Grover has a bachelor party
Evangeline could make out an island in the distance. It was safe to say the island belonged to Polyphemus. The pastures were a bright green with tropical trees and white beaches, there was a long rope bridge that connected across a chasm.
"The fleece," Annabeth breathed out, making her way beside them.
Percy held a frown as he spoke. "If we take it away, will the island die?"
The daughter Athena 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. Behind them, ran a path that led up into the hills and towards the top near the edge of the canyon, by the edge was an oak tree where something gold glittered in its thick and twisted branches.
"This seems too easy," Evangeline said. "We could just go up there and take it."
"There's supposed to be a guardian, right?" Percy questioned. "A dragon or..."
A deer emerged from the bushes, trotting into the meadow probably looking for something to eat. The sheep bleated at once and rushed towards it, the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves. A few seconds passed and the sheep all moved away, where the deer had once been was now a pile of clean white bones.
"Piranhas with wool..." Percy crossed his arms, frowning at the sheep. But something else caught Evangeline's attention, by the meadow a small boat had run around, the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.
The brunette grabbed the blonde's arm and directed it towards the boat she had seen. "Look."
The children of Athena and Poseidon let out an exasperated sigh once they caught sight of the lifeboat before they began arguing about their next move.
Annabeth wanted to sneak up with her invisibility cap and grab the Fleece, but, Percy managed to convince her something could go wrong.
And things escalated quickly.
"I would be fine," Annabeth yelled. "I don't need you worrying about me every second!"
Percy frowned. "What does that mean?"
"Maybe we should save Grover first," Evangeline cut in. "Y'know the thing we came here to do?"
The other two shot her a look but didn't say anything.
During the journey to the cliffs, Annabeth and Percy never spoke to one another. Rather, they grumbled out the words while giving directions on where to walk or place their feet. The cliffs could barely be scaled.
The cliffs for Evangeline were a piece of cake for her. Mary had taught her how to climb walls and ropes, any way to survive, her mom taught her. She did 'slip' occasionally landing her foot on Percy's face.
She looked down."Don't get my shoes dirty," she said.
"I'm okay," Percy huffed. "Thanks for asking."
"No problem,"
After reaching the top, two out of three demigods collapsed once successfully hauling themselves over.
"Garrr!"
The daughter of Athena crawled her way toward the ledge. "You're a feisty one!" The deep voice bellowed.
"Challenge me!" A new voice cried, much gentler but still rough compared to the last one. "Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"
It didn't take a genius to recognize who the voice belonged to; Clarisse.
The old voice roared with laughter that shook the ledge, the three of them were on. With a final stretch, she was able to see who had spoken. It was by far the ugliest thing she had ever laid her eyes on, Polyphemus the Cyclops.
His hair had been mattered with bones of his victims and sheep wolf. Clarisse was not far from the creature, hung upside down like a meal over boiling water.
Grover stood beside the demigod, in a wedding gown nonetheless. She had to do a double take when she saw him.
"Eat loudmouth girl now or wait for the wedding feast?" Polyphemus pondered. "What does my bride think?"
The satyr backed up, nearly tripping over his bridal train as he put distance between himself and the Cyclops. "Um, I'm not hungry right now dear. Perhaps-"
"Did you say bride?" Clarisse demanded. "Who-Grover?"
"Shut up. She has to fucking shut up." Annabeth muttered.
Polyphemus's features turned confused. "What 'Grover'?"
"The satyr!"
"Oh!" Grover yelped. "The poor thing's brain is boiling from hot water. Pull her down, dear!"
The cyclop's singular eye narrowed like he was trying to focus on Clarisse and see her better. "What satyr?" He demanded. "Satyrs are good eating, you bring me a satyr?"
"No, you big idiot!" Clarisse bellowed. "That saytr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!"
Polyphemus ripped the satyr's wedding veil, revealing his identity to the monster. He had grown over the past year, his horns barely reaching over his curly brown hair while his scruffy beard began quivering as his bottom lip trembled.
"I don't see very well," Polyphemus let out a heavy breath as a growl escaped from his monstrous lips and continued to speak. "Not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in the eye. But you're- no- lady-cyclops!"
