Indigo Eyes

Chapter 121

"Sweet," Percy muttered. "But a little more!"

Lightning flickered around him. The clouds darkened and the rain swirled faster. Percy closed on Hyperion and blew him off his feet.

"Percy!" Grover called again. "Bring him over here!"

Percy let his reflexes take over and Hyperion could barely defend himself as his eyes kept trying to ignite but the hurricane quenched them out. But Percy's strength was already waning, and he didn't know if he could manage to throw Hyperion all the way over to Grover.

At least until Percy started to burn. Well not literally burn, but his body was encased in a familiar purple fire as his eyes opened wider, and his strength returned just a little and Percy was able to propel Hyperion across the field to where Grover was waiting.

He managed to get to his feet again, but Grover put his reed pipes to his lips and began to play. Leneus joined him. Around the grove, every satyr took up the song – an eerie melody like a creek flowing over stones. The ground erupted at Hyperion's feet. Gnarled roots wrapped around his legs.

"What's this?" he protested as everyone simply watched, Cressida leaning onto Thalia, all her strength gone because she'd given it to him. 

Hyperion tried to shake off the roots, but he was still weak. The roots thickened until he looked like he was wearing wooden boots. "Stop this!" he shouted. "Your woodland magic is no match for a Titan!" But the more he struggled, the faster the roots grew. They curled about his body, thickening and hardening into bark. His golden armour melted into the wood, becoming part of a large trunk. The music continued. Hyperion's forces backed up in astonishment as their leader was absorbed. He stretched out his arms and they became branches, from which smaller branches shot out and grew leaves. The tree grew taller and thicker, until only the Titan's face was visible in the middle of the trunk. "You cannot imprison me!" he bellowed. "I am Hyperion! I am –" The bark closed over his face and shut him up.

Grover took his pipes from his mouth. "You are a very nice maple tree." Several of the other satyrs passed out from exhaustion, but they'd done their job well. The Titan lord was completely encased in an enormous maple. The trunk was at least seven metres in diameter, with branches as tall as any in the park. The tree might've stood there for centuries. The Titans' army started to retreat. A cheer went up from the Athena cabin, but their victory was short-lived.

Because then came Kronos' surprise.

"REEEEET!" The squeal echoed through upper Manhattan. Demigods and monsters alike froze in terror.

Grover shot Percy and Cressida a panicked look. "Why does that sound like – It can't be!"

"God of Olympus, please don't let it be," Cressida said tiredly, Percy having come back to solid land, ready to give the girl a piece of his mind for once again saving him and putting herself at risk.

A huge pink creature soared over the reservoir, and it definitely wasn't the Erymanthian Boar.

"A sow!" Annabeth cried. "Take cover!"

"Ok, maybe the Boar would be better," Cressida muttered as Percy gently slung her bad arm over his shoulders and they scrambled for cover.

The demigods scattered as the winged lady pig swooped down.

The pig stomped around and tore down half an acre of trees, belching a cloud of noxious gas. Then it took off again, circling around for another strike.

"Don't tell me that thing is from Greek mythology," Percy complained.

"Afraid so," Annabeth said. "The Clazmonian Sow. It terrorized Greek towns back in the day."