𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗘 ━━ l. valdez

xviii ━━ it was always the same searing pain

01. chapter eighteen

━━━━━━━━ ( 💫 ) ━━━━━━━━

WE STOPPED AT THE DOORS to control our breathing. the voice of the earth woman still rang in my ears, reminding me of the labyrinth. the last thing i wanted to do was plunge into that warehouse where the souls begged me for help.

"i had a bad feeling about this place ever since we crashed here," i whispered.

"what do you mean?"

"i can sense the dead... like spirits. and i sense a lot of them here."

"that's comforting," leo whispered.

i stepped forward to peer into the warehouse, but someone grabbed my forearm. i jumped and whipped around but it was just leo. his hands were really warm. i feared they might begin to smoke and burst into flames.

"i'll go first," he said decisively.

"no—"

before i could say anything else, leo went ahead of me and peered inside.

"i don't see any—"

leo couldn't finish his sentence before a voice cried out, "help!"

it was piper. her voice came from the factory floor. i was about to run right into the warehouse if it weren't for leo who yanked my arm.

"hey! we have to help them!" i whispered harshly, pointing into the warehouse.

"we don't know that's piper," leo said reasonable. "how could piper have gotten off the catwalk with her ankle?"

i almost slapped myself upside the head. how was i so stupid, almost running immediately into danger without a clue. leo moved his grip from my forearm to my wrist, sending a shockwave down my spine. he pulled me inside and we ducked behind a large cargo container.

something not human was inside the factory. i was certain. it was something deadly. i had the same feeling i felt when i would step into a cemetery. a hollow sort of feeling.

we worked our way toward the center of the room, hiding behind big boxes and other large items. finally, we reached the assembly line. we crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery—a crane with a robotic arm.

piper's voice called out again: "leo? camille...?" less certain this time, but very close.

i peeked  around  the machinery. hanging directly above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from a crane on the opposite side, was a massive 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 another truck part, and clustered around it were three dark shapes the size of forklifts. nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were two smaller figures.

then one of the forklift shapes rose, and i 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: "camille! leo! help me! help—" then the voice changed, becoming a masculine
snarl. "bah, there's nobody out there. no demigods could be that quiet, eh?"

the first monster chuckled. "probably ran away, if they knows what's good for them. or the girl was lying about two more demigods. let's get cooking."

snap. a  bright  orange  light  sizzled  to  life—an  emergency  flare—and  i was  temporarily  blinded. leo and i ducked  behind  the  crane  until  the  spots cleared from our eyes. then we took another peep and saw a nightmare scene even no demigod could dream of.