𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐑, 𝐏𝐉

𝟎𝟎𝟖

 ❛𝟎𝟎𝟖❜

❝𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐫𝐚❞

So there they were, Juliet, Annabeth and 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."

Percy was pretty much in shock himself. But Annabeth and Juliet kept pulling the guys along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded them. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—" Annabeth spoke up.

"What did you want me to do? Let you guys get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. We would've been fine, if you didn't know me and Juliet have been training for years."

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans . . . a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

"Don't worry," Juliet finally spoke up gathering their attention as she reached out in her pocket taking out a plastic zip lock with mortal and godly money, "I've got us covered."

Percy and Grover stared at her in wonder, while Annabeth looked proud, "I don't carry a backpack, this shit always happens with me. While I don't have much," She shuffled through her pockets pulling out her canteen, "We can still share a little for basic survival."

"Thangk gods!" Grover cried nearly hugging her as Juliet just smiled.

"Well at least we won't die now," Annabeth murmured, Percy stared at his shoes before he gave her a thankful smile.

Juliet wanted to punch Percy, but she let it go. He was going through much more emotions than her, this was his first quest, he was bound to make mistakes.

They sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.    After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy and the duo had their own conversation while Juliet and Grover walked by the front.

"Here, it's not much but you should still have it," Juliet pulled out a tin cherry coke can for Grover from her jacket, she didn't even know why she had it, but she wasn't complaining, Grover's eyes lit up as he took the can eating it in one gulp.

Juliet watched the satyr fondly before saying, "Don't be hard on yourself Grover,"
She pushed her hands in her jacket and turned to stare ahead, It was dark around them, she didn't like the dark.

"I'm not, I just..." Grover spoke sadly and Juliet passed him a sad smile back.

"I know, feel like you would never be good enough to achieve your dreams," She patted his shoulder lightly, "Trust me, feeling like that brings you no good but self destruction. You are one of the best satyrs I've ever met. And take it from a daughter of Apollo," she leaned towards him a little as if sharing a secret, "Something tells me you'll be the one to discover Pan."

Tears build up in Grover's eyes as he slightly sniffled, "Thanks Juliet,"

"Juli, call me Juli, all my friends do."

The tears were on the verge of being shed, "Thanks Juli, I needed that."

"I got you," Juliet smiled at him, she'd just said words to the satyr that she'd wanted to hear from someone.

"Let me play a song for you on my pipes," Juliet wanted to tell him no, but that had been awfully rude so she let him do it, "Maybe a find the path song!"

    He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.    Instead of finding a path, Percy immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on his head. Juliet finally laughed and felt the pressure escape her body.

After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, they started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. Percy could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food.

They kept walking until Juliet 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.

It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like she'd hoped. 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. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for them to read, because if there's anything worse for their dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.    To them, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM.

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

"I don't know," Annabeth said.

"We all have the same dyslexic problem if you forgot," Juliet replied.

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 and Juliet warned, the vibe of the area wasn't it.

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

"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.

"Snack bar," she agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Juliet said. "This place is weird."

They ignored her, Grover and Juliet exchanged a wary look.

The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps. Too fucking much cement, this wasn't normal.

"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

They stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded him.

"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are . . . looking at me."

"Guys, I'll pay for all of our lunch in the four seasons buffet, let's just walk away from here, something is...terribly wrong. Please." Juliet tired, but before they could heed her warning the door creaked open and standing in front of them was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, Juliet assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore 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 Juliet could make out. It was enough to make out this was a hell of a crazy bitch. Did Percy have no sense? He was being hunted out for stealing by the gods, every single step he took a monster was waiting for him there.

Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"

"They're . . . um . . ." Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans," Percy said.

No the fuck we are not!

Juliet's hand found Percy's wrist, she squeezed it hard to get him away, but he just shook her away.

"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "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 thanked her and went inside. Juliet didn't speak a word before she asked, "Where might be the washroom?"

Aunty Em. turned towards her, her hand softly coming to remove tendrils of hair from Juliet's face as she spoke in a tone too warm, "To the left, my dear."

