on to the second labor - the fabled, mythical lernaean hydra!
this chapter contains: strange rocks, a churro, and an epic (i hope) fight scene! 

/ 

‘Island Spouter, Geyser Park, Saratoga Springs, New York.’ 
 

That’s what it said on the postcard she was holding; water shot out of the geyser hole in the picture, which was in the middle of the small island platform. A creek separated the ‘island’ from the rest of the fenced-in park. 

Momo looked up from the postcard, eyeing the small spraying geyser in front of them with a raised eyebrow. “Is this it? I thought it’d be... bigger. You know, like the ones in Yosemite?” 

This geyser was like a baby compared to the ones in Yosemite National Park. It reminded Momo of those tiny water fountains you would find in a small, quaint gift shop. 

Jihyo leaned on the railing and swiveled her head left and right. She fiddled with her new necklace in the meantime; Chaeyoung had taken the three claws from the Nemean Lion and fashioned them into three necklaces, one for each of them. In her words, they were true spoils of war that occasionally doubled as glorified can-openers, letter-openers, et cetera, et cetera. 

“Well, apparently not; the geysers here are so small, it’s kinda sad. Anyways, you guys spot anything?” 

Chaeyoung bit into her churro and shrugged in a relaxed manner. “The gift shop doesn’t have any mention of the Lernaean Hydra. They have some great churros though!” 

Momo grinned at her friend’s nonchalance. “Ok, let’s keep looking around. There has to be some sign of it here.” 

After they had completed the first labor—which was still a shocker to them—they stayed holed up in that demigod cafe a little while longer. A little digging into their quest’s guidebook led the demigods all the way to Saratoga Springs, New York. 

The good thing was that their next location was still in New York. The bad thing was that taxi cabs were really expensive , even with their plentiful supply of golden drachmas. 

The trio followed the trail near the creek. Momo hoped staying near the spring waters would give them a clue to the area. Right now, it was midday and the Spring visitors were all occupied in the natural spring pools—that left the trails nearly deserted. 

“What do you guys think about Sana’s Iris message?” Momo said as she sidestepped a big rock on the trail. Strange, it looked like it was glimmering. Do rocks normally glimmer? 

“I don’t know... it sounded pretty chaotic back at Camp. I hope they can handle it.” A hint of worry seeped into Jihyo’s words. She took the same path as Momo to avoid the big boulder laying by the trail. It was sitting right between the walking path and the edge of the creek. 

“You don’t think it has anything to do with the prophecy, do you? I mean... it kinda matches up.” Chaeyoung hopped over some more abnormal rocks. Seriously, what is up with this trail?  

Chaeyoung recited the lines of the prophecy, trying to see if the events happening back at Camp Half-Blood lined up or if it was just her imagination. 

“The haven is cursed, to undo what is done,
To reverse the acts, restore the rays of the Sun,”  

“See? The haven must be Camp Half-Blood; it’s the only safe place for demigods, other than Camp Jupiter. And last we heard, Nayeon was putting on armor and the buckles kept undoing themselves. Same with Jeongyeon! She was on kitchen duty and the dishes never stayed clean, even when she washed them with the lava hose!” 

“Yeah… that does sound like it.” Jihyo frowned at the thought. “So nothing is getting done at Camp. And if it’s connected to the Prophecy, then we need to lift the curse.” 

Momo nodded along with a curious expression. “Only thing is, how do we restore the rays of the Sun?” 

“I really wi— AHH!” 

Momo and Jihyo turned around in an instant; alert and wary as the two tried to identify what made Chaeyoung yell suddenly. She was on the ground wincing since she landed on her . 

“...did that rock just move ?!” 

Momo squinted her eyes at it. The questionable rock was glimmering, just like all the other ones they passed. The only notable difference was that this rock was dripping wet and it wasn’t like a round rock, it was more elongated and bulky. 

Every instinct in her body was screaming at her. 

But she couldn’t figure out why . 

