Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XVIII: Grover Negotiates With A Poodle

"So, we have Athena to thank for this monster?" Percy asked out of the blue.

I'm happy to say I managed to resist the urge to smack him upside the head. Annabeth did too, but I don't think she was happy about her restraint. In fact, I'm willing to bet that she wanted nothing more than to pulverize Percy. But that would be counterproductive for our quest.

I decided it would be best if I answered Percy's dumb question this time.

"More like your dad, actually. Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. The two agreed to meet in Athena's temple. Athena got outraged at their disrespect and turned Medusa into a monster, along with her two sisters who helped get her into the temple. The three gorgons. That's why she wanted to crush Annabeth to dust and keep you as a statue. You probably reminded her of your father." I explained.

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

That's when Annabeth lost her patience.

"It's just a photo Annabeth. What's the harm?" she said in a high pitched imitation of Percy's voice.

"Forget it. You're impossible."

"You're insufferable."

"You're..."

"Hey!"

I was immensely glad that Grover stopped them. Honestly, they either found a way to get over their differences, or I would have to get a pair of earmuffs to block out their arguments.

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

It was a good question. We now had a powerful weapon in the form of a severed head that could turn people to stone. But despite how useful that sounded, I really couldn't see myself traveling to the Underworld with a severed snake haired head.

Percy seemed to agree. In fact, it looked like he had directed all his anger towards the severed head.

"I'll be back." he said before disappearing into the warehouse.

The rest of us looked at each other, trying to understand what Percy was planning. We ended up collectively shrugging, since none of us had any idea what was going on in his head, before beginning to look through Medusa's lair in search of anything that we could use. There wasn't much though. I had only managed to find a packet of snacks and not much else.

While we scoured the place, Annabeth spoke up.

"Hey, guys. I've been thinking... about what happened on the bus. About the furies."

I had a feeling I knew where she was going with this.

"They weren't as vicious as they could have been. Almost as if..."

"They were holding back?" I suggested.

"Yeah." Annabeth agreed.

"It was the same at Yancy. The fury had months to kill Percy and Penny but she waited until the field trip. And even then she didn't immediately kill them." Grover pointed out.

"You're right. But why? Why would they hold back. Wouldn't it have been easier to just kill all of us in the bus and stop us from getting to the Underworld? Or to just kill Percy and I at Yancy and prevent us from even getting to Camp Half-Blood?" I wondered.

"There's another thing. Remember what they said on the bus." Annabeth said.

"Where is it?" I recalled.

"Exactly. Where is it? Not, where is he? It's like they were looking for an object, not Percy."

Grover and I frowned in confusion.