Leo and Mia stopped at the door and tried to control their breathing. Mia took a deep breath and peered inside. Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few light bulbs 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.
Leo almost called out, but Ma stopped him—a sense she couldn't identify. Then they 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 Mia and Leo held their tongue. How could Piper have gotten off the catwalk with her broken ankle? Mia's fingers gripped her sword harder. Nobody touches her family.
They slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container. Slowly, they worked his way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis. Finally they reached the assembly line. Leo and Mia crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery—a crane with a robotic arm.
Piper's voice called out again: "Mia?" 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 Mia 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. Mia's inside squirmed.
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 knows what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about the other demigods. 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.
"Hey Luke." Mia said, as he was slowly dying. Tears streamed down her eyes, and she placed him on her lap. "It's okay, it's okay." Luke's left side was bloody. His eyes were open—blue eyes, the way they used to be. His breath was a deep rattle.
"Good . . . blade," he croaked.
Percy knelt next to Mia. Annabeth limped over with Grover's support. They both had tears in their eyes.
Luke gazed at Mia's. "You knew. I almost killed you, but you knew . . ."
"Shhh." Mia's voice trembled. "You were a hero at the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium."
He shook his head weakly. "Think . . . rebirth. Try for three of the Blest."
Mia sniffled. "You always pushed yourself too hard."
He held up his charred hand. Mia touched his fingertips.
"Did you . . ." Luke coughed and his lips glistened red. "Do you love me?"
Mia wiped her tears away. "Of course I love you, Luke. I love you so much."
Luke's eyes were filled with tears, and he nodded. He winced in pain.
"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can—"
"Grover," Luke gulped. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing. . . ."Another
cough.
Annabeth sniffled, and Luke said, "You too, Annabeth." Luke said, "You're smart.. always been the best out of all of us."
Luke then gripped Percy's sleeve. "Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it . . . Don't let it happen again."
His eyes were angry, but pleading too.
"I won't," Percy said. "I promise."
Luke nodded, and he grabbed Mia's hand. "I'm not ready to die, Mia."
Mia began to sob. She began to push Luke's hair out of his face, while saying, "It's okay, Luke. I'm here with you. I promise. I won't leave you."
Luke nodded, "I love you, Mia."
And then, Mia leaned in. She kissed his lips, and for a moment, nothing else mattered. Once she pulled away, Luke smiled.
"I love you." Luke said, and his hand went slack.
The gods arrived a few minutes later in their full war regalia, thundering into the throne room and expecting a battle.
What they found were Annabeth, Grover, and Percy standing over the body of Mia, who had a broken half-blood in her lap, in the dim warm light of the hearth.
"Percy, Mia." Poseidon called, awe in his voice. "What . . . what is this?"
Mia was still sobbing, so Percy turned and faced the Olympians.
"We need a shroud," Percy announced, my voice cracking. "A shroud for the son of Hermes."
The Three Fates themselves took Luke's body. One of them looked at Mia, and even though she didn't say anything, her life literally flashed before her eyes. Suddenly she was twenty, holding hands with this Hispanic boy with curly hair, but Mia couldn't see his face. Then she was a middle-aged women. Then she turned old and withered. All the strength left her body, and she saw her own tombstone and an open grave, a coffin being lowered into the ground. All this happened in less than a second.
"It is done," she said.
The Fate held up the snippet of blue yarn. Mia realized it was Luke's. They'd been showing me the life that would have to be sacrificed to set things right.
They gathered up Luke's body, now wrapped in a white-and-green shroud, and began carrying it out of the throne room.
"Wait," Hermes said, grabbing Mia's hand. Mia was still mad at him for blaming her for Luke, but she let him grab his hand. The messenger god was dressed in his classic outfit of white Greek robes, sandals, and helmet. The wings of his helm fluttered as he walked. The snakes George and Martha curled around his caduceus, murmuring, "Luke, poor Luke."
Hermes unwrapped Luke's face and kissed his forehead. He murmured some words in Ancient Greek—a final blessing.
"Farewell," he whispered, and gave room for Mia. Mia nods, and looked at Luke's face one last time. She took off his necklace, and places on her.
"I love you, Luke." Mia said, as she grabbed his hand. Then she nodded and allowed the Fates to carry away her lovers's body.
Mia began to cry, and she fell to her knees. Poseidon, who happened to be there, grabbed her, and patted her.
"It's okay, my dear." Poseidon patted her back. Tears streamed down her eyes, and she wouldn't stop crying. Once she did, Poseidon stood up.
