Previously: Suddenly, I could breath again. My body began convulse. I shuddered feeling somewhat back to normal. I looked up at my captor. It was Percy, then I knew the spell was broken. I began sobbing. Percy pulled me to him and I laid my head on his shoulder. I was so close, so close.
Once we were both safely back on board the Queen Anne's Revenge I curled up with a blanket and sat at the bow looking over the sea.
"Are you okay?" Percy said coming up behind me.
"I didn't realize..." I murmured mostly to myself.
"What? You didn't realize what?" Percy questioned.
"How powerful that temptation can be." I answered.
Percy paused then sat down next to me. "I liked the way you built Manhattan. White marble was a good choice. Your parents and Luke seemed to enjoy it."
He saw that?! Crap... I blushed. "You saw that?"
"What Luke said back on the Princess Andromeda about rebuilding the world, that got you, huh?" Percy said looking out to sea.
I pulled the blanket closer. "The Siren's showed me my fatal flaw. It's hubris."
"The gross brown stuff they put on veggie sandwiches?" he said scrunching his nose.
I laughed. "No, Seaweed Brain. That is hummus. Hubris is different, and a whole lot worse."
"What could be worse than hummus? Seriously, that stuff is disgusting."
"Hubris means deadly pride. Percy that means that I think I can do things better than anyone, even the gods."
"And you feel that way?" Percy asked turning to me.
I looked down, embarrassed. "Do you ever feel like the world is really messed up? What if we could rebuilt it? No wars, no homeless and no more homework."
"I'm interested." he said smiling.
"The West is where some of the best things were created. That's why Olympus is still here. But most of the time we just see the bad things, you know? And if we ever started thinking like Luke, thinking that we could rebuild the world to be such a better place then wouldn't we do the best job of ruling it?" I asked.
"Umm... no. I would be a horrible ruler." Percy said.
"Well, then your fatal flaw is not hubris."
"What is my fatal flaw then?" Percy asked.
"I don't know. Every hero has one, but if you don't find what it is and learn how to restrain it... They don't call it fatal for nothing."
Percy was quiet for awhile letting that sink in.
"So... was it worth it?" I questioned. "Do you feel wiser?"
I looked out to sea. "I'm not sure... But, no matter what we need to save the camp. Because if we don't stop Luke..." I trailed off.
I thought about that for awhile. What if we didn't succeed? What if Luke succeed then took over? Would he spare us? Or kill us without a second thought?
Then out of the misty fog I saw it, land.
"Percy-" I said nudging his arm.
He turned. In the distance the blotch of land, saddle-shaped with hills, trees, white beaches and green meadows. Just like in my dreams.
Percy nodded. We had reached the home of the Cyclops.
As soon as I stepped foot on the island I could feel something was off. The air smelt tropical and fresh like someone had doused the entire island in air freshener. It looked like something off a Caribbean postcard. Even though I couldn't see the Fleece I could feel it's power.
I took a deep breath. "The Fleece."
"If we take the Fleece away will the island die?" Percy asked looking up at the palm trees.
"No, it will go back to whatever it was before the Fleece." I said shaking my head.
Once we climbed up one of the sandy dunes I could see sheep beneath us. They looked like normal sheep, except they were the size of hippos. Beyond the sheep/hippos there was a path going up the hillside. Near the top of the hill was a giant oak, sparkling in it's branches was the Fleece.
"That's too easy. We can just walk up there and take it?" Percy asked.
I looked around remembering something I had read. "There is supposed to be a guardian, a dragon or a giant sheep?"
A few seconds later a deer jumped out of a bush. It trotted into the meadow munching on some grass. Suddenly the sheep all bleated at once and charged at the deer. Once the mob had cleared the deer was gone and a pile of white bones sat there instead.
The sheep all returned to their wanderings.
I looked at Percy, he raised his eyebrows.
"They are like piranhas." I said.
"Piranhas with wool. How will we-"
"Percy!" I said grabbing his arm. "Look!"
I pointed down at the beach. To the left of the killer sheep meadow was a small lifeboat with CSS Birmingham stenciled on the side.
We both agreed that there was no way past the killer sheep. I wanted to sneak invisibly and grab the Fleece and make a run for it. Percy convinced me that something would go wrong; the sheep would smell me, another guardian would pop up. Something where he would be too far away to help.
Our first job should be to save Grover and anyone on that lifeboat. We took the Queen Anne's Revenge and moored it by the backside of the island where the cliffs rose up at least 200 feet.
We decided I would climb fist, since I was a better climber and so Percy could catch me if I fell.
