IN SKYLAR'S RIGHTFUL opinion it was nice to know that there were greek gods out there, because you had somebody to blame when things went wrong, but something even better: just blaming percy jackson.
the daughter of apollo wasn't all for finger-pointing situations—but when a piece of glass is sticking out from your stomach, and your only option is to stumble, soaking wet, through the dark, scary woods—yeah, she was more than happy to put all the blame on percy.
annabeth handed skylar a piece of ambrosia she had stored in her pocket. the wound wasn't as bad once you wiped all the blood away, but it was definitely going to scar.
now there they were, skylar, annabeth, grover, and percy walking through the woods along the new jersey riverbank, the glow of new york city making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the hudson reeking in their noses.
grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "three kindly ones. all three at once."
"i don't even know why i agreed to go on this stupid quest," skylar mumbled under her breath to annabeth, but percy had heard it.
he looked frustrated. "you got yourself into this, sunshine."
"yeah, now i want to get myself back out of it. the idea of me risking my life for you doesn't exactly make complete sense, seaweed brain."
"you're not risking your life for just me." the son of poseidon's sea-green eyes flashed through the darkness. "this is a group thing."
"well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"
"what did you want me to do? let you get killed? you're already hurt enough."
"you didn't need to protect me—any of us, percy. we would've been fine."
"sliced like sandwich bread," grover put in, "but fine."
skylar rolled her eyes in the satyr's direction.
grover brayed mournfully. "tin cans...a perfectly good bag of tin cans."
they silently sloshed across mushy ground, and through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. the thunderstorm had finally let up. the city glow faded behind them, leaving the four in almost total darkness.
"annabeth?" skylar's voice called. percy couldn't make out anything of skylar except a glint of her bright blond hair.
the daughter of athena wordlessly grabbed the girl's hand. "it's oka—"
whatever words of encouragement she was about to say were interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
"hey, my reed pipes still work!" grover cried. "if i could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"
he puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like hilary duff.
"is hilary duff like the only thing you know?" skylar groaned.
a few more moments passed without any sort of sign of a path, although, percy (the one and only hero) slammed into a rather large tree.
the immediate reaction skylar had was doubling over in laughter. "gods, you're quite the genius, kelp face!"
percy tripped and cursed under his breath for another mile or so. finally the four started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. the smell food wavered in the air. fried, greasy, excellent food. they kept walking until they saw 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.
the neon sign above the gate was impossible for skylar to read, because if there's anything worse for her dyslexia than regular english, it was any cursive neon english.
to her, it looked like: AINYU MES DERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.
"what the fuck is that supposed to say?" she mumbled.
"i don't know," annabeth said. percy shrugged as well.
grover translated: "aunty em's garden gnome emporium."
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.
percy crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.
"hey..." grover warned.
annabeth and skylar made eye contact, shrugged, then followed percy, disregarding grover's protests.
the front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave grover the creeps.
"bla-ba-ha!" he bleated. "looks like my uncle ferdinand!"
they stopped at the warehouse door.
"don't knock," grover pleaded. "i smell monsters."
"c'mon, your nose is clogged up from the furies," skylar assured him. "all i smell is burgers and i'm super food deprived."
grover shivered as he looked around. "these statues are..."
the door suddenly creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall middle eastern woman. she wore an interesting outfit—by interesting, skylar meant something her and silena would totally have made fun of—it was a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled.
her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all they could make out. skylar assumed this was the famous aunty em.
"children, it is too late to be out all alone. where are your parents?" her accent sounded vaguely middle-eastern.
"they're um..." annabeth started to say.
"we're orphans," percy interrupted.
"orphans?" skylar and the woman questioned in unison.
the daughter of apollo knew they hadn't came up with a plan, but the excuse of being orphans was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard come out of percy's mouth (and that's saying something!)
the woman continued, "but, my dears! surely not!"
"we got separated from our caravan," percy said. "our circus caravan. the ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. anyway, we're lost. is that food i smell?"
"oh, my dears," the woman said. "you must come in, poor children. i am aunty em. go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. there is a dining area."
they all thanked her and went inside.
skylar murmured over to percy "circus caravan?"
"always have a strategy, right annabeth?"
"your head is full of kelp." she offered.
the warehouse was filled with more statues people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. skylar thought about how large of a garden you would need to fit the life-size statues—but mostly, she just thought about food.
at the back of the warehouse was a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. everything anyone could ever want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.
