Tree chopping

Percy, you’re bleeding!” Annabeth cried, which was kind of obvious to him at that point. “Oh, gods, on both sides.”
It was true. The left and right hems of his tattered shirt were sticky with blood, as if a javelin had run him through.
Or an arrow... Queasiness almost knocked him over. Vengeance. A curse from the slain.
He flashed back to an encounter in Texas two years ago—a fight with a monstrous rancher who could only be killed if each of his three bodies was cut through simultaneously.
“Geryon,” Percy said. “This is how I killed him....”
The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leaped from the black trees, flapping their leathery wings.
Yes, they agreed. Feel the pain you inflicted upon Geryon. So many curses have been leveled at you, Percy Jackson. Which will you die from? Choose, or we will rip you apart!

| 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. | got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.
‘Aghhh!’ He crumpled to his knees. | waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead he just grimaced and began to stand up. The bleeding slice through his chef’s apron started to heal.
‘Nice try, sonny,’ he said. ‘Thing is, | have three hearts. The perfect backup system.’
| jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. | stuck him in the right stomach. No good. | 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...
| 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’s gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!’
| had a crazy idea. | dropped Riptide and grabbed the bow off the wall.
| was the worst archery shot in the world. | couldn’t hit the targets at camp, much less a bull’s eye. But | had no choice. | couldn’t win this fight with a sword. | prayed to Artemis and Apollo, the twin archers, hoping they might take pity on me for once. Please, guys. Just one shot. Please.
| notched an arrow. ne sword.’
He raised his swords and charged. | dived sideways. Before he could turn, | shot my arrow into the side of his right chest. | heard THUMP, 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.

LEFT!” PERCY DRAGGED ANNABETH, slicing through the arai to clear a path. He probably brought down a dozen curses on himself, but he didn’t feel them right away, so he kept running.
The pain in his chest flared with every step. He wove between the trees, leading Annabeth at a full sprint despite her blindness.
Percy realized how much she trusted him to get her out of this. He couldn’t let her down, yet how could he save her? And if she was permanently blind... No. He suppressed a surge of panic. He would figure out how to cure her later. First they had to escape.
Leathery wings beat the air above them. Angry hissing and the scuttling of clawed feet told him the demons were at their backs.
As they ran past one of the black trees, he slashed his sword across the trunk. He heard it topple, followed by the satisfying crunch of several dozen arai as they were smashed flat.
If a tree falls in the forest and crushes a demon, does the tree get cursed?
Percy slashed down another trunk, then another. It bought them a few seconds, but not enough.


BotL ch.9 and HoH ch.30