As soon as her name left her mouth, we all collectively shifted our gaze to the grey and stormy sky, desperate not to meet the fate of any of the garden statues nearby.
She sighed. "It's always the same with you demigods. That's a shame. I'm offering hospitality here."
Annabeth scoffed, her overconfidence pushing through her fear. "We all know that's not true. You want to kill us. To get back at what my mother did to punish you. To get Poseidon to notice you again by killing his son. You can't fool us."
Medusa sighed again. "It's a pity you feel that way, daughter of Athena. You really think that little of me? That I would judge a child based off the actions of their parents? No. I am simply offering aid and assistance for your journey."
"Why?" I asked this time, and the other two hummed in agreement.
In my peripheral, I could see her shrug before speaking. "Listen, children, I'm not stupid. Camp Half-Blood is perhaps four hours away by coach, and I can't imagine you've eaten much since leaving."
I hated to admit it, but that part was true. Most of our food was gone in the first couple of hours, despite Annabeth's insistence to ration it, but hey, teenagers gotta eat.
"Also, I heard Alecto. I heard your conflict. It's good that you defeated her, but can you keep that up for every monster that comes your way? Because, child of Poseidon, while your scent may be enticing and powerful enough to attract monsters throughout the state, rumours have spread through the Underworld."
"What kind of rumours?" Grover asked, his voice shaking and I couldn't blame him.
"We know that Zeus' Master Bolt has been stolen. He has made that abundantly clear." She pointed up at the foggy and stormy sky, rumbling with thunder occasionally.
"And monsters can use common sense, despite popular belief. Poseidon has always been trailing after Zeus. He's the primary suspect. And now we know that he has a child. People think you stole it for your father. And that weapon is the kind of thing that monsters and humans alike would start wars over."
"So you're saying that monsters want to steal the Bolt from Percy?" Annabeth asked, and when she got a confirming nod, she scoffed again. "Well, he doesn't have it, so th-"
"Irrelevant." Medusa cut off. "They think he does, and that's all that matters. In fact, I can guarantee that you won't be able to sleep at night without the prospect of death hanging over you. But that's where I can help."
"Huh?"
She chuckled. "Athena may have thought she cursed me, but I beg to differ. In fact, it can be seen as a blessing. I despise bullies. And the gift she gave me, was that I can not be bullied any longer. No monster will dare mess with you in my presence, unless they wish to be petrified."
Grover gulped inwardly, and I caught him staring at that statue of a satyr he saw before wistfully, and Medusa began to walk back.
"It's your choice. You can either starve and get endlessly hunted, or you can follow me and rest. I'll be waiting."
As soon as she walked back into the building, we all dropped our gazes to look at each other, sweating and hearts racing.
"Do we trust her?" I asked, and Annabeth vigorously shook her head.
"Fuck no. That's the most obvious bait I've ever seen, she'll kill us easily if we enter that building. It's basically her lair."
Grover shrugged. "I dunno, she seemed quite nice. And she does have a point. I'm starving. And this is probably one of the only places in the country where we can rest without a monster trying to decapitate us or something."
I nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Let's have a vote on it though. Who thinks we should leave?"
Annabeth raised her hand high and mighty, as if that would make us go along with it.
"Who thinks we should eat and chill?"
Grover and I both put her arms up, looking at her smugly and enjoying her frustrated expression.
"The group chooses hamburgers. That's what we'll do."
"That's not fair!"
"How? It's democracy!"
"Democracy is bullshit."
"Isn't that one of your mom's domains?"
"Doesn't mean I like it. Do you like storms?"
"Actually, yes."
"Whatever."
___________________________________________
Sensitively, we walked into the house, ready to dart our eyes elsewhere if need be. The door clacked shut behind us, and a voice called from another room which I could only assume was the kitchen from the delicious aromas leaving it.
"I see you have taken up my offer. Excellent. Take a seat at the dinner table, I'll be with you in a second." Medusa instructed, and we all slowly began to walk into the dining room adjacent to the doorway, admiring the elegant choices of azure and black wallpapers and beautiful decor.
Annabeth pointed out the Van Gogh painting on the wall, but I personally felt more compelled to the large, ornamental vase in the corner of her room. It had a depiction of a story, a large man, with a sword and winged shoes, holding up a shield and a sword, chopping off the head of a woman behind him.
