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?’
‘Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me.’
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 bus…’
Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot˜toot˜toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.
‘Hey, my reed pipes still work!’ Grover cried. ‘If I could just remember a “find path” song, we could get out of these woods!’
He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.
Instead of finding a path, I immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on my head.
Add to the list of superpowers I did not have: infrared vision.
After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, I started to see light up ahead: the colours of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. I realized I hadn’t eaten anything unhealthy since I’d arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. This boy 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 MEPROIUM.
‘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,’ she agreed.
‘Are you two crazy?’ Grover said. ‘This place is weird.’
We ignored him.
The front garden was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.
‘Bla-ha-ha!’ he bleated. ‘Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!’
We stopped at the warehouse door.
‘Don’t knock,’ Grover pleaded. ‘I smell monsters.’
‘Your nose is clogged up from the Furies,’ Annabeth told him. ‘All I smell is burgers. Aren’t you hungry?’
‘Meat!’ he said scornfully. ‘I’m a vegetarian.’
‘You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminium cans,’ I reminded him.
‘Those are vegetables. Come on. Let’s leave. These statues are… looking at me.’
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-coloured 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,’ I 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 me, ‘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. But mostly I was thinking about food.
Go ahead, call me an idiot for walking into a strange lady’s shop like that just because I was hungry, but I do impulsive stuff sometimes. Plus, 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. I barely noticed Grover’s nervous whimpers, or the way the statues’ eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us.
All I cared about was finding the dining area. And, sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.
‘Please, sit down,’ Aunty Em said.
‘Awesome,’ I said.
‘Um,’ Grover said reluctantly, ‘we don’t have any money, ma’am.’
Before I could jab him in the ribs, 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, so I figured it must’ve been my imagination.
‘Quite all right, Annabeth,’ she said. ‘You have such beautiful grey eyes, child.’ Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth’s name, even though we had never introduced ourselves.
Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she’d brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes and XXL servings of French fries.
I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe.
Annabeth slurped her shake.
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.
‘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.’
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, but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy, and I figured the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess.
‘So, you sell gnomes,’ I said, trying to sound interested.
‘Oh, yes,’ ‘Aunty Em said. And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very po
pular, 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?’ I asked.
‘Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company.’ The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.
Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, ‘Two sisters?’
‘It’s a terrible story,’ Aunty Em said. ‘Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. 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.’
I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I felt bad for her. My eyelids kept getting heavier, my full stomach making me sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt somebody so nice?
‘Percy?’ Annabeth was shaking me to get my attention. ‘Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting.’
She sounded tense. I wasn’t sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em found that strange, she didn’t say anything.
‘Such beautiful grey eyes,’ Aunty Em told Annabeth again. ‘My, yes, it has been a long time since I’ve seen grey eyes like those.’
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!’
I didn’t want to leave. I felt full and content. Aunty Em was so nice. I wanted to stay with her a while.
‘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,’ I said. I was irritated with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who’d just fed us for free. ‘It’s just a photo, Annabeth. What’s the harm?’
‘Yes, Annabeth,’ the woman purred. ‘No harm.’
I could tell Annabeth didn’t like it, 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 girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side.’
‘Not much light for a photo,’ I remarked.
‘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.
Some instinct warned me to listen to Annabeth, but I was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady’s voice.
‘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,’ Annabeth 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.
‘Look away from her!’ Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap on to her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and me both off the bench.
I was on the ground, looking at Aunt Em’s sandalled feet.
I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. But I 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.
I almost looked higher, but somewhere off to my left Annabeth screamed, ‘No! Don’t!’
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.
I couldn’t move. I stared at Aunty Em’s gnarled claws, and tried to fight the groggy trance the old woman had put me in.
‘Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face,’ she told me soothingly. ‘Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up.’
I fought the urge to obey. Instead I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens – a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em’s dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents.
Aunty Em.
Aunty ‘M’.
How could I have been so stupid?
Think, I told myself. 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 Grey-Eyed One did this to me, Percy,’ 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. ‘Run, 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.’
‘No,’ I muttered. I tried to make my legs move.
‘Do you really want to help the gods?’ Medusa asked. ‘Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? 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.’
‘Percy!’ Behind me, I heard a buzzing sound, like a ninety-kilogram 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!’
That finally jolted me into action. Knowing Grover, I was sure he’d miss Medusa and nail me. I dove to one side.
Thwack!
At first I figured it was t
he sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.
‘You miserable satyr,’ she snarled. ‘I’ll add you to my collection!’
‘That was for Uncle Ferdinand!’ Grover yelled back.
I scrambled 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, ‘Percy!’
I jumped so high my 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 me 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 me. ‘Grover’s got a great nose, but he’ll eventually crash.’
I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand.