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."
Eurytion sighed, but he hefted his spiked club. At his feet, Orthus growled. Nico hesitated. His black clothes were dusty from travelling in the Labyrinth, and his dark eyes were full of hate. Of course, Percy had told Cressida about the mysterious Iris messages he'd received, but knowing who Nico was when she met him and seeing what he'd become now, it broke her heart. All she wanted to do was hug him, maybe play another game of Mythomagic; anything to take away some of the hatred she saw in him.
Reluctantly, he sheathed his sword. "If you come near me, Percy, I'll summon help. You don't want to meet my helpers, I promise."
"I believe you," Percy said.
Geryon patted Nico's shoulder. "There, we've all made nice. Now come along, folks. I want to give you a tour of the ranch."
Geryon had a trolley thing – like one of those kiddie trains that take you around zoos. It was painted black and white in a cowhide pattern. The driver's car had a set of longhorns stuck to the hood, and the horn sounded like a cowbell.
Nico sat in the very back, probably so he could keep an eye on them. Eurytion crawled in next to him with his spiked club and pulled his cowboy hat 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.
Annabeth sat next to Grover in one of the middle carts, Tyson needing a whole cart to himself, which left Percy and Cressida to sit together.
Geryon was already boasting about his huge operation he ran as they lurched forward and Percy only turned to Cressida, a broken and saddened expression on his face.
"Do you...do you think he'll ever forgive me? I - I don't even know if I've forgiven myself and-"
When he was cut off, he'd half expected her to smack him, again, for even thinking that way, but she surprised him by simply lacing their fingers together and squeezing.
"I don't know if you'll ever forgive yourself, just like I don't think I'll ever forgive myself, but her death was not your fault. And as for Nico..." she trialled off. "I'll talk to him. If anyone can understand his hatred, it's me."
Percy looked as if he was about to say something before Cressida's eyes widened.
"Shut up!" she exclaimed.
"I didn't even say anything!" Percy exclaimed and she rolled her eyes.
"Not you shut up, that shut up," she said as she pointed at something. "Books! Look!"
Annabeth gasped. "Hippalek-tryons?! I thought they were extinct!"
"I know right?!"
"You're excited by those things?" Percy asked in confusion as he saw the half-horse- half rooster-like creatures that were downright the strangest animals he'd ever seen. Their rear feet were huge yellow claws. They had feathery tails and red wings.
"Rooster ponies," Tyson said in amazement. "Do they lay eggs?"
"Once a year!" Geryon grinned in the rearview mirror. "Very much in demand for omelettes!"
"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 omelettes."
"But that's like seafood. Just because you can eat it doesn't mean you should, especially if it's endangered," Cressida said and Percy gaped at her. Being the son of Poseidon, naturally, he didn't like seafood or agree with killing sea life, but he had no idea that Cressida was of the same opinion.
"That's not right," Grover murmured, but Geryon just kept narrating the tour.
"And over yonder, of course, are our prize red cows." Sure enough, hundreds of the cherry-coloured cattle were grazing the side of a hill.
"So many," Grover said.
"Yes, well, Apollo is too busy to see to them," Geryon explained, "so he subcontracts to us. We breed them vigorously because there's such a demand."
"Do we want to know what the demand is?" Cressida asked nervously and Geryon raised an eyebrow.
"Meat, of course! Armies have to eat."
"You kill the sacred cows of the sun god for hamburger meat?" Grover said. "That's against the ancient laws!"
"Oh, don't get so worked up, satyr. They're just animals."
"Just animals?!"
"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.
"No! Nope! It's all a bad dream," Cressida murmured.
"Triple G Ranch," Percy said, suddenly remembering. "Your mark was on the crates at camp. Quintus got his scorpions from you."
"Quintus...," Geryon mused. "Short grey hair, muscular, swordsman?"
"Yeah."
"Never heard of him," Geryon said. "Now, over here are my prize stables! You must see them."
Forget seeing them - they could smell them from three hundred metres away. 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 - and by muck, they meant the metre-deep pile of horse poop the horses were wading around in. There was literally not a clean spot anywhere.
They were all gagging, trying to cover their noses and mouths with their hands and clothes as Percy hid his face in Cressida's hair.
"Get off me!" she said as she tried to push him off but he had like all of his body weight on her and he was a lump of seaweed, very heavy seaweed.
