ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰɪᴠᴇ : ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ꜰᴀɪᴛʜ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟᴏɴᴅ ʙᴏʏ

We have to be ready to run.

"It's okay, Serena, you know he didn't mean it," Grover sympathizes.

"But what if it's the truth? How am I supposed to know?" I question. "Plus, I don't know why I'm stressing. I literally hate him."

"But do you?" Grover interrogates. I nod my head. He's annoying, thinks he's special, and scared of everything.

"Of course. Plus, if I did want to be friends with him, he wouldn't want to anyway. It's kind of obvious." Grover frowns and watches as Percy runs out. We scurry into the basement, Percy still having the box in hand.

"Grover put these shoes on. Luke gave them to me, and they help you fly," Percy orders. "I'll have the other stuff you're holding." Percy takes the hat out of Grover's hands and throws it to me. I put it on jokingly, and I disappear. Oh my god, it's Annabeth's! I clutch onto it so I don't lose it. Footsteps echo through the hallway upstairs and we silence ourselves. Medusa slows down her pace. The door widens and fire lines the railings of the stairs. It lights up the place enough for us to see all of the statues of people. It goes on for miles and it terrifies me. We have to make it out alive.

"C'mon," I mumble to the guys. We run through the maze of statues to find a safe place to hide.

"There's three of us and only one of her. If we split up, she can't be watching us all at once," Grover recommends. I shake my head.

"I don't think it'd be that simple," I state, quickening my pace.

"It could be. Here's the plan. I'll get in the air, I'll draw her attention. As soon as you hear me say, 'Maia,' you guys start-" The shoes start fluttering after the call, and Grover starts flying. "Oh, boy! Okay! Um...off, down!" Percy and I look at each other.

"So, we are gonna need a new plan," I state.

"We are not our parents until we choose to be," Medusa says. Her voice echoes through the hallway like she is in a tunnel. We whip our heads around to see no one. We run away from Medusa's voice. "You two have chosen. Serena, you only care about your appearance. You have led no help to those gentlemen. Your mother was very admirable for weak humans. So, you're weak." I hiss quietly like the snakes piled on her head. This makes absolutely no sense. Is this what people truly think of me? Just as some girl that has no value except beauty?

"And you, you could have shown your father what it means to stand up for someone you love." As Medusa says this, I mouth you know the plan to Percy. He nods his head, and I give him a thumbs up. I watch as he turns his head, his blue eyes facing the ground. I do the same.

"If neither of you will help teach these lessons, perhaps you shall be the lessons. When I ship your statues to Olympus, maybe that will get my point across even better. Stand up, let's have a look," Medusa threatens. I put the hat on and slip away from Percy and Medusa. I stand right behind her, ready to tribute.

"I didn't really think this through!" Grover shouts. Medusa looks up at Grover, and I put the hat on Medusa.

"Now!" I shout. Percy slashes Medusa's head off and it falls to the ground. He runs to the ground as I dash to Grover.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask Grover, touching his shoulder.

"Did you say something?" Grover mutters. I help him stand up. Percy groans.

"You found it?" I question.

"I hope so," Percy responds, standing up with the invisible head.

~

"Want me to take it from here?" I ask Percy as we walk to where the fury is. He shakes his head.

"No, no, I got it," he replies. As we approach the door, I give him some tips.

"Just make sure it's pointing in the right direction before you take Annabeth's hat off," I note.

"Good tip," Percy responds. "Hey, can I say something?"

"Sure, I guess," I say.

"I'm sorry for what I said in the woods. It was messed up, and I wasn't thinking clearly. I hope you can forgive me." Percy stops walking and looks up at me. We meet eyes.

"No, it's fine. I'm kind of sorry for being rude to you with Clarisse," I mutter awkwardly. He smiles a little. I open the door for him, and he walks outside. I shut the gate as I watch him hesitantly walk to the fury. The fury flies toward him and concern washes over my face. He puts the head in front of him and takes the hat off, deactivating its power. The fury turns to stone in seconds and crashes to the ground. I can't help but smile at the guy I used to call weak and annoying. I gotta admit, I have faith in the blond boy.

After Percy comes back, we walk to where Grover is standing. He's peering at a statue of another satyr, sniffling.

"What is it?" Percy asks. Grover keeps facing the statue.

"Uncle Ferdinand." Percy and I frown.

"Grover, I'm so sorry," Percy sympathizes. Grover looks devastated and I wish I could help.

"This is as far as he got on his quest. We aren't even to Trenton. But look at him," Grover adds, a tear rolling down his cheek. "He's not like the others, he...he doesn't look afraid." I walk closer to see the whole statue. The satyr looks brave and unafraid, unlike the other statues. I admire that a lot. Grover clears his throat and sighs. "You used the, uhm, you used the head to get rid of Alecto?"

