Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians...
So, within the first two hours of leaving camp, we'd already blown up a perfectly good bus and killed two Furies. Yep; just your average demigod vacation. And, in addition to handling the shock of seeing all three of the Furies together in one place, I had to lug around one mumbling satyr and an equally dazed, extremely dangerous half-blood.
How much better could this get?
"Come on!" I tried to push them forward, but their eyes were blank and distant. Ugh. "The farther away we get, the better."
"All our money was back there," Percy spoke for the first time in half an hour. "Our food and clothes. Everything."
"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"
"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"
"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." I lied.
Truthfully, without Percy, I wouldn't be here right now, dashing through the darkness with them like a band of crazed desperados, fleeing from the crime scene. But I was not about to admit that.
"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover whimpered. "But fine."
"Shut up, goat boy." I said.
Grover brayed somberly. "Tin cans… a perfectly good bag of tin cans."
We silently sloshed through the marshy ground, the musty smell of sour dirt filling the air.
After a few minutes, I fell back and walked alongside Percy.
"Look, I…" My voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back to us, okay? That was really brave."
"We're a team, right?" He said.
I was silent for a few feet. "It's just that if you died… besides the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."
The rain stopped coming down so hard. The thunder had ceased, and the glow of the city was fading fast behind us. Soon, we were in total darkness.
"You haven't left Camp half-Blood since you were seven?" He asked.
"No… only short field trips. My dad—"
"The history professor."
"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp half-Blood is my home." I rushed my words. It felt good admitting this to someone. "At camp you train and train. And that's cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."
"You're pretty good with that knife." Percy supplied.
"You think so?"
"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."
I smiled at his comment. Maybe he wasn't so bad to have around after all.
And then I remembered something, something Alecto had said. "You know, maybe I should tell you… Something funny back on the bus…"
But I was interrupted by a horrible sound, one I immediately knew as Grover trying to play his reed pipes.
"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. Wonderful, I thought. "Now, if I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!" He puffed out a few notes, and I wanted to cover my ears.
Now, Grover's nice and all, and he's not too terribly annoying all the time, but those reed pipes… sometimes he just needs to know when not to play them.
Before I could dwell any longer on Grover's reed pipe playing, Percy walked straight into a tree trunk. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and helped him steady himself.
He tripped and cursed for the next mile or so, making me giggle every now and then. I started to see light up ahead then, like the colors of a neon sign. And then a delectable smell drifted towards me, interrupting my thoughts. It smelled so good, like fast food. I haven't had anything greasy or fried in so long. Percy seemed to reading my thoughts, and we hurriedly stumbled forward.
We kept walking until we found a deserted two-lane road. It was so empty that I expected a tumbleweed to roll out of nowhere, like in those old wild west movies. On the other side of the road sat an abandoned gas station, a weather-beat billboard for an outdated movie, and the source of the light and smell: a roadside curio shop.
Statues were perched outside the low, long warehouse, and acres of barren land surrounded the shop, filled with concrete statues. A neon sign hung above the gate, but it was next to impossible to read. With my dyslexia, it looked like ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.
"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked, having as much difficulty reading it as I was.
"I don't know." I admitted.
"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium." Grover translated.
Shrugging, Percy started across the street. I followed.
"Hey…" Grover warned. He didn't seem as anxious to eat as we were.
"The lights are on inside," I said. "Maybe it's open."
I was hypnotized by the smell, drawn to the neon glow like a moth to a flame.
"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.
"Snack bar," I agreed.
"Are you two crazy?" Grover asked. Were we? Maybe. "This place is weird."
We just ignored him. We were almost across the street by now, and Grover had no choice but to follow.
Sitting in the front lot was a forest of statues. Cement animals, cement children, cement satyrs… this place had everything.
"Bla-ha-ha!" Grover bleated, staring at the satyr statue with a creeped-out look on his face. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"
We stopped at the warehouse door.
"Don't knock," Grover pleaded with us. "I smell monsters."
"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," I reasoned. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"
"Meat!" Grover said disdainfully. "I'm a vegetarian."
"You eat cheese enchiladas and tin cans." Percy reminded him.
"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are… looking at me."
Before I could open my mouth to protest that they're just statues, the door creaked open.
In front of us stood a tall Middle Eastern woman. Well, I assumed she was Middle Eastern. She was wearing a long black gown, and thick black gauze covered her face. Her russet colored hands were the only sight of skin this woman offered.
"Children, it is too late to be out all alone," She scolded, speaking with an accent that sounded Middle Eastern, too. "Where are your parents?"
