(Percy's POV)
Nora & I dropped off our rides, patted the sheep on the head, & apologized. We searched the main room, but there was no sign of Grover or Clarisse.
We pushed through the crowd of sheep & goats toward the back of the cave.
Even though I’d dreamed about this place, we had a hard time finding our way through the maze. We ran down corridors littered with bones, past rooms full of sheepskin rugs & life-size cement sheep that I recognized as the work of Medusa.
There were collections of sheep T-shirts; large tubs of lanolin cream; & wooly coats, socks, & hats with ram’s horns. Finally, we found the spinning room, where Grover was huddled in the corner, trying to cut Clarisse’s bonds with a pair of safety scissors.
“It’s no good,” Clarisse said. “This rope is like iron!”
“Just a few more minutes!”
“Grover,” she cried, exasperated. “You’ve been working at it for hours!”
And then they saw us.
“Percy? Nora?” Clarisse said. “You two were supposed to be blown up!”
“Good to see you, too, Clarisse.“ Nora grumbles.
"Now hold still while I-"
“Perrrrrcy!” Grover bleated & tackled me with a goat-hug.
“Yeah, buddy,” I said. “Of course we came.”
"Nora! You came too?!" Grover said as he wrapped her in a big hug as well.
"Well...duh, you big oaf. You thought we'd let you die just like that?" Grover chuckles.
“Where’s Annabeth?”
“Outside,” Nora said. “But there’s no time to talk. Clarisse, hold still.”
I uncapped Riptide & sliced off her ropes. She stood stiffly, rubbing her wrists.
She glared at me for a moment, then looked at the ground & mumbled,
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “Now, was anyone else on board your lifeboat?”
Clarisse looked surprised. “No. Just me. Everybody else aboard the Birmingham well, I didn’t even know you guys made it out.”
I looked down, trying not to believe that my last hope of seeing Tyson alive had just been crushed. Nora places her hand on my shoulder as a way of asking if I was okay & I just nod in response.
“Okay. Come on, then. We have to help-“
An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that told me we might be too late. It was Annabeth crying out in fear.
“I got Nobody!” Polyphemus gloated.
We crept to the cave entrance & saw the Cyclops, grinning wickedly, holding up empty air. The monster shook his fist, & a baseball cap fluttered to the ground.
There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs.
“Hah!” the Cyclops said. “Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!”
Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.
“I’ll rush him,” I whispered to Clarisse. “Our ship is around the back of the island. You, Nora & Grover-“
“No way,” they all said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops’s cave. Nora had her sword, stormcatcher. While Grover had found a sheep’s thigh bone, which he wasn't too happy about, but he gripped it like a club, ready to attack.
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Daughter Of Lightning - Book 2 (A Percy Jackson x OC fanfic)
FanfictionA year ago Zeus's lightning bolt was stolen...which would've been the cause of the next world war. But Eleanor, Percy, Annabeth & their satyr friend Grover had managed to return it. Grover had headed off in search of the great Lord of the wild: Pan...
