𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟖: 𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐚 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠
SEA OF MONSTERS DAY 2
POLYPHEMUS' ISLAND WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. It contrasted the nightmarish island Olivia had conjured up in her mind. And sure, it did have a rope bridge across a chasm, but that was it. The green fields and tropical fruit trees completely took away from the 'horrific monster living here' thing.
Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. "The Fleece," she said once they were close enough.
Olivia could sense its healing abilities from where she sat. She could feel its power. Powerful enough to heal anything, even restore them to better condition than before. Like Thalia.
Her tree, of course.
"If we take it away, will the island die?" Percy asked.
"No," Olivia said. "It'll just return to what is was. The Fleece can heal things, and that will be that, of course. But to completely change things that don't need to be healed? You can't remove it or else the island will return to its sad little state."
In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep stood, seemingly peaceful, but the fact that they were the size of hippos really brought that into debate. Behind them, a path that led into the hills, and at the top of that was a massive oak tree with a glittering fleece in its branches.
"This is too easy," Percy noted. "We could just hike up there and take it?"
Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed be a guardian," she said carefully. "A dragon or..."
A deer conveniently emerged from the bushes. The poor thing trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal. It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves. Grass and fur shot through the air around them.
A few moments later, the sheep all moved back to their original spots, and a pile of clean bones lay where the deer had been.
They all exchanged looks.
"They're like piranhas," Annabeth said.
"Piranhas with wool," Percy said. "How will we-"
Something caught Olivia's eye. "Oh, my gods! Look."
She pointed down to where she could see a small boat... the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.
"There's a chance the others made it out of there, too," Olivia said.
"You're right," Annabeth said. "Percy, do you realize what this means? There might be hope for Clarisse and Tyson yet."
"All we have to do now is get to them," he agreed. "But how?"
They quickly came to the conclusion that there was no way they'd get past the man-eating sheep. Annabeth wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but Olivia and percy quickly convinced her that the plan would only go downhill. The sheep could possibly smell her. Another guardian of the Fleece could appear. Anything could happen.
And if that happened, there was no way they could save her.
Besides, their main priority was to find Grover and whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat-assuming they'd gotten past the sheep. Olivia could tell that Percy was secretly hoping that Tyson survived somehow. Admittedly, so was she.
They moored the Queen Anne's Revenge on the back side of the island where the cliffs rose two hundred feet in the air. Percy told them he figured the ship was less likely to be seen there.
Olivia figured the cliff would be pretty easy to climb, but it didn't stop her from summoning her bow and tying a rope from her bag around an arrow. She fired the arrow as high as she could, getting a good chunk of the way up the cliff.
She was allowed to climb her way up first, and Annabeth followed suit, with Percy right behind. They only nearly died about once or twice, or six times. But hey, that was better than usual. Percy lost his grip sat one point and Olivia sent a rock out of the side of the cliff and through the sleeve of his shirt in a panic. Another time, Annabeth's foot hit a slippery patch of moss and she slipped, trying to catch her balance.
She was successful in doing so, but Percy's face paid the price for it.
Finally, when they reached the end of the rope, Olivia huffed and mumbled, "I'm gonna die doing this." With a wave of one of her hands, she summoned the light around herself and focused on getting to the top of the cliff.
Annabeth made a sound of annoyance when she realized what was happening, and Percy also started huffing about it, but Olivia ignored them, beaming the three of them to the top. Once they were there, Annabeth swayed slightly, as if she was feeling sick.
"I hate that," Percy groaned, dramatically laying on the ground.
"If you fools want, I'm more than happy to leave you to climb the rest of the way next time," Olivia glowered.
"Ugh," Percy said in response.
"Garrr!" bellowed another voice.
Olivia whirled around, quickly hushing her friends as she slowly looked down the narrower side of the ledge. Right below them, Polyphemus stood, wearing a baby blue wedding... outfit with Clarisse tied up and hanging over a pot filled with boiling water and Grover in a wedding dress.
