"I GOT NOBODY!" 

Every time Polyphemus's voice thundered through the cave, I had to risk the urge to run and hide behind a rock. I was trembling so bad I'd nearly dropped the sling shot ammo I had clutched in my hand.  We crept to the cave entrance at a snail's pace. I could see the others – Percy and Clarisse especially, though their reasons differed drastically – were struggling not to go charging into battle. 

Polyphemus was stood just out side his cave. For a moment it looked like he was just clenching his fist at the sky. Then he shook it. A baseball cap fluttered to the ground. He was holding Annabeth, no longer invisible, by her leg. 

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

Annabeth struggled weakly. There was a bloody gash across her forehead and her eyes were glassy. 

"I'll rush him," Percy whispered to us. "Our ship is around the back of the island. You guys –"

There was a chorus of protests, for obvious reasons. Besides, we weren't unarmed. I had my sling shot and Veerle's switch blade could turn into any bladed weapon. Even our friends, who Polyphemus had disarmed when he caught them, had managed to rearm themselves. Admittedly they looked a little goofy, with Clarisse and Pat finding collectible ram's–horn spears and Grover being left with only a sheep's thigh bone, but they could fight. 

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

"Yeah," Grover said. 

Which gives an idea of the kind of trouble we were in. I was certain pigs would fly before Clarisse and Grover would agree on something. 

"Someone needs to get Annabeth away from him. Then if we attack the ankles, we might be able to slow him down and get away," Pat said, like planning Cyclops attacks was a regular Tuesday. 

Percy nodded. "All right. Attack plan Macedonia."

"Attack plan Macedonia" was one of the many tricks camp had taught us, so we all knew what he was talking about. While one of us distracted the Cyclops from the front, the rest of us would sneak around and attack from the flanks. 

Veerle turned to Pat to explain what it was, clearly expecting him to not know what that meant. Before she could, he only nodded and muttered "I got it." The weird part was I believed him. Pat kept eying the cyclops like he'd figured him out. I don't know if I should have been impressed at how quickly he was adapting out this whole demigod thing or embarrassed that I hadn't done the same, but either way I was glad. 

Percy started towards Polyphemus. As he did, the rest of us split up. Veerle and Pat went left, Grover and Clarisse went right. I stood behind Percy with my sling shot. The only soft spot for me to really aim for was his eye, after all. 

"Hey, Ugly!" Percy shouted, hefting Riptide. 

The giant whirled towards him. I tightened my grip on my sling shot. 

"Another one? Who are you?" Polyphemus snarled. 

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

"You are Nobody?" 

I prepared a shot. The benefit of him having one massive eye in the center of his head was that it would make hitting it easy. 

"That's right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!" Percy shouted. Hey, I never said he was good at insults. "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."

Polyphemus bellowed and dropped Annabeth...straight onto her head. She laid there, motionless. 

The cyclops barreled towards Percy, and we all launched into action. Pat darted in, barely dodging Polyphemus's swinging leg, and grabbed Annabeth's arm. 

Grover gave a war cry and threw his sheep bone – which bounced harmlessly off the monster's forehead. I launched a pellet, which nailed Polyphemus in the eye a lot less harmlessly. He wailed and reeled blindly. Clarisse set her spear against the ground just in time for him to step on it. Veerle managed to jam her blade into the back of the Cyclops's thigh. They barely rolled out of the way to avoid getting trampled as Polyphemus stumbled in circles, trying to rebound from the flurry of attacks. 

At the same time, Percy moved in with Riptide. Polyphemus made a grab for him. He rolled aside and stabbed him in the non–wounded leg. 

I had hoped that would kill him. Getting stabbed in both of his legs should have at least taken him down. But Polyphemus was too big, too powerful, and way too angry to care about the pain. 

Now unarmed, Grover ran to Pat and Annabeth. While he took Annebeth and started down the hill, Pat put on her invisibility cap and disappeared. 

I wish I could tell you want he did after that, but he was sort of invisible. Also, the cyclops promptly pitched nearly boulder at me. I scrambled to get out of the way. 

