Published: August 18, 2021

Edited: June 6, 2022

~✰~

In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck; when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day. 

So there we were, Annabeth, Percy, Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses. Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. 

"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once." He was whimpering. I was pretty much in shock myself, the explosion of bus windows still ringing in my ears and the flashes of facing Furies with Thalia raced through my head. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: 

"Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

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

"Well, maybe if you two hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy cut her off, looking horrified that she had considered it. I smiled at his protective nature, that was something I would have said too.

"You guys didn't need to protect me, I would have been fine." Annabeth protested.

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

 "Shut up, goat boy," snapped Annabeth. Grover brayed mournfully.

"Tin cans...a perfectly good bag of tin cans." He moaned, dragging his feet in the mud. We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry. After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy, who was on my left. 

"Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave. You too Neridia." 

"We're a team, right?" Percy asked gently. Annabeth was silent for a few more steps. 

"It's just that if you died...aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world." Annabeth said softly, taking a deep breath, "and Neridia, she's like a sister to me, if she died I don't know if I could go on." 

I noted her use of the third person and let myself fall back in line with Grover to give the two at least an illusion of privacy. The thunderstorm was finally letting up as the city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth or Percy except a glint of  blond hair and a flash of a watch. 

"You and Neri haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked her curiously. Annabeth sighed.

"No...only short field trips. My dad—" 

"The history professor." Percy interrupted. Annabeth gave a terse nod.

"Yeah. It didn't work out for us living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is our home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her. "At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."  I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice. 

"You're pretty good with that knife," Percy said, nudging her shoulder slightly. 

"You think so?" Annabeth asked quietly. I could practically hear the tension crackling between them. It made me feel like Eros, thinking of the prophecy's claim and how I was the only one who knew how they would end up.

"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me." Percy declared, his voice warm. I couldn't  see, but I thought they both might've smiled. 

"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you...Something funny back on the bus..." Whatever she wanted to say was 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. Instead of finding a path, Percy immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on his head. I rubbed my own head in sympathy.  

~✰~

After tripping and cursing (I learned some new ones from Percy) and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. I realized I hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since like forever. At camp we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. This girl needed a double cheeseburger or a pizza or some chicken strips.

We kept walking until I 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 I'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 me to read, because if there's anything worse for my dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.

 To me, it looked like: ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM. 

"What the Hades does that say?" I asked grumpily, crossing my arms and glaring up at the wiggly sign. 

"I don't know," Annabeth and Percy said, almost in unison. Grover translated for us, shaking his head.

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium." The satyr read with a hint of curiosity in his voice. 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.

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

"Snack bar," I said wistfully. 

"Snack bar," Percy agreed emphatically. 

"Are you guys crazy?" Grover brayed. "Forget about your damn snack bar obsession. This place is weird." We ignored him. 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-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!" We stopped at the warehouse door. "Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters." 

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

"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian." Percy stared at him in disbelief.

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," He reminded Grover. 

"Those are vegetables." The curly haired nuisance insisted, "Come on. Let's leave. These statues are...looking at me." 

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, I 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 I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady. 

 "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?" She asked concernedly, clasping her hands. Her accent sounded vaguely middle-eastern as well. 

 "They're...um..." Annabeth fumbled over her words, looking nervous.

 "We're orphans," I cut in smoothly, stepping forward and away from Grover, who was still whimpering.

 "Orphans?" the woman gasped. The word sounded alien in her mouth, even stranger was the way the word sounded like it completely devastated her. "But, my dears! Surely not!" 

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy piped in, his eyes hopeful. "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," if the woman found the story of four children traveling with a circus odd she didn't show it. "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." We all thanked her and went inside. Aunty Em walked behind us. Annabeth sped up to walk instep with Percy and I before leaning in with a disbelieving expression.

"Circus caravan?" She hissed with irritation.

"Always have a strategy, right?" I shrugged. "If it's not broke don't fix it."

 "Your heads are full of kelp." Annabeth sighed while Percy shrugged. 

~✰~

The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. I was thinking you'd have to have a pretty huge garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were all life-size. But mostly, I was thinking about food. Go ahead, call us idiots for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because we were hungry, but we do impulsive stuff sometimes, it comes free with being a demigod. Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in a dentist's chair—it made everything else go away. I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us. All I cared about was finding the dining area. And sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front. 

"Please, sit down," Aunty Em crooned, motioning to a few chairs.

 "Awesome," Percy crowed, plopping down on the first seat he saw. 

"Um," Grover started reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am." Before I could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em intervened. 

"No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans." The old woman clapped her hands a few times and walked around the food counter. I figured she might have been a little touched in the head. For all she knew, we could have been serial killers or something.