"Don't cry. A hero like that will go to the Elysium. I'm afraid that I have to talk to your brother now." Poseidon said. He looked at her one more time, and walked away.
After a few moments, Nico Di' Angelo came into Olympus to a hero's welcome, his father right behind him, despite the fact that Hades was only supposed to visit Olympus on winter solstice. The god of the dead looked stunned when his relatives clapped him on the back. Mia now doubt he'd ever gotten such an enthusiastic welcome before.
Once Nico saw Mia crying, him and his father walked over to Mia.
"Hey, Mia." Nico said, leading Mia into a hug. Mia sobbed into his chest.
"He's gone." Mia cried, as Hades awkwardly patted her on the back. "Luke killed himself to save us."
Hades went to sit with the other gods, and Nico and Mia sat down at his feet. Nico wouldn't let his best friend go, and she was grateful for that. The gods were speaking to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. Mia wasn't paying attention, until someone called her name.
"Mia Jackson, my daughter." It was Aphrodite. Mia quickly got up, wiped her tears, and bowed.
"Poseidon and I agreed that we would reward you this." Aphrodite got up, and handed her blue contact lens. "It gives you the ability to breath and control water."
Mia sniffed, and placed them in her pocket, "Thanks, I guess."
Aphrodite smiled, "And we are allowed to grant you one gift. It can be anything you'd like that is within the Gods grasp."
Mia's head peaked up, "I want Luke back. He's a hero and he helped all of us, the gods and their children-"
"But that." Aphrodite frowned, and Hermes choked back tears. Tears flooded Mia's eyes again, and she nodded.
"I don't want anything." Mia said, sitting back down next to Nico. She looked Aphrodite dead in the eye, "You made this happen. You made me fall in love. And then, you took it away from me. I'm not of your stories, Mother, I'm your daughter."
All the gods are shock by Mia's behavior, but Aphrodite was the most. She looked at her daughter in surprised.
Aphrodite cleared her throat, and flashed the gods her first-class smile. She then gave Mia a stern look, as if she was trying to charm-speak. "Mia-"
"No, mother." Mia said. "I've had enough of this."
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, Mia 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 Mia 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 Mia'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.
Mia almost fell over, but Leo caught her. Past memories of Cyclopes from the Titan War filled her. Mia was so terrified he could hardly think. If only they 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.
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. Mia had to find a way to sit down before she had a panic attack.
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!"
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, and Mia flinched so badly that she jumped on top of Leo. She flunged her arms around her, and felt his heart beat. She quickly let go, and hugged her legs instead.
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!"
Mia 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, Mia thought. While they're separated.
He finished wiring the second machine and moved toward a third. As they 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 them 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."
Mia hit Leo's arm, and Leo forced himself back to work, but their minds were racing. A kid who spoke Latin had been caught here—in a purple shirt like Jason's? Mia didn't know what that meant, but she had to leave the interrogation to Piper. If he was going to have any chance of defeating these monsters, they had to move fast before Sump came back with the salsa.
Leo 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! Mia snatched the remote from Leo, and her fingers flew, connecting the wires for the remote.
"Hey, wait," Piper said, trying to get the Cyclopes' attention. "Hey, can I just ask—"
The wires sparked in Mia's hand. The Cyclopes froze and turned in his direction. Then Torque picked up a truck and threw it at him. Mia rolled as the truck steamrolled over the machinery. If she'd been a half-second slower, she would've been smashed. Leo got to his feet, and Ma Gasket spotted him. She yelled, "Torque, you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get him!"
Torque barreled toward him. Mia threw the remote to Leo, and he 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.
Mia 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.
"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!"
Mia face-palmed, and 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. Mia just had time to read the stenciled word on the side—kerosene —before Ma Gasket threw it at Leo. The barrel split on the floor in front of him, spilling lighter fluid everywhere.
Coals sparked. Leo closed his eyes, and Mia 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?"
Mia clapped, and 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 Mia and Leo fell to their knees, their heads buzzing. The smell of Cyclops was getting to Mia's head. After a few minutes they realized Piper was calling their names.
"Leo! Mia! Are you all right? Can you move?"
Leo stumbled to his feet, and pulled Mia up. Mia noticed that he'd never tried to summon such an intense fire before, and it had left him completely drained.
It took them a long time to get Piper down from her chains, because Mia couldn't undo Piper's chains by herself. 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. Then she 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. I told Mia but... 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."
"Usually.. if you have good luck." Mia said, as her heart began to race.
"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.
