Polyphemus was clearly insulted and outraged that one of his own kind had risen up against him as he started to lay into Tyson, calling him a traitor. I thought Tyson would burst into tears, but he remained surprisingly calm and I wondered if this trip had matured him somewhat. He insisted that he was not a traitor and that Polyphemus was most certainly not his kind, making me smile at him as Percy and I had uselessly tugged on his hands to try and make him come along with us. When that failed, we decided to fight against Polyphemus. All three of us together. It became a four way Poseidon-child club-fest. I heard the boulders be thrown at us but Tyson rather expertly stopped them in their tracks, turning them to rubble as I charged forwards with Percy summoning a huge wave to attack Polyphemus in the face. I could feel the water, however with my strong aversion to it rising with my anger at Polyphemus, the tide fled from me, as if frightened by my footsteps. I cut at Polyphemus's foot again, though this really did not seemed to do much, however with several of his toes now missing he seemed to have an increased difficulty in remaining balanced. I used this to my advantage, slashing and stabbing before racing back again, though I wasn't able to sense Polyphemus as clearly as the sand from the beach dulled the vibrations. All the while, Percy and Polyphemus argued over who should have the fleece, my brother arguing that it should be used to heal and that it belonged to the children of the gods.
"I am a child of the gods!" Polyphemus bellowed as I staggered backwards, my feet unsteady in the wet sand as I laboured for breath. If I were like Percy, I could just step into the water and be revitalised. Would be helpful, but I'm not that desperate yet. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"
"Poseidon won't curse me. I'm his son, too. He won't play favourites." No, he won't even play father at all, really. I heard the sound of something being ripped out of the cliff causing rocks to fall with a clatter and when Polyphemus shook his new weapon, I could hear the sound of rustling leaves seemingly shrieking in fear. Guess he'd ripped up a tree then. Getting tired of this, I yelled for Percy and Tyson to get out of the way and get to the water if they could. I felt Polyphemus shift his weight, now angling towards me. Before he could swipe and catch me, I stomped my foot into the ground with a feeling of irritation and annoyance, causing a minor tremor to quake underfoot. Percy leaped for the water, I heard him splash into the frothing waves though I couldn't tell where Tyson was. Polyphemus was thrown backwards from us, though, giving us enough time to move as possible, and maybe even get back to the ship if I could make another earthquake strong enough, but I just felt too exhausted. I needed a strong boost of something to keep me going. Clearly seeing that he was losing, Polyphemus tried once more to convince Tyson to join him.
"Young one! Where are you? Help me!" I froze in place, not daring to move as I grasped my sword tightly, frantically trying to figure out where Tyson was. "You weren't raised right! Poor orphaned brother! Help me!" It was only when Tyson spoke I could find him, but then it was too late. He tried to reason with Polyphemus, being sweet natured as he was, but the moment he gave away his location, I heard the crack of wood strike and I screeched as Percy also yelled. Okay. Now I was mad. The raged boiled up inside me and I felt my eyes seemingly burning in their sockets as I now bellowed, jumping up and throwing my weight upon the ground which caused a violent quaking that made the last one seem like a hiccup. I was unaffected, but Polyphemus was thrown completely off his feet and even Percy cried out in alarm, having to summon a wave to lift him up to avoid the effect.
"Percy! Grab Tyson and get to the ship!"
"But…"
"NOW!" Percy didn't argue a second time. I sensed him send a wave of water to grab Tyson, washing him out of the sand and pull him back to the sea where Percy was able to transport them both back to the ship as I settled the earthquake, tilting my head so that I could train my ears on the groaning sound of Polyphemus. He was sprawled out, as far as I could tell, but now I was seriously considering killing him. He hurt just about everyone I cared about, had used the Golden Fleece to lure satyrs in and kill them for hundreds of years so he could eat them and worst of all, he had said mean things to my baby brother. He was a monster. A real monster. He didn't deserve to live. My weapon must have glinted brightly even in the loom of twilight, and I couldn't help but hope that Polyphemus found it scary as I climbed up his chest and stood over him, holding his life in my hands. I had never wanted to kill anything more in my life, and I was going to do it too, but just as I raised my sword up high in my hands, I heard a mournful wail from the ship.
"No Lily, no!" Tyson. I froze in place and instinctively looked his way. "Lily not kill Cyclopes! Please? For Tyson?" Aw…dammit. I was too sweet on him. It took every ounce of my mental willpower to force myself to leave Polyphemus, groaning and with a splitting headache where he'd apparently cracked his head against the cliff from when I'd toppled him over with an earthquake, but for Tyson, I let him live. Hopefully at least no one will be stranded on his island any longer. Maybe his own sheep will even eat him if they get hungry enough. Here's hoping. However now I was stuck on the beach with no idea how to swim and a hatred of the water. Great. Percy seemed to have it hand though, calling me to relax and he somehow managed to make the water lift me up around my legs and carry me all the way to the ship which was already moving away from the island, and the moment I stepped on deck I willed it to go faster.
"Okay Tyson, I'm back now. Shall we go home?" This was when Tyson burst into tears and tackled me with a bone crushing hug, wailing until I'd patted his head and assured him everything was going to be alright. We were all exhausted and had little supplies left, so with my remaining rations of ambrosia and nectar I shared it around so we each got a dose and everyone pretty much went straight to sleep they were so exhausted. I tried to stay awake longest, steering my new ship in the right direction and even as I drifted off, found myself pleading to no one in particular to please allow us to get back in time to save Thalia's tree. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, letting the ship itself carrying out its own work as it knew I wanted. I slept deeply and soundly, not moving for several hours from where I'd simply curled up by the wheel until I heard voices shouting and immediately I was jumping up and going for my weapon. "Wassat? What's attacking us now?" Clarisse gave a gruff laugh of amusement.
