Perseus and the Monstrous Medusa

by Joan Holub

  CHAPTER FIVE

  One Eye, One Tooth

  The afternoon sun blazed overhead as Zeus, Athena, Hades, and Hephaestus sailed the boat, following Perseus’s directions.

  “Keep heading north,” Perseus instructed. “Until we see a cluster of small islands up ahead.”

  A white seagull flying above them swooped down to follow the boat a short distance.

  “It’s such a beautiful day,” Athena said, watching the bird against the backdrop of the bright blue sky. Then she shivered. “But why do I have the feeling we’re sailing toward gloom and doom?”

  “Gloom and doom,” Hades repeated dreamily. “Sounds like home.” No place was as gloomy and more filled with doom than the Underworld!

  Zeus looked at Perseus. “What exactly do you know about these Gray Triplets?” he asked.

  “Oh, just that they’re supposed to be very wise,” Perseus said. “Nothing to be afraid of.” But he looked away, avoiding Zeus’s gaze, like he wasn’t quite sure of the truth of his words. Or like there was something more he didn’t want to say.

  Soon they reached the island cluster. “It’s the island farthest to the east,” Perseus said. “We’re almost there.”

  They took down the sail when they reached shallow water around the island. Then they all rowed the rest of the way to shore.

  “So where to now?” Zeus asked as they all climbed out of the boat.

  “The triplets live in a cave,” Perseus replied.

  “Just as I feared. We’re headed for gloom,” Athena said.

  “Probably doom, too,” muttered Hephaestus.

  Athena looked at Perseus. “If the three women we seek are so wise, why are they out here in the middle of nowhere, living in a cave?”

  “Yeah,” Hephaestus said scornfully. “They should have built a house!”

  “Hey!” Zeus protested. “I grew up in a cave. They’re not so bad.”

  Perseus looked thoughtful. “Okay. It’s time I told you all I know about the Gray Triplets. There are three of them, but they only have one eye and one tooth among them.”

  “Awesome! Now we’re talking,” said Hades, his dark eyes gleaming with interest. “But wait, how do they talk? Do they have mouths?”

  “Not sure,” said Perseus.

  “One eye for three faces?” Zeus asked in confusion. “You could have mentioned all this before.” He wondered what else Perseus wasn’t telling the group!

  “They take turns with the eye,” Perseus replied. “With the tooth, too.” He shrugged apologetically. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before. I was worried it might scare you off. These ladies can help us, I promise.”

  “Yeah, right,” muttered Hephaestus.

  Athena’s gray eyes were boring into Perseus. “We don’t scare easily. So, just be honest with us from now on, okay?”

  “Of course! Come on. Their cave should be this way,” said Perseus. He flashed a charming smile that Zeus didn’t exactly trust, then headed off. Everyone followed.

  The five of them pushed through leafy bushes and trees with low-hanging branches and vines as they followed a pathway that looked like it hadn’t been traveled in years. After a short time they came to a cave entrance set into a tall cliff.

  “This is it,” Perseus murmured.

  “Looks gloomy and doomy all right,” Athena said with a shudder.

  “What did you expect— A ‘Welcome to our Cave’ sign posted at the entrance?” joked Hades.

  Athena just laughed. “Well, at least a ‘Cave Sweet Cave’ sign.”

  Zeus gripped Bolt as he and the others followed Perseus inside. Even though he’d grown up in a cave himself, he didn’t like the idea of going into this one. What if Perseus was leading them all into some kind of trap? What if he was working for King Cronus?

  But it was too late to worry about that now. If it was a trap, Zeus and his team would just have to fight their way out.

  It was nearly pitch black inside the cave, except the faint glow of a fire up ahead. They walked toward it. Soon they saw three women hunched over a black pot as big as a bathtub, set atop a blazing fire. Each of them wore a tattered gray robe and had wild, gray hair.

  As Zeus’s eyes adjusted to the gloom, a creaky voice rang out. “Sisters! I smell visitors—Olympians!”

  All three women turned to look. Each had a nose, ears, and a mouth, Zeus was relieved to see.

  Although all the sisters might be able to smell the Olympians, the triplet in the center was the only one who could see them. She had a single big, blue eye stuck in her forehead directly above her nose. The faces of the other two were eyeless.

