AN: ok, I'm coming clean, this chapter was not written by me but rather by dogbiscuit1967, to whom I'm extremely great full. I'm dreadfully sorry that I was not able to write but I have a really bad case of holiday-itus, so hopefully dogbiscuit's amazing chapter will get me back out of my writer's block. And it's really bad writer's block too, I can't even write an English assessment that's due... OMG IT'S DUE ON MONDAY! IM GONNA DIE!

Chapter 10

"I…I…can't beli…believe that we…almost got ki…killed by Medusa." An exasperated Annabeth stuttered out

"I know! We shouldn't have been caught like that!" Luke hissed "Grover! Why didn't you warn us there was a monster hanging around?! Why did we even bring you on this quest?!"

"Uh…uh…sor…" was as far as Grover got before he was interrupted by a slender hand being placed on his shoulder. Grover turned to see the understanding face of Persy who then said "don't say anything Grover this isn't your fault. And you if you would take your head out of your butt for a moment you would realize he did try and warn us, however, we were entranced by the smell of the food and didn't listen to him Mister I-ate-eight-hamburgers. (AN: *giggles* it sounds like 188 to me) I only just figured it out in time and do you see me placing blame? No because we should have known better. If you're going to act this way maybe you should go back to camp." Persy finished and walked away with Grover.

"Luke that was unfair of you blaming Grover like that, he did try and warn us." Annabeth said as he looked to the son of Hermes who currently had his head down.

After a moment of thinking Luke said "You're right. I'm just stressed with everything that's happened today and needed to vent and I took it out on Grover. I need to go apologize to him and Persy." At that he started to walk in the direction Grover and Persy had went.

"Luke hold on a moment." Annabeth cried out. "why were you stressed? I mean I could see Persy or myself being stressed since this is our first quest, but I didn't think it would affect you that much."

Luke looked back at the daughter of Athena and said "let's find the others and I'll explain to everyone."

Annabeth nodded her head and followed Luke in the direction her friends had went. Soon the two demigods found their friends back in the snack bar where they had just eaten minutes earlier.

"What do you want?! Persy hissed at Luke

"Persy calm down he cam…" Annabeth was saying before Luke interrupted her

"Annabeth, please let me handle this." Luke said with determination.

"Grover…G-man I'm sorry that I blew up at you like that. I know it wasn't your fault and never should have tried to blame you. And Persy I don't want to go back to camp, I really want to go on this quest with you and the others." Luke said in a sincere tone.

"Then why did you do it?" Persy asked "something had to set you off to cause you to act like that."

At that Grover spoke up and said "it's ok Persy he doesn't have to tell us if he doesn't want to."

"Grover you're my best friend but I disagree with you. If there is something stuck up his butt, we need to know it now instead of later when it could be even deadlier." Persy replied

Grover went to reply but was cut off by Luke. "She's right Grover. I do owe you an explanation. I know that one of the reasons you picked me for this was because of my previous experience on a quest. To be honest the first part of the trip was easy. Yeah, we fought a monster or two but it was nothing major. That's probably what led to our being so relaxed and over confident when we arrived to confront the dragon. Annabeth and Grover already know that is where I got this scar, and lost the other two quest members. After returning to camp I had nightmares about it for months, even now I occasionally have nightmares about it. And then today…today in a span of less than eight hours we are confronted by and fight the three furies, almost wreck the bus Hades knows how many times, almost get caught in an explosion on said bus thanks to a certain sky god that really doesn't seem to like you, and then to top it all off we get roofied by the smell of fast food cooked by Medusa of all monsters. It brought back the bad memories and really stressed me out. I understand that it's not an excuse and I'm sorry, I really am. Will you forgive me?"

Persy stood there studying his face for a moment and then said "yes we forgive you, just please talk to us if you start feeling stressed again. Deal?"

"Deal" Luke said with a smile "so what do we do now?"

"We need to search the place and see if she might have any supplies that we can use, and then I'm going to pick me out a nice spot and take a nap." Persy replied

"WHAT!" The other three said all at once

"Persy…ple…please te…tell me you're kidding right?" Annabeth spoke apprehensively

Persy turned to face the daughter of Athena and said "I've never been more serious. Look it's raining and it's cold outside and I am not sleeping on the ground when there is a perfectly warm and dry place for us to stay."

