Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson
Chapter 11: Turning Someone to Stone is Just Rude
Three days earlier…
"I can't believe you would do this Poseidon!" Zeus roared, springing up from this throne.
Throughout the throne room, the rest of the Olympians leaned back in their thrones, all completely fed up with the brothers' dramatics. Hera huffed from her seat next to Zeus, rolling her eyes in annoyance. From his throne, Hermes stared down at his phone, annoyed at the amount of messages he had to deal with.
"I didn't do anything!" Poseidon yelled angrily, standing up. "I didn't send my son to steal your lightning bolt."
Zeus frowned. "Of course, you didn't send your son, he was oblivious until a week ago."
"Then why are you accusing me?" Poseidon asked, confused.
Zeus sighed. "I'm still accusing you, just not your son. Your daughter was on Olympus over the winter solstice, and she has known about us her entire life. If anyone would have stolen my master bolt, it's her."
"Don't blame my daughter with no evidence!" Poseidon fired back. "Why aren't you accusing one of Hermes' kids? He's the god of thieves."
Hermes looked up, shocked. "Don't blame my kids, Uncle P. Thievery may be their expertise, but they had no reason too."
"Father, if you really believe that Poseidon's daughter stole your master bolt, then why are you accusing his son?" Athena asked.
Zeus turned to her. "The girl will never confess on her own. But I have seen that she cares about her brother in the few days she has known him. I believe she'll confess if it means getting him out of trouble."
"You're wrong brother." Poseidon said, leaning back in his throne. "Just wait and see."
Present day…
Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and Christina burst out of the woods, stumbling into an open clearing. In front of them was a lone, open business next to a closed down gas station and an outdated billboard. Unfortunately, it wasn't a restaurant, but a roadside curio shop selling stone statues.
"Let's go inside." Christina suggested. "They might have food, or directions to where the nearest bus station is."
Grover glanced worriedly at the three of them. "Are we sure about this? It's just that something about this place, doesn't seem right."
"Don't worry G-man." Percy commented, throwing his arm around Grover's shoulders. "We'll be fine. And besides, we need the brake after running for our lives."
Annabeth and Christina hurried towards the door of the shop, with Percy dragging Grover by the arm and following behind. Holding the door open for the two boys, they stepped into the business. Before they had the chance to take in their surroundings, a woman appeared in front of them.
She was older, with wrinkled, gnarled hands and was dressed in all black, with a cloak covering her face and hair, so all they could see of her was her hands.
"Can I help you children?" She asked.
Christina nodded, stepping forward. "Yes, we got quite lost and I'm afraid we were separated from our parents. Would you be able to point us to the nearest bus station?"
"Follow me." The woman said, leading them farther into the building. "I'm Aunty Em. I'm sure such tired children like you would like something to eat."
The four of them followed Aunty Em towards the back, where delicious smells awaited them, promising wonderful food. As Annabeth and Percy walked in the front, side by side with Aunty Em, Grover hung back with Christina.
"I'm not sure I trust her, Stina." He muttered softly, glancing uneasily at the older woman.
Christina shrugged. "I don't sense anything unusual, maybe she's just a nice old lady. Some of these statues are kinda creepy." She commented, glancing uneasily at the statuary around them.
"That's what I'm worried about." Grover commented. "Some of these look too lifelike. And their faces, they creep me out." He pointed at a stone statue of a satyr. "That one looks an awful lot like my Uncle Ferdinand."
The group arrived in a cafeteria near the back of the building. Several metal picnic table sat empty in the center of the dining room. Near the back of the room was a kitchen, with a pretzel machine, nacho cheese dispenser, soda fountain, and a grill visible from where they were standing. As the four of them sat down at one of the tables, Aunty Em disappeared into the kitchen to begin cooking their food.
In almost no time, she came back out into the dining room, carrying trays full of burgers, fries, and shakes. Glancing down at the tray in front of her, Christina didn't realize how hungry she was until just then, and began inhaling her food. Around her, her three friends began to do the same, although Grover was staying away from the burger.
Aunty Em leaned up against one of the tables and watched them eat, although if she found anything unusual about the way they were eating like they would never eat again, or how Grover had begun eating the wax paper on the tray, she didn't say anything about it.
"Thank you, Aunty Em." Christina commented, looking up when she was finished. "The food was delicious."
