You know, sometimes when you think about it, it's good to know that the Greek gods are out there. Then you know who to blame when everything blows up in your face, sometimes literally. For example, when you're walking away from a bus that was struck by lightning that was aimed for you and your brother after you've been attacked by three bat hags with flaming whips, and on top of all that, you're wet and cold because it's pouring rain. Most people would think that's just really bad luck, but when you're a half-blood, that means that some deity really wants to mess up your day (I know, I'm just a ray of sunshine, aren't I?).

So, there we all were, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and I all being led through the woods of New Jersey by Ben, who could strangely see every bump or hole that I would've broken my ankle in. This kid had the world's greatest night vision. The glow of New York made the sky behind us turn yellow and the stars in that area go missing, and the putrid smell of the Hudson burned our nostrils.

Grover shivered and brayed as he whined, his eyes turned to goat-like slits in his fear. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

I could tell Percy was still numb from the experience, and I was trying not to fall into shock myself. The explosion was still ringing in my ears, and I took Percy's hand as Ben tugged me forward, and Annabeth, just behind him, did the same with Percy.

"Come on!" Annabeth urged while Ben quietly warned them where to watch their steps. "The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded her tiredly. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"

"Annabeth," Ben called in warning. "He just wanted to help."

"What did you want me to do?" Percy asked with a frown. "Let you get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy," the blonde snapped, "I would've been fine."

"Sliced into sandwich bread," Grover muttered, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," Annabeth grumbled.

"Who said you were the one I was protecting anyway?" Percy asked Annabeth. "I don't remember any of the Fur—Kindly Ones holding you around the neck in their clawed, haggish hands, and that's exactly where they were holding my sister."

I looked down, hoping that in the darkness no one could see my upset expression. I wished I hadn't needed saving on that bus, but not only did Ben take a strike from a flaming whip for me—which I'm sure left a lovely mark around his wrist—but I couldn't even stop one Fury that was holding me two whole feet from her chest, and I had daggers in my pockets. Percy might've won ADHD poster child, but I just pushed damsel in distress into a whole new category, and it wasn't one I liked being a part of.

We sloshed with every step we took on the muddy, squishy ground. As if it wasn't already hard enough to move through the woods in the pitch-black dark. Everything smelled musty and sour.

After a few more minutes, Ben tugged me forward, warning me to step over a root.

"Hey," the small thirteen-year-old said softly. "You know, you did a great job on the bus. You were really brave."

I couldn't help myself—I snorted before speaking in a bitter tone. "Doing what? Being tossed around like a ragdoll after you took the impact of a flaming whip from me? Yeah, real brave."

Ben smiled, shaking his head. I noticed from the beginning, but finally started to realized that he smiled all the time. "No," he corrected, "I mean helping Percy against the Kindly Ones when they were attacking us. And when… what did you call her? Mrs. Dodds?"

I nodded slightly. "She was our math teacher at our last boarding school."

Ben chuckled quietly. "As if she wasn't evil enough, she had to be a math teacher."

I laughed a little.

He continued, silver eyes practically glowing in the practically nonexistent light of the cloudy night sky as rain still fell. "When she grabbed Percy with her whip, and the other two hags were coming after him. I've never seen anything as brave as the way you protected your brother."

"Well, we're all we've got now." I felt a lump forming in my throat, and I swallowed it down hard. "I wasn't going to risk him getting hurt."

"And I want to thank you for helping us in the back," Ben said, "you and Percy. Even though Annabeth won't admit it right now, we all really appreciate you coming back for us."

"Well, we are a team," I reminded, smiling slightly.

"Annabeth was just worried. If you and Percy died, aside from the fact it would really suck for you guys, this quest would be over, and it might be the only chance that she and I get to see the world outside of the camp."

I raised an eyebrow, meeting Ben's glowing silver eyes curiously. "You've never left Camp Half-Blood?"

