//------------------------------//
// Garden Gnomes and Gorgons 
// Story: Half-Blooded Harmony: The Lightning Thief 
// by SonicSpeedster97 
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In a way, it was a relief to know there were gods out there. Because without them, the girls wouldn’t have anything to really blame for their current situation. “Okay! So just to go over things…” Rainbow remarked as the group tromped through the woods of the New Jersey riverbank in the pouring rain. “We just blew up a bus!”
“Yep.” Annabeth nodded, sounding almost bored.
“That was being attacked by demon triplet math teachers!”
“Ohh yeah.”
“Is the whole trip gonna be like this?” asked Twilight.
“I hope so.” Annabeth smiled eagerly.
“How’d I know you were gonna say that?” Applejack rolled her eyes.
Grover was just shivering as he walked, his eyes goat-slitted in terror. “Three Kindly Ones. All three at once.”
“Try to calm down Grover, we’re okay.” Rarity assured.
“Not yet we’re not. Come on, the farther away we get the better.” Annabeth reminded, tugging the rest of the group onward.
“All our money was back there.” Percy reminded her bitterly. “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?” Percy interrupted.
“You didn’t need to protect me, Percy. We would’ve been fine.” Annabeth assured.
“Yeah, sliced up like an apple but just fine and dandy.” Applejack countered.
“Oh shut up, ya hick.” Annabeth scowled.
Rarity scowled as she walked forward. “Right, I’ve had just enough lip from you, ma’am,” she said concisely, as if she was addressing Sweetie Belle after she did something wrong. “You’re the one who wanted to go on this quest with us, but that does not mean you get to belittle us at every turn and get yourself killed for us.”
“I said I would’ve been fine, and I meant it. If anything, I was worried you guys might get gutted.” Annabeth countered derisively. “Then what was I supposed to do, huh?” Grover was moaning about the loss of his tin cans, but everyone just tuned that out as they walked, Annabeth finally falling in line with Percy. “Look, just-” She sighed in annoyance as she pinched the brow of her nose, her voice faltering. “I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave.”
“We’re a team, right?” Percy smiled.
Annabeth was silent a few more steps as they walked. “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 storm finally let up as the glow of the city faded behind them, only letting Percy and the girls see a glimmer of Annabeth’s golden hair. “You haven’t left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?” asked Twilight.
“No… only short field trips. My dad-”
“The history professor.”
“Yeah. It didn’t work out for me living at home.” Annabeth shrugged. “I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home.” She was rushing her words now, like she was scared someone would try to shut her up. “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.”
Pinkie was a bit concerned about Annabeth now; she was sure she’d heard some doubt in her voice.
Percy just smiled as he glanced over at her. “You’re pretty good with that knife.”
“You think so?” Annabeth asked.
“Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me.” Percy smiled. Pinkie was certain she’d seen Annabeth smile in the dark, and that made her really happy.
“You know,” she said. “Maybe I should tell you… Something funny back on the bus…” Annabeth was interrupted by a shrill screeching from behind the group.
“Ow, what?” Rainbow yelled as she grabbed at her ears.
“Hey, my reed pipes still work!” Grover announced happily. “If I could just remember a ‘find path’ song, we could get out of these woods!” Whatever it was Grover was playing, it sounded terrible on reed pipes and all it found for the group was a few scrapes and bruises from the trees.
After tripping, cursing in the limited Greek they’d learned at camp, and just generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, Rainbow spotted something up ahead. “We got light, guys!” she called back to the group.
Percy looked and saw it; the bright colors of a neon sign. Then his nose twitched at the smell of food. Fried food, greasy and delicious. That made him and the girls realize it; since arriving at Camp Half-Blood, they’d eaten healthy for every meal; fresh produce, bread and cheese, and extra-lean meat in Percy’s case. And they were all craving something a bit more fatty, even Rarity.
Finally, they reached the side of an abandoned two-lane road with a small roadside curio shop on the opposite side from the group. Unfortunately, that was about all they could figure out as the large sign over the door was written in neon red cursive, which was murder on the group’s dyslexic eyes. Even between the lot of them trying to figure out anagrams for a solid minute, they couldn’t figure out what it said until Grover read it aloud for them; “Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium.”
