The Lost Hero

Leo‘s biggest surprise: One look from Jason, and all three of them knew the game plan. When had that
happened, that they could read each other so well?
Jason charged Enceladus, while Piper rushed to her father, and Leo dashed for the tree harvester, which
stood between Mr. McLean and the Earthborn.
The Earthborn were fast, but Leo ran like a storm spirit. He leaped toward the harvester from five feet
away and slammed into the driver‘s seat. His hands flew across the controls, and the machine responded with
unnatural speed—coming to life as if it knew how important this was.
―Ha!‖ Leo screamed, and swung the crane arm through the bonfire, toppling burning logs onto the
Earthborn and spraying sparks everywhere. Two giants went down under a fiery avalanche and melted back
into the earth—hopefully to stay for a while.
The other four ogres stumbled across burning logs and hot coals while Leo brought the harvester around.
He smashed a button, and on the end of the crane arm the wicked rotating blades began to whir.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Piper at the stake, cutting her father free. On the other side of
the clearing, Jason fought the giant, somehow managing to dodge his massive spear and blasts of fire breath.
Coach Hedge was still heroically passed out with his goat tail sticking up in the air.
The whole side of the mountain would soon be ablaze. The fire wouldn‘t bother Leo, but if his friends got
trapped up here—No. He had to act quickly.
One of the Earthborn—apparently not the most intelligent one—charged the tree harvester, and Leo
swung the crane arm in his direction. As soon as the blades touched the ogre, he dissolved like wet clay and
splattered all over the clearing. Most of him flew into Leo‘s face.
He spit clay out of his mouth and turned the harvester toward the three remaining Earthborn, who backed
up quickly.
―Bad vroom-vroom!‖ one yelled.
―Yeah, that‘s right!‖ Leo yelled at them. ―You want some bad vroom-vroom? Come on!‖
Unfortunately, they did. Three ogres with six arms, each throwing large, hard rocks at super speed—and
Leo knew it was over. Somehow, he launched himself in a backward somersault off the harvester half a second
before a boulder demolished the driver‘s seat. Rocks slammed into metal. By the time Leo stumbled to his feet,
the harvester looked like a crushed soda can, sinking in the mud.
―Dozer!‖ Leo yelled.
The ogres were picking up more clumps of earth, but this time they were glaring in Piper‘s direction.
Thirty feet away, the bulldozer roared to life. Leo‘s makeshift gadget had done its job, burrowing into the
earthmover‘s controls and giving it a temporary life of its own. It roared toward the enemy.
Just as Piper cut her father free and caught him in her arms, the giants launched their second volley of
stones. The dozer swiveled in the mud, skidding to intercept, and most of the rocks slammed into its shovel.
The force was so great it pushed the dozer back. Two rocks ricocheted and struck their throwers. Two more
Earthborn melted into clay. Unfortunately, one rock hit the dozer‘s engine, sending up a cloud of oily smoke,
and the dozer groaned to a stop. Another great toy broken.
Piper dragged her father below the ridge. The last Earth-born charged after her.
Leo was out of tricks, but he couldn‘t let that monster get to Piper. He ran forward, straight through the
flames, and grabbed something—anything—from his tool belt.
―Hey, stupid!‖ he yelled, and threw a screwdriver at the Earthborn.
It didn‘t kill the ogre, but it sure got his attention. The screwdriver sank hilt-deep into the Earthborn‘s
forehead like he was made of Play-Doh.
The Earthborn yelped in pain and skittered to a halt. He pulled out the screwdriver, turned and glared at
Leo. Sadly, this last ogre looked like the biggest and nastiest of the bunch. Gaea had really gone all out creating
him—with extra muscle upgrades, deluxe ugly face, the whole package.
Oh, great, Leo thought. I‘ve made a friend.
―You die!‖ the Earthborn roared. ―Friend of Yay-son dies!‖
The ogre scooped up handfuls of dirt, which immediately hardened into rock cannonballs.
Leo‘s mind went blank. He reached into his tool belt, but he couldn‘t think of anything that would help. He
was supposed to be clever—but he couldn‘t craft or build or tinker his way out of this one.
Fine, he thought. I‘ll go out blaze-of-glory style.
He burst into flames, yelled, ―Hephaestus!‖ and charged at the ogre barehanded.
He never got there.
A blur of turquoise and black flashed behind the ogre. A gleaming bronze blade sliced up one side of the
Earthborn and down the other.
Six large arms dropped to the ground, boulders rolling out of their useless hands. The Earthborn looked
down, very surprised. He mumbled, ―Arms go bye-bye.‖
Then he melted into the ground.