The Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

Page 22

 

  I couldnt move. I stared at Aunty Ems 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 Ems 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 couldnt think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by my namesake, Perseus. She wasnt 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, Percy," Medusa said, and she didnt sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeths mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this. "

  "Dont listen to her!" Annabeths 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 enemys 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 two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!"

  I turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve oclock 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. "Ill get her!"

  That finally jolted me into action. Knowing Grover, I was sure hed miss Medusa and nail me. I dove to one side.

  Thwack!

  At first I figured it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.

  "You miserable satyr," she snarled. "Ill 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, Annabeths voice said, "Percy!"

  I jumped so high my feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Dont do that!"

  Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. You have to cut her head off. "

  "What? Are you crazy? Lets get out of here. "

  "Medusa is a menace. Shes evil. Id kill her myself, but. . . " Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. "But youve got the better weapon. Besides, Id never get close to her. Shed slice me to bits because of my mother. You—youve got a chance. "

  "What? I cant—"

  "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 reflections 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 shes unconscious!"

  "Roooaaarrr!"

  "Maybe not," Grover corrected. He went in for another pass with the tree branch.

  "Hurry," Annabeth told me. "Grovers got a great nose, but hell eventually crash. ".

  I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand.

  I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusas hair.

  I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusas 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!"

  I advanced on her, which wasnt easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If she charged, Id have a hard time defending myself.

  But she let me approach—twenty feet, ten feet.

  I could see the reflection of her face now. Surely it wasnt really that ugly. The green swirls of the gazing ball must be distorting it, making it look worse.

  "You wouldnt harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldnt. "

  I hesitated, fascinated by the face I saw reflected in the glass—the eyes that seemed to burn straight through the green tint, making my arms go weak.

  From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, dont listen to her!"

  Medusa cackled. "Too late. "

  She lunged at me with her talons.

  I slashed up with my sword, 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," Grover 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 me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusas black veil. She said, "Dont move. "

  Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monsters head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.

  "Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling.

  "Yeah," I decided, though I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. "Why didnt . . . why didnt the head evaporate?"

  "Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But dont 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," I 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 recapped my sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.

  We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusas head. We plopped it on the table where wed eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.

  Finally I said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

  Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Dont you remember? Medusa was Poseidons girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mothers temple. Thats 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. Thats why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. Shes still sweet on your dad. You probably
reminded her of him. "

  My face was burning. "Oh, so now its my fault we met Medusa. "

  Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "Its just a photo, Annabeth. Whats the harm?"

  "Forget it," I said. "Youre impossible. "

  "Youre insufferable. "

  "Youre—"

  "Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs dont 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, wed 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.

  I got up. "Ill be back. "

  "Percy," Annabeth called after me. "What are you—"

  I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusas office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephones garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworlds 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. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box.

  I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusas head, and filled out a delivery slip:

  The Gods

  Mount Olympus

  600th Floor,

  Empire StateBuilding

  New York, NY

  With best wishes,

  PERCY JACKSON

  "Theyre not going to like that," Grover warned. "Theyll think youre 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," I said.

  I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.

  She didnt. She seemed resigned to the fact that I had a major talent for ticking off the gods. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan. "

  12. WE GET ADVICE FROM A POODLE

  We were pretty miserable that night.

  We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

  Wed taken some food and blankets from Aunty Ems, but we didnt dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didnt want to attract anything else.

  We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.

  Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.