We no longer had the benefit of surprise, but we still had numbers. Polyphemus couldn't turn to attack one person without being hit by someone else. I continued to launch ammo at the cyclops from a distance as well. But I knew it wouldn't last forever. I only had a limited amount of ammo and, while my friends were quick, they weren't infallible. One lucky hit and I was certain we would all go falling. 

Percy had barely dodged the cyclops's fist when the monster suddenly howled in pain and stumbled forward. It looked like his knee had burst open, gushing blood. Then a spear became visible. 

Pat, I realized. I hoped he'd retreated quickly, because Polyphemus was over come with rage. He thrashed wildly and bellowed a string of creative deaths he would inflict upon "Nobody." 

"They're safe!" Percy yelled. 

I glanced over my shoulder. I could see Grover had just gotten Annabeth across the bridge. 

"Fall back!" Veerle shouted. 

Clarisse rolled to the side as Polyphemus smashed the olive tree beside her. I tried to find Pat, only to see him reappear already heading down the hill. 

With that, I sprinted after him. We ran for the bridge. The cyclops was hobbled from the many wounds he'd taken – in his rage, he hadn't even taken the spear out of his knee, just let it snap as he ran – but he was still right behind us. All we'd really managed to do was make him furious. 

"Grind you into sheep chow!" Polyphemus bellowed. "A thousand curses on Nobody!"

"Faster!" Percy shouted. 

At this point I stumbling down the hill so fast it was a miracle I was still on my feet. For a moment, I considered if I'd go faster if I just threw myself down the hill and rolled. I decided against it. Knowing my luck I'd miss the bridge and go toppling straight into the crevasse (You know, the giant crack across the island. Still not convinced that's the right spelling, but Chiron keeps insisting, so whatever.) Grover had reached the other side and was putting Annabeth down, and Pat was about halfway across. 

Now we just had to reach them before the cyclops got to us. 

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

Grover looked up at us. His eyes widened at the sight of Polyphemus barreling after us, but he nodded, so I guess he understood. 

As we scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing the ropes. I would have preferred that happened after we got across, while we weren't standing on it, but with Polyphemus being so close there wasn't a choice. He'd bounded onto the bridge just as the first stand snapped. 

It swung wildly. We were forced to dive for solider ground. Percy whirled around and slashed blindly at the remaining ropes. The bridge collapsed into the chasm. I could practically image the cyclops tumbling down with it. 

"Imagine" because that didn't happen. In the slightest. Polyphemus was standing just at the edge of the chasm, howling with delight. 

Veerle stumbled back, putting herself between the Cyclops and Pat and Annabeth – one unarmed and the other still unresponsive. Clarisse and Grover tried to charge him, but the monster swatted them away with ease. Which did great for my confidence. Nothing said "we can totally take this guy!" like two of our fighters nearly getting thrown into a chasm in the first attack. 

I very bravely...froze. In place. 

Not that it mattered. Clarisse and Grover hadn't even hit the ground when Percy screamed and threw himself forward in a blind rage. I don't even know what he did. One second he was unleashing a flurry of blows onto the monster. The next Polyphemus was moaning on his back and Percy, breathing heavily but unharmed, was standing over him with the tip of his sword hovering over his eye. 

"Percy!" Grover gasped. "How did you –"

"Please, nooo!" Polyphemus moaned. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He looked utterly miserable. "M–m–my sheepies need me. Only trying to protect my sheep!"

He started sobbing. We'd won, but I didn't feel like a winner. I felt like we'd kicked some kid around on the playground.

No one seemed to agree on what to do. Grover and Clarisse were pretty clear – kill him. But I knew Veerle, as silently as she was, wasn't big of the idea. Pat was going pale, and I realized it was probably the first time he'd seen a monster actually die. I didn't want to kill him. For all his attempts to murder us, Polyphemus was a cyclops. He was our brother. 

