[1] 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 ― p.jackson ✓

011.

「011. clarisse sort of screws up」

CADIE DIDN'T expect the monster island to look so appealing. in her mind, she'd expected the casual villain of ancient greece aesthetic. the whole craggy rocks and the bones scattered on the beach. a bit of fake blood, some old rusted swords, a big evil layer, perhaps even a big mansion for the cyclops- even just something remotely scary. maybe even just a scary moat of crocodiles, even just a little distant maniacal laugh. anything just to make sure when people looked to the island, they didn't see holiday resort but saw evil. evil. do not approach!

okay, sure. it had a rope bridge across a chasm. but that was the only thing.

instead, the place looked more like a tropical paradise. it had green fields, tropical fruit trees and white beaches. the place didn't scream evil at all. if anything- cadie would rather have liked to live there. if... it wasn't populated by a big scary cyclops.

as they sailed towards the shore, annabeth said, "the fleece."

"if we take it away, will the island die?" percy spoke.

annabeth shook her head, "it'll just fade. go back to what it was before. uh... whatever it was."

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. something gold glittered in its branches.

"this is way too easy," cadie mumbled, "like... no- this isn't right."

"i'll take what i can get," shrugged percy, turning to annabeth, "so do we just hike up there and take it?"

annabeth's eyes narrowed, "no... cadie is right- no there's meant to be something. a guardian. like... 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.

"nevermind, no longer easy," meeped cadie.

"they're like piranhas," added annabeth unpleasantly.

percy didn't look too pleased. "piranhas with wool. how will we-"

"look!" annabeth gasped suddenly. she pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground ... the other lifeboat from the css birmingham.

they decided there wasn't really any way they were going to get past the man-eating sheep. annabeth had wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab he fleece, but cadie and percy had managed to convince her otherwise. if something bad were to happen, then the sheep would smell her- she might get eaten or another guardian would appear. either way, none of them wanted to let the other go alone. danger was imminent and personally cadie didn't feel like getting chomped up by some piranha's covered in wool.

and besides, their first objective was to get grover and hopefully find whoever had come ashore in the lifeboat. assuming they hadn't been eaten already. somewhere, deep down- cadie really did hope that perhaps the person who'd come ashore was tyson. but they didn't know that- and cadie had to remind herself of that.