Did ya miss me?

I'm sure you missed Tyson!

I know I post Monday's, but it's Monday for some of you, also I'm 3 months late lmao. I don't know if I'll update next week as I have an essay and several exams this week, but now that the writer's block has finally left me alone, I'm hoping to be able to update it properly!

I even combined two canon chapters for this one 3

So, hope you enjoy!

Come yell at me on my tumblr: Percabeth4Life
Come chat with me on discord: h-t-t-p-s : / discord . gg / 3tGNJhu

OO OO OO OO

I did not like mountain climbing.

The rocks were sharp and rough and cut my skin each time I clung tight; my fingers bleeding from hanging by the tips of them as my feet scrambled for a grip. My knees were aching from the numerous times I'd banged them against the mountain side.

I had experience on a harder rock wall of course, we did the one at camp all the time. But it was designed to have break areas, so you could rest if you needed it. Real mountain walls apparently didn't see the need for that.

There were a few spots we could rest, but they were small and far between. And while it wasn't quite a sheer face… it was pretty close.

So… not a fun climb.

Martha tried to help where she could, curling around us like a rope and finding the easiest paths, but this wasn't exactly easy.

But we couldn't take the easy path up the lush rolling hills we saw floating in.

The lush hills sparkled green, tall grasses, as tall as me, waving in the breeze. Groves of trees dotted the land, taller than the norm. Annabeth had pointed out the apple and pear trees, murmuring how they normally didn't get so large. Animals were grazing the grasses, massive sheep as large as a bull.

And somewhere there I had sensed a presence full of life. My breath came easier, my skin hummed with a pleasant warmth, coolness twining down my back. It all but drowned out the sea beneath me. I couldn't see where the fleece was, only that it was there.

I couldn't imagine many artifacts that echoed with life and nature and sunlight and water on it.

It was how we knew this was the island. Nothing else would match.

The mountain rose above the fields and trees. Rose above the rocky path atop a hill. Above the rope bridge swinging lightly in the breeze. It was tall, with large paths climbing up it.

I couldn't see any caves, but I knew there was one. The mythology spoke of one, and more importantly Grover was in a cave.

But if we went straight through the island, over the lush fields and across the rope bridge, we'd be in full view of the Kyklopes that called the island home.

So, despite the beauty, despite the ease of the trip, we couldn't risk it.

Thus, the climb.

Annabeth slipped above me with a soft curse and steadied herself, blood staining some of the rocks from a cut on her leg she earned banging it earlier.

We were both in our normal clothes once more, deciding not to wear the comfy khiton and instead to wear the shirts and pants from our bags. Our armor was overtop the shirts, the scales of my chest plate and arm guards glittering in the light of the sun in a way they never would in the ocean. Annabeth's burnished bronze only gleamed dully in contrast, much better for sneaking.

Hopefully they wouldn't be needed, but… better safe than sorry.

I peered up but couldn't tell how much more of the mountain there was, not with Annabeth ahead of my and the sky above that.

It was slow going, hard going. The mountain was much harder to climb than the wall at camp, and far more dangerous as well. The camp wall had lava, but this wall had no safety net for falling. There was no gentle breeze ready to sweep you down or a medic to check you over.

We climbed and climbed, rocks crumbling, hands bleeding, bodies aching.

For a moment I wished this was a waterfall, that I could simply wrap us in the ocean and guide us up. It was a fleeting wish, a fanciful one, before I focused once more on the rock ahead of me, just above me. I tested the grips and winced at the sting in my hands. Reach, grip tight, move my foot, find a solid hold, move my other foot, reach with my other hand-

I kept climbing, kept reaching and lifting and breathing and-

I blinked as my hand found only air and squinted up.

Annabeth was just climbing to sit on the ledge- no, there was no mountain above her, that was the top of the mountain.

I forgot a lot of mountains weren't very pointy, very odd.

I got a solid grip and pulled myself up the rest of the way, knees aching as I dropped onto the ground next to Annabeth, breathing hard.

