𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑶𝑵𝑬 ━ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑻𝑬𝑬𝑵

𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐈𝐄? 𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓, 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓. "Oh shit." said Percy and Iris at the same time. Polyphemus was flying down towards them, with boulders in each hand ready to attack them. Iris really wished, in that moment, that she hadn't come along but what could she do but only say, "Shit, shit, shit."

   "Oh, come on, you'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered.

   "Swim for it!" Grover said. Iris didn't need to be told twice, Grover, Clarisse and she 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 actually on the Fleece, it was on the two that stayed back.

   "You, young Cyclops!" Polyphemus roared. "Traitor to your kind!" Tyson froze at the words.

   "Don't listen to him!" Percy pleaded. 

   "Come on." He pulled Tyson's arm. He turned and faced the older Cyclops. "I am not a traitor."

   "You serve mortals!" Polyphemus shouted. "Thieving humans!" Polyphemus threw his first boulder, but Tyson swatted it aside with his fist.

   "Not a traitor," Tyson said with confidence. "And you are not my kind."

   "Death or victory!" Polyphemus charged into the surf, but his foot was still wounded, so he immediately stumbled and fell down on his face. That would've been funny, except he started to get up again, spitting salt water and growling. 

   "Percy!" Iris yelled out. "Come on!" They were almost to the ship with the Fleece.

   "Go," Tyson told him. "I will hold Big Ugly."

   "No! He'll kill you. We'll fight him together."

   "Together," Tyson agreed. Percy drew my sword.

Polyphemus advanced carefully even if he was limping worse than ever. But there was nothing wrong with his throwing arm. He chucked his second boulder. Percy dove to one side, but he still would've been squashed if Tyson's fist hadn't blasted the rock to rubble. Iris didn't understand why he was still on the shore.

Percy had willed the sea to rise, a twenty-foot wave surged up, lifting him on its crest. He 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!" Percy yelled at the cyclops. "You've been using it to lure satyrs to their deaths!"

   "So? Satyrs good eating!" said Polyphemus.

   "The Fleece should be used to heal! It belongs to the children of the gods!" yelled out Percy.

   "I am a child of the gods!" Polyphemus swiped at me, but Percy sidestepped. "Father Poseidon, curse this thief!"

He was blinking hard now, like he could barely see, and Percy realized he was targeting by the sound of Percy's voice. "Poseidon won't curse me," he said, backing up as the Cyclops grabbed air.

   "I'm his son, too. He won't play favourites." Polyphemus roared. 

He ripped an olive tree out of the side of the cliff and smashed it where he'd been standing a moment before. 

   "Humans not the same! Nasty, tricky, lying!" Grover was helping Iris get Annabeth aboard the ship. Clarisse was waving frantically at Percy, telling him 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 was moving from what Iris could see, she had just laid Annabeth down with Grovers help. Then Tyson stepped forward, raising his hands defensively. "Don't fight, Cyclops brother. Put down the—"

Polyphemus spun toward his voice. "Tyson!" Percy shouted. The tree struck him with such force it would've flattened anyone. Tyson flew backward, ploughing a trench in the sand. Polyphemus charged after him, but Percy shouted, "No!" and lunged.

   "Blaaaaah!" Polyphemus bleated just like his sheep and swung at Percy with his tree. The latter dove, but still got raked across the back by a dozen jagged branches.

Polyphemus swung the tree again, but this time he was ready. He grabbed a branch as it passed, and he jerked it skyward, and let the Cyclops lift me into the air. At the top of the arc, he 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. He landed next to them—sword in hand, within striking distance of the monster's heart. 

   "Let him go," he told Tyson. "Run." With one last mighty effort, Tyson pushed the cursing older Cyclops away, and the two ran for the surf. 

   "I will smash you!" Polyphemus yelled, doubling over in pain. His enormous hands cupped over his eye. Tyson and he 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 their right.

Percy summoned up a current to carry them. Clarisse shouted from the deck, "Yeah, Jackson! In your face, Cyclops!"

   "Rarrr!" Polyphemus picked up a boulder. He threw it toward the sound of Clarisse's voice, but it fell short, narrowly missing Tyson and him.

   "Yeah, yeah!" Clarisse taunted. "You throw like a wimp! Teach you to try marrying me, you fucking idiot!"

   "Clarisse!" Percy yelled, unable to stand it. "Shut up!" 

But too late Polyphemus threw another boulder, and this time he watched helplessly as it sailed over his head and crashed through the hull of the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Iris couldn't believe it, ran towards Annabeth trying to get to her before they sank, "Oh shit."

 The Queen Anne's Revenge creaked and groaned and listed forward. Percy cursed, willing the sea to push us faster, but the ship's masts were already going under.