Rainbow figured it had something to do with gnomes from the décor of the front step; the place was dotted with the ugly little things. Percy smiled as he took the lead, following his nose. “Hey…” Grover warned nervously.
“The lights are on inside.” Annabeth noticed. “Maybe it’s open.”
“Snack bar,” Percy said wistfully.
“Snack bar.” she agreed.
“I’m down.” Rainbow smiled as the other girls agreed and followed Percy.
“Are you guys crazy?” Grover said seriously. “This place is weird.” The group ignored him as they moved onward and upward.
Rainbow would later admit that the concrete statues around the door of monsters and people freaked her out more than a bit. Though clearly not as much as the satyr statue freaked out Grover as he bleated in surprise. “Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!”
“Okay, that’s weird,” Twilight remarked as they stopped at the large door.
“Don’t knock.” Grover bleated in concern. “I smell monsters.”
“Your nose is clogged up from the Furies.” Annabeth countered. “All I smell is burgers. Aren’t you hungry?”
“Meat!” Grover seemed almost scorned at the insinuation. “I’m a vegetarian.”
“You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans.” Percy reminded.
“Those are vegetables.” Grover countered. “Come on, let’s leave. These statues are… looking at me.”
“It’s just your eyes playing tricks on you; we’re fine,” Twilight assured… before the door opened and a tall older woman with coffee-colored hands wearing black over everything stepped out.
“Children, it is too late to be out all alone.” She spoke with an accent that sounded vaguely Middle Eastern. “Where are your parents?”
“They’re… um…” Annabeth started to say, but grew nervous.
“We’re orphans,” Percy interjected quickly.
“Orphans?” the woman asked, almost like the name sounded alien in her mouth. “But my dears! Surely not!”
“We got separated from our caravan.” Percy continued. “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 smiled. “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.”
“Thanks.” Rainbow smiled as the group walked to the back as instructed.
“Circus caravan?” Annabeth muttered.
“Always have a strategy, right?” Percy shrugged.
“Your head is full of kelp.”
“Didn’t see you comin’ up with anythin’.” Applejack countered. The warehouse was filled with more statues – people in all sorts of clothes and poses, all with different expressions on their faces. Twilight figured whoever shopped here must have had pretty big gardens since they were all life-sized, but more than anything, she was thinking about food like the others were.
The food was almost too intoxicating for the group to think of anything else, including the nervous whimpers from the satyr or the way the eyes of the statues seemed to follow them… though Spike did notice Aunty Em locking the door behind them.
The group found the dining area easily enough; it was a pretty simple place, all things considered. “Please sit down.” the old lady smiled.
“Awesome.” Percy smiled.
“Um, we don’t have any money, ma’am,” Grover said almost reluctantly.
Percy and Rainbow were both about to jab him in the ribs when Aunty Em looked at him. “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, though everyone was confused when Aunty Em stiffened as she looked at the blonde. She relaxed just as quickly, so most of the group figured they had just been seeing things.
“Quite all right, Annabeth. You have such beautiful gray eyes, child,” she said. Twilight couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that.
“Did we ever tell her our names?” she thought in the back of her mind as Aunty Em disappeared behind the counter and started cooking. It wasn’t long before everyone was saddled with plastic trays heaped with burgers, vanilla shakes, and ludicrous amounts of fries.
It took a while of eating before Percy and Pinkie remembered to breathe, though Grover looked a bit too nervous. “What’s that hissing noise?” he asked.
The others looked up and listened. “I don’t hear anything.” Rainbow shrugged, glancing at Rarity. “You hear anything?” Rarity just shrugged, as did most of the others… though Spike seemed deep in thought about something.
“Hissing?” Aunty Em asked sweetly. “Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover.”
“I take vitamins. For my ears.”
“That’s admirable,” she replied. “But please, relax.” Grover and Spike both kept a close though discreet eye on Aunty Em; she didn’t eat, and she hadn’t taken off her headdress even to cook, and she was just watching the group eat. It was really more than a bit disconcerting for several members of the team.
