ｔｈｅ ｂａｔｔｌｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｌａｂｙｒｉｎｔｈ

WHEN THEY GOT TO THE LARGE HOUSE. The deck was set up for a party. Streamers and balloons decorated the railing. Geryon led them up the steps. The two-headed dog followed behind them closely, making it clear they'd be his new chew toy if they tried anything.

Their supplies were taken away, along with their weapons. Luckily for Lucia, they didn't question the Charm on her wrist—but really what could she do with just her bow?

"Eurytion, tie them up" He ordered "And gag Ms sunshine first. She can get a little too loud."

"How—"

"Word gets around sunshine." He grinned before grabbing an apron and wrapping it around him, the apron covered each chest, with one word on each, so together they spelled out: KISS—THE—CHEF.

Lucia felt herself become sick as Eurytion approached her. The thought of being tied up by him caused bile to rise in her throat. She was about to back up when she heard a growl come from behind her— really closely behind her.

"It would be a shame for Percy Jackson to come back and find one less friend," Geryon said. He turned to Eurytion "You think he'd notice— what's one less." Eurytion stayed quiet "No? oh fine."

Lucia groaned as she was gagged, her arms pulled behind her as she got tied up like a rodeo animal. Her friends behaved in fear of her safety before getting tied up and gagged themselves.

They were all thrown in a corner, forced to watch Geryon as he turned on the grill and began barbecuing hamburger patties. Lucia felt herself wanting to cry at the thought of what cows the patties might have come from.

Eurytion sat at the picnic table, unbothered. Lucia hoped Percy was doing better than they were. She prayed to all the gods above that the horses wouldn't get to him. She had a feeling their day wouldn't end well without him holding up his end of the bargain

☼

"LET THEM GO!" Percy yelled, still out of breath from running up the steps. "I cleaned the stables!"

Geryon turned."Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"

He was pretty impatient, but he told him. His gaze kept falling on his friends in concern.

He nodded appreciatively. "Very ingenious. It would've been better if you'd poisoned that pesky naiad, but no matter."

"Let my friends go," He said. "We had a deal."

"Ah, I've been thinking about that. The problem is, if I let them go, I don't get paid."

"You promised!"

Geryon made a tsk-tsk noise. "But did you make me swear on the River Styx? No, you didn't. So it's not binding. When you're conducting business, sonny, you should always get a binding oath."

Percy drew riptide. Orthus growled. One head leaned down next to Grover's ear and bared its fangs.

"Eurytion," Geryon said, "the boy is starting to annoy me. Kill him."

Eurytion studied Percy. Lucia didn't like the odds against him and that huge club. Her muffled protest could be heard against the gag.

"Kill him yourself," Eurytion said.

Geryon raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Eurytion grumbled. "You keep sending me out to do your dirty work. You pick fights for no good reason, and I'm getting tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself."

It was the most un-Areslike thing she'd ever heard a son of Ares say.

Geryon threw down his spatula. "You dare defy me? I should fire you right now!"

"And who'd take care of your cattle? Orthus, heel."

The dog immediately stopped growling at Grover and came to sit by the cowherd's feet.

"Fine!" Geryon snarled. "I'll deal with you later after the boy is dead!"

He picked up two carving knives and threw them at me. He deflected one with his sword. The other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion's hand.

Percy went on the attack. Geryon parried his first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at his face with a barbecue fork. Percy got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.

"Aghhh!" He crumpled to his knees. Lucia waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead, he just grimaced and started to stand up. The wound in his chef's apron started to heal.

"Nice try, sonny," he said. "Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system."

He tipped over the barbecue, and coals spilled everywhere. One landed next to Annabeth's face, and she let out a muffled scream. Tyson strained against his bonds, but even his strength wasn't enough to break them. Lucia fought against the ropes, muffling out yells to Annabeth.

She felt anger arise in her, and with that came the heat. Her ankles started to burn as her hands grew hotter and hotter.

Percy jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. He stuck him in the right stomach. No good. he might as well have been sticking a sword in a teddy bear for all the reaction he showed.

Three hearts. The perfect backup system. Stabbing one at a time was no good...

Percy ran into the house.

"Coward!" he cried. "Come back and die right!"

That's when the heated ropes snapped for Lucia. Despite the ache in her ankles, she stumbled up unhooking the gag.

"I'll be back" she croaked before flicking her wrist to access her bow, she ran after Percy

The living room walls were decorated with a bunch of gruesome hunting trophies—stuffed deer and dragon heads, a gun case, a sword display, and a bow with a quiver. Lucia just needed to get to an arrow.

Geryon threw his barbecue fork, and it thudded into the wall right next to Percy's head. He drew two swords from the wall display. "Your head's gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!"

"Percy!" Lucia yelled, Geryon turned towards her after she signaled to the arrows.

