Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or Camp Half-Blood or mythology. Rick does. Well, at least the characters and Camp Half-Blood.
Chapter 15
"So where do we go?" asked Thalia. "The Oracle just said to go west."
"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west," Chiron said. "It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."
Percy watched the scene unfold in front of him. Invisible, of course. He stole Annabeth's Yankees cap in the morning specifically for this purpose. She didn't seem very bothered by the fact that she couldn't find it. Or maybe she was just good at hiding her emotions. Or perhaps it was hidden deep in her eyes. She was fidgeting around a lot, as if wondering where her cap went. If he stared hard, he could almost see the worry in her eyes.
"So… California?" said Thalia hesitantly.
"Los Angeles," Chiron specified.
The daughter of Zeus muttered, "Great."
"Hey, Thalia," Annabeth said. "Have you seen my, um, my New York Yankees baseball cap? I think I lost it yesterday. I might've just forgotten it in my cabin but… Have you seen it anywhere?"
Thalia frowned. "You lost your cap? I thought you'd be extra careful with that."
"I'm sorry," the daughter of Athena said quietly. "I've just been… distracted recently. I mean, you know, with what happened three months ago. Whatever, let's just get this briefing over with and go. There's no time to waste. I'll search for it in a bit."
Percy had never seen Annabeth this frazzled, and it was an odd sight. She even looked disorganized. Her hair didn't look like it was brushed; her clothes were wrinkled, as if she'd just taken them out of a drying machine without folding them; and she just looked distracted. Just as she'd described herself. Usually the daughter of Athena was fairly well organized. He wondered what was bothering her.
"Anyway, Los Angeles?" Thalia asked.
Chiron nodded.
"Okay," she said. "So we just get on a plane—"
"Well," the centaur interrupted. "That's easier said than done. First of all, we don't have the money to pay for three tickets to Los Angeles. That is quite a long flight. All the way across the country. And, of course, it would cause some further complications. Some that may not be reversible."
Annabeth and Thalia exchanged a look. "What do you mean?" they said in harmony.
"Two companions may accompany you. Annabeth is one. I believe you desire to have another join; however, a second companion has already volunteered, if you will accept his help."
"Wait, who would—?"
Percy cut Annabeth off by pulling her Yankees cap off his head. He shimmered into existence, much to the chagrin of the two girls. He tossed the hat to Annabeth, who caught it with a stunned look on her face. Before they could say anything, he spoke: "This isn't where I say sorry and beg for your forgiveness. I already know that won't work, even if I am sorry. This is where I say I want to help. This whole mess is my fault, and I want to fix it. You don't have to accept my help. I'll be fine with that. It's an offer."
They looked at each other and seemed to have a telepathic conversation.
Annabeth turned to him. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon."
"And Poseidon is no fan of Athena."
"But…" She emphasized the word. "You're not Poseidon. And I'm not Athena." Percy couldn't tell if the words were being forced or if they were true. "You… Luke said you fight well, and I can't deny that. From what I can tell, you have more experience with fighting than Luke. That is just logic."
Percy felt his heart soar.
Then Annabeth made it crash: "But I don't decide whether you're on the quest or not. That's Thalia's decision."
Thalia glared at him intensely. "Our parents are rivals. But, like Annabeth said, we aren't our parents. You kept a dirty secret from us for a long time, but… but you are a good fighter. You really have a friend in Luke. No matter what we say, he tells us you're a great fighter and you deserve to have lots of friends. He truly means it. It's not even like a clever trick… he's truly means it. If… if Luke is willing to defend you, I guess it's all right."
Percy just stared at her.
"What?" she demanded.
"That was a lot easier than I expected," he admitted.
"Be fortunate you have a good friend," Thalia snapped. "Come on, let's get packing."
It didn't take Percy long to pack. He'd taken nothing on his trip to the Sea of Monsters. This time, he just brought an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack from the camp store. The camp store had also loaned each of them one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. The coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, but Olympians never used less than pure gold.
"I thought Chiron said we didn't have enough money?" Thalia said irritably. "We could've taken a plane."
