5 
5 Stone Statues
The stone statues began to march in a circle around Athena and Persephone. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. As they marched, they chanted a song. It was a rock concert!
“Once we were animals. Now we are stone.
“Changed by a mortal girl perched on a throne.
“Each one of us she has skillfully trapped.
“Now it’s your turn to be magically zapped.”
Persephone gulped. “Zapped? That doesn’t sound good.”
“Changed by a mortal girl?” said Athena. “But mortals are human. And humans don’t have magic zapping powers. Maybe this zap-girl is some kind of special evil mortal?”
“We’re doomed!” Persephone wailed.
Just then hissing sounds filled the air around them. The stone statues stopped marching, and everyone looked up.
High in the sky were huge green letters that spelled out one word:
“Who is Medusa?” Persephone asked.
“A mean girl with snake hair,” Athena explained quickly. “I think she must have zapped a bunch of real animals and turned them into those stone ones. Then she made them her army!”
Now the green letters broke apart and wiggled around to form a new word: SANDALS.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Medusa wants my sandals,” Athena added.
Both girls peeked down at Athena’s golden-sandaled feet.
“Well, they are supercute,” said Persephone.
Athena shrugged. “But even more important, they can fly. A goddess named Hestia told me Medusa might use them to make trouble for Mount Olympus.”
Persephone got a determined look on her face. “Then we can’t let Medusa get them!”
All of a sudden they heard a terrible cackle. “Eee-heh-heh!”
It was Medusa! For some reason she was bald now. She glanced up at the green letters high above them. She snapped her fingers.
“Wiggle Warts!” she called.
At her command the green letters broke apart into long squiggles. They shot down from the sky. Each had a flicking red tongue!
Athena blinked in surprise. Those squiggles were Medusa’s snakes! Now they wiggled back to her head and became her hair again.
“Wow! Skywriting snake hair!” said Persephone.
Medusa snapped her fingers once more. The stone animals moved aside, and she stepped closer to Athena. “Give me the sandals,” she demanded.
Athena shook her head. “I already tried, remember? They won’t come off.”
Medusa glared at her. “Then prepare to be zapped into stone!”
The wings on Athena’s sandals fluttered in fear. The daisies on Persephone’s head drooped with fright.
Pink Tail the owl had said that Medusa couldn’t hurt Athena if she stayed on the road. But she and Persephone had crossed into the field. Now Medusa could spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E for them!
Athena thought fast. “Wait! I’m wearing the sandals.”
“So?” asked Medusa.
“So if you zap me into stone, the sandals will also turn to stone,” explained Athena. “And they will be too heavy to fly.”
Medusa pointed a green finger at Persephone. “Oh yeah? Then maybe I’ll turn your flower girl friend to stone instead.”
“Um, no, thanks,” Persephone said.
Thinking fast, Athena grabbed Persephone’s hand. “If you turn Persephone to stone while we’re holding hands, I’ll turn to stone too. And so will the sandals!”
Medusa frowned. Her snakes flicked their tongues and hissed.
Oliver barked at them. “Woof! Woof!”
“Shush, you silly dog! I’m trying to think,” grumped Medusa. Then she smiled. It was an extra-mean smile. Evil, in fact!
Medusa squinted her eyes at Oliver. Zap!
Suddenly Oliver sat down and stopped barking. He didn’t move. And he wasn’t white anymore. He was gray!
Athena tried to pet him. His fur was stiff, hard, and smooth. He’d been turned to stone! “Nooo! What have you done?” she wailed.
Medusa just cackled. “Eee-heh-heh!”
“Please change him back,” begged Athena.
“Nope. Not unless you find a way to give me the sandals,” said Medusa.
“Oh, Athena! I brought you bad luck again!” groaned Persephone.
“No! It’s not your fault,” said Athena. She had to think of a way to fix things!
Her gaze fell on the book bag she held. It was covered with stickers. Stickers as shiny as mirrors. Hmm. She had tricked those plum trees. Could she trick Medusa, too?
Athena crossed her fingers behind her back. “Okay, Medusa. If you zap Oliver back to life, I’ll give you the sandals. They listened to me a while ago when I told them to stop flying. So if I ask them to leave my feet, I think they will. Then you could grab them.”
“I like your plan. It’s a deal!” said Medusa.
Athena went to stand beside the stone bear. Then she said to Medusa, “But before you can have the sandals, I want you to zap this stone bear back into a real one. That’s to prove you’ll be able to change Oliver back when it’s time.”
“Sure,” Medusa said eagerly. She squinted at the stone bear. Zap!
At the exact same moment, Athena held up her book bag. She tilted it so the zap hit one of the shiny animal stickers instead of the bear.
The shiny sticker acted like a mirror. Medusa’s zap bounced off it and hit Oliver. Bling! Glittery sparkles whooshed around the little dog.
“Woof! Woof!” Athena’s trick worked! Oliver turned into a real dog again.
She scooped him up in her arms. “Run!” she yelled to Persephone.
“Hey!” Medusa shouted as the two girls took off toward the hill. “Did you just do magic? You are goddesses, aren’t you?”
Athena and Persephone just kept on running.
Behind them Medusa shook her fist. “You just wait! I’ll get you next time. Those winged sandals will be mine!”