"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.' How long do you think we have?"
Before Leo could answer, Mia grabbed his hand. She looked back at Piper, "I don't know.. but we need to get out of here."
Jason's eyes snapped open. "Cyclops!"
"Whoa, sleepyhead." Piper sat behind him on the bronze dragon, holding his waist to keep him balanced. Mia and Leo sat in front, driving. They flew peacefully through the winter sky as if nothing had happened.
"D-Detroit," Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"
"It's okay," Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"
"How did you—the Cyclops—"
"Leo ripped them apart," Mia said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"
"It was nothing." Leo said quickly.
Piper laughed, and Mia clapped her hands. "Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell him. Get over it."
And she did—how Leo single-handedly defeated the Cyclopes family; how they freed Jason, then noticed the Cyclopes starting to re-form; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten them back in the air just as they'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance inside the factory. They told him about a Son of Mercury with a purple shirt, and how the Cyclopes mentioned how they ate them. That seem to woke Jason up.
"I'm not alone, then," he said. "There are others like me."
"Jason," Piper said, "―you were never alone. You've got us."
That hurt Mia's heart. Piper has been his girlfriend, a trick of the mist, but he has forgotten about her. Piper was slowly trying to patch things up, but it wouldn't help because of how thick-headed Jason was.
Jason nodded, "I—I know … but something Hera said. I was having a dream…"
He told them what he'd seen in his dream. Mia partly understood it, because she was thinking about Piper and Jason and how she can patch their relationship by herself.
"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"
Jason shook his head. "But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"
"Or save us," Piper said hopefully. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."
Leo cleared his throat. "About that … she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."
"I couldn't see her." Mia said, "Or maybe it was because I wasn't paying attention?"
Jason wasn't sure he'd heard that right. "Did you say … Porta-Potty?"
Leo told them about the big face in the factory yard. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable," he said, "―but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, ‗Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge."
"She's trying to divide us." Piper slipped her arms from around Jason's waist. He could sense her tension without even looking at her.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I just … Why are they toying with us? Who is this lady, and how is she connected to Enceladus?"
"Enceladus?" Jason didn't think he'd heard that name before.
"I mean …" Piper's voice quavered. She was definitely hiding something. "That's one of the giants. Just one of the names I could remember."
Leo scratched his head. "Well, I dunno about Enchiladas—"
"Enceladus," Mia corrected.
"Whatever. But Old Potty Face mentioned another name. Porpoise Fear, or something?"
"Porphyrion?" Mia asked. "He was the giant king, I think."
Jason envisioned that dark spire in the old reflecting pool—growing larger as Hera got weaker. "I'm going to take wild guess," he said. "In the old stories, Porphyrion kidnapped Hera. That was the first shot in the war between the giants and the gods."
"I think so," Piper agreed. "But those myths are really garbled and conflicted. It's almost like nobody wanted that story to survive. I just remember there was a war, and the giants were almost impossible to kill."
"Heroes and gods had to work together," Jason said. "That's what Hera told me."
"Kind of hard to do," Leo grumbled, "―if the gods won't even talk to us."
"Not even our own parents." Mia sighed.
They flew west, and Mia became lost in his thoughts—all of them bad. Mia didn't know how much time passed before the dragon dove through a break in the clouds, and below them, glittering in the winter sun, was a city at the edge of a massive lake. A crescent of skyscrapers lined the shore. Behind them, stretching out to the western horizon, was a vast grid of snow-covered neighborhoods and roads.
"Chicago," Jason said.
"One problem down," Leo said. "We got here alive. Now, how do we find the storm spirits?"
Jason saw a flash of movement below them. At first he thought it was a small plane, but it was too small, too dark and fast. The thing spiraled toward the skyscrapers, weaving and changing shape—and, just for a moment it became the smoky figure of a horse."
"How about we follow that one," Jason suggested, "and see where it goes?"
It was a nice peaceful silence, when Jason tapped on Mia's shoulder, "Speed up!" he urged.
Mia threw Jason a glare, and Jason felt immediately bad. Getting a pretty girl mad was the least thing he wanted to do.
"Bro," Leo said, "if she gets any closer, he'll spot us. Bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth plane."
"Slow down!" Piper yelped.
The storm spirit dove into the grid of downtown streets. Festus tried to follow, but his wingspan was way too wide. His left wing clipped the edge of a building, slicing off a stone gargoyle before Mia pulled up.
"Get above the buildings," Jason suggested. "We'll track him from there."
"You want to drive this thing?" Mia grumbled, but Leo helped Mia grasp the reins. They did what Jason asked.
After a few minutes, Jason spotted the storm spirit again, zipping through the streets with no apparent purpose—blowing over pedestrians, ruffling flags, making cars swerve.
"Oh great," Piper said. "There're two."
She was right. A second ventus blasted around the corner of the Renaissance Hotel and linked up with the first. They wove together in a chaotic dance, shooting to the top of a skyscraper, bending a radio tower, and diving back down toward the street.
"Those guys do not need any more caffeine," Leo said. Mia agreed.
"I guess Chicago's a good place to hang out," Piper said. "Nobody's going to question a couple more evil winds."
"More than a couple," Jason said. "Look."
The dragon circled over a wide avenue next to a lake-side park. Storm spirits were converging—at least a dozen of them, whirling around a big public art installation.
"Which one do you think is Dylan?" Leo asked. "I wanna throw something at him."
Mia focused on the art installation. The closer they got to it, the faster her heart beat. It was just a public fountain, but it was unpleasantly familiar.. probably something Nico has showed her when they were Iris-Messaging in his travels. Two five-story monoliths rose from either end of a long granite reflecting pool. The monoliths seemed to be built of video screens, flashing the combined image of a giant face that spewed water into the pool.
Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it looked like a high-tech, super-size version of that ruined reflecting pool he'd seen in his dreams, with those two dark masses jutting from either end. As Mia watched, the image on the screens changed to a woman's face with her eyes closed.
Jason seemed to have seen it too, "Leo …" he said nervously.
"I see her," Leo said, grabbing Mia's hand. Now it was normal for both of them "I don't like her, but I see her."
Then the screens went dark. The venti swirled together into a single funnel cloud and skittered across the fountain, kicking up a waterspout almost as high as the monoliths. They got to its center, popped off a drain cover, and disappeared underground.
"Did they just go down a drain?" Piper asked. "How are we supposed to follow them?"
"Maybe we shouldn't," Leo said. "That fountain thing is giving me seriously bad vibes. And aren't we supposed to, like, beware the earth?"
"We have to follow them." Mia said, her heart sink. It was their only way forward. They had to find Hera, and they now had only two days until the solstice.
"Put us down in that park," he suggested. "We'll check it out on foot."
Festus landed in an open area between the lake and the skyline. The signs said Grant Park, and Jason imagined it would've been a nice place in the summer; but now it was a field of ice, snow, and salted walkways. The dragon's hot metal feet hissed as they touched down. Festus flapped his wings unhappily and shot fire into the sky, but there was no one around to notice. The wind coming off the lake was bitter cold. Anyone with sense would be inside. Jason's eyes stung so badly, he could barely see.
They dismounted, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet. One of his ruby eyes flickered, so it looked like he was blinking.
"Is that normal?" Jason asked.
Leo pulled a rubber mallet from his tool bag. He threw it at Mia, who caught it. She whacked the dragon's bad eye, and the light went back to normal.
"Yes," Leo said. "Festus can't hang around here, though, in the middle of the park. They'll arrest him for loitering. Maybe if I had a dog whistle …"
He rummaged in his tool belt, but came up with nothing.
"Too specialized?" he guessed. "Okay, give me a safety whistle. They got that in lots of machine shops."
This time, Leo pulled out a big plastic orange whistle. "Coach Hedge would be jealous! Okay, Festus, listen."
Leo blew the whistle. The shrill sound probably rolled all the way across Lake Michigan. "You hear that, come find me, okay? Until then, you fly wherever you want. Just try not to barbecue any pedestrians."
The dragon snorted—hopefully in agreement. Mia patted Fetus wing, and then he spread his wings and launched into the air.
Piper took one step and winced. "Ah!"
"Your ankle?‖ Jason felt bad he'd forgotten about her injury back in the Cyclops factory. ―That nectar we gave you might be wearing off.‖
"It's fine." Piper said. As if sister-instinct, both Piper and Mia shivered in coldness. Mia was wearing a Camp Shirt, but Drew nicely gave it a make-over. She cut off the sleeves, making it a tank top, so here Mia was... freezing.
"Let's get out of the wind," Jason suggested.
"Down a drain?" Piper shuddered. "Sounds cozy."
They wrapped themselves up as best they could and headed toward the fountain.
According to the plaque, it was called Crown Fountain. All the water had emptied out except for a few patches that were starting to freeze.
They stepped to the center of the pool. No spirits tried to stop them. The giant monitor walls stayed dark. The drain hole was easily big enough for a person, and a maintenance ladder led down into the gloom. Mia went first. As she climbed, she braced himself for horrible sewer smells, like the ones from last time she slept in one, but it wasn't that bad. The ladder dropped into a brickwork tunnel running north to south. The air was warm and dry, with only a trickle of water on the floor.
Piper, Jason, and Leo climbed down after him.
"Are all sewers this nice?" Piper asked.
"No," Leo and Mia said. "Trust me."
Jason frowned. "How do you know—"
"Me and my friend, Nico, travel a lot." Mia said, biting her fingers, "And we had to hid from monsters... Nico's a child of the big three."
They all looked at Leo, who put his hands up, "Hey, man, I ran away six times. I've slept in some weird places, okay? Now, which way do we go?"
Jason tilted his head, listening, then pointed south. "That way."
"How can you be sure?" Piper asked.
"There's a draft blowing south," Jason said. "Maybe the venti went with the flow."
It wasn't much of a lead, but nobody offered anything better. Unfortunately, as soon as they started walking, Piper stumbled. Jason had to catch her.
"Stupid ankle," she cursed.
"Let's rest," Jason decided. "We could all use it. We've been going nonstop for over a day. Leo, can you pull any food from that tool belt besides breath mints?"
Leo smiled, "Thought you'd never ask. Chef Leo is on it!"
Piper, Jason, and Mia sat on a brick ledge while Leo shuffled through his pack. Mia was glad to rest. She was still tired and dizzy, and hungry, too. But mostly, she wasn't eager to face whatever lay ahead. Mia watched as Jason turned his gold coin in his fingers.
"It wasn't your fault," Piper said.
He looked at her blankly. "What?"
"Getting jumped by the Cyclopes," she said. "It wasn't your fault."
"It kinda is, but I'm not in this conversation." Mia said.
Jason looked down at the coin in his palm. "I was stupid. I left you alone and walked into a trap. I should've known…"
"Hey." Piper nudged his arm. "Cut yourself some slack. Just because you're the son of Zeus doesn't mean you're a one-man army."
Mia watched them. They were the cutest couple she'd seen, other than Percy and Annabeth.. or Silena and Charles.. or Classire and Chris..
A few feet away, Leo lit a small cooking fire. He hummed as he pulled supplies out of his pack and his tool belt.
In the firelight, Piper's eyes seemed to dance. Jason had been studying them for days now, and he still couldn't decide what color they were.
"I know this must suck for you," he said. "―Not just the quest, I mean. The way I appeared on the bus, the Mist messing with your mind, and making you think I was …you know."
She dropped her gaze. "Yeah, well. None of us asked for this. It's not your fault."
"Back in the factory," Jason said, "―you were you going to say something about your dad."
She traced her finger over the bricks, almost like she was writing out a scream she didn't want to vocalize. "Was I?"
"Piper," Mia said, "he's in some kind of trouble, isn't it?"
Over at the fire, Leo stirred some sizzling bell peppers and meat in a pan. "Yeah, baby! Almost there."
Piper looked on the verge of tears, and Mia grabbed her hand in support. Piper threw her a grateful look, and turned to Jason, "Jason … I can't talk about it."
"We're your friends. Let us help."
That seemed to make her feel worse. She took a shaky breath. "I wish I could, but—"
"And bingo!" Leo announced.
He came over with four plates stacked on his arms like a waiter. Jason had no idea where he'd gotten all the food, or how he'd put it together so fast, but it looked amazing: pepper and beef tacos with chips and salsa.
"Leo," Piper said in amazement. "How did you—?"
"Chef Leo's Taco Garage is fixing you up!" he said proudly. "And by the way, it's tofu, not beef, beauty queen, so don't freak. Just dig in!"
Mia wasn't sure about tofu, but the tacos tasted as good as they smelled. While they ate, Leo tried to lighten the mood and joke around.
"You see, Mia?" Leo asked, "You got yourself a man who can cook!"
Mia rolled her eyes, but she was grateful Leo was with them. After Piper and Mia ate, Jason encouraged Piper to get some sleep. Without another word, Piper curled up and put her head in Jason's lap. In two seconds she was snoring. Mia yawned, and rubbed her eyes.
Jason looked up at Leo, who was obviously trying not to laugh.
"You can sleep on my lap too!" Leo said, as Mia slowly got up, and walked towards him. She stretched, and placed her head on his lap. Soon, Mia was also sleeping.
Jason and Leo sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking lemonade Leo had made from canteen water and powdered mix.
