𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 ²

Chapter 24

X X I V - 24
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LEO

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.