⋰☆✄♘➶⋱
【𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬】
ᵍʳᵒᵛᵉʳ❦ⁿᵒᵃ

"You must be hungry. I left snacks on the table while I get a proper meal." Medusa called from the kitchen as the four walked into the dining room, revealing the long candle lit table filled with snacks they'd all love.

"You think it's safe to eat?" Percy whispered toward Grover, his goat feet clicking on the ground.

"Percy, I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm really hungry." Grover looked his way with an honest look. "And I'm ready to take that chance."

Noa pulled out two chairs at once, one for her and the other for Grover. She hesitantly held her camera, glancing over to Annabeth. "Do you think she could stone people on camera too?"

"Absolutely." Annabeth gave her a serious look. "What about a voiceover?"

"Good idea." Noa nodded, messing with her shell necklace. The boys looked over as she flipped it the other way and pushed the pink pearl. "Pink for audio only, the white pearl to snap a photo."

"That's how it works." Grover confirmed with an amazement look.

"Thanks for coming." Percy looked past the pair to make eye contact with Annabeth.

She gave him a judgement look over. "This isn't the same for me as it is for you."

"Why?" he question in a lost manor. Noa noticed that about the two of them. Annabeth didn't explain things but he always wanted to know why she reacted a certain way or why her attitude was different. Noa noticed, even if Annabeth didn't yet. Grover noticed that Noa noticed.

"You're concerned I would hold a grudge against you simply because you are a daughter of Athena." Medusa walked into the room, overhearing the conversation. They all hid their eyes again. "You shouldn't be. We're not our parents, after all."

Noa inhaled with a knowing look, Medusa smiled. "Noa knows."

Percy was curious how she knew her name and if she knew the rest of theirs. "And you and I might have more in common than you think. Please, eat."

Grover immediately dug into his burger and fries while Noa was more focused on the sweets laid infront of her. She tried all the cookies and offered Annabeth a bite of each one, though she denied, she tried to get her to eat while they had the chance. Percy cut his burger in half. "If you're not a monster, what are you then?"

"A survivor." Medusa's words made Noa stop chewing and glance up, not even thinking twice. She almost panicked before realizing her hair was covered, Noa stayed staring at her.

"You must be a little more than that." Percy kept his gaze on his plate. Noa offered Grover the half of the pink macaroon, he took it with ease and gave her one of his fries, even though she had her own. "There's a Fury out there that seems terrified of you."

"Because she knows what I think of her." Medusa walked to sit on the other end of the table. "I don't like bullies. When one shows up on my doorstep, they end up spending a lot more time there then they planned for."

Noa was mentally losing it over how good this was gonna be for the magazine or live documentary she would put together when they were back at camp. Medusa spoke so clearly and so full of, what appeared to be, truth. Noa almost believed she was the good guy Percy wanted her to be. "The gift the gods gave me is that I cannot be bullied anymore."

Percy glanced toward Noa, she looked his way. They had the same thought
...he remembered what she said about the god's thinking their gifts were exactly what they sounded like, a gift, when reality it was like getting an orange on halloween.

"What my mother did to you wasn't a gift." Annabeth cut in, defense dripping from her tone and anger bubbling in her throat. "It was a curse."

"You are loyal to your mother." Medusa confirmed.

"Yes." Annaberh exhaled, her tone dropped some.

"You stand by her?"

"Always?"

"You love her?"

"Of course I do."

"And so did I." Medusa spoke, both girls stared. "So did I...do you know the story of how I became this way?"

A chill went down Noa's spine, staring at her cookies.

"I do" Grover hummed unbothered, Noa gave him a side eyed look.

"Do you?" Medusa asked innocently, Noa's eyes shifted her way next.

Grover paused his eating. "Do I?"

"Athena was everything to me." Medusa whispered, recalling the beauty of the time she shared with Annabeths mother. "I worshipped her. I prayed to her. I made offerings...she never sneered. Not even an omen to show she appreciated my love. I wasn't like you, sweetheart. I was you. I would have worshipped her that way for a lifetime. The silence. But, then one day another god came and broke that silence."

Medusa shifted her gaze. "Your father. The Sea God told me that he loved me. I felt as though he saw me in a way I never felt seen before. But then Athena declared that I had embarrassed her and I needed to be punished. Not him. Me. She decided that I would never be seen by anyone who would live to tell."

