I do not own anything.
CHAPTER IV
We Meet the Ugly Stepsisters
Danny and I agreed that we would go by land, considering the fact that Zeus would blast us straight to the Underworld if we went by air. Why did he have to hate me in his territory so much?
We got into the camp van and we set off, Argus driving. I had no idea what we were going to do, so I decided to shoot marbles at random signs. Occasionally, I would miss the sign an hit a pedestrian in the head or eye, and I would scream "SORRY!" and duck my head in. Things were going fine until a hellhound rammed into us.
Luckily, we weren't in the city. When the hellhound ran into us, I flew into the side of the van. Danny was at the back doors, and Argus was no where to be seen. The van took another blow, knocking my head against the side. I scrambled around until I found my pack and put it on. Danny groaned, still down. I forced the doors open to get a searing pain in my arm. I yelped and git whatever it was. Once my fist made contact, I heard a dog yelp. I tapped my ring, ready to fight. Out sprung a glowing bow, and a quiver with arrows sprung onto my back.
There stood a seven foot tall hellhound, growling at my. I notched an arrow and aimed it at the hellhound. Danny started to get up and saw the hellhound. He pulled out his bow and arrows too.
The hellhound snarled at our weapons and howled. A jeep passed by us, the mortals not even glancing over at us. I let my arrow fly and it hit it straight in the forehead, making the hellhound look more like a hellhound mixed with a unicorn. It started to disintegrate to dust, but Danny and I just shot another round of arrows. Once it was gone, we gather the arrows and I tapped my bow, and it turned back into a ring.
"I didn't know you shot so well," Danny said.
"Neither did I. To be honest, I don't think I was even controlling myself at that moment."
"Well, you did a pretty good job," he says, smiling at me. He seemed about a year older than me, maybe two. He was about half a foot taller than me.
"Come on, Danny. We gotta get going. I bet that howl was a warning to his friends."Danny and I set off on foot, us both playing twenty-one questions.
"Birthday?" I ask him.
"July 4th. Your favorite thing to do?"
"Shoot marbles at random people. Your favorite movie?"
"Clash of the Titans. Most awesome person in the world, and no saying yourself."
"Leo."
"It isn't me? Who's this Leo?"
"This Leo is a childhood friend, and I hate his guts. Still, he was pretty awesome. Favorite goddess?"
"You." He smile at me in a flirtatious way. I roll my eyes at him and hit him in the gut playfully.
"I'm serious. Who is your favorite goddess?"
"Probably Athena."
"Ditto. Hey, do you have any idea where we are?" I ask, looking around. We're in the middle of nowhere.
"No idea. Let's make camp here, because you look terrible. Plus, it's getting pretty dark."
"Hey, Danny?"
"Yes?"
"Shut up." We set our little camp away from the road, and Danny starts a little fire. He scoots his sleeping bag next to mine. Together, we stare into the fire.
"Well, this is fun," I say. Danny rolls over to look at me better. I peek at him out of the corner of my eye.
"Fauna," he says. "Sorry about before. It just seems like you don't know how beautiful you really are."
"Danny, to be honest, I haven't bloomed yet. Right now,I'm as ugly as a pig who got ran over by a tractor." He chuckled at me.
"You're right on that, I have to agree. It's more on the inside wise."
"Whatever you say, Danny." I roll over, sleeping bag and all, away from the fire. I bury my head in the sleeping bag when it really hits me that I might die. I squeeze my eyes shut and steady my breathing.
I manage to have a dreamless sleep, thankfully. I would have gladly stayed asleep, but Danny insisted that I get up. Once I got up and packed my things, Danny and I decided to straighten out our quest a bit more. I was complaining when two women wearing funny hats came up to us. Man, living on the streets gave me a really bad advantage on...everything, basically. I'll have to ask Annabeth if she could teach me all of that fun math and science and whatever else there was.
The two women approached us, them both wear long coats, so they dragged on the ground. They wore long scarce, The even though it was a million degrees out.
The one on the right whispered something-no, hissed something. I glanced over at Danny, and he seemed perfectly fine, the exact opposite of what I was feeling. I felt ready to run away screaming my head off and go hide back in my ally,maybe hang out with Pissy Parker. He was always just so irritating, and he sometimes wet himself.
"What are two children doing here in the middle of nowhere?" asked the one on the right.
"We're just talking a walk. We got a little lost," Danny says. He ain't wrong about the part of us getting lost, and we were walking.
"We'll then, why don't we help you?" asks the other. I was surprised at how much older she sounded than the first one. "How about we give you a ride?" I looked around.
"I don't see a car or anything. How would you give us a ride?" I question. The first one gives a cackle.
"Just watch, daughter of Poseidon." Right after she said that, they shed their coats, scarfs, and hats. Underneath was scaly snake hair and tusks at their mouth. Their skin was somewhat wrinkled and they had chucked feet. The only way I could tell them apart was by their snakes: The yoke had green snakes and one had red snakes. They looked so ridiculous, I might off laughed if it weren't for their sharp claws and teeth.