He grabbed the satyr's dress and tore it away, revealing the satyr's dirty jeans and t-shirt. He yelped and ducked out of the way as the monster swiped over his head.
"Stop!" Grover cried. "Don't eat me raw! I-I have a good recipe!"
Percy went to grab his sword, but Evangeline stopped him by pulling him back down. "Wait."
Polyphemus hesitated, boulder in his hand ready to smash Grover. "Recipe?" The Cyclops asked.
"Oh, y—yes! You don't want to eat me raw. You'll get all sorts of horrible things. It'll taste much better toasted over a slow fire. With mango chutney! You could go get some mangos right now, down there in the woods. I'll just wait here."
"Roasted satyr with mango chutney?" The cyclops pondered as he glanced back at the daughter of Ares. "You a satyr too?" He questioned.
"No, you overgrown pile of dung!" She yelled. "I'm a girl, daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!"
"Rip my arms off." The monster repeated.
"And stuff them down your throat!"
"You got spunk."
"Let me down!"
Polyphemus snatched up Grover like he was a rag doll. "Have to graze sheep now," Polyphemus declared. "Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat the satyr for the main course!"
"But... you're still getting married?" Grover sounded hurt. "Who's the bride?" His question was answered by the creature sparing a glance towards the dirty blonde hanging upside.
Clarisse made a disgusted sound. "Oh, no! You can't be serious, I'm not-"
Before the trio could do anything to help, Polyphemus grabbed Clarisse and Grover, tossing them into his home. "Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for a big event!"
With a whistle, a mixed flock of both goats and sheep flooded from their cave and past the creature. As the animals passed, the cyclops patted some of them on the back and called them by names he had created.
As the last animal made its way out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder to lock the two in as he also successfully cut off their screaming. "Mangos," he muttered to himself. "What are mangos?"
They tried for what seemed like hours to move the boulder, but it wasn't budging no matter how much the daughter of Hades tried.
In the end, Percy and Annabeth sat on the ridge as they watched Polyphemus move along his flock. But Evangeline couldn't let go that easy, she moved the boulder by geokenesis but it only moved a little, since she had not mastered it yet.
After a while, Evangeline gave up as she was losing strength.
"Trickery," the blonde decided as the brunette sat down next to the son of Poseidon. "We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery."
"Okay," Percy agreed. "What trick?"
"I haven't figured that part out yet."
"Great," Evangeline mumbled.
"Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside..." Annabeth thought out loud as she watched the creature.
"At sunset," She agreed. "Which is when he'll marry Clarrise and have Grover for dinner..."
"Not sure which one's grosser." Percy scrunched up his nose at the thought.
Evangeline caught herself thinking about how cute Percy had looked once he had done that and she quickly looked away with blood rushing to her face.
No, don't think that. The voice in her head scolded. He's an idiot.
Annabeth sat up. "I could get inside, with invisibility."
"What about us?" Percy questioned.
"The sheep." Annabeth mused. "How much do you like sheep?"
Percy reeled in a sheep while Annabeth told Evangeline to finally use her abilities and shadow travel inside the house.
The brunette quietly snuck around the cave in the shadows and caught sight of Percy who looked like a baby hanging and riding around his sheep's chest.
She had to cover her mouth so she wouldn't break out into laughter which was extremely hard.
"Hey, ugly!" Annabeth's voice echoed through the cave causing the monster to freeze where it stood. The daughter of Hades took that as her cue and teleported herself inside.
"Who said that?" The Cyclops demanded.
"Nobody!" The blonde yelled once more.
"Nobody!" The creature roared as it began turning red from rage. "I remember you!"
"You're too stupid to remember anybody." The daughter of Athena taunted. "Much less Nobody."
Poleyphemus grabbed the nearest boulder-the same one he used to block the cave-tossed it in Annabeth's direction. The only noise after his furious bellow was the sound of the rock smashing into a thousand fragments.
For a moment, the silence stayed and all was still until the blonde spoke up again. "You haven't learned to throw any better either!"
Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"
"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," Annabeth taunted. "Come find me!"
The monster barreled down the hill and towards the demigod's voice, all a part of the daughter of Athena's plan.
