Another Love ─── L. Castellan

xxxix. as the saying goes, loose lips sink ships

chapter thirty-nine

─── as the saying goes, loose lips sink ships

          "𝕯oes he take steroids or something? How the fuck is he still alive?" I yowled, not liking how unfair this was.

"Not everyone takes drugs like you, Andi," Luke muttered, amusement in his eyes.

"Thank you Mr. Comedian," I shoved him into the water with Clarisse, both of them yelping. "Get back to the ship."

"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 and I ducked behind my younger brother to hide from the debris.

"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.

"Romy!" 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 my little brother 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!"