The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 15 - Alex - Sleigh Ride

"How about we call it a draw?" he said. "I can't kill you. You can't kill us. If you're Medusa's sisters—like the Medusa who turned people to stone—shouldn't I be petrified by now?"

"Heroes!" Euryale said with disgust. "They always bring that up, just like our mother! 'Why can't you turn people to stone? Your sister can turn people to stone.' Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, boy! That was Medusa's curse alone. She was the most hideous one in the family. She got all the luck!"

Stheno looked hurt. "Mother said I was the most hideous."

"Quiet!" Euryale snapped. "As for you, Percy Jackson, it's true you bear the mark of Achilles. That makes you a little tougher to kill. But don't worry. We'll find a way. And then your sister will be out of your protection as well."

"The mark of what?" I asked.

"Achilles," Stheno said cheerfully. "Oh, he was gorgeous! Dipped in the River Styx as a child, you know, so he was invulnerable except for a tiny spot on his ankle. That's what happened to you, dear. Someone must've dumped you in the Styx and made your skin like iron. But not to worry. Heroes like you always have a weak spot. We just have to find it, and then we can kill you. Won't that be lovely? Have a Cheese 'n' Wiener!"

That explains why he's not dead yet, I thought.

Maybe if we just fell down the mountain...would we survive? I looked at Percy, and he was mouthing at me 'Sample.'

I looked at Stheno's large silver platter of free samples. Hmm... he did have brains. Sometimes.

"Reconsidering?" Stheno asked. "Very wise, dear. I added some gorgon's blood to these, so your death will be quick and painless."

"You added your blood to the Cheese 'n' Wieners?" I asked, bewildered.

"Just a little." Stheno smiled. "A tiny nick on my arm, but you're sweet to be concerned. Blood from our right side can cure anything, you know, but blood from our left side is deadly—"

"You dimwit!" Euryale screeched. "You're not supposed to tell him that! He won't eat the wieners if you tell him they're poisoned!"

Stheno looked stunned. "He won't? But I said it would be quick and painless."

"Never mind!" Euryale's fingernails grew into claws. "We'll kill him the hard way—just keep slashing until we find the weak spot. Once we defeat Percy Jackson, we'll be more famous than Medusa! Our patron will reward us greatly! Now, first the girl-"

I gripped the Trident. Percy would need the plate, not me. Not when Lupa had thought me the trick. 'Keep them talking,' Percy said, focusing on grabbing the plate.

"Before you slash me to bits," I said, "who's this patron you mentioned?"

Euryale sneered. "The goddess Gaea, of course! The one who brought us back from oblivion! You won't live long enough to meet her, but your friends below will soon face her wrath. Even now, her armies are marching south. At the Feast of Fortune, she'll awaken, and the demigods will be cut down like—like—"

"Like our low prices at Bargain Mart!" Stheno suggested.

"Gah!" Euryale stormed toward her sister. Percy took the opening. He grabbed Stheno's platter, scattering poisoned Cheese 'n' Wieners, and slashed Riptide across Euryale's waist, cutting her in half.

He raised the platter, and Stheno found herself facing her own greasy reflection.

"Medusa!" she screamed. But she didn't have time to react. My trident had gone through her body and returned. But they were reforming. Fast.

He put the platter behind his butt, said a prayer to whatever Roman god oversaw stupid sledding tricks, and jumped off the side of the hill. I jumped down, my trident underneath my feet as it turned into a short surfboard, except it now had wheels. I remembered that I'd have to thank Lupa later.

I heard the gorgon sisters screaming and caught a glimpse of Euryale's coral-snake hair at the top of the hill. Percy was screaming too, but in a low volume. Kind of like the shock had made him softer. The roof of the apartment building loomed below him like the prow of a battleship. Head-on collision in ten, nine, eight..

He managed to swivel sideways to avoid breaking his legs on impact. I jumped out on time. The surfboard I was on went sailing through the air alongside the snack platter, and zoomed back to me in the form of a large glowing purple pendant. I flapped my arms idiotically, and a gust of wind blew us to one side—just enough to miss the highway and crash into a clump of bushes. It wasn't a soft landing, but it was better than asphalt.

Percy groaned.

"We need to keep going," I said, struggling to my feet.

"Great words from the one that had enough time to sleep," Percy said, but he got up too.

He glanced up the hill.

The gorgons were hard to miss, with their colorful snake hair and their bright green Bargain Mart vests. They were picking their way down the slope, going slower than us but with a lot more control. Those chicken feet must've been good for climbing. 

"Five minutes?" Percy asked.

"Ten bucks says four," I replied.

"You're on."

I glanced east. Just as a hundred yards uphill the highway cut through the base of the cliff. Two tunnel entrances, one for each direction of traffic, stared down at us like eye sockets of a giant skull. In the middle, where the nose would have been, a cement wall jutted from the hillside, with a metal door like the entrance to a bunker.

It might have been a maintenance tunnel. That's probably what mortals thought, if they noticed the door at all. But they couldn't see through the Mist.

Two kids in armor flanked the entrance. They wore a bizarre mix of plumed Roman helmets, breastplates, scabbards, blue jeans, purple T-shirts, and white athletic shoes. The guard on the right looked like a girl, though it was hard to tell for sure with all the armor. The one on the left was a stocky guy with a bow and quiver on his back. Both kids held long wooden staffs with iron spear tips, like old-fashioned harpoons.

I smiled a bit. After so many horrible days, we'd finally reached the goal. If we could make it inside that door, we might find safety for the first time since the wolves had sent us south.

Percy looked to me, his eyes gleaming. I nodded, smiling at him, and took his hand, holding it tightly. We were there.

"I am never going downhill on a snack platter again," Percy said. He looked at the door in confusion, however. I titled my head. What was wrong?

"Percy.. if you're thinking about-" I began.

"You're right, of course," said a voice behind us, and I jumped.

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