Goodnight Moon ↣ P. Jackson + A. Chase

1.10

There were legends told, stories, of great children of gods doing wonderful things, of beating terrible monsters in their quests home or for greatness. Kassandra would like to say that this was one of those quests wherein they beat Polyphemus outright and they get to keep his eyeball as a trophy, but she knew that she would never even be able to take in a breath to speak such an outrageous lie. 

She furrowed her brows, forcing her brain to work properly when it felt more like moving on auto-pilot as she dragged herself to her feet, and notched an arrow again. There was a sharp throbbing behind her eyes, a pounding that made it difficult to focus. Her hand shook slightly before she forced it to steady, and let the arrow sail toward his head. 

"Put. Her. Down!" Kassandra screamed, voice rough as she forced herself to stand strong. 

Polyphemus growled as the arrow tip scathed a deep cut through his cheek. "Nasty girl! I will eat you too." 

She sneers and readies another arrow, taking aim at his face once more. "Put my friend down!" 

He laughs at her, taking a step forward. Annabeth swings in his grip weakly hitting his meaty hand. Jaw clenched, she glances around for something that might hurt him a little better than an arrow in the face.

(If she could ram the arrow into his eye directly, could cut through with a vicious swipe that would mar the pupil and permanently blind, then she would. If she could, she would steal the thing and feed it to his carnivorous sheep.) 

"Hey, Ugly!" Percy calls from somewhere behind the cyclops. 

The giant whirled toward him. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend. I'm the one who insulted you," Percy continues to insult the monster, and she could see him now on the path that they had tread away from the cave, his sword held out defensively before him. 

"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."

He bellowed a roar, the sound shaking the trees as he staggered with his rage. 

The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll.

"For Pan!" Grover called, rushing forward behind his friend with a large bone wielded as a club. 

Close behind, Clarisse moved in on the opposite flank, spear held out just in time for the cyclops to step down on. Polyphemus cried out, but he only raised his foot and plucked it out like it was as bothersome as a splinter. 

He continued to advance on Percy. 

With a battle cry of her own, she let loose her arrow into the back of his knee. She took a great deal of pleasure in seeing him trip a little, knee bending with a grunt as he leans down to pluck it out. 

Kassandra reaches for another arrow, wincing when she sees how many have yet to come to her, and picks up a rock instead. She was thankful for her god-like aim as she reared back and launched it as if it was a shock-put, throwing the entirety of her weight behind it so that it would reach the back of his head. 

"Get Annabeth!" Percy shouted at Grover, the satyr jumping into action as he grabbed the girl's baseball cap and swept her limp into his arms. 

Taking a moment to assess the situation, she cast a glance to the top bridge. "Grover!" She shouted. "Over here!" 

He balked at her, taking in her appearance in a way that made her frown. "What happened to you?" he asks as he makes his way over. 

"There were flying rocks and then I got smacked," she deadpans, flinging her bag off her back and maneuvering it over his shoulders. "Take the bridge and go for the boat. I have Nectar and Ambrosia, make her take some."