"Good, huh?" Leo grinned.
"You should start a stand," Jason said. "Make some serious coin."
Jason and Leo began to talk, and then stayed in silence. Leo pushed the hair our of Mia's face.
"You like her, don't you?" Jason asked. Leo gave him a toothy grin.
"Of course I do." Leo said, caressing her cheek, "I am in love. Not like with those killer ice queens, though. This is different. With Khoine.. she's just hot. But with Mia.. I like her personality. Even if she looked like a rat, I'm sure I would still like her."
Jason smiled. Leo looked at Mia, and then looked at Jason. "I wonder what's up with the Prophecy of Seven. Mia said that she doesn't want to be involved.. so that we are the first three of the Prophecy. That means that there are four more people left?"
Jason sighed, "I don't know," he said at last. "I guess the other four will show up when the time is right. Who knows? Maybe they're on some other quest right now."
Leo grunted. "I bet their sewer is nicer than ours."
The draft picked up, blowing toward the south end of the tunnel.
"Get some rest, Leo," Jason said. "I'll take first watch."
Leo nodded, and he placed Mia down. He laid down next to her, and placed an arm around her. Soon, Mia turned around and face Leo. She snuggled in his chest. Almost at once, Leo fell asleep.
Once Leo woke up, he looked at Mia, who was still soundly sleeping. Leo didn't want to move, so he tried to stay in one place. Sadly, that wasn't possible for him.
He began to play with her hair, and Mia woke up. She quickly stood up.
"Valdez, I'm going to kill you." Mia said, as she chased him around the place.
"Come on, guys. Knock it off." Piper said, grabbing the collar of Mia's shirt. Finally, they broke camp and started down the tunnel.
It twisted and turned and seemed to go on forever. They found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.
"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."
"Or Monocle Motors still?" Leo said. "Guys, read the directory. It's messed up."
Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level
Furnishings and Café M: 1
Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2
Men's Wear and Weaponry: 3
Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries: 4
"Kennels for what?" Piper said. "And what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer"
"Or sells poisons," Mia said, shrugging. Piper rolled her eyes, "Why do you always have to be so pessimistic?"
Leo said. "Man, what does sundries' even mean? Is that like underwear?"
Jason took a deep breath. "When in doubt, start at the top."
The doors slid open on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Jason stepped out first, sword ready.
"Guys," he said. "You've got to see this."
Piper joined him and caught her breath. "This is not Macy's."
The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.
Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, Mia couldn't see any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There was too much to take it at once, but Mia saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.
Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "Check it out."
In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage—like an oversize canary cage.
Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.
"Gleeson!" Mia said.
"Coach Hedge!" Piper said. "We've got to get down there."
A voice said, "May I help you find something?"
All four of them jumped back.
A woman had just appeared in front of them. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired fashion model—maybe fifty years old, though it was hard for Jason to judge. Her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way—thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. With their long red-painted nails, her fingers looked more like talons.
She smiled. "I'm so happy to see new customers. How may I help you?"
"Um," Jason started, "―is this your store?"
The woman nodded. "I found it abandoned, you know. I understand so many stores are, these days. I decided it would make the perfect place. I love collecting tasteful objects, helping people, and offering quality goods at a reasonable price. So this seemed a good … how do you say … first acquisition in this country."
She spoke with a pleasing accent, but Jason couldn't guess where from. Clearly she wasn't hostile, though. Jason started to relax. Her voice was rich and exotic. Jason wanted to hear more.
"So you're new to America?" he asked.
"I am … new," the woman agreed. "I am the Princess of Colchis. My friends call me Your Highness. Now, what are you looking for?"
Jason had heard of rich foreigners buying American department stores. Of course most of the time they didn't sell poisons, living fur coats, storm spirits, or satyrs, but still—with a nice voice like that, the Princess of Colchis couldn't be all bad.
Piper poked him in the ribs. "Jason …"
"Um, right. Actually, Your Highness …" He pointed to the gilded cage on the first floor. "That's our friend down there, Gleeson Hedge. The satyr. Could we … have him back, please?"
"Of course!" the princess agreed immediately. "I would love to show you my inventory. First, may I know your names?"
Mia started to say, "I'm Alexandra, that is Tiffany, the blonde is Jake, and the Hispanic is Julio-"
"Shut up, Mia." Jason said, "I'm Jason, that's Piper, this is Leo, and that's Mia."
"Jason. What an interesting name," she said, her eyes as cold as the Chicago wind. "I think we'll have to make a special deal for you. Come, children. Let's go shopping."