Percy slid down his sheep and ran down multiple corridors filled with bones, sheepskin rugs, and life-size cement sheep. There were also rooms filled with collections of sheep t-shirts, large tubs of lanolin and wooly coats, socks, and hats with ram horns.
He managed to find the demigods and satyr in the spinning room where Grover was huddled in the corner attempting to cut Clarisse free with safety scissors and Evangeline standing near the door watching Grover's attempts with an amused look on her face.
"It's no good," Clarisse said. "The rope is like iron!"
"Just a few good minutes!"
"Grover." She cried, exasperated. " You've been working at it for hours!"
Finally, the daughter of Ares and the satyr saw the two children of the Big Three standing near the door.
"Evangeline? Percy?" Clarisse said. "You're supposed to be blown up!"
"That's what they all say," Evangeline mumbled.
Percy!" Grover bleated and tackled him with a goat-hug. "You heard me! You came!"
"Yeah buddy," Percy said. "Of course, I came."
"Evangeline!" Grover turned to the brunette next and wrapped her in a hug.
"I missed you too, bridezilla." Evangeline patted his shoulder. Grover soon pulled away and looked around with a slight frown. "Where's Annabeth?"
"Outside," Evangeline answered. "Distracting the monster. Now Clarisse, hold still."
The brunette took off her necklace and pressed the snake, the pendant turned into the pitch-black sword causing Grover to turn his head towards Percy who just shrugged in return. The sword cut through the iron-like ropes smoothly.
Clarisse stood up stiffly, rubbing her wrist, then looked at the ground and mumbled. "Thanks, Merlyn."
"You're welcome," She said, knowing this was the best she was going to get out of the La Rue girl.
"Was anyone else onboard your lifeboat?" Percy asked, surprising Clarisse as she shook her head. "No, just me. Everybody else aboard the Birmingham...well, I didn't even know you guys made it out."
Percy stared down at the ground for a moment, before shaking his head out of whatever mood he briefly went into. "Okay, come on then, we have to help-"
An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream.
"I got nobody!" Polypehmus gloated as they arrived at the cave entrance and were able to see the creature grinning widely, he held up empty air until he shook his fist. A baseball cap fluttered to the ground from the action and there hung Annabeth upside down by her legs.
"Ha!" The Cyclops said. "Nasty invisible girl!" Already got feisty one for wife, means you gotta be grilled with mango!"
The daughter of Athena looked dazed as she struggled, a nasty cut was seen across her forehead, and her grey eyes looked glossy.
"Evangeline and I'll rush him. Our ship is around the back of the island." Percy whispered, beside the brunette. "Clarisse and Grover—"
"No way," They said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible rams-horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone like a club ready to attack.
"We all take him," Clarisse growled. "Beat his ass."
"Yeah," Grover said, nodding along. Then he blinked like he couldn't believe he'd just agreed with Clarisse about something.
"All right," Percy said. "Attack plan Macedonia," the son of Poseidon sent Evangeline a nod and she took off, she disappeared in the shadows and appeared next to the cap. "Hey, fuckface!" She yelled.
The cyclops whirled towards her voice, his head tilted lightly. "Another one? Who are you?"
"Put down our friend. I'm the one who insulted you."
"You are Nobody?"
"That's right!" Percy yelled. "I'm Nobody!"
"Suck it, you... smelly bucket of nose drool!" He said. His insults were not quite as insulting as they were supposed to be.
"No, I'm Nobody! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again." Evangeline yelled.
The Cyclops bellowed. The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her head first onto the rocks, where she lay motionless. The other bad news: The Cyclops barreled towards Evangeline and Percy a thousand smelly pounds of Cyclops that they would have to fight with their very small swords.
"For Pan!" Grover let out a battle cry and rushed in from the creature's right, throwing his sheep bone which bounced off the monster's forehead.
The daughter of Ares ran from the left and placed her spear on the ground in time for the Cyclops to successfully step on it.
Clarisse dove to the side as Polyphemus wailed in pain, but that didn't stop him from easily plucking the spear out of his foot and advancing.
