Rick Riordan The Sea Monsters- 02
Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. " Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!" He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit. " Keep the Fleece around you," I told Annabeth. " Just in case you ' re not fully healed yet. Can you stand?" She tried, but her face turned pale again. " Ohh. Not fully healed." Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasp. " Ribs broken," Clarisse said. " They ' re mending, but definitely broken." " How can you tell?" I asked. Clarisse glared at me. " Because I ' ve broken a few, runt! I ' ll have to carry her." Before I could argue, Clarisse picked up Annabeth like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. Grover and I followed.
As soon as we got to the edge of the water, I concentrated on the Queen Anne ' s Revenge. I willed it to raise anchor and come to me. After a few anxious minutes, I saw the ship rounding the tip of the island.
" Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.
" They probably won ' t follow us into the water," I told the others. " All we have to do is swim for the ship." " With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested. " We can do it," I insisted. I was starting to feel confident again. I was back in my home turf— the sea. " Once we get to the ship, we ' re home free." We almost made it, too. We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.
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Chapter Sixteen
I Go Down With The Ship
" You ' d think he ' d run out of rocks," I muttered. " Swim for it!" Grover said. He and Clarisse plunged into the surf. Annabeth hung on to Clarisse ' s neck and tried to paddle with one hand, the wet Fleece weighing her down. But the monster ' s attention wasn ' t on the Fleece. " You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. " Traitor to your kind!" Tyson froze. " Don ' t listen to him!" I pleaded. " Come on." I pulled Tyson ' s arm, but I might as well have been pulling a mountain. He turned and faced the older Cyclops. " I am not a traitor." " You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. " Thieving humans!" Polyphemus threw his first boulder. Tyson swatted it aside with his fist. " Not a traitor," Tyson said. " And you are not my kind." " Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded. He immediately stumbled and fell on his face. That would ' ve been funny, except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling. " Percy!" Clarisse yelled. " Come on!" They were almost to the ship with the 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.