It gave me the weirdest sense of déja vu, and I had no idea why.
We sat down at a grand table, long enough to fit a couple dozen people but only set up to feed three, with three plates, pairs of cutlery and seats that could only be for us.
Grover and I looked around excitedly, examining the room, but a quick jab in the side by Annabeth brought us back to reality.
"Ow! What the he-"
"Shut up and reason with me for a second." She interrupted harshly.
"What?" Grover asked and I copied the sentiment.
"Medusa is a fucking monster. And not just that, she has an extensive history with both of our parents, Percy. A bad history. Do you seriously think she'll let us leave alive?" She hissed, but before I could answer, her voice spoke from the entrance of the room.
"Like I told you before, child of wisdom, I do not hold you accountable for the actions of your parents." She sighed, and we all darted our eyes down to our plates.
"Now, eat up. I'm sure you're hungry." She sounded like she was smiling, but I didn't dare look up to see it. She stretched out her hand, holding a plate and leaving one in front of each of us.
We were met with the beautiful sight of a double cheeseburger, equipped with a large side of curly fries and a blue bun. I looked to both Annabeth and Grover's burgers, and they had a red and green bun respectively. That was cool.
"Thanks." I quickly muttered, before digging into the food probably a little too fast, getting a disgusted side eye from the blonde sitting next to me.
Medusa chuckled, and I almost looked up to ask her what was so funny, but I stopped myself before it was too late. I decided to simply ask.
"Why're you laughing?"
In my peripheral, I could see her shaking her head. "Not much reason. You just remind me of your father. You know, you're basically twins."
"Really?" I asked, a lot more interested. I could see the other two start to pay attention as well. "He looks like me?"
I could kind of understand that really. I loved my mom, but I barely resembled her. She had brown hair, I had black. She had blue eyes, I had green. She was short, I was tall.
"Yes, very much so. If you only had a trident with you, you would be a carbon copy." Of course, I did, but I wasn't going to show the potentially dangerous, but so far kind, monster what weapon I had on me.
I continued eating, the thought of my father laying on my mind, until Medusa started some more conversation.
"So, I assume you're looking for the Master Bolt, hm? How's that going for you?" She seemed genuinely interested, and Grover answered.
"Well, we only left today, but it's been rough so far. Alecto was tough an-"
"It doesn't concern you." Annabeth cut off Grover quickly, glaring at him but addressing Medusa.
"Was just trying to spark up some discussion, daughter of Athena. Being a good host, you understand. But if that's how you feel then very well, I'll stop." Medusa spoke, and I felt a pang of guilt, she sounded a little hurt at Annabeth's rudeness.
"Yeah, you better." Annabeth muttered, and I glared at her, unbelieving that she was being so bitchy to the kind woman providing hospitality to us.
Before I could say anything though, Medusa stopped me.
"Perseus, don't bother please." She sounded pained when she said my name, and I think I knew why. "Why do you resent me, half-blood?"
Annabeth scoffed, still looking down at her mostly uneaten plate. "Well, for one, you desecrated my mother's temple!"
Medusa slammed her fist on the table, making it shake in an unusual fit of anger. "Lies! She came up with that bullshit story to justify her actions towards me! All she wanted was an excuse to hurt the Earthshaker! My love! Your father!" She pointed at me sharply.
Annabeth scoffed again, her pride taking over now. "Am I supposed to believe the word of you over my mother? My mother is a goddess! You're at best one of Poseidon's old whores, who got what was coming to them!"
Grover and I looked at each other, stunned at the anger and insults she was throwing out. Medusa growled.
"Watch your words, girl. Don't forget what I am."
Annabeth snorted. "Don't worry, I haven't. I know exactly what you are. You're an ugly bitch who blames my mother for your insolence. Just another one of Poseidon's sluts to manipul-"
Her sentence was cut short when Medusa suddenly lunged at her, her previously dainty and manicured fingers turning into claws as she growled, throwing off her hat that concealed her eyes to reveal her hair of serpents.
Annabeth quickly dodged, triggering her shield to quickly form around her right arm as she grabbed her knife tucked away on her belt. She threw her bag to the side, giving herself more freedom to move.
That seemed to be the wrong move however, as the imprint of a gorgon's face on the shield only enraged Medusa more.