He shrugged. "Just on short field trips. Chiron raised me in the Big House with him and Mr. D until I was eight and Annabeth arrived at camp. He let me move into the Hermes cabin then. He thought I was old enough to join camp activities. And out here… this is where you get to see if that training has done you any good. I didn't think I was ever going to get to see if I was good."

I shook my head slightly, looking down.

"What?" Ben asked, stopping to put his hands on his hips. The thunderstorm had stopped, the yellow lights of New York had faded, and all that was visible in darkness was a glint off Annabeth's blonde hair, and the unclaimed demigod's glowing silver eyes.

"Anybody that'll take a crack from a whip that's on fire seems pretty good to me," I told him with a smile.

Ben grinned. "Thanks—" He was going to say more, I could feel it, but he was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like a screaming bird.

"Hey!" Grover said happily. "My reed pipes still work! If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"

He played a few notes, but they sounded curiously like Hillary Duff.

I heard a loud thud, and a groan from my brother.

"Percy?" I called in concern, moving cautiously back toward my brother.

"Ow," he mumbled, "guess I don't have night vision as a superpower."

I chuckled. "No, but Ben does." I took my brother's hand. "Stay close."

He sighed. "So, the unclaimed kid has night vision? Can we start guessing who his parent is?"

"No," Ben said quickly.

After all of us, except Ben, tripping and cursing and falling for another mile or so, we started to see light up ahead, the colors of a neon sign, and Percy and I traded glances. We could smell food—fried, greasy, wonderful food. I realized then that we hadn't eaten anything bad for us since we made it to Camp Half-Blood, where everyone lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and ultra-lean-cut barbecue prepared by nymphs. I looked at my brother again. We needed a double-cheeseburger each.

Ben continued to lead us forward until we found a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side of the road sat an old, closed-down gas station, a ruined billboard for a 90s movie, and one open business, which seemed to be the source of the greasy food smell and the neon light.

Percy and I glanced at each other, shrugging slightly. It wasn't a fast food restaurant like we'd hoped. It was one of those creepy roadside curio shops that sell lawn decorations like the plastic flamingos, and then the weird porch decorations like the wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears. The main building looked like a long, low standing warehouse that was swarmed by acres of statues.

My eyes widened slightly when I looked up at the neon sign. As if my dyslexia wasn't bad enough with regularly printed English, it got even worse with cursive English in red neon.

When I read it, I read: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.

"What's that supposed to say?" I asked sort of helplessly to anyone but Percy.

"I don't know," Annabeth said, which caught me off-guard. I forgot she was dyslexic too, since she read all the time.

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," Grover and Ben translated at the same time.

Percy and I looked at Ben in shock. "You're not dyslexic?" We asked at the same time.

He shook his head. "Nope. But I make up for it with my ADHD."

I frowned slightly. I knew his ADHD was rough, we'd all seen it when, every time he sat down, he tried to solve a Rubik's cube just to occupy his hands. But at least he could read.

Percy and I looked back toward the door of the warehouse, noticing two cement garden gnomes—ugly little bearded runts that were smiling and waving like they were about to get their pictures taken.

Percy crossed the street, and I followed. The hamburger smell was too much to resist.

"Hey…" Grover warned.

"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said, sounding like she was following the hamburger smell too. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy said longingly.

"Snack bar," I agreed.

"What's that smell?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is that what you guys are following?"

Percy looked toward Ben in surprise. "You don't know what greasy food smells like?"

He shook his head. "I grew up at camp, remember?"

Percy looked at me. "This kid has never had food that's bad for him."

I grinned. "I bet we can change that in here." I looked at Ben. "Follow us."

"Are you guys crazy?" Grover asked in protest. "This place is weird."

All of us ignored him. Percy, Annabeth, and I were too hungry and Ben was too curious to listen to our companion-escort-protector.

We reached the front lot, which was a forest of cement statues: cement animals, children, and even a cement satyr, which didn't help Grover's apprehension.

