𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟏: 𝐌𝐘 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐀!

"Don't call me Medusa!"

   SIX MONTHS AGO
JANUARY 13th, 2007

DAY THREE

   ICARUS SOMEHOW FIXED ERIS' LEG.

Well...he couldn't actually fix it but being a grandson of Athena he was smart enough to make a splint using a thick tree branch and a piece from Eris' dress.

    "This is only a temporary fix, kid," Icarus had told her quietly as she hissed in pain while he put on her splint, "You'll need an actual doctor the minute you make it out of here, I can't work miracles."

"What makes you so sure I'll leave here alive?" Eris had muttered.

Icarus looked up with a small smirk, and said, "Well...one us has to have hope," he patted her shoulder, "and I have hope that you're gonna make it out alive. We all do."

Eris frowned, "We?"

   Icarus paused, "I'll tell you later, but...don't you want to see your friends again? Your family?" He asked.

   Eris looked down, "I don't have a family," she told him, "I-I mean I want one...I...I just don't have one. I had my sister but...she's dead I can see her as a ghost but..." she quickly wiped away a tear that fell down her face, "it's not the same. And Hades...I'm not his biggest fan."

    Eris couldn't tell what Icarus was thinking. He just looked...pained like someone had shot him in the stomach with his own arrow.

    "Kid,...just get some sleep," he told her standing up, "I'm gonna start a fire."

    Eris grabbed his arm, "W-Wait don't leave I—"

   He sighed, "You worry too much," he patted her head, "I won't be far. I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Just relax."

Icarus surprisingly did keep his promise. He kept watch for any monsters as Eris slept and worked on finding Eris good and some kind of water source.

   The next day as Icarus roasted a now dead Caucasian eagle he found and killed over a fire. He found her some water from a river and made a her a bowl out of stone from a rock.

Eris honestly didn't want to eat to eat the eagle but Icarus had told her that he'd do his best to make sure it tasted decent and she didn't have any other options of food.

"It should be done in a minute," Icarus told her.

Eris sniffed as she sat near the fire, "You never told me how you got here? What do you mean that I summoned you?"

   Icarus shrugged, "Well...I'm dead and I live in the Elysium and you called me here so I came. It's your power, I guess. The other spirits in the Elysium, the dead Greek heroes, they've been waiting for you to finally summon them. You can summon any dead Greek Demigod hero from the Elysium. Helen of Troy, Hippolyta, Achilles, anyone really. They've all been waiting on you. How do you think I'm here?" He looked up at her, "You're lucky, really, it's extremely rare for children of Hades' to have this gift. I've done a lot of research about this ability. The Underworld has a surprisingly large library. The last person who had this gift was Malcom X."

     Eris blinked. She was related to Malcom X?

   "Oh...I just thought...I never knew I had powers. I thought I'd always just be...normal, I guess."

    Eris tucked her head between her knees. All she wanted was to be normal, she never wanted powers or to be a demigod. She just wanted to be a normal human with a normal life and a normal family.

Hades had drilled in her head that eventually she would discover her powers but she had never actually believed him. She just thought he put too much faith in her.

"Yeah...well...normal is boring," He smirked but he frowned when he looked at his hand and saw it was becoming transparent, "Looks like my time is running out, I'll be back in the Elysium soon."

Eris shook her head, "What? No, please don't leave me! I-I can't survive out here alone! I'll die," she told him frantically, grabbing his arm. "Please! I'm not strong enough for this! I have no one out here," she felt tears fill her eyes, "I'll be all alone again."

  Icarus's face softened, "Look, kid, I can't do anything about me leaving. You're the reason I have to leave."

   "Huh?"

   He sighed, "The amount of time I can spend outside of the Elysium depends on you. The more muscle mass you have on your body, and the more energy and pain tolerance you have the longer you can keep a spirit outside of the Underworld. The stronger the spirit, the harder it is to summon them and the harder it is to keep their form outside of the Underworld. The only reason I was even able to stay outside of the Elysium so long is because I'm weaker compared to some of the other spirits but you can only hold my form outside of the Elysium for so long." He frowned, "Aren't you in pain? You should be, your body is pretty tiny it would make sense for you to be in pain from summoning me?"

