Burning Love

Chapter 16

Frances' POV

Little did we know that entering a Garden Gnome Emporium in the middle of nowhere might be dangerous.

Honestly, why do monsters live in the simplest of all places where innocent mortals normally go?

I remembered my Aunt Alma who had a collection of garden statues very large and lively looking. Whenever she passes a store like Aunty Em's she'd make sure to at least buy one statue.

Good thing she hasn't visited Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium yet.

When we went inside, I can't help but notice human-sized statues that have surprised faces. Their eyes were wide open in fright and ther mouths open in terror.

Medusa Victims.

Medusa can turn people into stone with one glance. Good thing I brought a mirror.

There were different types of statues there. There were gnomes, satyrs, animals, but mostly, there were human statues. All of them in the same surprised look.

I pity them.

I saw a statue of a mother holding her baby in her arms. I saw a statue of two lovers holding each others hands. I saw a statue of a 5-year-old child in a halloween costume holding a pumpkin basket.

As we went on and on in the Emporium, I saw many statues similar to what I have mentioned and it started to make me angry.

Not at them but to the one who did it.

Medusa ruined many mortals' lives. And I bet she doesn't care. It makes me want to kill her more.

"Okay, so here's the plan," whispered Clarisse. "Nico and Leo, just pretend to be normal people looking for directions, after a while pretend to leave, she'll stop you from leaving for sure. Me, Frances, and Dianne will hide in a corner until we attack. Just don't look at her in the eye if she removes her veil. Here, I have pocket mirrors."

Clarisse handed each of us a metal pocket mirror.

"Wait, why do I have to be with death boy?" asked Leo.

"What's the problem?" said Nico raising an eyebrow and giving him a glare.

"Nothing," Leo shrugged.

"So, let's go!" Clarisse said as she grabbed my arm.

We hid in between a statue of a circle of children, playing ring-a-round-of-rosie.

Oh Medusa's SO gonna be dead.

Suddenly, we heard a voice.

"Oh, teenagers!" the voice said. Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern. "What do you want? Why are you all alone? Where are your parents?"

"Um...They..." I heard Nico say.

"They're dead," Leo interrupted Nico. "We came here to ask directions. Do you happen to know a snack bar in these areas?"

"Oh, honestly, I don't," the voice said. "But there's a snack bar here in the Emporium, if you'd like. Come. I'm Aunty Em."

Oh, so the voice was Medusa.

We then heard footsteps coming near our way. Oh right, the snack bar was in front of us. They're coming towards our direction.

We suddenly saw a tall woman walking. She wore a long black gown that covered everything except her hands and her head was completely covered in a black veil.

I thought she sensed our presence because she stopped at the point where the circle-of-children statue was.

But after a while, she walked on.