~•♡•~

as soon as leo caught his breath, i threw the doors open.

everything looked the same. gray morning light was already flowing into the hole in the roof, a testament to how long we'd been out here. a few lightbulbs flickered, and as i looked up, piper and jason were no longer on the catwalk.

leo breathed in to call out, but i clamped my hand over his mouth and shook my head. he nodded, both of us understanding that something inhuman was here now.

we could smell it- burning motor oil and rotten breath.

"leo! aruna! help!"

leo and i froze and looked at each other. first of all, piper couldn't have gotten off the catwalk with her snapped ankle. second, she never calls me by my full name, even when she's serious.

leo pulled my behind a cargo container. he held a finger to his lips as his grip on his hammer tightened, and we worked our way closer to the sound. we hid behind various boxes and metals, and finally, we reached the assembly line. we crouched behind a crane with a robotic arm.

"leo? aruna?" piper's voice called less certainly. we were dangerously close.

leo and i peeked behind the machinery, his head just above mine. hanging directly above the assembly line from a chain on the crane (i should totally be the poetry god) on the opposite side was a massive truck engine. i was shocked to see it just dangling thirty feet up. below on the conveyor belt sat a truck chassis, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. nearby, dangling from two smaller chains were two humanoid shapes, only one thrashing.

my breath hitched and i yanked leo back.

"piper and jason." i whispered. leo's eyes widened, and we went back to watching.

one of the large shapes rose, and i realized it was a massive humanoid shape. "told you it was nothing." his voice was so deep, it was impossible to be human.

"leo! help me! aruna plea-" the other shape grunted and stopped, changing to a masculine snarl. "bah, there's nobody out there. no demigods could be that quiet, eh?"

the first monster chuckled. "probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. or the girl was lying about two more demigods. let's get cooking."

an orange light sizzled to life- the light of sn emergency flare. leo was blinded and he took a step back, but i grabbed him by the collar and held him in place until he could see again.

i choked on my own breath. piper was flailing, trying to free herself, her mouth gagged. jason wasn't moving, and a red welt the size of my fist was swelling over his left eyebrow.

on the conveyor belt, the bed of a truck was being used as a firepit. the flare ignited a fire, which rank of kerosene, and a big metal pole was suspended over the fire.

they wanted to cook us.

they, being cyclopes.

they were each ten feet all, with one crouching, his back to us. they were hairy and looked red in the firelight. one wore a fuzzy, fiberglass toga, and the other wore a really bad looking chainmail loincloth.

in the center of their faces was a single, brutish eye.

leo started shaking and i looked up at him, shaking my head. he looked down at me, his head totally upside down in my perspective, his cheeks red and his eyes wide.

i dragged leo behind the machinery again. he snapped out of his trance, and slipped off his backpack. he quietly unzipped it as i covered for him.

"okay, here's the plan." i whispered as one cyclopes took off piper's gag.

"you have a plan?" leo asked, his eyes wide.

"sort of." i muttered. "you have to figure out a mini-plan for you, but i have a general plan."

leo glared at me.

"you gotta use this," i pointed to the crane. "to kill the cyclopes."

"and you?"

"i'm the diversion."

leo paled. "i- they'll get you! the moon isn't here, aru!"

"i don't need that." i said to him. "i'm going to free pipes and jason, okay? get to work."

"you'll die!"

"no." i shook my head. "i'll be okay."

"scream, girl! i like funny screaming!"

"oh, mr. cyclops, you don't want to kill us! it would be much better if you let us go." piper said.

loincloth scratched his head. "she's kind of pretty, torque. maybe i should let her go."

torque growled. "i saw her first, sump. i'll let her go!"

as sump and torque argued, the third cyclops rose and yelled, "fools!"

this one was a chick. she was several feet taller than sump and torque, and wore a chainmail muumuu. her greasy black was matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washers. her eyes was red, clearly indicating her superiority.

"the girl is venus spawn." she hissed. "she's using charmspeak on you!"

"please, ma'am-"

just before the lady cyclops grabbed piper, i jumped into the open.

"hey!"

all three eyes were on me, but i refused to show weakness. piper looked terrified for me, but i stood my ground.

"SUMP, YOU IDIOT!" the woman yelled. "TORQUE, WHY DIDN'T YOU FIND HER?!"

"we- she- SHE WASN'T THERE, MA!" sump yelled.

"HOW DID YOU NOT SMELL HER?!" the woman yelled. "SHE'S TITAN SPAWN!"

"t-titan?!" torque whimpered.

"YOU FOOLS!" the woman turned to me. "you're the one known as aruna! ugh, i can taste the blood of a titan!"

"let my friends go," i said. "and eat me instead."

"bah! why would we do that?!"