Eris paused, "I—"

Then it hit her like a train wreck. She choked on her spit as it felt like all the bones in her body were breaking one-by-one. Her body ached with tremors and it felt like someone was stabbing her in the stomach with a sword repeatedly. Every vein in her body felt like it was about explode. She almost threw up.

It felt like hell.

Icarus looked pained, "You're adrenaline must be wearing off. The pain from your leg must have distracted you from the pain from summoning me," he rubbed her back comfortingly as she rolled over in pain, "It should go away as soon as I leave, don't worry."

Eris held back a pained scream, "I—I—ah!"

She nearly ripped her own hair out. It felt like she was dying.

Did Percy feel this way whenever he used his water powers? Probably not, Percy seemed strong but not strong enough to withstand with this kind of pain without falling to the ground.

Were powers supposed to hurt this much?

Icarus looked away, "I need to go, now," he said before squatting in front of Eris, "We all have faith in you, Eris. And if you need us we're just a call away."

"W-Wait, how am I supposed to—"

Icarus gave her a sad smile before disappearing in a bright flash of green light.

Eris choked on her sobs.

Eris Lewis was alone again.

PRESENT:

     THE CYCLOPS'S ISLAND WASN'T ANYTHING ERIS EXPECTED IT TO BE.

    She thought they're would maybe be some dead bodies, random skeletons lying around and blood on the floors just like how Tartarus was.

    The Cyclops's island was nothing at all like that.

    There was a rope bridge across the chasm and it had green filed with tropical fruit trees and white beaches. It was like a vacation spot.

    As they got closer Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. "The Fleece," she said.

   Even though Eris couldn't see the fleece she could still feel power oozing from the island.

     Percy nodded, "If we take it away, will the island die?" He asked.

     Annabeth shook her head. "It'll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever that is."

    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.

   Eris started to feel queasy. Something wasn't right. Who would just leave the fleece out in broad daylight like that?

   "This...this isn't right," Eris said quietly, "I-It's too easy. It's a trap."

     Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed be a guardian. A dragon or..."

   Suddenly a deer ran out from the bushes, it trotted to the meadow 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.

     Eris had to squeeze her eyes shut and look away and Annabeth squeezed her shoulder comfortingly.

    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.

    Eris covered her mouth, "Oh my god," she muttered. "They're gonna eat us. We're gonna die."

   Percy glanced at her uneasily, "We're not gonna die...I think."

   That doesn't make me feel any better

     "They're like piranhas," Annabeth said. Suddenly she gasped and grabbed both of their arms, "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 CSS Birmingham.

   After a heated discussion on how there was no possible way to get past the human-flesh-loving sheep they decided to come up with a new plan. Annabeth wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece but Eris told her it was a risky idea since it was a possibility that the sheep could just smell her. Percy told her another guardian could possibly appear either way they weren't going to let Annabeth try to take the fleece on her own.

  They moved their ship on the backside of the island where the cliffs were at least two hundred feet high after Percy said it'd be less noticeable.

    They rowed a lifeboat to the edge of the rocks and made our way up, very slowly. Annabeth went first because she was the better climber.

   "Eris," Percy muttered as they watched Annabeth start climbing, "you're shaking."

Eris looked down at her trembling hands, "Y-Yeah, just nerves," she swallowed, "Y-You know how I get about things like this..."

    "We'll be fine, don't worry," he said but he didn't sound confident at all. "I won't let you fall, relax."

   Moments later Eris found herself and Percy climbing up a fifty feet ledge after a lot of convincing from Percy that he wouldn't let her fall.

   Surprisingly it wasn't hard for Eris to climb the cliff. She was used to lifting her own body weight after Hades' very strict year of training.

