Camp Hermit-Blood - The Sea of Monsters

Ren

Well, it was easy to get in.

That was the only good thing about this whole situation.

Ren, Bdubs, and Percy found Clarisse and Grover in the back of a cave surrounded by sheep collectibles. Clarisse had a ram's horn spear. Grover had a bone that Ren really hoped wasn't from a satyr. They had a brief conversation involving the fact that Zedaph was missing, he had been with Tango and Tyson before he found Ren and Clarisse. Percy seemed relieved.

Ren tried to contribute to the conversation. But Clarisse only muttered, "We need to get you transformed back somehow" and stuffed him in her pocket.

Then they heard the scream.

"Annabeth," Percy gasped.

When they came out, she was already mostly unconscious. Her invisibility cap had fell to the ground near the shattered remains of a boulder. Polyphemus had her in his grasp! "I did it! I caught Nobody!"

"Okay, you guys get to the ship," Percy said. "I'm going to distract him.

"No freaking way," Clarisse said over Ren's squeaks of protest. "We're helping, idiot."

"YEAH!" Bdubs agreed enthusiastically. Grover nodded, looking a little weary of the son of Hypnos.

Percy frowned. "Fine. Attack plan Macedonia."

Ren wanted to raise his hand and say "Ooh! Ooh! I know what that is!" but he couldn't, because he was a guinea pig.

ARGH.

The others knew what it was as well. It was a battle strategy, where one person, or part of an army, distracted the enemy from the front while other units came from the side and back.

"Hey, ugly!" Percy said, repeating Annabeth's statement. "That's not Nobody! I'm Nobody!"

The triumph on Polyphemus' face immediately returned to rage. "WHAT?!" He dropped Annabeth and ran at Percy.

As Clarisse ran and stabbed Polyphemus in the foot with his own collectible, Ren squirmed out of her pocket and went to Annabeth, painstakingly climbing over rocks he could have ignored if he was still human. He finally got to her, not really knowing what to do but knowing he had to help.

He squeaked at her.

She didn't respond.

Ren stamped his tiny foot in frustration and instead checked for a pulse. Thank goodness, she was alive.

Clarisse, Bdubs, and Percy seemed to be on full panic mode, because their attack efforts were only annoying the Cyclops. They had given up on Attack Plan Macedonia. Now, they were just distracting him and occasionally running forward to stab him in the leg or foot.

Grover had given up on attacking altogether and was now running towards Ren and Annabeth. Ren figured the satyr was probably better at this than he was, so he ran and dragged Annabeth's cap to its owner. Grover picked it up, stuffed it into his pocket, and started to half-carry, half-drag Annabeth towards the rope bridge. It thankfully wasn't far.

Polyphemus was trying to get to the rope bridge before them. Clarisse put her spear under his foot as he took a step.

Unfortunately, that was pretty much a thorn to Polyphemus. It only made him mad. As with everything else they were doing.

Ren looked at Grover and noticed that he and Annabeth were mostly across the bridge. Then he realized that he couldn't cross. The gaps between the planks were too wide.

Well, maybe he could cross, actually.

The first jump was easy. He made it to the other side without incident.