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

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“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 fromEurytion’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 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. 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’sgonna 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 heardTHUMP, 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.