#and annabeth realizing who aunty em is

[edains]

the pjo show is very good i will gripe about the fact they just keep outright stating who the characters are as soon as you meet them instead of letting the audience figure it out

[mayclair]

obsessed with the way they potrayed medusa actually.... the outside of aunty em's being statues of monsters ("bullies"), her telling her side of the myth, garnering sympathy from both percy annabeth and grover And the viewers of the show & making them think about the story in a way that they never really have..... UNTIL percy annabeth grover stumble upon her basement full of innocent bystanders frozen in complete terror until the end of time because she turned them into stone for no clear reason besides the profit of selling them as statues to people. like!!!!!! she paints herself as the victim turned hero ("not all heroes look like heroes") because in her mind she Is! she was wronged and given a curse she did not deserve but decided to view it as a "gift" because she realized she could then stand up to the people / monsters who she thought had wronged her. which she did! (as showcased by the array of monster statues in her front yard) except she begins misusing her "gift" for personal gain & it causes her downfall. it's So well written it drives me a little insane

[white-wolf-buckaroo]

Chapter 5: I Plunge to my Death

This episode is what I call the 'turning point' of the show where Percy really discovers what he's capable of, and also the end of the first half of the first season! Can't believe we're already here. Hope you enjoy it!

Word count: 7500 ish

Warnings: Does the Chimera count?

Fic masterlist here!

The soothing rattle of the train put Emily to sleep almost instantly when they went to bed. She was exhausted, even if it had only been the first days of their quest.

They were back on track now, on their way to Los Angeles still in time for the solstice. They would complete the quest, and avoid a war between the gods. Yep, everything would be great.

Except her sleep that night: she was still shaken up from their visit to Aunty Em’s place, not as much because of fighting multiple monsters the same day (she was more than prepared for that), but because of their conversation with Medusa. Emily knew that not all monsters were brainless or soulless creatures, but having an actual talk with someone as the gorgon, who had been around for ages, and had different opinions than the ones Emily was used to hearing, had certainly been an experience.

Medusa’s words resonated in her head during her sleep: The gods want you to believe that they are infallible. But they only want what all bullies want: they want us to blame ourselves for their own shortcomings.

Emily hadn’t seen her father in years. Well, except in the official ceremonies like the winter solstice, when they visited Olympus. But she hadn’t spoken to him in years. Still, she thought of him every day when making her offerings, even though she knew he probably didn’t think of her maybe more than once a month, if he ever did. He was the one who had left, after all. He didn’t want anything else to do with her anymore.

It killed her not to know the reasoning behind his actions. What seemed more logical to her, is that it had been her fault. That’s why she trained to be better, and better and better every single day. Not to make him see he was wrong for abandoning her… but to demonstrate that she was worthy of his love.

She woke up earlier than expected, heart racing after her overthinking thought didn’t let her be even during her sleep – it was still dark outside. Above them was a pitch black sky, from what she could see from her place on the floor (after the flying shoes incident they had let Grover take one of the bunkbeds, and both Percy and Emily had lost against Annabeth on rock, paper, scissors, so the both of them were on mattresses on the floor). There were also stars shining above them, almost flying by with the train’s fast pace.

It was a relief that, wherever she would go, she could always look up to the sky and find the same stars she stared at every night at camp.

She realized then that Percy and Annabeth were awake too, because they were talking. Maybe she had woken up because of them; she could, and would, definitely blame them.

“… I gotta say, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me”

“What doesn’t make sense to you?”

“The way you guys all talk” answered Percy “The way the gods want us to think… Gotta burn an offering to get a parent’s attention. Gotta beat up on Clarisse just to get my father to admit he’s my father. It isn’t supposed to work that way” he sighed, defeated “People who are close to you aren’t supposed to treat you that way”

The thing is, the gods weren’t close to their children. Demigods wanted them to be, sure, but they just… weren’t. That’s the sad truth behind it, and the reason why things worked like they did in their world.

Emily listened to Annabeth telling Percy how she ran away when she was seven, a story she had heard many times, years ago for the first time. Emily knew that Annabeth missed her father, but that her insecurities wouldn’t let her give in to his pleadings to come back to him.

If Emily still had her mother, she would leave camp half-blood to be with her in a heartbeat.

“It isn’t the gods who think that way” replied Annabeth, to Percy’s previous comment “It’s everybody. But at least with the gods you know the rules: show them respect and they’ll be in your corner no matter what”

“The gods didn’t help us when we were at Medusa’s, though”

“Gods can’t interfere”

Both Percy and Annabeth looked over at Emily when she talked, surprised that she was awake.

“What do you mean?” asked Percy.

“This is a quest. We have to get this done by ourselves. If we can’t deal with small problems like a monster getting in our way… well, then we shouldn’t be on a mission in the first place”

“A monster doesn’t seem like a small problem to me but okay, whatever you say” Percy shrugged “But still, we are kids. They are our parents. Dads and Moms are supposed to protect their children”

“The gods do… in their own way” Emily was staring at the ceiling, rather than at Percy, engrossed in her mind “Athena gifted Annabeth her invisibility cap. Your father transmitted to you the ability to heal when you are in contact with water. They care for you guys”

Percy took in her words, noticing she hadn’t mentioned herself nor her dad. He didn’t know what her relationship to Ares was like, but he did remember Medusa saying that the god had cared for his child, in past tense, but not in present tense. He did know how her relationship to Clarisse was, and some others of the Ares cabin from what he had seen at camp. He liked Emily because she wasn’t as brute as them, but he also knew that there was a lot about her he didn’t know yet – she was still a daughter of the God of War.

He wanted to ask her more about it, but he didn’t know how to be tactful. So he just blatantly did:

“What about your dad? Ares?”

“What about him?” she didn’t sound very keen on talking about that topic.

“Has he gotten you anything like Annabeth’s mom for her?”

“Yeah, he did. Some weapons, like my throwing knife. It’s been… years, though, since he’s gifted me anything. The last thing… was his ring. I guess that was his goodbye” she grasped at it with her fingers over her chest, biting her lip; it was attached to her camp necklace, ever since the day she had received it from him. She didn’t want to dwell in her feelings too much, so she quickly forced herself to recover “He also got me some emotional traumas, like for the most of us. The usual for the God of War”

Above them, on the upper mattress of the bunk, Grover groaned while he woke up, totally displeased to do so.

“You awake?” asked Percy.

“I am now, thanks”

“You okay?”

“He’s super grouchy when he doesn’t get enough sleep”

Grover mimicked Annabeth doing a high pitched voice, groaning again.

“Wow” replied Percy, unimpressed. That was a side of Grover he hadn’t seen yet.

“You’ve never been on the road with him before” said Annabeth “A little different than a froofy boarding school, isn’t it?”

“Who’s froofy? You’re froofy!” complained Grover, words slurred with sleep “… What’s froofy?”

“I think you need to eat, Grover” suggested Emily, holding back a smile. She shouldn’t be amused by his torture… but she kind of was enjoying this too much.

Grover did eat a lot at breakfast; at dawn, after they couldn’t sleep anymore, they had all gotten dressed and had made it out of their wagon. The train didn’t have a five star meal restaurant, but some apple juice, bread, fruit and cookies, which was more than enough for three demigods and a satyr – well, maybe not so much for Grover, but he got all the grapes in exchange for the sausages he didn’t want.

“Seems like Apollo is driving around fast today” mumbled Emily, watching how the sky outside the train was quickly turning lighter colours, with the sun almost up in the sky “If he decided to make the sun rise later than it should… we’d have more time to complete our quest, right? ‘Cause of the solstice”

“In two days we will reach Los Angeles, there is still plenty of time before our deadline to reach the Underworld”

“Can I ask a dumb question?”

Annabeth, Emily and Grover all looked at Percy with an eyebrow raised, unsure about what he was about to say.

“It’s like you need me to make fun of you” commented Annabeth, across from him. She was sitting with Grover, whereas Emily was with Percy.

“Annie, be nice”

“Shoot” added Grover, to Percy.

“I’ve never been to Los Angeles before. I’m guessing neither of you have been to Los Angeles as well… So, how will we have any idea where we’re going?”

“No idea” answered Grover. Great “But that’s like step thirty-seven, and we’re still on step four. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there”

Emily knew by Percy’s face that he still wasn’t convinced.

“Follow-up stupid question” ah, there it was.

“Dude” muttered Annabeth.

“The Oracle… it said ‘And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end’. Back in Jersey I told you the Oracle said this quest would fail. And no one’s mentioned it since. Seems like… something we ought to be taking a little more seriously, don’t you think?”

“Don’t think too much about what the Oracle said” Emily bit her lip, thoughtful “She’s super wise and stuff, but her premonitions are also super tricky. They’re more like… guidelines, but not something to be followed by step by step. Relax about it”

“Sounds easier said than done” Percy huffed, turning to look outside of the window… when he saw something that caught his eye “Hey… are those…?”

“Centaurs”

A family of four, riding through the field on the right side of the train. Wild, and free.

“No one even knows they’re there”

“Chiron taught us that there used to be herds of them, everywhere” explained Emily, watching the family of centaurs move into the distance “Now… not so many”

“What happened to them?”

“Humans” mumbled the satyr, bitterly “A few thousand years ago… the God of the Wild, Pan, disappeared. And ever since, without Pan to protect the natural world, humans have been trying really hard to chip away at it”

“The bravest satyrs volunteer to become Searchers” added Annabeth “To try to find Pan. None have ever returned”

“Your uncle… the one we found at Medusa’s, Ferdinand” Percy quickly connected the dots, for once “He was a Searcher?”