"That was just because of me. Besides, if we get on a plane, we all die because I'm there. Not a good thing. Like forty thousand feet up… well, maybe less, but still. Very high up in Zeus' territory equals not good for me."
"Forty thousand feet?" Thalia went as pale as chalk. "Screw the plane."
He cocked his head in interest.
Chiron gave all of them each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares. To be used only in emergencies, if they were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded them, even though they knew it. It would cure them of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn them up, literally.
Annabeth carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and Luke's long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve.
Thalia packed similarly to Percy: an extra pair of clothes, a mace canister (a.k.a. her spear), and the extra stuff. Percy kind of wished they weren't so eerily similar. At least they had different tastes in music? Nah, he kinda liked Green Day too.
On top of the hill Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the one-hundred-eyed head of security, Argus. He had a hundred eyes all of his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so Percy could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.
"Argus will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things," Chiron said.
Then Percy heard footsteps behind them.
Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.
"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."
Thalia straightened up and tried not to look sloppy. Percy suppressed his smile as Luke caught his breath. Percy noticed the basketball shoes in his hand. Those must have been the cursed shoes that Luke had told him about. He could never wear it unless there was an emergency. With his luck, the curse would activate in the middle of Kansas and he'd been lifted into a tornado never to be found again.
"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told Thalia. "And I thought… um, maybe you could use these."
Thalia took them from his hands.
Luke said, "Maia!"
White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels; they startled Thalia so much, she dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.
"Cool," Percy said, trying to further the guise.
"Thanks," Luke said with a grin. "Oh, and by the way, Percy. Make sure you protect those girls going with you. They might be the leaders, but you definitely have the experience. I mean, it was you that killed the Minotaur and the Cyclops that night, right?"
"Thalia did most of the work on the hill," he reiterated. "Like I've said a million times before. Even without the Minotaur, we would've died if it wasn't for her. Granted, I wasn't allowed to use my fishy powers, but still. I think they would still be good if you were on the quest. I just… I have to fix this mess. You understand, right?"
"Of course, bud." The word 'bud' sounded forced. "Besides, I'd trust you with my life. I don't think you trust me with yours, though." Luke's eyes told him to say no.
"No, I don't," Percy said, and Luke gave a discreet nod. "Not yet. Not after our little argument before I left camp. You could have been more reasonable."
"Well, you were being a little bit selfish," Luke's voice turned tense. "Not everything goes your way."
"Whatever." The son of Poseidon flashed him a warning look. "Anyway, thanks for understanding. Take care of camp while we're gone. Make sure nothing happens to Beckendorf… Silena… all of them."
"Of course. Well, see ya!"
Percy gave Luke a fist bump. Then the son of Hermes hugged both Thalia and Annabeth.
After Luke was gone, Percy turned to Thalia and said, "You're hyperventilating."
"No, I'm not."
"Are you guys dating yet?"
She blushed. "Shut up, Jackson! Why did I agree to let you to go on the quest?"
She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys. Percy noticed she took the basketball shoes and stuffed them in her backpack.
"You may be good at fighting, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said coolly, "but if you want to have a chance of staying alive, I'm your best bet."
He snorted. "I don't suppose you have a plan, do you, Wise Girl?"
Her cheeks tinted pink. "Don't think you've made up for what you did."
"Never said that."
"Good."
"But your face is pink," he told her.
She turned away. "Thalia's right. Why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"
She followed Argus and Thalia down the hill.
Chiron wore a small smile as he told Percy, "You should be careful, Percy. There are many things out there far more dangerous than a Cyclops. I believe you had some generous luck in the Sea of Monsters, from what I've heard." There was a mysterious twinkle in his eyes.
Percy gave him a flabbergasted look. "But I—what… but—how? What?"
"Be careful," the centaur warned. "Take care of your friends. I have a feeling you are the true leader of this quest. Be that as it may, follow Thalia's lead when you need to. You are both natural leaders, and I would hate to see the demise of Western civilization be due to the fact that two young twelve-year-old kids argued too much."
"Of course, Chiron. I'll be careful," he promised.