We had climbed the mountain. I felt that was an accomplishment but wasn't sure what to call it. Could you put that on a college application? 'I climbed massive mountain a Kyklopes lives on, give me a scholarship'?

Annabeth groaned, rolling over.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

I grumbled, propping up on my elbows, "Yeah, you?"

She nodded. There was a small scrape on her cheek, we probably needed to bandage ourselves up. It wouldn't do to fight a Kyklopes while bleeding out.

Of course, before we could even begin to pull out the bandages, a booming voice from below drew our attention.

On the other side of the mountain top, below the peak we were sitting on, was the Kyklopes cave.

A massive rock sat to the side of it, and Annabeth and I leaned down to listen.

"You're a feisty one!" a deep voice bellowed.

"Challenge me!" said the very familiar voice of Clarisse. "Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"

Polyphemus roared with laughter.

Annabeth and I peered over the edge but couldn't see into the cave, only hear the conversation happening. We swallowed hard and listened carefully, hidden on the top of the mountain.

Clarisse had clearly survived. I wondered, hoped desperately, that Tyson had as well. That Tyson would be there, would be safe, or at least alive. But I did not hear him and felt nothing of his familiar presence.

"Hmm," the Kyklopes pondered. "Eat loudmouth girl now… or wait for wedding feast? Hmm… what does my bride think?"

I heard a shuffle as Grover squeaked, and I could imagine him stumbling over his dress at the attention. "Oh um… I'm uh- I'm not hungry right now, dear… Perhaps-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Clarisse interrupted. "Did you say bride? To Grover?"

Annabeth stiffened as my breath caught.

"Shut up," Annabeth muttered. "She has to shut up."

Polyphemus huffed, "What is Grover?"

"The satyr!?" Clarisse yelled, sounding baffled.

"What satyr?" Polyphemus bellowed. "Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?"

"Don't answer," Annabeth hissed.

"The one in the wedding… dress?" Clarisse stopped, seeming to realize too late what she was doing.

I wanted to wring her neck, and Annabeth looked about ready to jump down and do that herself, but the damage was clearly done. Deep breathing echoed below before a low growl rumbled through the air.

I swallowed as brimstone and burnt meat filled my nose.

"I don't see very well," growled Polyphemus. "Not since many years ago when another hero stabbed me in eye. But… YOU'RE – NO – LADY – KYKLOPES!"

We heard a yelp from Grover, and hooves clattering on the stone floor.

"Stop!" Grover pleaded. "Don't eat me raw! I – I have a good recipe!"

I reached for my trident charm, but Annabeth put a hand on my arm, "Wait."

There was a brief pause, "Recipe?"

"Oh y-yes! You don't want to eat me raw. You'll get E. coli and botulism and all sorts of horrible things! I'll taste much better roasted over a slow fire, with mango chutney! You could go get some mangoes right now, down there in the woods. I'll just… wait here."

There was a long pause where my heart was in my throat. I didn't imagine I'd have much luck attacking myself, and Annabeth seemed to be of similar mind. Polyphemus had been defeated by trickery before, not strength, but I couldn't let Grover (or Clarisse) die.

"Roasted satyr with mango chutney," Polyphemus mused. There was a considering pause. "You a satyr, too?"

I assumed he'd turned to Clarisse for that as she swiftly snapped back.

"No, you overgrown pile of dung! I'm a girl! A daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!"

"Rip my arms off," Polyphemus repeated, bemused.

"And stuff them down your throat!"

"You got spunk."

"Let me down!"

Movement sounded beneath us and the Kyklopes spoke, ignoring Clarisse's demands.

"Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for main course!"

"But… you're still getting married?" Grover sounded hurt. I wondered if he suffered from Stockholm syndrome. "Who's the bride?"

There was a brief pause before Clarisse started yelling again.

"Oh no! You can't be serious. I'm not—"

I blinked, slowly registering the implication that- that-

"Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!"

The Kyklopes then whistled and stepped out of the cave, letting us get a look at him for the first time.