"Bu…but Persy…thi…this is a monster's lair; we can't stay here!" Luke exclaimed

"Are you sure this is a monster's lair?" Persy asked

"What's wrong with you?! You know this is Medusa's lair and that she is a monster! Not to mention the other monsters that could hanging around!" Annabeth hissed out

"Correction, this was Medusa's lair, she's dead now so she won't be bothering us." Persy responded "as for other monster's we don't have to worry about them, so we will be just fine, but if you want to sleep outside in the cold and rain knock yourselves out."

"Why wouldn't we have to worry about monster's? Our scent alone would attract them." Annabeth inquired

Persy rolled her eyes as if to say 'are you sure that you're a daughter of Athena?' "If you think about it, it is only logical. Medusa is a powerful monster and that the other monsters are aware that this is her lair. Look around there seems to be plenty of monster statues as well as human. So why would they come in here taking the chance they would end up the same way? And as for our scent. That shouldn't be a problem as plenty of these statues are demigods, so their scent should still be hanging around so why wouldn't the monsters still smell demigod?"

Luke, Grover, and Annabeth all looked at each other in total state of shock. Finally, Luke spoke and said "we…well…if…if you're…going to be logical about it, I suppose that makes sense."

Persy rolled her eyes again and began to walk off as she said "whatever, I'm checking out the office you three look for food and other supplies we can take with us."

At that the others went off to find whatever supplies they could as Persy made her way to the office. Once there Persy quickly made her way to the desk and started going through the invoices where she knew she would find the address to the underworld. Then Persy took the money and drachma's she knew that Medusa possessed before going to retrieve a box with a pouch on it and returned to the others.

As Persy walked into the snack bar she saw that the others had found some much needed supplies. They were currently sorting the stuff into groups before packing it into a couple of tote bags that they had found. "It looks like you guys scored big." Persy said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, we were surprised at some of the things she had, like a first aid kit from Olympus, various types of clothes ranging in different sizes, camping gear, and of course prepackaged junk food that we can take with us. What did you find?" Annabeth replied happily

"I found an invoice with the address to the underworld on it, some mortal money, drachma's, and this box." Persy answered back

"A box?" Lue asked in confusion "what do we need a box for?"

"The box isn't for us. We can't just leave Medusa's head lying around for any mortal or demigod to come along and find. So we need to send it someplace safe, which is what the box is for." Persy replied with a smile as she packed the head into the box sealed it and wrote an address on the others couldn't see, and then place a few drachmas' I the pouch causing the box to disappear.

"Whe…where…di…did you…send it?" Grover asked stuttering

Persy turned to him with a sly grin and replied "to the safest place in the mythological world."

The other three quest members looked at each other with a stunned expression before Annabeth finally asked "what does that mean? You…you didn't send it to Olympus did you?" She asked remembering the secret Persy had told her.

If anything the smirk on Persy's face grew as she said "nope, this place is even safer than Olympus."

Line Break

At that moment in a mystical cave whose location was only known to four immortal beings. Three of those are the sisters who live in the cave and the fourth is Hermes god of the messenger's. As the sisters labored away at weaving and cutting the strings of life a bright light eluminated their cave. Once the light had disappeared a box was left in its place. "What is this?" Asked Clotho

"It seems someone has sent us a package." Replied Atropos. "I wonder what it is?"

As the other two sisters were talking the third sister Lachesis had made her way over to the box and was opening it. "By Chaos!" She exclaimed and then began to laugh

"What! What is it sister?" Clotho asked in concern as Lachesis kept laughing

"It seems we have been sent a present." Lachesis answered with an amused expression still on her face. "It seems Persy Jackson thought we could use some decorations for our cave and sent us this." She continued as she pulled Medusa's head out of the box, laughing at the faces her sisters were now making.

After a moment Atropos regained her composure and hissed "that cheeky little sea-chit! She shall pay for this!"

Lachesis began to laugh even more as her sister Clotho joined her. "Sisters why are you laughing at this blatant disrespect?" Atropos asked

Once their laughing subsided Clotho said "sister ever since our birth we have been given respect through fear. Never have we been treated as just us. I find it amusing and refreshing that a demigod of all people does not fear us and treats us as she would any other. And after everything we have put her through I would think she has earned the right to…prank us as they say."

Atropos sat there for a moment thinking about what her sister had just said, and soon a small smile came across her face as she giggled and said "you are right sister, however, I believe this gives us the perfect opportunity to prank her back."

