In Denial

So there they were, Annabeth, Percy, Grover and Y/N, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind them, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in their noses.

Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."

Y/N was thinking hard too. About why her bow and arrow didn't work the way it should. Atleast that's what Chiron told her. But Annabeth kept pulling them along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."

"All our money was back there," Percy reminded Annabeth, "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 get killed?"

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."

"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."

"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.

Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."

They sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.

After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to Percy. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate you coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."

"We're a team, right?"

She was silent for a few more steps. "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."

Y/N was walking behind them. She heard them talk. Maybe if it was a crowded area she wouldn't be able to listen but it was completely silent in the forest. She could hear every word they said clearly.

And she felt restless.

Why was she feeling restless? She should be fine because finally Annabeth and Percy were getting along right? Finally they'll be able to come up with better plans if they are not coming for each other's throats. This should be good for all of them. She focused on the conversation going on before her.

The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind, leaving them in almost total darkness. Percy couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.

"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were nine?" Percy asked her.

"No...only short field trips. My dad-"

"The history professor."

"Yeah....Y/N told you, didn't she? It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." She was rushing her words out now, as if she was afraid somebody might try to stop her. "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."

"You're pretty good with that knife," Percy said.

"You think so?"

"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."

Percy couldn't really see, but he thought she might've smiled. It felt funny. It felt like someone pulled at his heartstrings. Oh wait.

This is gonna be weird now, isnt it? Maybe it was the same with Y/N. He tried to reason and find logic but it just wasn't working. If he genuinely talked with some logic, he knew what everyone would say if he told about how he felt.

He was...starting to have a...teensy bit of a crush on the blonde. Ofcourse it wasn't the same with Y/N. They weren't like this. Something felt different with Annabeth. He wasn't sure what, but this sure as hell was the first time he felt like this for someone he has been quarreling with so much time. He did think she was beautiful back when he was in the hospital bed, and she was feeding him ambrosia.

"You know," she said making him snap out of his thoughts, "maybe I should tell you ... Something funny back on the bus ..."

Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.

"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"

He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.

Instead of finding a path, Percy immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on his head.

Grover stopped after a while though. While the blonde and the new kid were busy talking to each other, he quietly moved next to Y/N who seemed to be very focused on where she was stepping. Well, good she's being cautious but...rocks and grass can't be that interesting for so long right?

"You're awfully quiet," he said, making Y/N jump up in surprise.

She sighed and replied, "Oh Grover you scared me," she hit his arm lightly with a small smile on her face.

"So? What's...making you worry so much?"

"You were...reading my emotions?"

"Uh...sorry, it's just that...the road is way too boring for you to look at for so long."

"Okay..just lower your voice," she said looking at both of her friends, still talking to each other. "It's just that...I feel like both of them are ignoring me for volunteering to tag along. I'm probably being a dead weight right now. I'm just so sorry but I couldn't wait for so long like her. I don't want to become hopeless like the others."

"...dead weight? Why would you-"

"Because all of you were fighting and my arrow did nothing. Chiron said it's divine but nothing happened. Heck, I wasn't even sure if you wanted to talk to me."

"Y/N, you're way too bright for someone to ignore you."

"...do you mean I'm loud?"

"Yeah, that too," he chuckled, "but is that it?"

"what," Y/N fidgeted her fingers uncomfortably, "what do you mean?"

"I mean I feel like there's more than that you're worried about."

Y/N chuckled, "You damn satyrs know everything. I'm worried that I'll be all alone again if....those two..."

"and you'll be sad too right? No offence, but I've read your emotions when you talk with him and...I guess you are in denial but you genuinely have..a crush on him."

Her face became red, and she blushed furiously. She stammered, "Y-You know t-that? How can you..be sure?"

"Apart from watching your face? Yeah, it's kinda what satyrs are capable of doing. Besides, I'm just glad your mood didn't affect any of us. You know? Your mood can...make people sick sometimes."

She stopped walking and held his hand. Her grip tightened around his wrist as she muttered, "Promise me you won't tell a soul about this. Especially not them? Please?"

"Sorry for invading your privacy but yeah, I don't go around leaking people's private stuffs."

Y/N sighed in relief and smiled. She heard Percy's voice from the front, "What are you guys doing? How are both of you so slow!"

"Coming! Just tripped on something!" Y/N immediately said, and turned to Grover mouthing the words 'thank you'. Yeah it felt like she got hit by a bus when Grover put it so bluntly, but she knew this. She was in denial after all. But...it felt nice to have someone know about it and to talk to.

[ TIME SKIP ]

After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, they started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. They could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. They kept walking until they saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.