"Fun. I've been wanting to kill you." He grinned cruelly " a 2 for 1"

Percy seemed to understand her signal, he grabbed an arrow before tossing it over to Lucia.

She notched the arrow in an instant.

Geryon laughed. "You fools! One arrow is no better than one sword."

He raised his swords and charged. Percy dove sideways. Before he could turn, Lucia slid forward at an angle.

She shot her arrow into the side of his right chest. She heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, as the arrow passed clean through each of his chests and flew out his left side, embedding itself in the forehead of the grizzly bear trophy.

Geryon dropped his swords. He turned and stared at Lucia. "You..."

A smirk graced her lips. " Unlike you...I keep my promises."

His face turned a sickly shade of green. He collapsed to his knees and began crumbling into sand until all that was left were three cooking aprons and an oversized pair of cowboy boots.

☼

PERCY AND LUCIA GOT THEIR FRIENDS UNTIED. Eurytion didn't try to stop them. Then Lucia picked up the barbecue and threw the food into the flames as a burnt offering for Artemis and Apollo.

"Thanks, guys," She said.

The sky thundered in the distance, so she figured maybe the burgers smelled okay.

"Yay for Shiny Lucia!" Tyson said.

"Can we tie up this cowherd now?" Nico asked.

"Yeah!" Grover agreed. "And that dog almost killed me!"

Lucia looked at Eurytion, who still was sitting relaxed at the picnic table.

Orthus had both his heads on the cowherd's knees.

"How long will it take Geryon to re-form?" Percy asked him.

Eurytion shrugged. "Hundred years? He's not one of those fast re-formers, thank the gods. You've done me a favor."

"You said you'd died for him before," Percy remembered. "How?"

"I've worked for that creep for thousands of years. Started as a regular half-blood, but I chose immortality when my dad offered it. Worst mistake I ever made. Now I'm stuck here at this ranch. I can't leave. I can't quit. I just tend the cows and fight Geryon's fights. We're kinda tied together."

"Maybe you can change things," Lucia suggested.

Eurytion narrowed his eyes. "How?"

"Be nice to the animals. Take care of them. Stop selling them all for food. Don't lay a single cruel finger on my dad's cows. And stop dealing with the Titans."

Eurytion thought about that. "That'd be all right."

"Get the animals on your side, and they'll help you. Once Geryon gets back, maybe he'll be working for you this time." Percy added

Eurytion grinned. "Now, that I could live with."

"You won't try to stop us leaving?"

"Shoot, no."

Annabeth rubbed her bruised wrists. She was still looking at Eurytion suspiciously. "Your boss said somebody paid for our safe passage. Who?"

The cowherd shrugged. "Maybe he was just saying that to fool you."

"What about the Titans?" Percy asked. "Did you Iris-message them about Nico yet?"

"Nope. Geryon was waiting until after the barbecue. They don't know about him."

Nico was glaring at him. Lucia wasn't sure what to do about him. She doubted he would agree to come with them. On the other hand, She couldn't just let him roam around on his own.

"You could stay here until we're done with our quest," Lucia told him. "It would be safe."

"Safe?" Nico said. "What do you care if I'm safe? You got my sister killed!"

"Nico," Annabeth said, "that wasn't Lucia or Percy's fault. And Geryon wasn't lying about Kronos wanting to capture you. If he knew who you were, he'd do anything to get you on his side."

"I'm not on anyone's side. And I'm not afraid."

"You should be," Annabeth said. "Your sister wouldn't want—"

"If you cared for my sister, you'd help me bring her back!"

"A soul for a soul?" Percy said.

"Yes!"

"But if you didn't want my soul—"

"I'm not explaining anything to you!" He blinked tears out of his eyes. And I will bring her back."

"Bianca wouldn't want to be brought back," Percy said. "Not like that."

"You didn't know her!" he shouted. "How do you know what she'd
want?"

"But I did. I knew her Nico..." Lucia's voice broke

Nico looked at her, his intense glare softening.

Lucia thought about the line in Annabeth's prophecy: You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. That had to be Minos, and she had to convince Nico not to listen to him.

Percy seemed to have the same thought. "Let's ask Bianca."

The sky seemed to grow darker all of a sudden.

"I've tried," Nico said miserably. "She won't answer."

"Try again. I've got a feeling she'll answer with us here."

"Why would she?"

"Because she's been sending me Iris messages," He said, suddenly sure of it.

"And I've had dreams..." Lucia whispered

"She's been trying to warn us about what you're up to, so we can protect you." Percy decided

Nico shook his head. "That's impossible."

"One way to find out. You said you're not afraid." Percy turned to Eurytion. "We're going to need a pit, like a grave. And food and drinks."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "I don't think this is a good—"

"All right," Nico said. "I'll try."

Eurytion scratched his beard. "There's a hole dug out back for a septic tank. We could use that. Cyclops boy, fetch my ice chest from the kitchen. I hope the dead like root beer."