Idiot! Aliana could slap him.

The furies turned to face Percy, hissing.

Aliana gripped the hilt of her knife.

The monsters lunged at the boy standing recklessly in the middle of the aisle.

Annabeth and Grover leapt into action, attacking one of the creatures. Percy warded off the second, which left the last one for Aliana.

She stared down the monster, venomous dagger in hand.

The fury hissed menacingly.

"Bring it on, hag." Aliana challenged.

The creature lunged forward with a screech.

Aliana sidestepped the monster and slashed it across the back.

It screamed, if that's what you would call it, and whirled to face her. It limped forward, grasping for her with its clawed hands. Before it reached her, it crumbled into golden dust.

Aliana let out the breath she'd been holding. That was too close.

The others had dispatched their enemies as well. They were alone on the crashed bus.

Aliana heard a weird hissing sound, not like a monster, more like... she gasped. "Off the bus!"

They rushed out of the vehicle just before it exploded.

The shockwave threw Aliana forward. She rolled across the wet grass, finally sliding to a stop as her back collided with a thick tree trunk. She groaned as she pushed herself to her feet. It felt like she had broken something, or at least come close. She clutched her aching stomach and followed the others as they slipped away from the scene through the crowd.
* * *
They walk for what seemed like days.

Aliana kept calling for the others to stop so she could rest. Her back was killing her.

As they stopped for probably the twelfth time,  Annabeth suddenly snapped. "We don't have time for this. We have to keep moving. If you need a break so bad, you can go back to camp."

"I'm not leaving." Aliana held, straightening even though it hurt. "Sorry that I got hurt saving your life. Next time maybe I won't."

Annabeth scoffed. "Right. You saved OUR lives. The furies may not have noticed us if you hadn't brought that knife that probably smells like a Chimera!"

"Oh, so it's my fault." Aliana summarized.

"Isn't it always." Annabeth retorted.

Before Aliana could respond, Percy jumped in. "Guys! What's your problem?"

"I'll tell you what the problem is." Annabeth crossed her arms and glared. "She exists."

Aliana clenched her fists. "No, the problem is you wish I never did." She turned away so no one would see the tears that had slipped down her cheeks. "Annabeth, what did I ever do to you? Why do you hate me?"

Annabeth blanched for a moment. "You don't remember what happened the first time I tried to talk to you?"

Aliana hung her head. She did remember.

"I came to camp because I thought it would be different than home," she hugged herself. "but the first person that I try to talk to treated me like crap, like I was nothing."

Aliana turned and met Annabeth's sad, angry gaze. "I'm sorry. Whatever I said to you, whatever I did that day, I didn't mean it. I was nine and I had lost everything. I was still grieving and I took it out on everyone else." She looked away, unable to hold Annabeth's stare anymore.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "I forgive you."
She jerked her head up, astonished at Annabeth's comment. "I never considered what you were dealing with. I'm sorry."

Aliana took a deep breath. "You don't owe me any apologies." They both stared awkwardly at the ground. Finally, they looked into each other's eyes.

"Truce." Annabeth offered her hand.

Aliana took it. "Truce."
                                   *   *   *
They noticed a neon glow just passed the tree line. As they exited the woods, they saw a lit sign that read 'Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium.'

"This is weirdly convenient." Aliana examined the store front.

An old, grandmotherly women opened the door with the tinkle of a bell. "What are four younglings like you doing out here at this hour?"

They all looked at each other, floundering for an excuse.

Finally, Percy spoke up. "Um... we got separated from our caravan. The ringleader told us to meet him at this gas station.

The woman raised her eyebrows behind her sunglasses, which Aliana thought was weird that she was wearing them at night, but she was also traveling with the son of Poseidon, so... who was she to judge.

Before she knew what had happened, the old lady was leading them inside to the back of her shop.

Aliana sat awkwardly with the others as they ate burgers and fries around a table with the old lady. She poked at the sandwich in front of her with a long soggy fry. She was only half paying attention to the others' conversation.

A soft hissing caught her attention. Where was it coming from?

Percy mentioned something about a picture and Aliana finally looked up.

"Oh come on, Annabeth." Percy reasoned. "It's just one picture."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Fine. I guess ONE  picture won't hurt anything."

"Wonderful." The woman replied, leading them outside. She gestured to a stone bench. "This will work." She positioned them on the bench.

Aliana jerked out of the woman's grip and sat herself down.

The woman stared into Aliana's eyes intently. "Silver, like the moon." She chuckled like she'd thought of something funny she'd heard earlier.

"Excuse me?" Aliana asked.

"Oh, it's not important." The woman straightened and backed away.

"Don't you need a camera?" Annabeth pointed out as Grover studied a statue of a satyr. A very detailed statue of a satyr.

The hissing sound caught Aliana's attention again. What was that? Then she noticed the woman reaching for the wrap around her head.

Everything clicked as Annabeth screamed. "Look away!"

Aliana squeezed her eyes shut. She stumbled forward blindly.

An iron grip wrapped around her wrists. Scaly heads caressed her face.

Medusa's smooth hissing voice spoke. "Hello, half-blood." She took a long breath. "It's been a while since I've had one of you around here."

Aliana struggled, but Medusa was too strong.

The gorgon chuckled. "You're mine. Open your eyes. I want to see if they shimmer, like your mother's."

Aliana froze. "How do you..."

Medusa screamed as something slammed into her from the side.

They both toppled over, hitting the hard pavement.

There were a lot of chaotic noises - screams, shrieks, yells.

Finally, someone touched her shoulder.

She flinched.

"It's okay." Annabeth's voice sounded. "She's gone."

Aliana opened her eyes.

Medusa lay headless on the ground.

Percy held something wrapped in a grocery sack.

"Is that?" Aliana gagged as Annabeth nodded.

They went back inside and had a long talk.

Percy disappeared into the back. He came back out with drachmas and an empty box. He placed Medusa's head in the box and wrote in bold capital letters the address to Olympus and his name.

Aliana grinned and shook her head as Annabeth protested. Percy had to be the cockiest person she had ever met and that wasn't a bad thing.

"We should go." Aliana finally said.

The others agreed. They exited the store and walked into the woods. They would be sleeping on the ground tonight.