Grover nodded, sadly. Annabeth and Emily looked at him with pity, like Percy.

“The Oracle didn’t say the quest would fail” Annabeth wasn’t done with that conversation yet, apparently “ ‘Fail to save what matters most’ could mean a lot of things. It’s what Emily said: this is how prophecies work. That’s how fate works. It could mean a lot of things. The harder you work to understand, the harder it gets to understand. Sometimes you’ve just gotta’ let it come to you when it’s ready”

And then, they were interrupted:

“Excuse me” they looked up, seeing one of the train’s security guards next to them “Can I see your tickets, please?”

“Why?” asked Emily, defensive, as Annabeth took them out of her backpack and handed them to the security guard. He didn’t answer her, though.

“You’re in cabin 17B?” he asked this time, and they nodded “You’re gonna have to come with me”

“Excuse me?” Emily knew she had a problem with holding her tongue, but she was working on it. Most times “We’ve done nothing wrong”

“Please, follow me”

Annabeth shot her friend a look that screamed ‘shut up’, and they all obeyed the man, following him back to the wagon were the cabins were. There was a loud noise of wind whooshing, that they didn’t recall hearing before when they left to get breakfast. When the security guard stopped at their cabin, they noticed the door was open, they understood where all of the wind was coming from: their window was shattered, there was glass everywhere, the beds they had made were now undone, and all their stuff was upside down. Emily’s eyes also caught a mark near the ceiling, above the now demolished window in the wooden panel: four equidistant lines, four claw marks.

“You wanna explain?”

As much as they defended themselves to the officer, he didn’t listen to them. On top of that, he even had a witness who apparently said she had hear the window smash followed by children’s voices. Both Emily and Annabeth looked at the woman the officer was pointing at: she was talking to another security guard, giving her statement on what she had heard. Percy complained behind them to the officer, while they assessed the woman: she was tall, lean, well dressed. Her face was pretty thin, her jawline and her cheekbones prominent.

Emily thought she looked like the typical suburban mom who got into other people’s business. Then again, she hadn’t been outside camp in a very long time, so she didn’t really know where that thought came from.

“Are we under arrest?”

The officer didn’t like Annabeth’s tone. He liked it even less when she repeated the question.

Now they were under arrest.

They held them back at the breakfast wagon, the four of them sitting at the same table as before again. Emily glanced at the ‘witness’ who was still giving her statement, now to the officer that had arrested them, while the other security guard watched them.

“So… We’re just killing time until we find out that guy’s like a werewolf or something, right?”

Grover, Emily and Annabeth glanced at the security officer talking to the witness, who looked back at them at the same time, and then they turned back to Percy.

“Doesn’t seem like a werewolf to me”

“More like a grouchy man with a superiority complex” mumbled Emily.

“Emi, not helpful” scolded Annabeth.

“Come on, look at us. Look at me!” she made what she called ‘a cute face’; she was a cute kid so it wasn’t that hard “Who could ever think I could harm anyone? Or shatter a window like that?”

“You definitely are capable of that. Not saying you would” answered Grover, immediately correcting himself “But you can”

“Well, that’s my perfect cover”

“We’re losing focus” reprimanded Annabeth “But I’m with you, he doesn’t seem like a monster”

“Then what’s going on here then? Why would anyone tear our room apart?”

“Maybe they were looking for something” suggested, Grover, looking at Percy.

“But we don’t have anything”

“The people who think you stole Zeus’s master bolt might disagree”

“But it’s like Percy said, we don’t have it”

“Exactly. They’re not gonna find something we don’t have”

“We need to get out of this before we get delayed”

Annabeth was interrupted, this time by the woman who claimed had heard them shatter the window and put their room upside down. The witness tapped her on the shoulder, acting concerned, and asked them if she could sit across from them. She even got the security guard who was watching them to walk away, saying she thought she was making them nervous.

Emily thought the woman had no right to seem this nice when she was acting so suspiciously.

She had a bag with her, with a pet inside. It was closed, but the thing was trembling so much it made the whole bag shiver; it made Emily kinda nervous.

“You poor dears must be scared” the woman told them, smiling oh too warmly “Your parents aren’t here, aren’t they? You poor things… But don’t worry. I’m a mom. I know what it’s like” she shushed her pet, tapping the bag lightly before turning back to the three demigods and the satyr again “I want you to know… I don’t actually think that you made that mess back there. I just wanted a moment alone with you. There are some things I need you to understand-“

“You have something on your jacket” Grover interrupted her, signalling to her right shoulder. All of them looked at that spot, seeing small pieces of something shiny “It looks like… glass” the woman’s smile was becoming more unsettling every passing second “No one smashed out the windows from inside our cabin. Someone smashed them in, from the outside”

The pet inside the woman’s bag began grunting, whimpering for her, and she turned back to it, kneeling before the back talking to the animal:

“Yes sweetheart, I know, I know… You’re impatient” the animal sniffed again “Oh… But we’re almost there” she stood up then again, turning to the heroes “This isn’t your fault” her tone had switched to a much more serious one, less sweet “But sadly, you’re going to have to bear the burden of your parents’ mistakes today”

“Listen, lady” said Percy, next to Emily on their bench “I don��t know who you are, but I think I know what you are”

A pain in the ass, though Emily.

“We’ve run across a few monsters like you and we’ve sent them all packing”

“Monsters like me?” the woman scoffed “Well… Of course they’re like me. They were my children”

It all made sense then.

Well, to all except Percy. But Annabeth, Emily and Grover knew then who they had standing before them:

“The Mother of Monsters” mumbled Grover, afraid.

“Echidna”

The pet, or more like the monster, inside the woman’s bag, began growling again, harsher this time. Its mother shushed it, but they felt like it wouldn’t stay calm much longer.

“Monster is such an odd word” Echidna sounded like the typical teacher who tried to lecture her students about something “Considering my grandmother is your great-grandmother” she said to Percy, looking then at the girls “And your great-great grandmother. This has always been a family story” she shrugged “But… to my eye, the demigod is the more dangerous creature. Disruptive. Violent. If I exist for anything… It is to stand in the way of monsters, like you”

The four of them were starting to feel something unsettling in their stomachs when the monster growled again.

“My little one here… She’s just a pup now, bless her heart” explained the Mother of Monsters “Today… you will be her prey” she looked at them expectantly, excited “Are you afraid yet?” they were, but they wouldn’t show it “Oh, it’s alright. Fear is natural. It’s also essential to the hunt. Your fear, your doubt, your confusion…” the monster growled louder as she chuckled “I needed you to understand what was happening, so that she could track the scent. So she could… learn, and grow, because… that’s what a good mother does for her children. Not that you would know”

The monster stilled, but the bag’s zip began opening from the inside.

Emily felt a nervous feeling growing inside her stomach, and her heartbeat picking up. This wasn’t good.

They heard one final growl, and the bag opened.

“You should run now”

A giant claw leapt out of the bag right at them. Emily ducked immediately, her senses sharpened from years of training, but Percy wasn’t that fast, and so when Emily was out of the way the claw went straight into his left shoulder.

The claw itself was attached to a long tail that backtracked once it had stabbed one of them, and before it could attack again Annabeth jumped right on it, dagger in hand; with all the force she could muster she stabbed the monster’s tail with her weapon, hopefully hurting it enough to slow it down in its hunt for them.

“Go!” she screamed to them.

Emily, Grover and Percy ran to the nearest exit, Annabeth following swiftly behind them. The security guards yelled for them to stay put, while Echidna tended to her hurt child. The heroes ran as fast as they could to the next wagons.

The train was slowly stopping; they had only made it to St. Louis.

Annabeth stayed a few steps behind to block one of the doors, although they knew it wasn’t to much use; only by its tail, they knew that the monster that was chasing them was huge. At least the door would hold back the security guards.

“Percy!” Grover tore a stinger out of his left shoulder, where the monster had gotten to him.

“What is that?” asked the blonde, nervous.

“What kind of monsters have stingers?” asked now Emily, frantic.

“I don’t know, I mean… nothing good probably”

Percy felt okay, at least for now. He didn’t really feel any pain, but maybe it was because he was so full of adrenaline and fear for the monster chasing them. Something huge rattled the wagons behind them; it was getting close.

“We gotta move!”

The train stopped right on time for them to jump off to the rails. They put a few meters between them and the train, and then they looked back, trying to locate the monster. It was nowhere in sight.

“Why isn’t it chasing us?”

“Echidna said whatever she was hiding in that carrier, it’s young” explained Annabeth.

“What do you mean by that?” Percy didn’t understand.

“It’s still a pup, so it will stay close to it’s mother. She’ll tell the monster where to go, teaching it to hunt. In this case, hunt us”

“We aren’t gonna be able to outrun them for very long”

The began to move outside of the train station, trying to put distance between them and the Mother of Monsters and her child.

“We don’t need to” refuted Annabeth “We just need a safe place to hole up”

“And prepare ourselves to fight” added Emily.

“Some safe place. Okay…” Percy was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had been stabbed by a monster with an hopefully not poisonous stinger, although if he paid attention to the wound, he could feel it starting to get itchy. He hoped the feeling was only in his head “Any ideas where we might find one of those? Any of you ever been to St. Louis?”

“I know a place” answered Annabeth; her and Emily were walking between the two boys as they made their way through an ally “A sanctuary, dedicated to Athena, built by one of her demigod children a long time ago”

“There is an Athenian temple hidden somewhere in the middle of downtown St. Louis?” wondered Grover, incredulous.

“Yes… Except it’s not all that hidden”

They ran as fast as they could trying at the same time to not draw too much attention to them. Emily trusted her friend blindly, but she hoped they wouldn’t take too long to get to her Athenian temple.

Annabeth led them to a huge square, right below the arch of St. Louis:

“This is the temple?”

“A monument to Athena” she nodded “It’s six-hundred and thirty feet wide, six-hundred and thirty feet tall, both to within an inch. It’s got no internal support! Each side is balanced perfectly against the other. The arch is held up by symmetry. It’s held up by math! It’s…-“

“A safe place for us?” interrupted Emily. She knew how Annabeth could get when it came to architecture.

“It is” she confirmed, as they made their way in “Another cool fact is that it’s also earthquake proved, so Poseidon can’t ruin it”

“Nice” mumbled the god’s son.

They made their way through a group of kids who were visiting the monument, blending in. Emily glared at them when they stared at them passing through, hand on her dagger in case someone turned out to be a monster waiting to attack them; if they were regular mortals, the mist would make sure they didn’t see or get hurt by the blade anyways.

They stopped in front of an exhibition about hunting in the past, where there was a skull of a buffalo next to an old shotgun. Grover became upset seeing it, sad look on his face while Annabeth tried to remind him of the true meaning of the temple, who it was really for, not what the humans tried to make it about.

“I’m gonna go look for new train tickets” Grover looked at a picture on a wall where there was a picture of two huntsmen shooting down a buffalo, and Emily could see the sorrow in his eyes from where she was standing behind Annabeth, next to Percy “Just because we’re prey doesn’t mean we gotta be helpless”

He left then to the ticket stand, leaving the three demigods alone.

“He doesn’t like it… when people mess with animals” Percy tried to defend his behaviour, knowing that Grover didn’t mean to sound harsh. He was only upset.

“Yeah… We know” sighed Annabeth; Emily noticed that see seemed upset now too, but not with Grover. Probably more with herself “I shouldn’t have snapped at him… I just… I know”

Percy sighed too, looking at the two girls a bit uncomfortably. Until that moment, Grover had always been there to have someone to talk to or lean on to; he hadn’t been alone with the other two demigods yet. He had to try to break the ice somehow, because he was getting extremely uncomfortable with the silence.

“So… this is your mom’s place?” he asked Annabeth “Wonder if she’s around” Emily was about to tell him it didn’t work like that, but then he did the worst impression of a posh woman she had ever heard “Be right down! Just going to the potty!”

Emily let out a laugh and Annabeth smiled. Percy seemed more at ease then.

“Nice”

“I have a gift” he shrugged. He certainly did “I guess you were right, by the way. We needed a safe place and… you mom had one waiting. Pretty lucky we happened to be in the right city for it”

“Luck or fate?”

There was a heavy feeling on all of their shoulders, which was actually the usual for demigods; were their lived truly theirs, or was everything already written and thought through? Was destiny really real, fate and everything, or did they have some free range? Being children of gods wasn’t easy.

“I know you think it’s all just in my head” Annabeth began walking around, trying to distract herself, and the other two followed “That… That I tell myself my mother cares because it’s easier that way”

“I didn’t say that”

“Me neither”

“I know you haven’t” Annabeth looked to the ground, now feeling insecure, sharing her thoughts and feelings “But… I know it’s probably like that. What you really think”

“Look, I’ve only been a demigod since… last Saturday” truly, Percy was extremely new to their world “You shouldn’t listen to me. And Emily here, she’s your best friend. I mean I don’t know you guys that much but you seem pretty tight, aren’t you? I couldn’t imagine you thinking stuff like that about the other”

Annabeth knew so, under the doubts that had gotten to her, she did. Emily smiled at her reassuringly.

“You know… this is my mother’s place. But a temple, is a temple” she looked around, and then back at her friends “Maybe you could say hi to your dads while we’re here”

Percy shook his head, just as Emily, both of them rejecting the idea.

“He wouldn’t like it if I prayed to him in an Athenian temple” said Emily, still shaking her head totally dismissing the idea of doing it “And… I wouldn’t even know what to say”

That was a lie. Kind of. She had a few things she definitely wanted to tell him, preferably yell at him, but she also knew she probably would end up dead after undergoing his wrath. So she chose to better shut her mouth.

“I know” Annabeth held her friends hand, squeezing it softly. She turned to Percy then “What about you?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea”

“What could it hurt?” insisted, the daughter of Athena.

“Your thing with your mom… I get it. It’s different. It works for you. But my father… I don’t want anything from him. He’s had his chances” he seemed defeated, although he pretended to be okay with it. Emily could see through it, and Annabeth probably too, but Emily felt his words deeper in her being; she knew what it was like to have a father who never showed up. At least Annabeth got signs of recognition from Athena from time to time… but Percy and Emily? Nothing “Honestly, you guys have done more for me in the past few days than my father has done in my entire life. And if I have to stick with someone, I…”

“Careful” warned Annabeth, face serious “I think you were about to call us friends” she smiled at him, and he smiled back “Somewhere around here the Oracle is laughing at us, but you know… Wow! Percy!”

Both girls caught him in surprise when the boy fell forward all of a sudden, pace pale and sweaty. They sat him on the ground, Emily checking him over right as Grover rushed back to them having seen Percy fall.

“What happened?!”

“I think… I think those stinger things…”

“Were poisonous?” guessed Emily, seeing him struggle to form words. She was kneeling beside him, and he nodded weakly, his blue glossy eyes glancing into her own amber ones.

“I have an idea” Annabeth rushed Grover and Emily, telling them to help her get Percy back up “Come, help me!”

And that’s how a few moments later everybody outside walking around the square in front of the Getaway arch, could see three kids sitting inside the fountain splashing a fourth one with the water, completely drenching him.

The water had healed him back at camp, so it should help with the poison too. At least, they hoped so. Percy didn’t look good. He was pale, even more than when he first collapsed, he had bags under his bloodshot eyes, he was starting to get a fever, and he was breathing heavily while he was still sweating. The water was helping him get some forces back, but he was still sick. Too sick.

“I think… I think it’s working” he muttered, getting water splashed straight into his mouth. Annabeth looked at him worried, just as Grover and Emily. He tried to stand up, but he slipped right back onto his butt, gasping “… Or not”

“Maybe it needs to be naturally running water for Poseidon to be able to heal him” wondered Annabeth out loud, thoughts racing in her mind at speed limit.

“Should we throw him in the river?”

“No!”

“Yes!”

Before they could make up their minds, the frantic horn of a car in the distance distracted them, followed by a loud crash. They perked up to the street, and saw a car being thrown and flipped in the air. People screamed when the car crashed, the windows shattering adding to the noise, and the heroes knew exactly what it meant.

“We need to get back inside. Now!”

“No, no, we need to keep trying to heal him” insisted Grover, splashing more water on Percy.

“This isn’t working, and she’s coming!”

“We can’t fight Echidna and her monster, not like this” said Emily, helping Annabeth to get Percy back up “We can find more water inside in a bathroom, from a sink or something”

“Please don’t dunk my head in a toilet” muttered Percy, but he was ignored.

“Will that be enough?”

“It’ll have to be. Come on!”

They looked back to the street once again, and a shiver ran up all of their spines: there was Echidna, making her way towards them walking slowly. They could see her creepy smile, once sweet, and it gave them chills even from a distance.

“Okay, look” Annabeth’s voice revealed how nervous she was, even if she was trying to hide it “We’ll take Percy inside, and we’ll go to the temple’s altar, all the way up”

“What’s that gonna do to us?” Grover didn’t understand what she meant.

“We’re gonna get to the altar, and we’re going to ask my mom for help”

Her friends looked at her in disbelief, recalling the moment she had told them they couldn’t ask for help, because heroes were supposed to overcome their troubles on their own when they were on a quest.

“I thought we didn’t ask for help” said Percy, still sitting in the fountain, completely drenched.

Annabeth didn’t answer. She resumed her attempt to pick him up, and with Emily’s and Grover’s help they managed, walking him to the entrance of the monument as fast as they could. She stopped then, looking back at the Mother of Monsters, frowning.

“Annabeth we have to go!” urged Emily.

“Didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

She had heard something. Whispers carried by the wind. Her friends hadn’t.

“Nothing. Come on!”

There were still school groups and regular visitors in the exhibition of the monument, all of them turning to look at them when they practically carried Percy inside towards one of the elevators. They had to make their way up to the very top before it was too late.

“She spoke to you didn’t she?” muttered Percy towards Annabeth, once they had made it inside an elevator. The four of them were alone, sitting in a circle around each other waiting for the doors to close. He was panting heavily, too tired to actually be talking that fast, but the adrenaline he had was still helping out for a bit “Alecto did that with me back in the museum in New York. When she first shew herself to me as a monster. What did she say?”

Annabeth didn’t answer. Emily followed her line of sight seeing a look of surprise and fear in her features, and outside, standing by a railing, they saw Echidna, followed by the terrifying shadow of a monster with horns.

“What is she doing here?!”

“She wasn’t supposed to be able to enter this place!”

“Was that the Chimera?”

Again, they all turned to Annabeth, except Grover, who kept on rambling about the Chimera and wondering out loud how the monster had even gotten inside the temple.

Really, how was that possible?

“Annabeth?”

Her look was set on the floor, features now tense and sorrow at the same time. It took Percy and Emily a few attempts to get her attention back to them:

“What did Echidna say to you?”

Annabeth sighed, and then she rose her chin up, her expression getting harder now.

“She said my impertinence wounded my mother’s pride. And that that will be my doom”

“Impertinence? What kind of-“

Percy realized what she meant mid-phrase. So did Emily.

