This chapter is over 4,000 words. I have finished Sea of Monsters in my three longest chapters. Please review and give me some ideas for POA. Thanks I'm not sure if I'll update again or not today so enjoy!
Chapter Thirty Four: Cyclopes, Dreams, and Thalia
We sailed on the Queen Anne's Revenge all day until we reached the island of Polyphemus. Yeah, Grover got kidnapped by the Cyclops from the Odyssey. At least the Golden Fleece was here too so we wouldn't have to make any other pit stops. The island looked nothing like I expected it too. There were no bones or anything even remotely gory. Frankly, it looked like paradise. The only thing scary was the rope bridge spanning the chasm between the two halves of the island.
I could feel the power of the Fleece. It felt so strong just to me. I can only begin to imagine what a satyr must feel. This must be why none of them ever come back from their mission to find Lord Pan. They get brought here because of the scent of the Fleece, which is probably very similar to Pan's scent, and killed by Polyphemus. I shuddered, if Grover hadn't been able to make an empathy link with Percy, he would most likely be dead. I would hate for my friend to be killed.
I looked over when Annabeth gasped. There was the Fleece on the other side of the island. It was surrounded by huge...sheep. I face palmed when I saw them. I looked up again and I saw a deer walk into the meadow with the sheep. Oh gods, I turned my head into Percy's side, unable to watch. The sheep had begun to tear the deer apart. Percy told me when they were done. I looked back to see a pile of white bones. Gulping, I realized that if we didn't get a move on, that's what Grover would look like very soon. We started looking for a way out when I saw a lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham. It was Clarisse's lifeboat. She was alive, for the time being.
Annabeth led us to a cliff. She and Percy began to climb up it. I stood at the bottom and tried to call them back down. They either didn't hear me or didn't want to listen to me. I sighed on concentrated on the misty air. I dissolved into mist and reappeared at the top of the cliff. Uh oh, there are more sheep up here. These sheep seemed content on eating the grass. I sighed in relief. I wasn't going to be eaten by piranha-sheep. At least not yet, we still needed to get the Fleece, which was guarded by piranha-sheep.
I sat down and waited for Percy and Annabeth to reach the top. About half an hour later they finally made it up. "How'd you make it up here so fast?" sneered Annabeth.
"I mist travelled," I replied before standing up and walking off. My two companions followed suit. We kept walking until we found a cavern that we were looking down into. Clarisse, Polyphemus, and Grover were inside. Clarisse was yelling at Polyphemus to fight her. Don't be an idiot, Clarisse! Clarisse was upside down and dangling from a pot of water. Grover was in a wedding dress. Percy had said that Polyphemus thought Grover was a lady Cyclops and wanted to marry him. Talk about awkward.
Clarisse accidently told Polyphemus that Grover was a man and a satyr. Big mistake there, Risse. Polyphemus turned on Grover and ripped the veil off, revealing curly, brown hair and little satyr horns. Now, Polyphemus wanted to eat Grover and marry Clarisse. Grover glanced up and saw us. He quickly began stalling for time. He told Polyphemus about a recipe for satyr that used mango chutney. Polyphemus left to get mangos. How dumb can you get? What satyr would know how to cook themselves?
When Polyphemus left, he closed the cave off with a huge boulder. We tried moving it, but to no avail. We sighed and fell back against the large rock. I jumped up. How stupid could I get? Am I a witch or not? I pulled my wand from its holster and pointed it at the rock. "Reducto!" Chunks of the rock came off. I need a stronger blasting curse. "Confringo!" The entire boulder burst into thousands of tiny pieces. Annabeth and Percy looked at me in awe. I ran in and they followed, still rather shocked. Oops, the blast brought Polyphemus' attention back to the cave.
In a quick moment of genius, Annabeth put on her invisibility hat and ran outside. She started yelling at the Cyclops. Nice, pretend to be Nobody and Polyphemus will go after you. Not nobody like nobody was there, but Nobody like what Odysseus called himself when distracting Polyphemus in the Odyssey. I got to work on untying Clarisse and Percy untied Grover while we listened to Annabeth and Polyphemus.
"Hello, ugly!" came Annabeth's voice.
"Who said that?" shouted Polyphemus.
"Nobody!"
I looked to see Polyphemus red in the face with anger. I guess he still held a grudge from when his eye was stabbed out by Odysseus. "Nobody! I remember you!"
