Percy Jackson - The Record of The Journey of a Mortal Who Become a God

Before the group could even realize it, the strange woman who had sheltered them on this lonely night had brought trays of plastic with double cheeseburgers, vanilla milkshakes, and giant portions of fries.

Percy had already eaten half of his sandwich when he remembered to breathe.

Annabeth slurped her milkshake loudly.

Ikki merely looked at the food and didn't touch it; he wasn't hungry and could sense something was off with the food. The smell of some sleeping medication was almost palpable. He immediately channeled the [Hands of Nirvana] through the dominion created by the [Will of the Emperor] to remove the negative effects, making the food edible for his friends...

He had to admit the woman who was one of the most famous monsters from Greek mythology in disguise had a somewhat cunning mind. She was pretending to be a friendly old lady who liked to help others to catch her targets off guard...

That was what had happened to most of the people who had come here. They all fell into this well-crafted trap.

While he was lost in his thoughts about the current situation, Grover pinched some fries and looked at the paper towel on the tray as if he could taste it, but he still seemed too nervous to eat.

"What's that buzzing?" the satyr asked upon hearing a strange sound.

Percy tried to listen but heard nothing. Annabeth shook her head negatively, and Ikki clearly heard the sound but didn't comment.

"Buzzing?" Aunt Em asked, pretending to be clueless. "Maybe you're hearing the frying oil. You have good ears, Grover..."

"I take vitamins. For my ears..." the satyr replied, a bit nervously.

"Admirable, dear, but please help yourselves," she said in a show of goodwill. "Ikki, you too..."

"I'm not hungry..." Ikki said calmly. He glanced at his hostess from the corner of his eye, clearly knowing her true identity.

It was very obvious.

Aunt Em had eaten nothing. She hadn't uncovered her head even to cook, and now she sat with her fingers intertwined, watching the group as they ate.

"So, you sell dwarfs," Percy said, trying to sound interested.

"Oh, yes," Aunt Em said, looking at her artwork. "And animals. And people. All for the garden. Custom-made. The statues are very popular, you know..."

"Lots of traffic on this road?"

"No, not so much. Since the highway was built... most cars don't come this way anymore. I have to take good care of each customer I receive..."

Percy felt a shiver at the back of his neck, as if someone were watching him. He turned, but only saw a statue of a little girl holding an Easter basket. There was just something wrong with her face. She looked scared, even terrified.

Despite the strangeness, he pushed that aside.

"Oh!..." Aunt Em said sadly. "You might notice that some of my creations don't turn out so well. They are defective. They don't sell. The face is the hardest part to get right. Always the face..."

"You make these statues yourself?..." Ikki asked calmly.

"Oh, yes. I once had two sisters to help me with the business, but they passed away, and Aunt Em was left alone. I only have my statues. That's why I make them, you know? They are my company..." The sadness in her voice seemed so deep and so real that you couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Annabeth had stopped eating. She leaned in and said, "Two sisters?…"

"It's a terrible story," Aunt Em said, unconsciously explaining her origin story. "It's not for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a wicked woman was jealous of me a long time ago, when I was young. I had a... a boyfriend, you know, and this wicked woman was determined to separate us. She caused a terrible accident."

"My sisters stood by me. They shared my misfortune for as long as they could, but eventually, they died. They withered away. Only I survived, but at a price. What a price…"

She finished her words in a way that showed she lamented that fate.

Annabeth pieced together all the strangeness of the place that she had chosen to ignore and the story of the woman who had been so welcoming to them, and at that moment, she discovered who she truly was, which made her tense.

She quickly glanced at Ikki and saw him signaling for them to leave.

"Percy?" Annabeth shook Percy, who was very drowsy; she was also starting to feel sleepy but did her best to stay awake. "I think we should go. I mean, the master of ceremonies at the circus must be waiting…"

Her voice sounded tense. Grover was eating the wax paper from the tray, but if Aunt Em found that strange, she said nothing.

"What pretty gray eyes," she said again to Annabeth, who seemed even more tense with the whole situation. "Oh, but I haven't seen gray eyes like that in a very long time…"

She reached out her arm as if to stroke Annabeth's face, but Annabeth abruptly stood up.

"We really need to go."

