chapter eleven

─── no one knows how i haven't been kidnapped earlier

          𝔗he only positive, was now, whenever something went wrong, I was able to blame it on the gods. For example, when you're walking away from a bus that's just blown up with monster hags on it, and it's started to rain, you can curse the gods.

So I did. Vehemently.

It rained harder in response.

We walked along the banks of the New Jersey river, surrounded by woods, getting absolutely soaked through. I shivered.

Grover was braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

"We should keep going." Luke urged us along, his blond hair, a shade darker from the rain and plastered to his head. "The farther away we get, the better." 

"All our money was back there," I reminded him, the force of the explosion still rattling around in my empty skull. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—" Annabeth growled, looking annoyed, as I sighed.

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

"You didn't need to protect me, Andromeda. I would've been fine."

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

"Shut up, goat boy," Annabeth snapped, as Luke leant forward to tap her head.

"Stop it, now," The small girl turned back to look at him, her eyes going wide and a blush forming on her cheeks. My own eyes narrowed. "Arguing isn't going to make the situation better."

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

We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me, as Grover and Luke carried on ahead. "I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right? We're on this quest together." I tried not to think about how confrontational she was, and instead took the higher ground as the older teenager. My mother would have been proud.

She 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."

The thunderstorm finally left us alone. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I could barely see Luke and Grover, apart from the occasional glint from Luke's sword. 

"When did you last leave Camp?" I asked her.

"I haven't been out since I was seven."

"That sucks," I murmured. What sort of life was that for a child? The answer, a trash one.

"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my 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."

If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.

"You're pretty good with that knife," I grinned.

"You think so?" She looked at me with wide eyes, seeming to not believe that she was getting praised.

"Anybody who can help to wrestle a Fury seems okay by my standard."

"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. Luke watched him with a half-smile, before retreating next to me, and sighing as Annabeth hurried off to chastise Grover.

"You alright?" He asked, holding his hand out so that he could help me over a slippery bit of the path.

"Yeah, just...you know...just thinking." I managed to get out, before we fell into silence.

After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, I started to see light up ahead: the colours of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. I realized I hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since I'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. 

I was dying for a double cheeseburger.

"Do you smell that?" Luke raised his eyebrows, before breathing in and nodding.

"Smells like good food." The both of us hummed in agreement.

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. 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.

I had found that out the hard way (again, not an incident to speak about).

"What the fu-heck does that say?" I stopped myself cursing, knowing Annabeth was listening.

"I don't know," Annabeth said.

"Good question," Luke replied, chewing on his lips.

Grover translated, being the only non-dyslexic: "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. I crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.

Luke grabbed the hood of my coat, yanking me backwards before I could cross the road.

"We should talk about this."

"Food," I pointed out, raising one hand. "Or the cold. Don't think there's much of a choice there."

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

"Snack bar?" I said wistfully.

"Snack bar," she agreed, and I realized this was one of the few times we had agreed on something. Progress!

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

"Yeah, we should keep going," Luke replied, as Annabeth and I shook out heads.

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, as Luke watched the both of us with an eyebrow raised. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

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

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminium cans," I reminded him, licking my lips.

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

"This is a dumb idea..." Luke was cut off as the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall woman. She wore a long black gown, and her hair was veiled. She wore tinted glasses, so that I couldn't see her eyes, but she smiled all the same and it was beautiful.

Her accent was similar to Chiron's, and she looked around nervously. "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"

Luke stepped in before we could say anything.

"I'm really sorry, ma'am." Luke looked down, gulping and if I hadn't of known that his father was the god of lying, I would have been convinced he was upset. "Our car broke down a while back. It was just us, you see. It was my first time driving, and we didn't know what to do and I'm sorry that we're bot-"

"Nonsense, no bother," the woman said. "You must come in, you look freezing. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There's a dining area. We'll get you some food."

We thanked her and went inside.

"How did you do that?" Luke shot me a look, his eyes still glancing around nervously.