Polyphemus was wearing a painful wedding suit, well, not a suit. It was… almost a khiton… if said khiton was baby blue and stitched together from tuxedoes, as if he'd skinned an entire wedding party. The hair on his head was roughly braided with bones and shining metal that… I thought they were weapons.

Sheep and goats flooded out of the cave behind him—smaller than the ones we'd seen sailing in—and heading down to the pasture. Polyphemus patted some on the back, cheerfully greeting them by name.

How he could identify sheep that seemed identical to me but not Grover being a satyr I had no idea.

When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled the boulder we'd seen in front of his doorway, shutting it tight and sealing off the sounds of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.

"Mangoes," Polyphemus grumbled to himself as he walked down the mountain that was practically a hill to him. "What are mangoes."

And with that Annabeth and I were left sharing a dread filled look, Clarisse and Grover depending on our ability to rescue them before sundown.

OO OO OO OO

Annabeth and I tried for what felt like hours, but the boulder didn't so much as budge. We tried shoving, pulling, digging, I tried to suck the water out of the rock but it was large and I was weakened from the rest of the quest and all I managed was a bit of per-spir-a-tion before Annabeth had me stop out of concern.

Even Martha tried to help, but without outright interference (without taking on a more divine form, large enough and strong enough to move the boulder herself) she couldn't help. And she was a guide and a guardian on the quest, not the quest goer. She hissed an apology as she draped over my shoulders, having failed to move the boulder in the 'mortal allowed' form she'd taken.

I glared at the rock, thoroughly frustrated with our failure. Even if we managed to kill Polyphemus, it wouldn't do much good. He wouldn't be able to eat Grover, but he also wouldn't be able to move the boulder to free them any longer.

Annabeth had us sit down and treat our injuries from the climb while we waited for the sun to set, many hours still before that would happen. We traded off cleaning the others cuts and rubbing paste on the bruises and wrapping bandages before finally climbing onto the top of the mountain, above the entrance, once more and laying down to think.

"Trickery," Annabeth declared after some time. "We can't win this by force, so we'll have to use trickery."

"What trick?" I wondered.

She mused silently for a while.

"Learn from the passsst," Martha suggested. "Polyphemusss hasss been faccced before and defeated."

Annabeth sat up.

"Hey, Percy," she said slowly.

I squinted at her.

"How much do you like sheep?"

OO OO OO OO

"Don't let go," Annabeth hissed, standing somewhere off to my right with her invisibility cap on. It was easy for her to say, she wasn't hanging on the belly of a sheep.

Now, it wasn't that hard, the sheep didn't seem to care about the extra weight and even the smallest of them was big enough to support my weight. The wool was thick and easy to twine my fingers into, though it kept trying to poke into my eyes and nose and mouth.

But it was still a strain to hold on for so long, as the sun went down slowly and the Kyklopes led the way back up the slopes. Plus, the underside of a sheep didn't smell that great and I had to breathe carefully to not gag.

The walk up the mountain was slow going, the flock trudging up and down the slopes, plodding along the path up and up and up to the cave.

"I'll be close," Annabeth whispered. "Don't worry."

I didn't bother to try to open my mouth to respond with the fur trying its best to get in, but I made a mental note to tell her she was a genius if this worked out.

"Hasenpfeffer," The Kyklopes said, patting one of the sheep ahead. "Einstein—" I could hear the sheep give a baa in response "—Widget—eh-"

A heavy wait landed on the sheep and I nearly lost my grip.

"Putting on some extra weight there," the Polyphemus said with a booming laugh. "Go on, you'll be good breakfast soon!"

And just like that the sheep, and I, were in the cave.

I couldn't see beyond the sheep's furry underneath, but I could hear just fine when Annabeth pulled her distraction.

"Hey, ugly!"

"Who said that?" Polyphemus bellowed, loud movement heralding him moving away from the door.

"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled back.

That got the exact reaction she'd told me she wanted.

"Nobody!" Polyphemus roared. "I remember you!"

"Ha! You wouldn't remember the path to your cave if it weren't the only one available, much less Nobody!"

