Percy

Percy resisted his first instinct to jump down and attack, but only barely. Sam kept ahold of his arm, anyway, so he couldn't even if he tried. It was even harder to resist warning Annabeth, but he knew she was on guard. She would realize they were here long before they showed themselves.

After a few moments, Percy heard what Cas had heard, too: the faint rustling of grass beneath feet and the hissing of snakes. They had to be just outside the barn.

Percy and the others crept toward the edge of the loft but remained in the shadows. From there, Percy had a clear view of Annabeth, who was lying on her back with her hands under her head like she was asleep. But he noticed the tension in her muscles, the way her knife was already partially unsheathed.

The movement grew louder and Percy barely heard the creak of the barn door before Medusa and Euryale came into view beneath him. He didn't know if Medusa had used a glamour the last time he saw her at Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but this time, she looked the same as her sisters—bronze tusks, rooster feet, scaly skin, and restless snakes atop her head.

Medusa turned her head and Percy quickly ducked back. He knew she couldn't see him, but would her petrification still work if he looked into her eyes?

Euryale growled and rushed forward. Annabeth opened her eyes a second before she reached her and spun to the side, grabbing her knife. Medusa advanced on her and the two of them moved fast enough to knock the blade from Annabeth's hand and grab her by the neck. Medusa lifted Annabeth to eye level, but Annabeth had her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Stupid daughter of Athena," Euryale hissed.

"Open your eyes, dear," Medusa purred in her Middle Eastern accent. "And this will all be over. I'll even stop hunting your siblings. As long as I have you."

"Did you really think we wouldn't find you?" Euryale cackled.

Annabeth smirked. "Actually, I was counting on it."

Percy took that for the signal it was and leaped from the loft. He landed just behind Euryale and knocked her down with a kick Coach Hedge would be proud of. Euryale yelped when Sam and Cas advanced on her, and Percy turned to Medusa, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"Perseus Jackson!" Medusa roared. "You deserve death."

"Nice to see you too, Medusa," Percy retorted and swiped at Medusa.

Medusa danced back, dragging Annabeth with her. But with her focus on Percy, she didn't notice Dean creeping up behind her. He slashed at her arm, making her hand disintegrate, and Annabeth landed on the balls of her feet. Medusa wailed, spinning around, and Dean rolled to the side before she could attack.

"You!" she shouted. "You should be a statue! How are you here?"

"Lady, you don't even who you're dealing with," Dean growled. "When we're done with you, you're gonna wish you never left Tartarus."

Medusa screeched and lunged for Dean, who rolled away again. Percy took the opening to deal a blow to her side, and she grunted and stumbled into Annabeth's waiting fist. Dean rushed in and stabbed her in the back. Medusa screamed and tried to grab him, but he kept just out of reach, creating the perfect opportunity. Percy lunged and slashed through Medusa's neck, and her body poofed into dust, leaving a dripping, gurgling, hissing head on the ground.

"Don't look at it," Annabeth cautioned. "It can still turn people to stone."

Dean kept his gaze trained upward. Percy rushed over to Annabeth, taking her into his arms and checking her over for injuries. "You okay? Did they get you?"

Annabeth kissed him quickly. "I'm fine." Her voice sounded strained. "Just a little sore."

"Uh, guys? What do you want us to do with this one?" Sam asked.

Percy, Annabeth, and Dean joined Cas and Sam at the other end of the barn. Cas was using his angel powers to hold Euryale against the wall, and Sam stood before her with his knife poised to strike. The Gorgon struggled and hissed, but she couldn't get close enough to hurt any of them.

"Medusa's dead, Euryale. And so is Stheno. It's just you," Annabeth said.

"Tell us where you took the statues of the kids," Percy said.

"Never!" she howled.

"Wrong answer," Dean grumbled. He stepped forward and punched Euryale in the face, then flinched back and shook out his hand. Her tusks had made his knuckles bleed.

"Tell us what we want to know," Sam said.

Euryale bellowed nonsensically and said nothing. Cas closed his fist, and Euryale screamed in pain.

"If you tell us, we'll let you go free," Cas said.

Percy was only surprised for a moment. He knew none of them would actually let Euryale go free. But he also knew her—she would be dumb enough to believe it.

As expected, Euryale paused her struggles and eyed them. "You will?"

Annabeth nodded. "We just want the kids."

Cas dropped his hand and Euryale slid to the ground. Euryale kept her distance from them and straightened her granny dress. She glared at Percy and Annabeth, then spoke directly to Sam. "They're in Fresno. Medusa was building a new roadside diner. The children's statues were to be decorations."

"Roadside diner?" Dean frowned.

