why that annoyed him so much. But nibbled on some ambrosia as he pondered.
The brothers, Khione told them not to speak with him, he never got to the bottom of why that was an issue, and they clearly followed her instruction for the most part. She had something to do with this, what. He wasn't sure.
Khione herself was an enigma he couldn't begin to unwrap. She was waiting for him, she said it herself, like she knew he was coming, and more miraculously, she recognized him, somehow, her of all people, who has never seen him before today.
And there was something much worse than that, which was all but confirmation that she should go on his intimidating ladies list. He recognized what Khione's last threat to him was, "See you soon."
The golden eyed witch had said something eerily similar the last time she was gloating to him. "What was it you promised me? 'No more running.' I agree. So I'll be seeing you soon..." He had a feeling that it wasn't just a coincidence.
He was unsure if Khione was acting of her own free will, or if she was being controlled somehow, but now (Y/N) knew that the golden eyed woman was hot on his trails, and knew where he was even without his ghost to track.
That explained almost everything, the stalling at the front desk, he blank look in the gods eyes, how Khione knew him and why she had told her brothers not to speak to him, actually, it didn't explain that last part, but close enough.
With at least a theory at hand, he decided his next move should be to intercept and go help those demigods on their quest, it sounds like Boreas let them leave so they must have been heading to the next stage of their quest.
He didn't have much to go on, only that they had passed through there. So he had no way to follow after them, no way to keep them safe, and not even a general direction to head in. He needed a lead, someone who could help him track them down.
His mind immediately raced towards the woman he had seen in the lobby, he had a gut feeling that she was the one that helped him escape, though he didn't know who she was or why. So he phoned a friend.
"That woman, do you know who that was Fleecy?" He asked, thinking to the blonde woman in the lobby. "Oh...um...I wasn't watching back then." She said in embarrassment, "What were you doing?" He asked out of curiosity. "Stocking the shelves!" She said far too quickly. "Fleecy..."
"Ok, so I was watching Hephaestus TV ok!" She said, "Sue me! Staying in the shop waiting for customers is BOORING! And seeing what the Olympians get up to in their spare time is fun." She began to ramble.
"Like, did you know Athena has read over a thousand books since they shut down, and she's writing her fifty-seventh. And Aphrodite is doing a full body cleanse, and oh my gods Apollo's tan is...mmmhhh" She trailed off.
"Yeah, he is pretty hot." (Y/N) said, "Heh, because he's the sun guy. Funny." Fleecy giggled, "Well yeah, that too." (Y/N) said, then it dawned on him, pun intended, "Wait, Fleecy, how are you watching Olympus TV if it's shut down all contact? They shouldn't be broadcasting."
There was a tense silence, even over a magical connection in (Y/N)'s head, which was finally broken when Fleecy pleaded, "Please don't tell Iris!" (Y/N) was very confused, Iris was a pretty chill lady, he doubts she would care how Fleecy occupied her time.
"-She told me that I shouldn't abuse her good nature and that using Iris messages to keep track of the goings on of Olympus was an invasion of privacy, but I'm only using the picture, so it's not like I'm eavesdropping or anything, just watching. And Hephaestus usually broadcasts that anyway, so-"
He stopped her rambling, "-You've been using Iris messages to pirate TV shows? Fleecy, you're a cloud after my own heart." "That's very offensive!" She said, frowning, he held up his hands apologetically, "Sorry, look, this is important, can you put me on with a god?"
"I don't know if I should really-" "Fleecy! Can you put me through to any of the gods, any at all, Hecate's good with magic she's probably the best choice, just not Zeus or Ares. No, Athena! Fleecy, put me through to Athena."
"We aren't supposed to report to anyone but lord Zeus..." She said quietly, "And that's only if there's trouble-" "Fleecy, there is trouble, but I'm sure you don't want to bother old bolt face while he's flexing in a mirror or something."
"I don't know about this (Y/N)" "I promise I won't tell Iris, can you just try for me? Think of it this way, if it works, you've saved Olympus, and you're the hero-" "-And I can ask Iris for a raise-" "-Not my first thought, but sure."
She sighed, and said "Okay, I'll try, but this cloud is really taking it out of me. So no promises, and you owe me a drachma!" "Fine." He agreed, more excited about the prospect of making contact with a god then his worries about the cost of international calls.
He waited for a second, a rainbow appeared in front of him, it was small, about the size of a regular dinner plate, but after a moment of static, he saw a woman, her nose deep in a book, as she stirred some coffee.
"Hey. HEY!" He waved his arms frantically at the grey eyed woman, who looked curiously at the sudden rainbow, taking off a thin pair of reading glasses to look at it. "YO!" (Y/N) screeched, "Genius lady. You see me?"
She was a beautiful woman, anyone could see that, even through the fuzzy signal. She wore a long white dress and had long black hair, pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses. She was reading a book in a language he couldn't understand.
Athena slightly cocked her head, as if appraising the rainbow at a different angle would help her somehow, and (Y/N) felt like he had been punched in the gut, he knew those mannerisms, they really were so alike. Even after years apart.
That thought made him focus on her face a little easier, again, like he was more comfortable with the world around him, he looked at the goddess and knew if anyone could look past the mist and see him, as well as take him seriously, it was her.
"It's me! (Y/N)!" He shouted at the rainbow, hoping even if she couldn't see him, she could hear him, "Tell Hades to check the doors! Tell Hades that they're slipping through! My dad needs your help!" He screamed.
But if Athena could see or hear him, she made no indication that his message was getting through, which he really hoped was some genius level rouse in case someone was listening. "They're coming back using old magic, she's reviving an army, but she has help doing it, It's-"
"No, no, don't do that little boy." A voice pounded it's way into his head before the name even formed in his mouth, cutting him off. The dirt eyed woman saw through his eyes, "We can't let you reveal all our secrets can we?"
