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chapter thirty-one. ☄︎. *. ⋆
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ANNABETH'S BRILLIANT PLAN involved me and her turning invisible and distracting Polyphemus while Percy, riding the underside of a sheep, snuck into the cave and rescued Clarisse and Grover. If you really thought about it, it was a good plan. I was just worried our execution wouldn't go as smoothly as she had intended it to be—Polyphemus would find Percy before he could make it into the cave. My powers would give out and Polyphemus would smash me to a pulp. Clarisse's loud mouth would give us away again. Something.
It was tricky keeping an eye on the sheep Percy was riding while Polyphemus herded them all into the cave Grover and Clarisse were in, but I focused on the sheep that was walking a little slower than the others. Eventually, the whole herd made it into the cave. Polyphemus was about to roll the boulder back over the entrance. This was Annabeth's and my cue.
"Oy, ugly!" I shouted.
Polyphemus stiffened and paused, the opening to the cave sitting wide open. "Who said that?"
"Nobody!" Annabeth called from somewhere to my right.
It got exactly the reaction we had been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage. "Nobody!" he roared. "I remember you!"
"You're too stupid to remember anybody," I shouted. "Much less Nobody!"
Polyphemus bellowed furiously and grabbed the nearest boulder, which happened to be his front door. I dashed to the left as the rock smashed to a thousand little pebbles where I'd been standing. I waited until Polyphemus thought he'd gotten me, then said, "You still haven't learned how to throw any better, Ugly? Come on!"
Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"
"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf!" I shouted.
"Come find me!" Annabeth yelled.
Her voice sounded pretty far away, and Polyphemus recognized the distance Nobody had put between themself and him. He barreled down the hill towards her voice.
I ran down to the cave, now visible, with my bow at the ready. All I found when I got there was Percy was slicing the steel ropes that Clarisse was bound with. Grover caught sight of me before I saw him and he tackled me with a hug. I laughed, then hugged him back.
"Nice to see you, too, Grover," I said, squeezing him extra hard. "But c'mon, we don't have a lot of time. Annabeth can't hold off Polyphemus for that long."
A loud crash echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that told me we might be too late.
Percy cursed. I sprinted from the cave as fast as I could, an arrow prepped and ready to shoot Polyphemus's brains out if he hurt Annabeth. When I saw the Cyclops, he was holding up empty air. Stupidly, I hoped he was dense enough to think he'd gotten Annabeth, that she was smart enough to have tricked him.
