Hi everybody, don't forget to keep voting on my poll on my profile. At the moment, Thalia's in the lead with Annabeth closely behind her! Let's keep it going!

Gohan was plunged straight into faint green. His whole body wanted to panic, to flail blindly. But, he focused on kicking up. Swimming towards the light. Just as his lungs were about to burst, he finally broke through the surface and gasped, his lungs filling with air. He took several deep breaths, blinking stinging seawater out of his eyes.

"Annabeth! Percy!" he cried out.

"Here!" Gohan turned in the water and was met with the sight of the Queen Anne's Revenge, with Percy steering the ship towards him. Annabeth was standing on the side of the ship, and pushed a rope ladder off. Gohan reached out and grabbed it, pulling himself up with a grunt, his clothes sticking to him like glue. He shimmied up the rope, and climbed onto the ship with the help of a quick pull from Annabeth, who was draped in a brown cloak.

"Here. We need to get warm or we'll get sick. Last thing we need is to be stuck in the Sea of Monsters with pneumonia." Gohan sighed as he draped the cloak over himself. He noticed Annabeth shivering as she pressed her cloak around her.

"Well, that was fun!" they heard Percy yell sarcastically as he stormed down the deck towards them, an annoyed expression on his face. Surprisingly, he was not wet in the slightest. Annabeth flashed Gohan an annoyed expression. Gohan simply winked.

"Calm down, dude." Percy scowled.

"Excuse me? I was almost turned into seafood by a crazy signing crab! All for some stupid box that Annabeth wanted… THAT WE DIDN'T EVEN GET! SERIOUSLY!" Gohan raised his hand.

"Two things."

"WHAT?"

"One, I actually liked the song. Two, about the box…" Gohan reached into his pocket and pulled out the brown box, somehow not wet in the slightest. Percy stared at the box in pure disbelief.

"How… when…"

"When he was swinging Annabeth around and trying to crush you." Gohan handed the box to Annabeth, who cradled it in her hands. Intrigued, Gohan and Percy pressed next to her as she opened the box to reveal…

"A compass?" Percy asked in disbelief. It looked like something out of a museum. It was the same color of brown as the box, with a grey map of the world in the middle. There was a red needle in the middle, which began to spin wildly the moment Annabeth touched it.

"Not just any compass. This is the Wayfinder's Compass. It was supposedly given to the ancient explorer Tyraneus by Hermes millennia ago. Instead of pointing north, it points to the holder's greatest desire." Percy and Gohan looked shocked.

"Seriously?" Annabeth nodded.

"Yes. Anything or anyone. It always points in the direction of whatever that person truly desires most. It will never deceive you. I know that you're pretty good out here at sea, Percy. But, this could really come in handy. It can help us find Grover much faster…"

"How does it work?" Percy asked as Annabeth handed it to him.

"It's simple. You have to picture what you desire most."

"What I want is to find Grover. And save the camp." Annabeth nodded.

"So, the compass should point you to Grover. As if by cue, the needle froze, pointing in a southwestern direction.

"Whoa." Percy turned around in a circle, but the needle remained in the same exact direction.

"Looks like that's where Grover is." Percy nodded as he willed the ship to turn. Almost immediately, a loud creaking filled the air as the large ship slowly turned in the water., until the compass was pointing straightforward.

"I sure hope this thing is right…" Percy murmured.

"Trust me. This compass has aided countless heroes in the pa-CHOO!" Annabeth was interrupted by a violent sneeze.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm just a li-CHOOO!" Annabeth sneezed again.

"Okay, come on. You're standing in soaked clothes. Let's get you downstairs." Annabeth wanted to protest, but burst into a fit of sneezing.

"Man the ship?" Percy nodded, though he looked a little wary.

"Come on you. I… might need a change of clothes myself." Gohan guided a sneezing Annabeth to the stairs, and followed her down below. Percy shook his head as he gripped the wheel.

