XXIV LEO

Leo enters the dark factory, fighting panic after Gaea’s taunts. He smells something inhuman and resists calling out when Piper’s mimicked voice lures him. Advancing, he discovers Piper and Jason suspended upside down over a makeshift cooking fire as three Cyclopes—Ma Gasket and her sons Torque and Sump—prepare to eat them.

Piper attempts charmspeak, briefly distracting the sons until Ma Gasket recognizes her as “Venus spawn.” As Leo quietly rigs robotic arms with remotes from his pack, the Cyclopes boast about their Hyperborean clan and mention having eaten a Latin-speaking hero in a purple shirt, rattling Leo with the Roman hint.

When Torque spots Leo and attacks, Leo activates a crane, flinging Torque into the rafters to dust. Sump returns with salsa and is pulverized by another robotic arm. Enraged, Ma Gasket rips the machinery apart and hurls kerosene and coals, igniting a firestorm around Leo—who survives, revealing his immunity and control over flame.

Leo baits Ma Gasket forward, then focuses a white-hot burst of fire to weaken a single chain link overhead. The engine block drops and crushes Ma Gasket to dust. Exhausted, Leo frees Piper and Jason; Piper gives Jason nectar, and he begins to recover. Piper, amazed rather than afraid, learns Leo has always had fire.

As they regroup, the fallen Cyclopes’ yellow dust starts drifting back into humanoid shapes. Remembering Boreas’s warning and Gaea’s influence, Leo and Piper realize monsters are reforming faster than before. They decide they must escape immediately.