Annabeth
"Get her home safe, okay? I'll come talk to you later about what to do next," Annabeth said.
Mr. Sherman nodded as Lily sobbed into his arms. The girl had gotten away without a scratch, thankfully, but it must have been terrifying nonetheless.
Lily had been alone in a dressing room when Euryale burst in, Annabeth right behind her. Euryale hadn't had a chance to lay a hand on her before Annabeth fought her off, and when it was clear she wouldn't get past Annabeth, she fled. Annabeth had been about to go after her when Sam showed up, explaining that Percy and Dean were in pursuit. Annabeth knew they had it handled, so she sent Sam off to find Lily's father while Annabeth calmed her down and began the long conversation her father would have to have with her about her true parentage.
Once Annabeth was sure Lily and Mr. Sherman would be all right, she and Sam raced back outside to regroup with Percy and Dean.
"Which way did they go?" she asked.
"That way," Sam said, and he pointed toward the prop house.
Before they could take another step, Annabeth heard the clink of metal. She turned to see Euryale climb over the fence into the parking lot and disappear into the night.
Sam made to run after her, but Annabeth grabbed his arm. "You won't catch her. She's gone."
Sam cursed, and silently, Annabeth did the same. They may have succeeded in protecting Lily, but Euryale and Medusa were still out there. They needed to put a stop to them, or this child-of-Athena scavenger hunt was going to end in death.
"Come on," Annabeth said. "Let's get Percy and Dean and make sure Lily stays safe."
Sam nodded and they jogged over to the prop house. It was so cluttered and poorly lit, Annabeth hardly knew how anyone found anything in there.
"Percy?" she called out. "Are you in here?"
"Dean?" Sam said.
"Annabeth?" came Percy's response.
"We just saw Euryale escape," she said, starting to move in the direction of his voice. "We need to follow Lily and make sure they don't go after her again."
"Dammit," Percy cursed, his voice closer.
Annabeth turned a corner, and there he was. Percy spotted her at the same time and hurried up to her. "You all right?" he asked, touching her face and checking her for injuries.
She smiled and kissed him quickly, happy to find he didn't have any wounds either. "Fine. Just frustrated she got away."
"We'll get her," he said. "And Medusa."
"Dean? Where are you?" Sam called again, his voice a few rows away from them.
Annabeth frowned and looked at Percy. "What happened?"
Percy shrugged, following Sam's voice. "We followed Euryale in here and split up once inside. She came for me once, then retreated. I think I heard her and Dean fight, too. But then, nothing."
They walked past a giant moon set piece and found Sam. He jumped and lifted his knife, then relaxed when he saw it was them. Then, his face turned hard again. "Have you seen Dean?"
Percy shook his head. "We got separated in here."
Sam huffed and glanced around. Annabeth saw the worry building on his face and tried to mask her own. "Split up. Let's find him," Sam said.
Annabeth didn't bother arguing and neither did Percy—they could all feel the urgency. They each took a different path and moved deeper into the prop house until all Annabeth could hear was the sound of her own breath and footsteps.
Annabeth's heart was racing. How badly was Dean hurt? Annabeth hoped he was just unconscious. Besides, monsters didn't usually go after mortals. Euryale would have no reason to harm him, other than for being in her way. Percy was the more enticing target. She wouldn't have wanted to waste time with Dean. Right?
"Crap," Percy's voice floated through the prop house, maybe twenty feet away but separated by rows of junk. "Medusa was here."
Sam's voice came next, a bit closer. "How do you know? We only saw Euryale."
Dread filled Annabeth's stomach. "Oh no." She rushed through the props, following Percy's voice and the glow of his blade.
When she finally found him, Annabeth gasped as her fear was confirmed. She could barely breathe as Percy reached out and took her hand, squeezing. His face was as distraught as she felt.
Sam stumbled into them from behind. "What is it?"
Annabeth couldn't bring herself to speak. She just pointed.
