The other Grace/HoO fanfiction

(10) The Cyclops' Lair

Piper, Annabeth, Chiron, Jason, Leo, everybody clearly warned her not to eat more than a piece of Ambrosia. Layla hated to admit that she was in trouble because she didn't listen to their advice and decided to play the hero.

The side effects included, a constant feeling like Festus has blown fire on her, dizziness, nausea and her body glowing in the darkness. The last one was particularly dangerous as she could easily be spotted by momsters. Fortunately she hadn't bursted into flames, yet.

Key word, yet.

Suddenly, she heard a distant sound. Looking around, she tried to find the source of it. Layla couldn't she details in the dark but it looked like a male figure that had his back turned to her direction.

She quietly approached. As she got closer she realized that the figure was in fact a boy and that his hand was on fire. However, he didn't seem to be affected by that. What kind of sorcerer was he?

When she was close enough she pinned with her hand against a tree pressing her sword point to his chest.

"Gods, Layla. Can't a person even sneeze without putting his life in danger?" Leo protested. Layla imidiately lowered her sword.

"I didn't know it was you. It's hard to tell in the darkness." She protested.

"It's okay." He said. "What are you doing here, anyway? Weren't you supposed to wait with Jason and Piper? And wait, what the fuck, Layla. Why are you glowing?"

"Jason and Piper went off to look for you and I didn't want to stay alone. Don't worry my leg is fine, now." She ignored the last question on purpose.

"You took more Ambrosia, didn't you?"

"I might have. But I'm okay, don't worry. I haven't burned up, yet. So, what happened? Where are the guys? Did you find Festus?"

"I did. It was easy to repair him. He's now in suitcase mode. As for where the guys are... I have no idea."

She was about to ask about the fire thing Leo did with his hand but was interrupted by a voice. Piper's voice.

"Leo, help me." Being as quiet as she could Layla montioned Leo to follow her.

After a while the reached the warehouse again. From inside they heard Piper voice again. "Leo, help me please."

"So, we split up." Layla motioned at the warehouse. "You go right, I go left. Do you have a weapon apart from breath mints and duct tape?" Leo pulled a giant hammer from his belt.

"This belt's full of surprises." Layla muttered and took out her sword as well. "Let's go find whatever thing kidnapped Piper."

Layla saw it first. Or saw them, more likely. Of course, with their luck there were two of them. They were tall, almost four times her size and really ugly. On the top of their head had only one eye. That could only mean one thing. Cyclops.

"Told you it was nothing." The green eyed Cyclops said in a deep voice.

"Leo, help me! Help me please." Layla knew that Cyclops were able to change their voice but the fact that a huge monster like that was speaking in Pipers feminine voice seemed very weird. "Bah, there's nobody out there." He changed his voice back to normal. "No demigod could be that quiet, eh? Seems like our trick didn't work, huh?"

Green-eyed chuckled. "They probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about the two more demigods. Let's get cooking."

The monsters main course wasn't something Layla would want to try. Hanging from the ceiling, right above a huge pot with water, chained with a thick rope were Jason and Piper. They were both gagged. The girl was struggling to free herself but did no good. Jason however hadn't moved a muscle. Layla hoped he was just unconscious and not dead.