Momo twisted her ring once, her celestial bronze sword coming out to play. Jihyo and Chaeyoung looked back surprised. 

“Momo? What are you thinking?” Jihyo had asked slowly. She didn’t like Momo’s tense form—her hand wrapped around the handle of her bow just in case. Jihyo recognized the look on Momo’s face; It was a common look whenever a monster was near… or if Jeongyeon was planning another prank. 

There must be something here… something weird and unusual is going on here. 

Momo silently gestured for Chaeyoung to get up. The Daughter of Hephaestus did so quietly, now wary of her surroundings. Chaeyoung quietly summoned her own sword and kept a wary eye out. 

They were still in the middle of the deserted park trail. The creek they were following widened and connected to the vegetation of the land, creating a marsh-like ground. Dense, thin trees were scattered around the park, and when they weren’t, they were sticking out of the waters of the shallow swamp. 

Momo tightened her sword grip and stared at the rock that Chaeyoung tripped over. “Rocks don’t move or shimmer in the sunlight. And they certainly don’t go for a dip in the springs.” 

Wasting not a second longer, Momo swiftly drove her sword down, impaling the rock. 

Maybe she hoped the rock would be normal and crack open from her sword. 

Maybe she hoped she was just imagining the bad vibe she was getting from the swamp water. 

But it didn’t crack open like a normal rock. 

Instead, her sword left a deep cut in it, like it was made out of soft butter. Blood abruptly spurted out from the cut, sizzling when it fell on the ground. 

She frowned. Gross. Rock blood. 

An extremely loud hiss rang in the air, reminding Momo of a thousand soda bottles being twisted open at once. 

And that , confirmed the bad vibe she was feeling from the swamp. 

Then a screech cried out, or more like several dozens screeches. It came from behind them in the shallow swamp waters. Momo could see the disruption in the murky water, like something big was slithering in it. 

The three demigods ran towards the noise, armed and alert. Bad idea , she knew. Common sense would be to run away from the scary sound. 

They stopped at the edge of the swamp where the water came up to their shins. More movements underneath rippled the water, all moving towards a bubbling center. 

A pair of vertical-slitted eyes rose out of the bubbling swamp. Eight other pairs blinked into existence, coming from either the water or the dense trees. Momo could feel fear paralysing her upon the realization of the source of the screech. Her feet felt like lead balls as they sunk into the shallow water bank. 

Ok, correction. Rock blood turned out to be hydra blood. 

“I think we found our Hydra.” Chaeyoung’s voice came out in a squeak, effectively betraying her battle-ready stance. 

The sound of falling water roared like a waterfall as nine serpent heads rose from the swamp. Water dripped down their scale hides as the heads coiled around each other. Some swayed and some undulated in the air, but all of their serpentine glares were focused on the demigods. 

Nine pairs of eyes were locked on the demigods. It was a tense standoff. Each side was waiting on the other to make a move. 

A hydra head flickered its tongue out and hissed. And then it lunged at them in the next second. 

There was a monster coming at her and Momo’s reflexes kicked in. 

“Wait—!” 

But Jihyo’s warning came a second too late. 

Momo reacted in pure reflex as the serpent came at her. Her sword swung out and cleanly decapitated the head. She only realized her mistake instantly afterwards. 

Cut off a hydra head and two more will grow back to replace it. 

The hydra head flopped in the water with a wet plop . The neck flailed in the air, its blood spurting out in a gory mess. Some of it splashed onto her and seeped into the hem of her shirt. The fabric sizzled and disintegrated immediately. 

“Watch out! Its blood is acidic!” Jihyo shouted out a warning and Momo scrambled to splash some water onto herself. 

They ran away from the spurting fountain head of poisonous blood, watching in horror as two hydra heads grew back in place in real-time. 

“This is insane !” Momo jumped around, barely getting an attack in. She was busy dodging acid spits and parrying the hydras’ clawed strikes. “How are we suppose to beat this thing?!” 