"I know you two! You're Medusa's sister's! Stealtho and Urinal, was it?" I asked.
"I am Euryale!" said the one with red snakes. "My sister is Stheno. Prepare to die, demigod scum!" She lunged at me, but I managed to leap out of the way. I paid no attention to Danny, and had no idea where he was at.
I remember Annabeth telling me something about their blood. Left side was the curing one, and right was the deadly one? No other way around.
I tapped my ring and it turned into my sword. It gave off a golden glow, which made the gorgons cringe. I take out two plastic buggies and slash Stheno down her right arm while she was distracted by my sword. I slam into her, knocking her to the ground. The bag is almost full when I hear a yelp behind me.
I seal and stuff the baggie into my back pack and leap to my feet, leaving Stheno on the ground, shocked. I see Danny at Euryale's feet, blood trickling down the side of his face. Euryale strikes again, and Danny holds up his arm to protect his face. I wield my sword at Euryale, and it passes right through her chest. She disintegrates to dust.
Oh great, now I'm defenseless, I think to myself. I turn around to get a bite out of my arm. I scream and kick Stheno in her gut, and she tumbled backwards. I collapse to the ground and just hope for the best, which would be a quick death.
Then, Danny's there, an arrow notched in his bow. He shoots it clean through her heart, and she's gone just like that. Danny stares at the spot where she disintegrated, as if he expected her to reform. Finally, he helps me up. His eyes widen when he looks down. I follow his stare and gasp at the nauseating sight.
My lower arm had a good chunk out of it, and bone was visible. It's bleeding heavily, and it smells like rotting flesh. Danny pours nectar on it, but it only heals it a bit. It still looked dented, but it didn't hurt as much. I tended to Danny's wounds in silence.
"Percy is going to kill me for your injury," he says. I believed him. We were barely into this quest, and I was already so close to loosing a limb. "On the bright side, we got gorgon's blood," he smiles, holding up a baggie of the stuff.
"From the left side or right side?" I ask him.
"Left side. You got the right side?" I nod. "That's the poisonous side, just so you know."
"It is not! Annabeth said that the left side is poisonous. The right side is good. She knows her stuff, being a daughter of Athena."
"Well, the gorgon's blood is used for healing, and Apollo is the god of medicine and healing, so who do you believe now?" 'He has a point,' a voice in my head says. 'But I believe Annabeth more. She wouldn't lie to me,' 'Her mother is your father's rival, his enemy of all the Olympians. She is trying to trick you!' I heaved a sigh.
"Okay, I believe you," I say. My ring was back on my finger, and I had it turn into a marker. I took out the gorgon blood in my bag and labeled it RIGHT SIDE and the one Danny had LEFT SIDE. I made sure they were sealed tight and put them in my back. I lifted it onto my shoulders and we're off again.
While we were walking, I could help but think about the gorgons. Medusa used to be pretty, and I still think she is. It's just the snakes, and other creepy things, but her sisters are plain ugly. Now that I think about it more, they didn't turn me or Danny to stone. That's really odd. I was about to mention it to Danny when I heard a weeping sound behind us. I turned around and saw a little girl weeping.
Now, I would usually ask if they're okay and give them some sypathy, but this girl had snakes for hair, like the other gorgons.
"Holy Pacific!" I screamed getting out my sword. The girl looked up, and she actually looked normal, other than the snake hair. She was older than me by a year maybe, around Percy's age. Her eyes were a green color, her skin pale. Her snakes were brown, and trying to comfort the girl. A few were hissing at us. She had tear streaks on her face. I cautiously took a step towards her.
"Please don't kill me!" she screamed, scrambling backwards. My eyes wided and I tapped the sword, turning it back into a ring. I stepped closer, showing my empty hands.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt you. What's your name?" She looked at me. Her eyes were puffy from crying.
"I'm Agathe, daughter of Medusa and Poseidon." I smiled at her. I offered her my hand to help her up, but she didn't take it.
"Come on now, Agathe. I won't bite. After all, us Poseidon children have to stick together," I grin at her. She takes my hand after a moment of hesitation, and I help her up. Even though she might of been older, I was taller than her by a few inches. "I'm Fauna Jackson. Daughter of Poseidon, sister of Percy Jackson and Phaedra Jackson."
"Our brother killed my mother," she says flatly. Then her face brightens and she says, "Thanks so much! You have no idea how depressing it was with my aunts, and my mom was even worse!" I laugh, and she joins me.
"Do you have any of Medusa's powers?" I ask after I catch my breath.
"Yeah, but I can control my turn-people-to-stone powers, and I can turn them back to normal. Actually, I can bring anything that's stone to life," she says proudly.
"Too bad you're a monster," Danny suddenly says, looking through his stuff. I roll my eyes at him.
"Agathe, can you turn him to stone for a bit? He's just grumpy." She actually does turn him to stone, and I pray to Apollo that I'm sorry. Thunder rumbles in the distance, but the sun gets brighter. I let out a laugh and Agathe joins me. I had a pretty good feeling that Agathe was going to be a pretty awesome sister.