"Lying's a talent of children of Hermes."

I made a noise of agreement, before we went further in.

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. 

Maybe I would have thought more about it, but food was the only thing on my mind and that would be the way it stayed. My brain could only focus on one thing at a time and food took priority.

Plus, Aunty Em's burgers smelt like heaven on a grill. I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em was watching me as if trying to decipher my life story. Luke was also looking around, slowly untensing as Annabeth stuck to his other side.

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 said.

"Thanks." I said.

"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."

Before I could shoot him a glare, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat. You must have been walking for a while."

"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.

Aunty Em stiffened, like she recognised Annabeth, but then the woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination.

"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful grey eyes, child." Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves. That should have been my first sign that something was not quite right.

Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter 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 and Luke seemed to have forgotten all of his previous inhibitions as he munched on his fries. Annabeth slurped her shake.

Grover picked at the food, 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 asked.

I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head as Luke remained focused on his food.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."

"I take vitamins. For my ears."

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

Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her glasses, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. It was a little unsettling, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy, and I figured the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess.

"So, you sell gnomes?" I said, trying to sound interested. I really wasn't but oh well, it was for the sake of being polite.

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

"A lot of business on this road?"

"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."

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. 

It was slightly off putting.

"Ah," Aunty Em said 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.

"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."

The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.

Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"

"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. 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." 

My insides twisted. Something was nagging me, telling me that I should remember. But my sleepy brain wasn't having any of it.

"Andromeda?" Annabeth was shaking me to get my attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the people fixing our car will be waiting."

She sounded tense. I wasn't sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em found that strange, she didn't say anything.

"Such beautiful grey eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen grey eyes like those."

Luke seemed to have caught on, one hand going to my own and the other to rest where his sword was. She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.

"We really should go," Luke stood up, his face growing dark with anger once more. Why were we leaving? What was my brain hiding from me?

"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The mechanics are waiting! Right!"

I was confused. What was I think about? Why wasn't my brain telling me?

"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "Would 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." 

Well, that wasn't shady in the slightest.

"I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Andi—" Luke began, pulling me to my feet.

"Why can't we?" I said. This woman had just fed us for free, surely we could pose for a photo. "It's just a photo, Luke. What's the harm?"

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

He didn't like it, but reluctantly nodded. Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The lovely ladies in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side."

"Not much light for a photo," I remarked, as Luke's hand moved from my own to my back. He was drumming his fingers in an irregular pattern, tapping a beat against my spine.

"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, and Luke's drumming on my back got faster, as he began to look around. I also started to tense up, the sleepy feeling falling away as my instincts started to pick up that this was not such a good plan.

"Andromeda—" Annabeth said.

"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well..."

"Something's wrong," Annabeth insisted, turning to look at me, as I nodded.

"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"

"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped, his jaw dropping. In an instance, Luke stopped tapping, grabbing the back of my jacket and pulling me off of the bench. Both of us turned away from her, as Annabeth disappeared and pushed Grover away.

I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. Luke yanked me to my feet, both of us standing up and turning away.

Then I heard a strange, rasping sound behind me and I resisted the urge to turn around.

"Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "Get out!"

"Such a pity to destroy two beautiful young faces. Alas, you must pay for your father's crimes," she spoke, causing Luke and I to tense further. I knew this story now, my insides curling as I felt sick. "Stay with me, Andromeda, Luke. All you have to do is turn around."

 I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens— a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her head wrap was gone, as were her glasses, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents.

Aunty Em.

Aunty "M."

Shit, I was dumb.

But I couldn't think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by Perseus. She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open my face.

"The Grey-Eyed One did this to me, Andromeda," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. "After everything that happened, she cursed me! Me!"

I knew the story, I could remember it clearly.

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

"Silence!" Medusa snarled, and I understood her hatred for Athena, who had stood by and done nothing. Luke's hand reached up, his palm covering my eyes so that I could no longer see anything. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Andromeda. She is my enemy's daughter and you understand why I must destroy you. After what your father has done."

"I'm not him." I muttered, shaking my head. Luke's other hand found mine, holding it tightly. "I'm so sorry."

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

"Luke!" Behind me, I heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!"

Once more, Luke took my legs out from underneath me (and not in a romantic way), both of us slamming into the floor as a tree branch went flying over our head, slamming into Medusa.

At first I figured it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.

"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"

"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back.

I scrambled behind a statue, as Grover swooped down for another pass.

Ker-whack!

"Arrgh!" Medusa yelled, her snake-hair hissing and spitting.

Right next to me, Annabeth's voice said, "Andromeda!"

I jumped so high my feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Holy shit! Stop trying to give me a heart attack."

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

"What?" I turned to her, with wide eyes.

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

"How have I got a chance?" I shook my head. "After what my father did to her? She's a victim, not a monster. I can not kill her."

"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?" Why did she have to play the guilt trip card? I took a deep breath, as I stared down at the young girl.

Annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "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—"

"That should work." Luke nodded, placing it in my hand as I looked between them. "Keep your form, don't look at her and dodge the snakes."

My protests were ignored.

"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere close-ish to us. "I think she's unconscious!"

There was a pained scream of anger.

"Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.

"Hurry," Annabeth told me. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually fail. He'll die if we don't help."

I didn't want to do this, but I couldn't let Grover die. What sort of friend would I be?

I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand. I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair. I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusa's reflection, not the real thing.

Then, in the green tinted glass, I saw her.

Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he went 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!"

That's got to hurt.

Medusa was about to lunge at him when I yelled, "No!"

I advanced on her, which wasn't easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If she charged, I'd have a hard time defending myself. In fact, I'd just have a hard time anyway.

But she let me approach—twenty feet, ten feet. I could see the reflection of her face now and it's murderous.

"You wouldn't harm me, Andromeda." she crooned. "Not after what your father did."

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

"I can't let you hurt my friend." I replied. "I'm sorry."

She lunged at me with her talons.

I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening sound, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern as she disintegrated.

Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces, and I gagged.

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

Luke appeared, reaching for me, but I dropped the glass ball and hurried out. Once I was outside, I fell to my knees, puking into the bush beside me as I trembled.

"Andi." Luke's hand touched my back, rubbing up and down as he pulled my hair back from my face. I spat to the side. "It's alright."

"No it's not." I shook my head. "My father raped her in Athena's temple and instead of punishing my father, Athena cursed Medusa. I just killed someone who was a victim. She wasn't a monster and I killed her."

"She was going to kill Grover."

"We should have done something else. I shouldn't have killed her." I turned, staring up at Luke.  "Gods above, I shouldn't have killed her."

Luke sat with me as I processed it, his face downcast. I'm not sure how long I sat there, before I finally stood and entered the workshop.

"What are we gonna do with the head?" Annabeth said as soon as we entered. I walked past her, picking it up and walking into the office. I quickly packed the head into a box, sealing it shut with tape as I grabbed a delivery slip, labelled Hermes Overnight Express.

The Gods,

New York Conference Centre,

600th Floor,

Empire State Building,

New York, NY

kind regards, andromeda jackson xoxo

I sealed it as Luke watched me with wide eyes.

"They're not going to like this."

"Don't care." I grabbed the drachmas, pouring a few into the pouch. I watched it levitate off the table and disappear with a pop as Luke watched me. 

I huffed, before turning back to the office, rummaging through it as I found Medusa's account book. It had a couple of her recent sales, all shipped to an address in California near the Big Sur. I assumed this was Hades and Persephone, so I pocketed it.

"We need a plan, Andi." Luke muttered, not even bothering to talk some sense into me. 

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

Luke and Andi are the cutest together, and Annabeth and Andi are sort of warming up to one another?  Who knows? I changed the scene here because I felt like it didn't do justice to Medusa, and we're gonna be dealing with the fallout from this for a while.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx