Medusa POV

"An abandoned temple?"

"Look, I know the gods aren't exactly your friends, but it's pretty secluded, and far away from where Perseus attacked you last," Pegasus explained to me. "We should at least be able to regroup there for about a week. Perseus' forces aren't exactly fast."

"As long as there isn't any people there, we'll be fine." I agreed.

"It's on the outskirts of a super small native village." Pegasus added. "Which really shouldn't be a problem, since, you know, the temple is abandoned."

"Are there good hiding places in it too? Just in case?"

"I always check for that. There's a broken statue that's toppled over, which you can probably fit under if needed. There's also a few holes in the building, so I can easily fly you out."

I chuckled. "You know, you've gotten a lot better at this whole finding places for me to hide thing."

"I've had a lot of practice," Pegasus sighed.

I became quiet. Though I realized the toll on Pegasus from always having to move around suddenly, I'd really hoped that our old hideout would hold up for longer. Just so Pegasus and I could take a break. Yet Perseus found it faster than either of them could have anticipated. Just the thought of it made me think of the horrible fact that if I had been at the scene for a few minutes more, I probably would have…

Well, we escaped. So no point thinking about that! I'm sure our new hideout will be much better, anyways.

Pegasus always flew quickly, so I wasn't surprised when we landed soon after our conversation ended. As I got off Pegasus and looked at our new hideout, I was really surprised the thing hadn't collapsed already. The poor building was overgrown with weeds and the cracks in the stonework were prominent. The white marble of the building had began to turn into more of a depressing gray. The god's emblem above the temple, which I recognized as Iris', had fallen off the temple entirely, lying on the cracked and tilted steps leading up to the building that really was anything but a temple.

I headed up the steps and into the temple. Iris' statue was the one that Pegasus had said was fallen, and almost nothing else decorated the place. Not even an old, rotting offering stood by the fallen piece of marble. I almost felt bad for iris, having this place as a stain on her existence as a goddess.

As I was taking in the whole scene, I heard a small whimper. Confused, I surveyed the area once more, not seeing anybody. Was that my imagination?

I decided that it was clearly not my imagination when I saw a young woman get up and throw a piece of the broken statue at me while yelling, "Get lost, Father!"

I dodged the attack. "Wait, I'm not your father!"

The girl got up and angled her head at me. Her dark brown chocolate eyes were glossed over, and her midnight hair was almost at her waist. While her eyes looked right at me, she didn't turn into stone. In fact, she pointed her cane at me and yelled, "Who are you?"

"I-I-um," I stammered, confused. Why isn't she turning into stone yet?

"Answer me now or I'll hurt you!" Her voice squeaked a bit as her cane, still pointed at me, slightly quivered.

She must be blind then, I thought. There's no human who could actually stop my curse in any other way.

"I-I won't hurt you, really!" I exclaimed. "I'm here to hide, like you."

The girl took a step back. Though she seemed threatening at first, she looked more at ease now. "I smell food. You have food?"

"O-oh! Right, yes, I do have food. Want some?"

The girl smiled and put down her cane. "Yeah! What's your name, by the way? I'm Lily!"

"I'm Medusa, nice to meet you," I replied, shaking her hand.

And that's how I ended up being outcast buddies with a cute blind girl.