"Yes!" Grover swallowed the wax paper and stood up, saying, "The master of ceremonies is waiting!…"

"Yes, it's getting late. We must go…" Ikki said, getting up and stretching; compared to the daughter of Athena and the satyr, he seemed extremely casual.

But Percy didn't hear. He seemed determined to stay a little longer.

"Please, dear ones…" Aunt Em pleaded as she walked toward the group and stood a few feet in front of them. "It's so rare for me to be with children... Before you go, wouldn't you at least like to pose for a picture?…"

"A picture?..." Annabeth asked cautiously. She glanced at Ikki out of the corner of her eye, as if waiting for his decision.

Ikki simply looked at Aunt Em calmly. No one noticed the cold, emotionless flash that crossed the depths of his agate pupils.

"Yes, a photograph. I will use it as a model for a new set of statues. Children are very popular, you know? Everyone loves children…" Aunt Em began to appeal in a performance worthy of note. She made it seem like an old woman desperate for a picture with her group of grandchildren.

Annabeth shifted from foot to foot; she quickly grabbed Percy by the arm and said, "I think we can't, ma'am. Come on, Percy…"

"Of course we can…" Percy said. He seemed irritated. "It's just a picture, Annabeth. What's the problem?…"

"Yes, Annabeth," the woman murmured, hiding the wicked smile from her lips. "There's nothing wrong…"

Annabeth closed her eyes; she seemed to be getting increasingly affected by drowsiness.

Even Grover started to show signs of it.

As nothing escaped his senses, Ikki noticed the state of his friends. He moved in front of the group.

Everyone's attention turned to him as he began to speak calmly to the older woman in front of them.

"Actually, that would be a terrible idea… I don't want to turn into a statue; I think that was somewhat obvious. First, a place full of realistic statues in the middle of nowhere, second and more importantly, you revealed your identity when you mentioned your two sisters. Isn't that right, Gorgona? Or should I say Medusa?…"

"Don't look at her!" Annabeth shouted, being the first to react. In the blink of an eye, she put on her Yankees cap and disappeared.

Her invisible hands pushed Grover and Percy under the table they had previously used to eat.

While he silently thanked Annabeth for her quick reaction, Ikki moved, and in a mere instant, he appeared in front of the old lady and casually kicked her abdomen.

Medusa flew back, crashing into the counter and disappearing into the kitchen.

Ikki said to the group beneath the table, "Hide; I'll deal with Medusa… After you hide, only open your eyes if you hear my voice…"

"Wait, Ikki. She's dangerous; it's better if we all deal with her," Annabeth said, worried about him and hating the feeling of being protected, although she felt happy that Ikki cared about her.

"I know. I'll take care of it. You hide…" Without waiting for a response, Ikki transformed his ring into his sword and vanished in an explosion of immeasurable speed.

The group quickly scattered and hid.

Medusa emerged from the kitchen debris, her veil gone, revealing her face as a flickering pale circle. Her hair moved, writhing like snakes. She had blood dripping from her lips...

"Over here, you old witch!..." Ikki's voice came from among the statues, hearing his words, Medusa growled in rage, and the snakes that were her hair were hissing.

"The one with the Gray Eyes did this to me, Ikki..." Medusa said; she didn't sound like a monster. She seemed hurt. "Annabeth's mother, that damned Athena, turned the beautiful woman I was into this..."

Medusa walked towards the statues where Ikki's voice had come from.

"Don't listen to her!..." Annabeth's voice shouted from somewhere between the statues. "Ikki, finish her off once and for all..."

"Silence!." Medusa growled. "She is the daughter of my enemy. I will crush her statue to dust. But you, my lovely and dear Ikki, I will turn you into my lover; you don't have to suffer. Just imagining the things I will do with you excites me..."

Her voice was filled with animalistic lust.

Hearing the Gorgon's words, Ikki felt a shiver down his spine. From where he was, hidden behind a statue of a couple holding hands, he grabbed the piece of glass he had been looking for earlier and used it to see Medusa's reflection.

The Gorgona was walking between the statues, not far from his location, and after passing by several statues, she turned her back to him.

He quickly moved, and before Medusa could react, Ikki appeared behind her, bringing his sword down across her neck and decapitating the Gorgon.