Noa stared at her, she could tell she was staring back from under her vail. Percy noticed.

"That isn't what happened!" Annabeth became angry at the disrespect to her moms name. "My mother is Just, always."

"The gods want you to believe that. That they are infallible. But they only want what all bullies want." Medusa's tone never once changed, not like Annabeths. Not like Noa's heart rate. "They want us to blame ourselves for their own shortcomings."

"That is not what happened." Annabeth wasn't letting up. "And you are a liar."

Medusa was quiet a moment. "Something is burning. Would you give me a hand in the kitchen? I think lunch is ready."

Noa looked down at her plate and blinked. "The burgers."

"What burgers?" Grover looked over, she looked at his plate and realized he had just been snacking on the table snacks.

"We had burgers and fries just a second ago." she blinked, her stomach flipped as her head spun. "Grover."

"There hasn't been any burgers or fries." Annabeth shook her head. "That's what she's going to get now."

Noa shut her eyes as her head suddenly spun, Annabeth and Grover shared a worried look. Percy had already walked away with Medusa. Grover put his hand on Noa's arm. She leaned forward like she'd been in pain, squeezing her eyes shut and rubbing her head. "Noa, what's wrong?"

Noa opened her eyes some and saw her vision fading in and out, the sound of snakes hissing in her ears. She looked down and saw at least ten curling up around her legs, gliding up her shines. Noa yelped loudly as she flung herself backwards, jumping from her chair and hitting the wall in a panic.

"Noa!" Annabeth called out in fear, they both stood up. "What's wrong? What is happening?"

The snakes were gone, Noa looked around in paranoia. Grover grabbed her face and made her eyes focus on him, now that he was close enough, he saw the pink gloss over her eyes. "Her eyes are pink."

"We need to go." Noa grabbed ahold of his hands that were holding her face, him standing infront of her all that seemed to ground her for just a second. "There's too many energies in this house, it's causing serotonin hallucinations in my brain. Aphrodite kids can open up others serotonin levels but it makes our own fifty times more at risk of feeling things much deeper."

"I'll get-" Annabeth began, stopping as Percy crept around the corner with a finger to his lips. He waved his hand quickly, encouraging them to go. Grover laced his hand in Noa's to lead her, keeping her steady as her vision began to act up the deeper they escaped into Medusas home. Percy gave him the shoes from Luke to put over his hooves.

The four hid in the basement, huddled together in the dark corner. The dark helped avoid Noa from seeing anything but the sounds in her ears didn't get much better, Grover sensed how uneasy she felt from his animal traits, keeping his hand locked with hers. The basement door creaked open in an eerie way, the steps setting fire not long after. It lit the rest of the basement torches up, making Percy gasp in fear when he stood face to face with a statue. Noa realized the entire basement was full of them. "Is this just me or-"

"We see it too." Annabeth promised her. "Come on."

"There's four of us and only one of her. If we split up, she can't be watching us all at once." Grover explained as they walked in a hurry elsewhere. Noa gasped in fear as she saw a flash of her mother, the form she was in when she saw her last in a dream, smiling from behind one of the statues. She stumbled back, Grover caught ahold of her quickly. "It's not real, Noa. Don't worry...we're gonna get you out of here."

"What's the matter with her?" Percy spoke in worry.

"She's hallucinating." Annabeth jogged alongside them. "I don't think it's as simple as splitting up. Noa is barely able to walk four steps without seeing something."

"I'll keep Noa with me. Here's the plan." Grover looked between the two, his hand tightening in Noa's hand. "I'll get in the air, I'll draw her attention. As soon as you hear me say Maia, you guys start-"

Maia heard her name, the shoes on his feet causing him to float high in the air. It made him and Noa unlatch hands. "Grover."

"Off. Down!" Grover panicked as he floated off in the air.

"Grover!" Noa ran after him, into the darkness that he floated away into. Her voice faded from Percy and Annabeth, realizing neither of them were following into the dark. "Grover?"

"Noa." his voice was from a distance, making her pause and look around the darkness she lost herself in. "Come left."

"I can't see anything." she spoke honestly, her own heartbeat echoing in her ears. "Do you see her?"