"please, sit down," aunty em said.
"um..." grover mumbled reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."
"no, no, children. no money. this is a special case, yes? it is my treat, for such nice orphans."
"thank you, ma'am," annabeth said.
"quite all right, annabeth," she said. "you have such beautiful gray eyes, child."
skylar briefly wondered how she knew annabeth's name, even though they had never introduced themselves, but the thought floated away dreamily.
their hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. before they knew it, she'd brought them plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of french fries.
skylar pursed her lips as she breathed in the delicious aroma of the food on the table. aunty em eyed the girl happily.
"you have a dimple on your cheek—the right side—just like your father! and, your freckles are stunning, my girl."
the blonde immediately stopped slurping on her milkshake. her mouth felt dry and her body went rigid.
it was as if the hazy fog that was clouding her brain was finally clearing up. she heard the distinct sound of hissing coming from aunty em's headdress.
"you...know my dad?"
"as you've seen, i sell gnomes!" aunty em spoke rapidly. "and animals. and people. anything for the garden. custom orders. statuary is very popular, you know."
the panicked women stood from the booth and stammered to herself.
"annabeth..." skylar muttered. "we should get out of here."
annabeth nodded urgently. "percy?"
the son of poseidon was in a deep conversation with aunty em. he was absentmindedly chewing on a french fry and staring at her as if he were getting hypnotized.
the girl shook percy to get his attention. "maybe we should go. i mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."
"such beautiful gray eyes," aunty em told annabeth again. "my, yes, it has been a long time since i've seen gray eyes like those."
she reached out as if to stroke annabeth's cheek, but annabeth stood up abruptly. "we really should go."
"i agree." skylar stood.
"yes!" grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up.
"the ringmaster is waiting! right!"
percy looked like a moody toddler as he watched, but ultimately remained seated.
"please, dears," aunty em pleaded. "i so rarely get to be with children. before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"
"a pose?" annabeth asked warily.
"a photograph. i will use it to model a new statue set. children are so popular, you see. everyone loves children."
skylar shifted her weight from foot to foot. "i don't think we can, ma'am. come on, percy—"
"sure we can," he said sounding irritated. "it's just a photo, skylar. what's the harm?"
"yes, skylar," the woman purred. "no harm."
aunty em began to undo the wrap around her head.
"look away from her!" annabeth shouted. she disappeared under her blue yankees cap.
the sound of grover scrambling off in one direction echoed loudly, annabeth in another. skylar felt percy beside her, too dazed to move.
more rasping—the sound of tiny snakes, right above them, from about where aunty em's head would be.
medusa.
skylar slowly reached next to her until her hand curled around percy's upper arm.
"such a pity to destroy such attractive faces—a handsome young man and a beautiful young lady," she told them soothingly. "stay with me, all you have to do is look up."
the daughter of apollo disregarded medusa's pity talk and slid her grip down percy's arm until she took his hand in her own.
she leaned into the boy. "ready, kelp face? three, two, one—"
percy was tugged up by skylar. he tried to make his legs move.
"how did medusa die in the myth?"
"shit—she was athena's biggest worshipper—but, then her and poseidon had this weird fling thing—"
"—gross—"
"—athena was furious—cursed her—um..."
"percy has to cut her head off!" annabeth's voice said right next to the two.
percy jumped so high his feet nearly cleared a garden gnome.
"jeez! don't do that!"
annabeth took off her yankees cap and became visible.
"perseus cut off medusa's head in the myth." skylar swallowed. "i would kill her myself, but i would most likely get sliced into bits."
annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "a polished shield would be better." she studied the sphere critically. "the convexity will cause some distortion. the reflection's size should be off by a factor of—"
"speak english!" percy and skylar screamed in unison.
"i am!" she tossed percy the glass ball. "just look at her in the glass. never look at her directly."
"hey, guys!" grover yelled somewhere above them. "i hink she's unconscious!"
"rooaaarrr!"
"maybe not," grover corrected. he went in for another pass with his baseball bat tree branch.
percy took out his pen and uncapped it. the bronze blade of riptide elongated in his hand.
skylar was pretty sure she blacked out the second she heard the sound of something fall to the ground with a squishy "thud!"
AUTHOR NOTE ! 🫧
mommy medusa