He saw the witch on the other side of the rainbow message, she had hijacked it by going through his mind and disrupting the signal. Her hood was still up, she still hid her face, being cautious, just in case Athena caught on.
She smirked at him, her dark lipstick smeared across her face as she spoke. "You should have used your time wiser." "Stop stalling me" He said, trying to bat away the rainbow, only when he did it felt like someone had taken a scalding fire poker to his temple.
The witches eyes flared up brighter, the world around him rumbled, even in the sky, which was very concerning. But despite the blinding pain and the voice of the dirt woman in his head telling him to join her, he noticed something.
The golden eyed woman winced in pain, just for a moment, once he had the capacity to, he smirked at the woman, as the voices receded, he was failing to remember her name, like it had been plucked out of his head.
He glared at her and decided to start taunting her back, two could play at this game, and if he interrupted her, he was sure she couldn't poke through his memory again. "I guess you didn't get rid of those voices completely huh?"
"Why do you never learn your lesson boy" She asked spitefully, gritting her blackened teeth, he stored that information in his brain for his next contemplative cloud ride. "I guess that old magic is outdated for a reason huh?" He smiled evilly.
"Old magic?" She taunted, "Not very specific there, were you child? So pathetic, you don't even realize how out of your depth you are, or that you are...entirely...out of your element." Just like that, he was falling.
Leo's POV
Leo wished the dragon hadn't landed on the toilets. Of all the places to crash, a line of Porta-Potties would not have been his first choice. A dozen of the blue plastic boxes had been set up in the factory yard, and Festus had flattened them all.
Fortunately, they hadn't been used in a long time, and the fireball from the crash incinerated most of the contents; but still, there were some pretty gross chemicals leaking out of the wreckage. Leo had to pick his way through and try not to breathe through his nose.
Heavy snow was coming down, but the dragon's hide was still steaming hot. Of course, that didn't bother Leo. After a few minutes climbing over Festus's inanimate body, Leo started to get irritated. The dragon looked perfectly fine.
Yes, it had fallen out of the sky and landed with a big ka-boom, but its body wasn't even dented. The fireball had apparently come from built up gasses inside the toilet units, not from the dragon itself. Festus's wings were intact.
Nothing seemed broken. There was no reason it should have stopped. "Not my fault," he muttered. "Festus, you're making me look bad." Then he opened the control panel on the dragon's head, and Leo's heart sank. "Oh, Festus, what the heck?"
The wiring had frozen over. Leo knew it had been okay yesterday. He'd worked so hard to repair the corroded lines, but something had caused a flash freeze inside the dragon's skull, where it should've been too hot for ice to form.
The ice had caused the wiring to overload and char the control disk. Leo couldn't see any reason that would've happened. Sure, the dragon was old, but still, it didn't make sense. He could replace the wires.
That wasn't the problem. But the charred control disk was not good. The Greek letters and pictures carved around the edges, which probably held all kinds of magic, were blurred and blackened.
The one piece of hardware Leo couldn't replace—and it was damaged. Again. He imagined his mom's voice: 'Most problems look worse than they are, mijo. Nothing is unfixable.' His mom could repair just about anything, but Leo was pretty sure she'd never worked on a fifty-year-old magic metal dragon.
He clenched his teeth and decided he had to try. He wasn't walking from Detroit to Chicago in a snowstorm, and he wasn't going to be responsible for stranding his friends. "Right," he muttered, brushing the snow off his shoulders.
"Gimme a nylon bristle detail brush, some nitrile gloves, and maybe a can of that aerosol cleaning solvent." The tool belt obliged. Leo couldn't help smiling as he pulled out the supplies. The belt's pockets did have limits.
They wouldn't give him anything magic, like Jason's sword, or anything huge, like a chain saw. He'd tried asking for both. And if he asked for too many things at once, the belt needed a cooldown time before it could work again.
The more complicated the request, the longer the cooldown. But anything small and simple like you might find around a workshop—all Leo had to do was ask. He began cleaning off the control disk. While he worked, snow collected on the cooling dragon.
Leo had to stop from time to time to summon fire and melt it away, but mostly he went into autopilot mode, his hands working by themselves as his thoughts wandered. Leo couldn't believe how stupid he'd acted back at Boreas's palace.
He should've figured a family of winter gods would hate him on sight. Son of the fire god flying a fire-breathing dragon into an ice penthouse—yeah, maybe not the best move. Still, he hated feeling like a reject.
Jason and Piper got to visit the throne room. Leo got to wait in the lobby with Cal, the demigod of hockey and major head injuries. Fire is bad, Cal had told him. That pretty much summed it up. Leo knew he couldn't keep the truth from his friends much longer.
Ever since Camp Half-Blood, one line of that Great Prophecy kept coming back to him: To storm or fire the world must fall. And Leo was the fire guy, the first one since 1666 when London had burned down.
If he told his friends what he could really do—Hey, guess what, guys? I might destroy the world!—why would anyone welcome him back at camp? Leo would have to go on the run again. Even though he knew that drill, the idea depressed him.
Then there was Khione. Dang, that girl was fine. Leo knew he'd acted like a total fool, but he couldn't help himself. He'd had his clothes cleaned with the one-hour valet service —which had been totally sweet, by the way.
He'd combed his hair—never an easy job—and even discovered the tool bag could make breath mints, all in hopes that he could get close to her. Naturally, no such luck. Getting frozen out—story of his life—by his relatives, foster homes, you name it.
