Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians' quotes and plot line. I do not own any of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians characters. I am not Rick Riordan.
This is my fourth FanFic although my first one got reported for MST and the second one I put up for adoption. The third one is complete.
Go to The SilverEyed Angel's page to ask about the continuation of the Pertemis story.
Thanks for reading my story and if you have any comments or suggestions, review or private message me. If you do not like Perlia do not flame by sending me messages saying you don't like Perlia and random stuff like that.
Just in case you were wondering, the length of an update is according to the length of the chapters in the real book.
Apologies if there are any grammar mistakes out there that make the story unclear. It would be awesome if you guys could tell what mistakes there are so that I can fix them to make the story clearer. Thanks.
SharkAttack719 out. :)
A HEADS UP: There will be a Zoe story that I'm going to post. I'm just thinking of some ideas before I put up a vote for you to choose which story you want.
Chapter 10: Cleaning the Stables and a Barbecue
Percy's POV
I lost hope when I saw the horses' teeth.
As I got closer to the fence I held my shirt over my nose to block the smell. One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at me. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's.
I tried to talk to him in my mind. I can do that with most horses.
Hi, I 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, I protested. He created horses.
Usually this gets me 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. I'd had some idea that I could do this challenge, because I remembered how Hercules had done it. He'd channeled a river into the stables and cleaned them out that way. I figured I could maybe control the water. But if I 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 I'd realized, almost half a mile. The problem of the poop looked a lot bigger up close. I 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. I had a few hours at best. I decided the river was my only hope. At least it would be easier to think at the riverside than it was here. I set off downhill.
Thalia's POV
"Damn you, bastard!" I yelled as Eurytion tied me to Grover, Nico and Tyson.
"Now, let's have a barbecue so celebrate another wonderful sale!" Geryon cheered happily.
"Why don't you let me go so I can beat the crap out of you!" I retorted. I shot a bolt of lightning from my finger. It missed Geryon, and hit the grill, lighting the wood on fire.
"Why thanks, darlin'," he said. "Eurytion, gag the girl."
Eurytion obliged, but muttered under his breath about his stupid boss.
Now my insults were muffled and incomprehensible. I shouted obscenities at him, but it was no use. I had to breathe through my nose now instead of my mouth.
Eurytion sat at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. His two-headed dog paced back and forth, growling at us every once in awhile.
Geryon started decorating the deck for a party. Streamers and balloons were put up and decorated the railing.
After a couple of hours, I gave up trying to get out. We had to rely on Percy.
"Your hair is longer," was all Nico could say.
"Hm? Oh yah," I replied. "I ffrgf to do mah hrr cuz I doh care bou it."
"What?"
"What she means," Grover said, "is the she doesn't do her hair because she doesn't care about it. She leaves it."
"I my cuh my hrr soo," I said.
"She might cut her hair soon," Grover translated.
I have no idea how he could understand what the Hades I was talking about, but he understood. But it was true. My hair was growing long. I just never cut it because I don't really care about it. I stopped wearing mascara, but I could still pull off the evil looks that I'm so famous for. Also, my hair lost its spikiness. I need to fix that as soon as we get back.
To answer your (the reader's) question, yes I did grow my hair out long because I was too busy hanging out with Percy to do anything about it.
Anyway, the sun was going down rapidly and Geryon was flipping burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum.
"Ain't this a pretty sight? We are almost ready for the sellin' of them half-bloods," Geryon smiled. "We are just about to give you away. That's a nice thought, more money. Lost one from the horse stables, but whatever. Also-"
"Let them go!" Percy yelled. He sounded out of breath. "I cleaned the stables!"
Geryon turned. Allowing us to not look at his hideous face and shirts that spelled out KISS-THE-CHEF. "Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"
Though Percy seemed impatient, he told the story.
"When I got to the river, I found a girl waiting for me. 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 and her arms were crossed," Percy said. "She was a naiad although the ones I've met only giggled and waved from the bottom of the canoe lake. Then I asked her if I could do what Hercules did, channel the river to clean the stables. She replied that she is part of freshwater territory and Poseidon is the saltwater lord. She said that Hercules was much better-looking than me, which is obviously true, but just because a person is good looking, doesn't mean they're a nice person."
I remembered Zoe and her dispute with Hercules.
"Anyway," he continued, "I told her that my friends are in danger, but she still refused. She looked like she was ready for a fight with her fists balled up. Then I realized that she had a quiver in her voice. Despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me because I was a son of the sea god and a male who was much tougher than her. I figured that if you treat people nicely, they'll treat you back with respect. It's something I learned from my mom-"
"Get on with the story," Geryon interrupted.
Percy glared at him harshly before continuing. "I dropped out of the fight and the naiad gave in. She told me to scoop some dirt up." He scooped a little dirt from the ground just outside of the deck. "Texas dirt was dry and black and spotted with tiny clumps of shells. The naiad told me that they were petrified sea shells. Apparently, millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaea and Ouranos reigned, this land was under the water. It was part of the sea. After, she told me that as the son of Poseidon, water is within me; it is my life source. The sun was touching the hills when I got back to the stables. I guess somebody came by and fed the horses-"
"That'd be me," Eurytion said.
