Chapter 6

After their bus exploded and defeating the furies, the gods decided to reward them by making it rain on them.

"Well looks like we may need to seek shelter sooner than expected," said Naruto

"I couldn't agree with you more" replied Annabeth

"Hey guys my reed pipes are working," said Grover after giving the pipes an experimental blow

'Great now our suffering can be accompanied by horrible music' thought Naruto, only to chuckle when Percy walked into a tree, "I'm sure that will bring us some good luck Percy."

"What?" Said, Percy

"Forget it," said Naruto, "I think I see something ahead."

"Yeah, I think it's one of those roadside attractions or something," said Annabeth.

As they got close, Annabeth was proven correct as the sight of lawn flamingos, and cement bears greeted them, the only thing troubling them is the name.

"Atnyu Mes Gderan Gomen Meprouim," said Percy and Annabeth

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium" translated Grover

"Dyslexia sucks" commented Naruto, "it also makes getting the right address written on the packages hard. Well, it's the closest shelter we got so let's get going."

As they got closer, they saw that there were multiple stone statues of satyrs, people, and various other subjects.

"Is it me or is this place getting creepy?" said Percy

"It's not you" answered Grover as he looked around, "This one looks like my Uncle Ferdinand."

"What you might be experiencing is called automatonophobia or fear of human-like objects," said Naruto as he walked closer to the door.

"Yeah maybe you're right," said Percy as he followed Naruto

"Anyone home," said Naruto as he knocked on the door, he figured someone would answer as the smell of grease and beef saturated the air.

The smell really got to them as all the meals they had were healthy, lean cut meats and cheeses, and the need to eat something unhealthy was calling to them.

"Anyone else craving a burger?" asked Percy

All but one hand was raised, Grover being a vegetarian was repulsed by the thought.

"They do make a veggie burger," said Naruto, "I'm sure they have some."

The person that greeted them seemed odd as they weren't expecting a woman from the middle east. A black shroud covered her body and face making it difficult to decipher what she really looks like. From what they could gather was the fact she took good care of her nails as they seemed freshly manicured.

"Why are you children out at such a late hour," said the woman in a middle eastern accent

Before Naruto could answer Percy opened his mouth.

"We're Orphans," said Percy

"Orphans, surely not" replied the Woman.

"Yes you see we were part of a traveling circus, and we got separated from rest of our caravan." Said Percy, while the rest of the group just listened to his elaborate lie.

"You poor dears, come inside and rest while I get the phone." Said the Woman

"Thank you so much," said Percy

"Part of the circus that's the best you could come up with" whispered Naruto.

"I panicked" replied Percy.

"You should really leave the thinking to Naruto and me," said Annabeth, "Honestly you must have kelp for a brain."

As they looked around, they spotted a place to sit and possibly talk about their next move, but they were interrupted by a tray of food that the woman brought them.

"I couldn't find the phone, so why don't you kid eat and relax while I go into the back to get my home phone," said the woman.

"Um not to be rude but we don't have any money to pay for this, and I just remembered that I brought my cell phone in my backpack just in case of emergencies," said Naruto, "I couldn't get a good signal until now."

"That's good, but please stay longer," said the woman as she sat down, "I rarely get any visitors."

"Sure we have time," said Percy without thinking

As the four snacked on fried spuds and burgers, the woman stared at them with unnerving eyes. Percy seems to be her favorite as he was the one that she stared at the most.

"So what are your acts?" Asked the Woman

"Uh Grover is the boy that will eat anything, Naruto is a puppeteer, while Annabeth and I tame animals," said Percy

"Really you four must live some interesting lives." Said the Woman

"You could say that," said Naruto

"Do you mind if I take a picture of you four?" asked the woman, "I would love to have something to remember this moment by."

"I don't think we have time for that," said Naruto

"Yeah, the ringmaster must be getting impatient with us." Said Annabeth

"Nonsense we have time," said Percy, "There's no need to be rude."

'If she turns out to be a monster I am going to kill Percy' thought Naruto.

She invited them to the back of her shop so she could get the picture she wanted.

"Now why don't you dearies group together to get this picture." Said the Woman

"Like this?" Asked Percy

"Yes, just like that" replied the woman.

"If you don't mind me asking but where is your camera?" Asked Naruto

"Don't worry about that dearie?" said the Woman, "but it so hard sees you properly with this blasted veil."

'This doesn't feel right' thought Naruto.

"Percy something's wrong," said Annabeth

"Wrong, what could possibly give you that feeling," said the woman as her veil was almost unwrapped.

"Don't look at her or you'll be stoned" shouted Grover after he took a look at one of the statues.

'I am starting to hate this quest more and more' thought Naruto as he hid behind one of the statues.

When Naruto looked around he spotted a reflective ball, so he grabbed it to see what was going on. He saw that Percy managed to escape Medusa's sweet words thanks to Grover whacking her with a stick he found lying around.

'I guess those shoes did come in handy' thought Naruto.

Apparently Luke gave Percy a pair of shoes that could sprout wings and fly. Annabeth managed to convince Percy not to wear the shoes because he was a son of the sea and him going into the air might be the death of him, literally. Percy gave them to Grover because he was the only one without a magical item. They looked horrible but function beat style any day in his book.

