Rebelling Against Fate
Chapter III: On the Road Again
As we left, Annabeth stopped by Thalia's tree, and Grover told me the rest of Thalia's story, the part Luke had left out. "Why didn't he kill the Furies, or heal her wounds?" I asked. Honestly, I had started thinking about death a lot since the Battle of Manhattan, and even more since losing Nico. Why didn't the gods intervene in other ways if they wanted to save us?
"She was the bravest demigod I ever knew. She fought valiantly and met a hero's fate," Annabeth interrupted.
"You mean a pinecone's fate," I countered. "Couldn't her dad have done something to actually save her life? Anything to show that he actually cared about her?"
"Forbidden children are always in danger, even the strongest ones, even Thalia. And you are not Thalia."
"You're right, I'm not," I agreed, though not with the point that Annabeth thought I was. The Thalia I knew hated her dad and wanted to run away from her problems. She ran from the prophecy, she ran from Jason, she ran from Annabeth. Even in her final stand, I have to wonder if she was running from Luke.
"Do exactly as I say, and maybe you survive this. Are we clear?"
Oh, she did not! "I don't take orders from anyone, are we clear?"
"Guys, just stop this! I'm getting a headache, and satyrs don't get headaches!"
We traveled through most of NYC continuously bickering, enough so that Grover tried singing a song to get us to agree right before Furies boarded at a bus stop. "I'll be right back," I whispered to Grover before heading to the trio of old ladies. Annabeth had gone inside for snacks, so Grover tried to stop me, but I dodged him and made it up to the Furies. "We need to talk."
"And why should we talk to you?" one of the Furies asked.
As an answer, I just stabbed that one and took her seat, right between the two remaining Furies. "Now, considering how you acted back at school, Mrs. Dodds, I'm betting that whoever stole the lightning bolt also stole something from Hades, am I right?"
"Give us back the Helm!" the other Fury demanded.
I just stabbed her as well, leaving me alone with Mrs. Dodds. "So, that's a yes. Look, you know I can't lie, so I know you'll believe me when I say that killing you was my introduction to our world. I'm tracking down the stolen items and the thief right now. My quest's prophecy even stated that I would see them safely returned. All I want you to do is tell Hades that, and let him know that I am not coming to threaten him or accuse him."
"And I assume you want Lord Hades to return your mother?"
"I'll discuss that with him in person. All I really want right now is for him to not interfere with my quest any longer." Alecto nodded before vanishing in a burst of flames.
"Why did you talk to those monsters?" Annabeth demanded as we trudged through the woods. She had insisted on leaving the bus after I dealt with the Furies. I had tried insisting that we stay on the bus to save time, but Grover sided with Annabeth for once in our arguments, insisting that avoiding high traffic areas would protect us from other monsters.
"First, because they aren't just monsters, they're monsters that work for Hades, and like I said at Camp, that means Hades is involved in some way, and I doubt it's because he wants me dead. Hades might be upset about Dad breaking the oath, but there's never been any problems between the two of them like there are between Hades and Zeus. Talking to them was the only way to find out what they wanted."
"They want us dead! They're monsters, there's nothing more to it!" Annabeth yelled. "They killed Thalia and I will never forgive them or Hades for it!"
"Second, I got the information I needed from them, and got them to agree to leave us alone until the quest is done. Third, just because someone looks like a monster doesn't mean that they are one." If Annabeth acted anything like her counterpart back home did to Tyson, I was going to be furious. Why did I even like her enough to even be friends in the first place? I honestly couldn't remember. Was I losing all my memories of my other life, or was it just the disconnect between my Annabeth and this one? Either way, I was going to start recording my memories as soon as I got home before I forgot anything important.
My thoughts were interrupted by Grover mentioning that he smelled hamburgers. That could mean only one thing: Medusa. Then he started walking towards the scent! "Grover, what are you doing?"
"Somebody is making hamburgers in the middle of nowhere on a satyr path. Whoever it is, they're from our world."
"Okay, but did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, it's a monster trying to trick us? How many monsters are there compared to us, rough estimate?" I asked.
"Around 100:1," Annabeth replied as we spotted the gnome shop. She immediately caught on to who Auntie Em really was, but to our surprise, Medusa immediately introduced herself properly before inviting us in for lunch.
I had to admit, I was curious, and Mom's stories in my new memories were always about how misunderstood she was, so I walked in. Besides, I had some questions that she might be willing to answer. She immediately offered the snacks she had laid out, and I started eating. "Nice to see someone has an appetite," Medusa said when she walked in. "Eat up, nothing's enchanted." Then she spotted Annabeth come inside. "If you're concerned I'd hold a grudge against you because of your mother, don't be. You aren't Athena, and I'm too wise to hold a grudge these days. And you and I might have more in common than you think. Please, join your friend and eat."
Once I finished the cupcake I'd grabbed, I started with the most important question in my mind. "So, I know that you and my dad were … together once, but did he force you?"
Medusa started laughing. "Oh, that Ovid! I have to thank him for this human body, but he really had a problem with authority that made him diss everyone who was in authority, even the gods. No, I loved your father and he loved me at the time, even though I was far more hideous then than I am now."
"Wait, you were born a Gorgon? Then why do you look human now?"
"That's the beauty of our world, Perseus: belief influences reality. So few remember my true origins that I am all but human now, and I honestly prefer it this way. With each new life, I gain memories connected to how my life could have been. For example, now I was once a devotee to Athena even though she never responded, until Poseidon came along and proclaimed that he loved me. Only then did Athena pay attention to me, declaring that I would never be seen again by someone who could live to tell the tale."
"No! That's not what happened! My mother is just, always," Annabeth disagreed.
