The drive didn't take long.
As the gas station attendant said, the place they were looking for was just up the road.
The big glowing sign on the roof was a rather obvious giveaway.
'Aunty Em's Gnome Emporium '.
They pulled up to the front as Arachne turned the car off, and all five of them got out with a hint of caution as they surveyed the surroundings.
Even at a glance, for the less experienced like Percy, they could see how thick the Mists were around this place.
But that only made Arachne confused because that may as well be a big neon sign saying that something sketchy was happening here.
That whoever was living here didn't make the effort to use all the Mist Power here to hide themselves.
Either they were exceedingly arrogant, or there was something wrong.
"Dang, that's a lot of statues." Percy whistled. "Look, there's a satyr like Grover." He pointed to one of the statues near the front entrance.
"Percy…. I don't think that's a normal statute." Annabeth said slowly, her special glasses on her eyes as she scanned everything.
"Tis an ominous feeling coming from the building." The Huntress also added.
Arachne walked up to one of the statues, inspecting it. She poked it a few times before frowning. She checked out several more that were all lined up.
"Moooo~"
"Yer right, Mr. Blueberry." Arachne nodded. "Yer insight is the best as always."
"For real?" Percy looked at him too. "Man, that's pretty messed up."
"What?" Annabeth looked at them. "Translation for us that don't speak fish?"
"Mooo."
"Mr. Blueberry!" Arachne squeaked. "Ya don't know that 'bout her. But I can see it."
"Did he just say something about me?!" Annabeth had the distinct feeling that she had been insulted.
"Well, ya called him a fish in a mean way." Arachne huffed, crossing her arms.
"What did he say!?" Annabeth demanded, looking at Arachne and then at Percy.
Percy scratched his cheek. "My mom would slap me if I repeated that."
Annabeth gaped.
"Stop thy foolishness!" Zoe scowled. "We must be prepared for any threat!"
"Hate to agree, but focus please." Luke whispered, sneaking up to one of the windows and peeking inside.
Arachne rolled her eyes. "Aint no one here."
Zoe snapped her head. "Thou dost not know this!"
Arachne just rolled her eyes again, even harder this time. "A already swept my perception over the building, aint feel anything important inside."
"Thy words are nonsense," Zoe scoffed.
"And if ya were half the huntress ya like to pretend ya were, ya would have seen the fresh tire tracks over there." Arachne jerked her thumb to the side of the building. "Ya can even see where someone knocked over a statue in a hurry. Parts o' the statue are buried in the dirt cause it just happened."
Zoe furrowed her brow as she looked towards what Arachne was talking about and noticed the peculiarities as well.
The damp ground indicated a recent rainfall; the fresh tire tracks indicated that it was the first time someone drove through the moist dirt since the recent weather. Noting the downed statue, it shows haste considering that all the other statues were meticulously placed around the building.
"You got all that from just some tire tracks?" Percy asked.
"It's a store that sells statues. No one would leave a broken statue lying around; it makes for bad business. And that's where the owner parks their car; they'd have cleaned it up anyways 'cause a piece of broken statue might pop their tire." Arachne clarified. "So it shows someone left in a hurry."
Annabeth stared at her half-sister silently because it was far too logical and well thought out in contrast to how she normally acts.
The smug and confident look on her face did help reconcile it with the girl, though.
"Oh, and most of the statues here were living people." Arachne threw out, and all of them stilled.
The thought no doubt crossed their minds after everything, but to hear it 'confirmed' was rather startling for them.
Well, Mr. Blueberry also confirmed it as well, but Percy and Arachne were the only ones who understood them. Likewise, Percy didn't react the same way as them after hearing it the second time.
"We have to save them!" Annabeth was the first to respond. "If they turned to stone, then that means they're still alive, right?"
"Right! We can save them!" Luke's eyes lit up. "How do we undo the…curse? Petrification?"
Zoe was silent because she knew the truth.
Arachne was much more blunt about it. "They're all dead."
"What?" Annabeth asked once more. It started to become a trend for her to be confused every time Arachne opened her mouth.
