No Look Into Her Eyes pt1
"What are you doing, you damn pig, Potter?" Percy said while holding his cheeks after Harry's slaps, feeling that they must be completely red and a little swollen right now.
"We have to get out of here fast," Harry said seriously, not even paying attention to his brother's pain.
"Huh? Why? Auntie M is pretty—"
Before he could finish speaking, a roar echoed from the back hallway. It sounded like the hiss of a snake mixed with the scream of some enormous monster.
At that moment Annabeth was waking up thanks to Harry's Enervate spell. When she heard the roar of the monster, her eyes snapped open and she said in panic,
"Medusa! Auntie M is Medusa! We have to get out of here!"
Percy didn't say anything else. Quickly all of them got up and ran toward the front door, rushing through the shop.
When they reached the door, they realized it was locked, and not with any ordinary lock. Percy grabbed the handle, but immediately let go when he felt it burning his hand.
"It's really hot," he said, blowing on his hands.
Meanwhile Harry and Grover ran toward the window facing the parking lot. Harry touched the frame and immediately realized every window had been sealed with the same material. The metal felt almost boiling hot.
Annabeth, on the other hand, kept watching the corridor where Medusa would appear. The hallway was still lightly covered in ice from Harry's magic.
Grover, however, was staring in confusion at a specific statue just outside the window. The same one he had said earlier looked like his uncle.
"It doesn't look like him… it is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover shouted in panic when he realized it.
"My magic won't hold her for long," Harry said immediately, looking toward the same hallway Annabeth was watching.
"Don't look into her eyes!" Annabeth shouted just as the sound of cracking ice and something enormous dragging itself across the floor began echoing from the hallway, getting closer at frightening speed.
The four of them ran toward a nearby door that seemed to lead to a basement. Without hesitating, they opened it and rushed down the stairs.
The basement was enormous. Almost the size of a football field. And it was filled with all kinds of statues, packing crates, and materials used to protect sculptures during long trips.
For a moment they were stunned. Because if they knew Medusa's story well, they knew those statues hadn't been carved by human hands.
They could be real people turned into stone.
When they saw a couple that seemed to have been placed there recently, still wearing hiking clothes, they understood that, just like Auntie M had said earlier, she had received visitors shortly before them.
And surely, just like them, she had tricked them with her false kindness and sweetness before turning them into stone.
But they didn't have time to look for long.
They could hear Medusa's furious scream behind them, enraged by Harry's attack and their escape.
"Where are you?" she shouted from the entrance of the basement.
Annabeth quickly put on her Yankees cap and disappeared from sight.
Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak and covered himself with it.
Grover and Percy didn't think twice and slipped under the cloak with him, the three of them squeezed together while covering their mouths so they wouldn't make a sound.
Then something began dragging itself down the stairs.
What appeared looked like a massive snake. On top of that monstrous body was Auntie M herself. Now she had removed the veil that had been covering her face.
The three of them almost felt tempted to look at her face. Which, considering that meant becoming permanent decoration, was not a very good idea.
But Annabeth suddenly shouted, as if she knew exactly what they were thinking.
"Don't look at her face!"
The three of them froze immediately and lowered their gazes.
Meanwhile, Medusa slithered forward, lowering her massive body as she tilted her head, searching for where Annabeth's voice had come from. In doing so, she ended up turning her back to them.
Through the invisibility cloak, Harry could see that Medusa's hair was covered in snakes that hissed at each other.
And then he heard them speak.
"Turn them to stone… quick, quick… now… stone… daughter of Athena… son of Poseidon… revenge…"
Harry couldn't help thinking that if Auntie M heard all those snakes talking like that all the time, just like he was hearing them now, it actually made some sense that she had gone insane.
And it also made sense that she had turned all those people into stone while pretending to be a sweet, kind grandmother.
Suddenly Medusa's face turned directly toward where the three of them were.
The boys looked away instantly.
"Percy," Medusa said softly as she moved slowly, looking around for them.
"Why are you running from me, dear? Earlier you acted so chivalrous. It isn't good manners to ignore a lady."
Harry shot his brother a look, as if silently saying that this was exactly what he got for following Luther and Arthur's teachings.
But Percy shot him an annoyed look in return, silently ordering him not to make even the slightest noise.
"You remind me of your father, Percy," she said again.
That caught Percy's attention. He almost moved, but Harry grabbed him to stop him.
"So handsome, chivalrous… noble. A natural Don Juan," she said softly, her voice sounding almost tender.
"But a lying, deceitful bastard who didn't hesitate to throw me aside when that woman cursed me," she continued, and her voice suddenly turned aggressive.
"That's right. It was Annabeth's mother. The damned Athena, jealous of my beauty, turned me into this," she spat with rage.