"Bla-ha-ha!" He bleated in fright. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

We all stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock," Grover almost begged, his voice suddenly quiet. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is just clogged from the Furies," Annabeth argued. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" Grover sounded offended. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded, raising an eyebrow.

"Those are vegetables."

I started to protest, but shrugged slightly. I was pretty sure metal didn't fall into the vegetable category on the food pyramid, but what did I know? It's not like I could read one.

"Come on," Grover continued. "Let's leave. These statues are… looking at me."

Ben patted the satyr on the back. "Come on, dude. We're all starved. Just for a second."

The door creaked open suddenly, and a Middle Eastern woman stood in front of us. At least, I guessed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore one of those long black gowns that covered everything but her hands, and a matching black veil that covered her head completely. Her eyes caught light behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was all I could see of her features. Her coffee-colored hands were well-manicured, but looked aged with her elegant long fingers. I glanced at Percy, and he glanced at me. We both imagined her to be a grandma that was once a beautiful woman.

Her accent sounded sort of Middle Eastern too, when she spoke. "Children, it's too late to be out here all alone. Where are your parents?"

"They're… um…" Annabeth started, but Percy cut her off.

"We're orphans."

"Orphans?" The word sounded strange in the woman's mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy informed her, "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?"

"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."

We all thanked her and slipped inside.

"Circus caravan?" Annabeth asked as we all gathered toward Percy to talk quietly.

"Always have a strategy, right?" Percy replied with a grin.

"Your brain is full of kelp," Annabeth told him.

Ben snorted. "That was laying it on a little thick, Percy."

"It got us inside, didn't it?"

"Yes," I interrupted, "and I'm starved. And I hope there are some places in here where there are less statues. I'm starting to feel like Grover."

"Hey!" The named satyr protested quietly.

I grinned. "Sorry, but…"

He stifled a bleat of protest.

I was serious about the whole statue thing. The inside of the warehouse might've had more statues than outside had. Each one was unique, different faces wearing different expressions, and even in different types of clothing, all on life-size figures. I had a growing bad feeling with each statue that we passed, but I was too hungry to listen to what instincts were screaming. So, I just kept following Percy.

I started to notice Grover's nervous whimpers, too, and the noise really wasn't helping the situation any.

When we reached the dining area, all of my nerves faded away. It was a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Anything we could've wanted, and a few steel picnic tables to eat at.

"Please, sit down," Aunty Em offered.

"Awesome," Percy said at the sight of the food, sitting at the table and patting the spot on the bench beside him for me.

I moved a little more reluctantly, but the smell of the food was so good it wasn't enough for anyone to notice.

Ben and Annabeth sat on the other side of the table, across from Percy and I, and Grover slid in reluctantly on Percy's other side.

"Um," Grover started slowly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."

I felt Percy shift his body to make it easier to jab Grover in the ribs, but before he could, Aunty Em spoke again. "No, no, children. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat for such nice orphans."

"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said politely.

Aunty Em stiffened suddenly, like Annabeth had insulted her, but she relaxed just as quickly, so I wasn't sure I saw it right.

"Quite all right, Annabeth." Aunty Em said, looking at her through the veil. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."

I looked up suspiciously then as our hostess disappeared to start cooking. We hadn't introduced ourselves, had we? How did she know Annabeth's name?

I looked at the others at the table to see if they noticed too—Percy seemed too focused on the prospect of food to notice anything but the smell; Annabeth had seemed momentarily bothered, but not for long; Grover seemed even more nervous than he had before; and Ben was frowning slightly, like he was thinking intensely about hoe she could have possibly known Annabeth's name, and wasn't coming up with any answers that would end well.

I was going to ask him what he was thinking, but before I could, Aunty Em was bringing us trays filled with greasy, wonderful fast food—double cheeseburgers, XXL fries, and vanilla shakes for each.

Percy was halfway finished with his burger before he remembered that breathing was necessary to sustain life.

Ben took the first bite, and his silver eyes bugged out on stems. "Holy Hera. This is amazing!"

Percy and I traded smug glances before looking at him. "Told ya!" We said together.

