𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃.
"i got nobody!" polyphemus gloated.
he held up empty air.
when he shook his fist, annabeth's baseball cap fluttered to the ground.
annabeth appeared, hanging upside down.
"hah!" the cyclops said. "nasty invisible girl! already got feisty one for wife. means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!"
annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed
there was a gorey cut on her forehead, and her eyes were glassy.
"i'll rush him." percy whispered to clarisse. "our ship is around the back of the island. you, cherry and grover-"
"no way." all three answered at the same time.
clarisse had a rams-horn spear from the cyclops's cave.
grover had found a sheep's thigh bone.
he definitely wasn't happy about it, hut he was ready to attack.
cherry searched through her pockets, and pulled out a knife with a red blade.
"we'll take him together." clarisse o sister.
"yeah." grover spoke, not believing he'd just agreed with clarisse about something.
"but i'm still gonna-" cherry began.
"sacrifice me?" percy guessed. "all right. attack plan macedonia."
it was a move from the training course at camp half-blood.
cherry had watched it several times.
they would sneak around either side and attack the cyclops from the flanks while percy held his attention in the front.
cherry would go to the back.
percy lifted his sword and yelled, "hey, ugly!"
the giant whirled toward him. "another one? who are you?"
"put down my friend. i'm the one who insulteed you."
"you are nobody?"
"that's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool! i'm nobody and i'm proud of it! now, put her down and get over here. i want to stab your eye out again."
thankfully, the cyclops dropped annabeth.
unfortunately, it was headfirst onto the rocks.
cherry gasped.
"is she dead?" she questioned.
the monster charged at percy.
cherry rushed to annabeth's side, while clarisse and grover helped percy defeat the monster.
the redhead propped her friend up, as she spoke to her.
it was no use.
cherry rushed over to the spot she'd been at before.
she plucked annabeth's invisibility cap from off the ground, and then returned to annabeth.
the girl lifted annabeth, and carried her.
cherry balanced annabeth, and looked around for a plan.
she saw the bridge in the distance.
as slowly as she could, she made her way over to it, and crossed.
percy noticed that the girls were gone.
"fall back!" he told clarisse.
she rolled away from the cyclops.
percy, clarisse, and grover ran towards the bridge.
polyphemus hobbled right after them.
he was slow, and mad, but still powerful.
"grind you into sheep chow!" he promised. "a thousand curses on nobody!"
"faster!" percy yelled at clarisse.
cherry was on the other side of the hill.
she set annabeth down.
"cherry!" percy yelled. "get your knife!"
cherry pulled the concealed blade from out of her pocket.
she popped it open, and began to saw at the ropes. one of them snapped.
"percy, hurry the fuck up!" cherry demanded, as she continued to cut.
clarisse and percy dove into the floor.
percy slashed the rest of the ropes with his sword.
the cyclops howled with delight, because he was standing
right next to them.
"failed!" polyphemus yelled gleefully. "nobody failed!"
clarisse and grover tried to charge him, but the monster swatted them aside like flies.
then, he picked cherry up off the floor.
percy snapped up.
in an instant, he'd completely forgotten that he was outmatched.
all he thought about, all he seemed to see, was the red haired girl who hated him more than anything.
percy attacked over and over, slashing and kicking until polyphemus was sprawled on his back, dazed and groaning.
grover had stayed at annabeth's side, and clarisse grabbed cherry and dragged her to safety.
percy lifted riptide to the cyclops' eye.
"ugh." polyphemus groaned, a tear welling up in his eye. "please, no! m-my sheepies need me. only trying to protect my sheep!"
the monster began to cry.
cherry felt just a little bad.
"kill him!" clarisse yelled. "what are you waiting for?"
the cyclops sounded so destroyed.
slightly like tyson had.
all percy needed to do, was stab.
"he's a cyclops!" grover warned. "don't trust him!"
"we only want the fleece." percy told the monster. "will you agree to let us take it?"
cherry observed the blonde.
he had too much empathy.
maybe not for her, but it was there.
cherry realized, then, that he had just saved her life.
percy hadn't even turned to look back at her; he wasn't looking for forgiveness, or a reward.