"Percy the Grey-eyed one did this to me," said Medusa "She turned me from a beautiful woman into this monstrosity."

'I thought only Aphrodite had that ability' though Naruto, while he was getting further away from the monster, 'You learn something new every day.'

"Join me and forever be free from the burden of the gods," said Medusa

"Don't listen to her Percy" shouted Annabeth.

"Silence you" shouted Medusa, "It's because of the gods that I became like this. Her Mother made me like this because I was near her temple."

"Didn't Poseidon the one that took you to the temple?" said Grover

Before Medusa could reply a car was driven through the yard and collided with Medusa.

"That's the best you could do," said Naruto, "you just jacked a car and possibly aggravated her more."

"I panicked," said Annabeth.

"You insolent child, you just ruined my shop and possible my business," said Medusa

'She just got hit by a car, and she's worried about her business' thought Naruto.

"Just convince Percy to slay her so we can go," said Naruto

"Why Percy, you could easily take care of her," said Annabeth

"I could but Percy needs to learn how to fight a monster and us holding his hand won't help anyone" replied Naruto, "I'll distract her while convincing Percy to kill her."

"If I may ask how?" asked Annabeth.

"A flash bang" replied Naruto, "That will give Percy a good chance to defeat her."

"Good idea," said Annabeth as she began to get closer to Percy

Seeing that Medusa was still recovering and was still staggering, so he retrieved his rapier from his pocket and assumed a thrusting stance. With one hand holding the sword near the pommel while the other hand guided the tip, he calculated the angles the sword needs to hit for the attack to be effective. He aimed the thrust near one of the statues, but instead of the sword piercing the statue, it bounced off the air surrounding it. This pattern continued until a cage was formed around Medusa.

"Hey Medusa, say cheese" shouted Naruto, "antanaklastikí klouví (Reflective Cage)."

The sword caught some of the light from the surrounding area and amplified it to create a blind flash. This managed to stun Medusa as her eyes were sensitive to high amounts of light.

"Now's your chance to end this" shouted Naruto to Percy

With his eyes closed and screaming, for what reason Naruto doesn't know, he ran toward Medusa and managed to sever her head from her neck.

"Good job Percy, but you might want to work on your stealth" commented Naruto, "Now to grab a bag and seal her head."

"What do you mean shouldn't all of her be gone?" asked Percy

"Percy Medusa's head near goes away, it just keeps wriggling until it can regenerate a new body," said Naruto as he saw his sister coming with some plastic bags.

"So what do we do with it?" asked Grover as he stared at the plastic covered head as the group went towards Medusa's warehouse.

"I have an idea," said Percy as he took the head and put it on a table. They didn't know what Percy was up, but they could sense some hostility from Percy. After a few minutes, Percy found what he was looking for, a cardboard box, and placed Medusa's head in it. He wrote the address of Olympus on it and put a few drachmas in the small satchel on the box.

"Percy the gods would see this as an insult," said Annabeth after figuring out what Percy was up to.

"I agree with Annabeth on this," said Naruto, "but you seemed adamant about this try and squeeze in this letter to Hermes."

"Why," asked Percy

"It's our renewed contact, I just need his signature on it," said Naruto

"Do you ever have a day off from your business?" asked Grover.

"I do, but it rare, very very rare," said Naruto

After the package disappeared and the group gathered some supplies from the warehouse, they resumed their quest. They walked for six hours until the fatigue and exhaustion catch up to them.

"We need to set up camp for the night," said Naruto looked towards the sky to see the position of the moon.

"A cleared patch should be up ahead," said Grover

When they enter the field, they saw that it was relatively clean and dry.

"I'll set up camp while the rest of you look around to see," said Naruto as he reached into his backpack and retrieved several pieces of 'paper.'

When Grover, Annabeth, and Percy explored further, they saw that this was a popular party spot as plastic cups littered the ground along with other pieces of trash.

"Sickening" commented Grover, "Mankind can be disgusting."

"Right you're an environmentalist," said Percy

"Yes, and with the rate, human are polluting the earth I'll never be able to find Pan," said Grover

"Pam," said Percy, "like the cooking spray."

"No Pan, the god of Wild Places," said Grover, "I plan to get my Searcher's license and find him. Ever since his disappearance human have trashed and tarnished his kingdom, satyrs everywhere are hoping to find his so he can restore his kingdom."

"Come on guys let's get back to Naruto," said Annabeth, "I'm sure Naruto is done setting up camp by now."

"It's only been five minutes," said Percy as he followed Annabeth.

"My brother can work very fast," said Annabeth as they entered the field.

What greeted them was the sight of a wooden cabin with the lights on and the smell of food being cooked.

"Took you guys long enough," said Naruto as he walked from the cabin

"Where did the cabin come from?" asked a confused Percy

"I packed it" replied Naruto.

"How?" asked Percy

"I had it in my backpack for occasions like this," said Naruto

"That doesn't answer my question," said Percy

"Nor will I," said Naruto as he walked back into the cabin.

"Welcome to the supernatural world Percy," said Annabeth as she joined her brother in the cabin.

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Sorry about posting the wrong chapter, I posted this late last night for me(NZ) and didn't read it right as it was dark.