cacoethes |PERCY JACKSON| [book 2]

XXV

"YOU'D THINK HE'D RUN out of rocks," Percy muttered.

"Swim for it!" Grover said. He and Clarisse plunged into the surf. Annabeth hung on to Clarisse's neck and tried to paddle with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down.

But the monster's attention wasn't on the Fleece.

"You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. "Traitor to your kind!"

Tyson froze.

"Don't listen to him!" Percy pleaded. "Come on."

Percy and Selena pulled Tyson's arms, but they might as well have been pulling a mountain. Tyson turned and faced the older Cyclops. "I am not a traitor."

"You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. "Thieving humans!"

Polyphemus threw his first boulder. Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

"Not a traitor," Tyson said. "And you are not my kind."

"Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He immediately stumbled and fell on his face. That would've been funny, except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.

"Percy! Selena!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"

They were almost to the ship with the Fleece. If they could just keep the monster distracted a little longer ...

"Go," Tyson told Percy and Selena "I will hold Big Ugly."

"No! He'll kill you." Percy replied, "We'll fight him together."

"Together," Tyson agreed.

Percy drew his sword and turned to Selena, "Go. We got this."

"You've got this, Aquaman." She told him before swimming towards the ship where the others were.

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder. Percy dove to one side, but he still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble.

Percy willed the sea to rise. A twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting him on its crest. Percy rode toward the Cyclops and kicked him in the eye, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach.

"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!" He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and Percy realized the Cyclops was targeting by the sound of his voice.