"don't you know that titan blood is tastier?" i said. "after all, it is even more ancient than blood of the olympian gods! i can assure you, the blood of selene is much better than the blood of aphrodite!"

"ma, which one is selene?" sump asked as he scratched his head.

"selene is the greek name for luna, the mongrel." torque hissed. out of the corner of my eye, i saw leo working furiously on the second machine.

"shut up, torque!"

both began arguing again, and the woman turned to them. "idiots! i should've thrown you out on the street when you were babies, like proper cyclops children. curse my soft heart i kept you!"

she reminded me of grandma so much, is was scary.

"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 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 with no salsa!"

"yes, ma. i mean no, ma. i mean-"

"go get it!" ma tossed a truck at sump and he fell to his knees. instead of dying, he just scurried off to go get the salsa.

leo dashed to the third machine and i quickly started talking before anyone noticed.

"what kind of salsa?" i asked. "i must say, titan blood is the best with salsa verde! ooh, do you have queso?"

ma looked at me. "what is queso?"

"cheese sauce, ma'am!" i grinned. "it is wonderful, especially with pancreas!"

"no! pancreas are best with buffalo sauce!"

"you only say that because you have not had queso!" i said.

piper gasped, and i realized she saw leo.

"what's wrong, venus spawn? did we finally break you?!" ma yelled.

"no, ma'am. it's my ribs." piper said. "if i'm busted up inside, i'll taste horrible."

ma bellowed a horrible laugh. "good one. the last hero we ate- remember him, torque? son of mercury, wasn't he?"

"yes, ma." torque agreed. "tasty. little bit stringy."

"he tried a trick like that. said he was on medication, but he tasted fine!"

"tasted like mutton." torque said fondly. "purple shirt. talked in latin. yes, a bit stringy, but good."

piper and i choked, and leo stopped working altogether.

"p-purple shirt?" i asked.

"latin?" piper piped (i am so using this from now on).

"good eating." ma said fondly as she rubbed her belly. "point is, girls, we're not as dumb as people think! we're not falling for those stupid tricks and riddles, not us northern cyclopes!"

"well, of course not!" i smiled as i slowly moved away from the machines. "why, at camp, they tell us how terrifying you are!"

"but it doesn't compare to real life!" piper smiled. "we never knew you were so big and clever!"

"flattery won't work either!" ma still looked pleased with herself. "it's true, you'll be breakfast for the best cyclopes around!"

"of course." i gushed. "and besides, i'm certain you are all wonderful culinary masters! i must ask, what seasonings do you plan to use on us?"

torque gulped and i gasped. "only salsa? why, that hardly lives up to how good we can truly taste!"

"lies!" ma yelled.

"oh, but it's true!" piper piped (hehe). "why, i must say, we cherokee's are wonderful with paprika!"

"oh, and my korean side is wonderful with lemon pepper!" i smiled. "and i'm also mexican! tell me, have you ever had a mexican with lime and chamoy?"

torque scratched his head.

"lime and chamoy?"

"why, it's wonderful!" i gushed. "in fact, it's best with a clamato beer! would you like me to show you how to make one?"

"yes!" torque gushed.

"idiot!" ma yelled. "she's tricking you again! chamoy isn't even a real word!"

huh. guess she isn't very smart.

"enough talk. i like my meat fresh! slay the boy before he dies on his own. and capture the luna spawn!"

leo's wires spiked and everyone froze. we all looked at him, our eyes wide.

torque picked up a truck and threw it at leo. i screamed, but leo manages to roll away in time.

"torque, you pathetic excuse for a cyclops! get him!"

she forgot about me, and i made a go for the wall.

i tried something i hadn't done since pre-school. i used to think it had never happened, that it was a dream.

but i jumped on the wall, and knew that it wasn't.

my own personal gravity changed as i stood on the wall like it was any average floor. not even my hair fell to the side. i felt no sickness, and looked to the side as leo toggled a makeshift remote to operate the machinery.

i ran up the wall, ignoring piper's shocked gaze as i began walking on the wall again, altering my center of gravity once more.

everything seemed to make so much sense now. my keen sense of balance was because i could have any gravity i wanted. i sat on the ceiling in preschool, even though i always thought i had dreamed it.

leo's crane hurled torque straight up, very narrowly missing me as torque stared at me wildly. he hit the ceiling, and exploded into yellow dust.

ma stared at leo in shock, apparently not having seen me.

"my son... you... you..."

sump lumbered in with a case of red salsa. "ma, i got the extra-spicy-"

leo's machine cut sump off by whacking him right in the chest. the salsa popped, exploding all over the place, and sump was knocked into the third machine.

i began running down piper and jason's chain as leo destroyed sump.