Even at Wilderness School, Leo had spent the last few weeks feeling like a third wheel as Jason and Piper, his only friends, became a couple. He was happy for them and all, but still it made him feel like they didn't need him anymore.
When he'd found out that Jason's whole time at school had been an illusion—a kind of a memory burp—Leo had been secretly excited. It was a chance for a reset.
Now Jason and Piper were heading toward being a couple again—that was obvious from the way they'd acted in the warehouse just now, like they wanted to talk in private without Leo around. What had he expected? He'd wind up the odd man out again.
Khione had just given him the cold shoulder a little quicker than most. "Enough, Valdez," he scolded himself. "Nobody's going to play any violins for you just because you're not important. Fix the stupid dragon."
He got so involved with his work, he wasn't sure how much time had passed before he heard the voice. 'You're wrong, Leo,' it said. He fumbled his brush and dropped it into the dragon's head. He stood, but he couldn't see who'd spoken.
Then he looked at the ground. Snow and chemical sludge from the toilets, even the asphalt itself was shifting like it was turning to liquid. A ten-foot-wide area formed eyes, a nose, and a mouth —the giant face of a sleeping woman.
She didn't exactly speak. Her lips didn't move. But Leo could hear her voice in his head, as if the vibrations were coming through the ground, straight into his feet and resonating up his skeleton.
'They need you desperately,' she said. 'In some ways, you are the most important of the seven—like the control disk in the dragon's brain. Without you, the power of the others means nothing. They will never reach me, never stop me. And I will fully wake.'
"You." Leo was shaking so badly he wasn't sure he'd spoken aloud. He hadn't heard that voice since he was eight, but it was her: the earthen woman from the machine shop. "You killed my mom."
The face shifted. The mouth formed a sleepy smile like it was having a pleasant dream. 'Ah, but Leo. I am your mother too—the First Mother. Do not oppose me. Walk away now. Let my son Porphyrion rise and become king, and I will ease your burdens. You will tread lightly on the earth.'
'Bring the child of broken mind to me' She urged and Leo thought of Jason, 'So he may pay me the debt he owes, and you will be rewarded when I wake.' Leo was too shocked to respond, 'I summoned him here Leo, he is my son, just as you are'
Leo grabbed the nearest thing he could find—a Porta-Potty seat—and threw it at the face. "Leave me alone!" The toilet seat sank into the liquid earth. Snow and sludge rippled, and the face dissolved.
Leo stared at the ground, waiting for the face to reappear. But it didn't. Leo wanted to think he'd imagined it. Then from the direction of the factory, he heard a crash—like two dump trucks slamming together.
Metal crumpled and groaned, and the noise echoed across the yard. Instantly Leo knew that Jason and Piper were in trouble. 'Walk away now, hunt the betrayer' the voice had urged. "Not likely," Leo growled. "Gimme the biggest hammer you got."
He reached into his tool belt and pulled out a three-pound club hammer with a double-faced head the size of a baked potato. Then he jumped off the dragon's back and ran toward the warehouse.
(Y/N)'s POV
He hadn't noticed the cloud disappearing, or the sudden silence from Fleecy on the other end of the line, in fact the first thin he notice was the Iris message, and the woman's evil smile suddenly rocketing above him, it took him a second to comprehend he was the one moving.
All his thoughts about Khione, about this great conspiracy to get him killed, rushed out of his head, like they had been left behind in the air as his body fell, everything became hazy, he didn't remember the blank look in the gods eyes, or Khione working against him.
He didn't scream, in fact, he was oddly calm for the first few moments, he liked this feeling, the wind passing by him as he fell through the air like this was nothing, he was used to this. He had fallen out of the sky before, no big deal.
But after a moment, when the thoughts of the golden eyed woman left him, when his nose had healed and the burning in his mouth stopped, and the adrenaline had passed through him, he could only curse and scream as he plummeted towards the earth. Unable to slow down at all.
"Fleecy. Fleecy! FLEECY!" He bellowed, there was no response at all to his pleas, no gust of wind, no shimmer of a rainbow, he had the feeling the cloud Nymph wasn't just watching TV this time. Something was stopping her.
He wondered if this as Iris's way of saying, "There isn't any more I can do to help you, sorry." It was only when he really came to his senses, he remembered a voice once scolding him, "You can fly!" he was a few feet off the snow covered earth that he thought to shout "Maia!"
The shoes sprouted and immediately started working, flapping their wings intensely, they weren't able to entirely stop his decent, he hit the ground and felt like his shins had gone through his rib cage.
He hit the ground harshly, unable to brace himself properly because of the two opposing forces on his body, gravity, and the propulsion of his wings, but he quickly recovered from the shock of his landing and fell on his butt, now damp and becoming soaked from the snow beneath him.
His entire body felt numb, and not just from the cold, multiple emotions, shock, mostly, were pumping through his body, his legs felt like he had just ran across the rainbow again, and his stomach probably looked like the Gordian Knot right now.
He laughed, he just laughed, "Gonna need to do better then that you parasite!" He proclaimed to the sky, because part of him knew the woman was still watching him, hoping he would meet his demise and that they would be reunited.
But as he laid down in the snow, he was so happy he had survived and that he was out of her grasp that he was too relaxed and almost failed to notice the next danger. The one that came from the earth under him.
He was so ecstatic about not falling to his death, he almost failed to notice that he was now sinking to his death, the floor beneath him becoming like a quicksand, made of earth and snow, it was his heart spiking in fear as the dirt encapsulated his shoulder that made him catch on.
He immediately rose to his feet as best he could, unfortunately this just meant his right arm sank deeper into the earth, he almost passed out from shock when he heard the earth lady shouting at him, "Join me, and become whole." with such force it made his bones rattle.
