THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.

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Geryon got behind the driver’s wheel. Eurytion hauled Nico into the backseat.
“Sunset,” Geryon reminded me. “No later.”
He laughed at me once more, sounded his cowbell horn, and the moo-mobile rumbled off down the trail.
NINE
I SCOOP POOP
Ilost 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.
***
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. Her arms were crossed.
“Oh no you don’t,”she said.