  “Welcome, Olympians! I’m Pemphredo,” said the woman on the left who had spoken. One white tooth gleamed in her mouth.

  Without warning, the triplet on the right without the eye or the tooth snatched the tooth from Pemphredo’s mouth. As soon as she popped it into her own mouth she shrieked, “And I’m Deino. Enyo, give me the eye! I want to see our visitors too!”

  The one in the middle named Enyo blinked at the Olympians didn’t move.

  “Oh, all right,” said Deino after a moment. “Trade you.” She pulled the tooth from her mouth and handed it to Enyo, who put it into her own mouth. Then Enyo plucked the eye from her face and handed it to Deino. Those two sisters continued trading the eye and the tooth around.

  Finally Pemphredo reached out and grabbed both tooth and eye for herself. She wasted no time in inserting both into her own face, then she gazed at Perseus and the Olympians in surprise.

  “Hey, you’re just a bunch of kids! What are you doing all the way out here?” she asked. And then her single eye narrowed. She sniffed the air. “Wait! I smell weapons. Drop them!”

  “No way!” Zeus protested. “We would never use them hurt you.”

  “And anyway, my cane is not a weapon. It helps me walk,” Hephaestus argued.

  “Maybe so, but you could also clobber someone with it,” Pemphredo replied. “Think about it. We’re three defenseless old ladies, and there’s the whole one eye thing. We can’t be too careful.”

  Zeus hesitated, but just for a moment. They really did look harmless, even if they were a little weird.

  “Okay. Here’s mine,” he said, laying Bolt on the floor. Then he looked over at Hephaestus.

  “Fine,” Hephaestus said, laying the cane beside Bolt.

  Pemphredo pointed to the sack Hades was carrying. “And that fancy hat of yours, too, young man!”

  Hades clutched his sack to his chest. “My Helm of Darkness? How did you even know it was in here?”

  “Our eye can see more than the average eye,” the old woman answered. “Mwah, ha-ha!” she cackled.

  Deino nabbed the tooth from her. “Always with the evil laugh, Pemphredo. You’ll frighten them!”

  Pemphredo took the tooth back. Zeus was amazed at how swiftly they passed the tooth and eye back and forth among them.

  “These Olympians don’t scare easily,” Pemphredo said, her blue eye fixed on Athena. “Right, girl?”

  With a look of surprise, Athena nodded.

  It was exactly what Athena had said to Perseus when they’d landed on shore! recalled Zeus. He and Athena exchanged a quick glance. He suspected they were both wondering the same thing. Were the old women’s ears so good that they’d heard their visitors speaking from the shore just after they landed?

  “Now, missy, give up that shiny shirt you’re wearing, please,” Pemphredo insisted.

  Reluctantly Athena handed over her aegis. “All right. But it’s only a shield. For defense. It’s not a weapon.”

  “Oh, really?” Pemphredo asked, and her eye seemed to blaze right through Athena.

  Did she somehow know there were times when the aegis could turn things to stone? Zeus wondered. “Okay, we’ve done as you asked,” he told the women. “We came here because Perseus says you’re all very wise. And that you might know something that could help us.”

  “Help you with what?” Pemphredo asked him.
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  “We’re on a quest. Do you know where we can find hairy snakes?” Zeus asked.

  Deino took the tooth for herself and said, “Yes! We do know where to find them.”

  Enyo grabbed the tooth, adding, “But no, we won’t tell you!”

  Then Pemphredo took the tooth back again. “No way, no how!”

  Hephaestus took a step forward. “Now listen up!” he said, his voice rising with anger. “We’ve put down our weapons and we’ve asked you nicely. So help us, or else!”

  Deino grabbed the tooth from Pemphredo. “Who said that?” she shrieked. “Give me the eye! I want to see his beastly little face for myself!”

  Pemphredo plucked out the eye and handed it across to Deino. But when Deino opened her hand, nothing was there.

  “I said give me the eye!” Deino demanded.

  Pemphredo took the tooth, then replied, “But I did!”

  Deino took the tooth back. “But I don’t have it!” she wailed. “Our eye! Our eye! Where is our eye?”

