Thanks again for the reviews! This half of the story is definitely going to be the hardest to write. There's so much that has to happen…oh well. Enjoy chapter eleven!
Percy's POV
I stood, frozen to the spot, as the huge, metallic lion growled down at Annabeth, preparing to turn her into his lunch. She stared at its face in terror.
It was Tyson who finally moved. He yelled, "Annabeth!" and picked up a trash can, hurling it at the monster. It hit him in the head, and the bag burst, sending garbage spewing all over him…and Annabeth. She got up and ran over to us as the monster slowly rose, rotten banana peels and other garbage stuck in his fur. He roared, and the mortals started pointing at us and screaming. Great, I thought. Ten minutes into our quest and we've already endangered a hundred people.
I uncapped Anaklusmos. It transformed into a bronze sword in my hand. Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Tyson picked up another trash can. Grover pulled a wooden club from his backpack, about the size of his arm. Nico drew his Stygian iron sword. Jacob took a tiny flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on. It suddenly turned into a celestial bronze sword, longer and thinner than Riptide, but still very powerful. Before I could ask him where he'd gotten it, the lion charged.
It went for Tyson, because it had attacked him first. The big guy ducked under the monster's claws and then jumped on top of it. The monster roared and tried to shake him off, but Tyson put the trash can on his head and started bashing it like a Chinese gong.
We chased them as the lion exploded out of the alley, terrifying dozens of mortals on the street. It finally shook Tyson off and pulled the can off of its head. It turned and attacked me instead. I dodged its first swipe and swung at it with all my might. The sword clattered off its metallic fur with a clang, but it didn't seem to injure it in the slightest. While it was distracted, Annabeth snuck up on it, invisible, and stuck her knife right in a place you don't want to be stuck.
The monster turned and roared furiously, trying to see who had done it. It sniffed the air, and then it suddenly hit its paw against solid air. Annabeth went flying into the street, her cap falling off her head. Luckily, the lion hadn't gotten her with its claws, but that could soon change. It pounced for her again.
"Annabeth!" I yelled, running towards her, but Jacob got there first.
Annabeth recovered her cap and stood, shaking, behind Jacob. His determined gaze occasionally twitched with fear as he and the lion faced each other. His sword glinted brilliantly in the sunlight.
Suddenly, the monster charged. It snapped at Jacob's face. He countered with two quick blows at the lion's mouth. Its claws lashed out. Jacob stabbed at its chest before the claws could reach him. One of the points made a cut in his arm, but the sword's wickedly sharp point made a solid dent in its fur.
A part of me told me to go help him, but I was taking this as a test for Jacob. I wanted to see how he handled a real monster. Grover and Tyson seemed to have the same idea. Their weapons were still raised, but they were analyzing all Jacob's moves critically, trying to decide how good he was.
Meanwhile, the lion and Jacob were going at it. Jacob spun and slashed, his electric blue eyes flashing wildly. The lion lunged at him again and again, determined to make him ground beef. Suddenly Jacob rolled under the lion as it lunged again and then turned and pointed his sword at its mouth.
A flash of lightning burst from thin air and struck the tip, like on the hillside with the snake women. It coiled of the edge of the sword right as the lion turned and roared in frustration again. The electricity hit the lion right in the mouth. Its eyes widened and it tried to shut its mouth, but apparently it couldn't. It gave a final cry of agony as the lightning coiled into its body and it burst into yellow powder.
The mortals were going crazy, running around and screaming. I stared at the pile of dust in the middle of West 32nd. When I had defeated the Nemean Lion, I had gotten its pelt in the form of a jacket as a spoil of war. No such luck now. Suddenly Annabeth grabbed my arm. "Come on, we've got to get out of here," she said, dragging me back into the alley.
"Annabeth, that was-"
"I know what it was!" she snapped, but her voice quivered with fear and she looked shaken. "But we have to leave before the news crew gets here. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves.
I realized she was right. Already, I saw a Channel 4 van pull up across the street, a news anchor getting out. I quickly followed Annabeth back into the alley.
I capped Riptide as the seven of us gathered in the alley. Annabeth dropped the drachma on the asphalt again. "Stêthi, Ô hárma diabolês!" she cried.
I watched as the coin melted into the asphalt and a huge gray taxi that appeared to be made of smoke melted out of the ground. My stomach was already aching, and we hadn't even gotten on yet.
The door opened to reveal three old ladies that all had empty eye sockets except for one eye in the middle woman's left hole. "All right, all right, get in! We're very busy today, so we don't have much time!"