“Medusa’s head”

“I embarrassed my mother” stated the girl.

“But I’m the one who sent it to Olympus!” replied Percy.

“And I helped” added Emily.

“And I signed the note!” Percy couldn’t see how this was fair. It wasn’t.

“And I went along with it” Annabeth shut both of her. She also saw how this was totally wrong, but she was trying to keep her head cool “It embarrassed her. Now, she’s angry”

Athena wanted to punish the ones responsible for getting on her pride, and she didn’t seem to care that she was putting her own daughter in danger to do that. If was Echidna told Annabeth was true, then Athena actually wanted to punish her too, for something she hadn’t done, only allowed. So much to modern parenting.

“Guys… What are we gonna do?” Grover hadn’t spoken since he had seen the Chimera (hopefully not the actual Chimera, but any other monster wouldn’t be any better, to be honest). Now he looked terrified, glancing at the numbers above the elevator doors signalling that they were close to reaching the end of the ride.

“She isn’t gonna help us when we get to the top to save Percy” replied Annabeth, referring to her mother.

“No! I meant, what are we gonna do about Echidna and Chimera?”

“We don’t really know if it’s the Chimera” mumbled Emily, nervously “She’s the Mother of Monsters, she has other children. Maybe it’s the Nemean Lion”

“The Nemean Lion is actually Echidna’s grandchild. The Chimera is the Nemean Lion’s mother”

“And still, would that be any better?!”

Emily glanced at Grover and shook her head.

“No, I guess not”

“They’re gonna be right behind us” insisted the satyr.

They reached the top too fast for their liking. The elevator bell dinged, and the doors opened revealing the final staircase that would lead them to the observatory platform at the highest point of the arch.

“We’re not gonna have much time” spoke up Annabeth, walking out the first after making sure there was no monster waiting for them. Emily and Grover walked behind her, helping a groaning Percy “They’ll be up here any minute. And if my mother isn’t going to protect us, then we’ll just have to fight it out up here”

The platform at the top of the arch had a curvy floor and small windows on the also curvy walls to look outside and appreciate the views from up there. It was also packed with people, chatting amongst themselves unaware of the imminent danger they would be facing any other second.

They had to get all the mortals out of there; there was only so much the mist could hide from them. A fight against the Mother of Monsters and her pup wouldn’t be easy to camouflage.  Annabeth thought fast, and pulled the fire alarm next to the entrance. It got an immediate response from everybody, and an automated voice spoke from the ceiling alerting the visitors to leave.

“You guys follow them down” Annabeth turned back to them, hurrying them towards the group of people who were lining up to leave.

“What?”

“Are you mental?”

“We’re not splitting up!”

“Guys, come on!” Annabeth rushed them, pulling on Grover’s arm to get him to move, but on the other side of Percy, who was held up by Emily and the satyr, she refused to move “Emily, move”

“You’re crazy if you think we’re leaving you here” she couldn’t believe Annabeth was asking that of her “I’m not going anywhere without you!”

“We’re all getting out of here” added Percy. He was starting to look like a corpse; the poison was spreading faster “Together”

“We won’t make it!” the daughter of Athena kept on pushing them towards the exit as she kept talking “The Chimera is the demigod killer. Someone has to stay back to slow her down and buy everyone some time”

Gotta say, she did have guts for a twelve year old.

“Then I’m staying with you” insisted Emily, once they had reached the door where all the mortals were leaving.

“You have to go with them, to protect them” replied her friend, signalling to the two boys. This wasn’t any easier on her; she was willing to sacrifice herself for them, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t terrified of the thought of dying, and leaving everyone she loved behind “You’re the best fighter I know. You’ll be able to keep them safe, and complete the quest” she hugged Emily when the girl moved forward to embrace her, but she had to push her back before they’d start crying. They were running out of time “Now help Percy down the stairs, and get to the river. And then don’t stop… Not until you get to Hades. Not till you have the bolt, do you hear me?”

Emily was starting to feel nauseous. Her best friend was sacrificing herself to get them more time to complete the quest. To avoid the war. To get them out of there alive.

“Annie no…” she mumbles, but Annabeth shushed her. All the training they had gone through couldn’t have prepared them emotionally for a moment like this, but they were both warriors. As much as it hurt, they knew it was the right thing to do.

There was noise on the other end of the platform. Something heavy was walking up the staircase they had just been on a few minutes ago.

“Okay, go!”

“Wait!”

Percy stopped her from sealing the door, looking into her eyes. He reached to his pocket, letting go of Emily, and he took out a pen. His magical pen.

He took off the cap, and then pen turned into his sword, Riptide. He flipped it over, blade hanging towards the floor, and he reached his arm out towards Annabeth handing her the sword.

“Take this” he urged “Please”

Annabeth set her gaze on the sword, then back to him, and she nodded.

But when her hand reached for the handle, Percy let go of Grover as well, and taking advantage of the ongoing motion and the element of surprise, he switched places with Annabeth having her stand between Emily and Grover, who were too stunned to react. Percy looked back at them for a second before closing the door to the platform, effectively locking them out.

Instantly they began to bang the door with their palms and fists, calling out for him desperately. He was sick, weak from the poison spreading through his system. He was in no condition to fight.

He knew that as well.

“Percy no!” screamed Annabeth “Don’t do this! They’ll kill you!”

“Poseidon’s never helped me before” he said. They heard his voice through the door, as he was leaning against it for support. He was panting, weakness taking over him “He wasn’t gonna start now”

“Percy!”

“Percy no!”

“I would’ve never made it to Hades” he added, in a defeated voice. They could barely hear him anymore “But you can… And now you will”

A roar distracted him, making him glance back to the entrance of the platform. Fear took over him, but also adrenaline. Mostly fear, to be fair.

Grover, Annabeth and Emily heard the roar too, and they glanced at the door as if they could see the platform behind it, imagining Percy facing the monster and Echidna. It was his final hour, and there was nothing they could do help him.

Once the monster killed Percy, they could go on with their quest; they wanted him because everybody thought he was the lightning thief. His friends knew he wasn’t, though.

Because that’s what they were, the four of them: friends.

“No, no, no, no, no, no”

Grover tried opening the door again, but it was to no use. They all stepped back when they heard a loud roar, and something heavy hitting the floor and rolling around.

“Please, no” muttered Emily, hearing the monster roar again. This time, the roar was followed by a horrifying shriek, and even from there they could sense the heat of the fire being thrown at Percy.

There was no doubt now: he was fighting the Chimera.

Then they heard the sound of metal shrieking, and then suddenly the roaring of wind, just as back in the train. Another roar from the monster was followed by a scream, Percy’s scream.

Then there was silence.

The monster stopped growling, there was no other sound from Percy… just the wind whooshing, and some metal creaks here and there. As if by magic, they managed to open the door; the danger had passed, and the lock gave away.

“Percy!”

They rushed to the platform, but the three heroes stopped when they saw a huge hole in the middle of the floor; that was what had made that horrible metallic sound a few seconds ago.

Echidna and the Chimera were gone. But so was Percy.

“Percy?”

He didn’t answer. Emily looked around the platform, but he was nowhere in sight. Annabeth and Grover looked for him too, hoping to see him hanging by one of the metal bars of that hole, but he wasn’t there.

“Is he…?”

“He can’t” stated Annabeth “He can’t have…”

But she couldn’t know. Had the Chimera really killed Percy?

“Guys” muttered Grover; he was on the verge of a breakdown. He couldn’t have lost his best friend “Look”

He pointed over to the other side of the platform, at the other end of the huge hole; there, on the floor, was Riptide. Its blade was stained with blood, so that meant Percy had hurt the monster.

Suddenly, the sword vanished; a second ago it was there, and now it was not.

“Where did it go?”

“It’s magical” Annabeth stared at the spot where the sword had been, barely blinking “It returns to it’s owner when it gets lost. It went back to Percy”

“So he could still be alive!” Emily felt like she could breath again a bit better.

“We have to go find him”

“But the other door is still unlocked” pointed out, Grover “And he didn’t walk past us”

That left only one other way out. The three of them glanced to the hole in the floor in front of them, massive, big, and with a six hundred thirty feet fall underneath it. If he had fallen from the arch…

“The monster’s gone” Annabeth was trying to keep her cool, but she was terrified of the possibility that Percy could have… she didn’t even want to think of it “Let’s get out of here and find Percy. He has to be down there… somewhere. He has to be alive”

They prayed to the gods he was.

