I rode with Helios for a while. The view from his sky chariot was amazing. Then—ZIP!—I astro-traveled back to Hercules. He and his crew were making their way up Mount Abas to Geryon’s castle.

“Sorry, Uncle Hades,” muttered Hercules. “Is Helios’s horse okay?”

“He’s fine,” I said. “And Helios has agreed to forgive you—this time.”

“There won’t be a next time!” Hercules said. “I promise.”

“Heads up!” shouted Cee. “Looks like Geryon’s got a dog!”

An enormous, two-headed dog came rushing at us.

“Sic ’em, Orthus!” Geryon shouted angrily from the top of the mountain. “Chew ’em to bits!”

The monstrous dog was bearing down on us. Both his mouths were open wide. He was snarling, showing row after row of pointed, shark-like teeth. He lashed his mighty tail, tipped with a barbed wrecking ball.

Hercules bent his knees slightly, getting in position to grab the dog when it leapt at him.

Suddenly all of Hydra’s necks shot out to the full length. She jumped into the dog’s path.

“Kill, Orthus!” commanded Geryon. “Kill!”

Hydra stretched her arms wide, and the great, snarling beast jumped into them. Orthus began licking head after little head, drooling with happiness to be reunited with Hydra, his monstrous sister.

“Orthus!” yelled Geryon. “Bite! Scratch! Destroy!”

But Orthus just kept licking.

I glanced over at Geryon. He was exactly as I remembered him. He called himself the Strongest Man on Earth. Strong, yes. But man? That was a bit of a stretch. Starting from the ground up, Geryon looked like a man. He had two feet. Two legs. Hips, a waist. But then things got a little wonky. Three torsos sprouted from his waist. Each one had a set of arms and its own head. Geryon was also known as I, II, III. He was a triple threat.

“Hey, Hercules!” called I. “I’ll wrestle you for my herd.”

“You’re on, Geryon!” Hercules started running up the mountain.

Now someone stepped up next to Geryon. “Meet my coach,” said II.

Three guesses who his coach was. First two don’t count.

“Not that I need a coach,” added III.

“Uncle Hades?” said Hercules, his eyes fastened on Hera. “Want to be my coach?”

“Absolutely.” I smiled. Hera was a powerful goddess with a grudge. But she knew next to nothing about wrestling. Whereas, I, Hades, knew just about everything.

I put Cee to work massaging Hercules’s shoulders. I told Hydra to keep her eighteen eyes on Geryon, looking for weaknesses.

“You can take him,” I told Hercules.

“No problem,” said Hercules. But he didn’t sound so sure.

“Go for I or III,” I advised. “But try to keep away from II. If II gets you down, I and III will pile on.”

“Got it,” said Hercules.

Suddenly Hydra ran over. She held up two fingers.

“Two words?” said Hercules.

Hydra gave him a thumbs-up. Then she held up one finger and spread her arms wide.

“First word . . . huge?” said Hercules.

Hydra shook her heads.

“Big?” Hercules guessed.

Thumbs-up from Hydra. Now she held up two fingers, pulled her ear, and shook her head. 

“Second word. Sounds like . . . ” Hercules scrunched up his face. “No?”

Thumbs-up again!

“Big no. Big Joe?” guessed Hercules. “Big moe? Big foe?”

Hydra shook her head.

“Big woe? Big bow? Big . . . toe?”

Thumbs-up!

Hercules glanced over at Geryon. He saw a bulge on the front of Geryon’s left shoe.

“On it,” he said.

The wrestlers began circling one another. The way Geryon was built, it looked like a tag-team match. Suddenly, II grabbed Hercules and flipped him onto his back. Hercules wriggled out of the hold and jumped up. He charged across the ring, bounced off the ropes, and catapulted back to Geryon, stomping on his left big toe.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!” screamed I, II and III. All three torsos hit the mat. Hercules didn’t waste a second. He jumped on them and held them down for the count.

“The winner is—Hercules!” I held up his hand in victory. 

Geryon stayed down on the mat, moaning and holding his toe. “Oh, man,” he groaned. “I think you popped my blister!”

“For Mount Olympus’s sake, Geryon,” said Hera, clearly disgusted with her protégé. “Get over it!”

After that, Hercules spoke to Geryon’s cows, and they agreed to come along to Mycenae. Cee had some problems finding a ship big enough to hold the whole herd, but at last he was successful, and off they sailed. I wanted to keep an eye on Hercules, so I went, too. The only excitement came on the first night of the trip, when we all heard a wild scratching noise coming from under the bow.

“Rats down below, I’ll wager,” said the ship’s captain.

But when he opened the hold, out bounded Orthus.

The enormous two-headed dog and his nine-headed blob of a sister spent the rest of the voyage together.

When Hercules marched through the gates of Mycenae, leading a procession of some MCC red cows, it was quite a scene. The mortals of Mycenae cheered Hercules so loudly that they were all hoarse for a week.

“Eury!” called Hercules when he reached the palace. “Labor X is done!”

The slot slid open. “Holy cow!” Eury exclaimed. “I’ll check it off the list.”