"How many are there, Tempest?" said the lady to her left.
"Seven?" the middle lady said. "This is a taxi, not a limousine!"
"Can you take us?" I asked agitatedly, handing her a few drachmas.
She stared at them hungrily. "All right, fine! Get in, and be quick about it!" She hit a button, and when we got in, there were two extra rows to fit all of us. We squeezed in and sat listening to the Gray Sisters argue.
"I want to chew on it, Wasp!" said the third woman. "Give me the tooth!"
"No!" Wasp snapped. "Besides, it's my turn to drive!"
"Did they say they have one tooth?" asked Jacob, disgusted.
"Forget it!" said Tempest. "Where to?" she asked us.
"Um…Frisco would be ideal," said Annabeth.
"No, no!" said Wasp. "Too far, too far! We're far too busy to drive you all there! And speaking of busy…it's not too busy for me to have the eye, Anger!"
"I don't even have it!" screeched Anger. "Give me the tooth!"
"Never!" said Wasp. The two began fighting angrily until Tempest roared, "Will you two shut up?!"
They got quiet, and Tempest sighed. "Look, we can take you as far as Nashville. After that, you're on your own!"
"What?" I said. "But that's way farther south than we…"
"Percy, it's okay," said Annabeth quietly. "Nashville would be a good start. We can get a ride there and start moving west." Her look told me not to argue with the sisters.
I sighed. "Fine," I said. "Whatever."
"All right!" Tempest said. "Let's put 'er in high gear, girls!"
Wasp took the stick shift and pulled it down to a letter I'd never seen before- a red Y.
"Um…what does Y stand for?" I asked nervously.
Then suddenly Tempest floored it, and we went flying out of the alley faster than I would have thought possible. We went roaring down the streets of New York, through cars, buildings- and I mean straight through them, like smoke.
"YEEHAW!" the sisters screamed as we rocketed toward Tennessee at three hundred miles an hour.
--
Jacob's POV
The Gray Sister's taxi was unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. We nearly drove straight off of two bridges, drove straight through ten buildings, and every time we got caught in traffic the sisters argued so loudly I almost forgot about feeling like my stomach was in a blender. I didn't know how we were going to make it out of this alive.
"Hey," Annabeth said quietly as we went five feet in the air again.
"Yeah?" I said, taking deep breaths.
"I just wanted to say…thanks," Annabeth said. "That was really brave what you did, with the lion and everything. I don't know how you did it, but…I would've been toast back there if it hadn't been for you. So…thanks, Sparky. I owe you one."
"Sparky?" I said, smirking.
"Yeah." She went a little pink. "Can I call you that? Jacob just sounds so…formal. Ugh."
I considered the nickname. "I like it," I said, then we swerved out of another traffic jam and I was forced to concentrate on not getting sick.
--
After five hours of churning stomachs and the sister's screeching, we finally arrived in Nashville. The Gray Sisters dropped us off downtown and sped off to answer more summons.
I looked around me. Nashville was a decently sized city. The tallest building- a big Bellsouth tower- had two tall spires on either end, so it looked like Batman's mask. The city was well named Music City USA. Every third shop was a music store, and guitar players sat on the streets with their cases open for people to drop change into.
We quickly asked directions and started walking through the city. "Where are we going?" I asked Annabeth.
"The Nashville Parthenon," Annabeth said, her eyes lighting up.
"No wonder she wanted to come here so bad," said Grover. Annabeth glared at him.
We left the main part of the city and came into a big park, alongside a beautiful lake. Dogs barked. Kids played. It was nice after the noise and traffic of the taxi.
It wasn't long before we came in sight of the Parthenon. A huge stone building with columns on either side holding up a huge roof decorated with Greek art. Annabeth and Rachel gasped. "It's beautiful!" Rachel said.
Yeah, you are. The sentence formed in my brain before I could think. Whoa. Where had that come from? I shook my head, trying to clear it. We kept walking towards the Parthenon.
We went inside through the main entrance, and I was still wondering where the thought could have possibly formed. Did I like Rachel? I had no idea. I mean, I had only talked to her once. Then again, we had gotten pretty deep in conversation. I looked at her. She was looking around at the main lobby, her eyes sparkling. She did have sort of a pretty face, and her red hair shone in the sunlight through the windows…
I hit myself in the head and looked at Grover, hoping he wasn't reading my emotions. But he was too absorbed by a painting of a satyr by a river. "Sort of looks like me," he murmured.
Our tour group was just us, a young couple on a date, and a couple of older ladies with wide-brimmed hats so I couldn't see their faces. They were dressed in all black, and Rachel looked at them suspiciously.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
She shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "It's just…never mind."