----

Taglist: @strawberryys-stuff @ladysybilchronicles @kyuupidwrites @nhloversblog @beansficreblogs @priyajoyyy @zeeader @lightsgore @gengen64 @holb32 @therockywhorerpictureshow

[paleio]

dude.... DUDE...... DUDE

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY

FIRST WATCH HIGHLIGHTS/GENERAL EMOTIONS

> the attic looks IDENTICAL to how i imagined it in my head. i literally screamed and punched the arm of my chair

> every single thing percy says to the oracle. the halloween decoration line made me go hee hee.... that is my boy :)

> OH AND THE VOICE CRACK...... IM GONNA THROW UP HES SO PRECIOUS TO ME

> love love love the way they split the prophecy into 2 scenes. fucking cinema

> annabeth trying to hide her excitement when percy immediately picks her. the quiet pride in her eyes. this twelve year old girl really does think shes THE shit

> GROVER TALKING TO..... BLACKJACK???? I KNOW NOT EVERY SINGLE BLACK PEGASUS HAS TO BE BLACKJACK BUT LIKE. WHYD THEY MAKE THE HORSE SPECIFICALLY BLACK WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY COLORS A HORSE CAN BE. YA KNOW

> grover not believing percy actually chose him and then how much it affects him when he realizes its not a joke... oh boy... i will be making multiple posts exclusively about my beloved g man. aryan you CANT be doing this to me you are irreversibly altering my brain chemistry

> "that's bees" GROVER!!!!!! 💖💘💖💖💕💕💖💘💘💖💕

> different monsters being able to smell different aspects of a person FUCK THATS GENIUS. THATS GONNA BE RELEVANT FOR THE REST OF THE GODDAMN SERIES. i wonder if it will connect to the fatal flaws thing..... i wouldn't be surprised but i would be delighted

> consensus song 🥺🥺🥺🥺 and... like.... the way all of them interact with each other. the way you can see their entire personalities, the way they were raised, their weaknesses, just in the way they talk as a trio. im really emotional thinking about

> every second of annabeth in the gas station. you know what im talking about. yeah. fuck you and your evil mean fucked up foreshadowing mr richard riordan and jonathan e steinberg

> the babygirls!!!!!! (furies) (im so faceblind i cant figure out which is which

> the second she started talking to annabeth i fucking CLOCKED IT. i was like OHHHH.... this is a SHOW. these are EPISODES. they have contained ideas and conflicts. there are episodic arcs WITHIN the seasonal arcs WITHIN the series-long arcs. goddamn it now i have to personally kiss every writer and producer and director on the mouth

> im in love with the trio dynamic because it fucking sucks. there weren't many communication issues or interpersonal conflicts between any of them in the book. even percy and annabeth got along for the most part, despite the awkwardness and bickering. here, though, annabeth is bossy as FUCK. she's acting like this is her quest. percy is whiny and impatient and he deflects every time he's questioned. grover is an ineffective mediator and is clearly uncomfortable being around both of them at once. the vibe feels so beautifully off the whole time and it makes the eventual reconciliation SO much more impactful and compelling

> medusa hot. awooga and all that.

> i like that they all realized immediately who aunty em was. im sad they abandoned the pseudonym so quickly but it makes sense that they'd understand seeing as they all know a good amount of mythology. i think it would've been a scream-at-your-tv moment otherwise

> this is exhausting why am i doing this on my phone

> the plan they came up with is fantastic. i audibly gasped. once when the hat came out and once when i realized they were gonna kill alecto with the head. SMART AS FUCK even though it's not quite a perseus reference anymore

> grover crying over uncle ferdinand.... i can't decide if im sad they didn't make it a funny moment because it's so iconic in the book, or if im glad they played it straight because it gave us a SAD GROVER MOMENT AND ALSO FORESHADOWING. not that i like seeing grover sad... i just like seeing him. i like to look at his haunted eyes and go damn boy... you are one sad boy. good luck with your feelings of inadequacy and trauma repression <3

> writing this is draining my sanity. cmon almost done

> HE SAID THE LINE HE SAID THE LINE HE SAID THE LINE!!!!!!! i am impertinent. top 5 percy jackson quotes of all time. i feel sick just thinking about the other 4 in that list.... im not gonna survive

> cue drive from tlt musical as they leave aunty em's

> oh hey thats lin manuel miranda. im sure he wont be crucial to the overarching plot of the series

> i will be honest the vibe IS kinda perfect. he does look like an emotionally immature divorced dad who complains about his job all the time but constantly works overtime for no reason. its just that he also looks like lin manuel miranda

> love the song choice for the credits

> i will talk about the ep4 preview in a different post im too tired

FINAL (very sleepy) THOUGHTS:

best one yet by far. the more screen time our trio gets the better. grover is a dork and id die for him. its so cool that we get to see the story and characters from a slightly more omniscient perspective, even though i do miss percy's narration. i cant fucking believe this show is real and that they made it just for me

I AM IMPERTINENT!!!! AND IM ALSO GOING TO BED!!!!!!

[imaginita-est-omnibus]

BEST. EPISODE. YET.

Aaaaaaaa loved episode 3 so much!!!! Big points as to why below the break in chronological order

Gabe being the voice of the Oracle. I can’t remember if that’s how it happened in the book, but either way it caught me off guard and I was cackling.

The fact that we got to see the second half of the prophecy after Percy asked Grover to come with. Really muddies the waters for newcomers as to who will betray Percy. I want to watch this with someone who has never interacted with the Riordanverse before so badly now.

Annabeth agonizing over the snacks. Really reinforcing how young and alienated she is. This episode finally made me truly love Leah’s portrayal.

Annabeth picking up on Alecto so quickly, and immediately analyzing and taking control of the situation. Having Alecto so casually chat with Annabeth works really well too, and sets up how Hades isn’t really the bad guy here.

The fact that Annabeth figures out who Aunty Em is immediately. They were all really dumb in the book, and while Riordan did justify it to an extent, it’s definitely a lot better for Annabeth to figure it out so quickly.

Medusa. My gods, her performance was outstanding! Relatable, yet still a monster in the end! Simultaneously doing the whole “you can’t judge people so easily” thing that Sally set up, while still being evil enough that we don’t feel bad when Percy beheads her. She’s the same Medusa from the books, but better. And she set up Annabeth to be resentful towards the gods! But if there was one character who was even better than Medusa this episode, it was…

Grover. Aryan was amazing this episode!!! The perfect mix of the adult in the room, but also the nervous, perpetually awkward kid! Hesitantly finishing his snack after Annabeth tells him to be ready to run, completely flubbing his plan with the winged shoes, being the fed up mediator between Annabeth and Percy… even the silly little song came off more cute than cringeworthy with Aryan’s sincerity! But more than any of that…

Grover finding his Uncle Ferdinand. I got so excited when he set that up in advance while talking about the satyr path, but… man. If there was one thing that bothered me in the TLT book, it was how quickly Grover got over realizing that Medusa had petrified his uncle. I am so glad they gave that the weight it deserved. Not only that Grover lost a beloved family member (and since he was turned to stone, there’s that extra awful implication that he didn’t even get to reincarnate into a plant!), but how badly it forebode Grover’s own journey. This satyr, clearly older and more experienced than young Grover, couldn’t even get past New Jersey? How is Grover supposed to succeed??? Of course he snaps at Percy and Annabeth after that! He’s has to be their guardian, while emotionally being basically the same age, and he’s filled with self-doubt and mourning, and even through that, he’s able to focus on the moment, on his charges. That hit. So hard. Aryan, you are officially my favorite actor on PJOTV (for now at least)

Defeating Medusa, Alecto, and shipping Em’s head off to Olympus was all perfectly done as well. I’m so glad defeating Medusa was a team effort, and all three main actors did Percy’s defiant scene perfectly. No notes.

And, of course, our first scene with a god and Olympus. I love that Hermes looks so mortal. I loved the effect on the reveal of the 600th floor. I was cackling at Hermes just waiting and humming along as the elevator went up, even though he definitely didn’t need to. And I can’t wait to see more of Olympus/the Olympians next episode. No wonder the chapter pace is slowing down significantly.

[moonlit-ocs]

OC Bio: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Name: Sotiria

Name Meaning: Sotiria: “Sotirios (Greek: Σωτήριος) or Sotiris (Σωτήρης) is a male given name of Greek origin, meaning "salvation" (σωτηρία, σωτήριος). Sotiria (Σωτηρία) is the female version of the name.”

Nickname(s): Soso, Tia, Tiria, Water Witch

Alias(es): Demigoddess of the Sea, Daughter of Poseidon, Daughter of Medusa

Occupation: Demigoddess, Camp Member

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Gender: Female

Sexuality:

Age/Birthday: 16 (physically), ~2300 (chronologically)

Height: 5’5”

Hair Color/Type/Length: Dark Brown/Curly/Upper Back

Eye Color: Green (Blue)

Body Markings:

Family: Medusa (Mother), Poseidon (Father), Percy Jackson (Half-Brother), Zeus (Uncle), Hades (Uncle), Stheno (Aunt), Euryale (Aunt), several other half-siblings

Love Interest(s):

Birthplace: Ancient Greece

Languages: Ancient Greek, English (eventually)

Skills/Powers: Battle skills, Hydrokinesis, Healing, various water-related abilities, temporary petrification

Likes:

Dislikes: her dad, her mom

Catchphrase: “I don’t care about my dad.”

Backstory: (TW: SA) After Poseidon had taken advantage of Medusa, one of Athena’s priestesses, within Athena’s sacred temple. Athena had cursed Medusa with hair of snakes and ruined her beauty. Unbeknownst to Athena, Medusa was pregnant with Poseidon’s child from this encounter. Some months later, a gorgeous baby girl was born, untouched by Athena’s curse.

Sotiria was raised by Medusa, but felt no love from her. Her mother despised her because of her father, but there were times she truly cared for her. She was typically cold and distant, which Sotiria noticed.

On the other hand, Poseidon loved her. Unfortunately, Sotiria did not feel the same. He bestowed great power upon her and she took it without thanks. But he was still the man who hurt her mother and created this unfulfilling life for her. He was always amazed by her beauty and resemblance to Medusa, which was another reason her mother grew more bitter towards her. Sotiria consistently rejected her father’s efforts to join him and rule the sea.

After some years, Sotiria still demonstrated her strong abilities from the sea god and growing beauty as she matured, and Medusa grew more jealous and resentful of her daughter. Although she had some motherly love for her, she couldn’t bare to see her daughter live a prosperous life, even if she was miserable lacking the love she ought to receive.

Medusa told her daughter how beautiful she was one day and once Sotiria gently smiled at thanked her, Medusa looked her in the eyes and turned her to stone. Sotiria was frozen in a beautiful pose, standing tall with a soft smile and books held in one arm, curly hair cascading down past her shoulders.

