ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏᴜʀ : ɪᴍ ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛʟʏ ꜰɪɴᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ

The woods are definitely not my style.

I am walking in the forest with Percy and Grover. We are definitely lost. Percy is looking around for any directions.

"Are we lost?" Grover asks. Percy nods. I sigh.

"Yeah, we should call camp," Percy recommends. I shake my head.

"No, calling camp is like saying that it was a mistake choosing us,"  I add.

"I'm perfectly fine with that," Percy replies. I hate this quest already.

"But we need help!" Grover whines. I turn to face them.

"We don't need help," I retort, crossing my arms. "We're fine."

"Fine!? We haven't even gotten to Trenton and we're wandering though a forest. I didn't even know we had a forest in New Jersey, but we found one! I would say that we are the opposite of fine." Percy glares at me again.

"Maybe if you paid attention in class you would know that!" I shout, shoving him a little. He shoves me to the ground. Wow, I didn't know he was that strong and rude.

"Listen, stop fighting. I'm tired of it. Serena, you constantly keep yelling at every thing Percy says. I get that you are angry with him, but please calm down," Grover starts. Percy smirks at me and I flip him off. "Percy, you keep saying how you don't want to be on this quest. But guess what, you can't control that! You chose Serena for a reason, so if you didn't like her that's on you."

"Listen, the prophecy said that my friend was going to betray me. I chose Grover since I knew that he would never betray me since we are best friends. I chose Serena since it's disgusting to think that we would be friends!" My heart shatters. I don't know why, but I feel sad. Grover looks back and forth from us, knowing that Percy's explanation made everything worse. I quietly sniffle.

"I didn't mean it like that, Serie. I'm s-" Grover cuts him off.

"Do you guys smell that?"

"Grover, seriously, I'm not kidding-"

"And I'm not either, just, shoosh," Grover replies. We sniff the air when I smell food.

"Hamburgers." Grover walks to the scent and we follow him. We see a beautiful garden with millions of statues. The greenery is beautiful and there are gnomes placed in areas. This reminds me of Medusa's statues. Wait.

"Uh, guys, let's get out of here while we still can," I rush, stepping back. We turn to run when we see the fury coming back for us. Percy gives Grover his box and pulls his sword out.

"You should have accepted my offer while you had the chance," the fury states.

"Offer? What offer is she talking about..." Percy's voice trails off as I stand in fear.

"Not today friends, not on my doorstep." Heels click on the ground, slowly revealing a woman in white clothing.

"Oh shit," I express and look at the ground. Grover does the same after me. "Percy, put your damn head down like the rest of us!" He follows my order.

"If you have something to resolve, why not come inside and I'll help," Medusa says. She calls the fury's name. "Will you be joining us?" The fury stands there.

"No, well I wouldn't think you would. She won't bother you as long as you're with me, but it isn't as she will leave either. Not if it means reporting that she failed to retrieve the son of Poseidon." Percy looks confused from what I can tell. His nose is crinkled and scrunched up.

"How did you know," Percy questions. I notice that he sneaks a glance of me from the corner of my eye.

"The forbidden child has been claimed. How long did you think that secret would keep? It's a pleasure to meet you, son of Poseidon. I'm Medusa." A few minutes later, Medusa walks away, her offer still standing.

"I think we can trust her," Percy explains after a moment of silence.

"Dude, seriously?"

"Percy, are you slow?" But Percy ends up dragging us inside, all of our hunger getting in the way.

We come inside to a long table set up with tablecloth, pots, and utensils.

"Grover, is the food safe to eat?" Percy whispers to Grover.

"Listen, I'm starving right now and I'm willing to take that chance," Grover responds.

"Please, sit and eat," Medusa says. All three of us sit down. I sit next to Percy. He pushes his chair in.

"There's a fury out there that seems terrified of you," Percy says, stating the obvious. I would definitely yell at him, but now isn't the right time I suppose.

"Because she knows what I think of her. Do you know the story of how I came to be this way?" She asks."I do," Grover says, stuffing his mouth with some sort of bread. We both look over at him.

"Do you?" Grover looks around.

"Do I?" Grover questions.

"Athena was everything to me. I worshipped her, I prayed to her, I made offerings. She never answered. Not even a no to suggest that she appreciated my love. I would've worshipped her that way for a lifetime. Silence," Medusa narrates. "But then one day, another god came and he broke that silence, your father." Percy looks up from his food, at me, then back at Medusa.

"The sea god had told me that he was in love with me. I felt as though he saw me in a way I had never felt seen before. Then Athena has declared that I had embarrassed her and I needed to be punished. Not him, me." Her voice broke at the end and I started sympathizing for her. Why wasn't Poseidon punished? It felt wrong. "She decided that I would never be seen again by anyone who lived to tell the tale." I started sniffing and the boys looked over at me with concern. Percy patted my shoulder awkwardly and I pushed his hand off.

"Something's burning, would you give me a hand in the kitchen? I think lunch is ready," Medusa says. She stands up and leaves the table.

"Percy, that doesn't seem safe. Being alone with Medusa? What happens if she takes her hat off and you turn into a statue?" Grover argues. I look away, still sad about what Percy said earlier. I don't understand why it's getting to me. It's not that serious.

"I'll be fine, I will just be a minute," Percy reassures. I look at my feet and notice that he's hesitating. But, he walks towards the kitchen where Medusa is waiting.

𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔨𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 🫶