And he screamed so loud he almost popped a blood vessel when a face appeared in the dirt, pushing through it like Freddie did to that wall in Elm Street, but it wasn't the dirt lady, it was the golden eyed woman.
He wrenched at his own arm trying to free it as she rose to the surface, he even considered cutting it off as she reached up while he stumbled to his knees, wrapping her arms around him and dragging him down into the darkness below.
Leo's POV
Leo stopped at the doors and tried to control his breathing. The voice of the earth woman still rang in his ears, reminding him of his mother's death. The last thing he wanted to do was plunge into another dark warehouse.
Suddenly he felt eight years old again, alone and helpless as someone he cared about was trapped and in trouble. Stop it, he told himself. That's how she wants you to feel. But that didn't make him any less scared.
He 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.
He could make out the catwalk above, the dim shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of his friends. He almost called out, but something stopped him—a sense he couldn't identify.
Then he realized it was smell. Something smelled wrong—like burning motor oil and sour breath. Something not human was inside the factory. Leo was certain. His body shifted into high gear, all his nerves tingling.
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? He slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container.
Slowly, gripping his hammer, he worked his way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis. Finally he reached the assembly line. He crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery—a crane with a robotic arm.
Piper's voice called out again: "Leo?" Less certain this time, but very close. 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 Leo 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 he knows what's good for him. Or the girl was lying about a third demigod. Let's get cooking."
Snap. A bright orange light sizzled to life—an emergency flare—and Leo 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 Tía Callida 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, Leo realized, which meant this was a cooking fire.
But most terrifying of all were the cooks. Monocle Motors: that single red eye logo. Why hadn't Leo realized? Three massive humanoids gathered around the fire. Two were standing, stoking the flames.
The largest one crouched with his back to Leo. The two facing him were each ten feet tall, with hairy muscular bodies and skin that glowed red in the firelight. One of the monsters wore a chain mail loincloth that looked really uncomfortable.
The other wore a ragged fuzzy toga made of fiberglass insulation, which also would not have made Leo's top ten wardrobe ideas. Other than that, the two monsters could've been twins. Each had a brutish face with a single eye in the center of his forehead. The cooks were Cyclopes.
Leo's legs started quaking. He'd seen some weird things so far—storm spirits and winged gods and a metal dragon that liked Tabasco sauce. But this was different. These were actual, flesh-and-blood, ten-foot-tall living monsters who wanted to eat his friends for dinner.
He was so terrified he could hardly think. If only he had Festus. He could use a fire-breathing sixty-foot-long tank about now. But all he had was a tool belt and a backpack. His three-pound club hammer looked awfully small compared to those Cyclopes.
This is what the sleeping earth lady had been talking about. She wanted Leo to walk away and leave his friends to die. That decided it. No way was Leo going to let that earth lady make him feel powerless—never again.
Leo slipped off his backpack and quietly started to unzip it. The Cyclops in the chain mail loincloth walked over to Piper, who squirmed and tried to head-butt him in the eye. "Can I take her gag off now? I like it when they scream."
The question was directed at the third Cyclops, apparently the leader. The crouching figure grunted, and Loincloth ripped the gag off Piper's mouth. She didn't scream. She took a shaky breath like she was trying to keep herself calm.
Meanwhile, Leo found what he wanted in the pack: a stack of tiny remote control units he'd picked up in Bunker 9. At least he hoped that's what they were. The robotic crane's maintenance panel was easy to find.
He slipped a screwdriver from his tool belt and went to work, but he had to go slowly. The leader Cyclops was only twenty feet in front of him. The monsters obviously had excellent senses. Pulling off his plan without making noise seemed impossible, but he didn't have much choice.
The Cyclops in the toga poked at the fire, which was now blazing away and billowing noxious black smoke toward the ceiling. His buddy Loincloth glowered at Piper, waiting for her to do something entertaining. "Scream, girl! I like funny screaming!"
(Y/N)'s POV
He woke up, only to find dirt in his mouth, his head bleeding pretty badly, and his whole body sore and tender, he could barely move any of his limbs, but managed to sit up despite his back protesting with several creaking noises and popping sounds.
He looked around to see the huge crater of snow he had left behind, and suddenly he understood that his landing was not as gentle as the one in his dreams. But something had protected him, kept him safe from the landing.
He went to call out for Fleecy, but the ambrosia that had been in his mouth, healing his nose had burned like a blowtorch down his throat, so the best he could muster were croaks that vaguely resembled words.
He looked around to find himself in a snow covered field, not good, he knew it wasn't good, but couldn't have told anyone the reason why, he didn't remember that his enemy was the goddess of snow.
Wiping the blood from his face, he decided to head south, which was his best option, since it was away from Boreas's domain, then he remembered his real mission, he had to find those demigods.
He instincts told him he needed to hurry, they told him he needed to run, so he did, trudging through the dirt and snow, he sprinted, closing is eyes instinctually, trying to focus on the three demigods.
But he didn't know where they were, or their direction, and he barely knew them well enough to point them out of a crowd, so when that feeling came over him, when he felt like he was missing time, and he opened his eyes, he was nowhere.
And he didn't mean that in the sense that he didn't know where he was, he meant he was literally nowhere. Darkness surrounding him. Like i some of the dreams he had, it was entirely dark, no direction, no light whatsoever.
It was maddening, he looked around, but at the same time, felt like he couldn't move, trapped in the shadows, unable to do anything. A presence made itself known, and after that, it was the only thing that mattered, the only thing he could feel.
"So. You return..." It said, it's voice pounding around his head like a raging bull. He couldn't tell much about it, but what he could tell, was it knew him. "Making deals again..." It said in amusement.
It was old, powerful, immensely so, and utterly horrifying, it laughed and he felt the world around him shake. "Her champion...the defiler, she lies...she pretends...she is not worthy to utter my name..." He just sat there, frozen.
"A thief, a parasite. Show it despair...destroy it...unleash the monster...stop fighting." It repeated, he was confused, did it want him to fight this defiler or not? Suddenly, a golden light overtook him, and he couldn't shield his eyes.
So he saw that he was in the palm of something's hand, the golden light was in fact an eye of the enormous presence. "You return to us..." It said, it's voice suddenly shaking, with what emotion he was unsure, "But you are broken."
"Weak...powerless...mortal...Why?" It asked, he didn't exactly have an answer, what was he meant to say, "Uhhh...sorry eldritch horror, I left my power in my other jeans." So he just left it to talk.
"Why do you seek my aid, for simple things? Why are you almost crushed horribly by the weakest of monsters? Why do you fail to recognize my greatness?" It asked, sounding a little more whiny then menacing after a while.
He heard a deep rumble, "She wakes...The great stirring was only the beginning, her chance at a reign will soon come, you cannot let it, she cannot succeed where I have not...it is...unfair...I am the most terrifying."
It's hand began to close. "Prove your worth. Prove yourself the strongest. Destroy the thief, the usurper. The false god. Do this, and her champion will fall, she will fail, and you can return, your monster reborn!" The light overtook him again, and once more he woke up.
"Monster reborn?" He thought as he woke up in the snow, four feet from where he started, wondering if his hair was spiky enough to pull off such a move. Since it had been illegal since like, 2004.
Then he thought, "Why have I retained this information." And got back on track. He searched his pockets. He needed to get in contact with the kids, so he could meet up with them again.
"Money, I need money..." He mumbled as he did a little dance trying to rummage through his pockets, none of the coins he needed. He suddenly remembered he had given that to the kid in the alley. Cursing himself, he kept looking.
Eventually, after finding a couple of nickels and a bent dime, as well as some other things, like a few buttons and a screw. He reached into his back pocket and his hand felt numb for a moment, his only thoughts were on money.
And from his pocket emerged a pristine ten dollar bill, and for a moment, he wondered how or if, he could use it for payment, and if Iris would let him send an Iris message for mortal money, he looked around and saw something glitter in the snow, a rainbow. He went to tear the money, but stopped.
Something rose up in him, an absolute fury with himself, he would never spend this money, no matter what, he would take it to his grave! It was his and he was keeping it forever, she was never getting it back, it would remain with him.
"Well, there goes that idea." He thought as he calmed his inner money demon. He pushed away the thought, and with no other alternative, said "Fleecy?" This time, she appeared in an Iris message of her own.
She did not look happy, her hair was a grey colour, her eyes storming, "Did she catch you?" (Y/N) scoffed, the cloud nymph pouted and looked away, "No..." He sighed, "Fleecy, can you help me send a message."
"Why don't you have Iris do it?" She asked, he shrugged, "Because I'm speaking to you." "Who is it?" "Jason." He said, thinking that kid would be the only one of the three that wouldn't freak out if he saw an Iris message. Fleecy seemed confused.
"Messages to people in Elysium costs more, just so you know, and you can only get like ten-" "No, the other Jason, that kid, Jason." He told her, she seemed confused, not recognizing the description
"Blonde hair, kind of annoying, a face you want to punch, he was wrestling with me not even a few hours ago?" (Y/N) said, hoping to get through to her. She just shook her head, "Doesn't ring a bell, do you have second name." "(L/N)" "Oh my gods, you have a brother named Jason?"
"What- No I don't...Oh, you mean his last name?" He thought about it, "How the hell am I supposed to know his name Fleecy, just please send a message." "No last name, no can do, sorry (Y/N). What about Chiron, you always used to send messages to him-" "What are you talking about Fleecy?"
(Y/N) was getting really irritated with this cloud nymph right now, and his frustration would only get worse when she said "So, are you going to call anyone soon, because Pheme is about to do gossip hour and-"
The frustration overtook him and he decided to say the first name he could think of. It tumbled out of his mouth, he shouted it at Fleecy. "GRACE, JASON GRACE!" And within a second, the rainbow had connected them.
Leo's POV
When Piper finally spoke, her tone was calm and reasonable, like she was correcting a naughty puppy. "Oh, Mr. Cyclops, you don't want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go." Loincloth scratched his ugly head. He turned to his friend in the fiberglass toga.
"She's kind of pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go." Torque, the dude in the toga, growled. "I saw her first, Sump. I'll let her go!" Sump and Torque started to argue, but the third Cyclops rose and shouted, "Fools!"
Leo almost dropped his screwdriver. The third Cyclops was a female. She was several feet taller than Torque or Sump, and even beefier. She wore a tent of chain mail cut like one of those sack dresses Leo's mean Aunt Rosa used to wear.
What'd they call that—a muumuu? Yeah, the Cyclops lady had a chain mail muumuu. Her greasy black hair was matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washers. Her nose and mouth were thick and smashed together, like she spent her free time ramming her face into walls; but her single red eye glittered with evil intelligence.
The woman Cyclops stalked over to Sump and pushed him aside, knocking him over the conveyor belt. Torque backed up quickly. "The girl is Venus spawn," the lady Cyclops snarled. "She's using charmspeak on you."
Piper started to say, "Please, ma'am—" "Rarr!" The lady Cyclops grabbed Piper around the waist. "Don't try your pretty talk on me, girl! I'm Ma Gasket! I've eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!"
Leo feared Piper would get crushed, but Ma Gasket just dropped her and let her dangle from her chain. Then she started yelling at Sump about how stupid he was. Leo's hands worked furiously. He twisted wires and turned switches, hardly thinking about what he was doing.
