𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒¹

𝐴𝑛𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑡ℎ!

‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊

"I GOT NOBODY!" POLYPHEMUS roared ecstatically.

The four crawled to the cave entrance to see Polyphemus holding Annabeth, who was still invisible, up in the air. When he shook his fist, her baseball cap fell to the ground, revealing herself hanging upside down.

"Hah!" the Cyclops jested. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!"

"We need to help her right now," Astoria said, noticing the nasty gash on her friend's head.

"I'll rush him," Percy whispered to Clarisse. "Our ship is around the back of the island. You and Grover-"

"No way," the two said simultaneously. Clarisse armed herself with a rams-horn spear from the Cyclops' cave. Grover found a sheep's thigh bone to use as a club. Astoria simply armed herself with a mental chant, prepping to use her finger-beams.

"We'll take him together," Clarisse growled.

"Yeah," Grover said. He blinked, not believing he actually agreed with Clarisse.

"All right," Percy conceded. "Attack plan Macedonia."

Clarisse and Grover nodded. It was a well known and common strategy taught at camp. Two would flank the Cyclops while Percy would distract up front.

However, Astoria hesitated.

Would it be alright to meddle with the plot like this? She's already interfered too much.

"I'll be emergency backup or something," Astoria said. "A surprise distraction. Plus, someone needs to be ready to catch Annabeth."

"Suit yourself," Clarisse shrugged.

Percy agreed and hefted his sword, shouting," Hey, Ugly!"

The monster whirled toward the direction of the voice. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend. I'm the one who insulted you!"

"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."

"RAH!" Polyphemus bellowed distastefully, sensitive about the incident. He dropped Annabeth. Astoria, who knew that this would happen, looked up and ran in circles with her arms out trying to catch her best friend.

Unfortunately, the momentum of the fall sent Annabeth plummeting down like a missile, and Astoria, too busy looking up, had tripped from a rock and fell face-flat. As a result, Annabeth had fallen just as the books described. Cursing herself, Astoria propped herself back up and dragged Annabeth away from the rocks. Her hair was soaked in blood and she was unconscious.

"C'mon, Annabeth, hang in there," Astoria dragged them to the wooden bridge.

"Let me help." Although Astoria couldn't see, she knew Grover was right beside her, carrying the other side of Annabeth's body. They made it over, and the two set Annabeth down on the grass.

"Astoria!" Percy yelled. "Get Annabeth's knife!"

She didn't hesitate to take the blade and start cutting away at the ropes. Percy and Clarisse were running over to them with Polyphemus not too far behind. When the first strand snapped, the bridge shook madly, and the rippling sensation hardly eased with a thousand pound Cyclops chasing after them. When the demigods finally crossed over, Percy slashed the last bit of rope holding the bridge. It fell into the oceanic chasm, and Polyphemus howled in delight.