I heard Polyphemus bellow with rage, wordless and wild, and a loud scrape before wind whistled and a massive shattering boom shook the ground.

I hoped to the Gods that she'd moved, because as I rolled out from under Widget I found the boulder that had been his front door gone.

Silence reigned for a beat.

Two beats.

Three-

"You haven't learned to throw any better either!" Annabeth laughed.

Polyphemus howled, the air shaking. "Come here! I will kill you, Nobody!"

"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "You can't even see me!"

Polyphemus raged and stomped his feet, demanding she show herself. But Annabeth laughed, and her voice grew fainter as she moved away.

"Come back here, Nobody!" Polyphemus roared, charging down the hill after her with loud booming footsteps.

I was so glad I'd read the Odyssey, so I'd understood Annabeth's plan fairly quickly. Though Odysseus had revealed his name to Polyphemus at the end of the trick, and that was why he was cursed, Annabeth was banking on Polyphemus remembering the name Nobody more clearly.

Clearly she'd been right, because though she was a different gender and invisible, Polyphemus didn't even hesitate to treat her as he had Odysseus.

I assumed he ascribed to the sea view of "gender is whatever you say", as he'd also wanted to marry Grover who wasn't at all a woman.

I gave Widget a pat and a quick thanks for the ride then headed out to search.

The sheep and goats reached my shoulders at their shortest, and twice my size at their largest, so it took a lot of pushing and shoving and slipping past them to search the room and determine Grover and Clarisse weren't there.

I'd dreamed about the place before, but hadn't seen much of the interior, so I could only assume there were more rooms. And indeed, I quickly found a maze of hallways to search through.

They were all massive, several times my height and width and scattered with bones. Clearly, he wasn't big on sweeping.

The rooms I ran past were varied in their interiors. With one that seemed to be a hot spring, another that seemed to be filled with various furs, another filled with fruits, and another still decorated with many cement sheep. I found rooms filled with wool, rooms filled with fabric, rooms filled with yarn, and rooms filled with thread. I searched a room filled with teetering crates with symbols in a language I didn't know, and another with various weapons of all sizes displayed. Yet another room shone with rainbow crystals and the one after had blood stained floors and a trident painted on the wall.

I finally found Grover and Clarisse near the back, in a room I recognized from my dreams. A spinning loom took the place of honor in the room, and Grover and Clarisse huddled in the back corner with a pair of dulled bronze scissors.

"It's no good," Clarisse was saying. "This rope is like iron!"

"Just a few more minutes!"

"Grover," she cried, exasperated. "You've been working at it for hours!"

And then her eyes landed on me.

"Percy?" she gaped. "I thought you were eaten by Skylla!"

"Good to see you, too," I muttered. "Now hold still so I—"

"Perrrrrcy!" Grover bleated as he lunged to tackle me with a goat-hug. "You heard me! You came!"

"Of course, I did," I said, hugging him tight for a moment. I had been worried, I was glad he was okay.

I turned to Clarisse as Grover released me, hovering by my side.

"Is Annabeth—" Clarisse started.

"She's outside," I assured her. "Hold still for a moment so I can cut the ropes."

I crouched beside her and drew my knife, carefully slicing the bonds and being very careful not to cut Clarisse.

She rubbed her wrists as the bonds fell, standing stiffly beside me. She stared down at me for a moment then looked away with a muttered, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I hesitated, knowing the answer but needing to ask anyways. "Was anyone else on board your lifeboat?"

She looked surprised. "No, just me. Everyone else… well I didn't even know you guys made it out."

I swallowed hard, blinking back the tears at the thought of Tyson being—

No, we needed to—we had things to do.

"Come on then, we have to help—"

CRASH

Annabeth screamed.

OO OO OO OO

"I got Nobody!" Polyphemus was gloating when we crept to the cave entrance.

We could see the Kyklopes from there, grinning wickedly and holding up empty air. He shook his fist and a baseball cap fluttered to the ground, revealing Annabeth hanging upside down by her legs.

"Hah!" the Kyklopes said. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. You get roasted with mango chutney!"

