Percy

"Oh my gods." Annabeth said. Percy walked closer to the body and flipped it over. It had been here a while – the flesh had melted away to reveal white bone underneath. "Oh my gods." She repeated. The skeleton had a celestial bronze chainsaw clutched in one hand, and his Camp Half-Blood shirt was stained with his own dried blood.

(With that lovely mental picture, Percy turned a little green.)

Annabeth took the dramacha and put it in the skeleton's jaw, and then stood up, flushing when she realized Percy was watching her. "He deserves a proper burial, but we don't have time." She reasoned with her boyfriend.

Percy just shook his head. "You're amazing, you know that?" He asked, and her face goteven more red. "This way." Percy said, pointing towards the path the skeleton seemed to be going towards and walking forward. "... Annabeth?"

"Percy, do you see that?" Annabeth pointed. "It's a rainbow."
Percy blinked. It was. There was a face inside of it, too.

"Hello, demigods." The brunette inside of the rainbow smiled. "I am Nike."

"The shoe brand?" Percy blurted out.

He was soon chastised by Annabeth. "Percy, that's Nike, the goddess of victory." She turned to the image. "I beg your pardon, but I thought Iris-messages didn't work?"

"Perks of being immortal. I promised a friend of yours, Hazel, that I'd help you two get out of there alive." Nike replied. Hazel. It was comforting to think that Hazel had somehow arrange a favor (from a goddess she didn't even know) for their sake. "You being here was not the will of the gods – your parents are finally agreeing on something, even if it is only that you shouldn't be down here – but it is the will of the prophecy."

"There's a titan here." Percy snarled. It was not a question. "Did you send us here on purpose?"

Nike looked horrified. "No! we would never." (Percy didn't buy it.) "There are,however, two Titans here. I cannot tell you when or where, but I do know who."

"Then... Who?" Annabeth asked, much more politely than Percy.

"The titans Thoon and Agrios, the anti-Artemis and Apollo."

"Okaaaay." Percy said, hoping Annabeth wouldn't quiz him on this later.

"Your path will be long and hard, and there will be many dangers on it, but I have seen you two before, and I trust you will prevail."

"We will do our best." Annabeth nodded.

Percy gestured to Annabeth. "What she said."

"Percy!" Annabeth cried, her eyes opening wide in disbelief. Percy shrugged. He'd said worse to all-powerful beings.

"I must take my leave. And Percy?" He looked up. "Things are not always as they seem. Your enemies can also be your greatest allies. Don't forget that."

Percy nodded slowly. "Will do."

Nike swept a hand through the rainbow, and their connection severed. "That was interesting." Annabeth remarked. "What do you think she meant – about that last part?"

"I have no idea." Percy shrugged, pulling out Riptide. "She probably wants us to team up with somebody we've fought before."

"As if," Annabeth snorted. "Does she think we're insane? Anything that we've fought here is down in this hole because of us. They won't exactly be itching to thank us for it."

Percy nodded in agreement. "After you," he teased, gesturing towards the path ahead.

Annabeth took out her dagger. "Let's go."

They walked for forever, and eventually the path opened up, the solid walls becoming large roadblocks – hard to avoid, but at least they could run if all else failed. When Percy turned around, he saw that they had come from a large boulder. "A cave," Annabeth squinted. "interesting." Percy flipped out his compass – they were headed Northwest.

He lost track of how long it took, aware of nothing but the growling of his stomach. He and Annabeth took a cracker each, but he wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.

Percy cleared his throat after a while, breaking the silence. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Annabeth breathed. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"Not really." Percy admitted. "But where else should we go?"

As they walked, more and more objects began to appear. Annabeth picked up a cement cockroach at one point. "The detail is amazing." She said, showing Percy the tiny figurine.

A sharp cracking sound echoed throughout the open area. Percy's eyes opened wide in surprise, and they were back-to-back in an instant, their weapons drawn and the cement cockroach on the floor, where it had broken in half.

"Well, that was simply unnecessary." A woman's voice called, breaking the silence with her thick, middle-eastern accent. "I was quite fond of that one, you know."

Percy turned around to Annabeth, who already had a good view of the person speaking. It was a tall, old woman with wrinkled, coffee colored skin. She might have appeared regal, even stunning once, except for the tiny fact that she had snakes for hair.

"Medusa." Annabeth said, her voice filled with contempt. Medusa was wearing sunglasses, but Percy could practically see the amusement in her eyes.
"Oh, don't say it like that. You make me feel like a monster."

"You are a monster." While that was physically true, Percy got the feeling that that wasn't how Annabeth meant it.

"Oh, dearie, I'm reformed now. My time in Tartarus has changed me for the better."

"I highly doubt that." Annabeth said, advancing towards Medusa with her dagger still drawn.

"Oh, Annabeth. Don't be like that. Won't you come in for tea?"

"I'd rather kill you before you stab us in the back."

"Annabeth." Percy grabbed her elbow. "Remember what Nike said."

Annabeth hesitated. "Never thought I'd see the day when you were the voice of reason." She grumbled, sheathing her dagger.

And with that, they followed Medusa into her lair.

Is Medusa really changed for the better? Or is Annabeth correct in suspecting her? Only time will tell...