"You're too stupid to remember anybody. Much less Nobody." Nice insult there. I had just finished freeing Clarisse when I zoned out, my mind slipping into the future. It was Annabeth and Polyphemus. Polyphemus managed to get in a lucky hit and smashed Annabeth into the cliff surface. We had to get her out of there.
"Percy," I whispered. "Get Annabeth out of there. She's going to get hurt." He nodded and ran towards her. He was too late. We all ran outside to see Annabeth's broken form next to the cliff face. I ran forwards. She was still breathing. Her hat was lying next to her. Then, I realized something. I had walked straight into Polyphemus' line of vision. Great, just great.
Mia fratello turned to me. "Alright, attack plan Macedonia." I grinned. It was a plan we'd learned at camp. Who knew Percy paid attention in some classes other than P.E. Percy held Polyphemus' attention by saying he was the real Nobody. Clarisse, Grover, and I snuck around his sides. The Cyclops was so caught up with his old enemy, he didn't even notice us. Talk about stupid people. Nothing we did to attack the Cyclops worked.
"Grover," I hissed at him. He glanced over at me. "Get Annabeth out of here. I don't want her getting hurt anymore." Grover nodded and ran over to Annabeth. He picked her up and ran to the bridge. I wouldn't want to do that because of the man eating sheep over there, but they were better than the Cyclops. I motioned to Percy and Clarisse and they followed me. Polyphemus roared and started after us. Grover got out Annabeth's knife and began cutting the ropes while the three of us ran off the bridge. Clarisse had just leapt across when the last rope snapped and Polyphemus fell into the chasm. He managed to grab onto the edge, though. He pulled himself up with ease.
"Failed!" he said, gleefully. "Nobody failed." He swatted me aside to get to my brother. I gasped as my back hit a boulder. I could feel the ridges in the rock rip through my skin, leaving deep lacerations. I screamed as pain flared through my entire body. Percy did not like that. I could feel the anger bubbling in him through our twin bond. He jumped up and, with amazing strength, knocked Polyphemus to the ground in a matter of seconds. He looked Polyphemus in the eyes...er, I mean eye, and a flash of regret shone in his eyes. I tried to tell my brother not to listen to him, but no sound came out. This was a son of Poseidon after all, my half-brother. But, he hadn't hesitated at all to injure me. Instantaneously, the regret flew from my mind to be replaced with anger. This Cyclops was playing us all. He agreed to let Percy grab the Fleece, but when Percy turned around, Polyphemus began to attack him.
Suddenly, a rock the size of a basket ball hit Polyphemus in the head. "Bad Polyphemus. Not all Cyclopes as nice as we look." It was Tyson, my baby brother was alive! Joy spread through my entire being. Tyson gave us the short version of how he got here. Apparently, Rainbow, the hippocampus Tyson had been riding, had followed us here. The poor thing had just wanted Tyson to play with him. When he saw Tyson sinking through the wreckage, Rainbow rescued him and they had come here.
"Tyson, thank the gods. Annabeth and Nina are hurt." Why did Annabeth come before me? Hey, that sounds like he's thanking the gods we're hurt.
Tyson agreed with my way of thinking. "You thank the gods they are hurt?"
"No! Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"
"Which one?" Tyson asked looking at the hundreds of sheep.
"In the tree! The gold one!
"Oh. Pretty. Yes." Tyson carefully walked in between the sheep and grabbed the Fleece. They nuzzled up against him. I guess because he's a cyclops, he smells like their master. Tyson threw the Fleece to Percy who caught it with a grunt. It must be heavier than it looks. Then again, it is solid gold. Percy wrapped it around Annabeth and instantly, she looked better. She woke up and Percy helped her stand. She was healing fast. Tyson waded through the sheep over to me and helped me stand up. I fell back to the ground unable to support myself as soon as he let go. The pain in my back was too much. Tyson picked me up, careful not to touch any of my open wounds. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed my eyes shut. I was trying to focus on anything but the pain.
We all ran to the lifeboat. Percy used his Mage magic to make the boat shoot out to the Queen Anne's Revenge. We all got in. Polyphemus began throwing boulders at us. One sailed over my head and went straight through the ship. We were beginning to sink. Even if we made it off, Annabeth, Grover, and Clarisse would be killed because the force at which the ship is sinking would cause them to be pulled under too. They would drown down there.
