?as the world caves in?

?we visit an interesting statue garden?

Grover turned and looked at the satyr. "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

"Grover, look this way, dear."

"Percy." I said.

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

"Percy, somethings wrong." I insisted to him.

"Wrong? Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"

"That is Uncle Ferdinand!"

"Look away from her!" Annabeth yelled and put her cap on, shoving Grover off the bench.

I grabbed Percy and pulled us both off, and scrambled to my left, almost tripping over him.

Percy slowly got up and started to look at her face.

"No! Don't!" Me and Annabeth screamed at him.

"Run!" Grover yelled. "Maia!"

Aunty Em— more like Medusa —kept talking to Percy, trying to convince him to look at her.

"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy. Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth cried. "Run, Percy!"

I tried listening to her, but Grover was right next to me with his shoes and they wouldn't stop making noise. He struggled on a tree, and suddenly flew off with a branch.

I heard a noise, and figured he whacked Medusa with the branch.

I shut my eyes and ran to the commotion, blindly twisting the gem of my ring, hoping I didn't stab myself with my sword.

"Hey guys! I think she's unconscious!" Grover yelled. She made a roaring noise. "Maybe not!"

I swung my sword around where I knew Medusa was, but it was hard because Grover was also there, attempting to do the same thing as me.

"Coriane!" Percy yelled. I turned to where he was and opened my eyes. He held his sword and a glass ball for some odd reason. I took this as my signal to move away, so I did just that and stood behind a statue.

I gripped my sword and heard Annabeth yell, "Coriane! Watch out with that thing!"

"How was I suppose to know you were there!"

"Fair point."

Suddenly all the noise stopped.

"Mega-yuck." Grover said and I kept my eyes closed as I walked to them.

"Don't look." Annabeth said as she picked the head up with the veil.

Once she did, I went in front of Percy.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, my voice slightly shaky.

"Yeah," Percy said, but he didn't look too good. "Why didn't... why didn't the head evaporate?"

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war. Same as your Minotaur horn."

"But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you." Annabeth added.

Grover moaned as he climbed down from a grizzly statue.

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

Grover had a 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."

I twisted my sword back into a ring and we all went back to the warehouse.

"So we have Athena to thank for this monster?" Percy asked.

Annabeth glared at him. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mothers 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 in your dad. You probably remind her of him."

"Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."

I looked at Percy. "It's just a photo, Coriane, what's the harm?"

"Forget it, you're impossible." Percy said to me.

I scoffed. "You're insufferable."

"You're—"

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

"I'll be back." Percy said suddenly.

"Percy? What are you..." I trailed off as he walked away.

He came back to our table with a box, put the head in it, and began to fill out something.

I read what it said.

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 ignored him, put some drachmas in a pouch and the package disappeared.

"I am impertinent."

"Come on," Annabeth muttered. "We need a new plan."