The old woman stood up. "Why it was nothing for such polite, young children such as yourselves. If you are finished with your food, maybe you can help me with one little thing."
"Why of course." Percy agreed. "You did give us this food for free."
Annabeth looked up, curious. "What can we help you with?"
"If you haven't noticed, I am alone running this business all by myself. And it can be rather hard at my age." Aunty Em commented, gesturing around her. "I used to have two other sisters who helped me, but they passed away a while ago. If you four could sit for a photo for me, something I could use to model my sculptures after, that would be wonderful. I don't get many children after all, and you four seem like such a nice group."
Grover glanced at them, nervous. "I don't know guys. I think we should just go. But thank for the food, ma'am."
"I don't see the harm." Percy said, shrugging. "It's just a photo, it won't take long."
Annabeth glanced at Christina, her face uncertain. "I don't know Percy, maybe Grover is right. We should just go."
"But it's only one photo, children." Aunty Em commented, but her voice seemed more clipped answering Annabeth than it did with the rest of them. "It won't take long, and then you can make your way to the bus station."
Christina shrugged. "I guess we can."
"That's perfect." Aunty Em said, smiling. "Why don't you sit down at this bench right here? It gets the best lighting."
The four of them stood up from their seat on the picnic table and followed Aunty Em over to where she was indicating, the girls sitting down on the bench while the boys stood behind, as the older woman directed them to where she wanted them to go.
Grover glanced over at the stone satyr that he had spotted before. "That satyr does look an awful lot like my uncle."
"Now, can you children all look up at me." Aunty Em instructed. "And give me nice big smiles. The faces are always the hardest to get right."
Christina stared at her in confusion. "Don't you need a camera for a picture?"
"Don't worry." Aunty Em assured her. "We just need to get the lighting right for the perfect photo."
As the woman began to take off her veil, which had stayed covering her face the entire time, even when she was cooking, the realization dawned on Annabeth and Christina at the same time, and the two girls turned to look at each other, before whipping around.
"Get down!" Christina shouted, pushing Grover and Percy away. "Don't look her in the eyes."
Both boys, having been startled, hit the ground at the same time, and the four of them stared into the ground, fighting the urge to look up at the old woman.
"What's going on?" Percy demanded. "What was that for?"
Aunty Em, or Medusa, as Christina now realized she was, walked towards them, hissing coming from above her head. "But I just want one picture children. Then you can go on with your lives."
"We need to defeat her without looking at her face." Christina whispered to her brother and friends. "If we can find something shiny, then we can use the reflection to see where she is. That's how Perseus did it in the myths."
Annabeth tilted her head, being careful not to look in Medusa's direction. "Over there." She said, pointing towards a glass ball among the statuary. "That should work."
"Percy and I will try and distract her, while you and Grover go get the glass ball." Christina instructed her friends. "She's less likely to try and kill us outright, since we look so much like our dad. I don't think she's a big fan of Annabeth."
Percy turned to her confused. "What does our dad have to do with this?"
"I'll explain later." She told her brother. "But it has to do with Athena and Poseidon's rivalry."
The four of them nodded to each other and rolled out from under the bench, Annabeth and Grover going right towards the statuary garden, while Percy and Christina went left towards Medusa, all four of them aiming their eyes at the ground.
Christina pulled Seastorm off of its' bracelet, letting it expand, before aiming a strike at Medusa, who dodged but just barely. Next to her, Percy struck out with Riptide, managing to graze the monster, who hissed at the sudden pain.
"Why, it doesn't have to be like this children." She purred. "You could be nice little children and let me turn you into statues. It's much better that way. You don't have to fight, and you don't have to deal with that insufferable daughter of Athena anymore. She will betray you, just like her mother."
Christina hissed, managing to graze Medusa the second time. "You know, I rather enjoy not being a statue, so I think I'll stay that way. And Annabeth isn't like her mother, none of us care about our parents' stupid rivalry."
Off to her side she was able to hear the faint, but still audible, steps of Annabeth, and a quick glance to the side allowed her to confirm her suspicions that her friend was wearing her invisibility cap.
"I've got the ball." Annabeth whispered, her voice coming from nowhere. "Grover's going to distract her, and I'll pass it to you two when she isn't looking."