"You're a feisty one!" Polyphemus yelled.
"Challenge me!" Clarisse yelled back. "Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"
The monster roared with laughter.
Annabeth and Percy crept to the edge, sitting beside Olivia. They gasped as they all realized they were right above Polyphemus' cave.
"Hmm," Polyphemus pondered. "Eat loudmouth girl now or wait for wedding feast? What does my bride think?"
He turned to Grover, who backed away from him and nearly tripped over his bridal train. "Oh, um, I'm not hungry right now, dear," he managed to get out. "Perhaps-"
"Did you say bride?" Clarisse demanded. "Who- Grover?"
"Shut the hell up," Annabeth muttered. "She has to shut up."
Polyphemus glowered. "What 'Grover?'"
"The satyr!" Clarisse yelled angrily.
"Oh!" Grover yelped. "The poor thing's brain is boiling from that hot water. Pull her down, dear!"
Polyphemus' eyelid narrowed over his baleful milky eye, as if he were trying to see Clarisse more clearly.
The Cyclops was absolutely awful. Part of that was because his rancid smell was up close and personal, and he freaking smelled. It was also because Olivia could see that his "wedding outfit" was just a crude kilt and shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedos, as if he'd skinned an entire wedding party.
"What satyr?" asked Polyphemus, looking around excitedly. "Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?"
"No, you big fucking idiot!" snapped Clarisse. "That satyr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!"
Even though she'd defended the daughter of Apollo on the ship, Clarisse was really pushing Olivia's buttons. Her words had made Polyphemus second-guess everything. He turned and ripped off Grover's wedding veil-revealing his curly hair, the scruffy adolescent beard he'd apparently grown, and his tiny horns.
Polyphemus breathed heavily, trying to control his growing rage. "I don't see very well," he growled at Grover. "Not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in eye. But YOU'RE-NO-LADY-CYCLOPS!"
He snatched Grover's dress off immediately after that. Underneath, the Grover that Olivia knew reappeared, wearing his usual jeans and T-shirt. He yelped and ducked as the Cyclops swiped over his head.
"Stop!" Grover pleaded. "Don't eat me raw! I-I have a good recipe!"
Percy reached for his sword, but Olivia grabbed his arm. "Wait," she whispered.
Polyphemus was hesitating, a boulder in his hand, ready to smash Grover to pieces. "Recipe?" he asked Grover.
"Oh y-yes!" Grover stammered, thinking quickly. "You don't want to eat me raw. You'll get E. coli and botulism and all sorts of horrible things. I'll taste much better grilled over a slow fire. With mango chutney! You could go get some mangoes right now, down there in the woods. I'll just wait here."
The Cyclops thought about the offer. "Grilled satyr with mango chutney," he said aloud. He looked back at Clarisse, still hanging over the pot of boiling water. "You a satyr, too?"
"No, you overgrown pile of dung!" she yelled at him. "I'm a girl! The daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!"
"Rip my arms off," Polyphemus repeated, chuckling as if he found Clarisse hilarious.
"And stuff them down your fucking throat!" she added.
Polyphemus nodded. "You got spunk."
"Let me down!" Clarisse shouted.
Polyphemus snatched up Grover in his hand. "Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for the main course!"
"But... you're still getting married?" Grover sounded hurt. "Who's the bride?" Grover asked, his bottom lip trembling.
Is he serious? Olivia thought.
Polyphemus looked toward the boiling pot, and Clarisse made a strangled sound as realization dawned on her. "Oh, no! You can't be serious. I'm not-"
Before someone could do anything, Polyphemus plucked her off the rope like she was fruit on a tree, and tossed her and Grover deep into the cave. "Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!"
Then the Cyclops whistled, and a mixed flock of goats and sheep-smaller than the man-eating woolballs of death-flooded out of the cave and past their master. As they went to pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back and called them by name-Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, you get it.
