Chapter Twenty One - Modest Restoration

I sat at one of the picnic tables, my borrowed book on enchanting held open with the assistance of a couple of rocks as I slowly shaved a golden drachma with my hunting knife. So far, the night had been almost overwhelmingly quiet. As a born and raised city girl, it was almost enough to set my teeth on edge. Thankfully, my time spent running with the hunt had given me a small amount of experience away from the noise of the city that I wasn't jumping at shadows.

"What are you doing?"

"Eep!" I squeaked and fell off the bench to see Andromeda staring down at me with a raised eyebrow. "Andromeda? Is it already time to switch?"

"No," she shook her head, helping me back up. "I couldn't sleep. Grover kicks and Annabeth mumbles."

"I see."

"So, what are you doing?" She asked again.

"I'm shaving down a drachma for the gold," I said.

"Okay... But why?"

"Well, the book mentioned using catalysts for carrying and maintaining enchantments," I explained. "And as magic is a type of energy, I got to thinking about what materials are naturally conductive. My first thought was to use blood, which makes sense considering the clay tokens that I've been experimenting with. But then I remembered that gold is used as a conductor as well. Plus, the drachma has the added benefit of not only being made of gold but magical gold."

"Uh-huh."

"So, I started thinly shaving the gold so I can twist it into wires, which I will then work into the fabric of the money bag from the safe," I continued. "This way I can create a stable matrix pattern that I can then use to integrate a basic enchantment that will..."

"Okay, wow," Andromeda said, holding up a hand to stop me. "Sorry. That sounds really... Fascinating. Really. But I am a little too tired for all of that."

"In simpler terms, I can use the gold wire that I'm making from the drachma to power an enchantment that should keep the inside of the money bag cold enough to store the extra food so it doesn't spoil when we take it with us."

"You can do that?"

"Yeah," I said. "At least... I think so. I'll probably double up on the magical output using my blood as an added catalyst, just in case..."

"Alright, alright. Forget I asked," she grinned, then glanced over her shoulder toward where we'd moved the statues. "It doesn't feel right."

"Yeah," I agreed. "I get it."

"You do?" She turned to me, surprise written on her face.

"Yeah," I said. "I mean, I half thought the curse would have broken when Medusa was killed. That's how it works in the movies, right?"

"What?" Andromeda blinked. "Sorry, what? Run that by me again?"

"Well," I said. "Medusa's victims were all cursed to turn to stone, right?" Andromeda nodded, so I continued. "In that case, since she died, I assumed the curse would break and her victims would return to normal. But that didn't happen. The only other ways I can think of to break a curse are running water or true love's first kiss - and I don't particularly feel all that amorous toward Smokey over there," I gestured at the fallen grizzly bear statue.

"Running water?"

"Like in the story of King Midas," I said. "Which is probably closer to Medusa's curse anyway. It's meant to wash away the transformation. Of course, I can't exactly test that theory myself considering me and water don't exactly play nice together. It's a shame, because I'm fairly sure that's why she kept all the statues under a covered patio - you know, keep them out of the rain and all. It's not like they'd get sun damaged."

"Where would we even get running water to..." Her eyes widened as her gaze swept passed me. "The garden hose! Oh, but who should we try to fix first?"

I thought about that for a moment, then; "What about that Satyr near the front? The one Grover said looked like his uncle Franz?"

"Uncle Ferdinand," Andromeda corrected. "And yeah. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Can you imagine how confusing it would be for a mortal to suddenly wake up surrounded by statues after looking right at Medusa?"

"I'll leave it to you then," I said. "Like I said before, me plus water equals bad times all around."

She started to run off, then paused and looked back at me with a raised eyebrow; "If that's the case, how do you bathe?"

"Gloves and washcloths," I said. "I found that rubbing alcohol is usually the best since it evaporates so quickly. Though since being claimed by Aphrodite, I've pretty much become self-cleaning anyway."

"Huh," she blinked. "Well, that blessing is temporary, so you might want to keep that in mind. Now, there's got to be a watering can around her somewhere..."

