Disclaimer- Refer to Chapter 1

Here is the expected 2nd chapter. I really hope you all like it, as it took about 10 days to complete it. Review and give your feedback and ideas. And most importantly, enjoy.

Chapter 2

Argus drove them to Manhattan, before dropping them in the bus stop. They boarded the bus when it arrived after waiting for half an hour; when they were playing pass the packet sitting in the bus stop. As the bus was about to leave, three old ladies entered the bus. It didn't take much for Percy to recognize them as the furies. He immediately understood that Hades was bent on creating problem for them, so that they would fail. 'Well', he thought, 'The quest's going to get interesting.'

His friends, near him, it appeared, had also recognized the three old women. Luke had an ashen face where was Thalia was muttering highly colorful Greek curses, though both of them did not speak out about the monsters near them. They reached Ninth Avenue, heading to the Lincoln Tunnel. Percy turned to his friends and said, "The tunnel block any light from outside, leaving only the aisle lights on. The Kindly ones are ready to attack us as soon as we reach Lincoln Tunnel." Thalia's face became even more pale, as she asked, "Any back exit?" Luke replied in negative, as Percy spoke, "The Kindly Ones are already sitting near the emergency exit. The only chance we have is to try and hold them back till we are out of the tunnel. Then we can try killing them and try to not destroy the bus." He added the last line with a smile, but his mood was not echoed by his friends. Thalia immediately asked, "Very well Percy. Can you explain how we are going kill three of the furies without harming the bus or the mortals?" Percy thought for a moment and shrugged, before saying, "We have to wing it, because here comes the tunnel."

The bus entered the tunnel, and it was completely dark except for the aisle lights. The three demon grandmothers announced that they were going to bathroom, and started moving towards the seat of the three demigods. Percy immediately took out his pens, Luke started fingering his ring-cum-sword and Thalia immediately went for the two daggers she had found in the camp armory. The three furies also took out their flaming whips, but none of the mortals seemed to notice. The leading fury, Alecto, flung her towards Percy, but he managed to trap the whip between his swords and pull it forwards, causing Alecto to fall forward. But before Percy could vaporize her, the other two furies flung their whips and caught Percy's swords and tried to pull them. Percy tried to hold on, but when he saw it was a futile exercise, he immediately released, which caused the swords and with it, the whips, to go flying. By now, the bus had emerged from the tunnel and all the passengers were pointing towards Alecto who had fallen down. Alecto got up and cracked her whip at an unarmed Percy, but he caught it, and though the whip made a gash on his hand, he pulled it with all his strength and immediately used it to tie up Alecto. It was then that the people started noticed that the three old women were attacking the three teens and the teens were defending themselves using some metallic weapons. When they saw one of the teens tie up one of the old ladies, they thought that the teens were harassing the old ladies, but when they saw the blood flowing from Percy's hand, they immediately tried to help the three friends.

When Percy saw this, he was worried, but his attention was distracted when the other two furies got up, having managed to retrieve their whip. But as the second fury cracked her whip, Percy intercepted it with his spear, pulling the whip away and trying to stab the fury. But the fury got away from the strike, just in time for the spear to hit the chest of the third fury, causing it to vaporize. It was at that time Percy put back his spear and took out one of his swords. The unarmed Fury moved back towards the driver and when Percy attacked, sidestepped, causing Percy to destroy some of the mechanism. The bus went out of control, but Percy vaporized fury in the next strike.

But soon afterwards, the bus collided, which cause the doors to open and the passengers streamed out. Percy asked Thalia and Luke to grab their bags, and as soon as they got out, they saw a huge arc of lightning hit the bus, blasting it. Percy saw that the people were hyperventilating, whereas some were pointing to them in an accusatory manner, the mist obviously changing their memory. When Percy saw a man taking out a camera, he gave a shrill whistle, which attracted the attention of all people. He snapped his fingers, concentrating on manipulating the mist, before saying, "People, the three of us are FBI agents, and were on a covert mission. The miscreants we had to catch were responsible for the crash and the blast. Now that we have completed the mission, we will retire from your company." He then quickly led his friends out of the clearing on the shore of Hudson River and led them into the forest. After walking for a few minutes, Luke spoke up, "Now how will we reach our destination? By walking all the way there?"

