When Sun Meets the Sea ~ PJO 1

~11~

        ~Andie's POV

        Andie was still pretty riled up from her past argument with Annabeth but now she too could smell the food and soon they came across some sort of warehouse-looking building. It was long and low but was surrounded by acres of statuary. There was a neon sign above the gate that had red cursive words written on it but with Andie's dyslexia, she didn't have the faintest clue as to what it was. 

        "What the hack does that say?" Percy asked.

       "I don't know," Annabeth answered. 

       "Me either." Andie agreed and the two girls looked at each other. They held a silent conversation between their eyes but they both knew what the other was saying. 

       I'm sorry. 

        They smiled at each other while they listened to Grover translate. 

        "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium." Grover said and when Andie looked around, she saw two cement garden gnomes, just as advertised. They were ugly but were smiling and waving as if they were about to get their picture taken. 

        "Oh, come on." Annabeth finally said, as if something clicked for her. 

        "What?" Andie asked. 

        "Aunty "Em" has a garden full of petrified stone folks. Yeah, this is someone from our world, aright. Anyone want to guess what "Em" is short for?" Annabeth said and then it finally clicked for Andie, and she immediately jumped away from the building as if she was going to catch on fire. 

        "What? Are you okay?" Percy asked, looking at the ground. 

        "We have to leave. Please, we need to go." Andie spoke so fast she didn't even know if her friends understood what she said. "Annabeth, please, I can't."

        "I know, let's go guys." Annabeth said, grabbing hold of Andie's hand. 

        Andie knew what the "Em" stood for. It stood for Medusa and on medusa's head was Andie's absolute worst nightmare. Snakes. The fear of snakes was shared equally among all of Apollo's children, after some curse way back when but now even hearing the word snake made Andie immediately want to shrink into her clothes and never resurface. 

        "Come on." Annabeth spoke, pulling Andie but abruptly stopping when Alecto swooped down in front of them. 

        "You shold have accepted my offer when you had the chance." She drawled, walking closer to the group. 

        "Offer? What offer is she talking about?" Percy asked, having drawn his sword already. Andie also wanted to know what offer Alecto was talking about but then a voice spoke from behind them. 

        "Not today, friends." The voice spoke and Andie squealed in fear, it was embarrassing but she didn't care. She already felt like she was turned to stone and couldn't move. "Not on my doorstep." 

       "Oh, shoot." Annabeth said as she ducked her head, and quickly the others followed her lead. Andie trembled as she squeezed Annabeth's so hard that she worried she was hurting her, but Annabeth squeezed her hand back to try and comfort her. 

        "If you have something to resolve, why not come inside and I'll help?" Medusa spoke, still behind them. "Alecto? Will you be joining us? No, well I wouldn't think you would. She won't bother you as long as you're with me. But it isn't as though she'll leave either, not if it means reporting that she failed to retrieve the son of Poseidon." 

        "How did you-

        "A forbidden child has been claimed. How long did you think that secret would keep?" Medusa asked as she got a bit closer to the group. "It's a pleasure to meet you, son of Poseidon. I'm Medusa." 

        "Percy, don't." Andie heard Annabeth speak and Andie popped one of her eyes open to see Percy snap his head back down so that he didn't look at her. "She's a monster."

        "We all choose who we make our monsters, but, right now, that one wants to tear you limb from limb...and I'm offering you lunch. The choice is yours." Medusa spoke and Andie clamped her eyes shut again, too afraid to even look at the ground. But soon she heard her footsteps receding back into the building. 

        "I think we can trust her." Percy said and at that Andie snapped her head at him, dropping Annabeth's hand so that she could clench her fists together. 

        "What?" 

        "Dude!"

        "Percy, are you insane?" Andie demanded, her eyes frantically searching his face to see if he was playing some prank on her. He wasn't.

        "I can't explain it, I just...My mom used to tell me her story and the point was always that she isn't what people think and I definitely trust my mom." Percy said. "So, I'm going in. You guys do what you want." 

        Andie watched as Percy went into the house and soon Grover followed suit. Annabeth looked towards Alecto who still stood at the end of the driveway and then to Andie who wanted to break down sobbing.

        "I'm sorry, Andie but we can't leave them in there and I'm not leaving you out here." Annabeth said before she grabbed hold of Andie and dragged her inside. 

        "Annabeth, no, Annabeth. I can't. I can't. Please, Annabeth!"