Sign of the Times

Inappropriate time to laugh?

"How the fuck am I supposed to hold onto this?" I asked, gripping the sheep's fur. Hair? I don't know. My hands were already sore from climbing a mountain and now I had to hold onto a fucking sheep. 

"Nike, just do it," Percy said, holding onto another sheep. 

"What?"

"Nevermind. Just another modern-day reference." I scoff. 

Just after we both got fully situated, Polyphemus returned, singing some little song about how "cutie his sheepies" were. Annabeth left with a quick goodbye, leaving Percy and me alone under gross-smelling sheep. 

"Do you think this will actually work?" I asked Percy, feeling my palms get sweaty agains the warm sheep fur.

"Annabeth is smart, I trust her." His voice was muffled from the sheep's fur. "Plus, if it doesn't you can just have your dad get us out of it."

"Oh, totally. My dad, who I've never met before, would totally just let us all come back to life."

"Perfect. That takes a lot of weight off of my chest." There was silence while we waited for Annabeth's signal. 

"Have you ever met your dad?" I asked, despite my disliking for his dad. 

"Yeah, last year after I returned Zeus's lightning bolt. He was there and told everyone that I don't deserve to die." And my mom did deserve to die? I wanted to say but decided now wasn't the time to raise the tension. 

"You stole Zeus's lightning bolt?" I said with a laugh. The sheep bah-ed in disapproval. "Dude, he better have been pissed. That's hilarious."

"No, I didn't steal his lightning bolt, it was Luke. And you should also probably stop shit-talking the gods. Believe it or not, they don't appreciate that."

"Well, whatever. If they can't take a little shit talk from a mortal after thousands of years, that's a them problem." 

"Hasenpfeffer!" the Cyclops said, patting one of the sheep in front of me. "Einstein! Widget—eh there, Widget!"

He herded the sheep into the cave that Grover and Clarisse were in. Just before the cyclops rolled the bolder back into place Annabeth yelled, "Hey, fart face!"

Polyphemus stopped in his place, looking all around. "Who said that?" he roared. 

"Nobody!" Something in the cyclops's eye shifted. He stood up a bit straighter, becoming so much more daunting. 

"Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody!" Annabeth taunted. "Much less nobody!"

Polyphemus grabbed the boulder and threw it in the direction of the voice. My heart stops thinking that she could've gotten hit. My heart was jump-started when I heard her voice yell back, "You haven't learned to throw any better!"

"Come here and let me kill you, Nobody!" The cyclops stomped around, hoping he would step on 'Nobody.'

"Haha! You stupid oaf! You can't kill nobody!" I had to choke back a laugh. This is the funniest thing I have seen. Is my life that sad that the funniest thing I have ever seen is this while I am in this situation? . . . nah.

When I saw Percy drop from the bottom of the sheep I followed suit. I pet my sheep on the head, thanking it for putting up with me pulling his fur so I wouldn't get eaten. I felt bad he had stay here with Polyphemus . . . 

Before I could feel worse about leaving the sheep, Percy grabbed my hand and pulled me through the maze of a cave. I pulled my hand out of his, mumbling a 'don't touch me.'