FLOWER POWER ─ percy jackson

xxxii. sinking ship

"No way, Seaweed Brain," Aster said, struggling against the new current. "If you fight, I fight. Remember?"

Percy glared at her as she drew a few throwing knives from her ears, staring back at him with just as much intensity. Finally, he relented.

"Fine," Percy said, "but at the first sign of danger, I'm sending you to the ship, and you're going to go. Are we clear?"

Aster saluted him with two fingers. "Aye aye, Captain."

"You're the most stubborn person I've ever met, Flower Power."

"Aww, stop it Barnacle Boy. You'll make me blush."

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder. Percy and Aster dove to avoid it, but they still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble. Aster could feel the ocean helping her along like a crutch, and it reminded her of how the earth had helped her countless times throughout her life. But this time it was Percy helping her.

He then willed the sea to rise. Aster watched in awe as a twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting Percy on its crest. He rode toward the cyclops and kicked him in the eye, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach. Aster rapidly swam towards them, as did Tyson.

"Destroy you!" Polyphemus spluttered. "Fleece stealer!"

"You stole the Fleece!" Percy yelled. "You've been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!"

"So? Satyrs good eating!"

"The Fleece should be used to heal! It belongs to the children of the gods!"

"I am a child of the gods!" Polyphemus swiped at Percy, but he sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"

Aster made it to the beach, sneaking around Polyphemus's other side. She saw Percy's eyes flick up for a split second, registering where she was. She could feel some of her strength returning, being closer to the foliage just beyond the beach. She could feel the presence of the roots under the sand, coming to her as she called them.

"Poseidon won't curse me," Percy said, backing up as the cyclops grabbed air. "I'm his son, too. He won't play favorites."

Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where Percy had been standing a moment before. "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!"

"I know he did not just kill an innocent tree," Aster muttered under her breath.

Grover was helping Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically at them, telling them to come on.

Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.

"Young one!" the older cyclops called. "Where are you? Help me!"

Tyson stopped.

"You weren't raised right!" Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club. "Poor orphaned brother! Help me!"

None of them moved. The only thing Aster could hear was the ocean and her own heartbeat. She felt the roots reach her and tug gently on her ankles, urging her to move towards Tyson, as if they knew he needed help. Aster silently willed some of them to go towards Polyphemus and lie in wait.

Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. "Don't fight, cyclops brother. Put down the–"

Polyphemus spun toward his voice.

"Tyson!" Aster shouted.

But the tree didn't go towards Tyson; it was hurtling straight towards Aster. Everything happened so fast that Aster had no time to react. She braced herself for the impact and her death. But it never came. As the tree hurtled toward her, Tyson dove in front of her, taking the hit from the tree so that Aster didn't have to. He laid sprawled out in front of her a few feet away, in a trench that the impact must have made in the sand, unmoving. Aster's breath caught in her throat as Polyphemus charged after him.