Percy moved in with Riptide, but the monster made a grab for him, but he rolled aside and stabbed it in the thigh. Evangeline released a spike of shadows at the Cyclops, cutting its arm and causing it to cry out in pain.
"Get Annabeth!" Percy yelled towards the satyr as he charged at the Cyclops. Clarisse joined him in the charge, the two of them dodging the ponding, stomping, and grabbing of the Cyclops as he attempted to grab them.
The daughter of Ares kept the creature distracted enough for Percy to slice Polyphemus in the toes, Evangeline sliced his ankles, and the three attacked Polyphemus together.
"Fall back!" Percy instructed.
The three demigods took off for the bridge, Polyphemus directly behind them as he bled from his injuries and began cursing them. "Grind you into sheep chow!" He promised. "A thousand curses on Nobody!"
"Move faster!" Percy yelled.
"Speak for yourself!" Evangeline yelled back, running past him.
"Yeah, prissy!" Clarisse also ran past him.
"Grover!" Evangeline shouted for the satyr. "Cut the ropes!"
"I got it!" He shouted, grabbing the blonde's dagger and headed for the bridge. The three of them rushed onto the bridge, trying their best to stabilize themselves and keep a good pace as the satyr began sawing at the ropes.
It was easy to tell when the Cyclops had made it onto the bridge, the ropes had begun swaying rapidly while Grover continued cutting. "At least make sure we'll make it before you cut them all!" Clarisse screamed at him as the three dived to the solid ground beside the blonde.
Grover was quick to cut the last rope, the bridge falling into the chasm below as the Cyclops let out a howl. But the howl was full of glee because, within a short moment, Polyphemus was standing on the same platform as them.
"Failed!" He yelled. "Nobody failed!"
"Curse you!" Clarisse yelled as she got to her feet, Grover joining the daughter of Ares as they charged at the Cyclops. Polyphemus smacked them to the side like they were nothing but flies.
Evangeline dodged one of the monster's swipes, but the other one hit her causing her back to hit a tree.
Percy curled his fingers and smacked the cyclops in the nose with the hilt of his sword, proceeding to slash, kick, and bash until Polyphemus had fallen onto his back with dazed and moaning painful grunts. The son of Poseidon stood over the monster, the tip of his sword hovering over the creature's singular eye.
"No, please!" Polyphemus begged, staring at the demigod as tears began welling in the corner of his eye. "M-m-my sheepies need me, only trying to protect my sheep!"
"Kill him!" Clarisse yelled. "What are you waiting for?"
"He's a cyclops!" Grover warned. "Don't trust him!"
"We only want the fleece, " Percy finally spoke. "Will you agree to let us take it?"
"No!" Clarisse shouted. "Kill him!"
"My beautiful Fleece, the prize of my collection. Take it, cruel human, and go in peace."
"I'm going to step back slowly," Percy instructed. "One false move..."
The creature nodded as if he understood, when Percy stepped back the Cyclops smacked him to the edge of the cliff. "Foolish mortal!" He bellowed, rising to his feet. "Take my fleece? Ha! I eat you first."
Evangeline ran to the edge of the cliff, she grabbed Percy's hand, helping up as something went over her head.
She turned and saw that the Cyclops had begun choking on the unexpected rock, staggering backward until his heel slipped and he tumbled down into the chasm.
The demigods and satyr turned around to see a figure standing unharmed in the middle of the killer sheep flock. "Bad Polyphemus," Tyson's voice sounded. "Not all Cyclops nice as we look."
"Tyson," Percy said as he climbed back onto the cliff ledge. "Thank the gods, Annabeth is hurt."
"You thank the gods she is hurt?" Tyson questioned with a puzzled look on his face.
"No!" The boy denied it as they made their way to the blonde. The gash in her forehead had gotten worse, her hairline was sweaty and sticky with her blood. Annabeth's tan and smooth skin had become pale and clammy.
"Tyson," Percy called, earning the boy's attention. "The fleece, can you get it for me?"
"Which one?" Tyson asked, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.
"In the tree!" the demigod pointed. "The gold one!"
"Oh, pretty. Yes."
The younger Cyclops made his way over, careful to not step on the surrounding sheep. He reached up and pulled the fleece from its branch, the leaves immediately turning yellow as the oak tree began dying. "No time," Percy called. "Throw it!"
