Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Heroes

Chapter Eighteen-"Shut up!"

They all would've died several times on the way to the front door, if not for Leo Valdez.

First, they faced the motion-activated trapdoor on the sidewalk, next were the lasers on the steps. After that, a nerve gas dispenser on the porch railing, not to mention the pressure-sensitive poison spikes that were hidden in the welcome mat. And finally, Alex's personal favorite, the exploding doorbell.

Leo had deactivated all of them while making sure none of them got killed. It was quite impressive and it was as if he could sense the traps, and then summoned the correct supplies from his magical toolbelt to disable them.

"You're amazing, man," Jason said.

Leo scowled as he examined the front door lock. "Yeah, amazing," he said. "Can't fix a dragon right, but I'm amazing."

"Hey, That wasn't you—"

"Front door's already unlocked," Leo announced.

Piper stared at the door in disbelief. "It is? All those traps, and the door's unlocked?"

"That's stupid," Alex said, shaking her head.

Leo turned the knob. The door swung open easily. He stepped inside without hesitation with Alex close behind him.

Alex's first impression of the house in one word: Creepy.

It was completely dark, which was odd because even before she was claimed nothing had been pitch black. From the echo of their footsteps, she could tell that the room they were in was huge, even bigger than Boreas's penthouse, but the only light came from the outside lights. A faint glow peeked through the breaks in the thick curtains in front of the windows which must've been about ten feet tall. As Alex's eyes slowly adjusted she could see that spaced between the windows were life-sized metal statues and in the center of the room, there were sofas arranged in a U with a central coffee table and one large chair at the far end. A massive chandelier glinted overhead. Along the back wall was a row of closed doors.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason asked as his voice echoed alarmingly through the room.

"Don't see one," Leo said.

"Alex? You see anything with your night vision?" Jason asked, turning his attention to her.

"Just an alarming amount of dark. Everything is ten times darker than normal. It's creepy and weird," she admitted.

"Fire?" Piper suggested.

Leo held out his hand, but nothing happened. "It's not working."

"Your fire is out? Why?" Piper asked.

"Probably the same reason I can't see anything."

"Well, if I knew that—"

"Okay, okay," she said. "What do we do—explore?"

"After all those traps outside?" Leo asked, shaking his head. "Bad idea."

"I agree. I can barely see you guys, much less anything else in this house," Alex agreed.

"Leo's right," Jason said, confirming the idea of going nowhere. "We're not separating again—not like in Detroit."

"Oh, thank you for reminding me of the Cyclopes." Piper's voice quavered. "I needed that."

"You're not the one who ran away at the sight of them," Alex muttered bitterly.

"It's a few hours until dawn," Jason guessed. "Too cold to wait outside. Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do."