"You smell like grapes. You're the best-smelling thing within like a thousand feet. My nose is about to fall off!" he defended and she rolled her eyes at the complete idiot she called her friend.
Nico gagged as well. "What is that?"
"My stables!" Geryon said. "Well, actually they belong to Aegeas, but we watch over them for a small monthly fee. Aren't they lovely?"
"They're disgusting!" Annabeth said.
"This place smells worse than the Ares cabin," Cressida muttered through her hands.
"Lots of poop," Tyson observed.
Cressida genuinely blacked out for a second from the stench, not hearing anything that Grover, Geryon and Eurytion were saying about how Geryon was too cheap to clean the stables and even though he was paid well, he couldn't be bothered. There was also something about them being a great way to terrify your enemies.
"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 he 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 towards the stables as if enjoying the fresh air. It would've been a nice view, with the river and the trees and 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.
"Get off me, now!" Cressida said as she shoved Percy off her and to the other side of the car.
"My ghost told me you could help. He said you could guide us to the soul we need," Nico was saying to the three-bodied man.
"Wait a second. I thought I was the soul you wanted," Percy said and Nico only looked at him as if he was crazy, which he was.
"You? Why would I want you? Bianca's soul is worth a thousand of yours! Now, can you help me, Geryon, or not?"
"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?" Cressida said worriedly. "Nico he used to feed people to the Labyrinth and the Minotaur for sport. Please, you can't trust him."
"I can't trust any of you!"
"You know that's a lie!" Cressida said, much like the way a sister might scold a younger brother; like the way Bianca used to.
"It's still none of your business!" Nico bellowed before turning back to Geryon. "And what do you mean about things being 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 and then Orthus pounced onto Percy, growling in his face before Cressida yelped as she was knocked out of the car and Eurytion dropped a small device on the ground.
It was a flat bronze square that began growing and expanding, metal pipes growing and expanding until Cressida was sitting in a small cage.
"What the hell?!" she said as she rattled the bars that didn't move.
"A cage made by Hephaestus," Geryon said. "Luke also told us about you. The powers you possess and the aversion to rope you have."
Cressida looked murderous as she brought out her spear and wedged it between the bars, trying to pry them apart, but the second she did, the cage shrunk.
"Cress, it's built by a god to hold a god! You can't escape it," Annabeth called.
"She's right," Geryon said. "And I'd suggest the rest of you stay put as well. Or Orthus will tear Mr Jackson's throat out before turning Miss Lynn into his next meal. And you," he said as he pointed to Cressida. "No magic of any kind unless you want your friends to die and that cage to shrink. Now, Eurytion, if you would be so kind, secure Nico."
The cowherd spat 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 wrestler.
"Pick up the sword, too," Geryon said with distaste. "There's nothing I hate worse than Stygian iron."
Eurytion picked 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 as Cressida's cage was attached to the back of the train. Geryon smiled at her. "Don't worry, my dear. Once I've delivered Mr di Angelo, you and your party can go. I don't interfere with quests. Besides, I've been paid well to give you safe passage, which does not, I'm afraid, include Mr di Angelo."
"Paid by whom?" Annabeth said. "What do you mean?"
"Never you mind, darlin.' Let's be off, shall we?"
"Wait!" Percy blurted. "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. You can trade us all to Luke for gold."
"Assuming the horses don't eat you," Geryon observed.
"Either way, you get my friends. But, if I succeed, you've got to let all of us go, including Nico."
"No!" Nico screamed. "Don't do me any favours, Percy. I don't want your help!"
"Nico, shut up!" Cressida shouted.
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 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."
He nodded. "I'm going to take your friends with me, back to the lodge. We'll wait for you there."
Annabeth yelped as Eurytion whistled and the dog jumped off Percy and onto her lap and Tyson and Grover would never try anything if she was held hostage, Cressida as well.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Annabeth said as Percy got out of the car.
"I hope so, too," he replied as Geryon got behind the driver's wheel. Eurytion hauled Nico into the back seat.
"Sunset," Geryon reminded me. "No later."
Percy nodded as Geryon sounded his cowbell horn and the moo-mobile rumbled off down the hill, the last person he saw was Cressida as she stared at him, a worried expression on her face as she clutched the bars of her cage.
"Hey, Grape Girl!" he called after her. "Add another tally to our list!"
And her lips curled upward as she was pulled away and Percy turned to his task.
Oh, this plan would definitely require a lot of positive thinking. What exactly had he gotten himself into?