"she's been sending me iris-messages"
Geryon had some kind of trolley- like those kiddie trains that take you around zoos. It was painted black and white like a cow's hide. The driver's car had a set of longhorns stuck to the hood, and the horn sounded like a cowbell.
Nico sat in the back, probably to keep an eye on his self-declared enemies. Eurytion crawled in next to him with his spiked club and pulled his cowboy hate over his eyes like he was going to take a nap. Orthus jumped in the front seat next to Geryon and began barking happily in two-part harmony.
Cassandra and her friends took the middle two cars.
"We have a huge operation!" Geryon boasted as the moo-mobile lurched forward. "Horses and cattle mostly, but all sorts of exotic varieties, too."
They came over a hill, and Annabeth gasped. "Hippalektryons? I thought they were extinct!"
At the bottom of the hill was a fenced-in pasture with a dozen super weird looking animals. Each had the front half of a horse and the back half of a rooster. Their rear feet were huge yellow claws. They had feathery tails and red wings. As Cassandra watched, two of them got in a fight over a seed. They reared up on their back legs and whinnied and flapped their wings at each other until the smaller one galloped away, its rear bird-legs putting a little hop in its step.
"Rooster ponies" Tyson said in amazement. "Do they lay eggs?"
"Once a year!" Geryon grinned in the rearview mirror. "Very much in demand for omelets!"
"That's horrible!" Annabeth said. "They must be an endangered species!"
Geryon waved his hand. "Gold is gold, darling. And you haven't tasted the omelets."
"That's not right" Grover murmured, but Geryon just kept narrating the tour.
"Now, over here" he said, "we have our fire-breathing horses, which you may have seen on your way in. They're bred for war, naturally."
"What war?" Percy asked.
Geryon grinned slyly. "Oh, whichever one comes along. And over yonder, of course, are our prize red cows."
Sure enough, hundreds of the cherry-colored cattle were grazing the side of the hill.
"So many" Grover said.
"Yes, well, Apollo is too busy to see them" Geryon explained, "so he subcontracts to us. We breed them vigorously because there's such a demand."
"For what?" Cassandra asked, glaring at the ranch owner.
Geryon raised an eyebrow. "Meat, of course! Armies have to eat."
"You kill the sacred cows of Apollo for meat?" Cassandra asked, through gritted teeth. "That's against ancient laws."
"Oh, don't get so worked up, Miss. Regalia. They're just animals."
"Just animals!" Grover said in disbelief.
"Yes, and if Apollo cared, I'm sure he would tell us."
"If he knew" Percy muttered.
Nico sat forward. "I don't care about any of this, Geryon. We had business to discuss, and this wasn't it!"
"All in good time, Mr. di Angelo. Look over here; some of my exotic game."
The next field was ringed in barbed wire. The whole area was crawling with giant scorpions.
"Triple G Ranch" Percy said. "Your mark was on the crates at camp. Quintus got his scorpions from you."
"Quintus..." Geryon mused. "Short gray hair, muscular, swordsman?"
"Yeah."
"Never heard of him" Geryon said. "Now over here are my prize stables! You must see them."
Cassandra didn't need to see them, because as soon as they got within three hundred yards she started to smell them. Near the banks of a green river was a horse corral the size of a football field. Stables lined one side of it. About a hundred horses were milling around in the muck.
She gagged, holding her nose, "I'm going to throw up."
Even Nico gagged. "What is that?"
"My stables!" Geryon said. "Well, actually they belong to Aegas, but we watch over them for a small monthly fee. Aren't they lovely?"
"They're disgusting!" Annabeth said.
"Lots of poop" Tyson observed.
"How can you keep animals like that?" Grover cried.
"Y'all getting on my nerves" Geryon said. "These are flesh-eating horses, see? They like these conditions."
"Plus, you're too cheap to have them cleaned" Eurytion mumbled from under his hat.
"Quiet!" Geryon snapped. "All right, perhaps the stables are a bit challenging to clean. Perhaps they do make me nauseous when the wind blows the wrong way. But so what? My clients still pay me well."
"What clients?" Percy demaded.
"Oh, you'd be surprised how many people will pay for a flesh-eating horse. They make great garbage disposals. Wonderful way to terrify your enemies. Great at birthday parties! We rent them out all the time."
"I want them to eat your flesh" Cassandra muttered, still holding her nose.
"You're a monster" Annabeth decided.
Geryon stopped the moo-mobile and turned to look at her. "What gave it away? Was it the three bodies?"
"You have to let these animals go" Grover said. "It's not right!"
"And the clients you keep talking about" Annabeth said. "You work for Kronos, don't you? You're supplying his army with horses, food, whatever they need."
Geryon shrugged, which was very weird since he had three sets of shoulders. It looked like was doing the wave all by himself. "I work for anyone with gold, young lady. I'm a businessman. And I sell them anything I have to offer."