"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth replied kindly, sitting down next to Percy. Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination. 

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said gently. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." 

Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves. Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter as she bent down and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe. Annabeth slurped her shake and Percy had inhaled half of his fries already. Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat. 

"What's that hissing noise?" he wondered, his eyes darting all over the room. I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head while Percy shrugged, his mouth full of fries. 

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked, like the idea had never occurred to her. The woman tilted her head like she was listening. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil? You have keen ears, Grover."

 "I take vitamins. For my ears." Grover invented quickly.

"That's admirable," she praised. "But please, relax." 

Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her headdress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy. Percy seemed to figure the least he could do was try to make small talk with our hostess. 

"So, you sell gnomes," Percy began, clearly trying to sound more interested than he was.

 "Oh, yes," Aunty Em chirped happily, perking up. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."

 "A lot of business on this road?" Percy continued, smiling in a slightly patronizing way.

 "Not so much, no. Since the highway was built...most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get." Aunty Em's voice was sad and I couldn't help feeling sympathy for this strange old lady. 

My neck tingled, as if somebody else was looking at me. I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most garden statues. But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even terrified. A strange thought began to tickle the back of my brain as I studied the terrified expression.

"Ah," Aunty Em noticed my line of gaze and chimed in sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."

 "You make these statues yourself ?" I asked slightly nervously. 

"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." Annabeth and I both stopped eating. Alarm bells were clanging in my head, something I had learned at camp in myth class. Something about Annabeth's mom and Poseidon, my dad. I sat forward on my seat.

"Two sisters?" I confirmed, my hand creeping slowly towards my pocket.

"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em agreed. "Not one for children, really. You see, Neridia," More alarm bells. "a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a...a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."  

 "Percy?" Annabeth was shaking him to get his attention because Percy was looking slightly dazed and sad for the old woman. 

"Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." I made-up quickly. Annabeth was tense. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if the woman found that strange, she didn't say anything.

"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. I followed suit and tried to tug Percy to his feet as well.

"We really should go." Annabeth squeaked, backing away from the table rapidly.

"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper with a large gulp and stood up as well. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!" A part of me didn't want to leave. I felt full and content but the other part of me was screaming at me to run out the door. The screaming side was much stronger.

"Percy, come on." I yanked him to his feet even though the idiot was still trying to stay seated.

"Please, dears," the old woman pleaded, also standing up. "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." Aunty Em explained. Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot trying to make a decision. 

"I don't think we can, ma'am." I decided for her, sending Aunty Em an apologetic smile. "Come on, Percy—"

"Sure we can," Percy declared, wrenching his arm from my grasp and sitting back down. I was irritated with him for being so stubborn, so trusting of an old lady who'd just fed us for free out of nowhere. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?" My brother insisted, his green eyes wide and shiny. They reminded me of a baby seal and I immediately sat back down. One picture couldn't hurt.

"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred silkily. "No harm." I didn't like it and could tell Annabeth didn't either, but she allowed us to be lead back out the front door, into the garden of statues. Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," Aunty Em deliberated, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girls in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side." 

"Not much light for a photo," I remarked cautiously. 

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

"Where's your camera?" Grover queried with a nervous bleat. 

"Smile now, nice and big" Aunty Em ignored Grover's question point blank. She started to lift her veil. Grover glanced at the stone satyr again.

"That IS Uncle Ferdinand!" He bleated. Aunty Em threw off her veil just as Annabeth whipped on her Yankee's cap and vanished. 

"DON'T LOOK AT HER!" I shouted, tackling Percy off the bench. I landed on Percy's chest, our faces really close. It would have been super awkward if we hadn't been siblings. I just rolled off and layed next to him. "Don't look up." I instructed firmly. 

"Aunty Em. 'M' like the letter. She's Medusa, isn't she?" Percy whispered. 

"Yep. Turned into a monster by Athena." I confirmed, feeling my hands shaking. Percy squeezed my hand as we lay behind the bench. 

"Why did Athena curse her?" Percy mumbled as I switched to a crawling position, eyes still tightly shut. 

"Athena caught Medusa in her temple with Poseidon." I answered, dragging Percy along as I crawled deeper into the statuary.  Percy got his bearings and crawled next to me.

"Our dad is really bad at choosing girlfriends isn't he?" Percy cracked in a hushed voice.

"Let's hope its not an inherited trait." I replied. Percy chuckled beside me. I was about to say something more when the air was shattered with noise.

There was a huge scraping and banging like stone on concrete and I stood up quickly. I opened my eyes to see a huge plume of dust billowing up from a different part of the sanctuary. Then there was a loud scream.

Fuck.

~✰~

Word Count: 3248