Veerle slowly approached to stand by Percy's side. She leveled her toward towards Polyphemus as well and, in a deceptively even tone, said, "We don't want to kill you, we only want the Fleece. Let us take it. Your island will be fine. Your sheep will be fine." 

Percy nodded stiffly. "Will you agree to let us take it?"

"My beautiful Fleece," Polyphemus sniffed. "Prize of my collection. Take it, cruel humans. Take it and go in peace." 

"Okay..." Veerle slowly retracted her blade. 

"We're going to step back slowly," Percy said. "One false move..."

Polyphemus nodded. I got a sinking feeling in my gut, and the moment they stepped back I was proven right. In a flash the cyclops smacked them to the edge of the cliff. So close Percy's feet were hanging over the edge, and he might have slipped over if Veerle hadn't managed to catch his arms first. 

"Foolish mortals!" he bellowed, rising to his feet. "Take my Fleece? Ha! I eat you first." 

"Hey!" I shouted, before I could stop myself. 

Polyphemus turned on me. I raised my slingshot. I must have looked ridiculous, because he gave an open–mouthed, bellowing laugh. But before I could loose a definitely–not–deadly shot, a basket–ball sized rock came sailing over my head. It slammed into the monster's mouth and straight down his throat. He choked and staggered backwards. The edge of the cliff crumbled beneath him and, flapping his arms in a poor attempt to steady himself, Polyphemus toppled backwards into the chasm. 

"Um..." I glanced at the others. "I didn't do that."

We turned. Halfway down the path to the beach, standing among the killer sheep like he was one of them, was Tyson. 

"Bad Polyphemus," he said. "Not all Cyclopses as nice as well look."

So, here's the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus had followed us ever since with left Long Island Sound. He'd wanted to reconnect with Tyson, and got the chance when he found our brother sinking beneath the wreck age of the CSS Birmingham. Rainbow pulled him to safety, and the two had been searching the Sea of Monsters for us ever since. They had found us because Tyson had caught the scent of sheep and found the island. 

The only thing that kept me from running to hug him was the fact he was standing in the middle of sheep that would definitely eat me. Still, I yelled, "I'm glad you're okay!" 

"So am I!" Tyson cheered. 

"Tyson, thank the gods," Percy cried. "Annabeth is hurt!"

"You thank the gods she is hurt?" he asked, puzzled. 

"No!" 

We collected around Annabeth. It wasn't looking good. Pat had, I guess in a panic, attempted to use her hat to stop the bleeding. It had worked...sort of. The bleeding had stopped, but there was still a massive gash on her forehead. Blood matted her hair and her face was sticky with blood. Her skin was pale and clammy.

Veerle turned to our brother. "Tyson! You see that Fleece? The gold one?" She pointed to the tree. Tyson nodded. "Grab it. It can heal her."

Tyson waded through the sheep to the Fleece. He must have smelled enough like Polyphemus that they accepted him. It was actually kind of cute the way they cuddled with him. As soon as he lifted the Fleece, the peace on the oak three turned yellow. I swallowed hard, surprised at the massive change, but steeled my nerves and told myself to stop feeling bad for sheep and monsters that wanted to eat me.

"No time! Throw it!" Percy shouted. 

With a grunt, Tyson threw the skin as hard as he could. it sailed through the air and practically slammed into Percy. Still, he was able to spread its over Annabeth. It covered everything but her face. I twisted my ring as I stared down at her pale face. She couldn't die. Not now. 

Then the cut on Annabeth's forehead began to close. Her eyes fluttered open as the color returned to her face. 

"You're not...married?" she said, her voice weak and raspy. 

Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."

I felt like I'd been waterboarded (except, you know, in a world where I couldn't breathe under water.) One moment I thought Tyson was dead, then he was back, and then Annabeth was dying, and now she wasn't. In fact, she looked way better. I could almost believe she was shimmering, like her skin had been coated in gold glitter. 

Unfortunately, we didn't have a long time for a reunion. The sheep were getting impatient with Tyson. Some of them were trying to climb him, sniffing for treats. Others had realized he wasn't giving them anything and started eyeing us up for a snack. They listened to Tyson when he called for their attention, but it was obvious they were getting bored. And hungry. Not a good conversation for man eating sheep. 