The Gorgon took great care of her daughter’s stone statue, keeping it with her for years to come until she opened Auntie Em’s Garden Emporium. Sotiria stood front and center, surrounded by a pool of water and holding fresh flowers where her books would have been. Years went by and fate caused Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood to visit.

Percy was oddly drawn to this statue, but shook the feeling as he went to search for the pearls that would aid his escape from the Underworld. It was a shock to the three when they realized Medusa was the owner of this garden shop, but Percy beheaded her with the help of his friends and they finally had a moment to think. It was then that Annabeth realized who this statue depicted—or rather, who it was.

Percy was shocked to learn he was looking at his long lost sister and as he approached the pool of water with coins that had sunk to the bottom. His hands waded in the water as he processed this information, not noticing the water rising up the stone dress and turning it back to its soft texture. As the water kept rising, Sotiria was revived and took a breath as the rest of her body was returned to its natural form. The three stood in awe as she took in her surroundings and began shouting in Greek, and while Annabeth began to explain in Greek, Sotiria was hit with a wave of power that granted her knowledge of their language and strength from her powers.

Grover helped her down as she grasped the reality that she had been turned to stone by her mother, missed the past 23 centuries, she had a half-brother standing in front of her, and he’d just killed Medusa. He explained to her that he was just as resentful towards their father and he expressed that he was sorry for her troubling situation. Sotiria decided she owed him a debt for saving her from her stone cage and would join him on their mission if they were okay with it. Annabeth was hesitant at first due to her lineage, but put it aside and agreed to let Sotiria join them. Percy felt less alone with his sister by their side.

Faceclaim: Ryan Whitney

[thebigqueer]

Genuine thoughts on the pjo tv series?

i had a lot more thoughts when i first finished the show so this isnt as comprehensive as it could be but these are all the most important things i can remember. but im glad you asked cuz im alwasy ready to answer this question

i didnt hate it. i think i might have had too high expectations but ill be watching s2.

i will say that i think they def stuck to the books more, which i liked, but they made some changes i def didnt like.

my biggest issue was probably with the way that the kids - especially percy - just knew everything going on, because it took a lot away from the childlike wonder that the books had when the trio went on their first quest. i think the fact that percy didn't know a lot in the books was also essential to kid readers, who most likely dont know anything about greek mythology. obviously i think the fact that show percy knows a lot is good because it highlights his intelligence & could be explained by the fact that his mother told him all the stories, but at the same time i think percy served as a really important way to teach kids about the greek myths, so it kind of sucks that he immediately knows whats going on at some points, especially when we have no idea as to how he even learned about it. for example, at some points it made sense that percy knew what was going on, like when they realized quick that Auntie Em's Gnome Emporium was where medusa lived. but when we came to crusty's place, they just totally skipped everything about how percy came to find out about who crusty even was. taking out that context totally messed things up, because if i wasnt a reader i literally would not have understood how we even got there and how percy knew who this guy was. i understand it was to save time, but i think it couldve been handled better.

on the note of medusa, LOVED THAT EPISODE. i thought it had to be one of the best episodes of the season because it really displayed how no one is ever 1 dimensional, and i loved the way they drew to sally and medusa's similariteis because it really made percy consider what "good" and "bad" really meant - which is to say, theres never a clear line. and i loved that annabeth was so reserved because it really served to how wholly she beleives in her mother and the gods because it sets up her character arc so well. the entire episode was just so good. ALSO THE ACTRESS FOR MEDUSA WAS WAYYYYY TOO GOOD. too good.

the lotus casino episode was probably my least-liked because of the way they executed it. in the books that part was so fun and colorful because it was just the kids being kids - of course they were going to waste time having fun. but in the show they were so caught up in the mission that it kind of sucked not being able to see them just having fun like kids do. thats what i mean when i feel like the show just took so much away from that whimsy that kids have. i dont remember where i read it, but someone once replied to one of my posts with something about how they were kids just by physical appearance but not in character (or not completely) and i agree with that. i mean, sure, they had their scenes where they argued over trivial things like candy and chips and splashed percy with water because they seriously thought it would help, but i just so wish we coudlve seen them having fun being kids at the lotus casino.

im also not saying that they act like adults. they def dont act like adults (which is good) but theyre just not as childish as they were in the books, which is why im kind of disappointed. to sum it up, what im trying to say is that i think the show was just so focused on the plot points that they forgot to add in the children's characteristic qualities at points, because the storyline was just so plot-focused that i feel like even the points that the kids were supposed to be silly and funny just didnt hit the way they wouldve in the books.

this is more minor but i wish the scene where annabeth tries to reason with hephaestus when percy's stuck in the chair was somehow longer, or just ended with more vagueness. i loved the way leah took charge of that scene and i thought it was a really good execution, but i didnt understand how it only took hephaestus 5 minute of being scolded by a 12 year old to suddenly change his mind about power. i guess that could say something about annabeth's persuasiveness, but in reality it was just the showrunners trying to finish up scenes lol. i think what im trying to say is that the scene just felt sped up when it couldve been slower, or maybe the scene couldve ended with a little more of a lingering question that would make viewers wonder about the implications of this scene.

LOVED THE SALLY AND POSEIDON SCENE. PROBS ONE OF MY FAVS.

i didnt like the way hades was portrayed. im not saying the king of the underworld cant be funny but i felt like the way they changed hades will not do good to the rest of the show, especially if we get into season 3 or when we learn about hades' kids, beacuse i dont think itll line up with the way hades treats his kids later on in the series. like i cant imagine we get to season 5 and this is the hades storming into the battle in manhattan. sure, hes funny, but it does not line up with his character in the books at all. i dont mind minor changes to the books, but when youre completely changing an entire character - one whos important to the series as a whole - whats the point in calling it a book-accurate show 😭

i loveddd the lsat episode i loved the dream sequence and i loved that they went back to montauk i thought it added so much to the show.

this is minor but also not - WHY DIDNT ANYONE BOW WHEN PERCY GOT CLAIMED. THAT WAS SUCH A POWERFUL SCENE IN THE BOOK AND IT REALLY SET PERCY APART WHICH WOUDLVE DONE WONDERS FOR THE WAY PERCY ACTS IN TEH FIRST TWO EPS because hes like 'im so different and everyone keeps telling me im special but it all feels so condescending and no ones explaining anything to me.' FOREVER MAD THAT I COULDNT SEE THAT SHIT WITH MY OWN EYES. WHATS EVEN THE POINT OF ANYTHING ANYMORE

sally was portrayed interestingly. i know everyone has a lot of different opinions about how she was portrayed, as well as how gabe and the way the abuse in their family was potrayed and i agree and disagree with a lot of the points ive seen on the internet. firstly i did like that sally was portrayed with a lot more strength and stubbornness than the movie did, but at the same time there were points where i felt like she acted so un-sally like. ex. i like the way she was so serious & nervous & anxious with percy at the pool because that made sense; but i didnt think the scene where she was ordering percy to open the door was something i was expecting. and i understand that the entire situation was so difficult for both her and percy so it makes sense that she was easily frustrated with percy not listening to her, but i feel like at the very least she wouldve tried another line or two of reasoning with percy before ordering him to open the door, because in the books she seems a little more patient with him. idk this was a super specific moment lol i think what im trying to say is she doesnt feel like the same sally that i remember in the books, and thats def not a bad thing at all but at the same time i feel like the way they potrayed sally in terms of her mannerisms just isnt who she is. she is adamant and indepednent and blah blah but its the little things in her portrayal that dont feel the same.

on the topic of gabe's abuse - i know abuse can be more than just physical and we def saw aspects of the more financial and emotional abuse in the show. but i didnt like how gabe was portrayed because yeah he seems like a shitty guy but thats all he had; theres no context as to why hes even in their life or even how he got in there. i think the best way to describe it is the way i saw someone else describe it: he's gabe, just not smelly gabe from the books. so its essentially teh same thing as the sally bullet - i feel like they got rid of some of the important characteristics of gabe so his presence in teh story doesnt feel the same. i think this could be said about most of the characters in the show.

thats about all i can remember. theyre just my thoughts, and theyre not the most clean thoughts so sorry if its confusing. its been a minute since ive watched the show so im sure theres other thoughts and im sure my opinions could change if i watch again. but yeah thanks for asking anon!!

[unhinjed]

now that i've had the chance to sit on it, i'm really disappointed by the way and how quickly the crusty's scene played out. i know it's such a small thing, but bear with me.

it's always been such an underrated scene in the lightning thief, as well as one of my favourites, because (besides the lotus casino, which suffers from the same problem in the show) it's one of the first times that percy figures something out for himself. it's a parallel of the scene at aunty em's.

the whole first half of the book, percy is thrust into the world of the gods and is stumbling around trying to make sense of it all. as he progresses through his quest, he gains more demigod experience that is necessarily combined with his street smarts and human experience in order to survive.

at the garden emporium, he is the one who is lured in by medusa's false kindness, despite his instincts telling him something is wrong. at the st. louis arch, he fails to recognize the dog owner as echidna—subsequently as a threat to his life. he is still thinking in the mortal world.

by the time we arrive at the lotus and at crusty's, he's already escaped enough near-death demigod-related experiences to know that something about these locations are sketchy, and HE is the one to figure this out. not annabeth nor grover. and we all know percy is smart, the book is just told from his perspective and he underplays his skills a lot. but these are the first times i think he sees the world through the eyes of a demigod (i'm pretty sure waterland was the turning point for this realization, but that's another story). and it's such a big moment for him.

the show doesn't need annabeth to lay out the facts for him all the time. it doesn't need the characters to narrate every single thing happening to them. especially for a visual medium?? they could've had the same amount of this proper scene in the same amount of alloted screen time. i just fail to see why they're writing and pacing it like this. anyways. crusty's scene underrated af.