"you busted my boys! only i get to bust my boys!" ma yelled.

leo tried to fight her off, but she destroyed two of the cranes like they were nothing. i hurriedly began to get piper down, my hands trembling as ma destroyed leo's last machine.

ma grabbed one of the arms and swung it like a baseball bat. it barely missed piper, jason, and i, maybe by an inch or two. she let it to, hurling it toward leo. he yelped and rolled to one side as something next to him got destroyed.

"any more tricks, demigod?!"

i nearly had piper freed, but she shook her head and nodded to jason. i looked at her and sighed as i jumped to begin freeing jason.

"heck, yeah, i got tricks!" leo shouted. "take one more step, and i'll destroy you with fire!"

ma laughed. "would you? cyclopes are immune to fire, idiot! but if you wish to play with flames, let me help!"

she scooped up red-hot coals, and threw them at leo, but they all landed harmlessly around his feet.

"you missed."

it was when she picked up a bottle of kerosene that piper began to cry out.

ma threw it, letting the coals ignite it. piper screamed wildly as i got jason down to the floor, and i began climbing up to get piper.

flames swirled around leo, but he wasn't hurt. he opened his eyes, staring at the swirling column of flames twenty-feet high, unharmed.

he looked at me, and i smiled proudly.

piper gasped. "leo?"

"YOU LIVE?!" ma bellowed. she took a step forward, and leo grinned. the plan was complete- she was right where he needed, and i held piper in my arms, freed of her chains.

"what are you?!" ma bellowed.

"the son of hephaestus." leo answered. i jumped down silently, keeping piper and jason close. "and i warned you i'd destroy you with fire."

he pointed a finger in the air, and shot a single bolt of white-hot fire above ma's head. the flames died, and when nothing else happened, the cyclops laughed.

"impressive try, son of hephaestus." she grinned.

"um, you forgot about me!"

ma gasped and spun around as i walked to join leo by his side. "i, too, helped! albeit, not as much as my buddy, leo-"

he blushed.

"but, you're dead!"

the engine block fell, crumbling ma into a pile of dust.

"not immune to engines, huh?" leo smirked. "boo-yah!"

he gave me a double high five, before promptly falling on top of me. i yelped as he groaned, leaning against me with his full weight.

"leo! runa! are you okay?!" piper yelled.

leo barely used his feet as he threw an arm over my shoulder's, using me as a crutch. the fire had completely drained him, and i had to help drag him over to jason and piper.

jason was still unconscious, but piper was able to trickle a little nectar into his mouth. jason groaned as some of his color returned, and his welt began to fade.

"yeah, he's got a thick skull." leo slurred. "i think he's gonna be fine."

"thank god." then, piper looked at leo, her mood somewhat fearful. "how did you- the fire- have you always...?"

leo looked down, ashamed. "always. i'm a fucking menace." he huffed. "sorry, i should've told you guys sooner but-"

"sorry?" piper punched his arm with a grin, and leo looked up. "that was amazing, valdez! you saved our lives! and runa, how did you walk on the walls?"

"gravity stuff." i muttered. "doesn't matter..."

the dust around us began to shift. it swirled and moved, and leo finally put most of his weight on his feet.

"they're forming again." i breathed.

"that's not possible." piper said as she stepped away from the dust. "annabeth toks 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 said. the dust slowly began to form a shape and i ran to jason, pulling him to his feet. it was a lot harder, considering he was more physically fit and much taller than leo.

"oh, god." piper paled as i dragged jason forward. leo helped me, sharing half the weight. "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?"

"i don't want to find out, so can we go?" i rushed.

"yep!" piper whimpered. "wait, how-"

"i fixed festus! LETS GO!"

~•♡•~

"cyclops!"

jason awoke with a start, nearly smacking his head on leo's. piper sat behind jason, holding his waist to keep him steady, and leo was leaning on my back to rest.

which left me driving.

"d-detroit." jason stammered. "didn't we crash land? i thought-"

"it's okay." leo said as he looked at jason, his head no longer on my upper back. "we got away, but you got a nasty concussion. how you feeling?"

jason was silent and i turned back to look at him. his eyes were wide, his jaw slack as he looked at leo and i.

"ARUNA, ARE YOU DRIVING?!"

"shh." i said as i put a finger to my lips. "for your information, i am an excellent driver."

"how did you- the cyclops-"

"leo ripped them apart!" piper gushed. "and runa freed us! they were amazing. leo can summon fire-"

"it was nothing." leo said a bit quickly.

"and runa can walk on the ceiling!"

"erm, thanks?" i said nervously.

piper went on, telling in great detail how leo and i saved piper and jason from the cyclops. she also explained how the cyclops reformed, and leo barely managed to get festus going as we heard very ugly cyclopes noises.

jason was clearly impressed, but then he felt fear as soon as piper mentioned the last victim- a boy in a purple shirt that spoke latin, and that he was a son of mercury.

