THE PROPHECY ² / Percy Jackson !

16

AS THEY APPROACHED THE CELL, THE WEEPING GOT LOUDER.

When Viviene first saw the creature inside, she wasn't sure what she was looking at. 

He was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. He wore a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, eight toes on each foot. But the top half of his body was the weird part. He made Janus look downright normal.

His chest sprouted more arms than Vivienecould count, in rows, all around his body. The arms looked like normal arms,but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest lookedkind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. Several ofhis hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

"Either the sky isn't as tall as it used to be," Percy muttered, "or he's short."

Tyson didn't pay any attention. He fell to his knees.

"Not the time, Perce." Viviene whispered, pinching his arm.

"Briares!" Tyson called.

The sobbing stopped.

"Great Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson said. "Help us!"

Briars looked up. His face was long and sad, with a crooked nose and badteeth. He had deep brown eyes—completely brown with no whites orblack pupils, like eyes formed out of clay.

"Run while you can, Cyclops," Briares said miserably. "I cannot evenhelp myself."

"You are a Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson insisted. "You can do anything!"

Briars wiped his nose with five or six hands. Several others were fidgetingwith little pieces of metal and wood from a broken bed, the way Tysonalways played with spare parts. 

They built a toy boat out of wood, then disassembled it just as fast. Other hands were scratching at the cement floor for no apparent reason. Others were playing rock, paper, scissors. A few others were making ducky and doggie shadow puppets against the wall.

"I cannot," Briares moaned. "Kampê is back! The Titans will rise andthrow us back into Tartarus."

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson said.

Immediately Briares's face morphed into something else. Same brown eyes, but otherwise totally different features. He had an upturned nose,arched eyebrows, and a weird smile, like he was trying to act brave.

 But then his face turned back to what it had been before.

"No good," he said. "My scared face keeps coming back."

"How did you do that?"  Percy asked.

Viviene elbowed her boyfriend, grumbling. "Don't be rude. The Hundred-Handed Ones all have fifty different faces."

"I taught her well." Annabeth grinned proudly.

"Must make it hard to get a yearbook picture," Percy said.

"Do you want me to hit you?" Viviene asked.

"Please don't."

Tyson was still entranced. "It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?"

Briares sniffled. "Do you have one hundred pens?"

"Guys," Grover interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Kampê will be back. She'll sense us sooner or later."

"Break the bars," Annabeth said

"Yes!" Tyson said, smiling proudly. "Briares can do it. He is very strong. Stronger than Cyclopes, even! Watch!"

Briares whimpered. A dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none of them made any attempt to break the bars.

"If he's so strong," Percy said, "why is he stuck in jail?"

Viviene ribbed him and Annabeth chuckled, speaking to Percy. "He's terrified," she whispered. "Kampê had imprisoned him in Tartarus for thousands of years. How would you feel?" 

The Hundred-Handed One covered his face again.

"Briares?" Tyson asked. "What...what is wrong? Show us your great strength!"

"Tyson," Annabeth said, "I think you'd better break the bars."

Tyson's smile melted slowly.

"I will break the bars," he repeated. He grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was made of wet clay.

"Come on, Briares," Annabeth said. "Let's get you out of here."

She held out her hand. For a second, Briares's face morphed to a hopeful expression. Several of his arms reached out, but twice as many slapped themaway.

"I cannot," he said. "She will punish me."

"It's all right," Annabeth promised. "You fought the

 Titans before, and you won, remember?"

"I remember the war." Briares's face morphed again—furrowed brow anda pouting mouth. His brooding face, Viviene guessed. "Lightning shook the world.We threw many rocks. The Titans and the monsters almost won. Now they are getting strong again. Kampê said so."

"Don't listen to her," Viviene said. "Come on!"

He didn't move. She knew Grover was right. They didn't have much timebefore Kampê returned. But they couldn't just leave him here. Tyson would cry for weeks.

"One game of rock, paper, scissors," Percy  blurted out. "If I win, you comewith us. If I lose, we'll leave you in jail."

Annabeth and Viviene  looked at Percy  like he was crazy.

Briares's face morphed to doubtful. "I always win rock, paper, scissors."

"Then let's do it!" Percy  pounded his fist in his palm three times.

Briares did the same with all one hundred hands, which sounded like an army marching three steps forward. He came up with a whole avalanche of rocks, a classroom set of scissors, and enough paper to make a fleet of airplanes.

"I told you," he said sadly. "I always—" His face morphed to confusion."What is that you made?"

"A gun," Percy  told him, showing him his finger gun."A gun beatsanything."

"That's not fair."

"I didn't say anything about fair. Kampê's not going to be fair if we hangaround. She's going to blame you for ripping off the bars. Now come on!"

Briares sniffled. "Demigods are cheaters." But he slowly rose to his feet and followed them out of the cell.

Viviene started to feel hopeful. All they had to do was get downstairs and find the Labyrinth entrance.

 But then Tyson froze.

On the ground floor right below, Kampê was snarling at them.