"No. Hang on, I think I have a flashlight." he reassured him, waiting a few seconds before a small light lit up about twenty feet away. Noa began to jog his way, stopping as she felt something slither across her feet. Her eyes casted down and saw the school of snakes running across her feet, she gasped and jumped back quickly to try and kick them away. She bumped into one of the statues, knocking it over as it clattered on the basement floor. She looked down at it, breathing deeply as the olive toned hand crept around the front before her mother's body appeared where the statue was.

"Mom?" she gaped.

"Hi, sweetheart." she smiled up to her, her face seemed to glitch before fading into black dusk.

"Noa?" she heard Grover call for her, remind in her she needed to get to him. She hurried in his direction, breathing heavy. She stopped again when red, purple, and pink flashes began to go off all around her. Noa paused and spun in a circle, seeing them flashing all around her. She heard familiar voices from each one.

"Did you give me a love spell?" Percy.

"You're not gonna put it in the magazine, are you?" Grover.

"Aphrodite kids...it's hard to trust them sometimes." Luke.

"Something has always been different about Noa, it's like she knows something we don't." Annabeth.

"Don't you dare say anything about my father in that magazine of yours." Clarisse.

"Noa, what are you doing in here? Aphrodite kids shouldn't be in the potion room alone." Chiron.

"Noa....don't fail me."

"They don't trust you. None of them do." Aphrodite spoke, emerging from behind one of the statues with a sad look. "Your friends...they're watching their back when you're around. Can you blame them?"

"Mom, I want to go home." Noa cried, she felt scared now. She didn't know what was real and what wasn't. "I want to go home."

"Rightfully so, right?" Aphrodite nodding as she stared at her daughter. "You have been keeping a secret from everyone around you. Imagine how much they won't trust you when they find out."

"Noa!" it was her mother again, but she was coming from somewhere else. It was like she had been coming from everywhere, no particular place. "Don't listen to her. It isn't real! It's about to lead you right to Medusa!"

"Mom?" Noa gaped, hearing her voice in her head for the first time in a while.

"I'm right here." Hallucination Aphrodite stepped forward with a smile. "Mamas right here."

"Noa, don't look at her!" Aphrodite yelled out in her head, Noa heard the snake hisses right as Medusa lit the tortch and stepped into the light. Noa turned her head and shut her eyes quickly, stumbling away and running immediately. She didn't get far before snakes tripped her, twisting around her ankles and wrist to bond her still.

"You can't run from me forever, Noa." Medusa walked forward, the Evangeline girl kept her eyes squeezed shut. Her voice had gotten closer, Noa refused to look. "Look at me."

Noa cried out as the snakes got tighter. "Look at me with those pretty eyes. Just like your-"

She was kicked from the back, rather hard as she fell off of Noa. Grover lowered Maia down. "Noa!"

"Grover." she panicked, her eyes squeezed shut. "Is it actually you?"

"It's me." he promised. "You can open your eyes....I don't-the snakes aren't leaving."

He looked around in a panic, but Medusa seemed to have disappeared from the pair for the time being. Noa wouldn't open her eyes. "Take my gloves off."

Grover was careful around the hissing snakes, hesitating as he slid the gloves off. One of the snakes around her right wrist snapped at him, its fangs hitting his hand as he winced in pain. Noa used her bare hands to grab around of the bundle of snakes, the beauty ability in her palms turned them into vines of blue flowers. She did it on her other wrist and ankles before Grover helped untangle them quickly. He held her knees, her eyes still not opening up. "Noa....Noa, it's me. Grover...I promise."

"How do I know?" she whimpered, the fear she'd open her eyes and become stone running deep. He placed the gloves in her lap, Noa pulled them on quickly. "I don't want to die."

"Noa." Grover took her hands that were now holding her own face. Warm, familiar. "I promise."

It took a few seconds but Noa took the risk, slowly opening her eyes and staring into Grover's familiar brown ones. He was still, she breathed heavy and waited a few seconds for the shock to wear off. "Grover."

"Yeah." he promised in a whisper. Noa leaned forward into his arms, tucking her head down as the safety of reality finally approached her again. "It's okay."

"You're real." she cried as his arms tightened around her. "My mom-"

"It wasn't real." he promised her, shutting his eyes and holding her tighter for as long as she needed to know he was there. "I'm real."

•

kylie speaks

oh this might be my favorite
chapter.