Out of nowhere, multi colored heads popped out of the surface. I pointed them out to Tyson who pointed them out to Percy. They were hippocampi. Rainbow was at the lead. Everyone jumped off the boat and onto a hippocampus. As soon as the water touched my back, it began to heal my wounds. Tyson and I sat on Rainbow together. Percy and Annabeth were on another, Annabeth with the FLeece still wrapped around her. Grover and Clarisse each had their own hippocampi.
The hippocampi brought us to Miami Beach. My back was still badly injured. The sea water had stopped healing it. There were pieces of rock in my back and the water seemed to realize that by healing me it was just doing more damage. I was in so much pain. Clarisse and everyone else were depressed. We had no money. Suddenly, Tyson pulled money from his bag. He had salvaged it from the wreckage of the CSS Birmingham. It was enough to get one person home. We decided to send Clarisse with the Fleece. It was her quest after all. I especially insisted after hearing Ares threaten her. I didn't tell anyone I overheard that of course.
"Come on," said Percy. "Let's find another way home." He scooped me up off the bench and turned. There was a sword pointed in between my eyes. I whimpered and Percy tried to back up only to be blocked by one of the bear twins. The twins herded us onto the Princess Andromeda.
"And so, the Fleece. Where is it?" Luke asked. He looked us all over. He prodded Percy's shirt and Grover's jeans with the tip of his sword.
"Hey!" Grover bleated. "That's real goat fur under there."
"Sorry old friend. Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."
"Blaa-ha-ha! Some old friend!"
"Maybe you didn't hear me. Where-is-the-Fleece?" Luke's voice was dangerously calm. He made a hand motion and the bear that wasn't holding Grover and Annabeth ripped me away from my brother. His claws carved three new gashes into my back. I screamed again.
"Nina!" I heard my brother shout. I couldn't see, I was blinded by the pain. Slowly, color returned. "Not here," my brother continued as he swam back into focus. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."
Luke glared at him. "You're lying. You couldn't have..." He seemed to realise something. "Clarisse?" Percy nodded, smirking.
"You trusted...you gave..."
"Yeah."
"Agrius!" The bear man holding me looked at Luke. I guess he's Agrius.
He flinched. "Y-yes?"
"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast!" Agrius nodded and began lumbering off with me still in his grasp. "Oh, and while you're at it," Agrius turned and I saw Luke's smirk. "Feed the girl to the Drakon."
"No!" Percy, Grover, Tyson, and Annabeth shouted. Percy and Tyson tried to run forward, but Oreius somehow managed to stop them. i struggled against Agrius' grip. I did not want to become Drakon food.
He stopped in the stables first. There were two pegasi. A pure silver mare and a completely black stallion. They began whining as soon as they saw me. When Agrius opened the stall with the black pegasus, it kicked him in the head. He was effectively knocked out and I crawled from his loose grip. My Lady, please rescue my sister as well. I nodded and used the pegasus to support myself. He slowly led me to the silver ones stall. I unlocked the door and she trotted out.
My name is Silvermist, My Lady. That is Blackjack, my twin. Thank you for saving me.
I reached out a hand and stroked her. She neighed and rubbed her head against my hand. I felt my magic spark as I bonded to her. I had found a third familiar. This time, I could tell the bond was more powerful. Maybe it was because she was a pegasi. I will always be there for you, my familiar.
She whinnied and helped her brother support me as I stumbled from the room. She took extra care to stomp on Agrius' head as we exited. We made our way back to the deck where my brothers, friend, and Annabeth were being held.
We arrived on deck to see an I.M. between here and the camp. The whole camp was watching Luke and Percy. Luke was oblivious to the whole thing. "Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts!" laughed Luke.
"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?"
"You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece...once I was done with it."
Percy hesitated. Luke had been on the run with Thalia. He wouldn't want her dead. "You were going to heal Kronos."
"Yes! The Fleece's magic would have sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."
"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up-all to help Kronos destroy the gods."
Luke growled. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"
"Because I want everyone in the audience to hear it."
"Audience, what audience?" Luke flipped around to see the Iris Message.
"Well," said Dionysus. "Some unplanned dinner entertainment." Tantalus began an argument that the Iris Message could be a trick, but Dionysus banished him back to the Underworld. The whole camp cheered as he said Chiron was the Activities Director again. I saw the faintest hint of a smile on his face. The old man really does care. Luke slashed his sword through the mist image. He glared at all of us. My brother had picked me up again.
