Shadowed Heart

Chapter TwentyFour: Auntie Em

OLIVER
It's my sister. And I have another sister. Oh my gods.
I was in a room that was full of pipes. I was hiding behind several, and I was cross-legged with my head in my hands.
"This is crazy...." I said for, like, the 40th time. I heard the door open.
"Dude? It's me! Uncle Nico!"
I chuckled, and I heard him laugh. It's weird to have an uncle that's younger than you.
"Where are you?"
I peeked past some pipes and saw him standing in the doorway.
"I'm over here!" I called and waved. He looked in my direction and walked over. He then sat on the ground next to me.
"You never told me you had a sister," he said. I nodded.
"Honestly, I don't remember her...." I sighed.
"That's odd....."
The door opened again and light flooded the ground around us and the pipes. It soon closed and I heard footsteps coming towards us.
"Hey. Figured you be here," Leo said and sat across from us.
"What do you want Valdez?" I asked, annoyed.
"Dude, your sister is hot."
I glared daggers at Leo. "Don't think about it!"
He and Nico laughed.
"I wasn't gonna do anything, geez." Leo looked at the ground. "I.... feel something I never did before."
Nico nodded. "S-same when I see A-Adam."
I nodded. "I'm just not sure if I had or not."
"Dude, what about Maddy?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. It's just..... I don't know...."
"We should probably go. We're about to stop at the next location." Leo said while looking at a watch thing on his wrist.
I nodded and the three of us stood.
"Hey. We're all misunderstood and not very well liked...."
"What about it?" Nico asked with his arms crossed.
"Well," Leo said, "why aren't we friends?"
I shrugged as we walked out the door. "I guess we never really hang out before. Besides, you're super annoying."
Leo rolled his eyes, but Nico nodded.
"Anyway...... Where are we headed?" I asked.
"Umm...... some gnome emporium thing....." Leo said. I shrugged.
In the meeting room, the demigods were surrounding the huge table. Kaycee kept glancing from Leo to Zoë, and I found myself looking at her the whole time.
"Alright, lets have Kaycee, Leo, and Oliver check out the garden. If you don't come back after about an hour, Nico, Adam, and I will check on you," Annabeth said. I snapped out of my daze and snorted.
"Who died and made you goddess?" I asked. She narrowed her eyes at me.
"Well, no one else was making a move to assign patrols, so....." she rolled her hand. I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever."

Leo, Kaycee, and I were staring at the sign.
"Auntie Em's Garden Emporium?" I read.
"Sign is written in Greek. This must be the right place," Leo said, and I nodded.
"What are we looking for?" Kaycee asked as we began walking through the gnome emporium.
I shrugged. "Anything Greek-like."
She nodded. "That totally narrows it down."
I rolled my eyes as I walked into an office and Kaycee and Leo walked in another direction.
I looked through many shelves and drawers, but didn't find anything useful.
I saw millions of pieces of paper, bags upon cartons of paper clips, and the biggest collection of paper bags I've ever seen. Nothing I saw had to do with Greek.
I was going through some files when I heard someone yelling. I closed the drawer I was shuffling through and looked for a window or something. Nope.
When I was looking, I did, however, found a big golden shield with the imprint of Medusa on it.
"Interesting...." I said and then heard a loud crash. "Uh oh."
I ran out of the office. "Kaycee?! Leo?!" I called.
"Oliver!" I heard someone yell. "Oliver! Help!"
Kaycee. I ran in that direction and saw Kaycee pinned under a statue of what looked like a satyr with a big mole on his forehead.
"Jeez Kase. Pinned by a satyr." I sighed and set down the shield.
"Ahh!!!!! Medusa!!!!" Leo yelled and I heard his pounding feet behind me. "She's gonna eat me!!!"
I turned and saw Leo almost flying towards us.
"Stop!" I tried yelling, but he smacked into me at full force, and the shield went flying.
I sat up and glared at him. "Smooth move Slick," I grumbled. "Help Kaycee while I find the shield again."
Leo nodded and went to the statue while I walked off. I heard hissing and I looked around. Nothing.
I kept walking and kept hearing hissing. Every time, I didn't see anything.
"Oliver Zhang. Ssssson of Aphrodite and grandsssson of Hadesssss," I heard behind me. I gulped.
"Are you my granny perhaps?" I asked and heard laughing.
"No sssssilly. I am Medusssssa, and I have created these ssssstatuesssss with the help of my babiesssss," she said. I saw gold out of the corner of my eye and took a step closer to it.
"Well," I said while slowly bending down. "It's nice to meet you, but my friends and I really need to get going...."
"Not sssso fassssst," she said and grabbed my wrist. I yipped quietly. "You aren't leaving sssso sssssoon."
I then reached up and pressed on my dog tag. My sword melted into my hand and I held it to the front of me.
"Well, I hate to chat and run... but..." I quickly removed my wrist from her grip, grabbed the shield, and ran off. I made a circle around the statues and tossed the shield to Leo like a frisbee. Kaycee was sitting next to him.
"Hold onto this!" I yelled and he nodded.
I kept running until I was, sadly, cornered.
"Crap...." I muttered. I took a deep breath when I heard clacking high heels on the ground. I stupidly turned and clamped my eyes shut when she was in view.
"Your a handsssssome young man," she said as she grabbed my chin.
"I try," I said simply.
"I heard you have messsssmerizing purple eyesssss.... Pleasssse sssshow me," she said.
"No thanks. To handsome for an old, snaky, cold, hard hag."
"Excussse me?!" he yelled and gripped my face tighter. "I wisssssh there wasssss a way to sssssave ssssuch a beautiful young face."
I shrugged. I wish I could see what was going on, but I also didn't want to be stone.....
I heard a rev of an engine and a loud crash nearby.
"Don't open yet!" I heard Leo yell as there was another louder crash and a shriek.
"Uhh..... I think it's safe now...... But she might still be alive...." Kaycee added.
I slowly opened my eyes to see Medusa laying on the ground and Kaycee and Leo sitting in a green truck.
"You ssssshal pay. You all ssssshall pay!" I heard Medusa yell on the ground. I rolled my eyes before bringing my sword through her neck with a sickening sound. Her yelling stopped and her face was pointed at the ground.
"Nasty," Leo said as he hopped out of the truck.
"Agreed," Kaycee said.
"Couldn't of said it better," I said. "So, lets get this stuff to the boat..."
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A/N:
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