Hello guys and welcome to the first chapter of the Minific between the bigger ones, I hope you enjoy some Luke and Thalia content because the first few chaps revolve around them.

The road trip had been derailed pretty quickly. They'd been driving for a little while before things had gone wrong- they'd ended up crashing Luke's shiny new car- he wasn't happy about that.

It had been a cyclops attack- Thalia had a strong scent and his was hardly that weak either, it made sense that they'd draw monsters- still, it had not been a good development.

They'd managed to take it out of course- he'd been nowhere near as big as Polyphemus, though he was bigger than Tyson, and Luke and Thalia made a surprisingly good team and within less than ten minutes the monster was a pile of dust and the only injury was a nasty black eye for Luke and some bruised ribs for Thalia.

All in all it could definitely have been worse.

Still it meant that they had to continue on foot since the car had been totalled when the Cyclops had used a tree as a bat to smash them off the road.

And it wasn't as if they could call for someone to come and pick them up- neither of them had phones because they really couldn't afford to draw even more monsters to them than their scents already would.

It didn't help that it was cold, sure they both had jackets but they weren't that warm, the two demigods had been counting on the warmth of the car- which in retrospect had probably been a mistake- though at least Luke could be excused for making it given the relative smooth sailing of his first quest.

Eventually though, Thalia spotted light up ahead, and she perked up quickly, lighting up as she looked around, "There!" she pointed towards it- it was a fair distance away. "Something's over there."

"That looks- is that neon?" Luke raised an eyebrow, "In the middle of nowhere? That's kind of weird."

"Well it's our best bet."

"We need to be on guard." Luke's voice was firm, "It could be a trap or something. I really don't like this."

"We don't have much choice Jackson." Thalia shrugged, "We have no clue where we're going." she paused, sniffing the air, "Is that- food?"

"I-" Luke paused, sniffing too. "Actually you're right, I smell burgers" his expression became dreamy, "I haven't had a burger in so long."

"Poor thing." Thalia snickered, "Tired of eating healthy all the time-"

"Shut up." Luke shoved her shoulder gently, "I've pretty much lived in camp for a year and a half- the only time I get to really let loose with food is when I visit home."

"Poor thing." Thalia teased, "However have you survived such hardship."

"Yeah yeah." Luke laughed, "I know I'm lucky, no need to remind me Thalia."

"Seriously, I know it's probably not totally perfect but you have the dream life for a demigod-"

"Yeah. I know." Luke nodded. "I got lucky."

They'd reached deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.

It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like the smell would have suggested, no, it was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for Luke to read, though his eyes narrowed as he peered up at it, "Uh, I don't suppose you can read that can you?"

"Not a chance." Thalia snorted as she stared up, "Atnyu mes-" she shook her head, "Okay no, nope I cannot read that, sorry it's not happening."

Luke snorted, "Well I can't read it either. I hate neon signs-"

"As if normal writing wasn't hard enough to read." Thalia remarked. "What do you think this place is?"

"I have no idea-but the burger smell is good." Luke sniffed again and his stomach rumbled- "Oh yeah. I need food."

"Then food it is." Thalia declared. "There's lights on so it looks like it's open." together they wandered across the streets towards the building- the lights were all on in the entrance and flanking it were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

When they reached them Luke looked at them curiously, poking the ornaments, "They're pretty realistic."

"Huh, weird." Thalia shrugged, "Do you think they have a snack bar that sells burgers? That'd explain the smell-"

And it really was a good smell. Luke was starving, and what hard could it do to go inside? He felt a nervousness suddenly- something wasn't right- but what could be wrong with a place like this.

He felt so hungry and almost foggy headed. He couldn't put his finger on what wasn't right.

They headed into the front lot together, and it was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes- which made Luke tilt his head.

"Does that Satyr look familiar to you?"

"Of course not." Thalia waved a hand dismissively, before rolling her eyes when Luke tugged her towards it, and he poked the cheek, tilting his head.

"Thalia this dude's nose is like Grovers-"

"Come on." Thalia snorted, "Don't be stupid"

"Atynu mes.." Luke let Thalia drag him along, desperately trying to figure out what he was missing. It was something big he could feel it.

And then it clicked. Atynu mes.

Aunty Ems. Nico had mentioned that when he'd arrived in the underworld he'd met Lady Persephone who had been dealing with a delivery from Aunt Ems Garden Gnome Emporium. Nico had said that the statues creeped him out.

Statues... Aunt Em- But Luke didn't manage to connect the pieces any further because the door creaked open and suddenly standing in front of them was a tall woman wearing a long black gown that covered everything but her hands and her head was completely veiled.

The alarm bells were almost blaring in Luke's mind now. Something was wrong he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. This almost felt like when they'd been on Circe's island- and his eyes widened in realization.

He and Thalia were being enchanted- and whoever the woman in front of them was she was behind it.

He slipped his hand into his pocket, fingers curling around the smooth cool metal of Episkopos' sheathed form. He couldn't let on that he knew yet- he needed to make sure Thalia was safe- she was clearly under the monsters spell because she was smiling at the woman, who spoke to the then, with a vaguely Middle Eastern accent Luke noticed.