We were making pretty good progress, only coming close to dying six or seven times. Once, I hit a slippery patch of moss and my foot slipped. Fortunately, I found a foothold. Unfortunately, that was Percy's face.
"Sorry." I muttered.
"It's okay." he said even though I'm sure he didn't want to taste my sneakers.
Finally, we hauled ourselves over the cliff and collapsed.
"Ugh." Percy groaned.
"Ouch." I complained.
"Garrr!" something else said.
I bolt upright. I clamped my hand over Percy's mouth and pointed.
The ledge we were on was narrow. It dropped down the other side where the voice was coming from, below us.
"You're a feisty one!" the voice bellowed.
"Challenge me!" a familiar voice yelled. Clarisse no doubt, so she survived. "Give me back my sword and I will fight you!"
The monster laughed.
Percy and I crawled to the ledge to peek down. We were above the entrance to the Cyclops's cave. Below us Polyphemus the Cyclops and Grover still in his wedding dress stood by Clarisse. Clarisse was hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water.
"Hmm," Polyphemus wondered. "Eat chatterbox girl now or after wedding feast? What does bride think?"
Polyphemus whipped around to look at Grover. Grover backed up nearly tripping on his wedding dress. "Oh, um, I'm not hungry now. Maybe-"
"Did you just say bride?" Clarisse interrupted. "Grover?"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! She needs to shut up." I muttered.
The Cyclops growled. "Who's Grover?"
"The satyr! Who else?" Clarisse yelled.
"Oh!" Grover yelped. "The thing's not thinking straight! Put her down dear, she's talking gibberish."
Polyphemus squinted his eyes, trying to see clearer. "What satyr? Satyrs are yummy! Did you bring me one?"
"No you moron! Your bride is the satyr!" Clarisse shouted.
I wanted to slap Clarisse, but it was too late. The Cyclops had made his way over to Polyphemus. He snatched off the wedding dress revealing Grover in all his furry glory.
Polyphemus sighed, obviously disappointed. "I can't see very well. Not since that hero stabbed my eye! But, YOU'RE NO LADY CYCLOPS!"
He swung at Grover. Grover yelped and ducked.
"Stop it! Don't eat me like this! I- I have a really good recipe!" Grover pleaded.
Percy reached for his sword.
"Wait!" I said grabbing his wrist.
The Cyclops hesitated, a boulder in his hand waiting to smash Grover.
"A recipe?" he asked.
"Yes! A wonderful one! You don't want to eat me raw, you'll get E coli and botulism and... other stuff! I'll taste way better with some mango chutney. I can sit here and wait while you grab those mangoes." Grover said sitting down.
The monster thought about this. My heart beat wildly in my chest.
"Grilled satyr with mango chutney, yum." Polyphemus turned to Clarisse. "Are you a satyr too?"
"No, you idiot! I'm a girl, a daughter of Ares! I'll rip you to shreds!" Clarisse bellowed, straining against the ropes.
"Rip me to shreds?" Polyphemus mused.
"Yes and shove them down your throat!" Clarisse roared.
"You got spunk, girl."
"Let me down!"
The monster turned away from Clarisse and snatched up Grover. "Have to let the sheep graze now. The wedding is postponed until tonight. And we'll have satyr as the main course!"
"Wait... how are you still getting married? Who's going to be the bride?" Grover asked.
Polyphemus turned to the boiling pot.
"You can't be serious! I'm not-" Clarisse yelled.
Before Percy and I could do anything the monster picked up Clarisse and threw her and Grover into the cave.
"I'll be back at sundown!" he said rolling a large boulder in front of the cave. Clarisse and Grover screamed protests from the inside.
"Mangos. What are mangos?" Polyphemus muttered to himself, leaving.
We waited for hours. It was pointless trying to move the boulder, it weighed at least a ton. We yelled, tapped on the rock and did anything we thought of to try and signal Grover. I don't know if he ever heard us.
Even if we did manage to kill Polyphemus we could never move the boulder. Clarisse and Grover would die inside that cave unless we could get a cyclops to move the boulder.
"Trickery." I said finally. "We can't use force so we will have to try Polyphemus."
"Okay. What kind of trick?" Percy asked.
"I haven't figured that out."
"Fabulous." Percy said sarcastically.
"Polyphemus will have to move the boulder in order to enter the cave. He'll need to let the sheep back into the cave." I stated.
"At sunset." Percy added. "Which is also when the wedding is. Where he will marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner. I can't decide which is grosser."
"I could get inside," I suddenly thought. "invisibly."
"What would I do?" Percy asked.
I smiled getting an idea. "The sheep. How do you feel about sheep?"