"We have to go," Percy said. "Our ship is..."

His gaze drifted to the chasm. The Queen Anne's Revenge was on the other side of the island. We had two options: go through the sheep (bad) or across the bridge (non–existent.) 

"Tyson," he said, "can you lead the flock as far away as possible?"

"The sheep want food."

"Yeah, us. We just need to get past them to the beach, okay?" I said. "You can join us there."

I don't think Tyson believe me, but he still whistled. "Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!"

He jogged off into the meadow. To my relief, the sheep followed. 

"You should keep that thing on," Pat suggested to Annabeth. "I dunno how magic wool works, but you got dropped real hard. Not healing that in a minute." 

Annabeth tried to stand, but her face paled and she sat down in an instant. "Ooh...not fully healed." 

Clarisse knelt next to her. When she felt her chest, Annabeth gasped. 

"Ribs broken," Clarisse said. "They're mending, but definitely broken."

"Is sensing wounds some kind of Ares power?" I asked incredulously. 

Clarisse glared at me. "No, but I've broken plenty of 'em, runt! I'll have to carry her."

I was about to ask how she planned to do that, but Veerle shook her head and I shut up. Clarisse scooped Annabeth up with ease and trudged down to the beach. The rest of us followed.  

As we walked, Percy explained his plan to me. He was hoping that, instead of walking around the island to Queen Anne's Revenge, we could bring the boat to us. I frowned. I wasn't as good with the boats thing as Percy was, and obviously he'd never tried summoning one from a distance. I felt stupid trying to will an inanimate object towards me with my mind. Still, I scrunched up my face and tried to imagine the Queen Anne's Revenge. Imagine that its anchor was rising and the waters turned it back out to see. Imagine that it was floating around the edge of the island. 

Now you imagine my surprise when it actually rounded the tip of the island. 

"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. 

Because things couldn't just be easy. I turned to see him barreling down the path to join us. The sheep were about fifty yards behind, bleating hangerly. 

"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy said. "All with have to do is swim for the ship."

"Can Annabeth swim?" Veerle asked. 

Annabeth couldn't even stand on her own. Of course she couldn't swim. 

But this was the ocean we were talking about. If there was anywhere I could make it work, it was here. 

"Give her to me," I said, before I could stop myself. The others stared at me like I'd grown a second head, and honestly I was feeling like I had as well. "Annabeth, if you can keep ahold on the Fleece, I'll be able to use to water to keep you up." 

Clarisse narrowed her eyes at me, but the idea was solid enough to keep her from doing more than grumbling. Once we reached the water, she set Annabeth down gently. I helped Annabeth stand. It was awkward at first, stumbling through the waves, but once we were about wast deep I was able to will the water to support her. 

As we walked, Percy continued to will the Queen Anne's Revenge towards us. We almost got there. But as we passed the entrance to the ravine, there was a tremendous roar. Polyphemus – scraped up and bruised, but tragically alive – splashed towards us with a boulder in each hand. 

I swallowed thickly. Of course. 

♆ 

I NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE STRESSED SWIMMING. Between Annabeth and me, I have no idea which of us was clinging to the other harder. The Fleece was already heavy. Now that it was wet, it seemed like it weighted a thousand pounds. Even with the force of the water holding her up, it was clear that Annabeth was struggling. 

Thankfully, Polyphemus had forgotten about the Fleece. Instead he zeroed in on Tyson. 

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

I risked a glance over my shoulder. Percy tried to tug Tyson towards the surf, but he was frozen in place. For a moment I was terrified he would burst into tears like he did at school. 

Except he didn't. Tyson straightened his shoulder as he turned to face 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. Then proceeded to fall flat on his face.

I took a shaking breath and turned away from the fight. It took everything in me to walk further into the sea. 

I remembered Mom on Half Blood hill, distracting the minotaur so Percy and I could get to safety. If anything happened to them...I shook my head. My job was getting Annabeth to safety, and we were almost there. Percy and Tyson could hold their own. They had to. 