  Zeus started to ask if it could have fallen into the cauldron since the women had been passing both the eye and the tooth back and forth over it. But then Perseus stepped forward.

  “You mean this eye?” Perseus asked, opening his hand to show her the big, blue eye he held. Zeus had almost forgotten the mortal boy was with them since he’d stayed quietly in the background the whole time they’d been inside the cave.

  “How’d you do that?” Hades asked the sneaky boy.

  Perseus ignored him. “I have your eye, ladies. And I will give it back to you, unharmed. But first you must tell us where to find the hairy snakes.”

  Enyo had the tooth now. “Fine,” she said. “We will tell you. But if you do not give us our eye back, a terrible fate will befall you.”

  “I promise to give it back,” said Perseus. “Now, where are those hairy snakes?”

  “You seek a monster named Medusa,” Enyo answered. “She is a Gorgon, a creature with snakes for hair. She lives on an island west of here. If you leave now, you should reach it by sunset.”

  Athena gasped. “Snakes for hair! Just like the image on the aegis!”

  “Hairy snakes . . . I get it now!” Hephaestus exclaimed.

  “Give me the eye, boy,” Enyo demanded. When Perseus handed it over, she eyed Athena’s shield. “That shiny thing is an aegis?”

  “Yes,” Athena replied. “Sometimes an image of a woman with snakes for hair appears on it. And when that happens, the aegis can turn things to stone.”

  “That makes sense,” said Enyo, “because, you see, if you—”

  “Hey! Where’s my cane!” Hephaestus wailed.

  Zeus looked down. The silver cane, the aegis, the helmet, and Bolt too . . . they were all gone!

  “Perseus!” Zeus yelled, whirling around. But the boy was nowhere in sight.

  Enyo cackled. “Looks like your little friend is quite the clever thief.”

  “We can’t let him get away!” Zeus yelled. Perseus had Bolt. Bolt! “Let’s go!” he yelled.

  “Wait! Enyo was telling us about Medusa—” Athena started to protest. But Zeus grabbed her arm and the four Olympians ran out of the cave.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Medusa

  By the time Zeus, Hephaestus, Athena, and Hades reached the shore, Perseus was already out to sea, steering the ship farther and farther away from the island. Zeus splashed into the water after him, then stopped, realizing he’d never catch up. He watched helplessly as Perseus smiled wickedly and waved as he disappeared from view.

  With doubled up fists Zeus struck the water in frustration and then trudged back to shore. “I knew we should never have trusted that guy,” he muttered to the others.

  “It’s okay, Zeus,” Athena said. “At least we know where to find the hairy snakes now.”

  “Think Perseus is after the hairy snakes too?” Hephaestus asked. “Or did he just trick us so he could steal our boat and stuff?”

  “Maybe he’s on some kind of quest of his own,” Athena suggested.

  “I don’t think he’s an Olympian, though,” Hades said.

  “Of course not! He’s a crummy thief!” Zeus shouted, angrily kicking the sand.

  “We can still get to Medusa’s island without the boat,” Athena said. “We just need to make a raft.”

  “Oh sure, we’ll just make a raft,” Zeus said crossly. “No problem. Has anyone here ever made a raft?”

  “You know, if I were Poseidon, I’d be telling you to chill out right now, Bro,” Hades said. “Perseus may have stolen our weapons, but we can’t let him steal our, you know, togetherness, right?”

  Hephaestus shook his head. “Dude, for the ruler of a dark place like the Underworld, you sure know how to look on the bright side.”

  Hades shrugged. “If we use our heads, I think we still have a chance to catch up to Perseus. We can’t let him get away with our stuff!”

  “Gather some branches,” Athena instructed the boys. “And some vines. I have an idea.”

  Knowing how clever she was, they didn’t waste time questioning her. They all got to work gathering branches and long, green vines from farther inland. After they had gathered a big pile of them onshore, Athena took out her Thread of Cleverness, which she had managed to hide from the Gray Triplets. Then she unwound enough of the thread to shape the cursive word “raft” in big, loopy connected letters on the sand.

  “Oh, I get it,” Hades approved, realizing what she had planned.