“Fire!” Jihyo had switched to her sword, there was no room to fire her bow here. The whole hydra was just entirely too massive! 

“In the tales of Hercules, he cut off the heads and his nephew Iolaus burned the stump. It stopped the hydra from growing back more heads.” 

Momo tried to glanced over at Chaeyoung but was interrupted—she had to quickly dodge and roll and jump as two of the hydra heads furiously flung and whipped themselves at her. 

Chaeyoung swallowed thickly, like there was a lump in . Her grip on her sword turned clammy; either from the swampy water or from her sudden nerves after hearing Jihyo’s explanation. 

She had to crane her head back to look at the massive beast in front of her. Suddenly, she felt small. Like an insignificant puny ant in front of a lion. 

Chaeyoung shook her head harshly, getting out of that head space. Wait, that wasn’t right. Last time she checked, she was the one that decked the Nemean Lion in its face. 

“Chaeng!” 

She snapped her head over to the call of her name. Momo gave her a reassuring look in the midst of swinging her sword at the jaws of a hydra head. The Daughter of Poseidon jokingly and said, “Don’t space out on us now.” 

Chaeyoung felt a weight at her back. Jihyo and her were back-to-back. A grin plastered on Jihyo’s face when she turned her head—as if to say “ you got this ”. 

Chaeyoung didn’t know if Jihyo knew about her unspoken past but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. 

Jihyo unnie always did have a way of knowing things. Like that one time she foiled Jeongyeon unnie’s prank before it could even be done.  

Chaeyoung snapped out of her musing and parried a clawed strike. She didn’t know if she was ready to use her power yet, but she knew she had to face this serpent beast head-on. 

The Hydra heads danced around the three demigods, snapping their jaws and spitting acid. The shallow water rippled and splashed with every movement and the trees were thrashed in the frenzy. 

What followed next was an intricate dance born out of chaos and panic. The demigod trio were constantly moving around; dodging and rolling and sidestepping whatever the Hydra threw at them, mostly acid though and the occasional wilted tree. 

They attacked whenever they could, switching to a guerilla warfare tactic. Normal tactics wouldn’t work against this beast of a monster. 

Duck, run, stab, dodge, jump, slash, and repeat out of order. 

It had worked for a bit, they had inflicted some damage against the Hydra. But nothing close to defeating it yet. Not even a dent. 

There were still 10 heads left. 

“Arrgh—this is impossible! They’re too fast and there’s too many of them.” 

Momo huffed out in frustration, glaring at the serpent heads. They hissed and coiled at her words, sounding like they were taunting her. 

“Yeah, uglies?! You wanna come and say that to my fa—!” 

Chaeyoung and Jihyo watched in morbid amusement as a Hydra head swept Momo off her feet using its own neck. Chaeyoung wanted to laugh, really she did, but she didn’t because it looked like the serpent was going to gobble Momo right up. 

Jihyo and her ran towards Momo. Jihyo picked her up out of the shallow water as Chaeyoung fended off the serpent head, managing to slash the side of its gnarly-looking face. It roared and reared back in pain. 

“They really did come and say it to your face.” 

Jihyo remarked in a mix of incredulousness and amusement as Momo sputtered out swamp water. “Ugh. Gross.” 

“You said fire worked, right?” Chaeyoung had a steely look in her eyes. 

But Momo and Jihyo couldn’t see that as they were standing behind her. 

“Yeah. Fire keeps it from growing back.” Jihyo replied as she and Momo watched their friend. Jihyo had looked back at Momo with a curious and questioning glance but the Daughter of Poseidon did nothing but nod her head confidently. 

Chaeyoung twisted her sword’s hilt, returning it to its ring form. She flexed her hands and stared up at the Hydra with a determined gaze. 

“This is gonna take a while since there’s 10 of them. Do you mind covering for me?” 

Chaeyoung held her hands in front of her, palms turned inward like she was holding a sphere of some sort, in the space between her hands. 

At her request, Momo and Jihyo stood up, weapons at the ready. 

Momo grinned at her friend’s initiative, proud and happy that Chaeyoung was taking a step forward. Jihyo was still curious but she didn’t question the Daughter of Hephaestus. If Chaeyoung was asking for her help, then she would gladly provide it for her friend. 

They were all in a stand-still. 

The Hydra heads undulated in their position mid-air, curious slitted eyes peered at the demigods before it. 

The two demigods glanced a look back at Chaeyoung before dashing forward together. The Hydra, caught by surprise, lagged in its reaction. 

Momo and Jihyo dashed forward before splitting into two different directions. The tactic confused the Lernaean Hydra and effectively made it divide its attention between them. 

Chaeyoung was free from attention and was able to work on drawing out her inherent ability. 

Momo remained quick on her feet as the Hydra heads lunged at her, using their own elongated necks as blunt, bludgeoning weapons. When the heads missed their mark and ended up crashing against the marsh ground, she would take the chance to slash up their scaly faces. 

Jihyo was playing the long range game. She utilized her gift-given ability from Apollo—photokinesis. While the ability wasn’t rare, it was still uncommon. The Daughter of Apollo wasn’t born with the ability, but rather given it as a reward for one of her first quests, which was successfully bringing a new demigod to Camp. But that’s another story for a different time. 

Using her power, she created orbs of light before blasting it at the Hydra. The light either blinded and stunned the Hydra heads or transformed into projectiles that impaled the serpent’s flesh. The Hydra wailed and screeched as it was struck—the beaming projectiles burned away at its flesh the longer it stayed embedded. 

Momo used its distractedness to her advantage. While the Hydra heads were stunned, she would hack away at it, dealing whatever damage she could before it recovered its eyesight. 

After a few rounds into their battle tactic, a call from Chaeyoung drew their attention, including the Lernaean Hydra. 

The two demigods retreated behind Chaeyoung. The Hydra hesitated to follow, stopping in its tracks once it saw what the Daughter of Hephaestus held in her hands. 

Chaeyoung’s eyebrows had furrowed in concentration. It had been quite a while since she last summoned flames, other than the small flicker she showed Momo in the Forge. But it was always there, no matter how far she tried to suppress it deep inside of herself. 

Heat began to generate between her palms. Before long, flames flickered alive, swirling and building into a condensed ball of fire. 

She could see it now. Realization and fear slowly beginning to form in all of the eyes of the Hydra. She smirked at the sight. 

Looking down, Chaeyoung finally allowed herself to properly look at the flames she was conjuring. Deep breathes, in and out.  

This is for me. 

The fire grew bigger. 

But this is also for them, for my friends, for my camp. 

The flames burned hotter, turning a mix of bright golden-red and dark orange. 

But most importantly—mom. 

An image flickered in her mind as she stared into the growing flames; her mother’s gentle smiling face, her reassuring eyes, her warm and steady hands on her shoulders, cooing praises at her. 

“Holy Pegasus...” Momo murmured in awe; Chaeyoung’s body was suddenly outlined in a golden-red glow. 

Jihyo smiled, pride in her voice as she explained. “Hephaestus’s blessing.” 

The Hydra teetered back and forth nervously. Once realizing what was soon going to happen, it lunged at the demigod. 

But it was too late. 

Heat radiated in the small area of the marsh, all of it centering from Chaeyoung. The two demigods flinched out of reflex as the heat became more intense and practically blasted forth from Chaeyoung’s palms. 

Massive plumes of fire exploded forward, faster than anyone present could prepare for. The fire slammed the front of the serpent before it encompassed its entire being. The Hydra staggered back from the direct hit and wailed in agony. 

“Holy Hades!” Momo snapped her hand in a upwards-waving motion and water below her swirled up. Jihyo watched as the water formed a dome over them. Looking back at Momo, she saw her face scrunched up in concentration. “There, that should keep the heat off of us.” 