As soon as the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder in front of the doorway as easily as Olivia slammed her door whenever she threw tantrums with Andrew or Fran, shutting off the sound of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.
"Mangoes," Polyphemus grumbled to himself. "What are mangoes?"
He strolled off down the mountain in his baby-blue groom's outfit, leaving the others alone with a pot of boiling water and a six-ton boulder.
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THEY ONLY GAVE UP ON OPENING THE DOOR AFTER WHAT FELT LIKE HOURS.
Nothing worked. The boulder wouldn't move. They yelled into the cracks, tapped on the rock, did everything they could think of to get a signal to Grover, but if he heard them, they couldn't tell. At some point, Olivia tried to just stab a rock through it using her powers from the Underworld, but that had been a miserable failure. The only way to move the rock was to have Polyphemus himself do it.
Percy growled in frustration and stabbed Riptide against the boulder. The sword made some sparks go flying, but nothing else happened. Turns out that large rocks and magic swords weren't good opponents.
The trio sat on the ridge in a hopeless misery and watched the distant baby-blue shape of the Cyclops as he moved among his flocks. He had wisely divided his regular animals from his man-eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island. The only way across was the rope bridge, and the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.
Olivia sighed in discontent as she watched Polyphemus visit his carnivorous flock on the far side. Sadly, he wasn't eaten alive. They seemed to actually like him.
"Trickery," Annabeth decided eventually. "We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery."
"Okay," Percy said. "What trick?"
Annabeth frowned. "I haven't figured that part out yet."
"Great," Percy said sarcastically.
Olivia nudged him with her arm. "Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside," she pointed out.
Annabeth nodded. "Exactly," she said.
"At sunset,"Percy spoke. "Which is when he'll marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner. I'm not sure which is grosser."
Olivia snorted. "Me neither," she agreed.
"We could get inside, Liv," Annabeth said, "invisibly."
"If he opened the door, I could wrap myself in light or shadows and just fade away from sight," Olivia said with a small grin.
"And I have my cap," Annabeth agreed.
"Okay, good for you two," Percy said with a sarcastic smile. "But what about me?"
"The sheep," Annabeth mused. She gave Percy one of those sly little side eye looks Olivia had become familiar with over the years. "How much do you like sheep?"
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DON'T LAUGH, OLIVIA LILY JADE ANWORTH, SHE WARNED HERSELF.
She watched as Percy struggled to keep the sheep wool out of his nose and mouth while he hung upside down from one's belly.
"Just don't let go!" Annabeth said, standing invisibly next to her.
"Easy for you to say," Percy grumbled under his breath.
The sun was going down now. Almost seconds after Percy was in position, Polyphemus called, "Oy! Goaties! Sheepies!"
The flock dutifully began trudging back up the slopes toward the cave.
"This is it!" Annabeth whispered. "We'll be close by. Don't worry."
The girls were walking up to the cave, Olivia hoping Percy didn't fall off and get caught by Polyphemus. Suddenly, Annabeth stopped them. "Wait."
"What?" Olivia asked her.
"Hasenpfeffer!" the Cyclops roared, patting one of the sheep in front of Percy's. "Einstein! Widget-eh there, Widget!"
"Remember what Odysseus called himself when he met Polyphemus?" Annabeth asked, getting Olivia's attention back on her.
"Yeah, Nobody," the brown-eyed girl answered. "Why?"
She got the feeling Annabeth was making that sly face again. "You go in," the blonde girl said. "I've got another idea."
"What's the plan?" Olivia demanded.
Annabeth sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'm gonna trick Polyphemus into thinking that I'm Nobody returning to mock him."
"That's... actually genius," Olivia said after a moment to think.
"Actually?" Annabeth questioned her.
Olivia narrowed her eyes even though she knew Annabeth couldn't see her. "You know what I mean," she said.
Olivia looked over to see that the last sheep were making their way inside. Just before Polyphemus rolled the stone back into place, Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"
Polyphemus stiffened, standing upright. "Who said that?" he demanded angrily.
