Where there's smoke // L.Valdez

Chapter eighteen

Thankfully, Persephone had almost completely snapped out of whatever headspace she was in. Leo brought the two of them to a halt and tried to steady his breathing at the doors.

He turned to Persephone once he was sure their breathing was quiet enough and held a finger up to his lip, hand still clasped around her arm. He took a deep breath and peered inside. Nothing had changed except the absence of his friends on the catwalk above.

He could feel his friend's shaking behind him, and he realised the situation had shaken her up more than it had him. He rubbed his thumb along her arm to comfort her. A small gesture, but it worked.

Leo wanted to call out, but Persephone tugged the back of his shirt, gaining his attention. She shook her head. Then he smelled something. Burning motor oil mixed with sour breath. He caught on quickly; something non-human was in the warehouse.

This caused his senses to kick into action, all of his nerves set alight.

"Leo, help!" Piper called out from the factory floor. Persephone's breath hitched. Leo stood, calculating, knowing Piper couldn't have just walked down to the floor with her leg. He slipped inside and ducked behind a cargo container, Persephone squished next to him. Slowly, they made their way to the centre of the room, weaving through boxes and hollow truck chassis. Finally, they came to a crouch behind the nearest piece of machinery; a crane with a robotic arm.

"Persephone?" Piper's voice echoed again, less certain, but close. Leo peaked around the machinery, him being the closest to be able to without making a scene. He scanned the area, eyes clocking the wriggling form of Piper, tied up and dangling from a chain.

Persephone peered over his shoulder, watching as a shape rose. "Told you it was nothing," The thing rumbled. Persephone's eyes widened recognising the figure.

"Leo! Persephone! Help me! Help-" Piper's voice changed, becoming a deep and masculine snarl. "Bah, there's nobody out there. No demigod could be that quiet, eh?"

The other shape chuckled. "Probably ran away, if they knew what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about there being other demigods. Let's get cooking." A snap and the two demigods ducked back behind the crane, blinking the blind spots from their eyes, the sudden light catching them off guard. Persephone dared look again, when Leo moved forward. She wanted to sob when she saw her friends hanging from a chain. Piper was flailing around, trying to free herself; she was gagged. Jason hung limply, a huge welt on his forehead, the size of an apple. His eyes were rolled up into his head. Persephone didn't like the look of that, she hoped he was okay.

She spied their fire, atop a conveyor belt in the bed of an unfinished truck. It smelled like burned rubber and chemicals. A large metal pole was balanced over the raw flames.

She grabbed the back of his shirt, seeing as he'd dropped her arm when he first looked around the crane.

"Leo." She whispered; eyes wide. Watching the three huge figures, one larger than the others. He nodded at her, looking into her eyes.

"I know, Cyclopes." He gulped. She nodded, slowly. She was trying to come up with a plan in her head but came up with nothing, mind running overtime, too many thoughts to pick out one.

One of them, wearing what seemed to be a chainmail loincloth walked over to Piper, as she tried to headbutt him in the eye. "Can I take her gag off now? I like it when they scream." The crouched, larger figure grunted, and seeing that as an okay, the Cyclops yanked the gag out of Piper's mouth.

However, the daughter of Aphrodite didn't scream. Instead she took a shaky breath, calming herself.

Persephone realised Leo had a plan, as he fumbled with something in his hands, trying to be as quiet as he could.

"Scream, girl!" Persephone jumped. "I like funny screaming." He was speaking to Piper. Not ideal, but better than finding the only help they had.

"Oh, Mr Cyclops, you don't want to kill us. It would be much better if you let us go." The girl said, her voice calm and collected. The Cyclops scratched his head. He turned to the other smaller Cyclops. Of course, that was still huge in comparison to the demigods, but smaller than the biggest Cyclops.

"She's kind of pretty, Torque. Maybe I should let her go." He said.

"I saw her first, Sump. I'll let her go!" The other argued. The two went back and forth in a heated argument.

"Fools!" The larger Cyclops yelled. Leo almost dropped his screwdriver, and Persephone nearly fell on top of him, steadying herself at the last second. They glanced at each other, before turning to the third Cyclops.

She was terrifying. Greasy black hair matted in pigtails, woven with copper wires and metal washers. She was taller and beefier than the two other Cyclopes. What Persephone could only describe as a chainmail version of an old-grandma's nightgown drooped from the Cyclops' body. Her face looked like it had never been pretty, even more the countless fights it seemed to have gotten into, nose and mouth thick and smashed together. And her single eye was bright red, holding too much of the wrong kind of wisdom for a Cyclops like her.

"Oh my gods." Persephone whispered. Leo nodded.

The Cyclops woman knocked Sump over the conveyor belt, the other, Torque backing away quickly. She stared down Piper, face pulled into a snarl.

"This girl is Venus spawn." She snarled. "She's using charmspeak on you."

"Please, ma'am-" Piper started.

The Cyclops lady roared, gripping Piper around the waist. Persephone thought she'd have a heart attack before she could even attempt to save her friends at this rate. "Don't try your pretty talk on me, girl! I'm Ma Gasket! I've eaten heroes tougher than you for lunch!" She dropped her, letting her dangle from the chain, turning to scold Sump.

Persephone turned to Leo.

"What do we do?" She asked. She had faith that Leo had a plan, all she needed was to be told how to help.

"Just give me a moment, I need to get this- aha!" He whisper shouted. Persephone clamped a hand over his mouth. He froze, staring at her. She leant over him, hand still on his mouth, checking if the Cyclopes had heard. They hadn't. She removed her hand slowly.

He avoided her gaze, getting up and creeping over to next robotic arm, while the Cyclopes were talking. She trusted Leo, of course, but her hope fell the more she watched him. He was going to be seen. She made a move forward, but he seemed to sense her movement, turning around and motioning her to stay put.

'He thinks you're weak.' A voice in her head told her. 'He won't even let you help save your friends. He doesn't trust you, and why should he? You always let your friends down. You're too weak.' She gripped her head, curling up.

'No! I'm not useless! I'm not weak! I can help!'

She saw a spark out of the corner of her eye. The Cyclopes turned to where Leo was.

"Hey!" She called out. "I'm over here!" She ripped her ring off, it turning into her silver sword. "Come and get me!" She saw Leo's panicked face, finishing the last of his remote. Piper's eyes were wide.

"No, wait-" She tried.

Persephone rolled out of the way, clipping the truck that was thrown at her. She skidded back, hand stopped her movement, crouched down.

"Hey! It's not nice to throw trucks at people!" She yelled.

"Torque you pathetic excuse for a Cyclops, get her!" Ma Gasket yelled. Persephone's eyes narrowed, and she sprinted forward, sliding underneath his legs and slashing behind his knee. He yelled and stumbled. She watched as he locked onto her figure, going to take a step, when he was suddenly hit in the back by a yellow metal claw. He landed on his face from the force and before he could even blink, the robotic hand grabbed one leg and hurled him straight up. He flew up with a yell. He never came down. Only a clang was heard, and golden dust shimmered to the ground.