XII

Nico

Nico woke up in a giant warehouse, tied to a chair with a gag tied around his mouth. Large bonfires littered the room, with some on the walls, some on the floor, some hanging from the ceiling and some on top of random toilet bowls thrown carelessly throughout the warehouse.

Nico realized that he was right next to someone. He turned around and saw Coach Hedge right beside him. He had a giant bruise on his head, a broken horn and tufts of goat fur were missing from his scalp.

There was a giant cauldron right in front of him. It was big enough to fit a person. Inside, a foul-smelling liquid bubbled and boiled.

"Sump!" a loud voice filled the cavern. It sounded brutish, yet… feminine?

"Coming, Ma!" another voice came from the other direction. "Just adding the seasoning!"

Through a large doorway, a Cyclops lumbered into the warehouse. She had a giant apron on that had flower prints on it. "Well, hurry up!" she yelled. "I want to TASTE that demigod meat as soon as possible!"
Sump lumbered through a different doorway, holding a relatively humanlike shape in his hands. The torches illuminated the shape. It was Reyna.

NO!

Sump raised Reyna over the pot of stew. She was kicking, making muffled screams and trying to get out of his grip. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Nico felt another jolt through his mind. His mind roared, and a giant pillar of rock crushed Sump against the ceiling. He dissolved into dust. Reyna dropped to the floor, relatively unharmed.

"Ma" looked around wildly, trying to find the culprit. Nico immediately closed his eyes and dropped his head, trying to pretend that he was asleep. Unfortunately, she wasn't fooled.

"You! Boy!" she yelled. "You dare kill my son? YOU DIE!" she grabbed the giant cauldron and threw it at Nico. Hot liquids spilled out of it. Nico was just fast enough to create a wall of stone in front of him, to block the broth. It spilled out around him.

He could barely hear the screams of anger coming from the other side. He quickly summoned a sharp rock from the ground and cut open the ropes binding him.

Not a second too soon. Just as he had gotten the ropes off, the rock wall broke down. "Ma" had destroyed with one punch, which wasn't exactly incredible by monster standards. Shooting it apart with an arrow would have counted, probably.

Then he realized just how hot it was. He turned around 180 degrees- and he wished he hadn't. A giant pool of lava bubbled about 5 meters behind him, steam rising from the surface. Above, a vent sucked it out into the night sky.

"Ma" yelled, "GRAAAAAH!" and hurtled towards Nico. He sidestepped easily, and she hurtled straight past him. She tried to stop, but she had been thrown off balance. She fell straight into the pit.

Nico knew that she was going to come up pretty soon, as Cyclopes are immune to fire. And he waited… and waited… and waited…

Why wasn't she popping out of the pool?

Suddenly, he realized that under him, he could hear the thumping of giant Cyclops feet. Then he realized that they were coming… for them.

Oh, crud.

He ran over to Coach Hedge, who was just waking up.

As he was cutting the ropes open, Reyna walked over to him, just in time to see Coach Hedge's eyes snap open and his mouth yell, "DIE, YOU IDIOTIC ONE-EYED SCUM!"

Then he realized that there were no idiotic one-eyed scum around, and he quieted down.

"Okay." Nico tried to keep his voice calm. "We really need to leave. There's a giant dungeon of Cyclopes here. We need to get out now!"

"But what about the Athena Parthenos?" Reyna asked. "Where is it?"

" I don't know, but could you please explain what happened? Why are we here?" Nico asked.

"Cyclopes attacked." Coach Hedge said. "Turns out the 'cave' you found was actually a transport tunnel for the Cyclopes. Making some kind of weapon, or something."

"We'll worry about the weapon later." Nico said. "We really need to go. Ma just called a bunch of her kind and they're making their way up now!"

Coach Hedge jumped to his feet. "Let's go!" he yelled. He made a beeline for the big door.

"How does he know which way to go?" Reyna asked.

"He's not thinking." Nico guessed. "Run!"

Unfortunately, their tunnel was the wrong one.

They had descended for about 5 minutes when Nico felt the thumping again.

"This way!" he yelled, pulling his friends into a side passage.

"What is that?" Reyna asked.

"I don't know!" Nico replied. Too late, he realized that the sound was coming from all around them. "Get back to the main area!" Nico yelled. He dashed back out into the main hallway just in time to see a giant Cyclops lumber towards them.

In the dim light, Nico could barely make out a giant boulder, a bloodshot eye dripping with pus, a pair of giant, warty, calloused feet and a gigantic loincloth.

The three of them slowly backed away.

"I smell half-blood." The Cyclops lumbered forward. Luckily, he didn't seem to have very good eyesight. "I SMELL YOU! COME OUT!" he roared, sniffing the damp air.

Don't talk. Nico mouthed. They tiptoed back to the main warehouse, and when they walked back through the door he realized that he was as good as dead. An army of Cyclopes had assembled in the giant room, each one heavily armored and carrying an extremely sharp two-bladed axe. They were tossing coins, slicing apart titanium sheets, and ripping meat off human-sized chicken legs. As soon as Nico and his… companions entered the chamber, they stopped everything, and surrounded them.

The other Cyclops lumbered in. He crushed the rock he was holding, and took a giant scythe out from his back. Nico immediately recognized it. It was a replica of the one Kronos had used in the second Titan war.

"Ma" stepped out of the throng of shining armor. "Welcome to our humble abode." She said. "I am Ma Gasket. That over there is Polyphemus."

"The Polyphemus?" Reyna asked.

"What?" Ma Gasket asked. "Is there a PROBLEM?"

Reyna wrinkled her nose. "I expected him to be a little bigger."

"Nobody cares! This is my army, and we are going to CHOP YOU UP AND FRY YOU IN GARLIC SAUCE!" Ma Gasket roared. "ATTACK!"