2nd Generation

Chapter 10: I Become Somebody

We had been so absorbed in our conversation, we hadn't even noticed the island in the distance. After Elizabeth and I had woken everyone up, we all gathered on the deck to make a plan.
​"I have an idea. I'll use my Yankees cap to go invisible and distract him, while Elizabeth, April and Whitney get the piece of wool. Don't get it directly from the sheep, there's no magical nature power on the island anymore. It won't work. There should be some inside of his lair, so get that. Tasha, I want you to stay on the boat. Have it ready in case we need to make a quick getaway. Taylor, I want you watch and step in if I need any help against Polyphemus. Remember, Polyphemus is blind, but his other senses are great. Everyone got it?"
​They all nodded, and we got ready. Distracting Polyphemus would be hard, but I was more worried that he wouldn't take the bait and go after my friends instead. This needed to go well. I would've asked the gods for help, but... yeah.
​The boat docked, and everyone but Tasha climbed off. The island had two parts separated by a huge chasm. On one side there were some very thin cannibal sheep, and on the other there were some abnormally huge, but thin regular sheep. If they weren't separated, then the cannibal sheep would eat the other ones. On the side with the regular sheep, there was also cave. In it was Polyphemus and the wool. The chasm was way too big to cross without a bridge. We would have to go up the side of the chasm to get to the cave. Taylor could've flown us up, but then he'd be too tired to fight Polyphemus. We would have to climb.
​"Come on everyone. Strongest at the bottom, weakest at the top."
​April went up first, then Whitney, then Elizabeth, then me, and Taylor last. Between Elizabeth and me, it was hard to tell who was stronger, but we didn't have time to be exact.
​It was hard going. All of us almost fell at least once. April slipped, and Whitney barely caught her before she knocked us all down. Elizabeth lost her grip, and I caught her, but not before I kicked Taylor.
​"Sorry." I said, and we kept going.
​We were only about halfway up, and I was already wishing Taylor had flown us. It was hard to wait for April to find the right hand and foot holds before any of us could go. After about an hour, we finally got to the top. Although we all wanted to lay down and take a nap, we had to keep going.
​"Come on" I said, pulling people off the ground, "We need to keep moving."
​We walked towards the cave and saw that the entrance wasn't blocked. Moaning and grumbling could be heard from the inside.
​"Alright. Everyone remember the plan?" I asked.
​They nodded and went to hide behind some rocks. It was up to me to draw Polyphemus out of his cave. I put on my Yankees cap and set off towards the cave. When I got there, I looked inside and saw that this place was a mess. Nothing was put away, it was all on the floor or in chairs. The moaning and grumbling was a lot closer now. There was Polyphemus, sitting in a room right next to entrance. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Hey Poly!"
​He straightened and looked for me, but of course saw nothing. I was invisible, and he was almost completely blind.
​"Who is there? I cannot see you!"
​"I'm Somebody! Nobody's child!"
​That got his attention.
​"Nobody's child! But I killed Nobody!"
​"Not before Nobody had me, Somebody! You were too late!"
​"WHAT! I killed Nobody, and now I will kill Somebody!"
​He got up and started running towards my voice. Running out of the cave, I turned and yelled, "I'm over here, One Eye!" My mom was great at name calling, but my dad was pretty awful. I was stuck in between.
​Polyphemus turned and yelled a curse at me before charging. I waited and ducked in between his legs. He must have felt me, because he tried to grab me, but he grabbed his own leg and fell. Trying not to laugh, I kept running and hid behind a sheep.
​"Where you going, Horn Head? I'm over here!" I shouted.
​He turned towards me again, and I ran as quietly as I could. Polyphemus, thinking it was me, grabbed the sheep and held it up triumphantly.
​"I caught Somebody! Somebody is not as smart as Polyphemus!" He yelled.
Laughing loudly, I shouted, "Hey, if you're so smart, why am I down here and your sheep is up there! Sorry Sheep Brain, I guess I'm smarter than you!" Then I kept running, because he was barreling towards me.
Elizabeth, Whitney, and April needed to hurry. I couldn't keep this up for much longer. He was too big and too fast.
"Hey Wool Lover, I'm over here!" I shouted to keep him going.