Annabeth slurped her shake.

Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the wax paper lining the tray like he would eat that instead, but he still seemed too nervous to eat.

"What's that hissing noise?" He asked.

All of the demigods paused to listen, but we all shook our heads. We didn't hear anything.

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

I was pretty sure she shouldn't have known his name, either. I glanced at Ben again, and he had the same small expression of discomfort that he had when Annabeth's name was said.

"I take vitamins," Grover told her. "For my ears."

"That's admirable," she said kindly. "But please, relax."

Aunty Em didn't eat any of the food she had cooked. She didn't take her headdress off once, even when she was cooking, and now she sat forward in her chair, her fingers knitted together, watching the five of us eat. I was beyond uncomfortable, and just tried to brush it off, but Percy decided to make small talk with our hostess.

"So, you sell gnomes," Percy observed. I could tell in his voice he was struggling to sound interested.

"Oh, yes," Aunty Em confirmed. "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 seemed uncomfortable, and he twisted around beside me to see the statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. I glanced back and saw it too when he turned. The detail was remarkable, much better than you usually see in garden statues, but it was wrong. Her expression was that she was terrified.

I was getting more uncomfortable by the moment.

"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly when she saw us looking at the frightened statue. "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, sounding a little more curious.

"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." There was a sadness in her voice that was so deep I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, but something about it also made me a little more nervous. My gut was telling me that something was very off.

Annabeth stopped eating, and leaned forward in her chair. "Two sisters?"

Ben's eyes widened slowly, like he was piecing together a one-thousand-piece puzzle and was just far enough to have the outer pieces put together like a picture frame.

"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em told them. "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 wasn't quite sure what she meant, but the story sounded vaguely familiar, like I'd heard it before, but it was from a different point of view. I was so uncomfortable with the entire situation, I wasn't sure I could feel bad for her.

I glanced over at Percy, and saw he was nodding off after a full belly and a soothing story from Aunty Em.

Despite knowing there were four other people at the table with me, I suddenly felt alone. "Percy?" I tried, nudging my brother to get his attention. "M-Maybe we should go. The, um, the ringmaster is probably waiting by now."

Grover had started munching on the waxed paper that had been on the tray, but that didn't seem to phase Aunty Em, which didn't make me feel any better. I mean, how often did her guest do that?

Ben glanced toward me, his silver eyes near panic. He was still working on that crossword puzzle and was getting dangerously close to the picture. That didn't help my unease either.

Percy, on the other hand, still seemed unfazed.

"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em said to Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."

She reached out like she was going to touch Annabeth's cheek, but the blonde stood suddenly before she could. "We really should go."

"Yes!" Grover agreed after swallowing his waxed paper, standing. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"

Percy frowned a little, and it was obvious he wasn't feeling the same unease as the rest of us. Maybe he was slowly slipping into a food coma or something, I don't know, but I was getting my brother out of here with the rest of us whether he wanted to go or not.

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

"A pose?" Ben asked cautiously, his fingers pulling on a string unraveling from the bottom of his shirt.

"A photograph," Aunty Em clarified. "I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

I shifted uneasily, seeing Annabeth do the same. Something was very much not right here, and I didn't want to hang around for a stupid picture. "I don't think we have time for that, ma'am," I tried, tugging Percy to his feet. "Come on, Percy, we have to meet the ringmast—"

"Sure we can," Percy said with a small scowl at me, like he was upset that I was being so rude. "It's just a photo, JJ. What's the harm?"

"Percy, really, we shouldn't," Annabeth tried next, but Aunty Em still seemed to have Percy convinced.

"Yes, girls," she purred, "no harm."

I looked at Annabeth, and then to Ben. None of us seemed to like it, but we all decided to allow it.

Aunty Em led all five of us out the front door, into her garden of statues, directing us to a park bench next to the stone satyr Grover had pointed out when we entered. "Now," she told us, "I'll just position you correctly. The two young ladies in the middle, Benjamin on one side, Percy on the other, and Grover standing behind, I think."