   But it still didn't make her any less scared of falling. One slip up and she'd be dead.

    A minute later Annabeth hit a slippery patch of moss and her foot slipped. Fortunately, she found something else to put it against. Unfortunately, that something was Percy's face.

   Maybe if Eris wasn't scared for her life she would be laughing but because she felt like she was going to piss her pants  at any moment she couldn't find a single thing about Percy tasting Annabeth's sneaker funny.

     "Sorry," Annabeth murmured.

    "S'okay," Percy grunted.

    They hauled themselves over the top of the cliff and collapsed.

     "Ugh," Percy panted.

     "Ouch," moaned Annabeth.

     Eris paused, "Wait....I-I hear something."

     "Garrr!" bellowed another voice.

    Eris yelped and Annabeth quickly clamped her hand over her mouth with a sharp look.
She pointed.

Nervous sweat started to appear on Eris' head.

    The ledge they were sitting on was narrower than they had realized. It dropped off on the opposite side, and that's where the voice was coming from—right below them.

     "You're a feisty one!" the deep voice bellowed.

    "Challenge me!" Clarisse's voice rang making Eris flinch. "Give me back my sword and I'll fight you!"

   She's crazy.

Even if Clarisse was crazy Eris couldn't help but envy her a bit. Clarisse was confident, she never doubted her abilities but Eris wasn't like that at all but she wished she was though she would never challenge a Cyclops.

    The monster roared with laughter.

   They crept to the edge and found out they were right above the entrance of the Cyclops's cave. Below them stood Polyphemus and Grover who was surprisingly in a wedding dress.

    Clarisse was tied up, hanging upside down over a pot of boiling water.

    Eris immediately felt bad. Yeah, she didn't like Clarisse and nor did they get along at all but she never wanted Clarisse to die.

     "Hmm," Polyphemus pondered. "Eat loudmouth girl now or wait for wedding feast? What does my bride think?"

     He turned to Grover, who backed up and almost tripped over his completed bridal train. "Oh, um, I'm not hungry right now, dear. Perhaps—"

      "Did you say bride?" Clarisse demanded. "Who—Grover?"

    Annabeth muttered, "That dumb bitch. She has to shut up."

    Polyphemus glowered. "What 'Grover'?"

    "The satyr!" Clarisse yelled.

     "Oh!" Grover yelped. "The poor thing's brain is boiling from that hot water. Pull her down, dear!"

     Polyphemus's eyelids narrowed over his baleful milky eye, as if he were trying to see Clarisse more clearly.

   Eris nearly gaged because Polyphemus smelled terrible. He smelled like hot garbage and dog shit.  He wore a crude kilt and shoulder-wrap, stitched together from baby-blue tuxedoes, as if the he'd skinned an entire wedding party.

     "What satyr?" asked Polyphemus. "Satyrs are good eating. You bring me a satyr?"

    Eris crossed her finger, hoping that for once Clarisse would keep her mouth shut and not say—

    "No, you big idiot!" bellowed Clarisse. "That satyr! Grover! The one in the wedding dress!"

     "Why? Why did she say that?," Eris muttered.

Was Clarisse crazy? Did she not see that she possibly getting Grover killed? Or did she just not care?

   She watched with wide eyes as Polyphemus whirled around and ripped off Grover's wedding veil revealing his curly hair, his scruffyadolescent beard, his tiny horns.

    Polyphemus breathed heavily, trying to contain his anger. "I don't see very well," he growled. "Not since many years ago when the other hero stabbed me in eye. But YOU'RE—NO —LADY—CYCLOPS!"

     The Cyclops grabbed Grover's dress and tore it away. Eris was just glad Grover wasn't naked because underneath the old Grover reappeared in his jeans and T-shirt. He yelped and ducked as the monster swiped over his head.

     "Stop!" Grover pleaded. "Don't eat me raw! I—I have a good recipe!"

   Percy reached for his sword, but Eris quickly grabbed his wrist and shook her head.

   It was too early to attack and there was no way they would even stand a chance against Cyclops.

She swallowed. She didn't come here to fight a cyclops. She thought they were just going to sneak way from the island with the fleece and Grover not be brutally killed by a giant.

She wouldn't stand a chance against that monster. He'd squash her like a bug.

  Percy seemed to notice her panicking because he nudged her shoulder and muttered, "We'll be okay."

    Polyphemus was hesitating, a boulder in his hand, ready to smash his would-be bride. "Recipe?" he asked Grover.

    "Oh y-yes! You don't want to eat me raw. You'll get E coli and botulism and all sorts of horrible things. I'll taste much better grilled over a slow fire. With mango chutney! You could go get some mangos right now, down there in the woods. I'll just wait here."

    The monster pondered this and Eris kept a sharp eye on Percy just to make sure he wouldn't do something reckless and charge at him.

     "Grilled satyr with mango chutney," Polyphemus mused. He looked back at Clarisse, still hanging over the pot of boiling water. "You a satyr, too?"

    "No, you overgrown pile of dung!" she yelled. "I'm a girl! The daughter of Ares! Now untie me so I can rip your arms off!"

     "Rip my arms off," Polyphemus repeated.

    "And stuff them down your throat you fuckward!"

"You got spunk."

     "Let me down!"

     Polyphemus snatched up Grover as if he were a wayward puppy. "Have to graze sheep now. Wedding postponed until tonight. Then we'll eat satyr for the main course!"

   "But...you're still getting married?" Grover sounded hurt. "Who's the bride?"

    Polyphemus looked toward the boiling pot.

    Clarisse made a strangled sound. "Oh, no! You can't be serious. I'm not—"

   Eris wrinkled her nose. Creep, she thought absentmindedly. She clinched her fist.

   Even though everything in her body screamed at her to leave she didn't think she could leave letting Clarisse marry this creep. It just didn't feel right.

     Polyphemus plucked her off the rope like she was a ripe apple, and tossed her and Grover deep into the cave. "Make yourself comfortable! I come back at sundown for big event!"

    Then the Cyclops whistled, and a mixed flock of goats and sheep flooded out of the cave and past their master. As they went to pasture, Polyphemus patted some on the back and called them by name—Beltbuster, Tammany, Lockhart, etc.

     When the last sheep had waddled out, Polyphemus rolled a boulder in front of the doorway as easily, shutting off the sound of Clarisse and Grover screaming inside.

     "Mangos," Polyphemus grumbled to himself. "What are mangos?"

    He strolled off down the mountain in his baby-blue groom's outfit, leaving them alone with a pot of boiling water and a six-ton boulder.

    Eris let out a breath she had felt like she was holding forever and Annabeth squeezed her shoulder.

     Relax

   Eris forced the trembles in her body to halt when she saw tiny rocks starting to float in the air. The last thing they needed was an earthquake to kill them all.

    They tried to send a signal to Grover and Clarisse. They yelled into yelled into the cracks, tapped on the rock, did everything but if he heard us, they couldn't tell.

But Eris knew that they had to wait for Polyphemus to open the cave again, if he died then Grover and Clarisse would be trapped in there forever.

    They sat on the ridge and watched as the Cuclops moved among his flocks. He had divided his regular animals from his man- eating sheep, putting each group on either side of the huge crevice that divided the island. The only way across was the rope bridge, and the planks were much too far apart for sheep hooves.

   They watched as Polyphemus visited his carnivorous flock on the far side. But they didn't seem to bother him at all.He fed them chunks of mystery meat from a great wicker basket.

    "Trickery," Annabeth decided. "We can't beat him by force, so we'll have to use trickery."

   Eris tucked her chin between her knees, "How do we do that?" She asked meekly.

    "I haven't figured that part out yet."

    "Great," Percy muttered.

     "Polyphemus will have to move the rock to let the sheep inside."