"Go along, then. Oh, and Percy. Sometimes too much knowledge is bad for you. I've said that before. But sometimes it is the moral and knowing when to yield that is the hardest thing to do."
Percy took one last look at Camp Half-Blood before he walked down to the SUV on his first true quest. He hoped it would go okay. He hoped Annabeth and Thalia wouldn't kill him on the way. The sun in the sky looked like a good omen shining in the bright day. He hoped it would go well. The world depended on it.
Argus drove them out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It had been just three months since he had last been out in the mortal world. But the mortal world seemed like a fantasy. He found himself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.
"Ten miles," Percy muttered to himself. "Good."
Unsurprisingly, Thalia and Annabeth ignored him. Thalia took shotgun seat whilst Annabeth sat behind her. Percy made sure to lean against the door on his side so Annabeth wouldn't get annoyed with him being so close. He had to make sure every move he made was careful and measured.
Trust would come if he was patient. He wished he was patient.
Traffic slowed them down in Queens. By the time they got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.
Argus dropped them off at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side. Percy scowled when he remembered this was close to where his mom and Gabe used to live. Then she kicked him out and died a couple days later. He wondered what had ever happened to that apartment. Had Gabe taken it because his mother was dead? That brought up another point. Where was his mother's body? He never really thought about that. Did the mortals take it? Most of the cemeteries were in Lower Manhattan. They were a little ways away from there. Chiron probably knew.
Hell, probably half the Olympian Council knew. They were nosy when it came to his life. He'd been told many of the gods knew about him, but kept quiet. Was it that obvious? That he was the son of Poseidon?
The rain kept coming down.
After a while, the bus finally came. Percy was relieved when they finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. The two girls sat opposite of him, but they weren't trying to pretend he wasn't there anymore. Thalia told him to sit alone. She sat on the aisle seat so that Annabeth was a little shielded from any problems they could possibly encounter.
It was a good idea.
Percy noticed an old lady boarding the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and his heart skipped a beat. A Fury.
Percy scrunched down in his seat.
Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like the first—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.
They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.
"Are you two seeing what I'm seeing?" he hissed at the girls.
Thalia's face was pale. "We definitely would be attracting less attention if you weren't a son of Poseidon," she said, though she didn't sound angry. "Is that all three of them?"
"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."
"They don't open," Thalia said.
"A back exit?" she suggested.
There wasn't one. Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, they were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.
"Sometimes I wish the Mist would just malfunction or something," Percy groaned. "Do you think the mortals will see three old ladies killing us?"
Annabeth thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof…?"
They hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.
The orange-hatted lady got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the restroom."
"So do I," said the second sister.
"So do I," said the third sister.
They all started coming down the aisle.
"Who do they want, me or Percy?" Thalia asked Annabeth hurriedly.
They were running out of time.
"I don't know!" exclaimed the daughter of Athena.
Percy was forced to play his hand: suicide. He stood up and pulled Riptide out. The Furies stopped in their tracks, and Thalia and Annabeth sat there hissing at him to duck for cover, and to "get down, you idiot!"
The Furies began to change. They transformed from old human ladies to old demon ladies. Their faces were still the same—he figured those couldn't get any uglier—but their bodies had shriveled into leather brown hag bodies with a bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.
Giant black butterflies. Or moths. Or bats. Or gargoyles. Whatever floats your boat, he thought.
"Perseus Jackson," the center one hissed. She lashed her whip, and it wrapped around his wrist. It was painful, but he refrained from screaming in pain. "You will come with us."
The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right.
He flicked the cap off Riptide and slashed down at the whip. The Fury withdrew it before he could cut it in half. A blast of electricity slammed into one of the other Furies. Percy glanced back for the slightest second and noticed Thalia holding her mace canister. But he didn't see Annabeth anywhere. For moment, he was confused, but he didn't have much time to think about it.
The Furies began attacking him again.
He thought some invisible force pushed him out of the way, but he was quickly pounced on by a Fury, so it didn't really register fully in his mind until he realized the Fury had been nowhere near him when he stumbled.