"Get over here, Somebody! Or I will catch you and eat you! Well, I will eat you anyway. You will taste good with some mango chutney! Polyphemus figured out what that is!" he said, laughing.
Just as I was beginning to slow down, I heard a bang come from the cave. One of them must have knocked something down. Polyphemus turned towards the noise and said, "More Somebodies? Polyphemus will feast tonight!" he ran towards the cave and stopped my friends from running out.
"More food for Polyphemus! I will get other Somebody later!" he said, and grabbed my friends. Going in the cave, he forgot to roll a boulder over the entrance. It wasn't much, but at least I could back in. I had to free my friends before Polyphemus ate them.
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I ran towards Taylors hiding spot, and forgetting I was invisible, said, "Taylor!-" Taylor jumped, and swung his sword at me.
"Hey! It's me!" I said, taking off my Yankees cap.
"Sorry." He apologized.
"Come on, we need a plan to save to save them. I have an idea. This time you distract him with my Yankees cap and say that you're Somebody. If Polyphemus realizes that you're a guy and I was a girl, then say that you're a different Somebody. Tell him there dozens of more Somebodies and Nobodies outside of the cave. That'll make him leave Elizabeth, Whitney, and April alone, but probably tied up. I'll sneak in and save them. Distract him for as long as you can. Got it?"
"Yeah. Let's go." He said and took my Yankees cap.
Taylor put on my cap and disappeared while I hid next to the entrance. I couldn't see him, but I heard Taylor shouting from inside the cave.
"Hey, um, Fluffy! Somebody's back! There dozens of Somebodies and Nobodies outside of the cave! Even some Anybodies are out here! Come and get us!"
"More Somebodies and Nobodies and Anybodies?! More than I already have?" Polyphemus asked.
"Many more! Dozens more! Come get us!"
"I will! Other Somebodies, stay while I go get more of you!" I could only guess Taylor had run back out to distract him.
I ran in looking for my friends. At first I couldn't find them, but then saw them in Polyphemus' kitchen. They were tied up on the table. Cutting them free would've been no problem, except the table was ten feet high. I was barely over half of that. If Taylor was here, getting up be no problem, because he can fly, but I definitely can't. There was one chair that was a little lower to the ground, but still too tall for me.
Looking around, I saw a huge cup I could use as a step stool. I dragged it over to the chair, and climbed on. My fingers could barely touch the chair. I needed something else. In the corner, I saw a small pile of regular rope, and grabbed it. On the floor in the middle of the room, I saw a huge fishing hook. I tied the fishing hook to the rope, and swung it, like a grappling hook. It caught on the chair, and I climbed up the rope. Once I got to the top, I unhooked my makeshift grappling hook, and swung it up to the top of the table. I climbed up on the table and ran to my friends.
"Thank the gods we came up with a plan before Polyphemus ate you." I said and grabbed my knife, which was strapped against my arm as always.
After cutting them free, we all ran back to the rope. Elizabeth went down first, then Whitney, then April, and I went last. Instead of trying to get my grappling hook back, we just sled down the chair's leg and onto the ground. Elizabeth grabbed the wool, we ran back outside and heard Taylor shouting awful insults at Polyphemus. He was about as good as my dad at insults.
"Um, I'm over here Big Feet! Come and get us Nose Hair!" Taylor shouted. I could tell he was running out of ideas.
Even though I couldn't see Taylor, he could still see me. Still running, I yelled, "Hey Big Belly! Over here!"
"What are you doing?!" Whitney hissed in my ear.
"Just follow my lead! Split up and confuse him so he doesn't know who to go for."
They did what I said and ran off in different directions. As for me, I was running away from Polyphemus who was lumbering towards me. I drew Riptide and hoped someone would call out to Polyphemus before he caught up to me. Luckily, someone did.
"Phemusy, I'm over here!" April called out, but I could tell she wasn't going to be coming up with any other names that were actually good. Being in a state of panic, she couldn't move. Polyphemus would've killed her, but right then Elizabeth decided to throw a mango at his head. Where she had gotten it, I didn't know, but there wasn't any time to find out.