Annabeth. "We know exactly what she's talking about. It's like where we first met Medusa five years ago."

"I'll be back!" Euryale promised as she slipped between them, backing away toward the barn door. "When Stheno and Medusa return, we will hunt you all down! And nothing will save you then!"

Euryale turned and ran. Dean snorted. "Good luck with that." He flipped his knife so that he was holding the blade, aimed, and threw. The knife spun through the air and slammed into Euryale's back. She stood frozen for a moment as she yowled, then disintegrated into dust as her sisters had.

The barn fell silent except for their heavy breathing and the dying wails of the snakes on Medusa's head.

Percy held up his hand for a high five. "Go, team!"

Annabeth laughed and obliged him. He tucked her under his arm and kissed the top of her head. Sam chuckled and Cas pressed himself close to Dean, taking his hand and healing his split knuckles—Percy wished ambrosia worked that fast.

"So what now?" Cas asked.

Annabeth sheathed her knife. "Now, we go to Fresno and save those kids."

~

With a quick prayer to Athena, Medusa's head was taken care of. By how quickly Medusa's head disappeared once Annabeth prayed to her, it seemed the goddess was more than happy to deal her own form of justice now that her children were no longer in danger.

They rented a few motel rooms after that. They hadn't slept since Hayward, and having fought Euryale, saving Dean from life as a statue, driving for hours, and killing the two remaining Gorgons, it had been a long twenty-four hours. Percy was more than happy to collapse in bed with Annabeth by his side, and he could tell Sam, Dean, and Cas felt the same.

It took some searching the next morning, but Sam and Dean were surprisingly good with computers. In less than half an hour, they found the address of what was to be Medusa's new diner. So, Percy and Annabeth hopped in their car and followed the Impala for a few hours until they reached Fresno.

The place was quite a fixer-upper. The windows were cracked and foggy, the paint stripped, the wood splintered, and there was barely enough electricity to light up the "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium" sign at the front. It looked exactly the same as the one from her old place—Percy didn't want to know how. The only things that didn't look old and broken down were the statues spread around and inside the building. Some framed the front steps, some marked parking spots, and some stood in random corners within the diner. There were twice as many as the five children they knew she'd taken—poor souls who'd had to misfortune to run into Medusa and didn't know any better.

Cas went through and revived each person one by one. Percy, Annabeth, Sam, and Dean were there to comfort them and try to explain what had happened. Most of them were adults, mortals who'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Mist was already working to fabricate a story they could believe—most of them seemed to think they'd been kidnapped and imprisoned in a cellar beneath the diner, and that Percy and his friends had rescued them.

They saved the children of Athena for last. Each of them remembered exactly what had happened to them, so Annabeth and Percy spared no details in explaining why they'd been targeted and how they'd been saved.

"But we're safe now?" Jasper Kleimann asked, the oldest of the kids. He was the one who'd lost a finger, and unfortunately, Cas hadn't been able to fix that when turning him back to blood and bone.

Annabeth sighed. "For now. But your lives will only get more dangerous after this because of what you know. We'll have to talk to your parents about sending you to Camp Half-Blood—a place where you'll be safe and can learn how to protect yourselves."

The kids nodded. The youngest of them, two girls the same age Annabeth was when she ran away from home, hadn't stopped crying. Annabeth was holding both of them, and folded into the backseat with them when they prepared to leave since they wouldn't let go of her.

The police were called to deal with the other victims. Thankfully, they were still disoriented from their time as statues and the Mist's influence on them—otherwise, it might have been difficult to explain why they were taking the kids instead of waiting for the police.

Percy's car could only fit three of the kids plus Annabeth, so Sam, Dean, and Cas took the other two. Thus began their long road trip as they returned the children to their homes. It took the entire day to drop the kids off in Bridgeport, Sonora, Mariposa, Turlock, and Stockton and explain everything to their parents. Annabeth left her number with each of them, and Percy also handed out Grover's number. He was still wandering around California—if any of them needed a satyr guide, he could help.

Stockton was their last stop to drop off Jasper Kleimann. Sam and Dean came with Percy and Annabeth to talk to Jasper's father, explaining that they'd spoken to him before Jasper was taken.

"Jasper!" Professor Kleimann cried when he saw his son. They embraced for a long minute, Jasper's brave facade finally crumbling at the face of his father, and he cried in his arms.

"Thank you," Professor Kleimann said to Sam and Dean. "Thank you for bringing him back."

"It wasn't just us," Sam said, nodding to Percy and Annabeth.

Professor Kleimann turned to them. "Thank you, whoever you are."

"We're demigods," Percy said, and Professor Kleimann gulped. "Jasper knows who he is now. His mother is the reason he was targeted. It's time for you to think about sending him to Camp Half-Blood."

