Annabeth Chase and the Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 29 - Hephaestus and Tyson become buddies

He rolled himself out from under the car and sat up, towering over us even from a seated position. For the moment, he hadn't looked at us, his attention focused on the spider which he quickly disassembled and put back together so fast that I wasn't sure he had done it. How he had managed to do that with hands that so large that the spider was barely the size of his thumb, I had no idea.

My memory of him from when I saw him at the winter solstice was hazy, seeing as my focus then had been on keeping Percy alive, but I was pretty sure that he looked nothing like what he did now. His black beard was like a wild jungle that constantly burst into flames before dying down and as big it was, it did nothing to hide the general ugliness of his face. I was used to gorgeous goddess and gods, so it was a shock to see one so misshapen and scruffy. He was dressed in an oil and grime coated overalls which showed his scar and hair covered arms. When he stood, he towered even over Tyson, although his left shoulder hung lower than his right so he it looked like he was leaning. All in all, he was the most ungodly looking god I had ever met, yet I could still feel the power rolling off him. And the grumpiness.

"I didn't make you, did I?" he grumbled, scowling at us. The spider leapt of his hand, shot a web at the ceiling and swung away.

"Uh," I stuttered, "no, sir."

"Good. Shoddy workmanship." Bending down, he peered closer at us. I had never felt more scrutinised in my life, and it took all my will power to not squirm. "Half-bloods," he muttered, glowering at Percy and I. "Could be automatons, of course, but probably not."

"We've met, sir," Percy chimed in.

The god looked mildly surprised that Percy could speak. "Have we? Well them, if I didn't smash you to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I won't have to do it now."

His gaze switched to Grover and he scowled again. "Satyr."

Then he caught sight of Tyson and the grouchy look faded from his face. He didn't exactly smile, but I definitely got less of the feeling that we were going to be turned into pet automatons.

"Well, a Cyclops," he said, taking in Tyson. "Good, good. What are you doing travelling with this lot?"

"Uh . . ." Tyson drooled, staring at him in admiration.

"Yes, well said," Hephaestus agreed. "So, there'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me. The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know."

Here went nothing.

"Sir," I began, "we're looking for Daedalus. We thought -"

"Daedalus!" Hephaestus roared, and all the good feelings I've been experiencing went flying. His beard lit on fire and his eyes fixed with rage on me. "You want that old scoundrel? You dare seek him out!"

"Uh, yes, sir, please," I squeaked.

"Humph. You're wasting your time," he said, his beard suddenly extinguishing. He turned away from us and limped over to one of his workshops. I tried to watch what he was doing, but all I saw was that one second he had grabbed a few scraps of metal and the next he had a silver falcon sitting on his hand. To my surprise, the falcon blinked its eyes before launching itself into the air and starting flying laps around the room. 

Tyson laughed and clapped his hands. In response, the falcon landed on his shoulder and nipped his ear playfully, causing Tyson to laugh louder. 

Hephaestus looked at Tyson fondly. I could see that he a soft spot for Cyclops, possibly because they were the only creatures that came close to mastering his craft and shared his love for work.