Still running around and trying to confusing Polyphemus, I suddenly ran into an invisible Taylor. We clashed and fell. I hit my head on a rock when I fell, and felt something warm trickle down my neck, but I couldn't worry about it right now. Polyphemus had just cornered April against some rocks. She was screaming her head off which didn't help. Polyphemus had her right where he wanted her and would've eaten her this time, but I kind of interfered. Even though my head was pounding, I somehow ran up the rock, and jumped on top of Polyphemus. I don't know how I did it, but it was a good thing I did. Confused, Polyphemus stopped going after April, and stood there dumbfounded while I drove my sword into his one eye. Polyphemus disintegrated into ashes, and I fell. The pounding in my head took over my hearing, and I blacked out again.
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My dreams were even weirder this time. Different ones kept coming in and out, so it was hard to tell what was what. I saw the ghost like forms again, and I saw all the different gods again. For some reason I heard a girl's voice say, "Rainbows,", and I saw one too. I had no idea where that came from. But of course, my dreams didn't stop there. There was Ares' man cave again, but this time there was a girl tied up in there. She was a little younger than me and shorter too. What was keeping her tied up, I didn't know. I would've thought it was Ares if he wasn't stuck like all the other gods. A huge shadow crossed over my line of vision and fear filled the girls eyes. Then my dream changed again. I saw flashes of different things, but I couldn't make any sense out of them. It was almost like seeing visions of the future. Grainy, quick, and unfocused.
Then I felt something tickle my head like a spider, which is one of my worst fears. I woke up to my friends worried faces, and almost punched Whitney, who was pouring nectar on my head wound.
"Thank the gods, she's awake!" Elizabeth said and feed me a piece of ambrosia.
"What happened?!" Whitney asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." I replied.
"You finished off Polyphemus and started to fall. When Taylor flu up to catch you, he found you unconscious. He brought you to the ground, and we found blood all over your head and neck. How did you do that?!"
"Oh, before I killed Polyphemus, I literally ran into Taylor. I fell and hit my head on a sharp rock I think. I didn't have time to think about it."
"Didn't have time think about?! You risked your life to save me! I can never thank you enough!" April said and hugged me. Good thing that nectar and ambrosia had already healed my head or she might have squeezed even more blood out of me.
"Why do I always get knocked out?" I asked. It was a fair question. I was always getting knocked out or falling unconscious.
"We were asking ourselves the same question. Are you sure you're alright? Can you stand?" Elizabeth asked.
"I think so." I stood up and started to walk. My head hurt some, but I could live till we got to the boat.
"Let's go," I said, and we set off for the boat. I was still pretty weak, so Taylor flu everyone down the chasm instead me having to climb. We didn't want to take any chances of me falling off, and it would've taken too long for everyone else to climb. But when got to the boat... there was no boat. I cursed Tasha in Ancient Greek and Latin under my breath. Taylor heard me and asked why I was cursing.
"Followed by one good and betrayed by one bad. That was a line in the prophecy. We were followed by Taylor, and apparently betrayed by Tasha. She's been acting weird ever since I asked her to go on the quest. She seemed so triumphant when I asked her, like she had bet on me picking her. Then, when I was fighting Scylla she wouldn't help me even though I asked repeatedly. She was the one who was supposed to hang on to my sword when I wanted to hear the Sirens. And I'm betting.... April, who made the noise that got you guys caught?"
"What? I-I don't know. I thought one of you had caused it."
"Same," Elizabeth and Whitney said at the same time.
"Taylor, did you cause it?" I asked.
"No, of course not!" he said defensively.
"So then it must have been Tasha. She was supposed to stay and keep the boat ready in case we needed a quick getaway. I'm guessing she followed us up somehow and caused the noise to get you guys caught, so she would have enough time to get the boat out of here. I think she also planted the thing I hit my head on. As we were walking back, I saw it was a tiny, sharp knife in the ground. Somehow she knew I'd cut myself, and she'd get even more time to escape. She also knew I'd be too weak to use the water to bring her back if she got far enough. I also think she's working for someone, but I don't know who." The last part was a lie. I did have an idea of who it was, but telling my friends would only cause them even more stress.
Since I was the leader, I would have to shoulder most of the responsibility. That meant I couldn't tell them everything I wanted too. But I could tell Taylor didn't fully believe me. I gave him a look that said I'll tell you later, and I turned back to the others.