"No one's attacking us, but we see land!" Thinking for a moment, I judged our position before telling her it was Miami Beach we were seeing. "How in Hades do you know that?" It was effort, but I explained to her how Percy and I had perfect nautical bearings, and although she grunted without interest, I could tell Clarisse thought it was cool. The others roused themselves up and Annabeth suggested we make for shore so that they could find out the date and time, because no one knew exactly what day it was. I was reluctant to leave my ship, having grown rather attached to her so I anchored her as close to sea as I could and told her to stay put until we got back, patting the wheel affectionately and I could have sworn the ship shuddered like it was giggling. Maybe I'll even rename her once this was over, and perhaps suggest to Chiron when he's reinstated that we introduce naval games to our activities list, like capture the flag but with naval ships instead. I think that would be pretty cool. Percy and I would totally own that.
Unfortunately I couldn't bring us close enough to the beach to just walk in because I'd end up running the ship aground, so we were forced to swim. I hated every moment of it but between Percy and Tyson, though mainly Tyson because he was strongest, we reached the beach and got to shore, soaked to the bone – Percy too because it would have looked weirder for him to be dry – before Annabeth then darted off to find a newspaper. I'm glad I raided the treasure store one last time, smirking to myself as I felt my backpack rest heavily on my shoulders with precious gemstones and bits of jewellery I'd looted. Mom would probably freak out, but at least she didn't have to worry about money anymore. At least not for a long time. Annabeth's curse roused me from my thoughts as we looked to her over at the nearest newspaper box. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"
"That's impossible!" Clarisse and I said together before shooting one another a scowl.
"Thalia's tree must be almost dead, we have to get the Fleece back tonight." Grover insisted rightly as I heard Clarisse flop down, sounding agitated and even a more than a little upset, which was weird because you never think about Clarisse being close to tears.
"How are we supposed to do that? We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride except for a washed up ship. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered…" I protested when my ship was referred to as washed up but I didn't argue further since we had more important things to worry about. In fact it was Annabeth who almost started a fight with Clarisse, so I put my hand on her shoulder and drew her away as Percy told her to cut it out before then asking Clarisse what the Oracle had told her. "You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, you shall find what you seek and make it your own, but despair for your life entombed within stone, and fail without friends, to fly home alone." As prophecies go, this one sounded pretty straight forward.
"Well I would despair for my life if I ended up married to Polyphemus and trapped in his cave. That's the 'entombed within stone' bit." I reasoned as Percy made a sound as if realising something then started to rummage around in his pockets then asked if anyone had money. I had some and thankfully it was dry still, some of it in Hermes's duffel bag and the rest in my own backpack which was soaked through, but thankfully I'd already transferred my valuable iPod, charger and headphones to the waterproof duffel with my clothes in it. The backpack was full of treasure. Together it was a fair amount, but it was Tyson who brought the winning score.
"Cash? Like…green paper?" He then started rummaging around in his own bags which he must have salvaged from the wreckage of the steamship and carried on Rainbow all the way here. "Like the kind in duffel bags?" No way! In a rather miraculous twist, Tyson came through to save the day as he produced the moneybag Hermes had given us, stuffed to the brim with crisp, dry American dollars. I'd caught onto what Percy intended to do, so as he ran off and hailed a taxi, I grabbed Clarisse by her arms and hauled her to her feet and ushered her to get going. She was confused at first, but when Percy told Annabeth to give her the Fleece, she was completely floored. To be honest, she kind of sounded like she suspected a trap.
"You'd let me…"
"It's your quest, we only have enough money for one flight. Besides. I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces and Lily too. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely." I was certain that Clarisse would start to cry, but if she did, she did so silently and I couldn't hear it. She did tell us rather proudly that she wouldn't fail and that we could count on her, so we sent her off with smiles as the cab peeled away, probably terrified of Clarisse when she barked at the guy to step on it. I know I would be in his shoes. Proud of my baby brother, I gave him a hug, nuzzling him lightly until Tyson jumped in, wanting a hug too and wrapped his arms around us both until he squeezed us so tight we couldn't breathe and we had to make him drop us. I ruffled his hair and grinned at him as Grover and Annabeth stared at Percy in disbelief. Grover was impressed, but Annabeth held her reservations over whether or not Clarisse would deliver the Fleece safely. "It's her quest. She deserves a chance." He reasoned simply.
"Besides, do you think anyone would dare mess with Clarisse now that she has her goal and has one final job to complete her quest?" I posed to them and Grover gave a nervous bleat. "Of course not. I dare anyone to try and stop her. Come on, let's head back to the Queen, we can take it steady back to camp from now on." Everyone groaned at the thought of having to swim all the way back to the ship, but it was just one final push until we would be on our way back to the camp which, hopefully by the time we got there, would be healed up and the barrier would be restored. We turned around and I started walking, not sensing that there were people waiting for us because firstly, I was distracted and secondly, because there were so many people on the beach I didn't notice a couple more. So when I walked directly into Luke's chest his hands snatched hold of my wrists and held me tightly, his warm breath fanning across my face as I jolted and froze up.
"Nice to run into you again, Lily." I would have laughed were it any other situation, because the joke was kind of funny. However now was not the time for laughing and now that I was paying attention, I could feel the presence of the two bear-men Luke walked around with. What's the phrase? Out of the frying pan and into the fire.