He climbed out of the moo-mobile and strolled toward the stables as if enjoying the fresh air. It would've been a nice view, with the river and the trees and the hills and all, except for the quagmire of horse muck.
Nico got out of the back car and stormed over to Geryon. The cowherd Eurytion wasn't as sleepy as he looked. He hefted his club and walked after Nico.
"I came here for business, Geryon" Nico said. "And you haven't answered me."
"Mmm." Geryon examined a cactus. His left arm reached over and scratched his middle-chest. "Yes, you'll get a deal, all right."
"My ghost told me you could help. He said you could guide us to the soul we need."
"Wait a second" Percy said. "I thought Cassie was the soul you wanted."
Nico glanced between the two of them, like they were both crazy. "Her? Why would I want her? Bianca's soul is worth a thousand of hers! Now, can you help me, Geryon, or not?"
"Ouch" Cassandra muttered.
"Oh, I imagine I could" The rancher said. "Your ghost friend, by the way, where is he?"
Nico looked uneasy. "He can't form in broad daylight. It's hard for him. But he's around somewhere."
Geryon smiled. "I'm sure. Minos likes to disappear when things get... difficult."
"Minos?" Percy asked. "You mean that evil king? That's the ghost who's been giving you advice?"
"It's none of your business, Percy!" Nico turned back to Geryon. "And what do you mean about things getting difficult?"
The three-bodied man sighed. "Well, you see, Nico— can I call you Nico?"
"No."
"You see, Nico, Luke Castellan is offering very good money for half bloods. Especially powerful half-bloods. And I'm sure when he learns your little secret, who you really are, he'll pay very, very well indeed.
Nico drew his sword, but Eurytion knocked it out of his hand. Before Cassandra could get up, Orthus jumped into the car and pounced on Percy's chest, growling.
"I would stay in the car, all of you" Geryon warned. "Or Orthus will tear Mr. Jackson's throat out. Now, Eurytion, if you would be so kind, secure Nico and Miss. Regalia. Make sure you gag the girl. We don't need her charmspeak interfering."
Cassandra rolled her eyes, knowing there was no point in arguing. If she did, Percy would die.
The cowherd spit into the grass. "Do I have to?"
"Yes, you fool!"
Eurytion looked bored, but he wrapped one huge arm around Nico and lifted him up like a rescuer. He then grabbed Cassandra's arm, pulling her out of the trolley.
He grabbed a cloth from his pocket and shoved it her mouth, to the point where she couldn't spit it out.
He held out a hand, "Dagger."
She glared but handed him the silver blade.
"Pick up the sword, too" Geryon said with distaste. "There's nothing I hate worse than Stygian Iron."
Eurytion looked at him. "My hands are a bit full at the moment."
"Figure it out!" Geryon shouted.
He let go of Cassandra's arm, leaning down to pick up the sword, careful not to touch the blade.
"Now" Geryon said cheerfully, "we've had the tour. Let's go back to the lodge, have some lunch, and send an Iris-Message to our friends in the Titan army."
"You fiend!" Annabeth cried.
Geryon smiled at her. "Don't worry, my dear. Once I've delivered Mr. di Angelo and Miss. Regalia, you and the rest of your party can go. I don't interfere with quests any more than I have to. Besides, I've been paid well to give you safe passage, which does not, I'm afraid, include Mr. di Angelo. And well, someone is paying much higher for Miss. Regalia."
"Paid by whom?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"
"Never you mind, darlin'. Let's be off, shall we?"
"Wait!" Percy said, and Orthus growled. He stayed perfectly still as he continued, "Geryon, you said you're a businessman. Make me a deal."
Geryon narrowed his eyes. "What sort of deal? Do you have gold?"
"I've got something better. Barter."
"But Mr. Jackson, you've got nothing."
"You could have him clean the stables" Eurytion suggested innocently.
"I'll do it!" Percy said. "If I fail, you get all of us. Trade us all to Luke for gold."
"Assuming the horses don't eat you" Geryon observed.
"Either way, you get my friends" Percy said. "But if I succeed, you've got to let all of us go, including Cassie and Nico."
"No!" Nico screamed. "Don't do me any favors, Percy. I don't want your help!"
Cassandra rolled her eyes at the screaming boy.
Geryon chuckled. "Percy Jackson, those stables haven't been cleaned in a thousand years... though it's true I might be able to sell more stable space if all that poop was cleared away."
"So what do you have you got to lose?"
The rancher hesitated. "All right, I'll accept your offer, but you have to get it done by sunset. If you fail, your friends get sold, and I get rich."
"Deal."
Cassandra's eyes widened, and she tried to tell Percy to make him swear on the River Styx but all that came out was muffled noise, making Nico look at her like she had gone insane.
Now, she was the screaming person that people would roll their eyes at.
