The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

nine

NICO IS STUBBORN

Ariana lost hope when she saw the horses' teeth.
As she got closer to the fence, she held her shirt over her nose to block the smell.

One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at her. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's.

Percy tried to talk to him in his mind. He can do that with most horses.

Hi, he told him. I'm going to clean your stables. Won't that be great?

Yes! The horse said. Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood!

But I'm Poseidon's son, Percg protested. He created horses.

Usually this gets him VIP treatment in the equestrian world, but not this time.

Yes! The horse agreed enthusiastically. Poseidon can come in, too! We will eat you both! Seafood!

Seafood! The other horses chimed in as they waded through the field.

Flies were buzzing everywhere, and the heat of the day didn't make the smell any better. Ariama had some idea that she could do this challenge, because she remembered how Hercules had done it.

He'd channeled a river into the stables and cleaned them out that way. Ariana figured Percy could maybe control the water.

But if he couldn't get close to the horses without getting eaten, that was a problem. And the river was downhill from the stables, a lot farther away than she has realized, almost half a mile. The problem of the poop looked a lot bigger up close.

She picked up a rusted shovel and experimentally scooped some away from the fence line. Great. Only four billion shovelfuls to go.

The sun was already sinking. They had a few hours at best. Together they decided the river was their only hope.

At least it would be easier to think at the riverside than it was there. They set off downhill.

When they got to the river, they found a girl waiting for them. She was wearing jeans and a green T-shirt and her long brown hair was braided with river grass. She had a stern look on her face. Her arms were crossed.

"Oh no you don't." she said.

Ariana stared at her. "Are you a naiad?"

She rolled her eves. "Of course!"

"But you speak English. And you're out of the water." Percy said.

"What, you don't think we can act human if we want to?"

"Look." Percy said. "I just came to ask-"

"I know who you are." she said. "And I know what you want. And the answer is no! I'm not going to have my river used again to clean that filthy stable."

"But-"

"Oh, save it, sea boy. You ocean-god types always think you're soooo much more important than some little river, don't you? well let me tell you, this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your daddy is Poseidon. This is freshwater territory, mister. The last guy who asked me this favor oh, he was way better-looking than you, by the way he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I've ever made! Do you have any idea what all that horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I'll never get the much out of my plants. I'll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!"

Ariana couldn't blame the naiad. Now that she thought about it, she would be pretty mad if somebody dumped four million pounds of manure in her home.

But still.