The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

fourteen

RAINBOW TO THE RESCUE

"You'd think he'd run out of rocks." Percy muttered.

"For real." Ariana hummed in agreement

"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!" Percy pleaded. "Come on."

He pulled Tyson's arm, but he 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! Ari!" Clarisse yelled. "Come on!"

They were almost to the ship with the Fleece. If they could just keep the monster distracted a little longer..

"Go." Tyson told them. "I will hold Big Ugly."

"No! He'll kill you."

"We'll fight him together?" Ariana asked.

She wasn't going to leave Percy and Tyson to die on their own.

"Together." Tyson agreed.

She drew her swords.

Polyphemus advanced carefully, limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm.

He chucked his second boulder. Ariana dived to one side, but she still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble.

Percy willed the sea to rise. A six-metre wave surged up, lifting him on its crest.

He rode towards the Cyclops and kicked him in the eye, leaping over his head as the water blasted him onto the beach.

Ariana was about to cast shadow warriors to help them when she suddenly felt unable to. The weight of exhaustion weighing down upon her.

Still, she managed to push through and summon some shadows.

"Destroy you!" Polyphemus spluttered. "Fleece stealer!"

"You stole the Fleece!" Ariana 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 Percy, but Percy sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"

He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and Ariana realized he was targeting by the sound of Percys voice.

"Poseidon won't curse me." Percy said, backing up as the Cyclops grabbed air. "I'm his son, too. He won't play favourites."