❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒳. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝒫𝒾𝓇𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒮𝒽𝒾𝓅 𝒮𝒾𝓃𝓀𝓈

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

"Swim for it!" Grover said.

He and Clarisse plunged into the surf, Zoe right behind them. Annabeth hung on to Clarisse's neck and tried to paddle 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 am not a traitor." Tyson said confidently.

"You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. "Thieving humans!"

Polyphemus threw his first boulder. Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

"Not a traitor," Tyson said. "And you are not my kind."

"Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He immediately stumbled and fell on his face. He started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.

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

The four were almost to the ship with the Fleece, Percy and Tyson still near the shore.

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

"No! He'll kill you," Percy said. "We'll fight him together."

"Together," Tyson agreed.

Percy drew his sword.

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder. Percy dove to one side, but Tyson blasted the rock to rubble.

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 the raven haired boy, but he sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"

The monster was blinking hard now, like he could barely see. He was targeting by the sound of Percy's voice.

"Poseidon won't curse me," he 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 Percy had been standing a moment before. "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!"

Zoe was helping Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse and Grover were waving frantically at Percy, telling him to hurry up.

Once the other two girls were on deck, Zoe saw Tyson work his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.

"Young one!" the older Cyclops called. "Where are you? Help me!"

Tyson stopped.

"You weren't raised right!" Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club. "Poor orphaned brother! Help me!"

No one moved. No sound but the ocean and the ragged breaths of the four people on the ship. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. "Don't fight, Cyclops brother. Put down the—"