The sound of a monster disintegrating filled the area, and the noise of something falling at their feet echoed throughout the area.

"Done..." Ikki said to the hidden group, and they all emerged from their hiding spots. He quickly warned, "Watch out for her decapitated head. She can still petrify you..."

"Ugh, gross!" Grover said with a grimace. His eyes were still tightly shut.

Annabeth approached Ikki, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil.

"Don't move..." She said carefully.

With great, great care, without looking down, she knelt and wrapped the monster's head in the black cloth, then lifted it.

A few seconds later, it began to drip a green juice.

"Are you okay?..." Annabeth asked Ikki, looking at him with concern.

"Yes..." Ikki nodded and looked at Percy, who was pale.

"Why... why didn't the head evaporate?..." Percy asked, fighting the urge to vomit his double cheeseburger.

"Once you decapitate her, she becomes a war trophy. But don't unwrap it. As Ikki mentioned before, she can still petrify you..."

"I guess Superman saved us once again." Percy said with a crooked smile at Ikki, still somewhat pale. "Good job, man..."

The group found some old plastic bags behind the snack counter and wrapped Medusa's head twice. With a plop, they dropped the thing on the table where they had dined and sat around it.

"As I guessed, that was really my type Fernando..." Grover babbled.

"So, do we have to thank Athena for this monster?..." Percy asked Annabeth, recalling Medusa's words before Ikki killed her.

Annabeth glared at Percy. "To her, Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They arranged a meeting at my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters, who helped her enter the temple, were transformed into the three Gorgons. That's why she wanted to chop me into pieces..."

"Oh, so it's my fault we encountered Medusa?..." Percy said, a bit upset about being blamed for it.

Annabeth straightened up. In a terrible imitation of Percy's voice, she said, "It's just a picture, Annabeth. What's the problem?"

"Forget it." Percy said, annoyed. "You're impossible..."

"You're unbearable."

"You are..."

"Enough, you two..." Ikki said authoritatively enough to silence them both. He narrowed his eyes at the two demigods and said, "The blame for our encounter with Medusa rests entirely on both of you, or have you forgotten that Grover warned earlier that he smelled Monster, but did you listen?..."

"Oh right, you were too busy thinking about your stomach and doing something stupid, Percy, I understand since it's your nature, but you, Ann?..."

The two were embarrassed by his words.

"Hey!." Grover interrupted. "What are we going to do with the head?..."

Percy looked at the thing. A small snake was hanging from a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag read: Thank you for your visit!

That was the last trigger he needed to explode. He was angry, not at Annabeth or her mother, but at all the gods for this stupid quest, for taking them off the road, and for these stupid monsters that would have killed them if his best friend hadn't been there.

At this rate, they would never make it to Los Angeles alive, much less complete the quest before the summer solstice.

Percy had a thoughtful expression on his face and stood up. "I'll be back."

"Percy." Annabeth called after him. "What are you..."

Ikki looked at Percy, guessing what the son of Poseidon would do.

When Percy left, he went to the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Her ledger showed the six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to a shipping notice, the billing address for the Underworld was M.A.C. Recording Studios — Mortuary Arrival —, West Hollywood, California.

Percy folded the note and stuffed it in his pocket.

In the cash register, he found twenty dollars, some gold drachmas, and a few shipping tags from Hermes's Night Express, each with a small leather pouch attached for coins.

He rummaged through the rest of the office until he found a box the right size.

He returned to the picnic table, boxed up Medusa's head, and filled out a shipping label:

The Gods

Mount Olympus

600th Floor

Empire State Building

New York, NY

Best wishes, Percy Jackson.

"They're not going to like this." Grover warned, powerless against Percy's knack for irritating the Gods. "They'll find it disrespectful..."

Percy didn't hear, he placed some gold drachmas in the attached pouch. As soon as he closed it, there came a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!

"I'm disrespectful..." Percy said, looking at Annabeth, daring her to criticize him.

"That sounds like you, seaweed brain..." Ikki said sarcastically, and Percy smiled slightly.

Annabeth didn't criticize him, just like the satyr, the daughter of Athena was resigned to such a talent for annoying the Gods.

She merely murmured.

"Come on... We need a new plan..."