"How DARE you?!" She screamed again, rushing at the defensive Annabeth.
SLASH
Medusa quickly went silent, and her silence was followed by two thuds on the wooden flooring.
I was stood over a decapitated body that was rapidly turning into that golden dust, with Riptide in my hands, vibrating rapidly as if excited. Medusa's head rolled on the ground beneath us, face down and her snake hair had stopped hissing.
Grover and Annabeth stared at me in shock, and I had to say, I was stunned myself. I didn't know what just happened, one moment I was sitting down, eating a nice meal, and the next, I had decapitated a woman.
Annabeth seemed to snap out of her shock the fastest, clicking her fingers at Grover. "Use your harp to cover her eyes with a plant or something."
He complied, his jaw still firmly dropped, and the wood floor started to snake upwards, fibres rearranging themselves to smother the dropped head, going all the way around to cover her demonic eyes. Once that was done, we all looked at each other with shock.
"What the fuck just happened?" Grover blinked.
"Annabeth was being stupid." I replied simply, wiping the sweat off my face with my arm.
She exhaled sharply, her eyes getting bigger but her stormy, grey irises getting smaller. "If anybody's stupid, Horse Boy, it's you!"
"You almost got us killed for no reason! I just killed an innocent woman for you!"
"She's hardly innocent, look at her!"
"She gave us food and a place to stay! What's your problem?!"
"I don't have a problem!" She shouted, before storming out the building and slamming the door.
I sat back down, panting from the argument and Grover awkwardly looked around, trying to find something to say. Thankfully, the decapitated head was a great conversation starter.
"So what are we gonna do about that? We can't just leave it around for somebody to find." He asked, pointing at the bloody head.
I shrugged, looking around as well, before my eyes landed on something.
It was a sticker in the corner of the dining room, a red landline telephone and a beautiful stone fountain beside it, flowing copies amounts of water silently, almost as if it was mute.
The sticker read:
"HERMES EXPRESS NUM. : (555) 147-9627"
"What's that?" I pointed it out to Grover who bleated in response.
"It's the number you need to call for Hermes to take whatever you need to your destination. He's the messenger of the gods, so he handles all that. He's like what the mortal world calls the-"
"Postal service." I breathed, an idea instantly popping into my head. Grover noticed and I could see his hairs start to stand up nervously.
"What are you planning Percy?" He asked.
I ignored the question, instead asking my own one. "How would that work exactly?"
"Well, Iris, goddess of the Mist and the rainbow, helps him there. She's basically who you would ask to help you to talk to other people, so if you drop your post in the fountain, give her a prayer and two gold drachmas, one for Hermes and Iris, then it'll go where you want.
I grinned, instantly heading to the magical duffel bag and pulling out the clear plastic bag of drachmas. I grabbed the head by the serpent hair as I did so, and Grover tapped me on the shoulder.
"Percy, seriously. What are you doing?"
I shrugged, putting the head in the fountain and picking up the landline, dialling the number on the sticker before looking back.
"The gods made her that way. They can have her back, as a gift from me."
Grover's whole face dropped, and before he could stop me the other line picked up. It was a light, feminine voice, couldn't have been older than thirty but who knows with the Greek gods.
"Hello, Hermes Delivery Service. How may I help you today?"
"I'll be sending a package through Iris please." I replied, unsure of what to do.
"Certainly. Please deposit your package and drachma by the fountain, and we'll do the rest."
"Alright, thanks." I responded, hanging up before moving to the fountain and taking out the two golden coins.
Grover grabbed my arm before I put them in, and he looked at me with such fear that I started to think on what I was about to do.
"Please don't do this Percy. I'm begging you. Any favor you have with the Olympians will disappear if you finish this. You'll be viewed as insolent."
I shrugged again. "I am insolent."
"We'll be cursed Percy! You already have Zeus against you, you don't need anybody else!" Grover yelled and I met his eyes with strength. I made my mind up.
"Grover, the Olympians never gave a shit about any of us. If this is the way I get them to notice me, the way I get my dad to notice me, then whatever. But I'm gonna make them know who I am."
Grover looked at me for a couple of seconds, his mind clearly going a mile a minute, before sighing and retreating back to his cage.
"Fine then. But don't cry when it turns out I'm right." He put his head in his hands and I nodded, putting the drachma into the fountain, and closing my eyes.
