The Sea of Monsters

Her eyes were glassy.
    “I’ll rush him,” I whispered to Clarisse. “Our ship is around the back of the island. You and Grover—”
    “No way,” they said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible ram’s-horn spear from the Cyclops’s cave. Grover had found a sheep’s thigh bone, which he didn’t look too happy about, but he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.
    “We’ll take him together,” Clarisse growled.
    “Yeah,” Grover said. Then he blinked, like he couldn’t believe he’d just agreed with Clarisse about something.
    “All right,” I said. “Attack plan Macedonia.”
    They nodded. We’d all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. They knew what I was talking about. They would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while I held his attention in the front. Probably what this meant was that we’d all die instead of just me, but I was grateful for the help.
    I hefted my sword and shouted, “Hey, Ugly!”
    The giant whirled toward me. “ Another one? Who are you?”
    “Put down my friend. I’m the one who insulted you.”
    “ You are Nobody?”
    “That’s right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!” It didn’t sound quite as good as Annabeth’s insults, but it was all I could think of. “I’m Nobody and I’m proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again.”
    “RAAAR!” he bellowed.
    The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll.
    The other bad news: Polyphemus barreled toward me, a thousand smelly pounds of Cyclops that I would have to fight with a very small sword.
    “For Pan!” Grover rushed in from the right. He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster’s forehead. Clarisse ran in from the left and set her spear against the ground just in time for the Cyclops to step on it. He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dove out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter and kept advancing on me.
    I moved in with Riptide.
    The monster made a grab for me. I rolled aside and stabbed him in the thigh.
    I was hoping to see him disintegrate, but this monster was much too big and powerful.
    “Get Annabeth!” I yelled at Grover.
    He rushed over, grabbed her invisibility cap, and picked her up while Clarisse and I tried to keep Polyphemus distracted.
    I have to admit, Clarisse was brave. She charged the Cyclops again and again. He pounded the ground, stomped at her, grabbed at her, but she was too quick. And as soon as she made an attack, I followed up by stabbing the monster in the toe or the ankle or the hand.
    But we couldn’t keep this up forever. Eventually we would tire or the monster would get in a lucky shot. It would only take one hit to kill us.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grover carrying Annabeth across the rope bridge. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, given the man-eating sheep on the other side, but at the moment that looked better than this side of the chasm, and it gave me an idea.
    “Fall back!” I told Clarisse.
    She rolled away as the Cyclops’s fist smashed the olive tree beside her.
    We ran for the bridge, Polyphemus right behind us. He was cut up and hobbling from so many wounds, but all we’d done was slow him down and make him mad.
    “Grind you into sheep chow!” he promised. “A thousand curses on Nobody!”
    “Faster!” I told Clarisse.
    We tore down the hill. The bridge was our only chance. Grover had just made it to the other side and was setting Annabeth down. We had to make it across, too, before the giant caught us.
    “Grover!” I yelled. “Get Annabeth’s knife!”
    His eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops behind us, but he nodded like he understood. As Clarisse and I scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing at the ropes.
    The first strand went snap!
    Polyphemus bounded after us, making the bridge sway wildly.
    The ropes were now half cut. Clarisse and I dove for solid ground, landing beside Grover. I made a wild slash with my sword and cut the remaining ropes.
    The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled . . . with delight, because he was standing right next to us.
    “Failed!” he yelled gleefully. “Nobody failed!”
    Clarisse and Grover tried to charge him, but the monster swatted them aside like flies.
    My anger swelled. I