"No… they wouldn't. Besides, Gohan doesn't even know what to do with a girl…"

"You okay in there?" Gohan called out ten minutes later, as he sat outside the door of their makeshift steam room, which Annabeth was currently occupying. They had first discovered it when they had escaped from Circe's island. It was essentially a small wooden room, with a massive metal tub in the center. Gohan had figured out that he could make a makeshift steam room by placing his hands in the water and creating a ki ball, which heated up the water and made steam. It didn't much concentration to keep the ki ball together. Gohan had actually already dried himself, simply by using his ki to work as a dryer. He was radiating so much hear that his clothes were warm and toasty.

"You really don't have to do this. I'm not a baby! I can take care of myself" Annabeth protested, before sneezing again.

"I know. I want to. You're my friend. Friends can't take care of each other?" he was met with silence for several minutes.

"I'm fine. Really." Her voice insisted. Gohan shrugged.

"What's wrong?" More silence.

"Gohan… I just feel a little uncomfortable. Mind leaving my clothes?"

"Okay. I left them by the door." Annabeth sighed as she slid deeper into the water, listening as Gohan's footsteps faded away, leaving her to her thoughts. It was the first peace and quiet she had had in… a long time.

Gohan climbed out of the underdeck and climbed onto the deck. He glanced upwards at Percy, who was steering the ship. The compass was clutched in his right hand, observing the device through a candle perched on the railing. Gohan almost interrupted him, but suddenly decided against it. He sat on the deck and looked upwards. It was a beautiful night. The ocean was calm, and the sky was filled with stars. Gohan sighed. He was nervous. If things went wrong, if they failed to save camp… Gohan couldn't bear the thought. He didn't want to lose one of the few places in this world he considered a home. He was staring at the stars so long that he didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he was woken up by Annabeth shaking him.

"Hey. Sleepyhead. Wake up, you're missing breakfast." Gohan shot up like a rocket.

"Breakfast?"

"This isn't breakfast!" Gohan protested five minutes later as he stared into the tiny bowl. Annabeth scoffed as she stirred the large, steaming pot. After they had lost their packs, the only food they had left were a few bags of jerky, and several preserved vegetables and meats below decks. Percy had been a little wary that those stored items were expired, but Annabeth suspected that Circe's magic had kept everything perfectly preserved, which was why the ship wasn't a hunk of rotting wood. So, Annabeth had brewed a stew, mixing together meat, vegetables, and a bottle of water.

"Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Bottomless Stomach! We all can't brew an endless feast. You'll get your portion and you'll like it! So either eat, or shut up and starve!" Gohan was shocked into silence by Annabeth's cold stare, while Percy chuckled nervously before sipping from his bowl. Gohan sighed before reluctantly holding his bowl out. Annabeth simply smirked before filling up his bowl. Gohan then gulped the entire thing down in one mouthful before holding out his bowl and taking another mouthful.

"Man, this is delicious! You're a really good cook, Annabeth!" she blushed as she stirred.

"It's nothing special, really. Just something I picked up from when I was with Thalia and…" she trailed off. Gohan almost snarled at the mere reference to Luke.

"Look, it's basically that you learn to work with what you have."

"Maybe you should be a chef instead of an architect." Percy joked. She punched his arm. Though, that ended up hurting Annabeth way more than it did Gohan, literally.

"Ow." She muttered as she rubbed her knuckled.

"You know, for a group of smart people, we've all made some idiotic decisions that kinda backfired on us."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Percy asked, as he checked the compass to make sure they were still heading in the right direction.

"Circe? The sirens? My loosing my head back at camp? If anything, I think all these things show that we've got a lot to learn." Annabeth nodded.

"I suppose. But I still feel like it was something I had to do."

"Was it worth it?"

She gazed into the distance. "I'm not sure. But we have to save the camp. If we don't stop Luke ..."

"Will you stand against him? If it comes to it?" Annabeth gave Percy a scathing glare. She didn't need to say a word to express her thoughts. But at the same time, her eyes reflected the conflict raging inside her. To say Gohan found this alarming was an understatement.

