WARNING: badly written but a rewrite is up on my page
WORTH | When Lorna Jackson's brother is missing, she tries looking for him. But instead, she finds someone who will change her life for the better.
❝ So what is your type? ❞
❝...
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14. Cyclops Dinner
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Lorna stopped at the door and tried to control her breathing.
She 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. 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.
For the first time that quest, Lorna summoned Tremor, her sword. Tremor was a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade and a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs.
Somewhere on the factory floor, Piper's voice cried out: "Leo, help!"
Leo was about to reply when Lorna stopped him.
How could Piper have gotten off the catwalk with her broken ankle?
They slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container. Slowly, gripping Tremor, Lorna and Leo worked their way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck chassis.
Finally they reached the assembly line. They 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. Lorna 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 Lorna 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 they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about the other two demigods. Let's get cooking."
Snap.
A bright orange light sizzled to life—an emergency flare—and Lorna was temporarily blinded. She ducked behind the crane until the spots cleared from her eyes. Then she took another peep and saw a nightmare scene.