He finished attaching the remote. Then he crept over to the next robotic arm while the Cyclopes were talking. "—eat her last, Ma?" Sump was saying. "Idiot!" Ma Gasket yelled, and Leo realized Sump and Torque must be her sons.
If so, ugly definitely ran in the family. "I should've thrown you out on the streets when you were babies, like proper Cyclops children. You might have learned some useful skills. Curse my soft heart that I kept you!"
"Soft heart?" Torque muttered. "What was that, you ingrate?" "Nothing, Ma. I said you got a soft heart. We get to work for you, feed you, file your toenails—" "And you should be grateful!" Ma Gasket bellowed.
"Now, stoke the fire, Torque! And Sump, you idiot, my case of salsa is in the other warehouse. Don't tell me you expect me to eat these demigods without salsa!" "Yes, Ma," Sump said. "I mean no, Ma. I mean—"
"Go get it!" Ma Gasket picked up a nearby truck chassis and slammed it over Sump's head. Sump crumpled to his knees. Leo was sure a hit like that would kill him, but Sump apparently got hit by trucks a lot.
He managed to push the chassis off his head. Then he staggered to his feet and ran off to fetch the salsa. Now's the time, Leo thought. While they're separated. He finished wiring the second machine and moved toward a third.
As he dashed between robotic arms, the Cyclopes didn't see him, but Piper did. Her expression turned from terror to disbelief, and she gasped. Ma Gasket turned to her. "What's the matter, girl? So fragile I broke you?"
Thankfully, Piper was a quick thinker. She looked away from Leo and said, "I think it's my ribs, ma'am. If I'm busted up inside, I'll taste terrible." Ma Gasket bellowed with laughter. "Good one. The last hero we ate—remember him, Torque? Son of Mercury, wasn't he?"
"Yes, Ma," Torque said. "Tasty. Little bit stringy." "He tried a trick like that. Said he was on medication. But he tasted fine!" "Tasted like mutton," Torque recalled. "Purple shirt. Talked in Latin. Yes, a bit stringy, but good."
Leo's fingers froze on the maintenance panel. Apparently, Piper was having the same thought he was, because she asked, "Purple shirt? Latin?" "Good eating," Ma Gasket said fondly. "Point is, girl, we're not as dumb as people think! We're not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles, not us northern Cyclopes."
Leo forced himself back to work, but his mind was racing. A kid who spoke Latin had been caught here—in a purple shirt like Jason's? He didn't know what that meant, but he had to leave the interrogation to Piper.
If he was going to have any chance of defeating these monsters, he had to move fast before Sump came back with the salsa. Could this day get any weirder? He thought as he looked over his surroundings for anything that could do some damage.
He looked up at the engine block suspended right above the Cyclopes' campsite. He wished he could use that—it would make a great weapon. But the crane holding it was on the opposite side of the conveyor belt.
There was no way Leo could get over there without being seen, and besides, he was running short on time. The last part of his plan was the trickiest. From his tool belt he summoned some wires, a radio adapter, and a smaller screwdriver and started to build a universal remote.
For the first time, he said a silent thank-you to his dad—Hephaestus—for the magic tool belt. Get me out of here, he prayed, and maybe you're not such a jerk. Piper kept talking, laying on the praise.
"Oh, I've heard about the northern Cyclopes!" Which Leo figured was bull, but she sounded convincing. "I never knew you were so big and clever!" "Flattery won't work either," Ma Gasket said, though she sounded pleased. "It's true, you'll be breakfast for the best Cyclopes around."
"But aren't Cyclopes good?" Piper asked. "I thought you made weapons for the gods." "Bah! I'm very good. Good at eating people. Good at smashing. And good at building things, yes, but not for the gods."
"Our cousins, the elder Cyclopes, they do this, yes. Thinking they're so high and mighty 'cause they're a few thousand years older. Then there's our southern cousins, living on islands and tending sheep. Morons!"
"But we Hyperborean Cyclopes, the northern clan, we're the best! Founded Monocle Motors in this old factory—the best weapons, armor, chariots, fuel-efficient SUVs! And yet—bah! Forced to shut down. Laid off most of our tribe. The war was too quick. Titans lost. No good! No more need for Cyclops weapons."
"Oh, no," Piper sympathized. "I'm sure you made some amazing weapons." Torque grinned. "Squeaky war hammer!" He picked up a large pole with an accordion-looking metal box on the end.
He slammed it against the floor and the cement cracked, but there was also a sound like the world's largest rubber ducky getting stomped. "Terrifying," Piper said. Torque looked pleased. "Not as good as the exploding ax, but this one can be used more than once."
"Can I see it?" Piper asked. "If you could just free my hands—" Torque stepped forward eagerly, but Ma Gasket said, "Stupid! She's tricking you again. Enough talk! Slay the boy first before he dies on his own. I like my meat fresh."
No! Leo's fingers flew, connecting the wires for the remote. Just a few more minutes! "Hey, wait," Piper said, trying to get the Cyclopes' attention. "Hey, can I just ask—" He had to pick up the pace, or so he thought, until everyone in the room was distracted by a bright light.
Something weird enough to cap off this whole day popped up in front of Jason's face, a sparkling rainbow, but he was in no condition to see it, Leo was sure he was busy seeing stars. "Pretty...said Torque, but Ma Gasket must have seen something bad.
She immediately rushed towards whatever this rainbow was, looking through it and then rubbing her eye to check again, whatever it was, she recognised it. And it made her worry, that made Leo hope it was reinforcements, a hope that was all the more real when it spoke.
"Jason? Jason, can you hear me. Where are-" Ma Gasket batted the rainbow away with a giant fist, she stumbled back a bit, her one eye wide, "SUMP HURRY!" She shouted, and the whole work site shook.