Percy shook his head before saying, "No Luke, we have to walk for a few hours today, tomorrow we will catch a train to go to Los Angeles. It's just that it is easier to lose monsters from your tail in the forest. Now keep quiet and follow me." After walking for about an hour, they came upon an enticing smell of junk food. The three of the came to a shop compound, which was

Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium

Both Thalia and Luke immediately started moving inside, with Percy following them warily. He felt a sense of foreboding, and was cautious. It came as side effect of being the Champion of the God of Prophecy. They saw that the yard was littered with many stone statues. All were life-like, but what was noted by Percy was that some of them had an expression of fear on their face. Percy was even more wary, but for the love of his life, he could not remember which monster this could be, and he was not even sure if he was not being overly paranoid. The smell of food seemed to muddle up his mind…. Percy broke out of the reverie with a jolt, and immediately understood that it was the lair of some monster. He was immediately on his guard, but when he tried to warn his friends, he found that they were under the monster's spell, which probably generated complacency.

He followed them into the front of the shop, and saw that an old lady with a veil was sitting there who, as soon as she saw them, came out of her seat, and asked, "Are you children lost? This is generally an abandoned road. Do you three need any help from me?" Thalia and Luke were about to say the truth, but Percy cut in saying, "We were in the bus accident in the Hudson coast. We have lost our parents in the forest and were searching for them when we stumbled upon your shop. Can you tell us the way out of this forest? We can manage on our own after that." Luke and Thalia gave him disapproving glares, but Aunty Em was not ruffled. She said, "Oh, you poor dears. First you should eat something. I just love children, but now-a-days no one comes here after the highway was made."

She led the three heroes to a cafeteria inside the shop and made them sit on a table as he went inside, saying, "You children wait here. I will bring you something to eat. All of you look starved." As soon as the lady was gone, Percy rounded upon his friends and said, "I am warning you, there is something of with the old lady. Be careful and don't reveal anything important. But he was cut off by Luke, who said, "Oh keep quite Percy. She is only a sweet old lady. You are being too paranoid." Percy was about to reply to Luke's accusation when Aunty Em came in holding platters of fast food for them. Even Percy relaxed after eating the food, which was tasty as hell.

Thalia asked, "Are all alone here Aunty Em?" She nodded saying, "Once I was a very happy young lady. I had two sisters and a boyfriend. But a lady who was jealous of me caused an accident. It disfigured me and even my boyfriend left me. Only my sisters remained with me, helping me in any way they could, but they also faded with time. Now it is very lonely, and with the new highway, not many people visit the shop."

It was during a lull in conversation that Percy heard the hissing noise coming from Aunty Em, and his mind travelled to snakes. Percy remembered about the two sisters and the frightened statues and immediately connected the dots, and recognized that it was Medusa, the only mortal Gorgon. Percy was anxious to avoid a confrontation, as she was very dangerous,, and finishing the last bite of the burger, he stood up saying, "We should leave. There must be people searching for us." Luke looked as if he didn't want to go, but one glare from Percy, and he was also ready to leave. But Aunty Em said, "Oh, you all are leaving. Can't you pose for one picture? Children's statues are very popular these days." Percy opened his mouth to say no, but Luke spoke up, "It all right Aunty Em, we will give a pose."

Percy saw it was unwise to start a fight an inside the cramped hall, and allowed her to lead them outside. As soon as they reached the open yard, he took out one of his swords, and gained hold of one of the reflecting balls in the garden. He then shouted his friends to duck, before running towards Medusa. But Medusa dodged the blow and tried to slash Percy with her claw, while trying to remove the veil from her face. She spoke up, "So, son of Poseidon managed to identify me. What gave me up, if I may know?" Percy understood the game, and moved behind Medusa, all the while walking slowly. He replied, "Well the frightened expression on the statues, your story and your two sisters, the slight hissing noise from your body made it easy to know that you were Medusa." Percy saw his chance when he saw that Medusa was busy in removing the veil, before quietly creeping behind her, and cutting her head off, as soon as the veil came off. But Medusa seemed to expect the move, and jumped sideways as the veil came off her head.

This caused his two fiends to break out of their reverie, and they immediately averted their eyes and Luke took out his sword while activating his cap. As Luke went in for a flying strike, Medusa's attention was diverted. She swiped at Luke, causing wounds on his hand from her claws. But it gave time for Percy to sneak up on her, and her head was cut off before she could blink her eyes. Percy immediately kicked the fallen veil over her head which remained as a spoil of war.

