Wisdom of the Waters
Chapter 12
-Percy-
Letting out a sigh of relief, Percy nodded to Lou and Clarisse, the three having managed to meet up again easily enough with the fights ended.
"I must say Percy, your comment about them not being victories to be proud of was right." Lou frowned, "I guess being a torturer doesn't mean you're a fighter."
"Bus'll probably be gone by now." Clarisse scowled back in the direction of the road, "Guess we're going on foot for now."
"It's getting late anyway." Percy glanced up at the sky, "And there's a chance there are more threatening monsters than those three in the area."
"I'll take point then." Clarisse nodded, cracking her neck "Lou, you're in the middle, try to see if any of your spells can help us out of this mess. Percy, you take up the rear and try to keep an on things besides our asses." The last part was said with a playful grin.
"Not my fault they're hypnotic." Percy grinned back cheekily as Clarisse snorted and Lou let out a flustered 'eep'.
"Time and place, both of you!" a red-faced Lou scolded even as the three set out, heading the admittedly vague direction of 'west', just determined to put room between themselves and the area charged with the smell of magic, monsters, and demigods lest it draw something else. But even as they walked, hours passing and the stars coming out, nothing came for them. There were no sounds or smells of monsters coming to investigate.
Either they were incredibly lucky; or something was very, very, wrong.
"Hey…do you guys smell that?" Clarisse broke the silence first as she sniffed the air.
"What are you-?" Percy's question trailed off as the scent reached his nose too, so mouth wateringly enticing that he couldn't help but breathe it in deeper.
"Cheeseburgers!" Clarisse looked back over her shoulder to give a hungry grin, once he happily returned.
"I don't smell anything." Lou frowned with a pout, her stomach rumbling even as they picked up the pace, Clarisse following her nose while he and Lou followed her, Neon light soon peaking through the trees.
"I smell it now." Lou's hungry grin matched theirs as they approached the building, various stone statues outside of it implying what the business sold, even if the neon cursive was doing murder on his dyslexia.
"And we found the road." Clarisse grinned as they nodded to the path that would no doubt lead back to the highway or a town "I vote we go in, order some food, get a taxi, and maybe see about getting a train further west. All in favor?"
"Aye!" Percy and Lou shared an eager high five before they hurried to the building, noting that what had to be an 'open' sign was turned on, so it wasn't like they were bugging someone after closing.
Opening the front door which had a nice-looking waiting area, Percy let the smell of greasy fried food hit him even stronger, the girls following in behind him. Stepping up to the counter, he wrang the bell, taking the chance to look around the waiting room and the statues that filled this area too. Honestly it was impressive how each piece was life sized and so immaculately detailed but the expressions of horror on everyone's faces kinda ruined the art for him. Maybe it was some sort of niche style? He was more interested in the burgers anyway.
"Hello?" an old sounding woman stepped out of the back, wearing a very covering dress and a face veil as she hobbled over to the counter, "My, it's rare to get guests this late nowadays. Especially from such nice-looking young people. What brings you to 'Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium tonight dears?"
"We were on a bus when it broke down." Percy gave a sheepish grin to the old lady "And well…we kinda went to stretch our legs and got lost. We smelled the burgers and were hoping we could get some food and order a taxi to get us to the next down from here."
"Oh of course!" the old woman made a horrified noise at the thought of the three of them being lost in the woods for who knows how many hours, "Oh, you poor things! Go get a seat over there and I'll bring you out some food. You poor dears. Just get settled in Percy, and I'll be right out with your meals." Smiling gratefully, Percy and the girls went over to the table they were directed to, the smell of delicious food filling his nose more and more. The second the nice old lady went into the back, Lou grabbed his hand as he turned to her with a small smile.
"Percy." Lou hissed quietly, "We never gave her your name."
-Lou-
When all Percy could do at her statement was give a confused blink, expression still dazed and happy, Lou cursed to herself. She'd thought it suspicious that nothing else had managed to catch up to them when they were travelling on foot and now she knew why. Whatever this old lady was, she was powerful and dangerous. Powerful enough to keep most other monsters out of her 'territory'.
And with her mind clear, the clues around her were obvious on just what this threat was.
"Oh dear." The old lady was back, a hand cupping her cheek with a sigh, "I do so hate when I slip up like that. But a young handsome face like that? I just couldn't help but get myself in a tizzy. He looks just like his father you know."
Lou wasted no time, "Tyflí koukoúla!" she cast a spell around herself, Percy, and Clarisse, her world becoming darkness as a hood of shadows obscured their heads. She couldn't see, but it neutralized Medusa's most potent and deadly ability.
"Bah, a child of Hecate." Medusa sighed even as Lou could hear the old woman's dress hit the floor, likely the focus for whatever glamour disguised her appearance "Your kind are always tricky to ensnare. Although it seems you're not that skilled at sensing the magics of others. More's the pity for you."
"Bitch." Lou scowled, "Istós aníchnefsis!" her second spell created thread upon thread of magic, filling the room to let her detect any who touched them. It wasn't the same as sight, but it would have to do. Another hasty spell bound Percy and Clarisse to their chairs, the two of no help till they were freed from whatever spell Medusa had used on them. Probably tied to the smell of the food.
"Language." Medusa chided mockingly even as the woman stalked forward, her body passing through Lou's threads and letting her know just where the monster was. Those threads were the only thing that saved her when something suddenly started passing through several rapidly.
"Aspída!" Lou's conjured defense shuddered as what felt like a knife hit it, the blade worryingly close to Lou's nose.
"Hmm, not bad little girl." Lou could feel the smirk in Medusa's voice as the monster spoke, the woman reveling in what she was doing. Whatever humanity had once been in this thing was clearly long gone.
And she couldn't afford to stay on the defensive.
Grabbing the handle of the knife Medusa had thrown at her, Lou took what felt like a solid stance "Epekteíno." The small kitchen knife elongated till it was the size of a sword.
"You know, it's rude to not bother talking with your host little girl." Medusa smirked mockingly, "I thought you high and mighty demigods cared about the laws of hospitali-!" Lou surged forward as the bitch spoke, using the thread Medusa passed through as she walked to find the monster.
"klostés synkrátisis!" Lou commanded her detection threads to converge upon Medusa, solidifying and binding her in place, giving her an opening even as Medusa snarled, the sound of hissing snakes filling the room. Lou could feel the ancient being working to overpower the threads, Lou's magic sapping as more and more threads dissipated at the relentless assault.
"Grah!" Medusa snarled as Lou's slash missed the neck, the smell of coppery blood filling the room as Lou's magic was dwindling faster and faster under Medusa's assault.
Feeling at least somewhat desperate from knowing she was running low from the earlier fight, the long trek, and all these spells, Lou lashed out with a hand. She could feel Medusa's face as the woman's snakes bit at her hand. But if she could find the face…
A wet noise filled the air as her makeshift sword sliced through the air. Finding the face meant she could find the neck.
Letting her spells end, Lou staggered back, her vision returning as she saw the severed head gripped in her hand, the snake hair going limp even as the bites all along her hand and wrist bled. On the floor, she could see a voluptuous corpse turning to golden monster dust.
"Lou!" Percy's concerned voice broke her from her exhausted musings, her boyfriend running over, eyes locked on her bleeding hand.
Oh good, Medusa dying broke the spell.
Energy gone, Lou felt her eyes roll up as she collapsed into Percy's arms, darkness taking her.
AN: so yeah, I plan for each member of the trio to get at least one major encounter that they get to solo for one reason or another. Tried to make fighting Medusa interesting and creative as I could given that she has to be fought 'blind'.