Annabeth was scrambling for her knife, but his shaking her meant she was having a tough time getting her bearings. And she had blood dripping from her hair.

I tried to swallow but my throat felt tight. I had been taught how to do this, how to fight, but I—Annabeth was hanging there panic on her face and blood splattering the ground and my chest grew tight.

"We'll take him," Clarisse growled. "Percy you—"

She glanced at me and hissed, "Percy!"

I turned to her, giving her my attention.

"You good?"

I nodded, "Yes, fine—I—Sorry. I'm good—You have a plan?"

She eyed me for a moment before nodding.

"Attack plan Macedonia," she said.

"I'll take center," I offered, having the best chance of surviving.

"You sure?" she asked, frowning.

I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down. Annabeth would be fine.

"Yes."

Grover and Clarisse nodded, hefting the weapons they'd confiscated on our way out. Clarisse held a very nice rams-horn spear, while Grover had found a club shaped from a thigh bone.

I summoned my trident with a tug of the charm and took a moment to flick the lid off my waterskin before stepping forward.

"Hey, hirir!" I shouted.

The Kyklopes whirled to face me. "Another one!? Who are you?"

I put on my sharpest smile, "I am Odysseus! I could've sworn I hit your eye, not your ears, but then, you are a uveno moni so what should I expect?"

Polyphemus roared in anger, stomping towards me.

"I will kill you, Odysseus!"

Thankfully, he dropped Annabeth partway through his charge. His hand was behind him as he did, and she went flying back. But Annabeth had trained since she was seven years old, and she knew how to fall in a way to minimize the damage.

I didn't see her hit the ground though, the Kyklopes charging at me kinda drew my full attention.

I spared a moment to pray to Poseidon, my Metua and Arila, that I lived through this then readied my trident.

"For Pan!" Grover rushed in from the right and swung his club with all his might at the Kyklopes leg. It hit with a thud but didn't seem to do any damage.

Clarisse charged in from the left and aimed her spear for the back of his heel, where tendons were close to the surface. This got a reaction, a roar and a stumble. But the Kyklopes just swatted at his ankle and she skittered back, diving behind a rock to avoid his violent hands.

The Kyklopes made a grab for me, in reach now, but I rolled aside and pushed up. My trident slipped forward, into his calf. Gold splattered my trident and hands as I yanked it out and ducked aside as he raged and stomped, trying to crush me underfoot.

I stared at the gold and didn't think of Tyson.

"Percy!" Clarisse yelled. "Thrace!"

I swallowed and adjusted to the new plan, my hands sticky with gold blood. The Kyklopes lunged, I dodged, slipping under grasping hands and jumping over tumbling rocks to stab into his thigh. More blood soaked my weapon and yet it was nothing but a pinprick to the giant.

Clarisse slid under a stomping foot and stabbed right into the joint at the ankle. She lost her spear to the Kyklopes in that move but Polyphemus roared and staggered.

"Get Annabeth!" I yelled to Grover, finally seeing Annabeth on the ground down the hill.

Grover snatched up her hat and booked it for her.

Clarisse charged the Kyklopes again, using a knife I had to assume she'd stolen from his weapons to stab at his leg. I slipped in and hit his foot.

He stomped and howled and grabbed and raged, but the two of us were quick enough to avoid his grasp.

But we couldn't keep this up, we weren't doing enough damage to Polyphemus and eventually he'd overwhelm us.

I paused for breath behind a rock as Clarisse distracted him and my eyes drifted to Grover and Annabeth. He was helping her over the rope bridge. She was leaning heavily on him, but able to stand and walk.

I wondered why the shaky rope bridge was there, surely the Kyklopes couldn't cross it easily, it didn't seem strong enough to hold his weight.

And then my eyes caught on a glimmer of gold in a large tree on a hill.

It was faint and distant, but in that instant, I knew I'd found the fleece.

"Fall back!" I called to Clarisse.

We couldn't win this fight, but we could escape with our lives and our quest goal. So we ran.

