The Beginning of the End (J. Grace)

XXV: Ephialtes is Dionysus gone crazy on steroids

Why do these creatures and monsters who are thousands of years old have to rally together within my lifetime to try to take over the world? Like, seriously, why not wait a couple more decades or something so that I don't have to deal with it?

We had to crawl down the drainage pipe. It was wildly uncomfortable.

Seaweed Brain took the lead, followed by myself, then Dove with Lightning Boy bringing up the rear. It was claustrophobic, to say the least, and Piper had to keep on charm speaking me into carrying on and not hyperventilating. Jason kept on sending gentle brushes of wind around my body as a reminder that he was still there to keep me safe.

After what felt like forever, but was actually about thirty meters according to Guineapig, it opened to a wider tunnel. Still small, but a huge improvement which I was beyond grateful for.

To our left, somewhere in the distance, there was a rumbling and creaking sound, like a machine in desperate need of oil. I really didn't want to go that way. Because of that, we decided it was the right wat to go.

So, several hundred more feet we went. I started hyperventilating again at the fifty feet mark, which was actually pretty good for me. We were still crawling, but the space was a lot better to deal with. After the few hundred, Percy held up his hand to signal a pause, then he proceeded to peek around the corner.

"What is it?" Dove whispered.

Instead of answering, he gestured for us to come forwards and see for ourselves.

To be honest, it looked chaotic and random with no rhyme or reason for anything: there were twenty-foot ceilings and rows of support columns being the bare bones of the place. Huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no known reason were the source of all this creaking and groaning. Trenches filled with flowing water (which I want nothing to do with, since the nymph encounter) powered waterwheels that turned some of the machines while the other machines were powered by hellhounds - much like Mrs O'Leary - running in giant hamster wheels. I mean... at least they're using sustainable power?

Live animals hung in cages suspended from the ceiling: a lion, several zebras, a pack of hyenas and an eight-headed hydra. This place looks like animal cruelty to me. Stacks of weapons and armour lay upon bronze and leather conveyor belts which looked ancient. Around twenty feet inside the doorway, a life-sized gladiator cutout popped up from the floor, clicking and whirring along the conveyor belt before being hooked on a piece of rope and getting lifted up through a slot in the roof.

At least this place is big and won't trigger my claustrophobia. Always look on the bright side, I guess. Although, being a demigod and all makes that task a little tricky.

"What the fuck?" Lightning Boy muttered at the same time I murmured: "Holy Hephaestus."

We all got to our feet and stepped inside, and I was quickly able to locate a raised dais occupying two oversized praetor chairs sandwiching a giant bronze jar about a hundred yards away.

Nico.

"There." I breathed, jutting my chin out in the direction of where my son probably lied curled in a tight ball, dying...

No. Don't think about that. No.

Dove frowned, baffled. "That's too easy."

"Of course." Seaweed Brain concurred.

"But we have no choice." Jason pointed out, already striding over and picking his way through the chaos. "We have to save him."

I followed closely behind him, making sure I didn't trip over anything on the way, or trigger any machines, or break anything, or...