    "At sunset," Percy said. "Which is when he'll marry Clarisse and have Grover for dinner. I'm not sure which is grosser."

   Eris shivered, "Creep," she murmured.

    "I could get inside," Annabeth said, "invisibly."

    Eris frowned, "N-No...that...what if he smells you?" She asked.

Annabeth paused, "There's no other way...we'll just have to take the risk."

Eris bit her lip. She felt like this was a terrible idea. What if Annabeth got caught. She wanted to speak up, to tell Annabeth this idea was too risk but...she couldn't. So she did what she always did.

She stayed silent.

And she hated herself for it.

"What about us?" Percy asked.

"The sheep," Annabeth mused. She eyed both of them. "How much do you two like sheep?"

Eris and Percy looked at each other uneasily.

     ERIS WAS NOT FOND OF SHEEP. Or any animal, really, that wasn't Cerberus.

   Animals were unpredictable, they made her nervous. And now that Eris has powers when Eris got nervous it became an issue for everyone. One wrong flinch and she could bring a building down with an earthquake.

   She was already a naturally emotional person and her powers just made it worst. Willow thought that the ability to make earthquakes was cool but to Eris it was just burden.

   So you could imagine her discomfort of Annabeth's plan to hide her and Percy under the sheep.

"Just don't let go." Annabeth said . She stood off somewhere invisibly to the side.

Eris grunted as she tightened the sheep she was hanging upside down on.

They had just started and she was already feeling light headed. The sheep didn't seem to mind her and Percy hanging off of them. They were big enough to support their weight and had thick soft wool.

Percy had coached her through twirling her hands into the sheep's wool unit handles, hooking her feet against the sheep's thigh bones.

Though the sheep were soft they most certainly did not smell nice. Eris wrinkled her nose as the smell of smelly underarms filled her nose.

The Cyclops roared, "Oy! Goaties! Sheepies!"

The flock dutifully began trudging back up the slopes toward the cave.

"This is it!" Annabeth whispered. "I'll be close by. Don't worry."

But Eris couldn't help but worry. If she let go of the sheep she was dead on sight.

Her sheep started plodding up the hill.

"Hasenpfeffer!" the Cyclops said, patting one of the sheep. "Einstein! Widget —eh there, Widget!"

Polyphemus patted Percy's sheep and nearly knocked him to the ground making Eris wince. "Putting on some extra mutton there?"

Eris swallowed. Fuck.

For a moment Eris thought they were screwed and her eyes filled with tears but—

Polyphemus just laughed and swatted the sheep's rear end, propelling them forward. "Go
on, fatty! Soon Polyphemus will eat you for breakfast!"

And no time later they were in the cave.

The Cyclops was about to roll the stone back into place, when from somewhere outside Annabeth shouted, "Hello, ugly!"

Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?"

"Nobody!" Annabeth yelled.

That got exactly the reaction she'd been hoping for. The monster's face turned red with rage. "Nobody!" Polyphemus yelled back. "I remember you!"

"You're too stupid to remember anybody," Annabeth taunted. "Much less Nobody."

Eris held back a loud yelp as Polyphemus bellowed furiously, grabbed the nearest boulder (which happened to be his front door) and threw it toward the sound of Annabeth's voice. She could hear the rock smash into a thousand fragments.

For a terrible moment, there was silence and Eris started to feel tears fill her eyes but then—

    Annabeth shouted, "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!"

Polyphemus howled. "Come here! Let me kill you, Nobody!"

"You can't kill Nobody, you stupid oaf," she taunted. "Come find me!" Polyphemus barreled down the hill toward her voice.

    "Sweets," Percy hissed as he dropped off his sheep and dusted himself off.

   Eris flushed, "O-Oh, right," she murmured. She quickly dropped off her ride and rushed to stand up. She sniffed herself to make sure she didn't smell like sheep.