An ashen Thalia ran over and hugged Percy and Luke, holding them tight till Percy choked out that she was strangling him. Thalia immediately released him, and blushed when Percy smiled at her. Then came a pale faced Luke who apologized to Percy for not believing him. He said, "Percy, I am sorry that I chastised you when you warned us and paid you no heed. And again, thanks buddy for saving us from becoming stone. I believe t would have had been an inglorious end to my short life. And please forgive me if I don't hug you till you choke. That's the right of fan girls."

Both the boys dissolved into laughter, before Luke was shocked by a red-faced Thalia, which shut them up nicely. She turned to Percy and said, "Ok seaweed brain that's enough laughing. Now can you tell me what we will do with this head?" Percy seemed to think for a moment, before saying, "Don't worry. I am going to contact Triton, I believe he will be able to integrate it into a shield like yours, but more deadly." He then concentrated to create a mist, before sending a beam of sunlight through it, causing a rainbow to form. He tossed a Golden Drachma, saying, "O Iris, Goddess of Rainbow, show me Triton in Atlantis." The rainbow wavered for a moment, before showing the workshops of the Cyclopes, where Triton was inspecting the work. Percy had to shout loudly for the god to hear, but once he noticed Percy, he erected a veil of silence around himself and said "Her Perce? How is your quest going? Did you miss me?" Percy said, "It's now almost evening and we have already been attacked by the three Kindly Ones and Medusa. But Triton, I wanted a favor. I have here the head of Medusa. If I send it to you, can you make it into a shield like Aegis? But it should have an active and dormant mode; otherwise it will be difficult to use it." Triton looked shocked for a moment before replying, "Congrats brother. You have successfully killed Medusa. I am very proud of you. Send on the head. I am sure the Cyclopes would be able to do it." Percy thanked him before ending the call, and said, "Let's search if there are any Hermes Overnight Delivery Boxes."

The three friends found a Medusa head sized box and put in the head inside it, before Percy wrote the receiver's address as

Lord Triton

Atlantis

From Perseus Jackson

Medusa Head, Handle with care.

He then took out some Drachmas from Medusa's drawer, before putting them in the attached pouch, and the box disappeared with a small ping. He was looking through the documents on Medusa's desk, when he saw some receipts from underworld. He immediately took them out, and saw that it was given from DOA Studios. Los Angeles. He thanked Tyche, before calling in his friends and saying, "I believe that we can travel some more today. But look here, the address of Underworld studio is given as DOA Studios, Los Angeles. So, let's move out."

The three demigods started walking through the forest, before they came upon train tracks. Percy immediately closed his eyes and prayed Apollo to tell him the nearest train station in either direction. Immediately he knew that Amtrak station was 1 mile down the road. He opened his eyes and saw that his friends were looking at him curiously. He said, "Well? What are you waiting for? Amtrak station is 1 mile down the line. Get moving. I believe that we will be able to catch a west bound train if you reach in time."

They reached the train in ½ an hour, and found that the furthest going west-bound train went up to Denver. They boarded the train, Percy paying for the tickets. They clambered onto their first class seats, and collapsed on them, releasing a relived sigh. Percy said, "Well, I am knackered. Good night to both of you." Thalia mumbled a goodbye to him, but Luke was already asleep. Thalia and Luke slept like logs, but Percy had an uneasy sleep, before he started dreaming.

He was in a rocky tunnel, with wispy spirits along the way. He was moving towards a pit, and though the spirits were asking him to stop, he felt as if he was attracted towards the pit. He walked up to it, and found that it was extremely deep and wide and was giving off negative monster-like energy, but in a massive scale. Percy thought that it was either the Fields of Punishment or Tartarus. He immediately knew that this dream was not his own, but was being influenced by a powerful being. He knew that it could as well be Hades, and it would be devastating to be caught in a dream by Hades. He employed all the mental strength he was given by Hestia, and managed to pull himself out of the dream. He woke up sweating, and saw that it was not long after midnight. He turned in his bed, and immediately fell asleep again, to wake up at 10 am the next day.

Well the chapter is over. Thank God.

I am sorry guys for posting it so late, but I had gone to my village immediately after exams, and there was no connection there. So Sorry again, and I will try to post the next chapter either today or tomorrow.