cacoethes |PERCY JACKSON| [book 2]

XXII

SELENA SIGHED AND STARED OVER THE OCEAN, noticing something ahead of them, "Percy."

Up ahead was another blotch of land—a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows.

He looked back at them. This is where they were supposed to be. They had reached the home of the Cyclops.

When you think "monster island," you think craggy rocks and bones scattered on the beach like the island of the Sirens.

The Cyclops's island was nothing like that. I mean, okay, it had a rope bridge across a chasm, which was not a good sign. You might as well put up a billboard that said, SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE. But except for that, the place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields and tropical fruit trees and white beaches. 

As they sailed toward the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. "The Fleece," she said.

Selena nodded. She couldn't see the Fleece yet, but she could feel its power. She could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia's poisoned tree. 

"If we take it away, will the island die?" Percy asked,

Annabeth shook her head. "It'll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever that is."

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge—the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was a massive oak tree. Something gold glittered in its branches.

"This is too easy," Percy commented, "We could just hike up there and take it?"

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed be a guardian. A dragon or ..."

That's when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal. It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves.

Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air.

A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.

The three of them exchanged looks. "They're like piranhas," Selena commented,

"Piranhas with wool. How will we—"

"Percy!" Annabeth gasped, grabbing his arm. "Look."

She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground ... the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.

They decided there was no way they could get past the man-eating sheep. Selena wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but in the end, Percy and Annabeth convinced her that something would go wrong. The sheep would smell her. Another guardian would appear. Something. And if that happened, they'd be too far away to help.