They watched behind the watery dome as Chaeyoung practically decimated the enormous serpent with her power. The water underneath the beast’s feet boiled and evaporated, revealing the once-wet soil. 

Horrendous screeching came from all 10 Hydra heads as it was assaulted by Chaeyoung’s attack. One by one, the heads fell limp as their scaly limbs were burned and charred. Even then, the deceased Hydra heads continued to burn until they simply disintegrated into golden dust. 

Eventually, all that remained was a single Hydra head—the only immortal one. It screeched and squirmed as it was separated from its burning carcass.  

The stream of fire cut out as Chaeyoung fell to her knees gasping for breath. The fire in her palms had sizzled out but the heat was still there. She felt utterly exhausted, having spent all her energy on that huge release. 

But she also felt warm and comforted. 

A fleeting thought remained in her mind as her body started to tilt forward. 

That’s strange… I haven’t felt that since... I visited my mom with Nayeon...  

Momo released the water dome and Jihyo rushed forward, her arms going around Chaeyoung’s shoulder to steady her. 

As for Momo, she began moving her hands in a swirling counter-clockwise motion. The swamp water all around them began moving in time to her gestures. Soon, there was a whirlpool in front of them. The water deepened and the immortal Hydra head in—which was still screeching in agony by the way—before disappearing altogether. 

Into the deep trench ya go!  

Momo released the whirling water and it went rushing back to its former place along the shallow marsh ground. The water was at their ankle level now, most of it having evaporated under Chaeyoung’s flames. The Daughter of Poseidon wiped her brow and huffed out, “Well, that was exciting.” 

Chaeyoung let out a tired bark of laughter at her words. Her eyes drooped as she leaned into Jihyo who said, “Take it easy now. You did great.” 

A lazy smile crept on her face as she leaned her full weight onto Jihyo. The last thing she saw was Momo’s goofy grin as she leaned over to pick something up from the water. Then her eyes drifted shut. 

Jihyo secured her hold on Chaeyoung’s sleeping form. “Hopefully she’ll feel better after a nap. Gods knows she needs it after all that.” 

Momo hummed in agreement, her hands were searching in the waters where the Hydra previously was. Something glittering caught her eye when she was forming the whirlpool earlier. It had looked like— aha!  

Scooping up the shiny object in the water, Momo held it up for inspection—shiny, sparkly scales. Several of them in fact, and all about the size of a donut. 

Her stomach growled. Oooh man, donuts. She could go for about a dozen right now. Momo pocketed the scales, not entirely sure what their purpose was. She’ll come back to them later. Right now, they had to get out of here and rest up. 
 

“Here, take Chaeyoung for a second.” Jihyo transferred Chaeyoung over to Momo’s arms. “I’m gonna dip some of my arrows into the Hydra’s blood. Hercules did the same in his labors.” 

“But where’s the— oh .” 

At first, Momo didn’t know where Jihyo would dip her arrows at; most of the Hydra heads had disintegrated into nothing under Chaeng’s fire and the last immortal head was away by the whirlpool. Her confusion was solved when Jihyo pointed out a remaining Hydra head, the same one that Momo had first decapitated before their epic fight. Parts of it were already starting to flake into golden dust. 

Jihyo knelt next to the severed monster head, careful to avoid the deadly acidic remains as she dipped half of her arrows in its blood. When the task was finished, she rose up with a satisfied smile. 

“There. This should come in handy in our quest later.” 

Momo looked amused as she piggy-backed a sleeping Chaeyoung. Their backpacks were strapped to her front as her back was now occupied. “You’re the only one I’d trust with extremely venomous arrows.” 

Jihyo threw her head back as she laughed. “Let’s get out of here.” 

Jihyo led the way out of the swamp, Momo following behind with a sleeping Chaeyoung on her back. “Agreed. We seriously need some showers and naps too.”