You'll never leave this ship alive," he growled to us. Percy passed me over to Tyson and pulled out Riptide. Luke pulled out Backbiter. That sword disgusted me. It was a mix of both Celestial Bronze, like the Greek weapons are made from, and mortal steel. Those metals did not belong together.
Luke almost killed my brother on the first try. He just grazed Percy's ribcage. I was nervous. Luke had a sword and shield. Percy just had a sword. Luke had six years of learning how to fight. Percy only had one summer. I was praying to every god I could think of. Even Apollo and Ares. They fought for a little more before Percy rolled behind a deck chair. He had a gash on his knee. He tried to stand, but the leg wouldn't take his weight. Silvermist and Blackjack were standing on either side of Tyson and me. Both pegasi were stomping their feet, nervously.
Luke then told Oreius he could eat his dinner. Oreius lifted Annabeth and Grover up to his mouth. That's when all Hades broke loose. A red feathered arrow came out and shot Oreius in the forehead. Blackjack kicked Oreius and the bear twin dissolved.A dozen centaurs charged onto the deck. They all had bright green t-shirts that said Party Ponies: South Florida Chapter in bright orange letters. At the lead was chiron. He just had a plain, blue t-shirt on. The centaurs' weapons varied from bows and arrows to paintball guns. Sweet! They all had different face paint on and one was wearing googly eye glasses. I like these guys.
They attacked the monsters. They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow splattered across Luke's warriors. An arrow with a boxing glove attached to the end of it smacked Luke in the face and sent him flying into the swimming pool. I really like these guys. "Withdraw, brethren!" shouted Chiron. Chiron pulled me from Tyson's arms and onto his back. I wrapped my arms around his torso and held on. I do not want to fall off at the speed he was going. I will never ever think of Chiron as old again.
When we finally stopped, we were at a trailer park near a lake. Ever notice how tornados always seem to land in or near trailer parks. Stay focused, Brain. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover joined us. "Nina, child, what happened to your back."
"Oh, well first, Polyphemus through me into a rock. That's what most of the gashes are from. Then, Agrius cut into my back with his claws."
Chiron handed me some ambrosia. I popped it into my mouth. Yummy! Peanut butter fudge. "That will help with the scratches because of the rock, though there will be some slight scarring. The gashes you received from Agrius will need to be washed and bandaged. There is nothing we can do for them. There is a poison in their claws that keeps the food of the gods from healing any wound received by them." I nodded and Annabeth helped me rise. She brought me into one of the trailers where she washed the three gashes and then let me look at them in a mirror. They were long and a few inches thick. They would leave hideous scars.
"Do you know how long it will take for them to heal?" I asked Annabeth, quietly, as she began to dress the wounds. I flinched when she put rubbing alcohol on the three cuts.
"From what I've read in the legend, three months. I'm sorry, Christina. It'll be really painful, but you're strong."
I smiled at the girl and she helped me stand up. She brought me back outside in time to see Tyson nail a centaur with a paintball, splashing blue all over its chest. "Awesome," came the centaurs voice. Tyson waved and I waved back. Annabeth led me back over to Percy, Grover, and Chiron. Chiron smiled down at me and helped me onto his back. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson all got on another centaur' back. As Chiron started running, I couldn't help but wonder where my pegasus had ended up. Oh well, she'll turn up along with Blackjack. She knows where I am.
When we got back, we arrived just in time to see Clarisse drape the Golden Fleece over Thalia's Pine. It worked. Instantaneously, the tree turned dark green as did all of the grass around it. I looked out in the distance, everything about camp looked even more beautiful. This was my home, my true home. Most people think of Hogwarts as their home, but not me. Camp is my home, camp is my life. Percy helped me down off Chiron's back and Lav and Vati rushed up to hug me. I winced slightly as the hit a gash.
"You're hurt," Lavender scolded me. "Chiron what happened to her?"
"Why don't you ask me what happened to me?" I asked, slightly confused.
"Because," Vati drawled in the perfect imitation of Draco Malfoy, "you will say it so it just seems like a little scratch. Chiron will tell us how bad the injury really is." I pouted at my friends and they laughed.
"Her back was cut up pretty badly by Agrius one of the bear twins." Lav gasped, placing her hands over her mouth and Vati reached out and grabbed my hand. "It will take around three months to heal because ambrosia and nectar don't work on wounds given by the twin bears. Please watch out for her while you two are in school." My friends nodded their heads then helped me walk to the Poseidon cabin with Percy and Tyson where I filled them in on everything that had happened during the quest.