"How lovely. I don't get visitors as often as I'd like." her voice was warm and comforting. "And two so young- what are you doing way out here."

"Our car broke down." Thalia spoke up before Luke could stop her, "We've been walking for ages, we smelled burgers-"

Luke resisted the urge to groan. It seemed that Thalia was almost as bad as Percy for thinking with her stomach, though he supposed the spell could be used to excuse it. If he hadn't already been through something similar it would have caught him up too.

"Oh of course you poor dears. You must be exhausted. I am Aunty Em, please do come in, if you go to the back of the warehouse there's a dining area."

And all Luke could do was follow Thalia as she forged ahead before he could even think about stopping her.

And he hated this- the spell was still making him heavy and slow, it was infuriating. He couldn't think clearly even though he knew something was wrong.

The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. They were all life-size too- and some of them looked terrified- that wasn't right, who would purposely make a statue like that- to him it looked almost like- his eyes widened in horror and realization. He was surging forward then, grabbing Thalia's hand, forcing down his panic, "Thalia! Aunty Em-"

"What is it Luke-"

"We need to get out of here-" he took off, dragging Thalia with him, "Aunty Em. Medusa-"

"Wait." Thalia instantly sped up, running with Luke as they wove through the statues to try and hide behind them. "Wait the Medusa? As in the woman who is part of the reason for the whole rivalry between-"

"Yeah, that Medusa-"

"We have to get out of here-"

And Luke wanted to agree, he wanted to get them both out of there, to flee as fast as they could. But- some of those statues were humans, mortals from the look of them. He resisted the urge to groan. "No, no we have to kill her-"

"How exactly do we kill a monster we can't look at?"

"Where are you?" Medusa's voice was almost hypnotic. "Where are you little half bloods- I was going to give you food, I'm just a poor old woman, you wouldn't disappoint me now would you? I get so few people visiting me. Where are you?" and Luke could hear her searching for them.

"We can't look at her." Luke's mind was racing, "We can't look at her- not directly anyway-" he paused, "But maybe if we can find something that gives a reflection we could use that-"

"My shield ma-"

"Do you really think that's a good idea? Oh yeah show off your shield to the woman who's face is on it." Luke whispered back. "I'm sure she'll be flattered by that-"

"Right, right good point." Thalia grimaced, "What do we do?"

"I don't know-"

"I have an idea." Thali swallowed hard, grabbing the bottom of her shirt and ripping it.

"What are you doing?"

"Blindfolding myself so I don't accidentally open my eyes-"

"Thalia you can't fight her blindfolded-"

"You're right. What I can do is distract her while you go around from behind. As long as you don't look at her face you'll be alright. I'll try and grab her head and keep her looking at me."

"I don't like this plan, I'm just stating that for the record-"

"Of course you don't." Thalia snorted, wrapping the strip of fabric around her eyes tightly and tying it to cover her eyes. "Get around behind her- and whatever you do don't look at her-"

"I hate this." Luke groaned but he did as he was told, darting away from Thalia, who stepped out from behind a statue and started shouting.

"Hey! You old hag! I know who you are and you're not turning me to stone- I'm friends with your ex's daughter, she's way prettier than you- and she's dating Athena's daughter, bet that really pisses you off!"

"Don't mention that name." there was hissing at that, it filled the air and Thalia clenched her fingers into fists as she heard Medusa getting closer, screwing her eyes shut.
"Did you really think a blindfold could stop me little halfblood?" sharp nails dug into her cheeks, holding her face in place.

"I won't look at you-" and Thalia was reaching out, almost failing in the general area Medusa's face would be-and she managed to grab at it, digging her nails in and holding it in place-

"What- what are you doing little girl." Medusa tried to pull herself free, but then Luke was leaping out from behind her, bronze blade flashing as he sliced the monsters head off, screwing his eyes shut as soon as he was done and letting go of Episkopos so that he wouldn't risk hurting Thalia as he collided with her, knocking them both to the floor.

There was a long moment of silence after the clatter of their fall. "Is-" Thalia's voice was slow, "Is she dead."

"I saw her head falling." Luke said quickly, "I closed my eyes because I didn't want to risk it landing facing me." he shifted slowly, moving of off Thalia, opening his eyes, though he was careful to only look at the daughter of Zeus. "It'll become a trophy right?"

"What do we even do with it?" Thalia groaned, shaking her head as she tugged the blindfold off. "It'll be a spoil of war right?"

"Yeah." Thalia nodded, "Yeah it will- a gross spoil of war."

"Do you want i-"

"You killed it." Thalia pulled a face, "I don't want it-"

"But really I think it should be-"

"I swear if you try and give me Medusa's head I will maim you Luke Jackson I will fucking maim you-"

"Alright alright!" Luke laughed, holding up his hands, "So what do we do with it."

"I dunno." Thalia paused, "Burn it?"

Luke looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded in agreement. "Burn it." and both of them grinned at each other. Thalia's cheeks might be a bit bloody from Medusa's nails in that moment, but Luke had to admit, he hadn't ever felt so alive.