Professor Kleimann nodded, holding Jasper tight to him. "I—I will."

Annabeth held out a paper with her phone number on it. "If you have questions, or if you need help getting to Camp Half-Blood, call me."

The professor nodded again and took the paper. "Thank you. For everything."

Before they could leave, Jasper lurched toward Percy and Annabeth and hugged them both. Percy chuckled, patting his head.

"Thank you for saving me," Jasper murmured into their stomachs.

Percy grinned. "Saving people. Hunting things. That's the demigod business."

~

"So, what now?" Sam asked.

Percy, Annabeth, Sam, Dean, and Cas stood beside their cars in the parking lot of a rest stop outside Stockton. Percy and Annabeth were headed back to San Francisco, while the hunters were headed to Kansas. Something about a base of operations there.

Percy shrugged. "I don't know about you, but I've still got a ton of questions about you guys. Like, you said you died? Multiple times?"

Dean pointed at him. "And you said something about your brother being a Cyclopes?"

Percy was about to respond when Annabeth put her hand on his arm. "Look," she said. "We appreciate your help in stopping the Gorgons and saving my siblings. But, maybe it's best if we leave it at that."

Dean frowned, but Sam nodded in agreement. "We had a rocky start. Maybe we shouldn't know too much about each other. And we probably shouldn't tell other hunters about you—unless they come across one of your monsters. The last thing we want is to cross paths again as enemies."

"Agreed," Annabeth said. "I think all our lives are crazy enough without adding another world to the mix."

Percy wanted to protest, but he understood on some level. There were too many close calls on this quest. If the hunters hadn't been there, they might have put an end to it sooner—but also, they wouldn't have had Cas to revive those they'd been too late to save. Still, at least they knew about each other now and could help each other if the need arose. Maybe someday they'd meet again.

"Then I guess this is it," Percy said.

"I guess it is," Sam agreed.

They all stared at each other awkwardly. This was definitely going to go down in Percy's book of weird adventures—who would have thought there were other monsters out there, and that hunters existed to take them down? Percy didn't entirely understand it—for the most part, the hunters were never hunted by their prey. They chose to go after them and save people. Meanwhile, Percy, Annabeth, and all the other demigods out there fought because they had to—because otherwise, they'd be hunted down and killed.

Annabeth held out her hand. "It was good to meet you."

Sam shook her hand, then Percy's, and so did Dean. Cas just nodded at them.

Percy couldn't resist poking fun at them. "If we meet again, try not to get in our way next time."

Dean smirked. "You mean, you won't get in our way."

Annabeth joined in. "I'm pretty sure we're the ones who saved you. After all, we had the weapons that actually worked on them."

Dean laughed. "Keep telling yourself that."

They all laughed with him. When the humor faded, Annabeth held out a piece of paper like she'd given to the families of the kids. "Here. If you ever need to contact us for any reason. If you run into one of our monsters, for example. Just don't use it often. Make sure it's serious."

Dean took it. "Right. Cause of the whole 'technology attracts monsters' thing." He shook his head. "That's gotta be a bitch."

Percy groaned. "You have no idea."

Sam patted his pockets and pulled out the knives they'd stolen from Percy and Annabeth. "Here. You'll probably want these back."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look. "Keep them," she said. "We've got plenty. And you'll need them in case you ever run into one of our monsters again."

Dean grinned and grabbed one of the knives back from Sam. He spun it expertly in his hand a few times, then tucked it into his belt.

Sam held out his own slip of paper. "That's my number, in case you ever run into a monster you don't know how to deal with. Could be one of ours."

Annabeth shoved it into her pocket. "Thanks."

They stood for a moment. Then, Percy took Annabeth's hand. "See you around."

He and Annabeth turned around and headed for their car. Sam, Dean, and Cas watched them go. As he pulled out of their parking space, Percy saw Dean and Cas bickering as they walked to their car while Sam followed with an annoyed—but satisfied—look on his face. Percy grinned at the sight.

"I like them," Percy said once they were on the road. 

Annabeth chuckled. "I do, too. But I hope we never run into their monsters."

"Me too," Percy agreed. "Sounds awful to carry around so many weapons and have to figure out how to kill each thing." He patted Riptide in his pocket.

"I've never appreciated how easy our monsters are to kill as much as I do now," Annabeth said.

Percy laughed. "You and I have different definitions of the word 'easy.'"

They drove into the night.

A/N: The End!

I hope you enjoyed reading The Demigod Business as much as I enjoyed writing it. I've wanted to write a crossover like this for a while, and I'm glad I finally got to do it. Thanks for reading!

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