Geryon nodded. "I'm going to take your friends with me, back to the lodge. We'll wait for you there."
Eurytion whistled and the dog jumped off Percy and onto Annabeth's lap. She yelped. Cassandra sighed, knowing that Grover and Tyson would never try anything as long as Annabeth was a hostage.
Percy got out of the car, locking eyes with Cassandra. He nodded as though reading her thoughts.
Geryon got behind the driver's wheel. Eurytion hauled Nico and Cassandra into the back seat.
"Sunset" Geryon reminded Percy. "No later."
He laughed once more, sounded his cowbell horn, and the trolley rumbled off down the trail.
╰┈ ⋆｡˚ ❀ *· 🌬 ࿐ ࿔ ˚:⋆ ✧･ﾟ
The sun was dipping behind the horizon by the time Percy came running up the porch steps.
"Let them go!" Percy yelled, still out of breath from running up the steps "I cleaned the stables!"
The deck was set for a party. Streamers and balloons decorated the railing. Geryon was flipping burgers on a barbeque cooker and Eurytion lounged at the picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. His friends were gagged and tied up, by their wrists and ankles.
Geryon turned. "Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"
Percy glared at him and huffed in annoyance, but told him the story.
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."
Cassandra would have face palmed if her hands weren't tied behind her back, and said "I tried to tell you" if she wasn't gagged.
She looked at Annabeth, asking why she didn't tell him that. The other blonde just rolled her eyes as if to say "I forgot."
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."
Cassandra said something, but it was muffled by the gag. Her eyes were locked on the cowherd, seeming to try and convince him not to.
A slight wind picked up by Eurytion and he leaned his ear towards the breeze, as if listening to it.
Eurytion studied Percy, before glancing at Cassandra with a raised eyebrow. She nodded and he turned back to the boy.
"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-Ares-like thing Cassandra had ever heard a child 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 this boy is dead!"
He picked up two carving knives and threw them at Percy, who deflected one with his sword, the other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion's hand.
Percy went on the offensive. Geryon parried the first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at Percy's face with a barbeque fork. Percy got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.
"Aghhh!" Geryon crumpled to his knees. Cassandra waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead, he just grimaced and started to stand up, the wound through his chef's apron began to heal.
"Nice try, sonny" He said. "Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system."
He tripped over the barbeque, and coals spilled everywhere. One came flying towards Cassandra's face but ice shot up from the ground in front of the group. Dozens of coals hit the wall of ice before falling to the ground.
The ice wall melted into a puddle of water in front of them.
Percy jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. Percy stuck him in the right stomach. No good. Geryon didn't even flinch.
"Bow and arrow. In the house" Cassandra thought her eyes locked on Percy. She didn't know if it would work, but she waved her finger slightly.
The wind picked up, and as Percy paused, his head leaned to the left slightly, listening to the whistle of the wind.
Then, he ran into the house.
"Coward!" Geryon cried before following Percy, "Come back and die right!"
Cassandra closed her eyes, sending two silent prayers. One to Artemis. One to Apollo.
When Percy walked back out, unscathed, and without Geryon following, she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
Eurytion didn't try to stop Percy as he untied his friends.
Percy stoked the barbeque and threw in some food as a thank you to Apollo and Artemis.
"Yay for Percy!" Tyson cried.
"Can we tie up this cowherd now?" Nico asked.
"Yeah!" Grover agreed. "And that dog almost killed me!"
Percy looked at Eurytion, who looked unbothered. Orthus had both his heads on the cowherd's knees.
"How long will it take Geryon to reform?" Percy asked.
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" Percy suggested.
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 it for a minute. "That'd be alright."
"Get the animals of 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 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 Percy like he was still debating running him through with his sword. Cassandra knew he'd never agree to go with them, but she couldn't let him wander around on his own.
"You should stay here until we're done with our quest" Cassandra told him. "It would be safe."
"Safe?" Nico questioned. "What do you care if I'm safe? You and Percy got my sister killed!"
"Nico" Annabeth said, "that wasn't their 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?" Cassandra 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, Nico" Cassandra said, resisting the urge to hug him. "Not like that."
"You didn't know her!" He shouted. "How do you know what she'd want?"
Cassandra stared at the flames in the barbeque 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 they had to convince Nico not to listen to him.
"Let's ask Bianca."
The sky seemed to suddenly grow darker.
"I've tried" Nico said miserably. "She won't answer."
"Try again" Cassandra suggested. "I think she'll answer with me here."
"Why would she?"
"Because she's been sending me Iris-Messages" She answered. "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" She turned to Eurytion. "We're going to need a pit— like a grave. And food and drinks."
"Cassie" Annabeth warned. "I don't think this is a good-"
"All right" Nico decided. "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 me ice chest from the kitchen. I hope the dead like root beer."