𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐄, p. jackson

𝐕𝐈. an impertinent duo

  "Please, sit and eat," Medusa offered.

  Percy and Grover slowly pulled up a chair and sat down. Only Scarlett and Annabeth remained standing.

"So if you're not a monster, what are you then?" Percy questioned.

"A survivor." Medusa replied.

"You must be a little more than that. There's a Fury out there who seems terrified of you."

"Because she knows what I think of her," Medusa walked away to sit down away from the table. "I don't like bullies. When one shows up on my doorstep, they end up spending a lot more there than they planned for. The gifts the gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore."

"What my mother did to you wasn't a gift." Annabeth cut in. "It was a curse."

"You are loyal to your mother." Medusa stated.

"Yes." Annabeth agreed.

"You stand by her?"

"Always." She scoffed.

"You love her?"

"Of course I do." Annabeth defended.

  "And so did I," Medusa admitted. "Do you know the story about how I came to be this way?"

  "I do," Grover answered, his mouth full of food.

  He glanced unsurely at Percy, and then the girls. "Do I?" He mumbled.

  "Athena was everything to me," Medusa began. "I worshipped her. I prayed to her. I made offerings. She never answered. Not even an omen to suggest she appreciated my love."

  Scarlett subconsciously glanced at Annabeth, feeling this story was a little too familiar. Annabeth's expression remained nonchalant.

  "I wasn't like you, sweetheart." Medusa called out. "I was you. I would've worshipped her that way for a lifetime."

  She continued. "But then one day, another god came and broke that silence. Your father," She nodded at Percy. "the sea god told me that he loved me. I felt as though he saw me in a way I had never felt seen before."

  "But then Athena declared I had embarrassed her and needed to be punished. Not him. Me." Pain was evident in Medusa's voice. "She decided I would never be seen again by anyone who would live to tell the tale."

  Scarlett fought the urge to look Medusa in the face. She felt a wave of sympathy for the woman (monster?). She's heard the stories of Medusa, but never this one. The real story, coming from her own mouth. How Athena expected to be worshipped no matter what, and gave unfair consequences when she wasn't. Meanwhile, Poseidon got nothing. Even though Poseidon started it, Athena hated Medusa.

From Scarlett's years of camp, she learned this: the gods had so much power; they expect you to worship them, yet they'll still treat you like absolute garbage. There's a valid reason why her mother wanted revenge on them.

Annabeth never seemed to learn that lesson, though. It was one of the few things Scarlett and Annabeth clashed on. Her reaction was very different from everyone else in the room.

"That isn't what happened." Annabeth denied firmly. "My mother is just. Always."

  "Yeah, right" Scarlett mumbled. Annabeth sent her a pointed look.

"The gods want you to believe that. That they're infallible." Medusa replied.

"Don't you agree, child of Nemesis?" Medusa addressed Scarlett, as if sensing her train of thought. "You've been awfully quiet. Perhaps you know a thing or two about this."