Grover went up the side of the boat first. Between the two of us, we were able to get Annabeth aboard. 

As Clarisse was climbing aboard, I heard Polyphemus bellow, "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!" 

I almost snorted, before the implication of his words settled sickeningly in my stomach. He'd gotten our father to curse Odysseus. It was why he took so long to get home, it was a whole thing. I doubted Poseidon was going to curse any of us. Percy, Tyson, and I were his children, too. But I couldn't help but be disturbed by the realization that, if we hadn't been there, our friends would have been fair game. 

There was a violent yowl. I ran to the side of the ship in time to see Tyson had tackled Polyphemus to the ground. Percy was knelt next to them. It would have taken only a swing of Riptide to kill the monster. 

Except...he didn't have to. Polyphemus was weeping and clutching his eye, entirely blinded now. They could get away. I turned to look over my shoulder, where Veerle was trying to comfort Annabeth, and remembered what she'd told me. We didn't need to kill Polyphemus to win.

"Percy! Tyson!" I shouted. "Leave him, we need to go!"

The two shared a look. With a last mighty effort, Tyson pushed Polyphemus away and they ran towards the surf. The cyclops cursed and moaned, but he was too pained to do more than stumble vaguely in our direction. A wave came up behind them – summoned by Percy, I assumed – and carried them towards the boat faster than they could ever swim. 

 At the last moment, Clarisse shouted, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!"

Oh no. 

Polyphemus bellowed and picked up a boulder. His throw fell short of the boat, but almost crushed Tyson and Percy instead. 

"Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted. "You throw like a wimp! Teach you–"

She was cut off by Veerle slapping hand over her mouth and grappling her away from the side of the deck. But it was too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder. I'm pretty sure I shouted something about hitting the deck. Not that it mattered – the boulder crashed straight through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge and threw us to the deck for us. 

The boat listened forward and sank like a rock. I tried to fight the current, but it was no use. When a ship sinks, it's like a black hole, sucking everything in around it. I might as well have been trying to yank us out of Charybdis's maw. 

Despite knowing I could breathe under water, I instinctively sucked in a panicked gulp of air in before I went under. Not that it mattered. I might be fine, but there was no way my friends were getting out of there on their own. Clarisse and Veerle were strong swimmers, but neither of them were making progress, and the fact Veerle was trying to help a clearly flounder Pat was not helping. Grover was kicking frantically, but his hooves did little to catch the water. Annabeth was the worst of it, clinging to the Fleece even as it dragged her into the depths. 

There was no way I could save all of them. I could barely even control the water around me. 

We need help. 

I jerked my head to the side. I could have sworn I'd heard Percy's voice like he'd spoken straight into my ear, but when I spotted him and Tyson they were not were close. 

Yes. Tyson's voice, just as clear. 

Okay. Listen. This might seem obvious to you, but it still took me a moment to realize what was happening. I had known the Nereids and other water spirits had been able to speak in our minds underwater. Not once had Percy and I ever tried talking to each other. Except apparently we could. 

Rainbow, Tyson said. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to mentally add my voice to his and Percy's. It's...a lot harder than it looks. RAINBOW! We need you!

Immediately, shapes shimmered the darkness. They were fast, faster than any animal I'd seen. Rainbow, I realized, and the other three hippocampi that had taken us from Long Island. Our friends were startled, but give the situation they were quick to scramble to them. 

Rainbow practically hauled Clarisse onto his back while Veerle dragged Pat – whose face was starting to turn a concerning shade of purple – over to another. Grover latched onto the third. The fourth dove to scoop up Annabeth, who wrapped her arms around their neck in a daze. Once they were safe the hippocampi got Percy, Tyson, and I and shot to the surface. 

As soon as we hit the surface, we raced away from the island. I could hear Polyphemus crowing in the distance – "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!" 

"At least he's happy..." I grumbled under my breath to Grover, who I was sharing a hippocampus with. 

We were so out of it we ended up laughing.