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

I hoped my brother was finally getting suspicious about all this. Since Aunty Em didn't have a camera with her for the photo.

"Oh, enough," the covered lady assured. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"

"Where's your camera?" Grover blurted.

Aunty Em didn't answer, instead stepping back like she was admiring the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me, everyone? A large smile?"

I was too scared to even think about smiling, but I hoped no one else noticed that. She still wasn't holding a camera.

Grover glanced at the cement satyr standing beside him. "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"Grover," Aunty Em chided, "look this way, dear. Ben, darling, stop bouncing."

The thirteen-year-old was practically bouncing himself and the three twelve-year-olds on the bench beside him.

She still wasn't holding a camera.

"Percy…" I tried, shaking starting to creep into my voice.

He seemed like he was trying to listen to me, but something was holding him back. Like he was hypnotized.

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

"Percy, something's wrong," I said in a near panic.

"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?"

"What to you mean noble?" Ben asked suddenly, warily.

Aunty Em didn't have time to answer before Grover gasped and said, "That is Uncle Ferdinand!"

"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted just before she pulled on her Yankees cap and disappeared from sight. She shoved down Grover and pushed Percy off the bench as Ben snagged me, wrapping his arms around me, and practically threw me around him as we both crouched beside the bench, turned away from Aunty E, with his arm still thrown over my shoulders.

Ben tugged me back to my feet quickly as Grover and Annabeth scattered, but I panicked. "What about Percy?!"

"He'll be fine as long as he doesn't look at her face," Ben said quickly, letting me go once we were safely away from Aunty Em. "And we're gonna help him, we just had to get away so we could get ready."

I fumbled for the two tiny pencils in my pockets, clicking them so they grew into her two bronze daggers, Hurricane and EarthShaker. "Why can't he look at her?"

Ben strung his bow. "Aunty M? Makes a ton of statues?"

I squeaked a little when my lessons from Yancy with Mr. Brunner—Chiron—came back to me with a vengeance. "She's Medu—"

"Shhh!" Ben hissed quietly. "Don't say it!" He looked around them quickly, picking up a broken piece of mirror and holding it carefully. "Look at her through this. Never look straight at her. Let's go."

We reached the others again in time to see Grover tumble through the air and crash into a stone grizzly bear with a pained "Ummphh!"

Medusa was about to lunge for him when Percy and I had the same idea. We yelled, "Hey!"

We both approached her slowly, and I was sure her face was being distorted in the dirty piece of mirror. She couldn't have been that ugly. It wasn't possible.

I felt myself fall into some kind of trance as I looked at her face in the mirror, her eyes seeming to burn a hole through me. My arms went weak.

Medusa lunged.

I would've been more than dead if Percy and Ben didn't react as quickly as they did.

He slashed up with Riptide, and Ben shot an arrow without ever facing their direction.

I heard a thud and a squish that was almost drowned out by a sloshing sound, then a hissing noise like a breeze in a cave. The lovely sound of a monster disintegrating.

I jumped when something fell to the ground between Percy and I, and it took everything in me not to look at it.

Instead I looked at Percy with wide eyes.

He stepped over whatever had landed beside us, and wrapped me in a hug, which I returned quickly and tightly.

"Oh, yuck," Grover said with his eyes still closed. I guessed that he could still hear the thing bubbling. "Mega-yuck."

Annabeth moved up beside Percy, looking up at the sky overhead and holding Medusa's black veil. She, very carefully and without looking, wrapped the monster's head in the black cloth, and then picked it up while it was still dripping green ooze.

"Ew," I managed to say as I slowly tried to release my brother but couldn't make myself do it completely. I couldn't believe I had completely frozen like that. I was so mad at myself I couldn't stand it, but I was just glad that everyone was okay.

"Are you guys okay?" Annabeth asked a little shakily.

"Yeah," Percy decided, though he looked a little nauseous. I was not okay and couldn't even manage to say that much. It only made me angrier at myself.