"no!" clarisse shouted. "kill him!"
the monster sniffed. "my beautiful fleece. prize of my collection. take it, cruel human. take it and go in peace."
"i'm going to step back slowly." percy told the monster. "one false move.."
polyphemus nodded like he understood.
percy stepped back, and polyphemus smacked how mto the edge of the cliff.
"foolish mortal!" he rose to his feet. "take my fleece? ha! i eat you first."
he opened his enormous mouth, and cherry tried to figure out what to do.
quickly, something flew right over percy's head.
a big rock sailed right into polyphemus's throat. the cyclops choked, and staggered backward.
his heel slipped, and the edge of the cliff crumbled beneath him.
he fell into the chasm.
cherry turned, looking in the direction that rock had flown from.
"bad polyphemus." tyson shook his head. "not all cyclopes as nice as we look."
"tyson!" cherry cried out. "oh my god, you're okay. hi, tyson!"
"hi." tyson greeted, as if nothing had happened.
he explained to them all what had happened.
a hippocampus named rainbow had been following them for a while, waiting for tyson to play with him.
he 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 his friends, until tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.
cherry wanted to hug him, but he was standing in the middle of all those sheep.
"tyson, thank the gods. annabeth is hurt!" percy yelled out.
"you thank the gods she is hurt?" tyson was a little confused.
"no!" percy knelt beside annabeth, growing pale at the sight.
he looked over at grover, who was just as nervous.
"tyson, the fleece. can you get it for me?" percy looked up.
"which one?" tyson looked around at the hundreds of sheep.
"in the tree! the gold one!"
"oh. pretty. yes."
tyson walked over, careful not to step on the sheep.
if any of the others had tried to approach the fleece, they
would've been eaten alive.
maybe it was because tyson was a cyclops, too?
tyson reached up and lifted the fleece off its branch.
the leaves on the tree turned yellow.
tyson began his slow descent back.
"no time! throw it!" percy yelled.
the gold fleece flew through the air.
percy caught it, and almost dropped it.
he spread it over annabeth, and began to silently pray.
cherry watched as the girls eyelids open.
"you're still alive!" cherry refrained herself from pulling the girl into a bone crushing hug.
"i am. and grover's not.. married?" annabeth spoke, slowly.
grover grinned. "no. my friends talked me out of it."
"annabeth." percy stopped her. "just lay still."
cherry looked at the pair.
if love existed, it was right there in front of her.
annabeth sat up.
she looked a lot better.
"down!" tyson told the sheep. "no, sheepies. this way! come here!"
"we have to go." percy told them. "our ship is.."
"super fucking far away." cherry huffed. "we're gonna have to go through the sheep."
percy looked over at the girl, finally taking his eyes off annabeth.
the bridge was crumbled.
they really didn't have anywhere to go.
"tyson." percy called. "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"
"the sheep want food." tyson told him.
"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."
"come, sheepies! uhm, people food this way!"
tyson jogged into the meadow.
the sheep followed him.
"keep the fleece around you." percy told annabeth. "just in case you're not fully healed yet. can you stand?"
annabeth 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 informed. "they're mending, but definitely broken."
"how can you tell?" percy asked.
clarisse glared him me. "because i've broken a few, runt! i'll have to carry her."
clarisse picked the girl up and carried her down to the beach.
grover and percy followed.
"god, i wish my ribs were broken." cherry spoke, and turned to the blonde beside her. "percy, since you like to put me in as much pain as possible, could you-"
percy looked at her and said nothing.
his face seemed to fall.
cherry was lost for words.
she was quiet, until they got to the edge of the water.
percy willed the ship over to go them. tyson was running towards them, as the sheep chased after him.
"they probably won't follow us into the water." percy planned. "all we have to do is swim for the ship."
"with annabeth like this?" clarisse protested.
"we can do it." percy insisted. "once we get to the ship, we're home free."
they all decided to just go along with it.
they almost made it.
they were so close.
polyphemus splashed towards them, with a boulder in each hand.