"They're… um…" I tried to think of an excuse, but Percy was quicker.
"We're orphans." He said.
"Orphans?" The woman asked, seeming appalled. "But, my dears! Surely not!"
"We got separated from our caravan," Percy said, on a roll now. His somber expression helped that fact that we were 'orphans.' "Our circus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant another gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"
"Oh, my dears," The woman sympathized. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."
We thanked her and sauntered inside, trying to act like sad little orphans.
"Circus caravan?" I muttered to Percy. The concept itself was so ridiculous.
"Always have a strategy, right?"
"Your head is full of kelp."
The warehouse was filled with even more statues. They were all so diverse; they ranged from a joyful toddler in overalls pointing forward, to a curly- haired satyr who looked scared senseless. They were all life- size, too. It added to the fact that they were all so eerily anatomically correct.
The smell was getting stronger, and I walked faster. So. Hungry.
I was in such a trance from the prospect of food that I barely noticed Grover's anxious whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes appeared to pursue my every movement, or that Aunty Em had locked the door.
We soon found the dining area. There was a long fast food counter, which was stocked with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. A couple picnic tables were positioned invitingly out front.
"Please, sit down." Said Aunty Em. I didn't have to be told twice.
"Awesome," Percy said.
Grover didn't seem as thrilled. "Um, we don't have any money, ma'am."
I wanted to cover his mouth with tape, but Aunty Em said, "No, no children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."
"Thank you, ma'am." I said.
Aunty Em stiffened up then, like I'd done something to offend her, but she relaxed just as quickly. It was odd…
"Quite all right, Annabeth," Now it was my turn to stiffen up. I hadn't introduced myself… how did she know my name? Maybe Grover was right. Was this a safe place to be? "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."
Before I could ask questions, she disappeared into the kitchen and came back minutes later with plastic trays heaped to the rim with burgers, fries, and shakes. The smell was overpowering, but it didn't take my mind off Aunty Em's strange remark.
I slurped my shake uncertainly. Grover picked at his fries, and wasn't even munching on the waxed paper like he normally would. Percy, on the other hand, was eagerly munching on his burgers and fries. I never could've guessed that he could fit so much food inside he mouth at one time.
"What's that hissing noise?" Grover asked.
I listened, but didn't hear a thing. I shook my head.
"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you heard the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."
How did she know Grover's name?
"I take vitamins. For my ears." Grover said.
"That's admirable." Aunty Em said. "But please, relax."
I was growing uneasy. Aunt Em stared at Percy in an analytical way, like she was thinking he'd be a great model for a new sculpture. And for some reason, that made a chill travel up my spine.
When we were done eating, Percy tried to make small talk with our hostess.
"So you sell gnomes," I could Percy was trying to sound interested, but he really wasn't that convincing.
"Oh yes." She said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."
"A lot of business on this road?"
"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built… most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I can get."
Percy looked behind him suspiciously, like he thought someone was watching. A statue seemed to hold his attention.
"Ah," Said Aunty Em sadly. "You noticed some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is hardest to get right. Always the face."
"You make these statues yourself?" Percy asked.
"Oh yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in this business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company."
Something she'd said had caught my attention, and everything starting falling in place like a puzzle. I looked around and focused on the faces of the statues; all of them were ones of pure horror and terror. Two sisters… the statues… Aunty Em…
"Two sisters?" I asked her.
"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a… a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."
I needed no other explanation. It was clear to me who this woman was, if you could even call her a woman. The statues seemed to be warning me; we had to go now.
"Percy?" I said, shaking him. He seemed to be in a trance. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." My voice was nervous and tense.
"Such beautiful gray eyes," She told me. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."
That was the last puzzle piece. I knew who the last person was in which she'd seen eyes like mine, and I knew who she saw when she looked in Percy's.
She reached out to stroke my cheek, but I abruptly stood up before she could come near to me. I was not letting her touch me.
"We really should go." I said.
"Yes!" Grover stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"
Percy was hesitant. I could tell "Aunty Em" was putting him in some kind of trance, and he needed get out of it. Now.
"Please, dears," The black-veiled woman pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"
"A pose?" I said warily.
"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."
I shifted my weight from foot to foot. If my suspicions were correct about this little old lady, she wouldn't be using a camera to immortalize us. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—"
"Sure we can," Percy interrupted. He shot me an irritated look. I would've slapped him if he wasn't in a trance, making him delusional. Didn't he know I was trying to save his life? "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"
You have no idea, I thought, but I obliged.