[tybalt-you-saucy-boi]

Definitely noticing three main weaknesses of the Percy Jackson show compared to the books. Gonna be a bit critical of the writing after watching the first seven episodes.

They already know every obstacle to some extent when they encounter it. They are suspicious at Aunty Em's (who then reveals immediately that she's Medusa), Echidna reveals herself before attacking, they find out it's Hephaestus' theme park as they go in, they suspect the Lotus Casino as they enter and realize the memory and time issue early on, and they already know about Procrustes before going to him. This is all disappointing because it completely changes the tone of the original story, and removes a lot of the mystery and tension, turning the story into "we know Greek mythology so we already know what will happen, good thing we studied" instead of "we were caught off guard and need to think on our feet to get out of this situation." It's their first quest and they already have experienced foresight.

Information about very important and pivotal events is revealed quite early on as well, either earlier than they happened in The Lightning Thief or the entire series. Grover finds out that Percy's mom is alive before they leave for the quest, changing how Percy experiences the situation, and also revealing that Chiron was keeping this information from him which entirely changes our perception of his character. Luke, Annabeth, and Grover all talked about Thalia to Percy relatively unprompted early on, giving us the impression that it wasn't as hard for them to talk about as it was in the book, and lessening the emotional bonding moment of sharing that information that the book had led up to. This was especially apparent when Annabeth started talking about Luke's mom, which wasn't even something she knew about in the books, and was a huge reveal and plot point in the fifth book that was supposed to come out of nowhere after we had already seen Luke's actions.

The humour. Oh my god the trademark humour was sorely missing, and it was tangible. The show unfortunately reads just like any other live action show made for a streaming service from the past decade and it could have really taken more directly from the books to stand out as a Percy Jackson story. I did not really find the show funny, which is also disappointing. It didn't completely lack humour, but it was significantly fewer moments and wasn't anything particular to write home about.

There were a few other issues, as well as some things they did really well, but I found these three things in particular incredibly distracting and not really excusable just by being an adaptation to another form of media. I think these three issues are all just due to the writing mainly and could have been done differently.

What I did like for the most part was the casting. Some of the gods were a bit odd but it can work, I think the monsters were pretty solid, and the campers are especially good. I wish Grover had been a bit older, but I LOVE Aryan so it's a good sacrifice. Walker, Leah, and Charlie are also perfect. Dior is pretty good, I think she plays Clarisse a lot differently than the books, but I'm assuming most of that is the writing and directing, and it's not necessarily a bad change, I think her version of Clarisse is very interesting to watch and I'm excited to see her in a more central role next season. Chiron, Mr. D, and Sally were also perfectly cast, no notes except that I love Jason Mantzoukas and this was my favourite casting choice of the show.

The set and visual effects were also great. I know camp wasn't entirely accurate, but it was GORGEOUS and cohesive. Love the changes that they made, REALLY love the Hermes cabin especially. I believe they filmed (partially?) in Vancouver, which is typical. The camp looked VERY much like the BC coast, but nothing else popped out to me. The Poseidon cabin was really different, but I liked the atmosphere it gave, so that's another plus. Interested to see what they do with it in the future when we see Percy spend more time there. I think they could have used a little more physical effects in the show overall, but it's fine. Some of the underwater effects with the nereids stuck out as odd and I don't think they will age well. The Underworld was hugely impressive though! They nailed the atmosphere and really made it feel huge and unsettling. Also gotta give props to the costume and props departments, subtle at times but really effective and fit the visuals of the franchise well. The bolt was different but not bad.

[percabeths-blue-cookies]

In My Heart Is a Christmas Tree Farm

Here’s the ao3 link

Summary:

Annabeth, Conner, and Travis plan on going home for the holidays, but Annabeth dreads having to face her parents and their opinions on her relationships, work, and just life in general. She intends on getting someone to go with her for the trip to pretend to be her boyfriend so she won’t have to suffer all Christmas vacation listening to her parents complain. That’s when she meets Percy…

-Chapter 5-

When Annabeth wakes up the next morning Percy is already out of bed. She decides to get up and get dressed. She wears a pair of ripped jeans with a red knitted sweater. The throws her hair up into a ponytail and heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She hears her parents talking downstairs and wonders there Percy is.

She makes her way downstairs and notices Percy sitting at the family table.

She goes and sits beside him

“Have they giving you any shit yet?” She asks as she grabs a strawberry off of the plate in front of him.

“No, honestly they’ve been great to me.”

He says smiling at her

She gives him a skeptical look but decides that it’s early enough in their visit not to push things.

She goes into the living room and sees Her dad and stepmom sitting on the couch.

“So dad what are the plans for today?” She asks

“Annabeth can’t you see we’re watching a movie?” He says

“Okay then.” She says and goes to sit back beside Percy.

“Is there anything you wanna do while we’re here?” Annabeth says

“Welll, I kinda wanna go skiing.” He says with a smile.

“Okay I’ll talk to Conner and see if they wanna go.” She says

She goes upstairs to grab her phone. As she calls Conner she realizes picks up the clothes she left on the floor that morning.

“Morning Annabeth.” Conner says

“Morning. Percy says he really want to go skiing. Yall up for it?” She says.

“Of course meet you out front in thirty?” He says

“Yup” Annabeth says hanging up

She goes downstairs and tells her dad that they are going skiing.

“Okay see you two later. I think tonight we are going to go down to Auntie Ems if y’all want to join us.” He says

“Okay dad we’ll see yall there.” She says as she and Percy walk upstairs.

“So what am I supposed to wear skiing.” Percy asks as he opens his suitcase

“I’ll just get you one of my dad’s suits from the closet I’ll be right back.” She says

When she comes back into the room with the snowsuit she sets it on the bed and goes into the bathroom with hers. Once shes ready she slips back into the room and sees Percy sitting on the edge of the bed.

“You ready?” She asks grabbing her purse.

“Born ready wise girl” Percy says.

Conner and Travis meet them outside and they get in their mom’s car. Once they get to the mountains they put their skis on and go to the slopes.

Annabeth and Conner make fun of Percy almost the entire time because he can’t seem to get the hang of it.

Once they arrive back home around 3:00 pm Percy and Annabeth decide to change and then head back into town and just walk around.

The town that Annabeth grew up in was beautiful. If had a gourgous old-timey aesthetic that was hard to come by.

“So you keep talking about how terrible your parents are. But I just don’t understand.” Percy says as they walk past a diner.

“Well, when I was 6 years old my mom died. Those first size years of my life were amazing. We all got along and it was really fun. Then after she died my dad just became horrible. To everyone. After he met Susan it got worse. She had two boys that were two years younger than me. Bobby and Mathew.

“My dad barely ever even acknowledged me as his child. He ignored me ninety of the time. He never cared where I was or what I was doing. Or who I was with. Which seems like fun and stuff. But it just doesn’t feel good knowing that if you didn’t show up back home that night, no one would even notice.” Annabeth says slowing down.

She thought that telling Percy all of this would be a bad idea. She had bad trust issues. But after letting all that out she knew it was a good idea and that she could trust Percy

She could tell that Percy didn’t quite know what to say to that so she decided to change the subject.

“Anywaysss, we should do something.”

She says pulling his arm.

“Like what?” He asks smiling.

“Come on I’m gonna show you something” she says pulling him towards the towns park.

Once they got there Annabeth starts climbing into the play house. Once she gets to the top Percy calls up to her

“Annabeth please don’t fall.”

“I won’t, I’ve done this a million times. Come on up seaweed brain.”

“Seaweed brain?” He says slowly making his way up

“Yep just go with it.” She says as she climbs on top of the roof of the set.

“Whatever” he says smiling as he climbs

Once both of them are at the top Annabeth points towards the mountains.

“Look at that.” She says

“Wow. Annabeth how do you even know about this spot.” Percy says without looking away from the view

“When I got too stressed out or I just didn’t want to go home, I used to just come up here and look at the mountains.” She says

They fall into silence and just stare out into the view. Eventually Annabeth grows tired.

“Annabeth.” Percy says shaking her awake.

“Yeah?” She says sleepily she realizes that the sun isn’t as high in the sky as it was before.

“You fell asleep.” He says smiling

“Oh haha guess I was tired.” She says sitting up

She meets Percy’s eyes and they just stare at eachother.

“I guess we better go” Annabeth says breaking the silence and looking away.

As they walk back to the house she remembers that her parents said they were going to go out to eat that night.

They head upstairs and start getting ready for dinner. Percy is wearing blue jeans and a black button up shirt. Annabeth throws on blue ripped jeans and a black ruffle blouse. She tried to tame her curls with no luck. She ends up with half of it up and leaving the other half wild.

Around 6:00 they go downstairs. Her parents are already ready and sitting on the couch again.

“You guys ready?” Annabeth says grabbing her coat.

“We’ve been waiting on you two.” Her dad says

They make their way to the car. After an awkward car ride they arrive at the restaurant.

Once they were seated a waitress comes by and takes their drink orders.

“So Percy, what do you do for a living.” Susan says once the waiter walks off

“I work at a bakery with my mom.” He says with a polite smile

“Oh, that’s um fun.” Susan says with distaste

Percy looks over at Annabeth with amusement. Annabeth takes a sip of her drink to cover a laugh.

