Chapter 20 - Rumble in the Concrete Jungle
"Oh, dear. And I was enjoying our little conversation so very much," Aunty Em said, reaching up to remove her veil.
"Look away!" Andromeda warned.
"It's Medusa!" Grover shouted.
I know, it was a dumb idea but curiosity overcame my common sense and my body moved before my brain could engage. I looked up, directly meeting Medusa's gaze even as everyone else quickly rolled under the table. For a moment, it was as if the entire world had collectively held its breath. Medusa's eyes widened as I tilted my head to the side.
"Well, that is certainly unexpected," Medusa said, softly. "And not entirely unwelcome, either."
"Penny?" Grover asked, unable to keep the mix of hope and grief from his voice.
"Interesting," I said. To my Sight, her body seemed to be a swirling maelstrom of dark gray storm clouds with a hidden core of something colorless just beneath. I remembered that in the stories, she was not only the youngest of the three sisters, but also the only mortal one. "I'm fine. Apparently my Aura Sight counters the curse. I can look at her."
"You smell of him, you know? My beloved," Medusa said, trailing a clawed hand through my hair. "It's faint, but noticeable."
"Poseidon?" I asked.
"Yes," she nodded. "Were it not for Athena, we could have been happy together. Instead, you see what that woman did to me! Oh, make no mistake little Penelope, I am glad my gaze did not harm you. I only have quarrel with the daughter of Athena. Give her to me and you all may leave in peace."
"Not gonna happen!" Andromeda said, followed by a loud thump from under the table.
"She's done nothing," I glared.
"She exists," Medusa said, waving her hand dismissively. "That's enough."
"Even if that were the case," I said. "Which, it's not. You're a menace. If we left you alive, then all your victims that come after we leave will be as much on our hands as yours."
"Little hero, what do you think you can do against me? At least Perseus had a sword," Medusa snarled. "Your little knife simply won't hack it. Just give her up and walk away. I'm out of your league."
"How about 'no'?" I growled, throwing a flare in her face with my left hand as I pulled my knife. "You guys get out of here!"
"We're not leaving you!" Annabeth shouted.
"I've got this," I said, lashing out with my knife as a couple of her head snakes came within biting range. "You guys can't even look at her!"
"You will not escape here ali-..." I cut her off by launching myself at her midsection, tackling her to the ground and raising my knife with both hands.
Her face twisted into a horrible mask of rage as she grabbed me by the shirt and literally threw me off her. I flew across the food court and slammed into the register counter. I winced as I staggered to my feet, pressing a hand to my left ribs. Not broken, but almost definitely bruised.
"Hey," I yelled, getting Medusa's attention back on me.
"You should really know when to quit, little hero," She sneered.
"Not a hero," I said. "Just a kid with a big mouth and an attitude problem."
"Then allow me to adjust it for you!"
"Heads up!" Grover shouted, throwing a handful of soggy fries that bounced off her chest.
"Seriousl- ack!" I was cut off by a plate crashing into the back of my head. "Ouch! What the hell?"
"Sorry!" Andromeda whispered.
"Enough of this!" Medusa shouted, pressing me onto the defensive.
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention and I saw Annabeth's silvery form run up behind a cement grizzly bear next to Medusa. What was she thinking?! Medusa followed my gaze then looked back to me with a look of bewildered confusion. How had she not seen her? Then it clicked. Annabeth was invisible!
Whatever was going through Annabeth's head, it was clear to me that she must have a plan. It was also equally apparent that Medusa was not used to fighting her enemies straight on. She was certainly strong, and her talon-like clawed fingers were sharp, but she had no finesse. The longer the fight dragged on, the more mistakes she was making. I grinned, ducking a sweep of Medusa's claws and moved in to press the attack, driving her backward toward the grizzly bear.
"Move!" Annabeth shouted, and I jumped back as she pushed with all her might, sending the statue toppling over onto Medusa and trapping her underneath.
"No, please," Medusa begged, struggling to free herself. "Sweet child. Dear Penelope. You wouldn't hurt a harmless old lady, would you?"
"No, I wouldn't," I said, and she grinned. "But you're not harmless. Give my regards to your sisters."
Her smile turned to fear as a fiery aura enveloped both myself and the blade of my knife which extended outward like a sword. My inner fire swelled and overflowed with the sudden spike of adrenaline as I swung the blade, cleanly separating her neck from her shoulders.
With a hiss the air being let out of a tire, her body disintegrated to golden dust causing the bear statue to hit the ground with a thud. Her head rolled to a stop next to my feet. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces.
"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I guess he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming.
"Mega-yuck," I agreed.
"Here," Andromeda said, coming up next to me, her eyes fixed upward. She was holding Medusa's black veil. Taking the veil, I bent down and wrapped the head securely. It was still dripping green juice.
"It's wrapped up," I said. "Should be safe to look now."
"Are you alright?" Annabeth asked, taking off her cap as she walked up next to me.
"Yeah," I said. "I think so."
"Good," she said with a nod before punching me in the shoulder as hard as she could.
"Ouch, what the hell was that for?" I asked. My arm had gone numb.
"What was that... What do you think? Is your brain so fried that you think looking at Medusa was a smart idea?" She fumed. "You could have died! This whole quest would have been over in an instant!"
"Annabeth..." Andromeda started to say something, but was cut off.