Aunty Em led us out the front door and into the massive garden of statues. My nerves were going haywire, all of them screaming at me to get away quick. But I was frozen, letting the woman position me on a stone bench, next to the stone satyr that Grover said looked like his uncle.
"Now," She said. "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side."
"Not much light for a photo," Percy remarked.
"Oh, enough." The woman said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"
"Where's your camera?" Grover asked warily.
Aunty Em ignored him and stepped back a little, admiring the scene. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"
Grover glanced to his right, looking at the cement statue of a satyr. "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand." He mumbled.
"Grover," Aunty Em chided. "Look this way, dear."
Still, there was no camera in her hands.
"Percy—" I tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen.
"I will just be a moment," Said Aunty Em. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil…"
"Percy, something's wrong," I tried to tell him.
"Wrong?" Aunty Em asked, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"
"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.
"Look away from her!" I shouted, whipping out my Yankees cap and quickly putting it on. I vanished immediately and gave Grover and Percy a hard shove, sending them flying off the bench.
Grover quickly got up and scrambled off into the bushes, and I sprinted towards a statue. I crouched behind it, making sure to avert my eyes. A rasping, hissing noise was coming from where our hostess was standing. I needed no more proof… we'd just walked into Medusa's lair.
I peeked out from behind the stone, overall-clad man I was hiding behind, and saw that Aunty Em was no more. Her previously elegant and manicured hands were now hideously gnarled and covered with disgusting warts, sharp talons replacing her fingernails. Even though I didn't look, I was sure that her hair wasn't even hair at all; it was instead a nasty set of slithering, writhing snakes.
Percy raised his head, about to look higher. "No!" I screamed. "Don't!"
He obeyed, but he was obviously still in that cursed trance the monster-woman had put him under.
"Run!" Grover bleated from somewhere. I could hear him racing across the gravel, shouting, "Maia!" to kick-start his flying shoes.
Percy seemed to be having difficulty keeping his head down. I willed him to stay put, to not look into Medusa's eyes.
"Such a pity to destroy such a handsome young face," Medusa said soothingly, her snakes hissing. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."
Percy struggled. Come on, Percy, I thought. Don't look!
Instead of looking up, he looked to his right and caught sight of a glass gazing ball. I saw his eyes widen in recognition when he saw who this woman really was. I saw as the pieces clicked together in his head; he knew he'd been foolish to get lured into this. We were all foolish.
I tried to think. Medusa… the three gorgons… Perseus…
"The Gray- Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said in a soothing voice, a comforting sound, like the sound of trickling water. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."
I clenched my fists. No one insults Athena. "Don't listen to her!" I shouted. "Run, Percy!"
"Silence!" Medusa snarled at me. Then she went back to her lulling purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue her dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."
"No," Percy muttered. He struggled with his legs, trying to get up.
"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."
"Percy!" I heard a loud buzzing noise then, and looked behind me to see Grover flailing in the air. The shoes flapped and fluttered, heading straight towards Percy. "Duck!"
Grover had his eyes closed tight, navigating through statuary by his ears and nose alone. In his hand was a gigantic tree branch.
"Duck! I'll get her!" He yelled.
That seemed to jolt Percy out of his trance. He dove to one side just as Grover nailed Medusa in the head. She roared with rage.
"You miserable satyr," Medusa snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"
"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back.
Percy scrambled into the statuary, coming to a stop right beside me.
"Percy!" I said. He jumped so high he almost knocked over a garden gnome.
"Jeez! Don't do that!" He said.
I took off my Yankees cap. "You have to cut her head off."
He looked at me, appalled. "What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here."
"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but…" I swallowed. I didn't want to admit that Percy had a better chance of killing her, but I knew I had to. "But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You—you've got a chance."
"What? I can't—"
"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?"
I pointed to a pair of statue lovers sitting on a bench. They had their arms wrapped around each other, obviously very much in love, turned to stone by the monster.
I grabbed a green gazing ball that was sitting near me. I looked at it scornfully. "A polished shield would be better," I studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some disorientation. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of—"
"Would you speak in English?" Percy interrupted.
"I am!" I tossed him the ball. "Just look at her in the glass. Never look at her directly."
"Hey, guys!" I heard Grover yell. "I think she's unconscious!"
"Roooaaarrr!"
"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.
"Hurry," I told Percy. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll crash eventually."
Percy took out his pen, and uncapped it. The bronze sword elongated in his hand.
