The Sea of Monsters

Fleece. If I could just keep the monster distracted a little longer . . .
    “Go,” Tyson told me. “I will hold Big Ugly.”
    “No! He’ll kill you.” I’d already lost Tyson once. I wasn’t going to lose him again. “We’ll fight him together.”
    “Together,” Tyson agreed.
    I drew my sword.
    Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder. I dove to one side, but I still would’ve been squashed if Tyson’s fist hadn’t blasted the rock to rubble.
    I willed the sea to rise. A twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting me on its crest. I rode toward the Cyclops and kicked him in the eye, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach.
    “Destroy you!” Polyphemus spluttered. “Fleece stealer!”
    “ You stole the Fleece!” I yelled. “You’ve been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!”
    “So? Satyrs good eating!”
    “The Fleece should be used to heal! It belongs to the children of the gods!”
    “ I am a child of the gods!” Polyphemus swiped at me, but I sidestepped. “Father Poseidon, curse this thief!”
    He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and I realized he was targeting by the sound of my voice.
    “Poseidon won’t curse me,” I said, backing up as the Cyclops grabbed air. “I’m his son, too. He won’t play favorites.”
    Polyphemus roared. He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where I’d been standing a moment before. “Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!”
    Grover was helping Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically at me, telling me to come on.
    Tyson worked his way around Polyphemus, trying to get behind him.
    “Young one!” the older Cyclops called. “Where are you? Help me!”
    Tyson stopped.
    “You weren’t raised right!” Polyphemus wailed, shaking his olive tree club. “Poor orphaned brother! Help me!”
    No one moved. No sound but the ocean and my own heartbeat. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. “Don’t fight, Cyclops brother. Put down the—”
    Polyphemus spun toward his voice.
    “Tyson!” I shouted.
    The tree struck him with such force it would’ve flattened me into a Percy pizza with extra olives. Tyson flew backward, plowing a trench in the sand. Polyphemus charged after him, but I shouted, “No!” and lunged as far as I could with Riptide. I’d hoped to sting Polyphemus in the back of the thigh, but I managed to leap a little bit higher.
    “Blaaaaah!” Polyphemus bleated just like his sheep, and swung at me with his tree.
    I dove, but still got raked across the back by a dozen jagged branches. I was bleeding and bruised and exhausted. The guinea pig inside me wanted to bolt. But I swallowed down my fear.
    Polyphemus swung the tree again, but this time I was ready. I grabbed a branch as it passed, ignoring the pain in my hands as I was jerked skyward, and let the Cyclops lift me into the air. At the top of the arc I let go and fell straight against the giant’s face—landing with both feet on his already damaged eye.
    Polyphemus yowled in pain. Tyson tackled him, pulling him down. I landed next to them—sword in hand, within striking distance of the monster’s heart. But I locked eyes with Tyson, and I knew I couldn’t do it. It just wasn’t right.
    “Let him go,” I told Tyson. “Run.”
    With one last mighty effort, Tyson pushed the cursing older Cyclops away, and we ran for the surf.
    “I will smash you!” Polyphemus yelled, doubling over in pain. His enormous hands cupped over his eye.
    Tyson and I plunged into the waves.
    “Where are you?” Polyphemus screamed. He picked up his tree club and threw it into the water. It splashed off to our right.
    I summoned up a current to carry us, and we started gaining speed. I was beginning to think we might make it to the ship, when Clarisse shouted from the deck, “Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!”
    Shut up , I wanted to yell.
    “Rarrr!” Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse’s voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Tyson and me.
    “Yeah, yeah!” Clarisse taunted. “You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you idiot!”
    “Clarisse!” I yelled, unable to stand it. “Shut up!”
    Too late. Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time I watched helplessly as it sailed over my head and crashed through the hull of the Queen