I thought about that. It didn’t exactly cheer me up.
I also noticed Annabeth hadn’t said much about thepersonalthings she would change—like getting her parents back together, or saving Luke. I understood. I didn’t want to admit how many times I’d dreamed of getting my own parents back together.
I pictured my mom, alone in our little apartment on the Upper East Side. I tried to remember the smell of her blue waffles in the kitchen. It seemed so far away.
“So was it worth it?” I asked Annabeth. “Do you feel…wiser?”
She gazed into the distance. “I’m not sure. But wehaveto save the camp. If we don’t stop Luke…”
She didn’t need to finish. If Luke’s way of thinking could even tempt Annabeth, there was no telling how many other half-bloods might join him.
I thought about my dream of the girl and the golden sarcophagus. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I got the feeling I was missing something. Something terrible that Kronos was planning. What had the girl seen when she opened that coffin lid?
Suddenly Annabeth’s eyes widened. “Percy.”
I turned.
Up ahead was another blotch of land—a saddle-shaped island with forested hills and white beaches and green meadows—just like I’d seen in my dreams.
My nautical senses confirmed it. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west.
We had reached the home of the Cyclops.
FOURTEEN
WE MEET THE SHEEP OF DOOM
When you think “monster island,” you think craggy rocks and bones scattered on the beach like the island of the Sirens.
The Cyclops’s island was nothing like that. I mean, okay, it had a rope bridge across a chasm, which was not a good sign. You might as well put up a billboard that said,SOMETHING EVIL LIVES HERE. But except for that, the place looked like a Caribbean postcard. It had green fields and tropical fruit trees and white beaches. As we sailed toward the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. “The Fleece,” she said.
I nodded. I couldn’t see the Fleece yet, but I could feel its power. I could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia’s poisoned tree. “If we take it away, will the island die?”
Annabeth shook her head. “It’ll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever that is.”
I felt a little guilty about ruining this paradise, but I reminded myself we had no choice. Camp Half-Blood was in trouble. And Tyson…Tyson would still be with us if it wasn’t for this quest.
In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge—the size of hippos. Just past them was a path that led up into the hills. At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, was the massive oak tree I’d seen in my dreams. Something gold glittered in its branches.
“This is too easy,” I said. “We could just hike up there and take it?”
Annabeth’s eyes narrowed. “There’s supposed be a guardian. A dragon or…”
That’s when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal. It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves.
Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air.
A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.
Annabeth and I exchanged looks.
“They’re like piranhas,” she said.
“Piranhas with wool. How will we—”
“Percy!” Annabeth gasped, grabbing my arm. “Look.”
She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground…the other lifeboat from the CSSBirmingham.
