Artie munched on crunchy mushroom that Tobias had brought him, along with huge amount of fruit. All of it plucked off from the surrounding trees.

He gazed at the pile of apple cores, peach and apricot pits, and countless banana peels thinking about Annabeth's plan. After he had recomposed himself, Annabeth explained her plan for rescuing Grover, Clarisse, and retrieving the Golden Fleece. Artie objected to his part, claiming Annabeth's role was better suited for him since he was far faster and agile than her, but Annabeth was clear. While normally she would not hesitate to do what Artie suggested, Artie was not himself. If he lost his temper, like he had before, he was liable to get himself and everyone else killed. And while he wasn't happy about it, Percy agreed with Annabeth. Whatever had happened to him at Circe's Isle, it was clouding Artie's mind and judgement, making him more aggressive and rash.

Artie swallowed and turned to Percy who was laying on his stomach watching for the return of Polyphemus. "Wake me up when its time."

"How can you sleep at a time like this?" Percy asked.

Artie bit back a snarl and said, "I don't intend on giving Polyphemus any advantages. And that includes being tired when we have to fight him."

Artie didn't bother waiting for a response and closed his eyes. After a few minutes he fell asleep or so he thought. All his life, when he slept all of him slept. He would dream, yes, but unless something made noise he was oblivious to it. He was still aware or all the sounds and smells around him. The smell of low tide approaching, the rustle of leaves picking a gentle breeze, even the quiet sound of Percy's breathing next him. At first he was annoyed by all the noise, then like magic everything faded into the background, like radio turned way down low. it was like he was asleep and awake at the same time. A thought came to him, it was something Annabeth had mentioned about kitten she had found when she was little. He remembered that all cats, including everything wild to house cats, could ignore noise. Artie had seen countless stray cats, in countless towns and cities, sleep only a few feet from a busy construction site and sleep the day away. It was only when he approached di they open their eyes, no doubt surprised by the sound of his footsteps.

Is this what she meant? Artie wondered.

His quiet world was interrupted by the sound of gentle footsteps. He did not open his eye. His nose picked up Annabeth's gentle scent of olives. Once he was sure that he and Percy were not about to be ambushed, Artie settled back into his new trance like state.

"Is he? . . . " asked Annabeth.

"Asleep? Yeah." answered Percy. "Just dozed off a sec ago."

"No," she said. "I think he's . . . purring?"

Purring? Artie thought, What in the name of Hades is she talking about?

"Are you sure he's not just snoring?" Percy asked.

"I hope so." she said, sounding concerned. "Something that Circe said is bothering me. "

"What did she say?"

"Each person has an inner animal, usually one that matches one's personality" said Annabeth, repeating Circe word for word.

"So my inner animal is a guinea pig?"

"No, Circe said those packets each have a set result, but not the white packets." Annabeth explained. "If I had to guess, the magic sort of mixed Artie's personality with his inner animal's. And the human part of him is having a hard time fighting the animal part."

Maybe I'll call up Hallie Berry, She kinda went through the same thing in Catwoman., thought Artie bitterly, Or maybe Rob Schneider, he was fairly entertaining in The Animal.

"Okay I get that part." said Percy, not really getting it. "But how come I'm not acting all weird. I mean I don't have a sudden urge to gorge myself on celery."

"I'm not sure, Percy" admitted Annabeth. "It could be Artie spent more time as animal than you? Maybe that witch that changed him made a mistake with the magic? In all honesty, I'm not completely sure."

"Maybe Chiron knows." Percy offered. "He's been around long enough to see everything."

"Maybe." said Annabeth, not sounding sure.

Artie heard the flutter of wings and sound of Tobias chirping.

"Has he figured out we can't understand him?" Percy asked.

Artie sat up, "Polyphemus is on his way back."

"Have you been awake this entire time?" Percy asked, not sure how Artie would react to what they had said about him.

"No time." said Annabeth. "You guys remember the plan?"

Artie nodded as he opened his bow and drew an arrow. "We keep Polyphemus busy while Percy rescues Grover and Clarisse."

"Any inspiring movie quotes" asked Percy. "This might be your last chance."

Artie thought about and sunk in a thick Scottish accent, "Certainty of death, a small chance of success . . . What are we waiting for?"

"I know that one!" said Annabeth. "Lord of the rings : Return of the king"

"You saw it?" Artie asked,

Annabeth shook her head, "No. I read the book."

Percy smiled, "Of course you did."

Artie watched from the ledge overlooking the mouth of Polyphemus's cave. Percy slipped underneath a sheep while Annabeth donned her magic Yankees cap. Artie looked to his left and mentally ran through he list of gadget arrow he had drawn. Since his quiver required a cool down between gadgets, he drawn several ahead of time just in case he needed something in a pinch. Though he hated to do so, he had refrained from drawing overly lethal arrows. This was on the off chance he hit Annabeth while she was invisible. So that meant, no explosives, no deadly poisons, and no absolutely no arrows that split into many mid-air. So he was stuck with what he liked to refer to as diversion arrows. That included solar arrows that temporary blinded anyone looking the wrong way as well as sonic arrows that worked like the solar ones, only intense sound rather than intense light.

No sooner than Percy got into position, Polyphemus called out, "Oy! Goaties! Sheepies!"

Artie kept low, only daring to peak out his enough to see the flock dutifully trudge up the slope to the cave. Artie nocked an arrow and pulled back, holding it as he waited for Annabeth to distract Polyphemus. Surprisingly, he wasn't frightened. If anything he was anxious, even eager, to get on with it. He shook his head and forced himself to wait. He knew if screwed up Annabeth's plan, there might not be time, or even a way, to fix it.