"No!" Annabeth snapped. "I know what you're thinking, and that's not it. If this quest fails, the gods will go to war with each other. Our friends will have to fight. People will die. We can't take unnecessary risks."
"We should probably get away from here," Grover said, looking around nervously.
"That's probably a good idea," Annabeth said, her temper cooling.
"No," I shook my head. "We should stay. At least for the night."
"What?!"
"Okay, hear me out," I said, holding my hands up. "We are down three bags of supplies..." Andromeda huffed. "...through no fault of anybody's. There's food, water and other necessities that we didn't have access to before. It will take time to gather everything usable and pack it away so we can carry it. As an added bonus, this place smells like Medusa. It does, right?"
"Yeah," Grover confirmed.
"That means most other monsters will want to stay away," I said. "It's enough to mask our scent and give us a measure of safety."
"Annabeth?" Andromeda asked. "What's your take?"
Annabeth furrowed her brow as she thought over what I had said, then nodded slowly; "It makes sense. Besides, it's still wet out, and I don't know that I'd feel comfortable lighting a fire and possibly attracting more monsters to us. By staying here, we'll be able to at least stay dry and warm."
We split up and searched the warehouse. Unsurprisingly, Medusa's office was in the very back of the warehouse. There was a desk with an old-school desktop computer, a file cabinet in one corner, a few pictures hanging on the walls and the floor was covered in a thick, soft carpet. Inside her desk was a stack of packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins, a few golden drachmas, and an accounting book. The book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California.
"Hey guys," I said, holding up the bill. "Look."
"Well, that's convenient," Andromeda said. "Now we at least have a better idea of where we're going."
"Hey, there's a safe," Annabeth said, pointing out a wall safe that was hidden behind a framed picture. "Think you can open it?"
"I can try," Andromeda said, walking over. I raised an eyebrow as she got to work, and within minutes had the door open. Seeing my confusion, Andromeda shrugged; "Luke taught me and my brother a few things. Figured if we were going to be stuck in Eleven, we might as well get something out of it. He also taught us how to hotwire and drive a car."
Inside the safe was one of those bank deposit bags that had a dollar sign on it with around fifteen hundred dollars in cash, which went right into Andromeda's backpack. After splitting up and checking out the rest of the place, we met back up at the food court. Medusa's head was still sitting on the table where we had left it, wrapped in the black veil with a puddle of green blood dripping onto the floor.
"I'm surprised the head stayed behind when the rest of her vanished," I said.
"It's a spoil," Annabeth said. "A trophy of your kill."
"That's..." I trailed off, remembering the hydra I'd fought previously. "Yeah, okay that tracks. Still, who gets it?"
"You killed her," Grover said. "She's all yours."
"Great," I deadpanned. "Thanks so much."
"What are you going to do with it?" Andromeda asked.
"Well, I think I remember something about Annabeth's mom putting Medusa's head on a shield," I said.
"The Aegis," Annabeth said. "It was said to have been made by the cyclopes in Hephaestus' forges."
"Right," I nodded. "So, I figured I'd send it to dad and see what he could have it made into for me."
"The gods don't take commissions from demigods," Andromeda said.
"Maybe not," I said. "But I've heard that fathers sometimes give their daughters birthday presents. I think I'm owed at least twelve."
"You have to be careful when dealing with the gods, Penny," Annabeth warned. "They might think you're impertinent."
"Well, maybe I am... what you said," I groused.
"Do you even know what impertinent means?" Andromeda asked.
"Doesn't matter," I said.
Going back to the office, I rummaged around until I found the right-size box. I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:
Hephaestus
Mount Olympus
600th Floor,
Empire State Building
New York, NY
"Hey dad," I whispered. "Got a project for you, if you have the time. I'm really curious to see what you can make with this."
I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!
"I just wish I still had that book Charlie lent me," I said with a sigh. "Out of everything, that's the one thing I feel really bad about losing."
"Oh! Hang on," Grover said, pulling the book out of his jacket. "I picked it up before we fought the furies."
"Oh my gods," I beamed. "You're the best goat friend a girl could ask for! Seriously, I could hug you."
"I had to grab it to get up anyway," Grover said, blushing.
We ended up moving the statues of Medusa's victims away from the food court as they seemed to make both Andromeda and Grover deeply uncomfortable. Fortunately for us, the kitchen was still almost fully stocked with frozen burger patties, hot dogs, corn dogs, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions, several varieties of sliced and shredded cheeses, chili, tortilla chips, buns and condiments as well as a couple economy size bags of frozen french fries.
I took it upon myself to put together dinner for everyone, and made sure there was enough that we could all have second and even third helpings without having to get up and make more. Even Grover enjoyed his salad now that the threat of being monster chow had worn off.
"We should rest in shifts," Annabeth said, after we'd eaten our fill. "Even with the lingering scent of Medusa hanging around, I'd still feel safer. Besides, the office is the only place with a padded floor, and it's too cramped for all four of us at once."
"I'll cover first watch," I said. "I'm still low key running on adrenaline, plus I really want to keep reading."
"I've seen you flipping back and forth through the pages at least thirty times," Andromeda pointed out.
"It's because some of the later stuff references the earlier pages," I said. "So I have to go back and re-read it. The new context really helps put everything else into perspective."
"Just make sure to keep an ear out for danger," Annabeth warned.
"I will," I grinned.