Then her tone softened again.
"But you're not like your father, are you, Percy? You're better than him."
Harry, Percy, and Grover glanced at each other for a moment beneath the invisibility cloak. From the expressions on their faces, it was pretty clear what they were thinking.
Yeah… this woman was completely insane.
"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth shouted when she noticed how Medusa was trying to lure Percy with her words.
"And don't you dare look at her face!" she added.
"Silence!" Medusa roared.
Her massive body lifted slightly as she smashed a nearby statue where Annabeth's voice had come from. The stone exploded into pieces with brutal force.
"Percy… I have no quarrel with you. Only with the daughter of that woman," Medusa whispered again, her voice almost purring.
"So you can leave, Percy. I'll let you go."
"I could never harm someone as adorable as you," she added.
"Just let me see that face one last time… the one that looks like your father."
As she spoke, her eyes slowly scanned the basement, searching for him.
Percy noticed something shining between the statues and glanced toward a corner for a moment. There was a kind of crystal sphere there, and an idea formed in his mind instantly.
Then he looked at Harry.
The two of them began making silent gestures. Harry shook his head, frowning. Percy made a few strange hand signals while Grover watched them in complete confusion, trying to follow the silent conversation.
Harry studied Percy's gestures for a few seconds.
He made a very unhappy face.
Then he sighed and gave a slight nod.
Percy raised his thumb.
After that, he slowly walked toward the crystal sphere and picked it up carefully before stepping out from beneath the invisibility cloak. At the same time he pulled Riptide from his necklace.
Harry looked at Grover and whispered quietly,
"Take good care of the invisibility cloak. It's a gift from my father."
Then he also stepped slowly out from under the cloak, gripping his wand tightly while his other hand searched inside his bag, pulling out his spell tome.
Grover tried to stop them.
But the two boys had already dashed off in different directions, leaving him alone beneath the invisibility cloak.
Grover stayed still for a second.
He knew very well those two were about to do something dangerous. He had seen them do things like this before, many times, back at Hogwarts.
He let out a small, resigned sigh.
Then he looked down at his feet.
The sneakers Percy had given him.
Even if they had originally been Luke's gift to help Percy, they were on his feet now.
Grover clenched his teeth.
Then he ran off as well, still covered by the invisibility cloak.
He had no idea what those two were planning.
But he wasn't going to stay behind.
After all, he was their protector.
Medusa slithered between the crates and statues, her massive tail scraping across the floor. The snakes in her hair continued hissing restlessly, twisting in every direction as if trying to sense the intruders before she could.
Suddenly, a sound caught her attention.
Not far away, a statue had been moved.
Medusa moved quickly in that direction, her long body sliding between the crates with surprising speed, and she immediately looked behind the statue with wide eyes, ready to turn anyone who met her gaze into stone.
But there was no one there.
She frowned.
Then she slowly turned her head, searching around.
And at that exact moment she saw a hand sticking out from behind a nearby crate, holding a wand.
"Lumos and Flash!" Harry shouted.
Instantly, a blinding light exploded in front of Medusa, a mixture of two spells that burst like a small sun inside the basement.
The burst of light blinded her for a moment.
Medusa reared up on her tail, covering her eyes with her hands while the snakes in her hair hissed furiously and twisted violently to avoid the light.
At that same moment Percy, who had been standing on top of one of the crates, leaped down like a shadow.
In one hand he held his sword.
In the other, the crystal sphere.
Looking through the sphere to avoid seeing her directly, Percy aimed for Medusa's neck and struck.
But unfortunately, with everything distorted through the crystal, the blow wasn't perfect.
The blade only grazed Medusa's shoulder.
The creature roared in pain.
Furious.
Percy clicked his tongue when he realized he had missed by inches. Without wasting a second, he landed on the ground and ran at full speed between the statues and crates.
Medusa lunged after him, still half blinded, barely able to see shadows moving through the lingering light.
She followed the shape she believed was Percy when he ducked behind a crate.
But when she leaned her face around the side...
She heard Harry's voice again.
"Flash!"
Another burst of light exploded right in front of her eyes.
"Graaah!" Medusa roared in fury while squeezing her eyes shut and covering them with her hands.
At the same time, her tail slammed violently against the ground and the surrounding crates, lashing out in several directions and shattering multiple stone statues.
Annabeth, who had been watching everything from her invisibility thanks to her cap, couldn't help looking at the two brothers in surprise.
Harry and Percy were almost perfectly synchronized.
Their strategy, simple as it was, was actually very effective against a monster this dangerous; one single mistake could turn them into stone.
And she wasn't going to just stand there watching.
She moved quickly as well.