Nobody Gets the Fleece

**Nobody Gets the Fleece** is the ninety-third chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on June 30th, 2019.

## Chapter

**Nobody edit below this box**

**Jasmine's POV**
“I got Nobody!” Polyphemus gloated.
I watched in horror at Polyphemus, grinning wickedly at what he was holding in his hand. There was Annabeth, hanging upside down by her legs. The monster shook his fist, and her baseball cap fluttered to the ground, making her visible to everyone.
“Hah!” Polyphemus said. “Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!”
Annabeth struggled, but she looked dazed. She had a nasty cut on her forehead. Her eyes were glassy.
I became angry. No one, absolutely *no one*, gets to hurt my best friend and gets away with it.
I unsheathed my dual blades and used my powers to make me visible again. I wanted this asshole to *know* and see who he dared to mess with. I charged forward towards Polyphemus.
I heard someone call out to me and a moment later something knocked into me and lifted me into the air before I could get even a stab into Polyphemus with just one of my blades. Surprisingly, he didn’t notice me at all. He was too focused on his prized possession that was my best friend.
I was dropped off at the cave entrance where Percy and Will, with Grover and Clarisse behind them, were watching us.
“Toothless!” I made a mad swipe at him, but he jumped away. “How dare you do that?! I have to save her!”
He whimpered. I’ve never yelled at him like this before. *I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to get hurt.*
“Who cares about me?!” Tears started streaming down my face. “Annabeth is the one that needs help!”
“Jasmine.” Will put a hand on my shoulder and gently turned me toward him. Once I was facing him, he put his other hand on my other shoulder and looked me directly in the eyes. “Toothless did the right thing. Don’t be mad at him. You can’t just run toward a monster like that.”
“Annabeth needs help, Will!”
“I know, and we will save her. I promise. But we need *you* to help us. Understand?”
I nodded. Toothless licked away my tears. “What’s the plan?”
“We’ll rush him,” Percy whispered. He turned to Grover and Clarisse. “Our ship is around the back of the island. You two—”
“No way,” they said at the same time. Clarisse had armed herself with a highly collectible ram’s-horn spear that I was assuming she got somewhere from Polyphemus’s cave. Grover had found a sheep’s thigh bone, which he didn’t look too happy about, but he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.
“We’ll take him together,” Clarisse growled.
“Yeah,” Grover said. Then he blinked, like he couldn’t believe he’d just agreed with Clarisse about something. I couldn’t either.
“All right,” Percy said. “Attack plan Macedonia.”
We nodded. We’d all taken the same training courses at Camp Half-Blood. We knew what he was talking about. We would sneak around either side and attack Polyphemus from the flanks while he held his attention in the front. Probably what this meant was that we’d *all* die instead of just some of us, but it wasn’t going to be so easy.
Percy hefted his sword and shouted, “Hey, Ugly.”
Polyphemus whirled toward Him. “*Another* one? Who are you?”
“Put down my friend. *I’m* the one who insulted you.”
“*You* are Nobody?”
“That’s right, you smelly bucket of nose drool!” It wasn’t as good as mine and Annabeth’s insults, but it’s not like they’re something he says a lot. “I’m Nobody and I’m proud of it! Now, put her down and get over here. I want to stab your eye out again.”
“RAAR!” he bellowed.
The good news: he dropped Annabeth. The bad news: he dropped her headfirst onto the rocks, where she lay motionless as a rag doll. With my super hearing, I could hear the crack of her head when they hit the rocks. I swallowed the lump in my throat and held back my tears. I channeled them into anger.
The other bad news: Polyphemus barreled toward Percy, a thousand smelly pounds of Cyclops that he would have to fight with a very small sword. Well, he wasn’t going to be fighting him alone.
“For Pan!” Grover rushed in from the right. He threw his sheep bone, which bounced harmlessly off the monster’s forehead. Will shot his arrows from the top of the cave into his side. Toothless flew around and shot his plasma blast from all directions. Clarisse ran in from the left and set her spear against the ground just in time for Polyphemus to step on it. He wailed in pain, and Clarisse dove out of the way to avoid getting trampled. But the Cyclops just plucked out the shaft like a large splinter and kept advancing on Percy.
He moved in with Riptide.
Polyphemus made a grab for him. He rolled aside and stabbed him in the thigh.
I was hoping to see him disintegrate, but I knew this monster was much too big and powerful.
“Get Annabeth!” Percy yelled at Grover.
“Go, Toothless!” I called.
Grover rushed over grabbed Annabeth’s invisibility cap, and picked her up. Toothless picked up Will and went to help him while Clarisse, Percy, and I tried to keep Polyphemus distracted.
