Indigo Eyes

Chapter 23

Monster Donut was a chain. Apparently, they had them in New York as well, the chains multiplying so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the life force of a monster.

And then came the hydra.

"Percy! You just opened another Monster Doughnut shop somewhere," Annabeth scolded after he cut off one of the Hydra's heads and two more grew back in its place.

Percy dodged a spray of acid. "I'm about to die and you're worried about that? How do we kill it?!"

"Fire!" Annabeth said. "We have to have fire!"

Percy was then knocked to the ground as Cressida stood in his place raising her arms as grapevines grew from the ground and wrapped around the creature, at least until it spit acid on the vines, and they were corroded away.

The heads then began to buck wildly, one knocking Annabeth down and the other Cressida who tried to duck but couldn't get low enough. Tyson then took advantage of the vines still holding it down.

"No hitting my friends!" he shouted as he started smashing at the monster heads with his fists.

"Cressida! Grape Girl, you good?" Percy asked, Riptide still in his hand as he rushed for the fallen girl who was hit into a tree front on.

"What do you think?" she groaned.

"You sound fine. Time to get up," he said as he helped her to her feet, Cressida leaning rather heavily on him as her ribs and stomach screamed and Percy backed them up towards the river, the hydra following them. "Think you can manage anymore?"

Cressida stood upright, still a little dizzy as she took deep breaths, calling upon the help of her friends as Tyson and Annabeth rushed behind her. "Vines!" she called, and they rose up out of the ground like snakes, spiralling and twisting their way up into the air before they wrapped around the body of the hydra, slithering up its necks as they spat acid.

"What's that noise?" Annabeth shouted, keeping her eyes on the Hydra.

"Steam engine," Tyson said as Cressida wobbled on her feet, and he placed a hand on her back to keep her up.

"What?" Percy said as he ducked the acid that was spat at his head and Tyson pulled both Cressida and Annabeth down.

"There! Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!" called a familiar female voice.

A gravelly male voice said, "They're too close, m'lady!"

"Damn the heroes!" the girl said. "Full steam ahead!"

"Aye, m'lady."

"Fire at will, Captain!"

Annabeth understood what was happening before everyone else. "Hit the dirt!" she screamed.

Cressida's ribs were definitely broken as she focused on keeping the hydra contained, her vines doing nothing against its acid spit.

And now it was her turn to be tackled to the floor as Percy tackled her, covering her head as an earth-shattering BOOM echoed from the river. There was a flash of light, a column of smoke and the Hydra exploded right in front of us, showering us with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.

"Gross!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Steamship!" yelled Tyson.

"Are you...alright?" Percy asked through the cloud of gunpower, Cressida struggling to breathe.

"My ribs...I think...they're broken. I can't-" she gasped as Percy sat up quickly, rummaging through his back for the ambrosia Hermes packed for them.

He eased her up, leaning her on her duffel bag as she bit the ambrosia and Percy turned to see what was coming towards them now.