  Slowly the branches started to magically arrange themselves on the sand side by side in rows to form a flat platform about six feet square. Then the vines snaked and curled between the branches, tying the raft together.

  Zeus was impressed. “Wow, that actually looks seaworthy,” he said, giving Athena’s raft a thumbs-up.

  Athena grinned at him. “Good. Now let’s get out of here. We’ve got a thief to catch.”

  Zeus touched Chip. “Point us due west!” At his command a green directional arrow appeared on the stone.

  After launching their raft the Olympians hopped aboard to sit or kneel and used their hands to paddle across the water. Luckily the sea was calm. By now, Perseus and their boat had already disappeared. Zeus knew there was no way the raft could overtake the boat, but his team kept going.

  A few hours later, just as the sun began to set, an island came into view. “That’s got to be it!” said Zeus. “See?” He showed them how Chip’s arrow had just turned bright red and was spinning around in circles.

  An eerie quiet greeted their ears once they reached the shore.

  “Look! There’s our boat!” Hades exclaimed. Perseus had tied the stolen boat to a nearby tree. Oddly it wasn’t the only boat there. There were dozens, all empty.

  “That’s weird,” Athena mused. “Judging from all these boats, there should be lots of people on this island. But it’s so . . . quiet.”

  “Maybe everyone’s asleep?” Hephaestus muttered.

  “Hey! Are those trees?” Zeus asked. He pointed at hundreds of upright forms that stood planted in the sand some distance away.

  “I don’t think so,” Hades replied, squinting at them. “Trees don’t have faces.”

  Cautiously they walked up to the nearest one and saw that it was actually a statue. It was a gray stone statue of a man, his mouth open in terror.

  Athena shuddered. “These are the weirdest statues I’ve ever seen. Why are they all silently screaming?”

  “Is this some kind of outdoor art museum?” Hades asked.

  Zeus got a prickly feeling on his skin. “If it is, I’m sure it doesn’t get many visitors. It’s supercreepy.”

  “I hate to interrupt your discussion of fine art, but I’d like to remind everyone that I don’t have my cane. And you guys don’t have your magical weapons,” said Hephaestus. “What are we supposed to do when we find Medusa and her snakes? How are we supposed to defend ourselves if she attacks us?”

  “We’ll find Perseus first and get our weapons ba
ck,” Zeus assured him. He ran over to the boat the boy had stolen.

  “Look, there are his footprints!” Athena called out, pointing down at the sand. “Let’s follow them.”

  The sun was sinking as the four Olympians walked deeper inland, following what they hoped was Perseus’s trail. They traveled a well-worn path that sent them past a forest of more and more sinister statues.

  After a while Athena hissed to the others, “Has anybody noticed anything weird?”

  “You mean besides all these creepy statues?” asked Hephaestus.

  She nodded. “The ground seems to be shifting.” The other Olympians looked down at the dirt.

  “Uh-oh, don’t look now, guys, but I don’t think this is normal ground,” said Hades. Suddenly a slimy creature seemed to materialize from the sand itself, right next to Zeus. It raised its head and hissed, sticking out a forked pink tongue.

  Zeus jumped back in horror. “Snake! Snake!” he cried. “This place is crawling with snakes!” The ground was covered with hundreds of the wriggling, writhing creatures. They were curling up around the statues and the trees, too.

  “Shh! Don’t rile them up,” Athena warned. “Just walk calmly down the path till we get to where we’re going. Wherever that is.”

  Zeus forced himself to move down the path. It wasn’t easy. But he was a leader and couldn’t let his team down. They had no choice but to cautiously pick their way through and around the snakes.

  “Ugh,” he said. “I hope none of these reptiles mistake us for statues too and decide to coil around us!”

  “Yeah,” Hades said cheerfully. “If I ever need extra snakes for the Underworld, I know where to come.”

  “Shhh!” Athena said, pointing. “Look.”

  Up ahead of them the path opened into a clearing lit by flaming torches. The torches surrounded a small stone stage covered with statues. And every one of those statues had a frozen, terrified expression on its face.

  Zeus did a double take when he saw that Perseus was tied with rope to one of the statues in the center of the stage! The boy’s eyes were squeezed closed, and the Olympians’ four magical objects were scattered at his feet.