Before she had the chance to ask what Grover planned to do exactly, a scream echoed from off to the left, and Christina turned her head just enough to watch her best friend use the flying shoes that Luke had given them to act as a giant battering ram, using his ears and nose to direct him, as he disappeared out of her field of vision, before an anguished scream from the monster confirmed that he had hit her.
While Medusa was distracted, Annabeth shoved the glass ball into Percy's hands, the ball appearing in thin air as soon as it left her grip.
"Me? Why me?" Percy demanded. "Wouldn't Christina be the better choice? She has more combat experience than I do."
Annabeth shook her head. "Normally, yes. But you remind Medusa even more of your father, she'll have a harder time hurting you. We'll explain later."
Grover let out a strangled cry as he was thrown backwards into the arms of one of the stone statues, the wind being knocked completely out of him. Christina pushed her brother foreword, before running to the aid of her best friend. Next to her, she heard Annabeth take off, running to go help Percy.
"Are you okay?" Christina asked, coming to a stop next to the statue Grover had been thrown into.
The satyr nodded, although he looked a little bit dazed. "I'll be okay. I was able to get in a couple good hits though."
"Yeah, you did." Christina commented, chuckling slightly.
Behind them, Christina could hear the telltale sound of a monster being disintegrated. She turned around just as Annabeth picked up the head, Medusa's veil covering the whole thing.
"Why didn't it disintegrate all the way?" Percy asked, confused.
Christina helped Grover off of the statue, before walking over to her brother. "It's a spoil of war, just like your minotaur horn. It won't disintegrate. Now come on, let's go see if Medusa has any extra food or money here that we can raid."
The four of them headed back towards the dining area and into the back, where Medusa had cooked their food. Christina crouched down, rummaging through the lower cabinets with Percy, while Annabeth checked the upper cabinets, and Grover used his flying shoes to reach the cabinets that the rest of them were too short to reach.
Rummaging through a container in one of the lower cabinets, Christina grinned, pulling out a wad of cash. As she quickly counted the money, she shook her head, not believing their luck.
"Guys, I found something." She called, beckoning her friends over and showing them the money when they were all gathered around. "There's several hundred dollars in here. With this much money, we'll be able to buy train tickets to take us west."
Percy held up a sack of coins. "And I found an entire bag of drachmas, plus this." He pulled out a slip of paper, handing it to Grover to read for them.
"It's the address to DOA Records." Grover told them. "The cover for the entrance to the Underworld."
Percy crouched down to one of the cabinets he had been searching through before and pulled out a cardboard box, before exiting the kitchen and walking over to the table where they had placed Medusa's head.
"What are you doing with that?" Christina asked quizzically, staring at her brother in confusion.
Percy placed the head in the box, sealing it up with tape, before turning to her. "Just sending the gods a present." He pulled a black marker from his backpack, before writing the gods' address, attaching a slip for Hermes' Express and a couple of drachmas, before the box disappeared with a pop.
"They're going to kill you for that." Annabeth said, shaking her head.
Percy shrugged. "I would like to see them try."
Christina glanced around the warehouse. "Let's get out of here. This place is creeping me out."
"You and me both." Grover agreed.
The four of them left the dining area, heading back towards the entrance of the building. As they passed the statue of Grover's Uncle Ferdinand, Grover whimpered, staring at his uncle with sadness. Christina placed her hand on her best friend's shoulder, urging him foreword. Leaving the building, they headed farther down the road, in the hopes that they would find someone who didn't want to kill them.
"What was that about? With Medusa?" Percy asked as they walked.
Christina turned to her brother. "Have you ever heard the myth of how Medusa was turned into a monster?" When he shook his head, she sighed. "Medusa was our father's girlfriend. And one day, she and her two sisters snuck Poseidon into Athena's temple. When Athena found out, she was so upset that she turned Medusa and her sisters into the three Gorgons. She hates Athena, which is why she hated Annabeth, but she still has a soft spot for our dad, which is why she was more hesitant to attack us."
"Is it going to be like that for a lot of things?" Percy asked. "Since we look like our dad."
Christina shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. Now come on, let's find the nearest bus station."
Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a better 2022 then 2020 and 2021 were.
And there you go, the reason why Zeus has still accused Percy, even though Christina was at Olympus on the winter solstice.
The four of them have five braincells combined, and Christina and Annabeth each hold two at all times.
Please review. I love reviews.
