'•' The Sea of Monsters '•'

8 :: Clarisse Needs to Shut the Fuck Up AGAIN

Published: October 26, 2021
Edited: August 8, 2022
'•'

"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," I muttered ruefully.

"Swim for it!" Grover shouted. He and Clarisse plunged into the surf.

Annabeth hung on to the fleece and tried to paddle her water raft along 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." I pulled Tyson's arm, but I might as well have been pulling a mountain. He 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 snapped. "And you are not my kind." 

"Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his chest was still wounded from my stab. 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. I saw the water healing his wound and cursed in Ancient Greek

"Percy, Neridia!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"

They were almost to the ship with the Fleece. If we could just keep the monster distracted alittle longer... 

"Go," Tyson told us. "I will hold Big Ugly." 

"No! He'll kill you."

 Percy'd already lost Tyson once. I wasn't going to lose him again. 

"We'll fight him together." 

"Together," Tyson agreed. I drew my sword. Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder.

I dove to one side, but I still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble. I willed the sea to rise. A twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting me and Percy on its crest. We rode toward the Cyclops and Percy kicked him in the eye, as I kicked his nose, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach. 

"Destroy you!" Polyphemus spluttered. "Fleece stealer!" 

"You stole the Fleece!" I 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 me, but I sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse the thieves!" He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and I realized he was targeting by thesound of my voice. 

"Poseidon won't curse us," Percy snapped, backing up as the Cyclops grabbed air. "Tyson and I are his sons, too. Neridia is the first recorded daughter of Poseidon. He won't play favorites." 

Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where I'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 us, telling me to come on. Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.