   Percy smirked, "See," he gestured around, "I told you we'd be fine. Let's go," he grabbed her hand and they pushed though the crowd of sheep and goats toward the back of the cave.

    Finally they came across a room where Grover was huddled in the corner, trying to cut Clarisse's bonds with a pair of safety scissors.

    "It's no good," Clarisse said. "This rope is like iron!"

    "Just a few more minutes!"

    "Grover," she cried, exasperated. "You've been working at it for hours!"

   And then they saw them.

   The minute Clarisse eyes made contact with Eris she couldn't help but take a step back behind Percy but he didn't seem to mind.

   "Percy? Medusa?" Clarisse said. "You two supposed to be blown up!"

   Eris clenched her fist and looked down.

She hated when Clarisse called her that.

Percy scowled, "Her name isn't Medusa, it's Eris and nice to see you, too. Now hold still while I—"

"Perrrrrcy! Eriiiiisss!" Grover bleated and tackled them both with a goat-hug making Eris yelp. "You heard me! You came!"

Eris turned red, "Uh...there, there," she said awkwardly patting Grover's back.

"Yeah, buddy," Percy said. "Of course I came."

"Where's Annabeth?"

"Outside," Percy said. "But there's no time to talk. Clarisse, hold still."

Percy uncapped Riptide and sliced off her ropes. She stood stiffly, rubbing her wrists. She glared at him for a moment, then looked at the ground and mumbled, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Percy said. "But I wasn't the only one who helped," he glanced at Eris.

Eris looked at him and surprise. Did he seriously expect Clarisse to thank her?

"Thanks, I guess, Medusa," Clarisse muttered. Percy shot her a sharp look.

Eris hated when Clarisse called her that, she couldn't remember the last time Clarisse had even called her by her actual first name. What did she do that made Clarisse hate her so much? She had never been mean to her, Eris tried to never be mean to anyone even if it was Clarisse. Even when Eris tried to stand up for herself all Clarisse did was beat her down again.

What was it that Elizabeth had said?

    If you want people to stop treating you like shit," Elizabeth said firmly, "then stop accepting crap and demand more."

Eris grit her teeth. Maybe she should be thankful that Clarisse had actually said something decent to her for the first time in her life but dammit—

"Don't call me Medusa," Eris blurted out gaining surprised stares, "My name is Eris. You can even call me 'Essence' if you want to but m-my name isn't Medusa." Her hands shook. "I-It has racist undertones. M-My hair is apart of my culture. Y-You...you shouldn't call me Medusa..."

Clarisse opened her mouth but—

"M-My name isn't 'Worthless' either," Eris squeaked out before covering her mouth.

Eris couldn't believe it. Had she actually done it? Her body lightly trembled slightly scared of Clarisse reaction when—

To everyone's surprise Clarisse muttered, "Whatever, thanks, I guess...Eris."

Eris blinked before a weird feeling boiled in her stomach...was that pride? She had never been proud of herself before is this what it felt like?

She liked this feeling but she doubted she would ever feel it again.

Percy cleared his throat, "Clarisse, was anyone else on board your lifeboat?"

Clarisse looked surprised. "No. Just me. Everybody else aboard the Birmingham ...well, I didn't even know you guys made it out."

Percy looked down, "Okay. Come on, then. We have to help—"

An explosion echoed through the cave, followed by a scream that could only be Annabeth crying out in fear.

A chill ran up Eris' spine.

Crap.

Thank you so much for reading!

Please comment it helps me update more often.

I'm not the biggest fan of this chapter I think it's boring but I'm trying to hurry up so we can get to the Titan's curse. I have so many plans.

I promise that eventually Eris will be happy...not any time soon...but eventually she'll get her happy ending.

Did you like this chapter? Did you dislike something?

Is there anything I can improve?

Are there any spirits you want to see Eris summon?

   How do you feel about Eris so far?

Also, I'm planning a Leo Valdez fanfic after I finish this series with Eris.

Coming up: Chapter 12: Eris Makes The World Shake