   "Dive!" Percy told Tyson. And as another rock sailed over our heads, they plunged underwater. His friends were sinking fast, trying to swim, without luck, in the bubbly trail of the ship's wreckage.

Not many people realize that when a ship goes down, it acts like a sinkhole, pulling down everything around it. Clarisse was a strong swimmer, but even she wasn't making any progress. Grover frantically kicked with his hooves. Annabeth was hanging on to the Fleece next to Iris who was trying to stay near her.

Percy swam toward them, knowing that he might not have the strength to pull all his friends out of the shipwreck. Worse, pieces of timber were swirling around them, they needed help.

Percy and Tyson looked like they were thinking hard, and Iris was hoping that they thought quick and came to help them faster. But when Iris looked towards them, she saw shapes shimmered in the darkness below—three horses with fish tails, galloping upward faster than dolphins.

They whisked into the wreckage, and a moment later burst upward in a cloud of bubbles—Grover, Iris, Annabeth, and Clarisse each clinging to the neck of a hippocampus.

Rainbow, the largest, had Clarisse. He raced over to us and allowed Tyson to grab hold of his mane. His friend who bore iris did the same for Percy. They broke the surface of the water and raced away from Polyphemus's island. Iris helped Percy get onto the back of the hippocampus. 

Behind them, they could hear the Cyclops roaring in triumph with his hands in the air, "I did it! I finally sank Nobody!" They skimmed across the sea as the island shrank to a dot and then disappeared.

   "Did it," Annabeth muttered in exhaustion next to Iris on her hippocampus. "We..."

She slumped against the neck of the hippocampus and instantly fell asleep. Iris tried to get closer to make sure she was okay but didn't know how far the hippocampi could take them. Iris just propped up Annabeth as she got closer, she put the Fleece closer to her making sure she wouldn't fall off or get cold. 

   "You're a genius," Percy told Annabeth quietly. 

Iris laid back onto her hippocampus, Percy was behind her. "She is."

Percy looked at Iris, her hair was wet, and her clothes stuck to her like glue. Percy sighed; they were all tired. "Hey, Iris. . ."

   "Yes." answered Iris lowly.

   "Are you—are you okay?" he asked, hesitating. He didn't know if she even cared to say anything, he didn't know if she was just tired. 

   "Yeah. . . I'm ok." she responded. "You?"

   "Yeah. . . as good as I can be right now." said Percy, he was starting to dose off, the fatigue getting to him. 

   "Hmm." hummed Iris until she felt his head on her shoulder. Percy Jackson was sleeping on her shoulder. She wanted to shrug him off, but she was too tired, and with that she just let him stay. His arms on either side of her.

And a few minutes later, she fell asleep too. 

𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐈𝐌, 𝐓𝐑𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐔𝐏. "Percy, wake up." She said as she splashed salt water on his face. Iris shook his shoulder. Percy woke up with a slight daze. In the distance, the sun was setting behind the city skyline. He could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbour filled with luxury sailboats and cruise ships.

   "Miami, I think," Annabeth said who had woken up before Iris and had then woken up Iris. "But the hippocampi are acting weird." 

The animals had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming incircles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed. He could tell what they were thinking.

   "This is as far as they'll take us," Percy said. 

   "How can you tell?" asked Iris. 

   "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own." 

None of them were very psyched about that, but what could they do but only thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little, Iris had to comfort him. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things from the Birmingham wreck. 

He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said good-bye. Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. Iris was silently cursing, her hair was wet again, and she felt the saltwater drip down her face. The waves pushed them forward, and in no time, they were back in the mortal world. 

They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations and people boarding ships. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage and taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. 

Now that the group were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist, and he now looked like a more normal person. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a golden sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket. 

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

   "That's impossible!" Clarisse said. Time travelled differently in monstrous places.

   "Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. 

   "We have to get the Fleece back tonight." Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. 

   "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. Shit, it's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered—"

   "What?" asked Iris, not expecting her to blame Percy.

   "Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how could you say that? You are the biggest—"

   "Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in hands and Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration. Iris sighed and sat down next to Clarisse, putting her arm around her shoulder. Clarisse looked up at her and smiled slightly. 

   "Clarisse," Percy said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?" She looked to the side to Percy.

She took a deep breath and recited her prophecy: "You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, you shall find what you seek and make it your own, but despair for your life entombed within stone, and fail without friends, to fly home alone."

   "Ouch," Grover mumbled. "That's kinda sad."

   "No," Percy said. "No . . . wait a minute. I've got it." He searched his pockets for something and pulled out a golden drachma. 

   "Does anybody have any cash?" Iris, Annabeth and Grover shook their heads. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

   "Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like...green paper?"

Percy looked at him. "Yeah."

   "Like the kind in duffel bags?" asked Tyson. 

   "Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g—" Percy stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their supplies.