"i'm not alone." jason gulped. "there are others like me."

"hey! we're right here!" i grumbled.

"jason, you were never alone." piper said much gentler than i did. "you've got us."

"i-i know... but something hera said. i was having a dream..."

jason went on about the goddess being in her cage, and how she made a risky exchange.

"ah, shit." i groaned.

"what?" leo asked.

"i think i know what she did." i said.

"hera's gambling me." jason said. "by sending me to camp half-blood, i think she broke some kind of rule."

"something really important." i nodded. "it'll either destroy us-"

"-or save us." piper intervened. "that bit about the sleeping enemy- that sounds like the lady leo was telling us about."

i gulped as my stomach fell. leo cleared his throat, decided to take this on for us.

"about that... she kind of appeared to us again in detroit, in a pool of port-a-potty sludge."

"did you say-"

i cut jason off. "yeah, festus chooses great areas to crash." the dragon groaned and i pet him.

"still love you, buddy."

leo explained what happened, making sure to leave out most of the details.

"i don't know if she's completely unkillable." leo finished. "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. i can vouch for that. she... she wanted me to betray you guys."

he left out the fact that i'm probably going to be coerced sometime soon.

"she's trying to divide us." piper said.

"what's wrong?" i asked, sensing her tension.

"i just... why are they toying with us? who is this, and how is she connected to enceladus?"

"enceladus?" jason asked. nobody had said that name.

"i mean..." piper gulped. "that's one of the giants. one of the names i could remember."

she was lying. i felt my heart drop, but i didn't say anything.

"well," leo scratched his head. "i dunno about enchiladas-"

"enceladus." piper corrected.

"whatever. but old potty face mentioned another name- porpoise fear, or something?"

"porphyrion, you idiot."

"shut up, mamas."

"he was the giant king, i think." piper said.

"let me guess- in the old stories, porphyrion kidnapped hera. that was the first shot between the war with the giants and the gods." jason said.

"i think so." piper agreed. "but those myths are really garbled and conflicted, like nobody wanted that story to survive. and if i remember, 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," i hissed. "when they pretend we don't exist."

as we flew west, i tried not to think about much of anything. instead, i drummed 'jingle bells' on loop on one of festus's bronze plates. after a while, leo slumped over me once more, and i rolled my eyes. from what i could read, he wasn't very tired anymore.

finally, we made it.

"chicago." jason said.

"one problem down." leo said. "we got here alive. now, how do we find the storm spirits?"

"we look for the angry clouds that wanna kill us, leo."

"i should never have let you drive." leo sighed.

it was then that we saw a smoky figure right below us- a vaguely horse-shaped cloud of stormy winds.

"how about we follow that one, and see where it goes?" jason suggested.

i guided festus down, but the storm spirit moved as fast as, well, a storm.

"speed up!" jason yelled.

"bro." i said. "he'll see us if i get any closer."

"bronze dragon ain't exactly a stealth machine." leo said to jason.

the storm spirit dove down, and i tightened my grip.

"hold on tight!"

we dove straight down, into a downtown city street. festus's wingspan was a bit too wide, but do not fret- i saved the day.

i tilted us to a complete 90° until we were sideways to the world. everyone screamed, and leo wrapped his arms around my waist so tight, i nearly puked.

"get above the buildings!" jason protested as we turned a sharp corner.

"I'M GONNA FALL OFF!" piper wailed as i continued twisting and turning as i followed the ventus.

"nah, gravity laws aren't real." i said as i applied my power to everyone. they all breath in relief as we made another turn.

"isaac newton ain't got shit on me." i said.

"oh, great. there're two." piper groaned. sure enough, a second storm spirit blasted around a hotel and joined the first. they moved frantically as they dashed through the city with no apparent cause.

"those guys do not need any more caffeine." leo commented.

"i guess chicago's a good place to hang out." piper said. "nobody's going to question a few more evil winds."

we circled over a lakeside park, where about a dozen storm spirits were circling a big public art installation.

"which one do you think is dylan? i wanna throw something at him." leo said.

"agreed." i said as i turned back.

when i looked forward, however, screens on monoliths changed to the face of a sleeping woman.

"leo..." jason said nervously.

"i see her." leo muttered. "space girl, let's go."

the screens went dark as i choked down my spit. the storm spirits swirled into a single funnel cloud and skittered across a fountain, kicking up a water spout almost as high as the monoliths. as they got to the center, they popped a drain cover off and vanished underground.

"did they just go down a drain?" piper asked. "how are we supposed to follow them?"

"by going down the drain, piper." i replied.

leo shook his head. "i dunno. maybe we shouldn't. that fountain thing gives me seriously bad vibes. and aren't we supposed to like, beware the earth?"

"put us down in that park." jason sighed. "we'll check it out on foot."

~•♡•~