Dean's mouth was open in a shout, his knife poised for stabbing. He was crouched low to the ground, but his torso was twisted like he'd been in the middle of turning to fend off an attack from behind.
And he was completely motionless, turned into immovable stone.
"No," Sam breathed, falling to his knees before his brother's statue. He touched Dean's face like he was afraid it would crumble underneath his fingertips.
"I'm so sorry," Percy whispered. "I had no idea she was here."
"There has to be a way to bring him back," Sam said, his voice frantic. His eyes were pleading when he looked at them. "In the myths, the-the running water! It can reverse this, right?"
Annabeth shook her head. "You're thinking of Midas' golden touch."
"There's got to be something. This is your monster. How do you bring someone back from being turned to stone?" Sam bellowed.
Annabeth flinched back. Hidden beneath her guilt was the relief that neither she, Percy, nor Lily had been turned to stone by Medusa. And that relief only made her feel guiltier.
"You can't," Percy said quietly. "I'm sorry."
Sam choked and hugged his brother's statue. He touched his forehead to Dean's and stayed there for a moment. Abruptly, he pulled back.
"If your world can't do it, maybe mine can," he muttered.
Annabeth barely had time to say, "What—" before Sam yelled, "Cas! We need you!"
The sound of flapping wings filled the air and suddenly, another man stood before them. He was closer to Percy's height than Sam or Dean's, but he was still big. He had dark hair and strangely bright blue eyes and wore an old beige trench coat over a simple shirt and tie.
"Sam," said the new man in a deep voice. "What is it?"
The newcomer noticed Dean before Sam had a chance to speak. His eyes widened, and he dropped to his knees beside them. "Dean! What happened?"
By the desperate, panicked look on the newcomer's face, Annabeth knew exactly who Dean was to him. She was instantly hit with another wave of relief that it had been Dean and not Percy, and then scolded herself for it.
"A Gorgon," Sam said.
The newcomer frowned. "A Gorgon? I thought they could only paralyze people, not do this." He finally glanced at Percy and Annabeth but dismissed them just as quickly in favor of Sam. "Is this related to your case? Do these two have something to do with it?"
Sam shook his head. "There are different kinds of Gorgons, and one of them can turn people to stone. It's a long story, Cas, but they've been working with us. I'll explain everything later. Can you save him?"
The newcomer—Cas—sighed and touched the sides of Dean's head. "I can try."
Sam got to his feet and pushed Percy and Annabeth back to give Cas some space. "Who is that?" Percy asked.
"A friend," Sam said. "More like family. He's powerful. I'll explain later."
"I need to concentrate," Cas said.
The three of them fell silent and watched Cas. Annabeth had a million and one questions, but now was not the time. If this Cas really could save Dean . . . the beginnings of a plan swirled in her head.
Cas' hands began to glow a warm white-yellow. After a few tense moments, the glow spread to cover all of Dean's body. A faint cracking sound filled the air, and Annabeth dared to let herself hope.
The stone around Dean's body burst like a second skin, revealing flesh and blood underneath. Dean gasped and fell into Cas' arms, the knife clattering from his hand, and only once Annabeth heard his labored breathing continue did she let out her own sigh of relief.
"Dean! Dean, are you okay?" Cas asked, cradling Dean and checking his pupils for responsiveness.
"Cas?" Dean coughed and shivered. "W-what are you—"
"Sam prayed for me. So I came."
Sam dropped to the ground once more and helped Cas gently prop Dean up against a pile of old suitcases. His skin was an unnerving shade of gray, and he shivered uncontrollably. Cas stripped off his trenchcoat and slung it around Dean's shoulders, then grasped Dean's face and kissed him on his forehead, nose, and mouth. Sam grinned and patted Dean's shoulder.
"'M all right, Cas," Dean muttered, but there was a hint of a smile on his face, and he was holding Cas' hand so tight it had to hurt. "What happened?"
"Medusa was here," Percy said. "She turned you to stone. I'm so sorry, if I'd known—"
"It's okay, I'm okay," Dean said. "Did you get her? And Euryale?"
Annabeth grimaced. "They got away."
Dean closed his eyes and sighed as Cas pulled the trenchcoat tighter around him. "What about Lily?"
"She's okay," Annabeth said. "She's with her dad. I told them I'd check in with them later."
Dean tried to push himself to his feet and winced and grabbed his arm.
"Take it easy, Dean," Sam said. "Go slow."
Cas touched Dean's arm, and Dean grimaced. "It's nothing."
Cas rolled his eyes, and his hand glowed again. A second later, the pain left Dean's face and he flexed his arm without a complaint.
"Thanks, Cas," Dean said.
Dean got to his feet with Cas' help. He seemed steady enough, but he was pale and shivering a bit. Cas stuck close to his side, and they were still holding hands.
With the immediate danger out of the way, Annabeth pounced on the biggest questions she'd been waiting to ask. "Who are you? How did you revive Dean?"
Cas looked at her. "My name is Castiel. I'm an angel of the lord."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Like, an angel who works for—"
"Capital 'G' God," Percy said. "Yeah, apparently Sam and Dean have fought God, who's a writer. And a bad guy."
That didn't faze Annabeth too much, given her cousin Magnus' friend Samira's take on the Norse gods and her Muslim faith. If they had more time, she'd dig deeper—but there were more important things to worry about.
"I don't work for him, anymore," Cas said. "I work for my son, Jack."
Annabeth really wanted to keep talking and figure out what the hell that meant, but Percy plowed on. "So angels are real?" he asked.
Cas cocked his head. "You are hunters, but you don't know about angels?"
"Like I said, Cas, it's a long story," Sam said. "They're not exactly hunters. They're demigods. They're both children of a mortal and a Greek god."
Cas' frown deepened. "Which gods?"
Percy capped Riptide and tucked it into his pocket. "Son of Poseidon."
Annabeth sheathed her knife. "Daughter of Athena."
Cas hummed. "It seems there is much you need to bring me up to speed on if we are to succeed."
Dean frowned. "What?"
Cas looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Dean, you nearly died. I'm not leaving your side until this is over."
For a moment, Dean looked like he wanted to protest. Then he just sighed, hugged Cas, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Okay. I'm glad you're here."
"Come on," Sam said. "We should get out of here before anyone comes around asking questions."
~
Like before, Percy and Annabeth split off from Sam and Dean—and now Cas—to go talk to Lily Sherman and her family. They explained who she was, what was after her, and that they were handling it. But they also told her father that it might be time to consider sending her to Camp Half-Blood. Now that she knew who she was, she would be in more danger. It was time for her to learn how to protect herself.
Once that was taken care of, they met up with their hunter friends at the Sunnyvale Motel—real original name. After dropping off their things in their room, Percy and Annabeth joined Sam, Dean, and Cas in theirs.
Evidently, the hunters had already begun explaining everything to Cas.
"So these Gorgons are going after your siblings because of a grudge against your mother?" Cas asked Annabeth when she walked in.
Annabeth waited to answer until Percy had closed the door behind them. "Yes. Athena's the one who turned Medusa and Euryale into Gorgons thousands of years ago. So, they're getting their revenge by going after her children."
Cas hummed. "And these Gorgons are not like the one we fought, who could paralyze its victims with its venom."
Percy nodded. "Euryale's only as dangerous as the next monster. But Medusa is the one who can turn people to stone. That's what happened to Dean. She's definitely the one in charge."
Dean was looking much better now. His skin was back to its normal color, and he wasn't shivering anymore. Still, Cas was holding onto him like if he didn't, Dean would disappear.
"But they both got away," Dean said. "Where are they gonna go next? Who's the next target?"
All eyes turned to Annabeth, but she didn't make a move for the list Athena had given her. "I have a better idea. Instead of chasing them, let's bring them to us. Because now that we have Cas and we know he can revive people who have been turned to stone, he can save all the children they took."
Percy raised an eyebrow. "How are we going to get them to come to us?"
Annabeth grinned. "By using me as bait."