"Tell me, what is just about cursing a mortal for loving someone unless they belong to Artemis' Hunt? And even Artemis doesn't curse someone if they ask to leave before breaking their vows."
I'm sure she would have continued, but she excused herself to the kitchen and I decided to follow to help. For the first time in my life as a demigod, I was considering sparing a monster that wasn't a cyclops. "So, why are you trying to help me?" I decided to ask.
"Your mother and I, we're like sisters in a way. Targeted by the same monster. So I find myself feeling protective of you."
I was honestly surprised at that. "Monster? Mom never talked about dad like that."
"Where is she now, your mother? Is she safe?"
I shrugged. "Could be better, could be worse. Lord Hades has her because he thinks I'm a thief and can trade her for what he thinks I stole. But I trust him to be kind to her."
"Interesting. And what about your friends? Do you trust them to do right by you, or will they finish the quest rather than help you?"
"Doesn't matter, really. I can save my mom without their help if I need to, and help my dad at the same time."
Medusa turned to stare at me, though with her veil still on. "You're an interesting one, Perseus Jackson. I'll make you a deal, leave me alone and I'll leave you alone."
"Only if you also promise not to harm any innocents who come by. If you attack first, I'm coming for you, and believe me, I will know," I promised. I knew that, if nothing else, Nico would be willing to keep me updated.
"We have a deal then," Medusa stated before offering me her hand. I shook it and made a mental note to talk to Hades about her.
And with that, we were on our way again. Naturally, Annabeth was upset, again, yelling at me for letting her live. "You can't trust her to keep any promises!" she complained.
"I don't, which is why I'm going to ask Hades to let me know if she breaks our deal. I figure once I deal with his little problem, I'll have at least enough brownie points with him that he'll let me know if she acts up. If she does, I'll take her head, but until then, I'll let her live. Sometimes, a little compassion and empathy can save someone from becoming a monster. Sometimes, a monster is a monster only because the world treats them as monsters first." Those were some of the lessons Mom had taught me in this life, not to mention Tyson in my last one. I couldn't begin to guess just how close he'd come to simply giving in to how everyone treated him just because he was a cyclops, including me.
With the bus having escaped destruction, we still had the money to just buy tickets west, and before we pulled into St Louis the next morning, we spotted a few centaurs galloping along. That brought up the search for Pan and the fact that no satyr had ever returned from the search. But just as it seemed like they were about to mention Grover's dream, one of the guards pulled us out and took us back to our cabin. The window had been smashed and the room was in tatters. "You wanna explain?" he asked.
"You can't honestly think we did this, can you?" I asked.
"Did you?"
"How could we break the glass in a way that has the glass ending up inside the cabin?" I asked.
"Well, we got a witness here who says she heard the window smash and then heard children's voices."
"Again, how could we have broken the window and have the glass end up inside the cabin?" The guard just ignored me, probably because they had already made up their minds and I was making too much sense. They kept watch on us in another car until an older woman walked in and immediately asked to sit by us. My guard immediately went up, because the only mortal who had gotten so directly involved in a quest before was Rachel, which meant that this was not a mortal. Considering where we were, I almost wanted to guess that it was Echidna, but why was she showing up so soon? But I decided to play it safe and stood up. "Listen lady, I don't know why you're here, and I don't care. But get out of our way before you end up in Tartarus, like your pet here." With that, I activated Riptide in such a way that it cut right through the bag that she'd brought with her. Whatever was inside died immediately.
"Oh, you'll regret that," she stated.
"No, I don't think so," I replied as I stabbed her straight through the heart. I turned back to the others. "Listen, I'm going to deal with this before moving on. They've got nothing on us, so it won't even delay us long."
"You really think they're going to listen to us?" Grover asked.
"They don't need to, they just need to look at the evidence."
"Do what you want, I'm going to the Gateway Arch," Annabeth stated.
"No, no sightseeing," I ordered.
"It's not sightseeing, it's a temple to my mother."
"I don't care if it's a temple to the entire Greek pantheon with the answers to the universe in it, no sightseeing!"
"And what gives you the right to give me orders?" she demanded.
"My prophecy, my quest, my rules. We need to get to Los Angeles as quickly as possible because we don't have the Bolt or the Helm and we need to convince at least Hades to call off this war."
"I'm the wisest, I have the most experience, it's my quest!"
"Would you say the same thing to Luke or Thalia?" I asked. Gods, but she was irritating me so much right now! It was honestly reminding me of … Zoe! Of course, that's it! That was the problem: her fatal flaw, hubris! It was more on display now than I could ever recall it being before. Looking back on our adventures, I could see her hubris pop up every so often, but she was mostly the brains of the outfit, giving out complicated facts or information that I desperately needed at the time.
When my mind refocused on the here and now though, Annabeth was gone and Grover was giving me a look. "Too far, man, way too far."
I wish I could say that it affected me the way it should have, but it didn't. I just didn't have the emotional connection with Annabeth when I left that I'd had even six months earlier, and that was an Annabeth that I had truly loved. This one just didn't have that. Grover was worse because he had actively lied about me and had barely interacted with me at camp. "Just get her back to camp. If you still want to help, catch a flight to Denver or Vegas, I'll be there for a while."
A/N: So, I honestly like this Annabeth starting around the aftermath of Medusa, but between my Percy being far more competent than he is in canon due to the time/dimension travel and the lack of icebreaking after Medusa, he never sees past her armor. Will that change later on in my story? I honestly don't know. Definitely not in Lightning Thief, but maybe in Sea of Monsters after they've had some time to cool off. Then again, considering Tyson, even that may be delayed. Still, with her hubris on far greater display, our favorite daughter of Athena will be having some trouble in the future.