ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

THE GORGON INCIDENT

"So this is where we have been wanting to be?" Urwa asked, "Man, that seemed easy."

"It did not." I said, "We have been inside for about one and a half hours, which is nearly three days in the world."

"Really?" Urwa asked, "What took us that long?"

"Pollux did. The questions seemed to appear fast, but they didn't." Gerard said, "You guys read to me in normal time, but between two questions, it took time."

"Whatever it is," Tina said, "We are there. Nearly. Gods know what traps they would have in this way."

"Inshallah," Urwa said, "They have nothing. I don't want more stealthy stuff."

"Neither do I." Gerard said.

"I'll just break them off." I said.

"Too excited?" Tina asked me, "Now that our mission is at an end?"

"Our mission is not at an end. We still need to get the box. And inside, there is Medusa. But yeah, excited."

"So, listen here." Gerard said, "You guys must check if her sisters are inside. If they are inside, you guys got to take them on. I have a plan to deal with Medusa, and I want to do that alone."

"What?" Urwa asked, "How?"

"He wants to talk to the victim." I said, guessing. Ever since he had given his eyes in the ritual I performed, I had started to understand Gerard better. I went on, "He wants to avoid decapitating Medusa, and wants to save her from all the things that the gods made her."

"But, she's a monster." Tina said.

"Probably not." I said, "She kills because she is afraid. If Gerard can get past that fear, she might still be the girl who fell for the sweetness of Poseidon."

"Okay." Urwa said, "If it is what you want to try. But we need to be there, so that if she doesn't understand..."

"She can't kill me." Gerard said, "For I can't see her. All she has is her stone-vision. With my blindness, I can't die to her. But I can hear her, her footsteps approaching, and I can strike."

"Good." I said, "Now, lets move. We have to get it back, because it isn't exactly long, before the big guys rise. One of them already rose."

"And died." Tina laughed, as we started again.

Surprisingly, there were no traps.

However, the worst that we feared to happen inside came true. Medusa was not alone, for we could hear three different voices. "Stheno and Euryale are inside." I said, "Let us wait."

"Do you know anything that might make us invisible?" Gerard asked.

"Nope." I said.

I knew why he was asking that. Perseus had escaped Euryale and Stheno by turning invisible. But he had used Hades's helmet. Since I didn't have it, we had to come face to face with the two. The three were very close, and Stheno and Euryale, being immortal, couldn't be killed. And they would protect their kin sister if they got even a hunch of demigods approaching. 

We stepped foot inside the Gorgon lair. We could still hear two raspy voices, and one normal one. One raspy voice was saying, "Who knows how long she has to put up with this?" The other one said, "A group of demigods are supposed to take it, as I have said."

"Demigods?" The other raspy said, "If they come here, they will kill her."

"Oh stop it, sisters." The normal voice, of Medusa, said, "If they try to kill me, I'll just look at them."