"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.
That got exactly the reaction she'd seemed to be looking for. The monster's face turned red with rage as he stomped angrily, triggering a little earthquake.
"Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"
"You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody."
"Get inside," Annabeth whispered before she ran off.
Just as Olivia approached the door, Polyphemus bellowed furiously and grabbed the nearest boulder. Fortunately for them, it was his front door. Unfortunately, he threw it toward the sound of Annabeth's voice.
The sound of the rock smashing into thousands of pieces rang in Olivia's ears. For a very long moment, there was silence. Then, Annabeth shouted, "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!"
Polyphemus howled in rage. "Come here!" he screamed. "Let me kill you, Nobody!"
"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," Annabeth taunted. "Come find me!"
Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice. Luckily, in his frenzy to find his longtime enemy, Polyphemus had forgotten to reseal the cave entrance. He also didn't stop to consider that Annabeth's voice was very clearly female, and the first Nobody had been male.
But then again, he wanted to marry Grover after thinking he was a lady Cyclops, so maybe he wasn't the best at telling voices apart.
Percy dropped off of Widget, patting the sheep on the head and apologizing. Olivia dropped the light she'd used to cloak herself as she entered the darkness.
"We should stick together," Percy told her.
"No kidding," Olivia said sarcastically. "For once, you have common sense, White Boy."
"You gonna keep calling me that?" Percy asked, squinting his eyes at Olivia.
"For as long as I want to," Olivia responded, crossing her arms.
They searched the main room first, but neither Grover nor Clarisse were there. They had to push through the crowd of sheep and goats toward the back of the cave.
It wasn't like the place was easy to navigate, either. They ran down corridors littered with bones, walked past rooms full of sheepskin rugs and life-size cement sheep that Olivia easily recognized as the work of Medusa. There were collections of sheep T-shirts, large tubs of lanolin cream, and wooly coats, socks, and hats with ram's horns.
After an eternity, Percy led her to the spinning room, where Grover was huddled in the corner, trying to cut Clarisse's bonds with a pair of safety scissors.
"It's no good," Clarisse groaned. "This rope is like iron!"
"Just a few more minutes!" Grover said desperately.
"Grover," she cried, obviously tired and exasperated. "You've been working at it for hours!"
Right after that, they noticed the duo.
"Percy? Olivia?" Clarisse said. "You're supposed to be blown up!"
"Good to see you, too," Percy said to Clarisse. "Now hold still while I-"
"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated and tackled Percy with the biggest hug Olivia had ever seen. "You heard me! You came!"
"Yeah, buddy," Percy chuckled. "Of course I came."
Grover turned to Olivia with a smile of relief. "Olivia! Thank the gods! Finally, someone with common sense!"
"Hey!" Percy complained as Olivia threw her arms around Grover.
"Annabeth's outside," Olivia said, ignoring the son of Poseidon.
"But there's no time to talk," Percy said. "Clarisse, hold still."
Olivia pulled her Stygian dagger out. "I've got this," she said.
"Um, Liv," Grover said. "I don't know how well that will work."
"Well, my grandfather turned down my request for a Stygian iron sword, so it's back to the dagger."
When Clarisse tried to move, Olivia held her still. She brought the arrows to Clarisse and sliced off her ropes.
"Stygian iron," she said proudly. "Gets the job done."
The daughter of Ares stood stiffly, rubbing her wrists. She stared at Olivia for a moment, then looked at the ground and mumbled, "Thanks."
"Mhm," Olivia hummed. "No problem."
"Was anyone else on board your lifeboat?" Percy asked suddenly.
Clarisse looked surprised by the question. "No. Just me." she said. "Everybody else aboard the Birmingham... well, I didn't even know you guys made it out."
Percy looked at the ground, seemingly more miserable. "Okay. Come on, then. We have to help-"
An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that gave Olivia a clear signal that it was too late.
It was Annabeth crying out in fear.
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