¹POCKET FULL OF POSIES. p. jackson

𝐗𝐈𝐈. nobody wins! (sort of)

pocket full of posies
❛ xii. nobody wins! ❜

━━━━━ "I GOT NOBODY!" gloated Polyphemus.

Posie, Percy, Grover, and Clarisse crept to the cave entrance and saw the Cyclops, grinning wickedly, holding up empty air. The monster shook his fist, and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.

The Cyclops laughed. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be roasted with mango chutney!'"

Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.

From beside Posie, Percy whispered, "I'll rush him. Our ship is around the back of the island. Posie, you can lead Clarisse and Grover—"

"No way," the rest of them said in unison. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone ( though he looked pretty unhappy about it ) and was holding it like a club, ready to attack. Posie readied her hold on both Anthos and Arsis, saying, "We're not leaving you behind, Percy. We take him as a group."

"And beat his ass," added Clarisse, grinding her teeth.

"Yeah," Grover said, nodding along. Then he blinked, like he couldn't believe he'd just agreed with Clarisse about something.

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

The others nodded. They had all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood; they were mandatory. ( Suddenly, Posie was grateful that they were and that Lee was such a stickler for attendance. ). They would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while someone would keep his attention in the front ( probably would be Percy or Posie doing this part, hopefully Percy and not Posie ). Now this means that they would all die instead of just Percy, but—bonding, right?

Percy hefted his sword and shouted, "Hey, Ugly!"

Polyphemus whirled around. "Another one? Who are you?"

"Put down my friend," yelled Percy. "I'm the one who insulted you."

"You are Nobody?"

"That's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!" ( His insults weren't as insult as Annabeth's. ) "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."

The Cyclops bellowed.

The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her head first onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll. The other bad news: Polyphemus barreled towards Percy, a thousand smelly pounds of Cyclops that Percy would have to fight with a very small sword.

"For Pan!" Grover rushed in from the right. He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster's forehead. Clarisse ran in from the left and set her spear against the ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it. He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dived out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter and kept advancing for Percy.

Posie dove out of the way, and as she watched Polyphemus, it all started to set in. How the hell could she fight a full-grown Cyclops with two measly daggers?