"Torque, Hurry with that fire! We're dinin' and dashin'." "But why Ma?" Torque said, mumbling about savoring the meat. "BECAUSE I SAID SO!" She screamed, and Leo realized his time limit had just been cut down.
The thought made him panic and then wires sparked in Leo's hand. The Cyclopes froze and turned in his direction. Then Torque picked up a truck and threw it at him.
(Y/N)'s POV
He saw Jason, unconscious and tied up, he heard the growling of monsters in the background. And then, nothing. His heart sank, they were in danger, he had left them alone to deal with his own problems and they were going to die for it.
Everything clicked. "She was stalling me while they got attacked!" He yelled in frustration, knowing he was too far away to do anything. They were keeping him busy so they could go after the three demigods without him protecting them.
"Where was that message broadcast from?" He asked as he watched the connection go dead, not wanting to waste any time, "That is a confidentiality vio-" "Fleecy, not now, I'll pay for my war crimes later, where was it. They're in danger-" "I can't-" Suddenly a voice cut in between the two of them, Iris's.
"Monocle Motors, an engine company in Detroit" She said simply, her image appearing in the corner of the message, like a three way conference call. "Fleecy, how fast can you get me to them on that cloud thing?" He asked, Fleecy put her finger to her chin, thinking hard.
"Well, you see, Clouds don't move at an average speed. They move at the speed of the wind. Clouds are nothing but visible water vapor in the air that is the wind. Wind is air that is moving from high pressure areas to lower pressure areas. So really-" "Fleecy!"
"-It is also air that is moving from colder to warmer and warmer to colder air masses. Air also moves due to the Coriolis Effect caused by the Earth spinning-" "How fast Fleecy!" She shrugged, "A few hours?"
The goddess scoffed at her employee, "She has absolutely no idea what she's talking about y'know, she just likes sounding smart. After all, I gave her that cloud as a birthday present, and it's magic so it's faster then it looks, two hours tops."
"Only when you drive like a maniac..." Fleecy muttered. (Y/N) frowned, "The cloud is still too slow, help me Iris, you're my only hope" He said. The goddess looked over at the cloud nymph, "Get back to work Fleecy."
She sighed as the nymph dissipated, she muttered, "Airhead..." "They'll die without me, they've already been captured, I tried on my own, and I'm not strong enough. Without you, they're going to die, and if they die, so does Hera, I know your family matters are important but this means more."
Iris paused for a moment. She bit her lip in contemplation and looked at (Y/N) through her thick specs, debating it. "Please." He said again, and something about it just have struck a chord with her, because before he could blink, he was in Detroit. "Thank you." He said in gratitude.
He was ready to go and find those kids and get them out of any danger they found themselves in, he would get them to Hera, he was sure of it. When he arrived, his reflexes were on edge, his eyes alert and ready.
The moment that the rainbow dropped him off and he felt his feet from under him, he was searching the room for enemies, he found visuals on Piper and Jason, and knew he had to defeat this monster and find Leo.
He was sure that even without most of his power, he could do it, and twisted his rings to make sure his weapons were ready for action, the golden claws extending, he was ready for battle. That was of course until he heard an almighty 'SQUEAK' and was launched into the air.
Leo's POV
Leo rolled as the truck steamrolled over the machinery. If he'd been a half-second slower, he would've been smashed. He got to his feet, and Ma Gasket spotted him. She yelled, "Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get him!"
Torque barreled toward him. Leo frantically gunned the toggle on his makeshift remote. Torque was fifty feet away. Twenty feet. Then the first robotic arm whirred to life. A three-ton yellow metal claw slammed the Cyclops in the back so hard, he landed flat on his face.
Before Torque could recover, the robotic hand grabbed him by one leg and hurled him straight up. "AHHHHH!" Torque rocketed into the gloom. The ceiling was too dark and too high up to see exactly what happened, but judging from the harsh metal clang, Leo guessed the Cyclops had hit one of the support girders.
Torque never came down. Instead, yellow dust rained to the floor. Torque had disintegrated. Ma Gasket stared at Leo in shock. "My son ... You ... You ..." As if on cue, Sump lumbered into the firelight with a case of salsa. "Ma, I got the extra-spicy—"
He never finished his sentence. Leo spun the remote's toggle, and the second robotic arm whacked Sump in the chest. The salsa case exploded like a piñata and Sump flew backward, right into the base of Leo's third machine.
Sump may have been immune to getting hit with truck chasses, but he wasn't immune to robotic arms that could deliver ten thousand pounds of force. The third crane arm slammed him against the floor so hard, he exploded into dust like a broken flour sack.
Two Cyclopes down. Leo was beginning to feel like Commander Tool Belt when Ma Gasket locked her eye on him. She grabbed the nearest crane arm and ripped it off its pedestal with a savage roar. "You busted my boys! Only I get to bust my boys!"
Leo punched a button, and the two remaining arms swung into action. Ma Gasket caught the first one and tore it in half. The second arm smacked her in the head, but that only seemed to make her mad.
She grabbed it by the clamps, ripped it free, and swung it like a baseball bat. It missed Piper and Jason by an inch. Then Ma Gasket let it go—spinning it toward Leo. He yelped and rolled to one side as it demolished the machine next to him.
Leo started to realize that an angry Cyclops mother was not something you wanted to fight with a universal remote and a screwdriver. The future for Commander Tool Belt was not looking so hot.
She stood about twenty feet from him now, next to the cooking fire. Her fists were clenched, her teeth bared. She looked ridiculous in her chain mail muumuu and her greasy pigtails—but given the murderous glare in her huge red eye and the fact that she was twelve feet tall, Leo wasn't laughing.