"Yes, yes quite right. Now let us box this back up and readdress it." Lachesis said with an evil smirk

Line Break

Soon a package was delivered to the throne room of Olympus by Hermes himself. He walked in to find the council assembled and sitting on their thrones. As Hermes approached his throne Apollo noticed he was carrying a box and asked "hey bro what's up with the box?"

"Hmmm…oh it's a package addressed to us from Persy Jackson." Hermes replied and the gods went silent.

"Well what is it!" Zeus demanded to know.

"I know no idea. I was on my way to the meeting when I was summoned to pick the package up. So here it and I am." Answered Hermes

"If the sea-brat is smart she mailed my bolt back to me!" Zeus bellowed

"I have already told you air-head she did not take your little Taser gun!" Poseidon roared in response.

"Father! Uncle! We do not even know what is in the package so instead of acting childish and starting a fight over something we do not know, how about we open the package and find out what it is?" Athena said scolding them like children.

"Ahem, very well Hermes open the package.' Zeus instructed

Hermes picked the package up and carefully opened it as his eyes suddenly went wide in unbelief. Hermes facial kept changing as if he was trying to control himself, until finally he got up and walked out of the throne room. As soon as he made it past the throne room doors the council could hear the messenger god laughing…hard.

The council all looked at each other wondering what could have caused this until finally Zeus ordered "Apollo! Go and see what is wrong with Hermes!"

"Yes father" the sun god replied and left the throne room.

After a moment Hermes laughter died down and they could hear mumbling coming from Apollo when suddenly he exclaimed "she did what! By the gods I think I love her." and now both gods were laughing.

Suddenly thunder rumbled loudly in the sky causing both gods to stop laughing. Then Apollo and Hermes returned to their thrones still trying to keep from laughing.

"What is in that package that is so funny?!" Zeus asked

"It…it…wo…would be…be better to…just show you." Hermes said giggling as he took the box and dumped the contents out on the floor showing the severed head of Medusa.

The results of the council were instantaneous, as a few of the gods such as Hera and Demeter were appalled that the demigod would show such disrespect. Others such as Apollo, Hermes, and Ares rolled out of their thrones laughing. However, Zeus king of the gods was irate, his skin was sparking little lightning bolts. "How…how…dare tha…that sea-scum!" he bellowed "I shall destroy her!"

"No you will not!" Poseidon exclaimed as he summoned his trident and pointed it t Zeus. "She is a twelve-year-old girl how has been thrust into a situation not of her making. She is upset and needs to vent and besides if you destroy her who will find your precious lightning bolt!"

"Fine, but if she does not find it I will destroy her then." Zeus threatened before flashing out.

Line Break

Once the demigods and satyr packed all of the supplies they searched for a place to sleep. Eventually they found a place that was comfortable and easily defendable, Persy volunteered to take first watch just in case and watched over the others as they slept.

Luke really hadn't wanted to go to sleep. Kronos visits him almost every night in his dreams which results in the worst nightmares a demigod can have. But after the kind of day that they had he really needed to sleep, so upon orders from Persy he lay in his space and went to sleep. Soon Luke was asleep and started to dream. He was in the same place Kronos always brought him in his dreams Tartarus. "You imbecile! What are you doing traveling with that demigod?!" Kronos asked

"Mi-lord…she…she picked me to accompany her on the quest. I thought for sure Chiron would say no because there would be too many but she somehow found a loophole that allowed me to join them." Luke said quivering

"Why did I ever choose a failure such as you?" Kronos asked releasing a bit of hi power causing Luke to scream in pain.

Unfortunately, for Luke he started to mumble and whimper in pain as he began to toss and turn.

Persy who had heard the noise came over to check on Luke only to find him sweating and his face etched in pain. She kneeled down and place a hand on his shoulder and said "Luke? Luke are you alright?"

At this Luke's eyes shot open and he grabbed Persy around the waist quietly sobbing.

Without thinking Persy gently placed her hands around him and quietly told him things would be ok. Luke soon fell back asleep in Persy's lap, who soon fell asleep with her head on top of Luke's.

After what seemed like a few minutes Persy felt someone shaking her shoulder. "Come on Persy wake up. We have to get moving." A voice said

"A few more minutes' mom" she replied as she snuggled deeper into her pillow

Persy heard a few giggles as the voice said "no we don't have time, besides I think your pillow/ boyfriend would like to get up now." As more giggling was heard

At this Persy's eyes snapped open as she quickly sat up "what are you talking about!" she exclaimed before looking to her side and seeing Luke lying next to her

"I don't know why don't you tell us." Annabeth said "we went to bed last night and you were on watch we woke up a few hours ago to take out watch only to find you two hugging and using each other as a pillow. You care to tell us what happened? HHHHMMM."