“So, you sell gnomes,” Percy 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.”
“Not a lot of business out on this road, is there?” asked Rainbow.
“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.”
Percy seemed to shiver like someone was watching him, but when he glanced behind him, he saw it was just the statue of a little girl with an Easter basket. It was remarkably detailed for a garden statue, but the face was really what drew attention; it looked like she was scared.
“Ah,” Aunty Em remarked 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. Now I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company.” The girls couldn’t help but feel sorry for her…
But Annabeth had stopped eating and leaned forward in concern. “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.”
The girls were very sorry for this old lady, but Twilight and Annabeth were getting suspicious, the latter shaking Percy to get his attention. “Percy? Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting.”
Twilight glanced at Grover eating the wax paper from the tray and looked at Aunty Em. Somehow she would have been more suspicious if the old lady hadn’t found it strange. “Such beautiful gray eyes.” Aunty Em told Annabeth again, sending up some big red flags in Twilight’s mind. “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 and Rainbow – finally out of the stupor she had apparently fallen into – grabbed Aunty Em’s wrist.
“Okay yeah; sorry, but we gotta go,” she said.
“Yes!” Grover swallowed his wax paper and stood up. “The ringmaster is waiting! Right!” Percy and the others didn’t seem to want to leave, even as their friends tugged at their shirts.
“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?”
“Pose?” asked Rarity, almost enticed by this idea.
“A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children.”
“I appreciate the idea ma’am, but I don’t think we can-”
“Sure we can.” Percy interrupted Twilight, seemingly irritated. “It’s just a photo, guys; what’s the harm?”
“Yes, Annabeth. No harm.” the woman purred. The group didn’t like this idea as Aunty Em led them back out front into the statue garden, to a park bench next to the stone satyr. “Now, I’ll just position you correctly. Annabeth in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side with the other girls surrounding them.”
“Not much light for a photo,” Annabeth remarked as the group positioned themselves as they were instructed.
“Oh, enough.” Aunty Em assured. “Enough for us to see each other, yes?”
“Where’s your camera?” asked Grover.
He was right; she wasn’t holding a camera as she 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?” The group smiled as instructed, though Twilight, Annabeth, and Rainbow’s appeared half-hearted as Grover looked at the satyr statue.
“That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand,” he muttered.
“Grover, look this way, dear.” Aunty Em chastised kindly.
“Percy-” Annabeth muttered a warning to him, some instinct in his mind warning him to listen to her, but he was fighting a strange drowsiness.
“I will be just a moment.” Aunty Em said. “You know, I can’t see you very well in this cursed veil…”
“Guys, something’s wrong,” Twilight whispered.
“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 screeched.
“No one look at her!” Annabeth ordered and slammed her cap onto her head, disappearing into thin air as Grover and Percy were both pushed from the bench. Twilight and Rainbow quickly shoved the other girls to the ground as well.
They heard a strange rasping noise as Annabeth and Grover disappeared in different directions as they looked up, seeing Aunty Em’s hands turning gnarled and warty with sharp bronze talons for fingernails. They almost looked higher, but… “No, don’t!” Annabeth yelled from the left.
Then Fluttershy recognized the rasping. “Snakes…” she whispered. The others heard it too; snakes hissing from around where Aunty Em’s head would be.
“Run!” Grover called as he raced across the gavel, yelling “Maia” to trigger his flying sneakers, but Percy and the girls were frozen, watching the bronze talons.
“Such a pity to destroy such a handsome young face,” she said soothingly. “Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up.”
Everyone fought the urge to obey, instead looking off in different directions and finding angles in various reflective surfaces… seeing her face as a shimmering pale circle with moving hair, writhing on her scalp like snakes. “Of course. That Em wasn’t an abbreviation; it was an initial.” Twilight realized quietly.
“Medusa.” Applejack whispered in fear as everyone thought hard, trying to think about how Medusa originally died. But they all knew that in the original myth, Medusa had been asleep when Perseus killed her and that was not going to be possible here.
“The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, children,” Medusa said, not sounding at all like a monster, more like a poor old grandma trying to get the group to look up and sympathize with her. “Annabeth’s mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this.”
