the lakes ✷ jackson

37, welcome back old friend

"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered, wondering how much the gods really hated them.

"Swim for it!" Grover said.

He and Clarisse plunged into the surf. Annabeth hung on to Clarisse's neck and tried to paddle
with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down.

But the monster's attention wasn't on the Fleece.

"You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. "Traitor to your kind!"

Tyson froze.

"Don't listen to him!" Percy pleaded. "Come on."

Marlowe pulled Tyson's arm, but she might as well have been pulling a mountain. He turned and faced the older Cyclops. "I am not a traitor."

"You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. "Thieving humans!"

Polyphemus threw his first boulder. Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

"Not a traitor," Tyson said. "And you are not my kind."

"Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He
immediately stumbled and fell on his face. That would've been funny, except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.

"Percy! Marlowe!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"

They were almost to the ship with the Fleece. If they could just keep the monster distracted a little longer...

"Go," Tyson told them. "I will hold Big Ugly."

"No! He'll kill you." Percy had already lost Tyson once. He wasn't going to lose him again. "We'll fight him together."

"Together," Tyson agreed.

"Yeah, don't mind me. I'll just sit here in the water while you guys fight," Marlowe said, making herself known.

Percy turned to her and grabbed her arm gently. "Go to the others. Keep Annabeth afloat."

"Percy—"

"Marlowe, go," Percy said, his voice firm. "I have to do this with Tyson. Alone."

She hesitated, but eventually nodded and began swimming towards the ship and her friends.

Percy took a deep breath and drew his sword.

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his
throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder. Percy dove to one side, but he still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble.

Percy willed the sea to rise. A twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting him on its crest. He rode toward the Cyclops and kicked him in the eye, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach.

"Destroy you!" Polyphemus spluttered. "Fleece stealer!"

"You stole the Fleece!" Percy yelled. "You've been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!"