craving |PERCY JACKSON| [book 1] UNDER EDITING

XVI

ANNABETH 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 the black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.

"Are you okay?" Selena asked Percy, putting a comforting hand on his bicep,

"Yeah," He decided, though he felt like throwing up his double cheeseburger. "Why didn't ... Why didn't the head evaporate?"

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

Grover moaned as he climbed down from the 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 commented, "Fucking amazing 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 and Percy recapped his sword.

Together, the four of them 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 had eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak. Finally, Percy asked, "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 fucking dad. You probably reminded her of him."

Percy's face was burning. "Oh, so now it's my fucking 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, "He growled, "You're impossible."

"You're insufferable."

Selena's gaze went back and forth between the two demi-gods, unsure of how to approach them and make them stop arguing.

"You're-"

"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines."