Chapter ten has arrived for all eager readers. Enjoy!

Chapter ten: We get attacked again but this time by an evil aunt

After another mile of tripping and cursing, I started to see light up ahead and I could smell food. Burgers, I thought excitedly. We never had those at camp. We kept walking and I was straining myself from bolting straight towards the smell. There was one open business, which was the source of the light and the good smell. This restaurant was kind of weird though. It had cement statues all over the place. There was a neon sign above the gate which was like acid to my dyslexia eyes. It looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.

"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked.

I dug my nails into my palms. "I don't know," I said, frustrated and defeated. My least favorite words: I don't know.

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," Grover translated for us. Percy crossed the street and I followed, the smell of the hamburgers luring me in.

"Hey…" Grover warned.

"The lights are on inside," I said hopefully. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully. The smell and the fact that it was already nighttime made me sleepy. I couldn't think straight. "Snack bar," I agreed dumbly.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird." I ignored him and so did Percy. I was completely distracted by the food now. My stomach grumbled loudly, and I didn't even blush at the loud noise. The front lot was covered with statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.

"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated a bit fearfully. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!" That set off a warning bell in my mind, and the small part of me that I'm now going to call Annabeth-mini yelled at me through my sleepy mind.

Danger! it cried. Wake up, Annabeth.

Shut up, I told it. This girl here needs a serious burger right now.

We stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," I said in my dream-like state. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" Grover said distastefully. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy said.

"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are…looking at me."

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall women completely covered in a long black gown except her hands. Even her head was completely veiled. Danger, Annabeth, Annabeth-mini squeaked at me, but I didn't really hear it. Focus!

Will you just shut up? I thought, irritated.

"Children, it is too late to out all alone. Where are your parents?" the women asked us.

"They're…um…" I started slowly, being drunk on the smell of food.

"We're orphans," Percy said.

"Orphans? But, my dears! Surely not!" the women exclaimed.

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy lied smoothly. "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 a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"

Nice approach, I thought with my sleepy brain. Good tactical way…

"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "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 went inside.

"Circus caravan?" I muttered to Percy. I actually wanted to say it as a question, but my sleepy brain was having problem sending signals to my mouth.

"Always have a strategy, right?"

"Your head is full of kelp." Even though I said that, I felt like I was the one with a kelp-full head, the drowsiness that I was feeling. The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in different outfits, with different expressions their faces. I started thinking—as much as I could think with my brain going into coma mode—that it must've been a pretty big garden to fit all that stuff. Then the smell overwhelmed me again and that's all I focused on. It was like a drug. Wake up! Annabeth-mini squealed at me. This time, I listened. I forced my eyelids open for a few seconds but that was too much, like withdrawal from drugs. I couldn't take it for some reason. I wanted to shout at myself, but I was too tired to even do that.

Call me an idiot for walking in Aunty Em's strange shop just like that. But then I was sleepy and hungry at the same time. Annabeth-mini kept shouting at me, like the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us, and Grover's obvious whimpers. In a way I'm grateful of Annabeth-mini, because it's the part of me that's always awake. I was sure that there was some kind of chemicals in that smell, because it was dominating me completely.

"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said as we arrived in the dining area. There was a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater and even a nacho cheese dispenser. Perfect. No! yelled Annabeth-mini. Danger!

But my hunger took over and I told Annabeth-mini to shut up.

"Awesome," Percy said.

"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."

"No, no, children," Aunty Em said. "No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

"Thank you, ma'am," I said instinctively. Aunty Em stiffened for a millisecond and then relaxed even faster that I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," Aunty Em replied. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." She disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. I didn't say anything, just sat down, but Aunty Em saying my name had triggered a warning bell in my mind. I'd never introduced myself, I realized. My brain cleared. Then Aunty Em returned with the food and my mind fogged up again. I chowed down everything the speed of light then slurped my shake just as fast.

"What's that hissing noise?" Grover asked suddenly. I listened too, but couldn't hear anything so I shook my head, feeling even more sleepy.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."

That set off another warning bell in my mind and I seemed to be more awake than before. How did Aunty Em know Grover's name? We didn't tell her anything about else apart from the lie Percy told her…

"I take vitamins," Grover said. "For my ears."

"That's admirable," Aunty Em said. "But please, relax." She leaned forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. Her fingers twitched whenever I looked at her.

"So, you sell gnomes," Percy said in an obvious attempt to sound interested, though he was failing.

"Oh, yes," Aunty Em 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 get."

Percy suddenly turned around and I looked too. He was looking at a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. The detail was amazing, but there was something wrong with her face. She looked like she was startled, or even terrified.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the 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 the 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." Aunty Em sounded pretty said, but something was starting to form in my mind. The drowsiness cleared away and I was suddenly aware that I was eating something that I had no idea what's in it. So I stopped abruptly.

