***
Tyson gave us the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus- who'd apparently been following us ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him -had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham and pulled him to safety. He and Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find us, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.
"Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth is hurt!" Percy told him, thankful for seeing his brother once again.
"You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled.
"No!" Percy said as I knelt beside Annabeth and was worried sick by what I saw. The gash on her forehead was worse than I'd realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood. Her skin was pale and clammy.
Grover and I exchanged nervous looks. Then an idea came to me. "Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"
"Which one?" Tyson said, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.
"In the tree!" Percy said. "The gold one!"
"Oh. Pretty. Yes."
Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If any of us had tried to approach the Fleece, we would've been eaten alive, but I guess Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock didn't bother him at all. They just cuddled up to him and bleated affectionately, as though they expected to get sheep treats from the big wicker basket. Tyson reached up and lifted the Fleece off its branch. Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow. Tyson started wading back toward me, but Percy yelled, "No time! Throw it!"
The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee. Percy caught it with a grunt.
He spread it over Annabeth, covering everything but her face, and I prayed silently to all the gods I could think of, even the ones I didn't like.
Please. Please.
The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The cut on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "You're not...married?"
Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."
"Annabeth," Percy said, "just lay still." But despite our protests she sat up, and I noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely healed. She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter.
Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. "Down!" he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"
They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn't have any treats for them. They wouldn't hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby.
"We have to go," I said. "Our ship is. . ." The Queen Anne's Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, and we'd just destroyed the only bridge. I can't use the shadows to build one that will last long enough, and I definitely can't fly them all. The only other possibility was through the sheep.
"Tyson," Percy called, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"
"The sheep want food."
"I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there."
Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!"
He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit. "Keep the Fleece around you," Percy told Annabeth. "Just in case you're not fully healed yet. Can you stand?"
She tried, but her face turned pale again. "Ohh. Not fully healed."
Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp.
"Ribs broken," Clarisse said. "They're mending, but definitely broken."
"How can you tell?" Percy asked. Clarisse glared at him. "Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."
Before I could argue, Clarisse picked up Annabeth like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. Grover, Percy, and I followed.
We reached the edge of the water, and after a few anxious minutes, I saw the ship rounding the tip of the island.
"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.
"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told the others. "All we have to do is swim for the ship."
"With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested.
"We can do it," he insisted. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."
We almost made it, too.
We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.
***
"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," I 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. I decided to fly, because for me it was easier. And also I hoped I could block the boulders if it came down to it.
But the monster's attention wasn't on the Fleece.
"Percy!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!" We were almost to the ship with the Fleece.
I turned to see the monster chuck a boulder at Percy, who had dove to one side just in time.
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.
"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 I realized he was targeting by the sound of Percy's voice.
"Poseidon won't curse me," my friend 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 he'd been standing a moment before. "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!"
Grover was helping Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically at Percy, telling him to come on. I landed beside Grover, helping Annabeth up.
We finally managed to get Annabeth situated when I heard Clarisse shout, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!"
Shut up, I wanted to yell.
"Rarrr!" Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Tyson and Percy.
"Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted. "You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!"
"Clarisse!" I yelled, unable to stand it. "Shut up!"
Too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time I watched helplessly as it crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge. You wouldn't believe how fast a ship can sink. The Queen Anne's Revenge creaked and groaned and listed forward like it was going down a playground slide. I cursed, the ship's masts already going under.
My friends were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship's wreckage.
Not many people realize that when a ship goes down, it acts like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Clarisse was a strong swimmer, but even she wasn't making any progress. Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Annabeth was hanging on to the Fleece, which flashed in the water like a wave of new pennies. I flew toward them, knowing that I might not have the strength to pull my friends out. Worse, pieces of timber were swirling around them; I couldn't exactly be of any help if I got whacked on the head by a beam.
I went for Annabeth first, about to dive into the water, but before I got to my friend, shapes shimmered in the darkness below- three horses with fish tails, galloping upward faster than dolphins. Rainbow and his friends glanced in Percy's direction and seemed to read his thoughts. They whisked into the wreckage, and a moment later burst upward in a cloud of bubbles- Grover, Annabeth, and Clarisse each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus.
Rainbow, the largest, had Clarisse. He raced over to Percy and allowed Tyson to grab hold of his mane. His friend who bore Annabeth did the same for Percy.
My friends broke the surface of the water and the one with Grover came over to me, and I carefully got on. Together we raced away from Polyphemus's island. Behind us, I could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"
I hoped he never found out he was wrong.
We skimmed across the sea as the island shrank to a dot and then disappeared.
"Did it," Annabeth muttered in exhaustion. "We..."
She slumped against the neck of the hippocampus and instantly fell asleep.
Not long after, Percy was asleep too, his head against Annabeth. Grover was in front of me, looking between where the island used to be in the distance and the Fleece.
***
A/N: The 20th chapter is up, and this is the longest story chapter-wise published so far. Unfortunately for me, maybe good for you, The Titan's Curse is even longer.
Also I'm going to the Ren Faire this weekend! Which is perfect because I'm back in my pirate phase (which is just watching Pirates of the Caribbean a lot but hey).