He kept his eyes glued to the gazing ball, following the hissing noises of Medusa's hair.
I watched as Grover dove for Medusa, aiming to hit her head, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed hold of the stick and pulled him off course, sending him flying through the air. He crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Ummphh!"
Medusa was about to lunge when Percy yelled, "Hey!"
The monster stopped and turned around. She allowed Percy to advance, her snarl now an evil, yet inviting, smile.
"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," She crooned. "I know you wouldn't."
Percy hesitated, gazing at the reflection in the sphere. I knew he was looking at her eyes.
"Percy, don't listen to her!" Grover moaned, lying in the wreckage of the stone grizzly.
And then Medusa lunged.
Percy slashed blindly with his sword, and I heard a nauseating shlock, and then a hiss like the wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating.
Medusa's head hit the ground with a thump. It gurgled and steamed, the little snakes hissing weakly.
"Oh, yuck," Grover said. "Mega-yuck."
I walked up to them, my eyes fixed on the twinkling stars in the sky.
"Don't move," I said.
I bent down and retrieved her black veil, and then knelt slowly, being very careful not to look, and draped the monster's head in the black cloth. I picked it up; green juice dripping into the dirt.
I looked over at Percy; his face was a little green. "Are you okay?" I asked in a trembling voice.
"Yeah," He said, obviously lying. "Why didn't… why didn't the head evaporate?"
"Once you sever it," I explained. "It becomes a spoil of war. Same as your Minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."
Grover moaned and climbed out of the remains of the stone bear. A big welt had bloomed on his forehead, and his green Rasta hat cap hung from one of his goat horns. His fake feet had been knocked off his hooves, and the flying shoes were now flapping aimlessly above his head.
"The Red Baron," Percy smiled. "Good job, man."
Grover managed a bashful grin. "That really was not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? Not fun."
Grover snatched the shoes out of the air. Percy recapped his sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.
Behind the snack counter, we found some old plastic bags that proudly boasted: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!, and used them to double-wrap Medusa's head. We plopped down on the same picnic table we'd eaten dinner at and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.
Finally, Percy said, "So do we have Athena to thank for this monster?"
I shot him an irritated look, too tired to flash him anything worse. Now was so not the time to push my buttons. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided the meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."
Percy face grew hot. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."
I straightened. Of course it was his fault. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?" I mocked him in a laughable imitation of his voice.
"Forget it," Percy grumbled. "You're impossible."
"You're insufferable." I shot back.
"You're—"
"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"
I stared at the filthy plastic-covered thing. A little snake had slithered out of a hole in the plastic, weakly hissing and writhing.
What were we going to do with it? We definitely couldn't just throw it away for fear that an innocent mortal could find it. Could it be burned? Or maybe we could slice it up—
"I'll be back," Percy said, getting up.
I looked up, confused. "Percy." I called after him. "What are you—" But before I could finish my sentence, he'd already disappeared into a back room.
I rolled my eyes and leaned back. "He's probably going to do something stupid." I muttered.
"If I've learned anything about Percy, it's that's he's most definitely going to do something stupid." Grover commented.
Something kept nagging at me. Ever since the Furies attacked us on the bus, what they'd said had been pestering my mind like a gnat.
"Grover," I started. "Do you… do you think something weird is going on with this quest? I mean… when the Kindly Ones attacked us on that Greyhound, they didn't seem like they wanted Percy. They were saying 'Where is it?' Like… maybe they weren't searching for a person, but a thing."
Grover thought about it. "But what thing? What could they be searching for?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "That's been bothering me. And also, they were almost… holding back. Usually, they go straight for the kill. They seemed to be delaying. And with Percy at Yancey, why did Alecto wait so long to attack? That's not usually her style."
"Yeah," Grover agreed, starting to chew a fork. "Well, one thing's for sure. Something about this quest isn't right."
I nodded and picked at my clothes.
Moments later, Percy came back with the most peculiar supplies in his hands: a medium- sized cardboard box, twenty mortal dollars, a few golden drachmas, and a couple packaging slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. He put down the supplies and wrote on a packaging slip. I could just barely read,
The Gods
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With best wishes,
PERCY JACKSON
"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."
Percy poured some drachmas into the pouch, and there was a sound like a cash register closing. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop.
"I am impertinent," Percy said. I didn't argue with him there.
He looked at me, raising his eyebrow, daring me to criticize.
But I didn't. I'd long ago accepted the fact the Percy possessed a special gift for irritating the gods.
"Come on," I muttered. "We need a new plan."