"Yeah," Percy and I say at the same time. Grover smiles.

"Uh, we probably should get going. It'll be dark soon," Grover notes. I nod and start looking for the door.

"But what are we gonna do with the head? I just took down a fury with it, and I wasn't even trying. We can't just leave it for someone else to find. Leave the hat on and bury it in the basement, that oughta keep it safe," Percy says, answering his own question. Grover and I hesitate. I'm not exactly sure if Annabeth with be pleased with her hat belonging to Medusa. But again, we don't have any other options...

"Sure," I remark, sighing. Percy nods.

"Now, we can discuss the bigger issue. What did Alecto mean when it said, 'You should have accepted my offer while you still had the chance. What offer?" Percy interrogates.

"Why are you always in my business? Also, what did Medusa mean by saving your mom? Is there another reason why you are doing this quest? Why wouldn't you tell us?" I retort back. "You know, I really assumed we worked everything out earlier. But now you have to come in with your nosiness and ruin everything!"

"You gave me no information about Alecto, tell me!" Percy says, raising his voice. I angrily slap his face, but lightly.

"Guys, stop fighting!" Grover shouts. Percy and I stop in our tracks and turn to Grover. "I have been trying to resolve each of your fights, but you two can't get along at all! Serena, if your dad was in the Underworld and you had to choose between the whole universe or the person who loved you the most, wouldn't that be confusing?"

"Don't bring my dad into this," I utter, glaring at Grover.

"And Percy, she has been told that she isn't worthy because of her mom. Kids at camp talk behind her back, and the girls in her cabin hate and tease her. Not to mention that her mom has never talked to her in the past 3 months and someone makes an offer to get rid of your friends? Now, the guy that invited her to his quest said that they will never be friends and makes her feel bad?" Grover explains to Percy. He turns to me.

"Is this true? Your mom doesn't talk to you? Your cabin mates hate you? But you're the daughter of Aphrodite!" Percy exclaims. Now, for the first time in awhile, tears are streaming down my eyes like a waterfall. I take my sleeve and wipe my tears away.

"I didn't know your mom is in the Underworld. I'm sorry, Percy," I say.

"No, I'm sorry, Serie. I wish I knew about your camp life and maybe I would have understood why you were that way," Percy apologizes. He smiles at me.

"You didn't choose to be demigods. We didn't choose this quest. But we can decide that as long as the three of us are together, none of us are gonna be alone. And if we can't do that, we might as well just head back to camp right now, cause we won't make it," Grover explains, looking at the two of us.

"Listen, I think we should think of another way to get rid of our dead head. That way, Annabeth can keep her part of Athena that she has," I remark. Percy smirks.

"I think I got an idea," Percy says, running to a desk with a book. He flips through pages in the worn-out book.

"Hermes Express. She ships these things all over. Some of it goes to Olympus," Percy explains. My eyes widen and almost pop out of their sockets.

"Blondie, you can't ship Medusa's head to Olympus," I reply, shaking my head.

"Why not?" Percy questions.

"Because the gods won't like it," I start.

"At all," Grover replies.

"Why? That's what you do with dangerous stuff. Like batteries, you just send em back where they came from," Percy explains. I roll my eyes.

"Look, this is a fucking bad idea. They will see us as impertinent," I say

"I am impertinent." I see the tiny blood stain on his cheek from my slap. I wipe it off with my thumb quickly.

"Yeah, but we're not," Grover answers.

"Look, Medusa tried to derail our quest. When you look at it that way, this seems kinda like tribute or something, doesn't it?" Percy questions. "Besides, this way, we can keep what belongs to your friend." Percy hands me Annabeth's hat and I feel caught off guard. He grabs the tape and seals the brown box.

"So this isn't exactly what I meant. By choosing each other," Grover expresses. "There are actual dangers that can be involved in..." Percy starts clapping slowly. Grover rolls his eyes. I try to hold in my laughter.

"Oh golly, the road's gettin' bumpy. Consensus," Percy sings. I just hope that he promises to never sing again, since Grover is better at it.

𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔢 : 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔢 𝔰𝔩𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯 𝔲𝔭𝔡𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔰 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔢 𝔞𝔱 𝔰𝔠𝔥𝔬𝔬𝔩 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔢𝔭𝔦𝔰𝔬𝔡𝔢𝔰 𝔱𝔞𝔨𝔢 𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔯𝔢𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔢, 𝔥𝔬𝔭𝔢 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔡!

𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔨𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 🫶