Jasmine's POV
"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered.
"I know!" I agreed.
"Swim for it!" Grover said.
He, Will, and Clarisse plunged into the surf. Toothless followed overhead. 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."
He pulled Tyson's arm, but he was no match to his strength. Tyson 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. I laughed, but he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling.
"Percy! Jasmine!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"
They were almost to the ship with the Fleece.
"Go," Tyson told us. "I will hold Big Ugly."
"No! He'll kill you." Percy said. "We'll fight him together."
"Together," Tyson agreed.
I smiled. Percy had already lost Tyson once. I knew he didn't want to lose him again. I stood back by the surf. These were two brothers that were finally going to work together as one. I wasn't about to take that moment away from them.
Percy 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!"
"So? Satyrs good eating!"
"The Fleece should be used to heal! It belongs to the children of the gods!"
"I am a child of the gods!" Polyphemus swiped at Percy, but he sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!" He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and I realized he was targeting by the sound of Percy's voice.
"Poseidon won't curse me," Percy said, backing up as the Cyclops grabbed air. "I'm his son, too. He won't play favorites."
"That is one thing the gods won't do," I muttered.
Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where Percy had been standing a moment before. "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!"
Grover and Will were helping Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically at us, telling us to come on.
Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.
"Young one!" the older Cyclops called. "Where are you? Help me!"
Tyson stopped.
"You weren't raised right!" Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club. "Poor orphaned brother! Help me!"
No one moved. No sound but the ocean and my own heartbeat. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. "Don't fight, Cyclops brother. Put down the—"
Polyphemus spun toward his voice.
"Tyson!" Percy and I shouted.
The tree struck him with such force it would've flattened me into a pancake. Tyson flew backward, plowing a trench in the sand. Polyphemus charged after him, but Percy shouted, "No!" and lunged as far as he could with Riptide. I thought he was going to sting Polyphemus in the back of the thigh, but he managed to leap a little bit higher.
"Blaaaaah!" Polyphemus bleated just like his sheep and swung at him with his tree.
Percy dove, but still got raked across the back by a dozen jagged branches. He was bleeding and bruised and exhausted. I wanted to run to his aid.
Polyphemus swung the tree again, but this time Percy was ready. He grabbed a branch as it passed, was jerked skyward, and let the Cyclops lift him into the air. At the top of the arc he let go and fell straight against the giant's face—landing with both feet on his already damaged eye.
Polyphemus yowled in pain. Tyson tackled him, pulling him down. Percy landed next to them—sword in hand, within striking distance of the monster's heart. But he locked eyes with Tyson, and I knew he couldn't do it, just like before. It just wasn't right.
"Let him go," he told Tyson. "Run."
With one last mighty effort, Tyson pushed the cursing older Cyclops away, and we ran for the surf.
"I will smash you!" Polyphemus yelled, doubling over in pain. His enormous hands cupped over his eye.
Tyson, Percy, and I plunged into the waves.
"Where are you?" Polyphemus screamed. He picked up his tree club and threw it into the water. It splashed off to our right.
Percy summoned up a current to carry us, and we started gaining speed. I was beginning to think we might make it to the ship, when that bitch Clarisse shouted from the deck, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!"
"Shut up," I said quietly through gritted teeth.
"Rarrr!" Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing the three of us.
"Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted. "You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!"
"Clarisse!" Percy and I both yelled, unable to stand it. "Shut up!"
Too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time I watched helplessly as it sailed over my head. Toothless fired at it with his plasma blast, breaking it into pieces, but they were still big enough and traveling at a fast rate of speed to crash through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge. Well, at least he tried to stop it.
You wouldn't believe how fast a ship can sink. The Queen Anne's Revenge creaked and groaned and listed forward like it was going down a playground slide.
"Dammit," I cursed.
Percy willed the sea to push us faster, but the ship's masts were already going under.
"Dive!" Percy told us. And as another rock sailed over our heads, we plunged underwater.
Our friends were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship's wreckage.
Not many people realize that when a ship goes down, it acts like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Clarisse was a strong swimmer, but even she wasn't making any progress. Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Toothless was helping Will and Annabeth, who was hanging on to the Fleece, which flashed in the water like a wave of new pennies.
We swam toward them, knowing that we might not have the strength to pull them out. Worse, pieces of timber were swirling around them; we weren't going to be much help if we got whacked on the head by a beam.
We need help, I heard Percy say, but he didn't say it with his mouth.
Yes. Tyson's voice, loud and clear in my head.
Percy looked over at him, startled. Huh . . . Tyson was a son of Poseidon. They could communicate with each other.
Rainbow, Tyson said.
Yes! I agreed.
Percy looked over at me. You can hear us?
Of course. My powers give me telepathy both above and below water. Now let's get Rainbow here!
He nodded. I closed my eyes and concentrated, adding my voice to Percy and Tyson's: RAINBOW! We need you!
Immediately, shapes shimmered in the darkness below—three horses with fish tails, galloping upward faster than dolphins. Rainbow and his friends glanced in our direction and seemed to read our thoughts. They whisked into the wreckage, and a moment later burst upward in a cloud of bubbles—Grover, Annabeth, and Clarisse each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus. Toothless managed to jump up out of the water with Will on his back.
Rainbow, the largest, had Clarisse. He raced over to us and allowed Tyson to grab hold of his mane. His friend who bore Annabeth did the same for Percy. Toothless flew down close to me and I grabbed a hold of Will's hand.
We broke the surface of the water and raced away from Polyphemus's island. Behind us, I could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!"
I hoped he never found out he was wrong.
We skimmed across the sea as the island shrank to a dot and then disappeared.
"Did it," I heard Annabeth muttered in exhaustion. "We . . ."
She slumped against the neck of the hippocampus and instantly fell asleep.
I didn't know how far the hippocampi could take us. I didn't know where we were going. But Toothless kept up beside them. Percy propped up Annabeth so she wouldn't fall off and covered her in the Golden Fleece that we'd been through so much to get. I heard him say a silent prayer of thanks with my super hearing.
"You're a genius," I heard him tell Annabeth quietly.
Then he put his head against the Fleece, and he was asleep.
Aww. I grabbed my phone out and took a quick picture of the two of them. That was so going to become my new background.
My eyes were heavy. I wrapped my arms around Will and rested my head against his back and fell asleep too.
Oh. my. Gosh! It has been too fucking long since I've updated this story, and I know. It's been over a fucking year, and I'm actually quite annoyed it took me this long to finally get back into this. I'm so sorry guys! A lot of shit happened to me right after I published the last chapter, and then some more shit, and then other things I wanted to do. But after reading The Tower of Nero, it really motivated me to finally, finally, get back to this story and I am, slowly, working on it. I didn't even realize I stopped in the middle of the Sea of Monsters part. But know that I am not giving up on this story, even if it takes me 10 years to finish it!
Also, what did you guys think of both The Tyrant's Tomb and The Tower of Nero? I frankly hated the ending of the former, and part of the ending of the latter, which is what increased my motivation to continue with this story and make it right . . . once, you know, I actually get to that part of writing. I haven't even started with the Heroes of Olympus part yet, and at this rate, it will be a while before I do. But at least I'm back now!
Please review, and please check out my Discord server! at discord . gg / bMFV9g6 (no spaces). Make sure you let me know who you are!