“Don’t listen to her!” Annabeth yelled from somewhere in the statuary. “Run, guys!”
“Silence!” Medusa snarled, her serpent hair writhing anger before she returned to a comforting purr. “You see why I must destroy the girl, children. She is my enemy’s daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy… you and the others need not suffer.”
“I disagree.” Rainbow scowled as she reached for one of her bracelets.
“Do you really want to help the gods?” Medusa asked in anger. “Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, children? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dears. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain.”
“Pain is part of life.” Applejack countered.
“Percy! Duck!” Grover yelled with the buzzing of a two-hundred-pound hummingbird roaring behind them. Rainbow looked and saw Grover shooting toward them on his shoes clutching a massive tree branch with his eyes screwed shut, navigating by smell and sound. “Duck; I’ll get her!”
“Everyone down!” Rainbow yelled as she pushed the others down and Percy dove to one side. There was a loud Thwack! as the branch apparently snapped across Medusa’s face, making her snarl in rage.
“You miserable satyr!” she snarled. “I’ll add you to my collection!”
“That was for Uncle Ferdinand!” Grover yelled back as the others scrambled into the garden, hiding among the statues as Grover whacked Medusa across the face again.
Right next to the group, they heard Annabeth hiss. “Hey!” Fluttershy squeaked and ducked behind Pinkie.
“Jeez! Don’t do that!” Percy hissed as Annabeth took her hat off, becoming visible.
“We have to cut her head off,” she said simply.
“Are you crazy? Let’s just get out of here and forget about this place.” Rainbow argued.
“Medusa is a menace. She’s evil.” Annabeth argued. “I’d kill her myself, but…” She swallowed as if trying to hide something. “But you’ve got the better weapons. Besides, Twilight and I can’t get close to her. She’d slice us to ribbons because of our mother.” There was no arguing that; the daughters of Athena were in great danger against Medusa. “You- You’ve got a chance.”
“What? I can’t-”
“Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?” Annabeth argued, pointing the group to a pair of stone lovers, holding each other in their arms in fear. She grabbed a small green gazing ball from a pedestal and looked it over. “A polished shield would really be better.” she studied the sphere critically. “The convexity will cause some distortions. The reflection’s size should be off by a factor of-”
“Would you speak English?” Percy hissed.
“I am!” Annabeth countered.
“No… You’re speaking Nerd.” Rainbow argued.
Annabeth just groaned in annoyance and passed Percy the glass ball. “Just look at her through transparent things or in reflections; never directly.”
Rainbow smiled and grabbed a small pair of cool-looking sunglasses from the ground that seemed like they would work while Rarity twisted the top of her compact mirror and opened it, allowing it to remain as a mirror. “Hey, guys!” Grover called from somewhere above them. “I think she’s unconscious!” Roooaaarrr! “Maybe not.” He flew in for another pass with the tree branch.
“Grover’s got a great nose, but he’s gon’ hit somethin’ soon.” Applejack remarked.
Percy nodded and drew his sword, the bronze blade ringing in his hand as it grew while Rainbow drew both her shortswords and started sneaking around the gorgon, keeping her eyes low as she was tempted to experiment with her sunglasses. Percy eyed her through the glass globe, catching sight of her through the tinted glass.
Grover flew in for another pass but this time flew too low, letting Medusa grab the branch and pull him off course, sending him tumbling into a large stone bear. “Ooh, that looked painful!” Rarity cringed as she saw this in her mirror… which Twilight was looking in as well as if she was trying to figure something out.
“Hey!” Percy yelled, stopping the gorgon from lunging at the satyr and slowly advancing on her… which she seemed to allow since he was at a disadvantage.
“You wouldn’t harm an old woman, Percy.” she crooned trying to sound kind. “I know you wouldn’t.” Percy seemed to hesitate so Twilight appeared to put her own plan into action, grabbing a small trash can lid.
“Percy, don’t listen to her!” Grover moaned.
Medusa just cackled. “Too late!” She lunged with her talons and immediately, Twilight tossed the trash can lid which bounced off a tree and hit Medusa right in the back of the head, forcing her to face downward.
