Indigo Eyes

Chapter 83

Surprisingly enough, the story of how Cressida ended up in a cage wasn't just Percy's fault but Annabeth's too. See it was Percy's idea to enter the ranch in search of Nico and then it was Annabeth who said that they weren't leaving even after the ranch hand and his two-headed dog advised that they should leave.

After they refused to leave, they were then escorted much like hostages, past the fire-breathing horses, to meet the 'boss', which didn't sound ominous at all.

The ranch hand, who apparently looked like father time and was a son of Ares named Eurytion, had explained that they raised animals for a number of clients before banning them from asking any more questions.

Annabeth had enamoured with the big ranch house, all white stone and wood and big windows. Then came the rules.

"Don't break the rules," Eurytion warned as they walked up the steps to the front porch. "No fighting. No drawing weapons. And don't make any comments about the boss's appearance."

"Why? What does he look like?" Percy asked and before Eurytion could reply, a new voice said,

"Welcome to the Triple G Ranch."

Surprisingly, he had one head, which was kind of a relief after everything they'd encountered. It was his body - or more like bodies. He had three of them. His neck connected to the middle chest like normal, but he had two more chests, one to either side, connected at the shoulders, with a few centimetres in between. His left arm grew out of his left chest, and the same on the right, so he had two arms, but four armpits, if that made any sense. The chests all connected into one enormous torso, with two regular but very beefy legs. His chests each wore a different colour Western shirt – green, yellow, red, like a stoplight.

The cowherd Eurytion nudged Percy. "Say hello to Mr Geryon."

"Hi," he said. "Nice chests – uh, ranch! Nice ranch you have."

And Cressida's forehead fell into her hand at his hopelessness. They were so going to die.

At least that's what she thought until Nico di Angelo came out of the glass doors onto the porch. "Geryon, I won't wait for -"

He froze when he saw them. Then he drew a sword that was black as midnight.

Geryon snarled when he saw it. "Put that away, Mr di Angelo. I ain't gonna have my guests killin' each other."

"But that's –"

"Percy Jackson," Geryon supplied. "Cressida Lynn. Annabeth Chase. And a couple of their monster friends. Yes, I know."

"Monster friends?" Grover said indignantly.

"That man is wearing three shirts," Tyson said, like he was just realizing this.

"They let my sister die!" Nico's voice trembled with rage. "They're here to kill me!"

"Nico, we're not here to kill you. I promise," Cressida promised and his expression sort of softened as she spoke, the sight of her startling eyes bringing back memories of her brothers that looked out for him.

But she'd never seen so much hatred, except maybe in herself, when Percy spoke. "What happened to Bianca was –"

"Don't speak her name! You're not worthy to even talk about her!"

"Wait a minute." Annabeth pointed at Geryon. "How do you know our names?"

The three-bodied man winked. "I make it my business to keep informed, darlin.' Everybody pops into the ranch from time to time. Everyone needs something from ole Geryon. Now, Mr di Angelo, put that ugly sword away before I have Eurytion take it from you."