Rocks tumbled under our feet as we raced down the mountain. Clarisse leapt over a larger rock and I slipped between two more. My feet hit the ground hard, jarring me, but we didn't stop. Behind us Polyphemus roared, staggering after us. His many injuries slowed him down, but his size meant that he was still moving faster than us. Every step for him was the equivalent of five steps for us, and no matter how fast we ran it seemed he was gaining.

"Faster!" I called.

She rolled away as a rock slammed into the olive tree beside her as we hit the bottom of the mountain. The rocky path here was even more unsteady, many more small rocks and stones making it easy to twist your ankle. We had to slow to pick our way through more carefully, or risk sprawling on the ground.

"Grind you into sheep chow!" Polyphemus bellowed. "A thousand curses on Odysseus!"

"Grover!" I yelled as we came up on the bridge. "Get Annabeth's knife!"

We hit the bridge and ran as fast as we dared, it swung wildly as we crossed. Grover was sawing at the ropes holding it in place as we did.

The first strand went snap, and I nearly fell off as one side of the bridge slackened. Clarisse reached the other side and I leapt, she swung her spear, the bridge collapsed.

The Kyklopes howled from the other side and I slumped on the ground.

OO OO OO OO

The cut bridge wouldn't stop the Kyklopes for long, I had no doubt there was another path around. We needed to reach the fleece quickly.

Plus he was now grabbing a boulder to throw at us—

"Move!" I hissed, helping Grover pull Annabeth up as we rushed from the ravine.

We ran as best we could till we reached the trees and hid within them.

"I'll look Annabeth over," Grover said. "Do you have your-"

Martha popped up from my shirt and spat out the medical kit.

"Thanks," Grover said, staring at Martha.

"This is Martha," I said helpfully. "She's the adult supervision for the quest."

"We get adult supervision now?" Grover wondered.

"Percy does," Annabeth said. "Apparently some important sea Gods weren't happy about the whole… kids on a quest thing. The sea is much safer for children so you have to be sixteen to do quests there."

"That's so weird," Clarisse said. "Many demigods don't even reach sixteen."

I grimaced at that. She was right, there weren't a large number over sixteen at camp. While there were other places Demigods would go, they generally didn't go until eighteen.

Of course, not ever demigod went to camp, but if you had enough of a presence for terrors to find you, you probably made your way to camp at some point.

"We need to find the fleece," Clarisse said.

"It's that way," I pointed through the trees to the pasture where the large sheep were.

"That isss not good," Martha hissed. "Thosssse ssssheep are dangeroussss."

Clarisse frowned, "They're not just sheep?"

"They are man-eaterssss," Martha confirmed. "You will need to do ssssssomething to remove them from you firssssst."

Well, that didn't sound good.

"Can Grover—"

"No," Martha interrupted me. "They would happily eat him."

She seemed to think for a long moment before she unhinged her jaw once more and spat out my ocarina.

I scrambled to catch it.

"You may be able to enchant them to allow sssssomeone to go through," she said. "But whoever doessss will need to be ready to rissssk their life."

Clarisse raised her chin, "I will. Prissy, you think you can actually enchant them?"

I swallowed, holding my ocarina tight.

"I… yeah. But I won't be in much of a state to fight after."

She grimaced. "Grover, get Annabeth down to the beach and then come back to help Percy after he does whatever it is he's going to do."

"I will aid you in reaching the beach," Martha promised me.

"Well, sounds fun," I wiped my blood-soaked hands on my pants, leaving streaks of gold. "Could you also grab my inhaler?"

They all blinked at me and I motioned to the medical kit. "I'll need it after I do the thing."

Grover dug through the kit for a minute before pulling out the coral inhaler. "This it?"

I nodded, taking it and tucking it into my pocket. "I'm ready."

OO OO OO OO

Reaching the sheep's pasture took no time at all, but Polyphemus was nowhere in sight. We didn't have much time before he'd take some other path and reach us once more, so we needed to hurry.

I brought the ocarina to my lips and went with a familiar tune, one I'd practiced for months at Yancey Academy.