"Two sisters?" I questioned.

"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."

Faded away? I thought. Mortals don't "fade away", unless…unless they were monsters. Suddenly the story seemed very familiar. "One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful." That's what I'd said to Percy earlier. Poseidon's girlfriend had been…Medusa. And she had two sisters, the other two gorgons. The statues around me. The veil. Hissing noise…snakes. Aunty Em, I thought. Aunty M.

"Percy?" I shook his arm. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." I was anxious to get out of here now. Grover was right. He did smell monsters.

"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em said to me. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those." She reached out to me but I stood up abruptly.

"We really should go."

"Yes!" Grover said. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"

"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A pose?" I asked warily, calculating hard. Would there be any chance for her to unwrap that veil?

"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. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—"

"Sure we can," Percy said, glaring at me. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth," Aunty Em/Medusa purred. "No harm."

I hated it completely, but the quest was Percy's. We followed Aunty Em back to the front door, into the garden of statues. She sat us on the park bend next to the stone satyr, with me in the middle and Percy and Grover on either side.

"Not much light for a photo," Percy commented.

"Oh, enough," Aunty Em/Medusa said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"

"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.

Aunty Em/Medusa stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"

Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."

She still had no camera in her hands.

"Percy—" I said. Something was wrong. Definitely wrong.

"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em/Medusa said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil..."

"Percy, something's wrong," I insisted.

"Wrong?" Aunty Em/Medusa said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?" Oh no, I thought. Time to fight Medusa.

"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.

I confirmed my fears. "Look away from her!" I shouted, whipping on my Yankees cap. I pushed both Grover and Percy off the bench. Grover scrambled off in one direction, and I went in the other. I knew that Grover knew what was happening. But Percy didn't. He started looking up in a daze. His eyes shifted to Medusa's hands, then shifted a bit higher.

"No! Don't!" I screamed just before his eyes reached hers.

"Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "Maia!".

I turned away from Medusa, running towards the statues in the garden. I kept my eyes shut tight, not even taking the chance to look to see where Percy was.

"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," Medusa said in that soothing voice. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up." And the problem happens here. Because of what she said, I had to sneak a peek at what Percy was doing. His head started to move, and a scream rose in my throat when he looked to the side at something. Medusa had her back away from me. I glanced at what Percy was looking at and saw one of those glass spheres that people put in their gardens—a gazing ball.

"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

I figured Medusa was probably about to come and find me now, to destroy me. Then I realized that I was still wearing my Yankees cap. "Don't listen to her!" I shouted. "Run, Percy!" I groped around blindly, looking for an opening (somehow).

"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice went back to that comforting grandmother voice. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."

He reminds you of Poseidon, I thought disgustedly. Then I focused on the matter in hand, which is a pretty big one.

"Grover!" I whisper-shouted, while Medusa kept talking to Percy, hoping he would hear me. Fortunately, he did without Medusa noticing. I heard something crash-land on the statue next to me .

"Grover, get a tree branch and attack from the sky using your shoes. I'll try to find an opening. We have to get Percy out of his daze," I said desperately. I drew my knife as Grover nodded then flew into the trees. A moment later he appeared with a branch the size of a baseball bat.

"Nice," I muttered to myself.

"Percy!"

I turned on instinct and saw Grover flying with his eyes shut tight, navigating by ears and nose alone.

"Duck!" Grover yelled. Percy jerked violently like someone just shook him and dove to a side behind a statue of an old man with a cane.

Thwack!

"You miserable satyr," Medusa roared. "I'll add you to my collection!"

"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled defiantly. Ker-whack!

"Arrgh!"

I scrambled around in the statuary when I spotted Percy, who looked pretty shocked. I hurried over to him. "Percy!" I said. He jumped so high he could've gotten champion for high jump in the Olympics.

"Jeez!" he exclaimed. "Don't do that!"

I took off my cap. "You have to cut her head off," I said, sounding extremely dumb.

"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. It's always like this for some reason, like I have to force myself to accept the idea of me not doing everything. "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 at a pair of statue lovers, when my eyes fixed on a gazing ball on a nearby pedestal. If we couldn't look at her directly…I grabbed it and studied the reflection size.

"A polished shield would be better," I said, mostly to myself. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of—"

"Would you speak English?" Percy said, sounding irritated.

"I am!" I tossed him the ball. "Just look at her in the glass. Never look at her directly."

"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled. "I think she's unconscious!"

"Roooaaarrr!"

"Maybe not."

"Hurry," I said to Percy. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash." Percy took out his impressive pen-sword and advanced with his eyes locked on the green gazing ball.

Hooray! Cliffie...sort of. Anyways, hope you enjoyed that! -mi5hao