I must've been tired to not notice Eurytion get up and go to the horse stables.
"Okay. Then, when one of the horses saw me, it kept saying, 'Seafood! Come in! We're still hungry!' I didn't know what the shells were meant for at the time, so in frustration I threw them at the poop. Where I had thrown the shell, sprouted some water. It was saltwater. So after I cleaned up all of the poop, I couldn't stop it. The control of the water was almost out of my reach. I knew if I didn't do something soon, the saltwater would run into the river and poison the fish and plants. After a couple more tries, I finally shut the geysers down and got the horses to not eat people, only the food the handles give them. After that... I ran here," Percy finished.
Geryon nodded appreciatively. "Very ingenious. It would've been better if you'd poisoned the 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."
Percy's POV
"You promised!"
Geryon made a tsk-tsknoise. "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."
I drew my 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 me. I didn't like my 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 getting tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself."
It was the most un-Ares-like thing I'd 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, hell."
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 me. I deflected one with my sword. The other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion's hand.
I went on the attack. Geryon parried my first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at my face with a barbecue fork. I got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.
"Aghhh!" He crumpled to his knees. I waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead he just grimaced and started 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 Thalia's face, and she let out a muffled scream. Tyson strained against his bonds, but even his strength wasn't enough to break them. I had to end this fight before my friends got hurt.
I jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. I stuck him in the right stomach. No good. I might as well have been sticking a sword in a teddy bear for all the reaction he showed.
Three hearts. The perfect backup system. Stabbing one at a time was no good…
I ran into the house.
"Coward!" he cried. "Come back and die right!"
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 my head. He drew two swords from the wall display. "Your head's gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!"
I had a crazy idea. I dropped Riptide and grabbed the bow off the wall.
I was the worst archery shot in the world. I couldn't hit the targets at camp, much less a bull's eye. But I had no choice. I couldn't win this fight with a sword. I prayed to Artemis and Apollo, the twin archers, hoping they might take pity on me for once. Please, guys. Just one shot. Please.
I notched an arrow.
Geryon laughed. "You fool! One arrow is no better than one sword."
He raised his swords and charged. I dove sideways. Before he could turn, I shot my arrow into the side of his right chest. I heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, 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 me. "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.
Thalia's POV
Percy came out with an oversized pair of cowboy boots and untied us. The cowherd didn't stop Percy. As Percy stoked up the barbecue to sacrifice an offering for Artemis and Apollo, I went up to the giant boots.
I charged up and blasted them to bits with lightning. I smiled. It's nice to get rid of your anger in such a way.
The sky thundered in the distance, and I figured maybe the burgers smelled okay.
"Yay for Percy!" Tyson said.
"Can we tie up this cowherd now?" Nico asked.
"Yeah!" Grover agreed. "And that dog almost killed me!"
Percy looked at Eurytion, who was still 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 Eurytion.
He 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 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 alright."
"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, thatI could live with."
"You won't try to stop us leaving?"
"Shoot, no."
I rubbed my bruised wrists. I was looking at Percy. Always trying to change people, I thought.
"What about the Titans?" Percy asked. "Did Iris-message them about Nico yet?"
"Nope. Geryon was waiting until after the barbecue. They don't know about him."
Percy looked at Nico quizzically. After a couple of seconds, I realized he was thinking about what to do with Nico.
"You could stay here until we're done with our quest," I told him. "It would be safe."
"Safe?" Nico said. "I can stay safe in the Underworld, thank you very much. Besides, why do you care?"
"Nico," I 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," I said. "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 willbring her back."
"Bianca wouldn't want to be brought back," Percy said. "Not like that."
"You didn't know her!" Nico shouted. "How do you know what she'd want?"
I could tell there was a little doubt in his voice. Nico wasn't fully brainwashed yet.
Percy stared at the flames in the barbecue pit. "Let's ask Bianca."
The sky seemed to grow darker all of a sudden.
"I've tried," Nico said miserably. "She won't answer."
"Try again. I've got a feeling she'll answer with me here."
Everyone stared at him incredulously.
Nico asked, "Why would she?"
"Because she's been sending me Iris-messages," Percy said, sounding 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." Percy turned to Eurytion. "We're going to need a pit, like a grave. And food and drinks."
My mind flashed back to the pile of muck down in the Labyrinth. "Percy," I warned. "I don't think this is a good-"
"Alright," Nico submitted. "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."
Apologies if there are any grammar mistakes out there that make the story unclear. It would be awesome if you guys could tell what mistakes there are so that I can fix them to make the story clearer. Thanks.
Hopefully you enjoyed this. Please review or private message me for suggestions and opinions.
SharkAttack719 out. :)
Check out my other stories. I recommend not viewing the 'Flash to the Past: Reading the Titan's Curse' one because it is discontinued.
Go to The SilverEyed Angel's page to ask about the continuation of the Pertemis story.
A HEADS UP: There will be a Zoe story that I'm going to post. I'm just thinking of some ideas before I put up a vote for you to choose which story you want.
Read the "Titan's Curse: Perlia Style" story first to get a background of what is happening.