We followed our tour guide, a perky lady with her hair in a tight bun, down to the gallery. Rachel marveled at the paintings and sculptures, and I had to admit some of them were pretty amazing, but Annabeth was tapping her foot impatiently, wanting to get to the statue of her mom, Athena.
As we walked down the halls, Grover and Tyson began sniffing suspiciously. Rachel was still glaring at the old ladies. "Is everything okay?" Annabeth asked Grover quietly.
"Bad smell," said Tyson. "Not good."
The first lady looked at us, and she smiled underneath her wide-brimmed hat. "What's wrong, children?" she asked, her voice croaky and strange. "Are you enjoying the tour?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Percy quickly. Whatever was wrong with the others, Annabeth, Percy, Nico and I shrugged and kept walking.
Something had been tugging at me the whole time we'd been here, like a memory I'd forgotten long ago. It finally hit me as we came out of the gallery. "I used to live here," I said suddenly.
"You lived at the Parthenon?" asked Nico. "How'd you pull that off?"
"No, not at the Parthenon. I mean here, in Nashville. This is where me and my mom lived. I remember this city."
"Sparky, that doesn't make sense," said Annabeth. "You were two when you left. It's not like you could remember-"
But at that moment, we came around the corner to a huge high-ceilinged room where the statue of Athena stood, and Annabeth's voice faded.
The statue was ten feet tall, dressed in ornate robes with a shield beside her on the ground, decorated with more Greek art. In her hand she held a small winged girl. Nike, goddess of victory.
"Is it a good likeness?" I asked them. No one answered; they were too awed by the statue.
As the tour guide continued to ramble a bunch of facts about the statue, Rachel suddenly looked at me. "Something's wrong," she said quietly.
I must have looked confused, because she jerked her head towards the ladies. They were cackling and moving towards Percy. As they got close, one of them drew a long knife.
"Percy, duck!" I yelled. He turned and looked just in time to dodge the stab the lady made with the knife.
"Curse you!" the lady screeched, and then they both began to change. They pulled off their wide-brimmed hats to reveal their faces, which terribly ugly: sunken cheeks, dry, cracked mouths, and fierce yellow eyes. One of them had short brown hair, the other long flowing black hair. Their cloaks flew off, revealing their thin, warty hands. They drew their knives and began advancing on us, smiling and revealing their pointed fangs.
I automatically stepped in front of Rachel, turning on Skysoarer. The tour guide and the couple screamed and ran away. Annabeth drew her knife, but she looked shocked. "Those are the Gorgons!" she said. "They're- they're not supposed to be-"
Then the first Gorgon attacked.
Annabeth and I dodged her swipes with the knife, but she was skilled. I went in for a stab, but she twisted my hilt and threw me away. Then she and Annabeth went head-on, knife vs. knife. I wasn't sure how long the fight would last.
Percy, Nico, Grover, and Tyson weren't having much better luck either. They were all hitting the Gorgon, but she was somehow avoiding them all and still attacking. These girls wouldn't be easy to beat.
Just then, the Gorgon hit Annabeth's knife away and cackled madly. I advanced on her, and found myself looking straight at her face. It was so ugly…looking at it, my whole body went rigid, and the sword suddenly felt weird in my hands.
"Don't look at her face!" Annabeth yelled. "She's not as powerful as Medusa, but she can still turn you to stone if you look at her too long!"
I was jolted, and I tore my eyes from the Gorgon's face and concentrated on her knife, which was flashing wildly through the air. Suddenly the other Gorgon let out a wail. Percy had managed to stab it in the thigh. She was writhing on the ground.
"Sister!" the other Gorgon yelled. Annabeth and I nodded at each other, and we took advantage of the fact that her back was turned and drove our blades through her heart.
She let out a terrible cry and looked at us with fury. "We'll meet again, Perseus Jackson," she growled at him. "And then you shall pay for what you did to our sister!" Then both the Gorgons burst into black flames and disappeared.
I slowly lowered my sword. The Gorgons had been way harder than the Nemean Lion. I was scratched up. The Gorgon had reopened the cut on my arm from the lion, and now it stung like someone had shoved barbwire into my skin.
"We have to talk about this," Annabeth said.
"First things first," Grover replied. "Let's get out of here!"
For the first time, I noticed that alarms were blaring and people were running around screaming. We quickly ran out of Athena's room and tore out of the Parthenon as fast as we could, and I felt like I could still hear the mad cackle of the Gorgon ringing in my head.