"They're dead." Arachne said just as plainly. "Normal people can't survive being turned to stone fer too long. Maybe a couple days. Not normal people, longer, but there's still a limit, ya know?" She knocked on the closest statue, a man wearing armor that wouldn't look out of place some two thousand years ago. "It aint like they're just turned into stone, inside out. If ya can't guess who owns the place, then ya know who is responsible."
"Is it Medusa?" Percy asked. "I remember my mom reading me some Greek books when I was younger, and she was pretty famous.
"Yeah, it was Medusa." Arachne nodded.
"Don't say her name!" Zoe hissed. "Doth thou know nothing!?"
"Medusa, Medusa, Medusa, Medusa, Medusa, Medusa." Arachne put her hands on her hips, repeating it over and over in a petty way.
Zoe fumed. "Thou art putting all of us in danger!"
"Oh no, the monster we're chasing might hear us and come after us!" Arachne said sarcastically. "Stop bein an idiot."
"Don't call me an idiot!" Zoe stomped her foot.
"As Quest Leader, a proclaim ya a idiot."
"That's not a thing!"
"As Quest Leader, a proclaim it a thing."
"Y-you petulant child!" Zoe was infuriated into silence. She had never dealt with a child so utterly uncaring and arrogant.
Arachne just flipped her hair back proudly. She didn't care to be nice towards the stupid girl.
Arachne walked towards the door to the building. "Well, all're dead 'cept one." She stopped in front of an inconspicuous garden gnome.
Considering the store was called the Gnome Emporium, no one would have given it a second look. Especially since not all of the statues in the place were made from living beings.
Many of them were actually just mundane statues.
"Oi, wake up, or a am gunna punt ya across the road." She nudged the little gnome statue with her foot.
It didn't respond.
She reeled her foot back, and her Magical Energy wrapped around her in a very obvious manner.
Suddenly, the Gnome statue shook, and it quickly came to life.
"I'm awake, I'm awake; don't kick me ya demon girl!" The gnome quickly cried out.
"Is it another leprechaun?" Percy was quick to inspect.
"A leprechaun!? I'm a gnome, you daft lad!" The Gnome said indignantly.
"Sorry, he's Greek." Arachne apologized on his behalf.
The Gnome harumphed, but seemingly took that as an excuse, much to everyone's chagrin. "By my beautiful beard, all ye are Greeks!"
"Why is everyone so weird about us being Greek!?" Annabeth couldn't help but ask in annoyance.
"Everyone hates the Greeks." Arachne responded with a deadpan.
"Tis not true." Zoe crossed her arms.
"No, it's pretty accurate." The Gnome backed her up. "No one like you Greeks."
Zoe's mouth hung open, having it thrown in her face again. She wanted to argue, but gradually, over the time she's met Arachne, her worldview had been gradually broken down, and she genuinely didn't know if they were telling the truth.
"What's the difference between a leprechaun and a gnome?" Luke asked, taking it in stride.
"Leprechauns like ta hoard gold an are stingy an greedy. Gnomes be working for honest coin." The Gnome said proudly.
Arachne nodded. "Ya can trust a Gnome to do a job they are paid ta do, but if you don't pay, you gonna have a bad time."
The Gnome perked up at her praise.
"Neat." Percy added.
Arachne poked the gnome. "Ya be sleepin here, ya know the owner of the place?"
"The snake lady?"
"Ya."
"A know her, lass. It's a good place to hide when ol' Grubble here owes a bit too much gold to the wrong people."
Arachne took out the gold coin she got from the leprechaun. "Tell me what ya know and it's yers."
He snatched it from her hand, bit into it, and nodded. "A right, ya got a deal, whatcha want to know, demon girl?"
"She left in a hurry, ya?"
The Gnome nodded. "She ran outta here like her daddy 'bout to give her the spankin of a lifetime."
"Do ya know why?"
"Felt something scary and a went in hiding. Felt like lightning, really scary, didn't check. Heard her on one of those human talky things, talking to someone far away. Said she was goin to another garden out west."
The insinuation there was very clear, they didn't need to be explicitly told what the 'lightning' was referring to there.
Arachne furrowed her brow. "Garden out west?"
Percy shrugged. "Don't ask me; I know less than you do."
"Garden out west—that could mean many things." Annabeth put a hand on her chin.