I watched her run off for a moment before turning back to my task. I had just finished twisting the last shavings of gold into a wire when I heard a sudden crash from the front of the warehouse. Grabbing my knife, I jumped up and immediately ran toward the source of the noise, only to see Andromeda standing over the toppled statue of Uncle Ferdinand - a stone arm in her hands.

"He fell," Andromeda said. "I was trying to see if I could drag him a little further inside. You know, because he's not that big? But then I lost my grip and..."

"And he fell," I said. "Okay, alright. Hey, it's fine."

"It's NOT fine!" She snapped, waving the stone arm. "He is in pieces because of me!"

"True," I said. "But it's not like he's in pain. And we can probably put it back."

"I don't think mixing up some Quikrete will help this situation when we turn him back to flesh," Andromeda said, staring at the arm as if wondering if that might actually work.

"With the right healing, you can reattach limbs."

"Neither one of us are healers," she pointed out.

"No, but Grover should be capable," I said. "It's about time to switch watch shifts anyway, so I don't think he'll begrudge waking up a few minutes early. Especially for this. Sit tight, I'll go and get him."

I ran back to Medusa's office and opened the door to see Annabeth sleeping in the desk chair, her head tilted back and her golden curls spilling behind her. Grover was sleeping sitting up with his back against the desk and his reed pipes in hand.

"Hey, wake up Grover," I said, shaking him gently.

"Huh, wha-" His eyes snapped open as he looked around wildly, "Are we under attack?"

"No," I shook my head. "All's clear so far. It's time to swap watch."

"Oh," he said. "Oh, right. Yeah, okay. Good. Where's Andromeda?"

"She couldn't sleep," I said. "Actually, she could use your help in particular with something she's working on."

"Huh? Okay," Grover said, getting up and stretching. "You going to sleep now?"

"Yeah," I said, suddenly yawning. "Yeah, I think so. There's soda in the fountain if you need the caffeine and sugar. Oh, and I left some things on the table. Please don't mess with them?"

"Yeah, no problem. Get some sleep."

"'kay," I said, yawning again. I sat down in his spot and was asleep before the door closed behind him.

It wasn't the straitjacket I was wearing that made this dream particularly bad. It was that I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing said straitjacket. All the other kids were going out to recess, and I was stuck in the classroom while the teacher kept saying things like, 'Come on, dear. You're not stupid, are you? Pick up your pencil.'

I struggled against my bonds, willing the teacher's hair to catch on fire but nothing happened. Naturally. It was while I was struggling that I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket. She was slightly older than me, with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her sky blue eyes, and freckles across her nose.

She struggled against her own straitjacket, glaring at me in frustration, and growled, "What are you staring at?"

"I always thought nightmares about school involved less clothes... oh, there it is." I trailed off as our straitjackets melted away along with the rest of our clothes leaving us sitting in our underwear. My first thought was that my plain white panties were underwhelming compared to her blue and white striped ones. And she was also wearing a grey and black sports bra while I still lacked anything to even train.

"Huh. That's a very flattering look for you, dream girl."

"My name's Thalia," she snapped, blushing and trying to cover herself. "And stop staring!"

Thalia. I was certain I'd heard the name before, but I couldn't place where or when. Dream logic is not conducive to clear thinking, apparently.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, looking anywhere but at the other girl.

"How should I know?" She bit out, "It's your dream, figure it out!"

Suddenly I felt my stomach try to escape up my throat as the floor beneath my chair vanished, plunging me into pitch darkness.

I woke up to find the office empty and the door left open, the smell of bacon frying filling the air. I stood with a stretch and followed the scent to the food court, finding the others sitting around the picnic table. Annabeth and Grover were talking with another satyr that I assumed must have been uncle Ferdinand, while Andromeda was asleep - her dark, curly hair sprawled out all over like creeping ivy trying to reclaim the table for nature. Annabeth noticed my arrival first, and waved me over.

"Hey," I said, greeting the new satyr. "Uncle Ferdinand, right?"

"In the flesh," he grinned. "Heard that I've got you to thank for that, actually."

