Greeks, Countrymen, Lovers, Monsters? (Sequel to Halfblood IsThicker Than Magic)

The Erymanthian Boar

Percy's P.O.V.

It was time for the final task.

We all crowded round once again in Skye’s living room as Annabeth slowly unrolled the scroll for what everyone hoped would be the final time. As the gold cursive appeared on the page I watched Annabeth’s face carefully for any hint of what the task might be. The absolute loss of all colour in her face and the way she swayed slightly were not the signs I was hoping for.

“Annabeth, what’s wrong? What is it?” I asked, holding my fiancée’s arm in an attempt to support her.

“The third task,” she replied faintly, “is to catch and present to Olympus, the Erymanthian Boar.”

I felt like I had been sucker-punched. My heart rose into my throat as my stomach dropped. The Erymanthian Boar? The first and only time I had come into contact with that thing was when we were preparing to fight the Titans. Grover had convinced us to ride it and it had taken us to the Junkyard of the gods where we lost Bianca. I glanced at Nico and it was clear his train of thought had hurtled in the same direction. His face hadn’t paled, I didn’t think that was even possible, but his skin had developed a green tinge and his eyes had taken on a haunted look that spoke of death, anger and grief. I wasn’t sure if he still blamed me for Bianca’s death and I didn’t really want to find out; guilt was already starting to gnaw at my stomach.

And not only did the thing incite more bad memories than a house of Cyclops, but this Boar was thirty feet high and had tusks the size of canoes! It moved faster than Grover when there was food available and I didn’t think Charlie would be okay with lending us the dragons again. Nico, Annabeth and I shared looks of desperation and fear. How in Tartarus were we supposed to catch it, let alone get it to Olympus without it goring one of us on its tusks?

“Does someone fancy explaining why you all look like you’ve just been attacked by a hoard of dementors?” Ron asked bluntly.

“The Erymanthian Boar,” Annabeth explained, “is a huge beast with massive tusks, extraordinary speed and immense strength. We’ve been up against it once before and that was with the help of a satyr. Even then we only just managed to cling on and ride it before it threw us off. I can’t imagine having to catch it.”

“Oh,” the wizards chorused in unison and everyone looked despairingly at each other, the room cloaked in a despondent silence. That was until Hermione spoke up.

“You said last time you could only do what you did with the help of a Satyr. Well why don’t you ask the Satyr for help again?”

It seemed so simple once she said it like that, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it. Then I realised that it might be a little more difficult. “The last time he helped us he was on a quest with us, now I have absolutely no clue where he is,” I explained.

“You could always try sending one of those eye message things,” Ron suggested.

“You mean Iris messages?” Annabeth asked.

“Yeah,” Ron nodded. “You can contact anyone in that way, right?”

“Yeah sure,” Nico replied. “Only problem is, we have no drachma with which to summon the goddess Iris.”

“You think she takes Galleons?” Harry mused, displaying a hand of large gold coins.

“Well hey, it’s worth a shot,” I replied, slightly in awe of the large amount of money he was showing. My mom wasn’t exactly poor now that she wasn’t supporting Smelly Gabe but we weren’t the most well off of families.

Annabeth turned to Hermione. “Do you think you could create some kind of mist or spray?” she asked.

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Hermione replied. “Why?”