She picked up the squeaky war hammer, intent on crushing him with it. But again, the day only got weirder, through the wall of the shop, came a rainbow.
Leo had barely enough time to see someone arrive in it like they had been beamed through it before Ma Gasket swung the war hammer and they went flying into a wall. "Well, so much for reinforcements." He thought. "Any more tricks, demigod?" Ma Gasket demanded.
Leo glanced up. The engine block suspended on the chain—if only he'd had time to rig it. If only he could get Ma Gasket to take one step forward. The chain itself ... that one link ... Leo shouldn't have been able to see it, especially from so far down, but his senses told him there was metal fatigue.
"Heck, yeah, I got tricks!" Leo raised his remote control. "Take one more step, and I'll destroy you with fire!" Ma Gasket laughed. "Would you? Cyclopes are immune to fire, you idiot. But if you wish to play with flames, let me help!"
She scooped red-hot coals into her bare hands and flung them at Leo. They landed all around his feet. "You missed," he said incredulously. Then Ma Gasket grinned and picked up a barrel next to the truck.
Leo just had time to read the stenciled word on the side—kerosene —before Ma Gasket threw it. The barrel split on the floor in front of him, spilling lighter fluid everywhere. Coals sparked. Leo closed his eyes, and Piper screamed, "No!"
A firestorm erupted around him. When Leo opened his eyes he was bathed in flames swirling twenty feet into the air. Ma Gasket shrieked with delight, but Leo didn't offer the fire any good fuel. The kerosene burned off, dying down to small fiery patches on the floor.
Piper gasped. "Leo?" Ma Gasket looked astonished. "You live?" Then she took that extra step forward, which put her right where Leo wanted. "What are you?" "The son of Hephaestus," Leo said. "And I warned you I'd destroy you with fire."
He pointed one finger in the air and summoned all his will. He'd never tried to do anything so focused and intense—but he shot a bolt of white-hot flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops's head—aiming for the link that looked weaker than rest.
The flames died. Nothing happened. Ma Gasket laughed. "An impressive try, son of Hephaestus. It's been many centuries since I saw a fire user. You'll make a spicy appetizer!" The chain snapped—that single link heated beyond its tolerance point—and the engine block fell, deadly and silent.
"I don't think so," Leo said. Ma Gasket didn't even have time to look up. Smash! No more Cyclops—just a pile of dust under a five-ton engine block. "Not immune to engines, huh?" Leo said. "Boo-yah!"
Then he fell to his knees, his head buzzing. After a few minutes he realized Piper was calling his name. "Leo! Are you all right? Can you move?" He stumbled to his feet. He'd never tried to summon such an intense fire before, and it had left him completely drained.
It took him a long time to get Piper down from her chains. Then together they lowered Jason, who was still unconscious. Piper managed to trickle a little nectar into his mouth, and he groaned.
The welt on his head started to shrink. His color came back a little. "Yeah, he's got a nice thick skull," Leo said. "I think he's gonna be fine." "Thank god," Piper sighed. Leo rushed over to whoever it was that Ma Gasket had smacked with the hammer.
"It's that dude!" He said, looking at the unconscious man, Piper hobbled over, "He must have been trying to help us." She said, clicking her fingers in front of his face, he awoke abruptly. "What...the hell. Just hit me."
"About a thousand pounds of squeaky force." Leo smirked, he just seemed confused, but got up and brushed himself off like he wasn't injured at all, "The rainbows must have softened the blow." He explained, Leo still found it funny that he answered to the goddess of rainbows.
"I came to help, looks like you got it covered huh warrior princess." He smiled at Piper, she turned to Leo, "Actually, Leo defeated them." "Oh, what did you do, throw a really big wrench." The guy recovered quickly with a joke.
After that question Piper looked at Leo with something like fear. "How did you—the fire—have you always ... ?" Leo looked down. "Always," he said. "I'm a freaking menace. Sorry, I should've told you guys sooner but—"
"Sorry?" Piper punched his arm. When he looked up, she was grinning. "That was amazing, Valdez! You saved our lives. What are you sorry about?" Leo blinked. He started to smile, but his sense of relief was ruined when he noticed something next to Piper's foot.
Yellow dust—the powdered remains of one of the Cyclopes, maybe Torque—was shifting across the floor like an invisible wind was pushing it back together. "They're forming again," Leo said. "Look." Piper stepped away from the dust.
"That's not possible. Annabeth told me monsters dissipate when they're killed. They go back to Tartarus and can't return for a long time." "Well, nobody told the dust that." Leo watched as it collected into a pile, then very slowly spread out, forming a shape with arms and legs.
"Annabeth..." The guy said, his eyes a little manic, "You know Annabeth?" He asked quickly, utterly unaware of the danger, Leo wondered if that hammer had scrambled his brains. "We have bigger worries rainbow guy."
"Oh, god." Piper turned pale. "Boreas said something about this—the earth yielding up horrors. 'When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades.'" "The great stirring or whatever..." The man said, they both looked at him for an explanation.
He shrugged, "It started a few years ago, it's a long story. Let's get out of here before we share horror stories," He advised, Leo didn't have any objections. Piper looked at the yellow stuff, "How long do you think we have?"
The strange man grabbed a nearby tarp and used it as a fan to spread the monster goop out. Leo thought about the face that had formed in the ground outside—the sleeping woman who was definitely a horror from the earth. "I don't know," he said.
"Not long enough for my liking, Let me take him." He gestured to Jason. Then he pointed down to Piper's ankle, "Careful you don't bust it before we leave. Upsy-daisy." The guy picked up Jason with a bit of strain and said "Lead the way fire guy."