Ert Hove Himne.

The tune twisted through the air, twining like the river currents. It was a short song, a bit playful, dashing through the air like a river, twining over the sheep in front of me. It brought to mind joy and childhood for me.

My lungs burned as I channeled my power through the ocarina.

Blades slipped through my chest as the rivers danced through the sheep fur. A high note signaled the end and I brought it down in a quick tune pulled from Orauro Opep that warbled like a bubbling brook before twining the tune right back into streams.

Clarisse moved forward slowly, hesitantly, as the sheep slowly drifted towards me. They didn't try to bite, the Song soothing them quickly. A few nosed my pants.

I kept playing, ignoring the ocean spilling from my chest into the ocarina, pulling my breath from me. Razors dug in deep, the ocean welled up and demanded more from me, but I kept playing.

Clarisse had reached the tree by the time I reached my fifth repetition of the tune, channeling the Song longer than I had before.

My head spun, my lungs filled with fragments of ocean breezes and cracked ice. Blades buried deep in my chest.

The Song sung and I swayed.

Scales wrapped around me, giving me the support I needed to stay up as the warbling notes of Orauro Opep brought the tune back around to its sixth repetition.

Clarisse was hurrying back out, faster than she'd gone in. I was glad, my breath was failing me, and I wouldn't be able to play for much longer.

The sheep were shifting, the twirling rivers slowing, faltering with me. I pushed the Song harder, calling for more, demanding from it as it did from me, but there wasn't much left to give.

Clarisse escaped the sheep as Grover reached me and my breath failed.

I wheezed, sucking in air and desperately trying to clear out the razors and wrapped currents in my lungs. I needed to breathe.

"Let'ssss go," Martha hissed urgently as the sheep made discontent noises.

My ears rang as I gasped, Grover offering me an arm and helping me stagger away as my hands shook. I fumbled in my pockets to pull out my inhaler.

One puff, ten second hold.

Breathe for a few seconds.

One puff, ten second hold.

Breathe.

With Grover and Martha's support I managed to reach the beach with Clarisse and Annabeth.

The only boat there was the small life boat, but it would be big enough for the four of us, at least to let us reach the pirate ship we'd acquired.

Annabeth and I were unceremoniously shoved into the boat, Grover checking us over. Martha wound around us both, hissing comfort.

"Okay, let's get going!" Clarisse declared.

"NOBODY!"

Ah, there was Polyphemus.

Clarisse blanched and scrambled for the oars, Grover leaving us to help her row push the boat into the water.

A rock hit the ground in front of the boat.

"Ha! Loser missed!"

"Shu- shu' up" I gasped out.

I didn't have the energy to call the ocean to move the boat, so we were stuck with their fumbling rowing. I leaned against Annabeth who looked exhausted and far too pale.

"You 'kay?" I whispered.

She blinked, "'ine."

Another rock crashed down, this time sending up a spray of water.

We were pulling out of the waves trying to drive us back to shore and slowly but steadily reaching the open water.

"DIE!" roared the Kyklopes, a rock arcing in the air.

My heart plummeted with the rock heading straight to us.

I reached for my power, desperately tugging for something, anything, that would listen and save us.

The ocean surged, and the boat swept out to sea.

I blinked.

That wasn't me.

My head swung around and landed on four figures bobbing in the waves.

The merfolk who'd guarded me at Meriwether College Prep School floated before us.

OO OO OO OO

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review, they feed my soul.

Yeah Tyson didn't show up 3.

Anyways, what did you think of their fight? The way of getting the fleece? The guards showing up at the end?

Halmaheran
hirir=ugly
uveno moni=faithless moron
Metua=Father
Arila=High King
Ert Hove Himne=The First Song
Orauro Opep=Upwelling Current

Terminology
Khiton=phonetic spelling of Chiton. This is the most commonly seen type of Greek style, used by men and women both (though in different forms usually). It is a square of fabric (as most styles) folded and pinned into place, in a variety of manners.
Thrace=used in the same manner as plan Macedonia, both are locations in Greece

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