If Luke's way of thinking could even tempt Annabeth, there was no telling how many other half-bloods might join him.

Suddenly Annabeth's eyes widened. "Guys." they turned.

Up ahead was another blotch of land—a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows—just like Gohan's vision.

Percy's nautical senses confirmed it. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. Just to be sure, he raised the WayFinder's compass. It was pointing straight at the island. They had reached the home of the Cyclops.

When Gohan thought of "monster island, he pictured craggy rocks and bones scattered on the beach like the island of the Sirens.

The Cyclops's island was nothing like that. The place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields and tropical fruit trees and white beaches. It was exactly like what he had seen in the House of Life. As they sailed toward the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. "The Fleece," she said.

Gohan could feel its power, even if he couldn't see it yet. It was like sensing some one else's ki. Only, this one radiated warmth, comfort, strength, and life. Still, something bothered him. "If we take it away, will the island die?"

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 said. "We could just hike up there and take it?"

"You seriously expect this to be that easy? Really? After everything else we've been through?" Gohan pointed out. Percy glared at him.

"You know, you don't need to be such a dick about it."

"Boys. Enough horn clashing." Annabeth interrupted.

Her 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.

"Okay then…" Gohan sweat-dropped

The three of them exchanged looks.

"They're like piranhas," she said.

"Piranhas with wool. How will we—"

"Guys!" Annabeth gasped, grabbing Percy's 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.

Ultimately, they decided there was no way they could get past the man-eating sheep. At first, Gohan and Annabeth both had their own ideas. Gohan wanted to try simply flying over the sheep up to the Fleece and taking it, while Annabeth wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but in the end Percy convinced them that something would go wrong. The sheep would smell them. Another guardian would appear. The ship might be very good jumpers, and catch Gohan by surprise. And Gohan might not be powerful to take on a mass of piranha sheep. Something. And if that happened, he'd be too far away to help.

Besides, their first job was to find Grover and whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat— assuming they'd gotten past the sheep.

They moored the Queen Anne's Revenge on the back side of the island where the cliffs rose straight up a good two hundred feet. The cliffs looked climbable, barely—about as difficult as the lava wall back at camp. At least it was free of sheep.

"So… we climb?!" Gohan shook his head.

"No need! All aboard the Gohan express!" He wrapped his hands around both Percy and Annabeth's waists, one for each. Annabeth's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh no, not this agaIIINNNNN!" Gohan shot into the air like a bullet, and landed with a soft thud on the top of the cliff ten seconds later. Percy and Annabeth shoved themselves away from him and stumbled away, both their faces green.

"Ugh, my stomach!"

"Seriously? Come one!" moaned Annabeth.

"Garrr!" bellowed another voice.

Percy whirled around, but he couldn't see who'd spoken.

Annabeth clamped her hands over their mouths. She pointed.

The ledge they were sitting on was narrower than he'd realized. It dropped off on the opposite side, and that's where the voice was coming from—right below them.

"You're a feisty one!" the deep voice bellowed.

"Challenge me!" Clarisse's voice, no doubt about it. "Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"

The monster roared with laughter.

They crept to the edge. They were right above the entrance of the Cyclops's cave. Below stood Polyphemus and Grover, still in his wedding dress. Clarisse was tied up, hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water. Percy was half hoping to see Tyson down there, too. Even if he'd been in danger, at least Percy would've known he was alive. But there was no sign of him. Gohan was snickering.

"Do. Not. Laugh." Annabeth hissed.

"Sorry. Grover looks idiotic!"

"Hmm," Polyphemus pondered. "Eat loudmouth girl now or wait for wedding feast? What does my bride think?"

He turned to Grover, who backed up and almost tripped over his completed bridal train. "Oh, um, I'm not hungry right now, dear. Perhaps—"

"Did you say bride?" Clarisse demanded. "Who— Grover?" Next to Gohan, Annabeth muttered, "Shut up. She has to shut up."

Polyphemus glowered. "What 'Grover'?" "The satyr!" Clarisse yelled.

"Oh!" Grover yelped. "The poor thing's brain is boiling from that hot water. Pull her down, dear!"

Polyphemus's eyelids narrowed over his baleful milky eye, as if he were trying to see Clarisse more clearly.

The Cyclops was an even more horrible sight than Gohan had imagined. To be fair, Gohan had never actually seen the Cyclops in his vision, only heard him. Having a sensitive nose in this situation did not help either. Partly because his rancid smell was now up close and personal. And Partly because he was dressed in his wedding outfit—a crude kilt and shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedoes, as if the he'd skinned an entire wedding party.

"What satyr?" asked Polyphemus. "Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?"

"No, you big idiot!" bellowed Clarisse. "That satyr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!"

Gohan wanted to punch Clarisse, but it was too late. Polyphemus turned and ripped off Grover's wedding veil—revealing his curly hair, his scruffy adolescent beard, his tiny horns.

Polyphemus breathed heavily, trying to contain his anger. "I don't see very well," he growled. "Not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in eye. But YOU'RE—NO— LADY—CYCLOPS!"

The Cyclops grabbed Grover's dress and tore it away. Underneath, the old Grover reappeared in his jeans and T-shirt. He yelped and ducked as the monster swiped over his head.

"Stop!" Grover pleaded. "Don't eat me raw! I—I have a good recipe!"

Percy reached for his sword, but Annabeth hissed, "Wait!"

Polyphemus was hesitating, a boulder in his hand, ready to smash his would-be bride. "Recipe?" he asked Grover.

"Oh y-yes! You don't want to eat me raw. You'll get E coli and botulism and all sorts of horrible things. I'll taste much better grilled 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."

"Grilled satyr with mango chutney," Polyphemus mused. He looked back at Clarisse, still hanging over the pot of boiling water. "You a satyr, too?"

"No, you overgrown pile of dung!" she yelled. "I'm a girl! The daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!"

"Rip my arms off," Polyphemus repeated.

"And stuff them down your throat!"

"You got spunk."

"Let me down!"

Polyphemus snatched up Grover as if he were a wayward puppy. "Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for the main course!"

"But ... you're still getting married?" Grover sounded hurt. "Who's the bride?" Polyphemus looked toward the boiling pot.

Clarisse made a strangled sound. "Oh, no! You can't be serious. I'm not—"

Before the three of them could do anything, Polyphemus plucked her off the rope like she was a ripe apple, and tossed her and Grover deep into the cave. "Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!"

Then the Cyclops whistled, and a mixed flock of goats and sheep—smaller than the man- eaters—flooded out of the cave and past their master. As they went to pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back and called them by name—Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, etc.

When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder in front of the doorway as easily as Percy would close a refrigerator door, shutting off the sound of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.

"Mangos," Polyphemus grumbled to himself. "What are mangos?"

He strolled off down the mountain in his baby-blue groom's outfit, leaving them alone with a pot of boiling water and a six-ton boulder. The three of them stared at the boulder.

"You can move that, right?" Annabeth asked. Gohan stepped up and experimentally pressed against it. The rock rumbled as it moved several inches to the right. He then released it, letting it fall back with a loud thud. A loud grunt echoed as the Cyclops turned in confusion, his attention caught by the sound of the rumble. Unfortunately, it seemed that his hearing was still excellent.

"Hide!" They all ducked from the Cyclops, his eye glancing over at them. After what seemed like a long, agonizing minute, he grunted and turned back towards his sheep.

"Yeah. I can move it." Gohan whispered.

"Only problem is that he'll hear you the second you do it. And even if you try to do it quietly, all it takes is for him to just glance this way. He may be half blind, but even he'll see that his boulder has been moved!" Percy hissed. They watched the distant baby-blue shape of the Cyclops as he moved among his flocks. He had wisely divided his regular animals from his man-eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island. The only way across was the rope bridge, and the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.

They watched as Polyphemus visited his carnivorous flock on the far side. Unfortunately, they didn't eat him. In fact, they didn't seem to bother him at all. He fed them chunks of mystery meat from a great wicker basket.