"I could try making a sacrifice and asking one of our parents?" Luke offered. "But, where would Medusa of all people go if she had the thing?"
Zoe's eyes widened as if she had a realization. "...no."
[Line Break]
Far off on the other side of the country in San Francisco, there was a garden.
It was renowned the world over, spoken of in myths and legends.
It was home to the infamous Golden Apples of Immortality.
The personal property of Hera, the Queen of Gods.
It was also known as the Garden of the Hesperides, named after the Hesperides, the nature nymphs that tended to the garden and looked after the tree on behalf of the goddess.
Not only the Nymphs, but there was also the famous Hundred-Headed Dragon that guarded the tree.
Legends said that no one ever managed to beat it, that even the legendary Hercules didn't even dare to try and fight it.
There was also one last legendary and mythological significance to the Garden. It was also the place where Atlas—the Titan of Strength and Endurance—held up the sky for eternity.
The Hesperides were known for their singing and dancing. They would often force any intruders to sing and dance until they died as punishment for trespassing. Unless, of course, they took a fancy to a man that entered uninvited. But they still disallowed anyone to steal from the garden.
Yet, at this moment, there was no singing or dancing to be had.
If anything, it was eerily quiet.
If one entered the Garden, they would see stone statues that looked very similar to the Hesperides.
Ladon still stood protectively around the Apple Tree, uncaring about what happened anywhere else as it closed its eyes.
But the disturbance didn't end with this Hesperides.
"So, your name is Medusa?" A gruff and strong voice spoke softly, yet it reverberated through the surroundings.
Atlas stood there, specifically no longer holding the sky up.
He rotated his arm before stretching various parts of his body.
"Y-yes." A woman in sunglasses and a turban wrapped around her head nodded timidly.
"I think I've heard your name before. Something about turning people to stone after being cursed?" The Titan mused. "For your sake, I hope my daughters are okay."
"I—I can undo it!" She quickly said. "They…they left me no choice."
Atlas studied her for a moment before nodding. "Well, they wouldn't let just anyone inside the garden, so I can't fault you. As long as they're fine."
Medusa let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm confused though, how…" He gestured to himself and her. "I believe the mortal saying is, not to look a gift horse in the mouth? But I certainly didn't expect to suddenly get freed from my 'punishment.'"
"I…. I asked an acquaintance for help after someone dumped those on me, and they said to quickly run here, that you would know what to do." Medusa explained, still all but cowering in front of the presence of the Titan.
She left out the parts where Atlas was the only Titan she knew where to find, relatively speaking. And she knew if she tried to find someone to 'help' her find another Titan, they would definitely take the items from her and try to steal her credit.
Thus, she took the risk to find the only publicly known Titan, and it ended up paying off.
Atlas tilted his head back and forth. "Well, I can't say I'm upset. You did good; I'll make sure you're properly rewarded." He grinned. "You have my nephew's distinct…aura all over you. Did you use that helmet of his?"
"Yes, Lord Atlas." Medusa nodded. "I was running here as soon as I could, but I was scared, so I thought I could hide by using that helmet. When I put it on, I realized that I could travel through the Earth much faster than driving…."
Atlas nodded. "I remember that little trinket well." He grinned before straightening his back. "Hooh, that feels good after so many centuries."
"Do you want me to go remove the petrification on the Hesperides now, Lord Atlas?" Medusa asked, not daring to presume anything in front of the legendary Titan.
Atlas waved it off. "They should be fine for a while; leave them for now. I love my daughters, but…my trust is in short supply at the moment. I need about a week to recover my full strength; it's best to keep everything quiet for the moment, don't you think?"
"Of course! Whatever you say." She understood his implication and knew she wasn't going anywhere for the time being.
"Who knew that my nephew's annoying weapons would help free me? I believe this is what they call irony." He chuckled.
Behind him, the sky hadn't fallen, because if you looked closely, it was being held up by two Divine Armaments.
Zeus's Lightning Bolt and Hades' Helm of Darkness.
"After I recover, then I can call to my siblings, and the real fun begins."
[Line Break]
A/N
Ares: I have a brilliant plan!
Also Ares: Fuck.
Yeah, things may have escalated just a tad as the train derailed.
If you want to read 4 chapters ahead of this, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name.