"Uhm, hello. Iris. Your Highness. Please take my package to Olympus please. The throne room if that's OK. Thanks in advance?" I thought, hoping it was sufficient.
I opened my eyes, and looked down at the fountain, and sure enough, it was gone. Both the head and the coins.
Before I could begin to think back on my actions and start to regret anything, a high pitched scream echoed through the room from outside, and Grover and I looked at each other sharply.
"Annabeth." We both muttered at the same time, before running outside with our bags.
I burst out the front door, Riptide already out and ready to be swung, and I was met with a sight I was convinced could only be in a dream.
Annabeth Chase, the proud, blonde, stubborn daughter of Athena, was being relentlessly chased by a giant crab, at least the size of a truck, and as orange as a traffic cone.
The crab was sidestepping like crazy, its legs and claws moving around wildly and I couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the situation, especially her absolute terror.
I'm sure Annabeth would do the same if our places were swapped.
"Stop fucking laughing and help me!" She squealed, running circles around its legs, dodging its claws as she did so.
"What do you want me to do exactly?!"
"IT'S A FUCKING CRAB! YOUR DAD IS POSEIDON! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU DO JUST DO IT!"
"Uhm, OK?" I muttered, changing Riptide to it's trident form quickly. I crossed my arms, trying to think of what to do while Annabeth screamed down my ear.
It was moving too fast for me to directly fight it, and it was too big to simply crush, so I was at a loss. But then, something weird happened.
I could've sworn I locked eyes with it. I don't know how, since it's eyes were fixed on either side of it's head, but we definetly made eye contact. And as soon as we did, a gravelly, deep voice entered my mind.
"Master?"
I blinked, unsure of what to do, but I decided to speak back with my mind. At this point, the gigantic crab had completely stopped in it's tracks, staring at me.
"Uhm, hello."
"This is impossible... The King had another mortal heir? Your scent is potent..."
"You mean my dad? Well, he did. It's me."
At this point, the multiple legs of the huge crab all buckled in together as if it was kneeling, and it's huge head was looking down at the ground before me.
"Forgive me, my prince, for not realising sooner."
"No problem?" I awkwardly thought.
"My name is Karkinos, my liege. Command me as you wish." It sounded so weird, coming from a huge crustacean, but I kept it in stride.
"
Well, could you start by not trying to kill my friend?"
"Gladly, sire. I simply smelled half-bloods and assumed it would be a good meal. My deepest apologies."
"Yeah, I'd also like it if you could stop eating demigods. That would be nice."
"Of course."
I stared at Karkinos strangely, out of words to say, or think, so I sheepishly scratched my head.
"You can leave now."
"It was an honor to meet you, my prince."
He shot up, making Annabeth and Grover jump beside me, before rushing off into the woods, toppling over a couple of trees and disappearing out of sight.
As soon as he left, my quest companions stared at me with bewilderment.
"The fuck was that?" Annabeth huffed.
"What exactly?" I scratched my head.
"Well you went really quiet, and just stared at that crab. Then it disappeared after a couple of minutes. That's what." Grover explained.
I made an O with my lips, just now realising that neither of them could hear my mental conversation with Karkinos.
"I was just telling him to leave you alone." I pointed at Annabeth, and she went red.
"Yeah whatever."
"Not even a 'thank you'?" I raised my eyebrow. "How the hell did you even get jumped by a crab?"
She went even more red. "He just caught me by surprise, that's all. Stop talking about it, its over now."
In a quick attempt to change the subject, she looked around at our hands. "Where's the head?"
"What head?"
"Medusa's, you fucking moron."
"Oh, yeah." I remembered.
Grover decided to answer, but he was visibly shaking and that definetly didn't seem to help the nerves of Annabeth.
"Percy sent it..." He trailed off.
"Sea Boy sent it where?"
"He sent it to Olympus."
"WHAT?!"
___________________________________________
AN:
Word Count: 3,524
Overall Word Count: 21,543
What did you think about the first part of the quest? I think it'll probably be the only part that was in the original story, but the other ones I'll make up myself or take from other books to generate my own story.
How about the new parts I put in? Like Medusa's attack and Karkinos? Tell me your thoughts on that.
Also, if Annabeth seems a bit much right now, that'll change. I'm just trying to make her character interesting.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and see you next chapter!