The Sea of Monsters

Percy, Grover, and Clarisse rush to the mouth of the cave, where they see Polyphemus off in the field holding a wounded Annabeth. The three agree on an attack plan, and Percy yells insults at the cyclops, saying he’s really Nobody. Polyphemus attacks. Clarisse and Percy hold him off while Grover carries the unconscious Annabeth across the rope bridge dividing the two sides of the island. Percy and Clarisse follow, intending to cut the bridge and drop Polyphemus into the crevasse below, but he makes it across before they cut the ropes. Polyphemus bats Clarisse and Grover away, and anger boils up inside Percy. He attacks the monster and goes into some kind of fighting trance. When he comes out of it, the cyclops is down and begging Percy not to kill him.

Thinking of Tyson, Percy tries to strike a deal with Polyphemus to take the Fleece. Polyphemus agrees, but the second Percy lets his guard down, the monster attacks again. A boulder flies from nowhere, lodging in the monster’s throat, and he falls backward down into the chasm. Percy, Clarisse, and Grover turn to see Tyson standing unharmed amidst the killer sheep. Rainbow, Tyson’s hippocampus friend, saved him when the USS Birmingham went down. The smell of sheep led Tyson to Polyphemus’s island, where he’s been the entire time.

Annabeth is in critical condition. Out of options, Percy puts the Golden Fleece over her like a blanket. After a few minutes, she wakes, looking healthy and vibrant “as if someone had injected her with glitter” (222). With the bridge gone, the only way back to the ship is through the killer sheep meadow. Tyson leads the sheep away while Percy and the others get to the shore. Percy calls the ship around the island, but before they can board, Tyson runs toward them, the killer sheep in tow, and Polyphemus, wounded but alive, arrives wielding boulders.

Percy and Tyson hold off Polyphemus while the others swim for the ship. Even blinded and wounded, the older cyclops is almost too much for them to handle. With a mighty leap, Percy lands on Polyphemus’s damaged eye, distracting Polyphemus long enough for Tyson to tackle him. Percy readies to deliver the killing strike but looks at Tyson and decides he can’t do it because “it just wasn’t right” (228). Percy and Tyson leave Polyphemus fuming and run for the ship.

Clarisse taunts Polyphemus, letting the blind cyclops locate the ship and throw a boulder through its hull. The ship goes down, and even Percy’s power over water isn’t enough to help his friends. He and Tyson call out to the hippocampi, who arrive and race the group away while Polyphemus shouts how he “finally sank Nobody” (230).

The hippocampi bring the group to Miami Beach. There, they discover they’ve been on the quest for 10 days, which means they need to get the Fleece to camp tonight if the tree has any hope of surviving. Clarisse blames Percy for messing up her quest and finally reveals the oracle’s prophesy. The prophesy says she’ll find the Fleece but “fail without friends, to fly home alone” (234), which she thinks means she can’t succeed unless someone steps in. Percy figures out the riddle means that Clarisse needed help but has to fly home alone to get the Fleece there in time. There’s just enough cash for one airline ticket, and Percy gives it to Clarisse to get on a plane and save camp.

As soon as Clarisse is gone, Luke arrives and captures the rest of the group. Luke demands they hand over the Fleece, and Percy tells him Clarisse has it, which sends Luke into a rage. Percy throws his last Greek drachma (gold coin) into one of the Princess Andromeda’s fountain sprays and silently prays to the Goddess Iris to open a call to Camp Half Blood. Unaware of the open message, Luke confesses to poisoning Thalia’s tree so the camp would send someone to find the Golden Fleece. Luke planned to steal the Fleece and use it to heal Kronos.

In the rainbow message, Dionysus, Tantalus, and the rest of Camp Half Blood hear Luke’s confession. Dionysus says he’ll reinstate Chiron and sends Tantalus back to the Underworld. Luke slashes the message, cutting it off, and summons his army of warriors to destroy Percy, proclaiming, “you’ll never leave this boat alive” (241).

Percy goads Luke into fighting one-on-one. Luke is an expert sword fighter and badly wounds Percy in only a couple of strikes. Luke tells one of his goons to eat Annabeth and Grover so Percy can watch, but someone shoots an arrow into the goon’s mouth before he can. Chiron arrives with his centaur brethren, some of which wear T-shirts that read “Party Ponies: South Florida Chapter” (245). The centaurs rescue Percy and his friends, leaving the Princess Andromeda a mess.

The centaurs bring Percy and his friends to the party pony camp, where Chiron and Percy discuss the prophesy regarding Percy’s 16th birthday. Chiron encourages Percy not to despair at how confusing and hopeless the prophesy sounds, which Percy struggles to do. Finally, Percy asks why Dionysus thought Chiron was responsible for poisoning Thalia’s tree, and Chiron reveals that “the titan Kronos is my father” (253).