Percy immediately took the opening and sidestepped her lunge, slashing straight down at her neck with Riptide, parting her neck with a sickening shlock!, then a bright hiss as Medusa’s body disintegrated… and her head landed next to Percy’s foot, gushing green blood into his sock as her dying snake hair snapped at his shoelaces.
“Oh, yuck,” Grover said, still tightly keeping his eyes closed but hearing the head bleed. “Mega-yuck.”
“‘Mega-yuck’, indeed.” Rarity agreed as everyone stepped over, their eyes kept on the sky as Annabeth held Medusa’s black veil.
“Don’t move,” she instructed Percy and very carefully knelt down and dropped the veil over the monster’s head, then picked it up. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Percy nodded gently, though Pinkie could tell he was tempted to throw up. “Why didn’t… why didn’t the head evaporate?”
“Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war,” Annabeth explained. “Same as your minotaur horn.”
“Oh, so that’s what all that stuff in the attic was,” Rainbow remarked as she moved her hand over to the head, nudging the cloth.
“Don’t!” Twilight ordered, stopping her with her hand. “The eyes can still petrify you.”
“Oh, thanks.” Rainbow nodded. “And nice move with that trash can lid.”
“Yeah, seriously; that opening was too good to ignore.” Percy nodded.
“Just trying to use my brain,” Twilight remarked, casting a sidelong smile at Annabeth, who looked a bit annoyed at her.
Grover groaned as he climbed down from the stone bear; he had a big red welt on his forehead, his rasta cap was dangling from one of his small horns, and his shoes – fake foot included – were fluttering around his head. Pinkie couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of this; it was like a cartoon.
“Red Baron.” Percy smiled. “Nice work, man.”
Grover managed a bashful grin as he grabbed the shoes down. “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.”
Everyone reset their equipment and made their way back into the warehouse, being sure to double-wrap Medusa’s head in plastic grocery bags from the snack counter before they all sat back where they had just eaten and looked around, too tired to talk. Finally, Percy broke the silence. “So we have Athena to thank for this monster?”
“Yeah, this is gonna be a good conversation,” Spike muttered as Annabeth glared at Percy in irritation.
“Your dad, actually.” she countered. “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,” Percy asked in annoyance.
“‘It’s just a photo, guys. What’s the harm?’” Annabeth scowled in a bad imitation of Percy.
“Forget it. You’re impossible.”
“You’re insufferable!” Annabeth countered.
“You’re-”
“Hey!” Rainbow interrupted in annoyance. “Nine days to save the world, remember? Can we at least pretend to be friends here?”
“Seriously. I’m getting a migraine, and satyrs don’t even get migraines.” Grover agreed. “Now what are we going to do with the head?”
The group stared at the thing on the table; one little snake was hanging dead out of a hole in the plastic bags. Percy and the girls couldn’t deny their anger; not just at Annabeth for her poor behavior here or Athena for creating the gorgon that had just tried to kill them, but at all the gods that had put them on this quest, almost blown them off the road and gotten them in two major fights on the first day out of camp.
Medusa’s words hung hard on the group’s minds as Percy stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
“Percy, what are you-?” Annabeth asked as he searched the back of the warehouse. He found himself in Medusa’s office where he found a few receipts, one of which showed the address to the Underworld; DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. Quickly he pocketed that one and kept looking, finding some mortal money and gold drachma in the register and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express with a small leather coin-pouch attached to each.
He returned a few minutes later with those and a medium-sized box, which he packed Medusa’s head into and filled out a delivery slip: “The Gods, Mount Olympus, 600th Floor, Empire State Building, New York, NY With best wishes, Percy Jackson”.
“They’re not gonna like that,” Grover warned. “They’ll think you’re impertinent.” Percy just poured a few drachma into the pouch and as soon as he closed it, the sound of a cash register resounded through the warehouse and the package floated off the table before it disappeared with a pop!
“I am impertinent.” Percy said simply before he looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.
She just sighed, as if she’d come to an understanding; Percy had a major talent for annoying the gods. “Come on,” she muttered. “We need a new plan.”