The orange-hatted Fury—though she wasn't wearing a hat anymore—growled and attacked Thalia with a greater force than what she attacked him with. She actually looked like she wanted to kill Thalia. With him, it was different. Percy had no time to ponder why. When the Fury attacked Thalia, Percy body checked her into the seats and out of the aisle.
He kicked backwards at the third Fury, who tried to attack him from behind before hacking down with Riptide. If Riptide had been an axe, and the Fury a person, it would've split the skull right into two pieces. But the third Fury was a monster, and she screamed and exploded into dust.
Suddenly, the bus jerked to the left. Percy yelped as he was thrown to the right. He slammed into the first Fury, again pinning her to the window. The second Fury smacked against the window one seat ahead of him, and Thalia smashed into the window one seat behind him. Just as suddenly, the bus jerked to the right.
Was Annabeth doing that? How irresponsible of her, he thought. But awesome. She was awesome.
She was doing a pretty good job of keeping others out of harm's way. Other than the passengers in the bus, no other cars were harmed.
Percy managed to get a grip on the seats as the bus weaved back and forth. He didn't pay attention to where they were going. All he focused on was getting their stuff. He got Thalia's backpack and tossed it to her. She caught it and slipped it on. Percy put his own backpack on and slung Annabeth's over one shoulder.
By the time he got the bags down, someone hit the emergency brake.
The bus wailed, spun of full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him.
The Furies regained their balance. There were only two of them now.
Percy told Thalia to stay behind him. He leveled Riptide at the first Fury. Thalia pointed her spear at the second.
"You have offended the gods, Perseus," the first one growled. "You shall die."
"No thanks." He stepped forward with Riptide. "I like being alive, thank you very much."
"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."
"Nice try," he told her.
"Percy, look out!" Annabeth's voice cried.
The second Fury spun in a circle as a golden blade shimmered into existence and stabbed her right through the heart. She broke like a statue, shattering into pieces before crumbling down to the ground.
The first Fury wailed and lunged for Annabeth. She managed to get a good swipe on Annabeth, who cried out in pain. Percy tackled the Fury, as Annabeth clutched the bloody wound on her arm. The Fury swiped at him, scratching his shoulder. He wrestled with the Fury as her fiery whip lashed around crazily. He could feel the burning sensation of it around him again. It felt like it was wrapped in molten lead.
"Go," he screamed at Thalia. "Take Annabeth!"
Thalia grabbed Annabeth's backpack off his back, somehow, and helped Annabeth out of the bus. Percy felt the razor-sharp claws of the Fury trying to grab at his face. He struggled to break free as his sword arm became constricted against the Fury's grasp.
Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of his neck, and he found renewed strength. He tore himself from the Fury's grasp, knocked her away with the hilt of his sword, and bolted out of the bus.
He rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!"
A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped his photograph before he could recap his sword.
BOOOOOM!
The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told him the Fury wasn't dead yet.
"Run!" Annabeth said. "We have to get out of here!"
They plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind them, and nothing but darkness ahead.
There they were, Thalia and Annabeth and him, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in their noses.
Thalia shook her head in disbelief. "Three Furies. All three at once."
At camp, they were usually taught to never call things by certain names. Everyone followed that rule. Except for Percy. He didn't see what the big deal was. It'd probably be his death someday, but the way monsters found him at nearly every corner made him think saying the name of some pretty bad monsters wasn't such a big deal.
He smiled. Thalia and Annabeth both followed his example. He felt his ego soar.
"Yeah, maybe it was a bad idea to have two children of the Big Three on the quest," Percy noted.
"I actually don't think so," Annabeth said. He looked at her curiously. She said, "Demigods have a distinct smell. The more powerful the scent, the easier monsters can find them; but I don't think regular monsters would swarm us time and time again. The hellhounds were only after us that night because Hades sent them after us. Only really powerful monsters would try to attack us because they can sense that we're powerful."
"You think monsters have brains?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Really, really, really small ones."
"At least we grabbed our backpacks," Thalia said. "Otherwise we wouldn't have any supplies at all, not even ambrosia and nectar."