I have to admit, Clarisse was brave. She charged Polyphemus again and again. He pounded the ground, stomped at her, grabbed at her, but she was too quick. And as soon as she made an attack, Percy or I followed up by stabbing Polyphemus in the toe or the ankle or the head.
But we couldn’t keep this up forever. Eventually we would tire or Polyphemus would get in a lucky shot. It would only take one hit to kill us.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Grover and Will carrying Annabeth across the rope bridge with Toothless flying above them. It wouldn’t have been my first choice, given the man-eating sheep on the other side, but at the moment that certainly looked better than *this* side of the chasm.
“Fall back!” Percy told us.
We rolled away as the Cyclops’s fist smashed the olive tree beside us.
We ran for the bridge. Polyphemus right behind us. He was cut up and hobbling from so many wounds, but all we’d done was slow him down and make him mad.
“Grind you into sheep chow!” he promised. “A thousand curses on Nobody!”
“Faster!” Percy told us.
We tore down the hill. The bridge was our only chance. Grover, Will, and Toothless had just made it to the other side and was setting Annabeth down. We had to make it across, too, before Polyphemus caught us.
“Grover!” Percy yelled. “Get Annabeth’s knife!”
His eyes widened when he saw the Cyclops behind us, but he nodded like he understood. As Percy, Clarisse, and I scrambled across the bridge, Grover began sawing at the ropes.
The first strand went *snap!*
Polyphemus bounded after us, making the bridge sway wildly.
The ropes were now half cut. Percy, Clarisse, and I dove for solid ground, landing beside Grover, Will, and Toothless. Percy made a wild slash with his sword and cut the remaining ropes.
The bridge fell away into the chasm, and the Cyclops howled . . . with delight, because he was standing right next to us.
“Failed!” he yelled gleefully. “Nobody failed!”
“Dammit!” I cursed.
Clarisse and Grover tried to charge him, but Polyphemus swatted them aside like flies.
My anger swelled. I couldn’t believe we’d come this far, have Annabeth get severely hurt, suffered through so much, only to fail—stopped by a big stupid monster in a baby-blue tuxedo kilt. Nobody was going to swat down my friends like that! And I do mean *nobody*, not Nobody.
I think Percy agreed with me. He appeared to be as angry as I felt. He looked at me and we had a mutual understanding of one another.
Strength coursed through my body. We raised our weapons and attacked, forgetting that we were hopelessly outmatched. Percy jabbed Polyphemus in the belly. I jabbed one of my blades into his belly as well as his leg. When he doubled over we both smacked him in the nose with the hilt of our weapons. We slashed and kicked and bashed until the next thing we knew, Polyphemus was sprawled on his back, dazed and groaning, and we were standing above him, the tip of our blades hovering over his eye.
“Uhhhhhhhh,” Polyphemus moaned.
“Percy! Jasmine!” Grover gasped. “How did you—”
“Please, noooo!” Polyphemus moaned, pitifully staring up at us. His nose was bleeding. A tear welled in the corner of his half-blind eye. “M-m-my sheepies need me. Only trying to protect my sheep!”
He began to sob.
We had won. All we had to do was stab—one quick strike.
“Kill him!” Clarisse yelled. “What are you waiting for?”
Polyphemus sounded so heartbroken, just like . . . like Annabeth when we were really young about her dad. Or me sometimes about Annabeth.
“He’s a Cyclops!” Grover warned. “Don’t trust him!”
I knew he was right. I knew Annabeth would’ve said the same thing.
But Polyphemus sobbed. How could we just kill him in cold blood?
Percy and I made eye contact.
“We only want the Fleece,” he told the monster. “Will you agree to let us take it?”
“No!” Clarisse shouted. “Kill him!”
“For once, shut the hell up, Clarisse,” I told her.
Polyphemus sniffed. “My beautiful Fleece. Prize of my collection. Take it, cruel human. Take it and go in peace.”
“We’re going to step back slowly,” Percy told him. “One false move . . .”
Polyphemus nodded like he understood.
We stepped back . . . that idiot. I saw it coming and I managed to move back far enough that he just missed me, but as fast as a cobra, Polyphemus smacked Percy to the edge of the cliff.
“Percy!” I called
“Foolish mortal!” Polyphemus bellowed, rising to his feet. “Take my Fleece? Ha! I eat you first.”
He opened his enormous mouth, and I knew that his rotten molars were the last thing Percy would ever see.
I was about to charge forward when something came over Percy’s head and *thump!*
A rock sailed in Polyphemus’s throat—a beautiful three-pointer, nothing but net. Polyphemus choked, trying to swallow the unexpected pill. He staggered backward, but there was no place to stagger. His heel slipped, the edge of the cliff crumbled, and the great Polyphemus made chicken wing motions that did nothing to help him fly as he tumbled into the chasm.
Percy and I turned.
Halfway down the path to the beach, standing completely unharmed in the midst of a flock of killer sheep, was an old friend.
“Bad Polyphemus,” Tyson said. “Not all Cyclopes are as nice as we look.”