"Thank you," This Aunty Em was definitely a monster, but Juliet was going to leave the trio alone with her in the dining area out of spite.

Okay, she was being too petty. But, Percy and Annabeth should've listened to her when she was warning them. It was time they faced the consequences of their reckless decisions.

Juliet moved to the left, separating from the group as she headed for the washroom. The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces.

As she found the washroom and got cleaning up her ears, that had dried blood from the explosion she wondered what kind of poster they were dealing with. Aunty Em, Statues, Veil.
The bulb lit up, and Juliet wondered how the fuck she could've been so stupid. That was no Aunty Em, It was Medusa out there. She quickly closed the faucet, slipped on her shades and walked out cautious yet hurriedly.

By the time Juliet was near the dining area she heard Aunty Em, no Medusa say, "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, Juliet was proud that at least someone out there was in their right mind.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—"

"Sure we can," Percy said irritatedly and Juliet knew he was far gone. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."

As Medusa positioned them for the photograph, Juliet tugged her laurel and looked for possible exits. Only one, fuck.

"Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side."

"Not much light for a photo," Percy remarked, Juliet wondered why, that was his concern.

"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"

"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.

Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"

Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."

She still had no camera in her hands.

"Percy—" Annabeth said.

Some instinct warned him to listen to Annabeth, but he was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady's voice, "It's just a photograph Annabeth-"

"Don't Look!" A yell, a smack, and rushed footsteps.

Percy held his cheek, he'd just been slapped by Juliet. He was on the ground, looking at Aunt Em's sandaled feet. She was above him, her knee resting on his back and arm on his head.

Percy could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. But he was too dazed to move, Juliet's slap had brought back some sense but he still wasn't quite there.

Then he heard a strange, rasping sound above him. His eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails. He almost looked higher, but Juliet smacked his face back and screamed, "No! Don't!"

More rasping—the sound of tiny snakes, right above him, from . . . from about where Aunty Em's head would be.

"Run!" Grover bleated. He heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "Maia!" to kick-start his flying sneakers.
"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," she told me soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."

Percy fought the urge to obey, Juliet lightly smacked him again as if trying to tell him to snap out of it, and while he loved her help he didn't like the method of him getting slapped again and again.

"Look up at me Juliet," She hissed out, "Look at me without those glasses, help me."

"Oh I'll help you bitch, by chopping your head off," Juliet yelled out, "You work for my dad, how'd you think unemployment is gonna look on you after this huh?"

Medusa figured out she was getting no where with Juliet so she immediately switched back her tactics. "The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited him to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Run, Percy!"

"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."

Juliet smacked him, once again, "No," he finally muttered. His suddenly felt Juliet's peachy breath near his ear, "You finally awake Percy, Or do you still want to pose for your insta pictures with the snake haired bitch,"

If they weren't in such compromised situation Percy would've blushed at Juliet being this close to him but right now he reigned his head back and finally nodded.

"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach "the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."

"Percy! Juliet!" Behind them, they heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!"

They turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes fluttering, Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone.

"Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!"

That finally jolted him into action. Knowing Grover, they was sure he'd miss Medusa and nail them.

They dove to one side, Juliet was straddling Percy, she took off her sunglasses and pushed it on his face, "Don't take them off in any circumstances." He stared up at her Caribbean blue eyes as she said the next words with a lazy grin, "And find Annabeth, Blue."

Then she was off him, leaving him behind dazed as she wrapped her handkerchief on her eyes and hoisted the crossbow by her arm. Percy watched her with an awed look forgetting he was in life or death fight.

Right next to him, Annabeth's voice said, "Percy!"

He jumped so high his feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Don't do that!"

Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."

"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here. Call Juliet back," He turned back to see Juliet taking aim, her arrow lodging in Medusa's arm as the gorgon cried out.

"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but . . ." Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. "But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You—you've got a chance."

"What? I can't—"

"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues? Juliet's out there risking her life, for you,"

She pointed to a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, turned to stone by the monster, and then he turned towards the daughter of Apollo who dodged Medusa's arm.

"Touch me bitch, I dare you," The words were heavy in the air, "Your only importance in guarding the temple of Delphi would be stripped away, and you'll walk the depths of Tartarus forever."

Percy kinda swooned at Juliet's angry words, Annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal, snapping him back. "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—"

"Juliet gave me her glasses"

"They must protective, try um..try to" Annabeth said after observing.

"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above them. "I think she's unconscious!"

"Roooaaarrr!"

"Maybe not," Grover corrected. Juliet reached to hit another shot.

"Hurry," Annabeth told Percy. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash and Juliet might be great sensory warrior but she's worn out."

He took out his pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in his hand. Percy built up the courage and finally looked up, then he finally saw her. Medusa in all her glory, the glasses acted as protective shield.

Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Ummphh!"

Medusa was about to lunge at him when Juliet lodged another Arrow hitting her leg, Medusa was about to reach for her when Percy yelled, "Hey!"

He advanced on her—twenty feet, ten feet.

"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't."

Percy hesitated, fascinated by the face he saw behind the shades—the eyes that seemed to burn straight through the green tint, making his arms go weak.

From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!"

Medusa cackled. "Too late."

She lunged at him with her talons. Before she could reach him, he got another slap delivered to his face, Juliet huffed snapping him back to reality as he held up his sword. Even blind, her slap had been extremely accurate.

He slashed up with his sword, heard a sickening shlock!, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating. Something fell to the ground next to his foot. It took all his willpower not to look, or else he'd vomit. He could feel warm ooze soaking into his sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces.

"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but Percy guessed he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."

Annabeth came up next to him, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."

Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, her voice trembling.

"Yeah," Percy decided, though he felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. "Why didn't . . . why didn't the head evaporate?"

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."

Juliet removed her blindfold, rubbing her eyes lightly before reaching Percy and snatching the shades off him, leaving him to deal with the blinding light. She didn't spare him a single glance and went for Annabeth putting her arm on the girl's shoulder and asking, "You good?"

Annabeth nodded while pulling Juliet in a side hug.

Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. He had a big welt on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.

"The Red Baron," Percy said. "Good job, man." Juliet pushed past him again, hitting his shoulder as she helped Grover up to his feet.

The satyr managed a bashful grin while letting Juliet help him up to his feet. "That really was not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? Not fun."

He snatched his shoes out of the air. Percy recapped his sword, tried talking to Juliet who just pushed past him. Together, the four of them stumbled back to the warehouse.

They found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. They plopped it on the table where they'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.

Finally Percy said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

Annabeth flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."

Percy's face was burning. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."

Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of Percy's voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'"

"Forget it," Percy said. "You're impossible."

"No you, Percy." It was the first time Juliet was addressing him after the fight, and the tone was as deadly as the one she sometimes used with Luke, "You are the impossible one, who is not willing to listen to anything anyone has to say. This isn't my first rodeo, so when I tell you something you do it, against all my morals I'm trying to protect and help you, the least you can do is compile with me. There is a limit to the shit I can take."

The silence hung heavy amongst them. They really had pissed Juliet off this time, she never got this serious about anything except Luke. Percy didn't meet her eyes in shame, instead he stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!

He was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting them blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. He was angry at himself for pushing Juliet to the edge knowing she hadn't wanted to be here.

What had Medusa said?

Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.

He got up. "I'll be back."

"Percy," Annabeth called after him. "What are you—"

"Let him go, Beth, he prefers not listening." With that Juliet stood up herself walking out.

Percy walked away huffing, he searched the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Juliet went out to lean by a tree, when sure she was a safe distance away her hand came to her ears in a pained gasp to find them bleeding again, she slipped out some ambrosia and nectar, before covering her ears and sending out a small hymn to her father.

She could hear the trio talking inside but instead of going them, she closed her eyes and lit up the small sunbeam in her palm as she whispered a quick prayer to her father. She needed his help, quick help.

By the time she joined the trio back, Percy was sealing off and delivering Medusa's head to Olympus. She gather the trio's attention by her steps and spoke.

"Come on," she muttered with a tired sigh. "We need a new plan."