Percy suddenly remembered that Annabeth had been scratched. Her jacket had been torn, and when Percy stopped her, he saw that she was trying to cover it up. She'd eaten a bit of ambrosia, but the wound was still open.
"Ah, jeez," he muttered. "For the love of Zeus, Thalia! Why didn't you give anything else to her?"
"She didn't want it," said Thalia. "She's as stubborn as us."
"I don't need anything, Percy," Annabeth agreed. "I'll be fine. It's just a cut. I had some ambrosia. I just need something clean to wrap around it. It's okay."
He shook his head. "Here. There's another way to use nectar, in case you didn't know." He pulled his own canteen out and got Annabeth to stretch out her arm. He slowly dripped nectar across the wound, and as her skin absorbed it, the wounds began closing up. He put his nectar away and pulled out his spare jacket and tossed it to her.
Annabeth gave him a confused look.
"To help you with your torn jacket," he said. "We're about the same height, right?"
She bit her lip, as if trying not to smile. "Thanks."
She slid off her torn jacket. He took it from her, stuffed it in his backpack, and slung it back over his shoulder.
They continued in silence—well, silence in terms of conversation—for another mile or so. They'd sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry, and Percy even slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on his head.
After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for that mile, Percy started to see light up ahead: the colours of a neon sign. He could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food.
For years, Percy lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. The barbecue was great—awesome actually—but he thought it'd be interesting to have burgers and fries sometime. Double cheeseburger. Totally.
They kept walking until he saw a 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. Instead, he saw a creepy warehouse surrounded by, and probably full of, statues. They were all sorts of sizes, and more often than not, the faces were faces of terror. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for him to read, because if there was anything worse than regular English, it would be red cursive neon English.
To him, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.
"What the heck does that say?" he asked.
"I don't know," Annabeth said.
"I don't care, it smells like cheeseburgers," sighed Thalia. "I want a—"
"Double cheeseburger," she and Percy said simultaneously.
They stared at each other for a second before grinning.
"Hey, the lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."
"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.
"Snack bar," Thalia agreed.
The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes.
They stopped at the warehouse door.
Right on cue, the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, he assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all he could make out. Her coffee-coloured hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant.
Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"
"They're… um…" Annabeth started to say.
"Dead," Percy interjected. He wasn't lying. One of them was. "We're orphans."
"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"
"I don't like thinking about it," Percy said forcefully.
The woman paused for a moment but that seemed to be enough for her. "Oh, my dears. You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."
The warehouse was filled with more statues, just like he thought. There were people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. They were all life-size. He was mostly thinking about the food, though, which was weird. His ADHD usually made him pick out the oddest details.
At the back of the warehouse there was a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything anyone could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.
"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said.
"Awesome," Percy said.
"Great," Thalia muttered hungrily.
"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.
Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly. Suddenly, the food seemed less appealing. It was like the food was enchanted or something.
"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful grey eyes, child."
Percy frowned. How did Aunty Em know her name? Did they introduce themselves earlier? He couldn't remember.
Their hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before he knew it, she'd brought them plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.
Percy noticed Thalia chowing down her burger almost as fast as he was eating his. Annabeth quietly slurped her shake, looking around at all the statues.
Aunty Em didn't eat anything. She hadn't taken off her head dress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched them eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at him when he couldn't see her face, but he loved the burger.
"So, you sell gnomes," Thalia said, trying to spark small talk.
"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."
"A lot of business on this road?" Percy asked.
"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built… most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."
Percy felt his neck tingle. He turned and saw a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket.
The detail was incredible, much better than in most garden statues. She looked terrified, and there was something around her neck… like a necklace of some sort.
"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."
"You make these statues yourself?" he asked.
"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." It sounded like a sad story.
Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"
"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. Shall we take a walk through the garden?"
Annabeth looked and sounded tense now. He wondered what was wrong. Thalia seemed to be getting suspicious.
They got up and began walking toward the front door.
"You see," Aunty Em said, "a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a… a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."
She looked at Annabeth. "Such beautiful grey eyes. My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen grey eyes like those."
