Immediately, we ran. Luke ran one way and I ran the other. I had no clue where I was going. I just looked at the floor as I ran, hoping that I wouldn't end up bumping into Medusa. I must have been running around the garden for what seemed like minutes before I heard Medusa's voice along with two others. None of them were Luke. I began to get worried. What if something had happened to him?
I crouched down behind a statue and looked for something that I could use so that I wouldn't have to look directly at Medusa. Seconds later, I found a broken mirror on the floor; I quickly picked it up, hoping that no one had noticed me. Luckily, no one had, and Medusa was more concentrated on turning her new, unknowing, victims into stone.
"It's okay, Honey, I'm sure she'll know where a motel is." The old man mumbled, trying to reassure his wife, as Medusa walked over to them. I positioned the piece of broken mirror so that I could see both Medusa and the old couple. Some blood trickled down my hand - I had cut my hand on the mirror. I was more concentrated on watching what was happening just behind me and increasing my chances of not becoming a sculpture. "Excuse me? Do you know where the nearest motel is? My wife and I have been looking for one to stay overnight in and we could really use your help since we don't know the area." The man explained, clearly having no clue who he was talking to. The woman began to look around the garden at all of the statues - probably not knowing that those used to be alive.
"Excuse me?" Medusa replied, her voice sending a shiver down my spine. Medusa looked at the old man. Without another word, Medusa took her sunglasses off and looked into the man's eyes. Crackling sounds could be heard as the man turned to stone. "Ah, I've been looking for a new addition to my collection." The now dead man's wife turned around and looked at her husband in horror before running off. Smart woman. Most people would have ended up looking at Medusa in shock and turning to stone too.
Medusa then began to look around the garden. "Demigod, I know you're still here." She said in a taunting tone, clearly referring to either me or Luke. Probably me since Luke would most likely be on his way to the next location by now. I saw her walk over to me in the mirror and immediately, I scrambled to get up. I ran, still holding onto the piece of broken mirror.
"You can't run from me Daughter of Hades." I almost stopped in my tracks when I heard her say 'Daughter of Hades'. Was there another demigod here that Luke and I didn't know about? I was the only demigod she was chasing so she had to be talking about me, right? 'She's probably just trying to get to me' I thought to myself, though, the thought was still in the back of my mind. Regardless, I continued running.
Until I reached a fence.
Rapidly, I searched for a way to climb over, but there was nothing. The fence was too high to jump over - even with a running start. I knew that she had probably followed me. She would have known this garden better than anyone. Her malicious laugh echoed through my ears; immediately, I shut my eyes tightly.
"Did you really think you could get away from me?" She asked. I could hear her voice getting closer to me until it felt like she was right behind me. I heard her walk in front of me but I was determined not to open my eyes. "Oh, come on. You're not going to look at me? Not even once?" I didn't answer her, which only seemed to frustrate her more. I felt the snakes that used to be Medusa's hair at some point hovering around my eyes and tapping on my face, trying to get me to do what Medusa said.
"I just want to see your eyes. I heard that they're beautiful." Medusa added, my determination slowly fading away. I shook my head, still not opening my eyes. "You could stay with me, forever. I'm always looking for someone to keep me company. It gets pretty lonely, you know. Staying with these statues all of the time." The snakes on Medusa's head seemed like they were ready to pry my eyes open if they had to. I wasn't about to let that happen. I couldn't do anything though. If I tried to get away, she would probably see it coming and I would be in the same situation.
Medusa went on and on about how she 'needs more company' when really she just wants to turn me into one of her lifesize garden ornaments. I tried shaking my head so that the snakes would stop trying to pry my eyes open but it wasn't working. By this point tears had started rolling down my face and Medusa was mocking me for crying. I even tried using my hands to push the snakes away from my eyes but they only hissed at me. Since I couldn't see the snakes, my plan wasn't very effective. So I screamed. It was the only thing that I could think of doing. I don't know what I had hoped for. I guess I just hoped that I wouldn't die.
Medusa's taunting and persuasive speech that she was trying to give me had stopped. However, I didn't dare to open my eyes. What if it was just a trick? I wasn't going to be turned to stone just because some old hag tricked me. Yes, she was a well-known old hag, but I wasn't going to just be another person on her list of victims. But what if it wasn't a trick? What if me screaming actually did something?
Then, something happened that confirmed to me that it wasn't a trick. Someone hugged me; I immediately recognised who it was, too. It was Luke, so I hugged him back. "Can I open my eyes now?" I asked, not really sure if I should or not. I was still crying a little bit. I think Luke noticed because he started to rub my hair in a comforting way.
Luke chuckled and I felt him laugh lightly. "Yeah, nothing will happen." He replied. Still unsure, I opened my eyes. Luke hadn't killed Medusa. But she was definitely out for at least fifteen minutes to half an hour. There was a hole near her abdomen but nothing was coming out of it except for gold dust. She was lying on the floor with her sunglasses over her eyes and the snakes that she had for hair were limp and laying on the floor too. The only sign that she was actually alive was the fact that you could visibly see that she was breathing. Then it hit me, Luke had saved me.
"Come on, we need to get out of here before she wakes up." Luke mumbled. I nodded and wiped away the remainder of my tears. "Uh... thanks for helping me." I said to Luke, having to look up at him considering how tall he was.
"No problem. I can't have the greenie dying on me." He replied.
"I thought that Percy was the new greenie." I said, raising an eyebrow at Luke.
He laughed, a smirk making its way onto his face. "You're still a greenie. Now, hurry up, we don't want to be here when she wakes up." I walked a bit faster, agreeing with him. I wasn't ready to come face to face with Medusa again.
We walked out of the garden centre and began looking for a place where we could stay the night. We didn't actually have to look that far - there was a car parked just around the corner. My face fell when I realised that it must have been the couples car that were in the garden centre too. Luke looked at me, concerned. "What's wrong?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed.
"There was an old couple in the garden centre and the husband was turned to stone. I think the woman got away but I don't know. I hope she's okay." I replied, feeling a pang of guilt. What if she was still in there? She probably got out... but maybe she didn't.
"I'm sure she's okay." Luke began inspecting the lock on the car before looking at me. "Do you have a bobby pin my any chance?" He asked. Luckily, I had one attached to my sleeve in case I needed to clip my fringe back at any point. I took the bobby pin off the sleeve of my top and gave it to Luke; he used it to unpick the lock on the car and he opened the door. "Ladies first."
A smile made it's way onto my face before I got into the car. I climbed into the back seat since - in my opinion - that was the most comfortable place in a car. Luke climbed in after me and shut the door. He sat down next to me. You could see that we were both extremely tired after our pretty eventful day. "So where are we going tomorrow?" I asked, just before a yawn escaped my mouth. I put my hand over my face whilst I yawned, not wanting to be rude.
"Tomorrow we're going to a motel, then to a museum." Luke replied, I gave him a look of confusion. Why were we going to a motel before going to the museum? Wouldn't it make more sense to go afterwards? "We have to make sure that Percy, Annabeth and Grover are safe. Chiron asked me to keep an eye on them." Of course, at the time I didn't know that he was lying straight through his teeth. I didn't have a clue.
I nodded in response and decided that it was time to go to sleep. Sleeping in a car wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. It must have took me about twenty minutes to try to get comfortable before I decided to just use Luke as a pillow. I put my head on his chest. At first, he didn't do anything. However, after a few seconds, he put his arm around my shoulder and I snuggled closer into him.