"We'll have to use speed. And trickery." Annabeth suggested. Both boys could see the gears turning in Annabeth's head.

"You've got an idea." She nodded.

"Give or take, we have thirty seconds once you push the rock. So, here's what we do…" about five minutes later, Gohan pressed his hands to the rock while Percy stood behind him. Annabeth was perched up on a higher rock, her hat clutched in her hand. With a nod at Gohan, she jammed it over her head, causing her to vanish.

"Ready?" Gohan whispered. Percy nodded. Then, with a loud grunt, Gohan shoved the rock, sending it rolling away from the cave and off the side of the cliff, followed by a loud splash. A massive roar from down below confirmed the Cyclops had heard their little stunt.

"Move!" Percy and Gohan dashed into the cave as the ground rumbled, confirming that the Cyclops was running towards them.

The Cyclops would have raced right into the cave, but Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"

Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage. "Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody."

Polyphemus bellowed furiously. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"

"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "Come find me!" Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice.

Now, the "Nobody" thing wouldn't have made sense to anybody, but Annabeth had explained that it was the name Odysseus had used to trick Polyphemus centuries ago, right before he poked the Cyclops's eye out with a large hot stick. Annabeth had figured Polyphemus would still have a grudge about that name, and she was right. In his frenzy to find his old enemy, he forgot the cave. Apparently, he didn't even stop to consider that Annabeth's voice was female, whereas the first Nobody had been male. On the other hand, he'd wanted to marry Grover, so he couldn't have been all that bright about the whole male/female thing. Gohan was not comfortable with leaving Annabeth to distract the Cyclops all by herself, but she pointed out that she couldn't make them both invisible, and two people could search a cave better than one. They searched the main room, but there was no sign of Grover or Clarisse.

"Anything?"

"No!" In frustration, they raced toward the back of the cave.

They ran down corridors littered with bones, past rooms full of sheepskin rugs and life-size cement sheep that Percy recognized as the work of Medusa. There were collections of sheep T- shirts; large tubs of lanolin cream; and wooly coats, socks, and hats with ram's horns. While they were ruffling through, Gohan had a memory flash.

"The compass!" he cried. Percy looked at him in confusion.

"That compass! It can lead us to Grover!" Percy felt like an idiot for not remembering it sooner. He yanked the Wayfinder's Compass out of his pocket and opened it. The needle was pointing left.

"Come on!" thanks to the compass, navigating the vast maze of the cave was much easier, Percy leading Gohan through curve after bend.

"Man, this sure is easy." Gohan commented.

"Yeah. I don't think we can ever get lost with this thing."

Finally, they 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 almost fifteen minutes!"

"Hey!" Percy cried, causing them to whirl towards him.

"Percy?" Clarisse said. "You're supposed to be blown up!" Clarisse glared at Gohan

"Why is he not a pile of ashes?" she snarled. Gohan rolled his eyes.

"Good to see you, too. Now hold still while I—"

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated and tackled him with a goat-hug. "You heard me! You came!" Gohan looked like he wanted to howl with laughter at how silly Grover looked.

"This day is full of weddings, isn't it?" Grover and Clarisse looked annoyed.

"Not funny!" they roared in unison.

"Not the time! Clarisse, hold still."

Percy uncapped Riptide and sliced off her ropes. She stood stiffly, rubbing her wrists. She glared at him for a moment, then looked at the ground and mumbled, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Percy 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."

"Can we focus on beating the Cyclops?" Clarisse snorted.

"You're a fool if you think I'll ever fight alongside you."

"Seriously? I'm starting to get really sick of this!" Gohan snarled.

"You humiliated not just me, but the name of Ares! You embarrassed us, stole-" Gohan snapped.

"You want the shield back? Here! Take it!" Gohan held up the waistband, which glowed and transformed in the shimmering shield." Clarisse looked at it with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Come on. We have to help—"

An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that told him they might be too late. It was Annabeth crying out in fear.