FLOWER POWER ─ percy jackson

vii. garden gnomes galore

"The florist," Percy cut in.

"Yeah," Aster nodded, "he... he sort of left me. I don't know if he wanted to go or not, but he did. Camp Half-Blood is my home. At camp you train and train and train and train— And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not. Demeter's never had any sort of quest or champion, and I just want to make my siblings proud." Her voice wavered, but luckily Percy didn't mention it.

"You're pretty good with that knife," he said.

"You think so?" Aster smiled.

Percy cracked a grin. "Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."

"You know," Aster chuckled, surprised that they were having a conversation without fighting, "maybe I should tell you... Something funny back on the bus..."

A shrill toot-toot-toot interrupted her, like the sound of an owl being tortured. Annabeth's hands were covering her ears.

"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!" Aster was just about to remind her that she was leading them out of the woods, but he puffed out a few notes, the tune still sounding a lot like a Hilary Duff song.

Instead of finding a path, Percy walked right into a tree, earning a nice-size knot on his head. Aster snorted, covering her laugh with her hand. Percy glared at her.

"I guess the trees don't really like you," Aster said with a wild grin.

"Shut up, tree-hugger," he grumbled, and they moved on.

After following Aster's carefully marked path, with Percy mostly falling and tripping over roots while cursing under his breath, there was a bright glow ahead of them: a neon sign. The smell of food wafted in the air reminded Aster of how hungry she was. They kept walking to 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.

Though it didn't seem to be a restaurant. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. Aster squinted at the neon sign to see what it read. Her dyslexia didn't like friendly letters in a book, let alone glowing, red cursive.

It looked like it read: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.

"What the heck does that say?: Percy asked.

"I don't know," Annabeth said.

Aster came to stand beside him, still squinting at the sign. When Percy looked at her, she shook her head.

Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."
"Who the hell is 'Aunty Em'?" Aster said, and Percy shrugged.

"Who cares?" he said. "Smells like she has good food."

So Aster followed him to the weird shop. Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

"Hey..." Grover warned, he looked alarmed.

"The lights are on inside,"" Annabeth said hopefully. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully, looking over at Aster.

"Snack bar," she agreed.

"Are you guys crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."