Disclaimer: If I owned Diagon Alley do you really think I would be sitting at my computer writing about Percy Jackson?

Percy Jackson and the European Demigods

Chapter 6

I Get turned to Stone

I followed the two bobbing heads of black hair through the busy market.

"Ehi!"

"Guardarlo!"

"Ahi!"

"Guardare dove va il tuo!"

I looked back. Medusa's signature veil wasn't there. I sighed in relief. But in the corner of my eye… There! How did she get there so fast? The girls turned so suddenly that I almost missed my turn. How did they move so fast? The girls leaped and weaved through the shadows like gazelle. Risus veered into the light and glanced behind her shoulder and saw me running after them.

"Che diamine? Vitae, il ragazzo dal mercato ci segue!"

Then she tripped. Vitae looked back and started to skid to a stop one foot into the shadow of the next building but I scooped up Risus and shouted,

"Keep going! She's right behind us!"

Vitae looked really confused but, thank the gods, kept going. As we turned down a really dark alley Risus demanded

"Who-wait, What? "

"Son of Poseidon," I panted

Then we ran into a dead end. I slowed down and set Risus down. Both of the twins searched the wall frantically. Then I felt the chill of a monster. The feeling that makes you break out in cold sweat, your heart race, and your stomach clench.

"Hello Perseus Jackson. Where's your girlfriend?"

Suddenly there was a deep rumbling like a miniature Diagon Ally, a hole not even up to my knee. The twins dropped to all four and crawled through. No way I could fit through that.

"We'll bring help!" one of the twins shouted from the inside. Who were they going to bring? Gnomes?

I looked at her shadow and I saw her snake hair emerge. I slowly pulled out Riptide and uncapped it. This was going to be difficult. I hesitantly walked forward (Backward?) judging where she was by her shadow.

"You kill me Percy? Again?" a voice slithered in my ear, snakes biting at my face.

"You can't do it. Last time your girlfriend did most of the work, you can't do it alone. You could barely do it with them helping you. So go ahead lonely hero, kill me."

Barely seeing through my rage I stabbed at where the voice was coming from. A long, unearthly scream filled the air. Then I did something stupid. Very stupid. I mean this is a new level of stupid, even for me. I looked up. My sword had gone through her head (don't ask how she was still screaming.) She was just starting to disintegrate, but I still got an almost full view of her face. It was ugly. Pretty much the only way to describe it. I won't give you nightmare with the details. As soon as I looked at the uttermost horror that we refer to as her face, I felt myself freeze. The small of my back grew cold like a rock, and all of the skin on my body restricted then drew back. I tried to move but it was like swimming in molasses. I got slower, slower, and then I couldn't move. I couldn't see. I couldn't scream, hear, think, breathe, or taste. It wasn't exactly cold, dark, and empty, but it obviously wasn't warm, sunny, and full of life either. Think of the definition of meh; and that is what everything was. It was like everything hadn't decided what it wanted to be yet. But at the same time, I felt like everything was going to stay the way it was, that it would never change. I would stay this way forever. How I looked might be changed, minor details might be worn away by the rain, but even if the twin mini bread sellers turned my statue to gravel, I would still be the same me. And even if I was turned to gravel, I knew it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I was nothing but I was everything. I was made of stone.

I stayed like that forever, but at the same time, it was no time at all; which was really weird. Then it occurred to me that if I could still comprehend the strangeness of the situation I was in, then I must be able to think, which meant I was alive. Does that mean I would live out the rest of my days as a statue? Dude that would suck.

Suddenly I could feel. Then the small of my back explodes heat rippled from it to the rest of my body. In a second my sight, movement, thought, hearing all returned.

"Who is this? What- MEDUSA?" a girl cried.

Then I collapsed.

End of Chapter 6!

Guess what I found? Turns out all of you outraged readers (All three of you! :D) scared the nargles so much that they gave my chapter to the centaurs to give back to me, sending their deepest regrets with it. The centaurs told me something interesting while they were here. "The future, however bright it may be, always lies in the shadows." Well that's not vague at ALL… btw taking in the advice of the centaurs I will most likely be tweaking the story a bit. The plot line and everything will stay the same so you don't HAVE to read it. I'm just adding in some minor… details. ;D live long and prosper peoples!