"It was just a random thought I'd had," I shrugged. "Andromeda actually prompted it."

"Still, it's hard to believe," he scratched his beard. "I mean... Medusa, right? I just remember my last thought being how I was totally dead. And then the next thing I know, my arm itches like crazy and little Clover isn't so little anymore."

"Blah-ah-ah," Grover bleated. "It's Grover! You know it's Grover!"

"Yeah, but the nickname's gonna stick."

"Is that breakfast cooking?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I threw a couple eggs and some bacon on the flat top," Annabeth said. "There should still be some left. Might as well eat what we can before we leave, since there's no way we're gonna be able to take it all with us, right?"

"Actually, there might be a way," I said, glancing over to see that my stuff was thankfully left untouched. "I just need to put it together."

Grabbing my things, I quickly looked over the dog-eared pages of the enchanting book as a refresher before getting started. With a wince, I stabbed my finger with the gold wire with just enough pressure to break the skin before coating the metallic material in a thin layer of my blood and began working it into the bank bag.

"That can't be hygienic," Annabeth said.

"Can't be helped," I shrugged. "Blood and gold are both excellent energy conductors. Besides, it's only to get things started. If this works right, then we'll be able to wash the bag without affecting the enchantments."

"But what are you trying to do with it?" She asked.

"I'm working on making it bigger on the inside and setting it up to maintain a constant cool temperature so we can keep things in it like a refrigerator."

"You can do that?" Ferdinand asked.

"That's what I'm going to find out," I said. "It's considerably more complicated than setting down a single enchantment, but since I'm putting them in together, that shouldn't matter. It's really only when you try to add an enchantment to already magical items that you start running into issues according to the book. And unlike in the T.A.R.D.I.S., I'm not working on dimensional transcendence but instead I'm applying a principle of..."

"Okay, you're losing me," Annabeth said, cutting me off. "That's more my brother Malcolm's train of thought. Still, that does sound interesting."

"Daughter of Hecate?" Ferdinand asked Grover.

"Nope. Hephaestus," Grover said.

"Huh, bet she's popular with Hank if she can actually enchant things."

"Ah, Hank's not... around anymore," Grover said. "Beckendorf had to take over a couple years ago."

"Oh," Ferdinand said, staring off into the middle distance.

As fascinating as I found their conversation to be, I ended up tuning them out after that. Following the steps outlined in the book, I felt for my inner power and began working it into the woven gold - using my aura sight as I worked helped me ensure that everything was working as intended. When I finished, I looked up and realized Andromeda had woken up at some point and was eating her own breakfast. I tilted my head to one side. Her dark hair framed her face like a giant, unruly lion's mane.

"Um," I blinked. "Do you need help with your hair?"

"It's fine," she mumbled, grabbing it by the fistful and pulling it back.

"Are you sure? I can make it..."

"Nobody touches my hair," she said, firmly.

"Okay..." I said.

"You done with your fancy bag, kiddo?" Ferdinand asked, bringing my attention back to the enchanted bag.

"Yeah, I finished," I said, grinning as I shoved my entire arm inside the bag that, by all outward appearances, should only have gone halfway past my wrist. Ferdinand gave a low whistle of approval. "And, I think it works."

"What's the plan now?" Annabeth asked.

"Why are you asking me?" I wondered.

"It's your quest, so you're the leader."

"Okay," I frowned. "Well, first thing first, I'd like to cook up the rest of the food. Now that we have something to store it in, we should take advantage. After that..." I glanced back at Medusa's office. "After that, we should figure out where we are and how far it is to the next city. We can probably get another bus or train ticket with the money from the safe."

"I can do that," Andromeda said. "And if the computer has an internet connection, I can print off a map if necessary."

"Great," I nodded. "Um... Ferdinand, can I ask you for something?"

"You want me to stick around and unfreeze the mortals after you leave?" I blinked, and he laughed. "Yeah, we already spoke about it earlier. Figured it would be best to do it nice and slow so they don't get too spooked."

"Dude, you rock," I grinned.

"Not anymore," he smirked, and I laughed as Annabeth and Andromeda groaned.