"Why… Why didn't the head evaporate?" Percy asked again.

Ben walked over and picked up his arrow from the monster dust and slid it back in his quiver. "Once you sever the head, it becomes a spoil of war," he explained. "Just like the minotaur horn. But I'd leave it wrapped up. It can still turn you to stone."

I tried to make a snide comment, but nothing would come out of my mouth. I was really getting this sick of the whole fear thing.

Grover moaned when he climbed down from the grizzly statue, a welt shining on his forehead. His green rasta cap was hanging off one of his tiny goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off of his hooves. The flying sneakers were fluttering around his head.

"The Red Baron," Percy joked, still not letting go of my hand. "Good job, man."

Grover grinned shyly. "That was really not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing the into a concrete bear part? Not fun."

Ben laughed a little. "Don't think anybody would think that was fun, Grover."

The satyr nodded as he snatched the shoes out of the air. Together, all five of us stumbled back to the warehouse, Percy still never letting go of my hand.

Ben found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double bagged the Medusa head before we all flopped around the table where we'd eaten, all of us except Ben too exhausted to speak.

I laid my head down on the table, too humiliated to look at anybody.

Percy was the one who spoke first. "So, we have Athena to thank for that monster?"

I saw Annabeth glare when I looked up. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to 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 and Jayme as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You guys probably reminded her of him."

Percy's face had flushed red. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."

Annabeth's next comment was in a bad imitation of my voice. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Forget it," Percy snapped. "You're impossible."

"You're insufferable."

"You're—"

"Shut up!" I finally shouted, shoving to my feet to leave the table. I couldn't take it anymore. Annabeth was blaming Medusa on Percy and Poseidon, and through that blaming it on me. I wasn't having it. "Figure out what you're gonna do with the head. Come find me when you do." I walked away.

"JJ, come on," Percy called sadly, sighing a little as I walked off, but he didn't follow. He knew when to push, and he knew it wasn't then.

I realized that I wasn't just angry with Percy and Annabeth for arguing, or at myself for freezing up at the sight of Medusa. I was angry at the gods for our quest being blown off course and being in two major fights where I just seemed to be totally useless on our first day out of camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to LA alive, nevertheless by the summer solstice, especially if I didn't get my act together.

I walked back inside, a little calmer but no less upset with myself, just in time to see Percy stand himself, waving for me to follow him.

I jogged a little to catch up as he left for the back of the warehouse.

"Percy," Annabeth called as we walked away. "What are you—?"

Ben was grinning like he had some kind of idea.

I had an idea on what my brother was doing too.

Percy led me through the back of the warehouse, searching the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office.

I pushed him her account book when I found it, showing her six most recent sales, which we all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one of the bills, it said the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California.

Percy folded up the bill and stuffed it in his pocket.

He popped open the cash register and found twenty dollars, a few gold drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a tiny leather pouch attached for coins.

"Can you try to find a box big enough?" Percy asked me as he searched the other side of the office.

"Yeah," I said, crouching until I found a box I thought would work. "Think this'll work?" I held up the box.

Percy grinned. "Perfect. Let's go."

We walked back to the picnic table, and Percy packed Medusa's head into the box.

I filled out the delivery slip. My handwriting was a little more legible.

The Gods

Mount Olympus

600th Floor,

Empire State Building

New York, NY

Wish best wishes,

PERCY AND JAYME JACKSON

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned us. "They'll think you two are impertinent."

Percy poured some of the golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he pulled it closed, there was a sound like a cash register sliding open while the package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!

Percy and I traded glances before we looked at Grover and spoke at the same time. "We are impertinent."

Ben cackled, clearly enjoying that someone decided to stick it to the big people on the mountain.

I grinned at him.

Percy looked at Annabeth like he was daring her to criticize us.

She didn't say anything. She seemed resigned to the fact that we had a major talent for ticking off the gods, and that we obviously didn't regret it.

"Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."