𝒊𝒗. 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐘𝐎𝐔

𝒊𝒙.

Noelle glared at Geryon as he flipped burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum. Eurytion lounged at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. The two-headed dog sniffed the ribs and burgers that were frying on the grill.

Noelle shuffled, wincing as the rope burned her wrists. If she wasn't gagged like a pig for the slaughter she would have a few choice words for how Geryon should treat his hostages, starting with not hog-tying them.

"Let them go!" Noelle's head whipped towards Percy who was finishing running up the deck's steps. "I cleaned the stables!" 

Geryon turned. He wore an apron on each chest, with one word on each, so together they spelled out: KISS— THE—CHEF. "Did you, now? How'd you manage it?" 

Percy was pretty impatient but he told him about how he went down to the river and his interaction with the river's naiad. How she gave him a seashell and told him about the "water within." How he used the other shells in the soil to summon seawater geysers, basically evaporating all the horse manure.

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

"Let my friends go," Percy 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." 

Noelle's eyes widened as Percy drew his sword. 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 the demigod. Percy didn't like his odds against him and that huge club.

"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 tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself." 

It was the most un-Areslike thing Percy had 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 Percy, making Noelle shriek in alarm. 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. Percy waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead he just grimaced and began 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. Percy had to end this fight before his friends got hurt. 

He jabbed Geryon in left chest, but the rancher only laughed. Percy 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 that was shown. 

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!" 

Noelle shuffled as best she could from her tied up position to watch what was going on inside.

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. 

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!

He had a crazy idea. Percy dropped Riptide and grabbed the bow off the wall. 

Noelle's eyes practically popped out of her head. Her boyfriend was the worst archery shot in the world. He couldn't hit the targets at camp even with her help, much less a bull's-eye. But he had no choice. He couldn't win this fight with a sword. Noelle prayed to her mother and uncle, the twin archers, hoping Percy was doing the same. 

And he was.

Please, guys. Just one shot. Please. 

He notched an arrow. 

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

He raised his swords and charged. Percy dove sideways. Before Geryon could turn, he shot the arrow into the side of his right chest. THUMP, THUMP,THUMP, was heard 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 Percy. "You can't shoot. They told me you couldn't . . ."

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 got his friends untied. Eurytion didn't try to stop him. Then he stoked up the barbecue and threw the food into the flames as a burnt offering for Artemis and Apollo. 

"Thanks, guys," Percy said. "I owe you one." 

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

Noelle smiled and threw herself into his arms. He grunted at the impact, but hugged her back. "Good shot, Seaweed Brain."

"Yay for Percy!" Tyson said. 

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

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

"Not Orthus!" Noelle protested, pulling away from Percy.

Percy 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 reformers, thank the gods. You've done me a favor." 

"You said you'd died for him before," he 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," Percy said.

Eurytion narrowed his eyes. "How?" 

"Be nice to the animals. Take care of them. Stop selling them for food. 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." 

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 that 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 anything about him." 

Nico was glaring at Percy. The older boy wasn't sure what to do about him. He doubted he would agree to come with them, even if Noelle tried convincing him. On the other hand, he couldn't just let him roam around on his own. 

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

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

"Nico," Noelle said, "that wasn't 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," she said, a sternness coming out in her voice. "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," Noelle said. "Not like that." 

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

"Nico," Noelle said. "I may not have known Bianca as long as you, but I spent more time with her than anyone else. She wouldn't want this."

"You're never gonna be her," Nico repeated from earlier, much harsher this time.

"I know, but we both want the same thing: for you to be safe."

"You don't know that."

Noelle stared at the flames in the barbecue pit. She 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. "Let's ask Bianca." 

The sky seemed to grow darker all of the sudden. 

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

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

"Why would she?" 

"Because she's been sending me Iris-messages," she said, suddenly sure of it. "She's been trying to warn me what you're up to, so I can protect you." 

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

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

"Noelle," 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."