Tyson gave us the short version: Rainbow the hippocampus—who’d apparently been following us ever since the Long Island Sound, waiting for Tyson to play with him—had found Tyson sinking beneath the wreckage of the CSS *Birmingham* and pulled him to safety. He and Tyson had been searching the Sea of Monsters ever since, trying to find us, until Tyson caught the scent of sheep and found this island.
I wanted to hug him so badly, except he was standing in the middle of killer sheep, which I didn’t quite believe would hurt me, but this is the few times I *wouldn’t* take any chances.
“Tyson, thank the gods,” Percy cried. “Annabeth is hurt!”
“You thank the gods she is hurt?” he asked, puzzled.
“Yeah, even I took that as you saying that,” I said.
“No!” Percy knelt beside Annabeth. I did too and I was worried sick by what I saw. The gash on her forehead was worse than I’d realized. Her hairline was sticky with blood. Her skin was pale and clammy.
Grover, Percy, and I exchanged nervous looks. Tears started to form in my eyes.
I looked at Will, who was closely examining her since they brought her over the chasm. He had his index and middle finger checking for her pulse on her neck. He was trying to avoid meeting my eyes, but I made him. He didn’t want to tell me, to say the words I was dreading. So he shook his head.
“No . . .” I grabbed onto her hand. “Annabeth, no!”
The tears were falling out of my eyes like a waterfall. I sobbed into her chest, making her shirt wet. Toothless bumped his head against me and Will placed his arms around me for comfort. I could no longer feel her aura radiating from her. I couldn’t hear her heartbeat.
“Tyson, the Fleece,” I heard Percy say. “Can you get it for me?”
“Of course,” Will mused. “The Fleece has incredible healing powers. Maybe . . .”
“Get it!” I screamed.
“Which one?” Tyson said, looking around at the hundred of sheep.
“In the tree!” Percy said. “The gold one!”
“Oh. Pretty. Yes.”
Tyson lumbered over, careful not to step on the sheep. If any of us had tried to approach the Fleece, except maybe me, we would’ve been eaten alive, but I guess Tyson smelled like Polyphemus, because the flock didn’t bother him at all. They just cuddled up to him and bleated affectionately, as though they expected to get sheep treats from the big wicker basket. Tyson reached up and lifted the Fleece off its branch. Immediately the leaves on the oak tree turned yellow. Tyson started wading back toward us, but Percy yelled, “No time! Throw it!”
The gold ram skin sailed through the air like a glittering shag Frisbee. Percy caught it with a grunt. It was heavier than he’d expected.
I grabbed it—sixty or seventy pounds of precious gold wool—and we spread it over Annabeth, covering everything but her face, and prayed silently to God.
*Please. Please.*
The color returned to her face. Her eyelids fluttered open. I sobbed and put my arms around her, holding her tight. “Ow.”
The cut on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, “You’re not . . . married?”
Grover grinned. “No. My friends talked me out of it.”
“Annabeth,” Percy said, “just lay still.”
But despite our protests she sat up, and I noticed that the cut on her face was almost completely healed. She looked a lot better. In fact, she shimmered with health, as if someone had injected her with glitter. I once did dump a whole bottle of glitter on her when we were little.
Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. “Down!” he told them as they tried to climb him, looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. “No, sheepies. This way! Come here!”
They heeded him, but it was obvious they were hungry, and they were starting to realize Tyson didn’t have any treats for them. They wouldn’t hold out forever with so much fresh meat nearby.
“We have to go,” Percy said. “Our ship is . . .” The Queen Anne’s Revenge was a very long way away. The shortest route was across the chasm, and we’d just destroyed the only bridge. Toothless could’ve carried us across, but having to hull the Golden Fleece was going to be too heavy, even for him. The only other possibility was through the sheep.
“Tyson,” Percy called, “can you lead the flock as far away as possible?”
“The sheep want food.”
“I know! They want people food! Just lead them away from the path. Give us time to get to the beach. Then join us there.”
Tyson looked doubtful, but he whistled. “Come, sheepies! Um, people food this way!”
He jogged off into the meadow, the sheep in pursuit.
“Keep the Fleece around you,” Percy told Annabeth. “Just in case you’re not fully healed yet. Can you stand?”
She tried, but her face turned pale again. “Ohh. *Not* fully healed.”
Clarisse dropped next to her and felt her chest, which made Annabeth gasped.
“Ribs broken,” Clarisse said. “They’re mending, but definitely broken.”
“She’s right,” Will agreed.
“How can you tell?” Percy asked.
Clarisse glared at him. “Because I’ve broken a few, runt! I’ll have to carry her.”
“Uh, what?” I asked.
Before we could argue, Clarisse picked up Annabeth like a sack of flour and lugged her down to the beach. The rest of us followed.
As soon as we got to the edge of the water, Percy seemed to be concentrating. After a few anxious minutes, I saw the *Queen Anne’s Revenge* rounding the tip of the island. I had a feeling Percy summoned it to us.
“Incoming!” Tyson yelled. He was bounding down the path to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind, bleating in frustration as their Cyclops friend ran away without feeding them.
“They probably won’t follow us into the water,” Percy told us. “All we have to do is swim for the ship.”
“With Annabeth like this?” Clarisse protested.
“We can do it,” he insisted. He seemed confident again, the first time in a long time. He was back in his home turf—the sea. “Once we get to the ship, we’re home free.”
We almost made it, too. So. Damn. Close.
We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine, when we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus, scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.

I don't think Annabeth actually died in the book, but she was very close to doing so. I thought it would've been a good twist for her to actually die and then the Golden Fleece would help get her heart pumping again.
**Please review** here**.**

**Nobody edit above this box**
## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Jasmine Saturday
* Annabeth Chase
* Percy Jackson
* Will Solace

### Minor Characters

* Clarisse
* Grover Underwood
* Tyson