𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓! [pjo]

I; snake ladies

━━━𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬

.・゜゜・───・゜゜・．

Callahan was incredibly glad she had Percy. She didn't think she would've been able to survive the snake-haired ladies without him, and she definitely would've died when tumbling down the cliffside on a snack platter. They glanced off a rock, lost their platter, and soared over the morning traffic.

This is a hell of a way to die.

But luckily, something Cal depended on, a gust of wind blew them over the traffic and into the hedges along the side.

She felt something snap.

When Percy pulled her up, Cal bit her lip until blood pooled on her tongue and whimpered. Percy's head snapped up from surveilling the area and looked her over, stopping when his eyes landed on her ankle. She looked at him and he nodded. The ankle was twisted, maybe broken.

"What do we do?"

Glancing up the hill, the Gorgons were making their way down quickly, maybe five minutes?

"Perc-"

"You're right, of course"

The old hippie lady wasn't looking at Cal. She was staring at Percy with eyes that didn't fit her outfit. She was decked out in jewelry and tie-dye cloth dress, with fuzzy brown hair and maybe three teeth.

"It isn't a maintenance tunnel" She confided, " It's the entrance to the camp."

A tingling spread across the back of her neck. Camp. Yes. They were from a camp. Something didn't feel right about it, but at this point, Cal didn't care. She needed rest.

The old lady raised her eyebrows, "Not much time, my children. You need to make your choice."

Percy looked at her, and she nodded, grabbing his hand.

"Wherever you go, I go, remember?" She whispered. He nodded and squeezed her hand. He turned back, and demanded,

"Who are you?"

"Oh, you can call me June." Her eyes sparkled like she was telling an inside joke, "It is June, isn't it? Oh! They named a month after me!"

"Ok...look, we need to go. Two gorgons are following us and I don't want them to hurt you."

Cal looked back behind them and watched as they sprouted wings like a bat that glinted like bronze.

"Percy. Percy. We need to go."

He looked back at her and nodded before looking back to June.

"Yes, a choice," June said as if she were in no hurry. "You could leave me here at the mercy of the gorgons and go to the ocean. You'd make it there safely, I guarantee. The gorgons will be quite happy to attack me and let you go. In the sea, no monster would bother you. You could begin a new life, live to a ripe old age, and escape a great deal of pain and misery that is in your future."

Cal sighed quietly. That sounded really nice, and she was sure she wouldn't like the second option.

"Or...?"

"Or you could do a good deed for an old lady," she said. "Carry me to the camp with you."

"...Carry you?"