It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like they'd hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible to read, because if there's anything worse to dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.

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

"I don't know," Annabeth said.

She loved reading so much, but then again she was dyslexic, too. Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."

Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.

They crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.

"Hey.." Grover warned.

"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."

"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.

"Snack bar," she agreed.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."

They ignored him.

The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.

"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

They stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Wait seriously?" Y/N asked, looking at him, "Like are you very sure about it?"

"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy reminded him.

"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are ... looking at me."

"Guys I think we should listen to him and search the area quietly if he's smelling monsters?" Y/N said. But just like Grover, even her words were ignored. She would've thought he has gone nuts if it weren't for all the things she knows satyrs are capable of. If he's smelling monsters then there's sure as hell something in there.

Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of them was a tall woman, she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all they could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so they imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.

Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"

"They're ... um ..." Annabeth started to say.

"We're orphans," Percy said.

"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"

"We got separated from our caravan," Percy said. "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 said. "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."

They thanked her and went inside.

Annabeth muttered to him, "Circus caravan?"

"Always have a strategy, right?"

"Your head is full of kelp."

The warehouse was filled with more statues-people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces - all life-sized.

At the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything they could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.

"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said.

"Awesome," Percy said.

"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."

Before Percy could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, "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.

Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly. "Quite all right, Annabeth," she said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." Only later did they wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though they had never introduced themselves.

The hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before they knew it, she'd brought them plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.

Percy was halfway through his burger before he remembered to breathe. Annabeth slurped her shake. Y/N ate some peri-peri french fries. Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.

"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."

"I take vitamins. For my ears."

"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."

Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her headdress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched them eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at them when they couldn't see her face. Feeling satisfied after the meal, and a little sleepy, Percy figured the least he could do was try to make small talk with our hostess. Y/N watched the boy in between and Annabeth next to him. She frequently looked to and fro between them, before Grover nudged her and gave a look, which finally made her stop.

"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."

"A lot of business on this road?"

"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 turned and saw a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. The detail was incredible, much better than seen in most garden statues. But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even terrified.

"Ah," Aunty Em said 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?" he 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. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that he couldn't help feeling sorry for her.

Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "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."

"Percy?" Annabeth was shaking him to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."

She sounded tense as Y/N noticed, but she wasn't sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now. Y/N looked at the woman before them. Something about her story made Annabeth change her attitude. She wanted to escape. But why from this...woman. It was a valid question right? Unless they were facing some kind of monster like...Grover smelled before.

"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "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. "We really should go," she said.

"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!" Percy looked sleepy and confused.

"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?"

"A pose?" Annabeth asked warily.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy-"

"Sure we can," he said. Percy was irritated with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who'd just fed them for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."

"There is a harm. We can't afford to be late Percy. We have a deadline...uh, the ringmaster might leave before us for the next show," Y/N said sternly, that's right. It was kind of an advantage that she was very little interested in her but if this woman is keeping two of her friends on their toes, it definitely means danger. She tried to make him look at her face. But he...avoided looking at her. Ofcourse he was mad, but was she not obvious enough with her tone when she said it? Or was he just blinded by pity for the woman?

Annabeth didn't like his way of speaking, but she allowed Aunty Em to lead them back out the front door, into the garden of statues. Aunty Em directed them to a park bench next to the stone satyr. "Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girls in the middle, I think, and the young gentlemen on either side."

"Not much light for a photo," Percy remarked.

"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"

"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.

Aunty Em 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?"

Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."

She still had no camera in her hands.

"Percy-" Annabeth said.

Some instinct warned him to listen to Annabeth, but he was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady's voice.

"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil...."

"Percy, something's wrong," Annabeth insisted.

"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?"

"Gosh, I can't believe she had to spell it out for you." Y/N sighed.

"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.

"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and Percy both off the bench. Y/N turned her head to the left, immediately after she said. She was like an eagle when it came to this. Her reflexes were very fast and she knew how to keep pin-drop silence when she was around her prey. Before they know it, she would've already swept them off and straight up going for the kill. She ran behind one of the statues, her eyes on the ground.

Y/N's heartbeat fastened and she started humming nervously. She heard Medusa shout in rage. She wasn't exactly good in shooting with her eyes closed and just by hearing sound. Not yet. She can try it, but it won't have effect on Medusa like it didn't on the Furies. She has to sing a tune to paralyze her, something she learned quickly from the Apollo kids, but with her friends around? How exactly? If only they were away from Medusa, she would've told them to shut their ears and eyes but that wasn't the case now.

[ TIME SKIP ]

Something fell to the ground next to Percy's foot. It took all his willpower not to look. He could feel warm ooze soaking into his sock, little dying snake heads tugging at his shoelaces.

"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."

They just had a major fight with Medusa - Grover used Luke's shoes to attack her, Annabeth guided and used her intelligence and lastly, Percy was the one who beheaded her.

And Y/N? Yeah, she did nothing. She couldn't do anything. She was too scared to use her arrows without looking at her, scared to hit her friends and her voice? Yeah no, it was a disadvantage with all of her friends around. She was a burden, well, she felt like one.

She came up next to Percy, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."

Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice. Annabeth ran towards them.

"Are you okay?" she asked Percy, her voice trembling.

"Yeah," he decided, "Why didn't ... why didn't the head evaporate?"

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."

Grover moaned as he climbed down from a grizzly statue. He had a big welt on his forehead. His green rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.

"The Red Baron," Percy said. "Good job, man."

He managed a bashful grin. "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."

He snatched his shoes out of the air. Percy recapped his sword. Together, the four stumbled back to the warehouse.

They found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. They plopped it on the table where they'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.

Finally Percy said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

Annabeth flashed him an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. 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."

His face was burning. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."

Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of his voice, she said: "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"

"Forget it," Percy said. "You're impossible."

"You're insufferable."

"You're-"

"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"

Y/N was quiet the whole time. She didn't know what to say. She wasn't a help at all. Clearly Chiron was right. Anything more than three is unlucky.

They stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!

Percy got up. "I'll be back."

"Percy," Annabeth called after him. "What are you-"

He searched the back of the warehouse until he found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. He folded up the bill and stuffed it in his pocket.

In the cash register he found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. He rummaged around the rest of the office until he found the right-size box.

He went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, 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 going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

Percy poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as he closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!

"I am impertinent," he said. Percy looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.

She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that he had a major talent for ticking off the gods. "Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."

Oh but Y/N recognized the look. And that too coming from Annabeth? No one got that look, as long as she remembers.

She looked at him the same way...Y/N looked at Percy. She understood where both of them stood. Yeah, she remembered her Ruby's words. She wasn't so sure but that was a part of why she wanted to come right? Because of her selfish needs? I mean, who could blame her. Annabeth was beautiful. But...her? She only heard it from her family. She felt insecure that Annabeth would....Y/N felt sick. She was thinking like this about her own friend? She should be happy.

Y/N sighed and got up. "Anyone's hurt?" she asked, "So no one else except...Grover right?" She pulled him and went away from the two of them. They could end their fight and become...friends again. It's good for them. Besides, she promised them to heal when they get wounded.

"Where are you going?" Percy asked.

"To have a concert," Y/N said and entered Medusa's office.

"....wait. Are you...gonna give a solo performance in front of me?" Grover asked with a stupid grin on his face.

Y/N chuckled and asked, "What?"

"Yeah we all know only special people get that. The only time one can hear Y/N Y/L/N alone was only if they were special to her. Am I special?"

"Where did you-? You know, nevermind. This camp has some weirdass rumors." Y/N smiled and sat down in front of him, "But it's kind of true I guess. You'll get to hear it some other time. But right now, let's focus on that bump on your forehead." She touched the affected area while Grover flinched a bit, and started singing hymn 5 and 2 together - five eases pain and two heals minor injuries.

He felt his injury getting healed instantly. Grover touched his forehead and felt the bump gone.

"You have a beautiful voice," he complimented, "consider me your first fan."

"Every child of my father does."

Grover chuckled, "I don't care about others man. I care about my friend and you are one amazing singer."

Y/N blushed hearing the compliment. She wasn't used to it, at all. Even after all the performances in her school, she went back home early. Besides, the kids weren't as nice to her like Grover was.

As they were about to get out of the room, Grover stopped her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah...why? I mean, I practically did nothing."

"No...I meant emotionally. Cause...I don't need my power to sense something between them. You're okay with that?"

"I have to. They're my friends."

"Then...I'm sorry to tell this beforehand cause I don't wanna dampen your mood but it will cushion the blow I guess," Grover contemplated for a minute whether to say it or not, but he decided she should know this.

"I know you're well aware how Annabeth is feeling cause you're her friend. But....Percy...his emotions...well...they match with hers."

Y/N chuckled and smiled. Her heart felt heavy. Why was it happening? She should've avoided him after nursing him. She shouldn't have listened to Annabeth when she wanted to introduce them. But...she'll observe. That's it. She won't be butting in between them that way, right?

"So...their feelings are mutual huh.." Y/N sighed and quickly came back to her senses, "Anyways, we should go."