Polyphemus patted Percy's sheep, "Putting on some extra mutton there?" Then he laughed and swatted the sheep into the cave. "Go on fatty, soon Polyphemus will eat you for breakfast."

Come on, Annabeth. Artie silently pleaded.

Polyphemus was about to seal the cave with the boulder when Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly"

Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!" yelled Annabeth.

This got the exact reaction Annabeth wanted.

Polyphemus's face turned red with rage, "Nobody? I remember you!"

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

Polyphemus bellowed in his rage and chucked the nearest boulder, which just happened to be his front door, in Annabeth's general direction. Artie aimed an arrow as Polyphemus looked around for Nobody. Artie hoped Polyphemus hadn't gotten lucky and knocked Annabeth unconscious, other wise she would be a sitting duck; or an invisible sitting duck waiting to be stepped on by a steamed Cyclops. He got answer a second later.

"You haven't learned to throw any better, either."

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

Artie fired two arrows, one right after another. The first was a plain arrow that buried itself in the monster's left shoulder. Like he planned, Polyphemus turned just in time for the solar arrow do its job. Polyphemus rubbed his eye as he stumbled around. Artie then fired a sonic arrow to confuse the monster further. Now Polyphemus was temporarily deaf and blind. Artie then took an opportunity and rose to full height. He drew an arrow from his quiver and took aim.

"Annabeth!" he yelled, hoping she was still able to hear him. "Get clear!"

The arrow engulfed Polyphemus in thick orange goo that smelled like gasoline. Artie drew a plain arrow as Polyphemus continued to stumble around, choking on the gas in the air. Artie fired at the monster's feet and Polyphemus was suddenly turned in a giant inferno. Artie was confident that nothing could survive and slide down to the mouth of the cave.

Annabeth shimmered into view, "What was that?"

Artie smiled smugly and breathed deeply, "The smell, you know that gasoline smell?" Artie took another deep whiff. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Annabeth's eye grew wide before she could talk, and she jammed her cap back on head.

Artie was surprised, "Where are you — "

His words were cut off as giant hand snatched at where Annabeth had been only a moment before. Artie turned and he was face to face with Polyphemus. Despite being set on fire, Polyphemus looked more annoyed than angry.

"Oh . . . right." said Artie slightly embarrassed he had forgotten something very important. "You guys are fireproof."

"Are you Nobody?" growled Polyphemus holding a boulder overhead as he waited for Artie's answer.

"Nope." Artie said as drew an arrow. "I'm No One, Nobody's cousin twice removed."

"So No One will die along with Nobody!" said Polyphemus, bringing down the boulder.

Artie hopped to the side and fired, the arrow scratched the monster's cheek. Polyphemus roared and continued trashing to smash Artie with his giant fist which Artie avoided with minimal effort. Polyphemus may have had the advantage of size and strength, but hardly mattered if he could touch Artie who was much faster and agile than most. Still it was a stalemate, Artie was too busy ducking and dodging to drew and fire any arrows.

"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses?" Artie teased pointing to his sunglasses. He ducked as a giant fist blurred past him. "You couldn't hit a guy with glasses!"

Artie would have continued taunting, if he hadn't caught his foot on a rock. He stumbled and it was just enough for Polyphemus to slam him against the solid wall of rock. The air was driven out of his lungs and spot danced around his vision from his head colliding with wall. Luckily his quiver cushioned the impact and while it was incredibly painful, his spine didn't snap like a dried twig. His ribs were another matter, Polyphemus was pressing so hard, Artie was sure his ribs were seconds away from giving out. The impact also had somehow managed to numb his right arm, he saw that something was sticking out from under his skin making his shoulder look usually square. He instantly knew what that meant. The impact had dislocated his shoulder. While he could easily pop his shoulder back into its socket, that sort of thing was difficult to do when one was pinned to wall by steamed Cyclops.

Polyphemus hefted boulder in his right hand and smiled triumphantly, "Nobody is tougher than you!"

Artie coughed and tasted blood as he struggled to breath, "I can't believe you force people to . . . marry you . . . you're such a charmer."

"LET HIM GO!" commanded Annabeth as she sunk he knife into Polyphemus leg.

Polyphemus bellowed in a mixture of rage and pain. Artie fell face first onto the hard ground. He was still dazed and he struggled to stand up. His chest hurt when he breathed and his head throbbed with each heartbeat. His right arm hung to the side, beyond any use until he popped back into place. At most, he could only bend his elbow. With no close range weapons and unable to use his bow, he could watch as Polyphemus grazed Annabeth with a boulder by chance. Polyphemus felt around the floor and his hand closed around something invisible.

Polyphemus hefted his invisible prize. "I finally got Nobody!"

Lutar, I know you're watching, Artie thought, mentally feeling around for the Panther. I could use some help.

Artie got an answer, but it was not one he expected. Percy, Clarisse, and Grover charged out from inside the cave. Clarisse had armed herself with a ram horn spear, Grover was carrying a bone like club, and of course Percy was armed with Riptide. Clarisse sneaked to the left, positioning herself in front of Artie, while Grover went right. Percy just walked up the monster as he celebrated.

"Hey, ugly!" yelled Percy

Polyphemus turned around. "Another one? Who are you?"

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

"You are Nobody?"

"Yeah, you giant bucket of nose drool!"

"Its true," added Artie. "He also called you an 'empty headed animal food trough wiper.' He also said your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. "

Clarisse looked at Artie, "What?"

Artie managed a smile, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If we live, I'll show it to you."