   "Tyson!" Percy said. "How the hell did you—"

   "Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

He handed Percy the cash, it was at least three hundred dollars. Percy ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers. 

   "Clarisse," He yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece. "

Iris didn't believe what she was hearing, her eyebrows rose as she turned to the other three as Percy took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket. He put it in Clarisse's arms. 

Clarisse hesitated before saying, "You'd let me—"

"It's your quest," he said. "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can't travel by air. Zeus would probably fucking blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

She jumped in the cab, determination full on her face. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

   "Not failing would be good." The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. The Fleece was on its way to camp. Iris stood still for a moment before looking at Percy with curiosity in her eyes. Never in a million years would she have thought that he would do such a thing.

   "Percy," Annabeth said breaking the silence, "that was so—"

   "Generous?" Grover offered.

   "Out of character?" Iris said, she sounded kinda confused.

   "Insane," Annabeth said. "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

   "It's her quest," Percy said turning to the rest. "She deserves a chance."

   "Percy is very nice," Tyson said smiling.

   "Percy is too nice," Annabeth grumbled.

   "Percy is weird." whispered Iris hoping no one heard her.

   "Come on," he told them. "Let's find another way home."

That's when Percy turned only to find a sword's pointed at his throat. And all hell broke loose, Iris's eyes widened, what was he doing here? no, no, no, he shouldn't—he shouldn't be here.

   "Hey, cousin," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States."

His bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of them, one grabbed Iris, Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars who tried to struggle and get out of his grip but in vain. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared fiercely at Luke.

   "Percy," Luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together." Oreius grinned and raised the trio off the ground, kicking and screaming.

   "What do you want, Luke?" Percy bellowed. 

He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face as he gestured toward the end of the dock, and Percy noticed, the boat, the biggest boat in port; was the Princess Andromeda.

   "Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃 𝐀𝐒 she could. She wanted yell at him, scream at him that she hated him but all she could do was watch as the bear twins herded them aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw the group down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed water into the air.

   "And so, the Fleece," Luke mused staring at them. "Where is it?" He looked them over, prodding Percy's shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover's blue jeans.

   "Hey! Watch it!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"

   "Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

   "Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover protested. "Some old friend you are!"

   "Maybe you didn't hear me quite well." Luke's voice was dangerously calm. "Where—is—the—Fleece?"

   "Not here," Percy said. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up." 

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have..." His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. They had been ahead of him. "Clarisse?" Percy nodded, confident.

   "You trusted...you gave..." mumbled Luke.

   "Yeah." responded Percy. 

   "Agrius!" yelled Luke. The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

   "Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast!" said Luke. 

   "But, boss—"

   "Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed your ass to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs, Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy, maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before. 

Percy looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbowing the sunset. 

   "You've been toying with us all along," he said. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. "Of course, you dumbass! And you've messed everything up!"

   "Traitor!" Percy dug his last gold drachma out of his pocket and threw it at Luke, he dodged it easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water. Iris knew, she knew what he was doing. 

   "You tricked all of us!" He yelled at Luke. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but Percy needed everyone's attention on him, so he uncapped Riptide. Iris turned and stared at the two.

Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

   "Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?" asked Percy. 

   "I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

Iris swallowed hard. She knew but it hurt to hear him say that. It hurt to see an old friend betray them even if he had always been like this. It hurt her. He hurt her.

   "Chiron had nothing to do with it?" continued Percy.

   "Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts." said Luke.

   "You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?" said Percy.

Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece...once I was done with it."

That made Percy hesitates. "You were going to heal Kronos," Percy said.

   "Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped up his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little." said Luke. 

   "And so, you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up—all to help Kronos destroy the gods." said Percy.

 Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why the fuck do you keep asking me?"

   "Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you." said Percy, his voice strong.

   "What audience?" Then his eyes narrowed, he looked behind him and his goons did the same, they gasped and stumbled back. Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching them.

   "Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

   "Mr. D, you heard him," Percy said. "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."

   "The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands. Iris couldn't believe it, he had the audacity to say that.

   "I fear not," Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games." 

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him and he lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement. "I got it!" he cackled.

   "We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But—"

   "You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed." said Mr. D.

   "No! But—Nooooooooooo!" As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.

Luke bellowed with rage, he slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done. Percy was confident until Luke turned and gave me a murderous look.

   "Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced." No one moved. They weren't sure what he meant, but Percy didn't have time to think about it. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around the group, the brass tips of their spears bristling. 

Luke smiled at Percy. 

   "You'll never leave this boat alive." . . .

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❪ ៸ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ━━━━━ ! ﹆◞ ❫
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❪ . . . the 15th chapter for LOVE STORY everyone, this was a cute chapter minus the fact that they literally were running for their lives 😊😊 ❫
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