The golden ram skin flew through the air like a frisbee, the son of Poseidon caught it with a grunt as he spread it completely over the blonde's body aside from her face. Annabeth's eyes fluttered open, the cut on her forehead closing.
"You're not," the blonde spoke weakly once she saw Grover. "You're not... married?"
Clarisse snorted as Grover grinned. "No, my friends talked me out of it."
The moment was interrupted by Tyson shouting at the sheep to leave him alone. "We should go," Evangeline said. "Like right now."
Percy instructed Tyson to lead the sheep as far as possible while they headed through the meadow. "Keep the fleece around you," the brunette instructed the blonde. "Just in case. You're not fully healed yet, can you stand?"
Annabeth tried but her face turned pale once more. "Ohh, not fully healed."
"I got her," The daughter of Ares didn't give room for arguments as she placed the blonde over her shoulder and began making her way down to the beach.
It didn't take long for them to reach the water, nor for the Queen Anne's Revenge to round the tip of the island heading their way.
"Incoming!" Tyson's voice reached their ears as he bounded down the path to join the demigods and the satyr, the sheep following behind.
"They probably won't follow us to the water," Percy stated. "If we swim for the ship, we'll be safe."
"With Annabeth like that?" Grover inquired.
"We got this," the son of Poseidon insisted. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."
"Or, I can just take Annabeth to the boat with me," Evangeline suggested. The two demigods and satyr thought about what she said. Grover and Clarisse thought it would be a good idea, but Percy didn't say anything.
"Okay then." Evangeline took Annabeth's arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. "This is going to be freezing cold, so hold on tight," she told the blonde. Shadows appeared and consumed the duo, they disappeared, and the two reappeared on the boat. Evangeline sat Annabeth down, and the brunette stood up straight and fell to the ground.
Percy's eyes widened. "Relax, Prissy, she'll be fine," Clarisse told him as she began waddling her way through the water.
Grover followed after her, then Percy. The trio made it past the entrance to the ravine when a tremendous roar shook the water and those in it. They spun around to witness Polyphemus splashing towards them boulders in each hand.
"You'd think he'd run out of rocks. "Percy muttered.
"Swim for it!" Grover cried.
Evangeline regained some consciousness when the sons of Poseidons crashed onto the ship right in front of her feet she saw two Percys and two Tysons. She rubbed her head as she squinted.
Evangeline stood up next to Clarisse who was taunting the defeated Cyclops, she was still a little dizzy. "You throw like whimp! Serves you right for trying to marry me, you big idiot!"
"Clarisse," Percy yelled at the girl. "Shut up!"
But the damage had been already done, Polyphemus had thrown another boulder and it hit its target. The rock smashed through the hilt of the Queen Anne's Revenge, and the ship began sinking fast. The ship began creaking, groaning, and tilting forward towards the welcoming sea.
Clarisse was the first to fall off, her yells being heard the whole way down until a crash filled the air. Grover immediately rushed over to Annabeth, wrapping his arms around her and fleece as tight as he could. The satyr and the demigod were the next to fall, struggling with the weight of the fleece and the deadweight Annabeth.
Evangeline let out an annoyed groan as Percy grabbed her arm and dove them underwater, Tyson and Percy were having some sort of silent communication according to Evangeline's very spinning vision, and some hippocampi appeared and gave them a ride. Percy pulled her on a hippocampi and climbed behind her in case she passed out again.
They heard Polyphemus cheering in the distance. "I did it, I finally sank Nobody!"
No one said anything in response to the Cyclops, instead, they hurried across the sea as the island shrank to a blur before completely disappearing.
"You okay?" Percy asked his eyes filled with concern and worry.
Evangeline turned her head slightly, she blinked a few times to get her vision to become clear. "Kind of, but, I'll be fine Percy." She mumbled.
"I thought something had happened to you, or you had gotten hurt..." Percy looked down and saw her head hung low as she started falling towards the hippocampi's neck. "And you passed out, again."
Percy put his hand on her forehead and pulled her back so she slumped against him, and didn't fall off. "Goodnight, Princess."
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