"UUUMMM" was all Persy could say as she blushed bright red

Annabeth looked over to Luke, who quickly looked away in embarrassment.

"We…we…we need to get…ready to go." Persy said trying to change the conversation.

"Right" Annabeth said as she and Grover nodded at each other

Still trying to control her blush Persy looked over towards Grover who seemed to be carrying a pink stuffed Poodle. "Grover, where did you get the stuffed Poodle."

Suddenly the Poodle barked scaring both Luke and Persy as Grover laughed and said "Luke, Persy this is Gladiola he is a runaway Poodle. Say hello to him."

"I'm not talking to a dog." Luke said as Gladiola began to growl at him.

"Luke I said hello to Gladiola now you do it." Instructed a serious Annabeth

"Hello Gladiola" Luke said somberly

"Such a cute boy, hello Gladiola it's a pleasure to meet you." Persy said enthusiastically and petted him on the head.

"Where did you find him at Grover?" Luke asked

"I went and looked around this morning and found Gladiola here.' Grover replied "Which is fortunate because Gladiola says he can help us."

"Really? How is he going to do that?" Luke asked

"Gladiola comes from a rich family, but he ran away because of the abusive things they do to him. I mean look at his fur." Grover said getting angry. "Anyways Gladiola told me that there is a $200 reward for his return. He is willing to let us return him for the reward."

"How does he know about the reward? Luke asked in confusion.

"He read the flyers they posted." Grover said like it was everyday people found out dogs could read

"Of course Gladiola can read, can't you boy. You're a good boy aren't you yes you are. Gladiola thank you for the offer but we won't need it. This way you can stay free away from those terrible people." Persy said while scratching his ears "Grover can you put some sort of blessing on Gladiola so that he is taken care of?"

"Of…of course Persy, but why is it we don't need the money?" Grover asked?

"There are a few reasons actually. The first reason is I still have the money Chiron gave us at camp, then last night I found some cash in Medusa's office and took it." Persy explained

"Yeah but what if we run out, we could use the extra money." Annabeth replied

"Oh don't worry we have extra money if we need it." Persy said as she looked towards Luke "Don't we Luke?"

Grover and Annabeth went wide eyed and Luke at Luke for an explanation.

"Wha…what… are yo..you talking about Persy?" Luke asked nervously

"Persy narrowed her eyes as she looked at Luke and said "do you really want me to show them? Because I will, it's the easy way or the hard way. Choose now."

Luke was thinking over his options as Persy walked up right in front of him. "Ok! Ok! I'll did it the easy way. By the gods Persy how did you know?" He said as he started taking wallets out of his pants.

By the time Luke had finished he had about six different wallets. "Luke! What did you do?" Annabeth asked in surprise.

"What does it look like he did? He pick-pocketed some people." Persy responded

"How…how did you know that?" Luke asked wanting to know how he had been caught.

"you mean how did I catch you? Well that was easy. See you are one of the most graceful people I know, I'm sure it has to do with you being a son of Hermes, on the bus I noticed you lost your balance a lot and kept bumping into people and then for some reason your pants seemed to bulge. After thinking about it a while I remembered that Hermes is the god of thieves which would make you an excellent pick-pocket. And then last night you talked in your sleep about the stuff you were going to buy with the money." Persy said cheekily

"So you've been watching me walk huh." Luke replied

"What! No…it…it's not…it's not like that!" Persy exclaimed

"Oh then what is it like?" Annabeth asked

"AAAARRRRGGG! Not you too? Grover does Gladiola know of any train or bus stations close by?" Persy asked trying to change the subject

Grover made some noise to which Gladiola responded and said. "Gladiola said that there is a train station about a mile that way."

"Then we should head that way. Thank you Gladiola." Persy said as she petted him once more.

"Thank you my friend." Grover said to Gladiola as he placed the blessing of the wild on him. "This will help keep you safe and fed."

Once outside Grover let Gladiola go and they started towards the train station.

After a moment Luke called out "Persy."

Persy stopped and turned to look at Luke who had assumed the pose of the Greek statues you see in the museums "you like what you see?"

As Annabeth, Grover, and Luke laughed Persy turned beet red and started mumbling "should have drowned him, should turned him to stone." As she slowly walked towards the train station.