They sit in an awkward silence for a few minutes until the waitress comes back and asks what they want to eat.

“I’ll have the chicken Alfredo please” Annabeth says politely

“I’ll have what she’s having” Percy says looking at her

Her parents place there orders and the waitress walks away.

“So how long have you two been going out?” Annabeth’s dad asks gesturing between them

“About 3 months” Percy says

“Close to 5 months” Annabeth says at the same time

Annabeth looks down hiding her embarrassment. Percy laughs beside her.

“I guess it may be a little longer than I thought.” He says pretending to be dumbfounded.

“Okay then.” Susan says

“So annabeth how are your studies coming?” Her dad asks

“They’re good. I got a promotion a few months ago.” She says proudly

“And you’re still working in law? Ya know I still think you should have taken up a better job. Something that’ll actually get you somewhere.” He says

“Well I got a degree in law, so…” she trails off

Under the table Percys hand finds hers and squeezes reassuringly. She looks up at him and smiles. He smiles back and nods encouraging her.

“Nevermind then. It’s too late to change your mind anyways.” He says disappointed.

“Richard be nice. We have a guest” Susan says trying to keep the good act up.

They get through the rest of the dinner without any arguments somehow and end up back at the house.

As Percy and Annabeth get ready for bed Percy says

“I see what you mean. Your dad just doesn’t seem satisfied with how far you’ve come.”

“Yeah I guess not” she says sadly

After they both shower they slide into bed. It feels somewhat natural laying in bed with him. Even though they aren’t even touching or anything.

“Percy if we are going to make this fake dating this work we need to have a believable story.” She says turning on her side facing him.

“Like what?” He says turning her way

“Well we need to know how long we’ve known each other, where we met, and how long we’ve been together.” She says

“Well that’s easy, we met about 6 months ago, got together 5 months ago, and we can just say we met when I spilled coffee down your shirt on accident.” He says the last part smiling.

He reaches over and tucks a piece of stray hair behind her ear. She can feel the heat spread into her face and quickly turns the other way.

“Night Percy” she says

“Night Annabeth” he says back

Annabeth stays awake for at least another 45 minutes thinking about everything that happened today. Percy seems to be flirting with her. But if may just be an act. I mean they are fake dating. But still. Even if he was flirting, she couldn’t risk it.

She realized with a start that she might actually be catching feelings. Nope. Not again. Not after what happened last time.

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 11: Prepare For Trouble And Make It Double

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. Which was actually what's happening. 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. Percy and I walked side by side with our hand still connected. Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once. I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. 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 hadn't decided to jump into the fight—" "What did you want me to do? Let you guys get killed? I was not going to leave Y/N." "You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine." "Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine." "Shut up, goat boy," I said. 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 Percy. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave." "We're a team, right?" 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 had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. Do you want to see?

Yeah that would be nice.

It was as if it was morning, I could see everything clearly. I wandered my head to make sure I could see everything. This is cool. "You okay?" Percy asked. "Yeah," Not really a fan of the current silence I turned to Annabeth. "You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked her. "No... only short field trips. My dad—" "The history professor." "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 said. "You think so?" "Yeah maybe you can teach me some tricks. "Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me." Percy smiled. I couldn't really see, but I thought she might've smiled. "You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you... Something funny back on the but..." 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. Seeing a tree coming up I tried to pull Percy to avoid it but Percy immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on his head. I suppressed my laugh by covering my mouth which made Percy glare at me. After tripping and cursing 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 I'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. This kid needed a double cheeseburger. >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 heck does that say?" I asked. "I don't know," Annabeth said. She loved reading so much, I'd forgotten she was dyslexic, too. Grover translated: "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. "Hey..." Grover warned. "The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open." "Snack bar," I said wistfully. "Snack bar," Percy agreed. "Snack bar," Annabeth joined. "Are you three crazy?" Grover said. "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." I turned to look at my knife. It had a light glow emitting from it. Probably because it was sheathed. "I think there's monsters." I was now reluctant and sided with Grover. "Grover's nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?" "Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian." "You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded him.. "Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are... looking at me."

"Percy, I don't think---"

"It'll be fine." Percy took my hand and went in. Be careful and don't look. 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. >Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?" "They're... um..." Annabeth started to say. "We're orphans," I said. "Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!" "We got separated from our caravan," Percy said. "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," the woman said. "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 thanked her and went inside. Annabeth muttered to Percy, "Circus caravan?" "Always have a strategy, right?" "Your head is full of kelp." 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. I was anxious so I tighten my grip on Percy.  It's stupid for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because we were hungry. For a child of Athena, Annabeth sure isn't making wise decisions. I mean yeah I agree, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair—it made everything else go away.  But Grover's nervous whimpers, and the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, to add the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us. Made me more cautious. 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 "Awesome," Percy said. "Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am." Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans." "Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said. Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, I had to turn to Annabeth to check if there was something wrong with her.. Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."  I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves. "Percy, I want to leave..." I whispered. "Just a few bites Y/N. Don't worry." He gave me a reassuring pat. 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 wasn't gulfing down my food like Percy was.  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. Annabeth slurped her shake. "What's that hissing noise?" he asked. I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head. "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." I don't like it here. I'm scared. Be wary of all things. 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, 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. "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."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?" Percy 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. 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." Annabeth gave me a look of worry. I knew she realized something. "Percy?" I shook him to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting." Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em 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. "We really should go." "Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!" "Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "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." Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—" "Sure we can," Percy said. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?" "Percy, I don't want to..."  "It's just a photo guys." "Indeed it is just a photo Y/N," the woman purred. "No harm." I could tell Annabeth didn't like it as well, but she allowed Aunty Em to lead us back out the front door, into the garden of statues. Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," she said, "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. But joke's on her I could see quite clearly. Don't look. "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. "Percy—" Annabeth said. "I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil...." "Percy, something's wrong," I insisted. "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. DON'T LOOK. Annabeth turned to my direction, "Look away from her!" she then shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and and I pulled Percy with me. We were on the ground, looking at Aunt Em's sandaled feet. I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. "Percy, we have to move!" I shook him. But he was too dazed to move. Then I heard a strange, rasping sound above me. My eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails. Percy was about to look higher then her hands and I instinctively covered his eyes. "Don't look!" More rasping—the sound of tiny snakes, right above me, from... from about where Aunty Em's head would be. "Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "Maia!" to kick-start his flying sneakers. "Percy we have to move please!" "Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," she said soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up." "Percy please!" Percy pushed my hand away and looked to one side. I turned to look as well 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 headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents. Aunty Em. Aunty "M." How did Medusa die in the myth? But I couldn't think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by my namesake, Perseus. She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open my face. "The Gray-Eyed One did this to me," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this." "Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Y/N carry Percy!" "Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer. We won't even hurt, Y/N." I swung Percy's arm around my shoulder. But he was too heavy.  "No," he muttered trying to make his legs move... "Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain." "Y/N!" Behind me, I heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!" I turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes fluttering, Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone. "Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!" I tackled Percy to the other side. Thwack! 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. Pulling along an out of a dazed Percy we scrambled away and hid in the statuary while 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, "Y/N! Percy!" Percy jumped so high his feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Don't do that!" Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. 'You have to cut her head off." "What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here." "Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but..." Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. "But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You—you've got a chance." "What? I can't—" "Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?" She pointed to a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, turned to stone by the monster. 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—" "Would you speak English?" "I am!" She tossed him the glass ball. "Just look at her in the glass. Never look at her directly." "Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!" "Roooaaarrr!" "Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch. "Hurry," Annabeth told him. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash." Percy took out his pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide showed. He turned to me and gave the glass then offered a hand. "Percy you can't be seriously bring her along!?" "I'll go with him." Taking his hand, we followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair. I raised the glass so I could guide us. 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 flew 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!" Medusa was about to lunge at him when I yelled, "Hey!" We advanced on her. I had let go of Percy's hand to bring out my knife. So if she charged, I could help Percy. But she let us approach—twenty feet, ten feet. I could see the reflection of her face now. Surely it wasn't really that ugly. The green swirls of the gazing ball must be distorting it, making it look worse. "You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't." I could tell he hesitated. From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!" Medusa cackled. "Too late." She lunged at him with her talons. I ran and raised my knife to block her talons, Percy then swung his sword, then we heard a sickening shlock!, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating. 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. "Oh, yuck," Percy said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I guess he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck." Annabeth came up next to us, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move." >Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice. "Are you okay?" Percy asked me, his voice trembling. "Yeah," I decided. "Why didn't... why didn't the head evaporate?" "Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you." Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. He had a big welt on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head. "The Red Baron," Percy said. "Good job, man." He managed a bashful grin. "That really was not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? Not fun." He snatched his shoes out of the air. "I didn't know Grover got Luke's shoes."  Percy recapped his sword. "I can't fly." He shrugged.  Together, the four of us stumbled back to the warehouse We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table where we'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak. Finally Percy said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?" Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him." "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa." Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'" "Forget it," I said. "You're impossible." "You're insufferable." "You're—" "You're both loud and stupid." I growled. "Yeah!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What are we going to do with the head?" I stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS! I was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice. What had Medusa said? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Percy and I shared a look. We got up. "I'll be back." "Percy, Y/N," Annabeth called after me. "What are you—" We searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket. In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins.  "Found one." Percy called. We went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip: The Gods >Mount Olympus 600th Floor, >Empire State Building New York, NY With best wishes, PERCY JACKSON <3 Y/N L/N "They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent." I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop! "I am impertinent," Percy said. I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize. She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that we had a major talent for ticking off the gods. "Great, well Fred and George," she muttered. "We need a new plan."

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