Grover was given a two-month furlough and a new set of reed pipes for clearing the way for future searchers. I was proud of him and glad that he would be able to spend the rest of the summer with us. The only problem was he insisted playing YMCA for the strawberries. They went crazy for it. It looked like they were dancing. I, however, did not like the music. On a lighter note, Percy was not expelled from Meriwether Prep for blowing up the gymnasium. Something he failed to mention.
Tyson had a dream from our dad. He was asked to go to the Cyclopes' forges. I was happy for him, he was starting his training to be the immortal master. Of course I held my tongue about that part. Dad told me no one could know about it. His own wife and immortal son didn't know about it. I would miss Tyson, but he promised to I.M. me. He hugged me goodbye, very carefully, and then Percy before walking into the sea. I sighed and Percy helped me walk back to our cabin.
That night, I had a dream about the creepy man that had appeared in my dreams last summer.
The man was sitting in the prison cell still. He looked at the newspaper in his hand. It was a picture of the Weasley family. Next to him sat a letter. It was signed from Hermes. Weird! The man drew a lazy circle around Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. 'I will get you Pettigrew. You won't hurt my godson, and I definitely won't let you hurt the daughter of Poseidon. She is, after all, my family." I gulped, who was this man? The man smirked when he heard a door open. A black robed creature appeared in front of the cell with a tray of food. When it unlocked the small area of the door that would open to allow food in, the man transformed into a dog and snuck past the creature. The man turned dog ran down the hallway and down a long flight of stairs with doors leading out of the stairwell everywhere. The dog burst through a door and stuck its head in the air, enjoying the clean air. The dog jumped into the stormy sea and swam to shore. When he got there, he shook off and changed back into a man.
It was daylight now. The man shifted into a dog again and ran into a town. He grabbed a newspaper from a trash bin and ran back to the woods. He looked at the front page. I glance over his shoulder to see it. The headline read SIRIUS BLACK, MASS MURDER, HAS ESCAPED FROM AZKABAN. BAM!
I woke with a start to hear Grover at the door. Percy pulled it open and Grover walked in. "Percy, Nina! Annabeth...on the hill...she..."
The look in his eyes told us he was worried. Percy lifted me up and ran behind Grover to Thalia's Pine. There was already a crowd of people there. Grover helped clear a path so we could get through. I still couldn't walk long distances. There was a girl in armor leaning over a black haired girl. Chiron was standing over them both. I gestured for Percy to put me down. He didn't let go until I was holding the tree. I used it to keep my balance while I gingerly lowered myself to the ground. As I was leaning over the dark haired girl, Chiron began to speak. "Curse the titan lord. He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."
"What do you mean?" Percy asked.
"The Fleece. The Fleece has worked its magic too well. It healed the tree. And poison was not the only thing it purged."
I looked up at him. "You don't mean..." I trailed off as I looked back down. I gently brushed the girl's spiky hair away from her face. Annabeth had tears streaming down her face. I couldn't blame her. This was the girl who took care of her when she was little. I looked down at the girl again. She had freckles across her nose and her skin was pale. She had hair that was a deep black you just couldn't get from hair dye. The girls cloths were a mix between punk and goth. Her leather jacket had buttons from bands like Green Day and Three Days Grace. I love those bands. Focus, Jackson. There was only one person she could be, but that was impossible. I looked to see Annabeth sobbing. Chiron's words rang in my head 'And poison was not the only thing it purged.' It had to be her.
"It's true," Grover whispered, though everyone heard it as it was dead silent. "I can't believe..." I nodded, lifting her head and placing it in my lap. Everyone seemed scared. I knew I should be scared, but I couldn't help but feel safer with this girl around. She had always been there last summer for me to talk to. Besides, it wasn't like she was evil. Luke may think she is, but she would have that aura around her. All evil people have one. The girl took a shaky breath. Her eyes shot open, electric blue. This was definitely her.
"Who-"
"I'm Nina. You're safe now."
"Strangest dream..."
"It's okay."
"Dying...Hang on I know your voice."
"You were dying but now you're safe. You kno my voice because I came out here last summer when I couldn't sleep. I would talk to you, you are my cousin after all."
"I am Thalia. Daughter of Zeus."