As they walked, Percy saw a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, protecting each other with expressions of fear. Why would a woman create such horrible statues?
"How do you get this much stone to work with?" asked Thalia.
"Oh, my dear," said Aunty Em. "I have all the stone I need."
The thought itself paralyzed him.
Stone.
Statues.
Aunty Em.
Aunty "M."
He caught Annabeth's attention. As soon as they locked eyes, he knew she knew.
"My, my," Aunty Em said. "I think I might be sweating. It has been a long time since I've taken this cursed veil off."
Percy turned around and saw her taking the veil off her head. He watched in horror as the veil slowly unraveled. Before anything bad could happen, Annabeth put on her Yankees cap and pushed him to the floor.
"Get down!" she yelled.
Thalia went and ducked behind some statues, as Percy found himself at the woman's feet. He didn't dare look up.
"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," Medusa told him soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."
Magic. It was laced in her voice, just like with Circe. This time, it was a lot harder to fight. He'd been distanced before. This time, the source of the magic was right up close. He fought the urge to obey. Instead, he looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres that were scattered all around the warehouse and garden—a gazing ball. He could see Medusa's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents.
How did Medusa die in the myth? He nearly laughed when he remembered the original Perseus killed her whilst she was sleeping. She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open his face.
"They Grey-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."
"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Run, Percy!"
"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back into a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."
Percy stared at the ground. "No!"
"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "You know what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy. You know what will happen if you reach the Underworld. Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."
He ground his teeth. "Better than being killed by you. That'd be embarrassing to tell the other spirits."
Medusa hissed from above him. "Your father and I made a great couple. We loved each other, but Athena turned me into this beast. Poseidon turned his back on me, but I never stopped loving him. You don't need to live in pain, Percy."
Behind the gazing ball, he saw Thalia's head poking out. She was staring at him, as if waiting for a signal.
He looked at the gazing ball, and saw Medusa staring down at him. "You remember, Perseus?" he asked the demon. "I may be a son of Poseidon, but my name is also Perseus. Now!"
Thalia stood up, with her eyes closed, and blasted a bolt of electricity just to the left of Medusa's head. Percy took one last look in the gazing ball to get a feeling as to where Medusa was, before shutting his own eyes and spinning around with Riptide. He heard a sickening shlock!, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monsters disintegrating.
Something fell to the ground a couple feet away from him. It took all his willpower not to look.
Annabeth came up next to him, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."
Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, her voice trembling.
"Great," he said sarcastically. "Every day routine, you know. Wake up, eat, almost die, and then kill a monster. Then it's bed time. Perfectly normal." He turned to Thalia. "Did you miss on purpose? If you did, that was brilliant. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten her."
Thalia snorted. "Do you think I'm stupid? Of course I missed on purpose." She was lying.
They found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. They plopped it on the table where they'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too stunned to speak.
Finally Percy said, "So we have Athena and Poseidon to thank for this monster?"
"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Unfortunately. But, Percy, how did you figure out it was Medusa that fast? I just realized when you figured it out."
"Try staying at Camp Half-Blood for six straight years without leaving and then you tell me."
"Somehow I doubt that's going to happen."
"Also, were you trying to hint there that I'm stupid?"
"No, of course not. Your head is just usually full of kelp."
"That is very insulting."
"Well, if you'd stop acting stupid, than I wouldn't have to."
Percy turned away from her. He looked at the bagged head. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!
What had Medusa said?
You know what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy. You know what will happen if you reach the Underworld. Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.
He got up. "I'll be back."
"Percy," Annabeth called after him. "What are you—?"
He searched the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden.
He went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:
The Gods (a.k.a. Poseidon)
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
With best wishes,
PERCY JACKSON
"They're not going to like that," Annabeth warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."
He poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!
"I am impertinent," he said.
Annabeth and Thalia shared a look. They knew him well enough. They didn't criticize more.
"Come on," Annabeth muttered. "We need a new plan."
New chapter! Thanks for the support. Very generic, canon-like chapter. Nothing to explain here. Not really, at least.
Thanks,
SharkAttack719