Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Nothing like total failure to generate great ideas.

As Tori stood there, disarmed, outmatched, hands tied, and unable to speak, the plan formed in her head. She was so used to Annabeth providing Greek legend information that she was kind of stunned to actually remember something useful, but she had to act fast. She couldn't let anything happen to her friends. 

Chrysaor couldn't be beat. At least not in single combat. But without his crew...maybe then he could be overwhelmed if enough demigods attacked him at once.

How to deal with Chrysaor's crew? Tori put the pieces together: the pirates had been turned into dolphin-men millennia ago when they had kidnapped the wrong person. Tori knew that story. Heck, the wrong person in question had threatened to turn her into a dolphin multiple times over the course of her life. And when Chrysaor said the crew wasn't afraid of anything, one of the dolphins had nervously corrected him. Yes, Chrysaor said. But he's not here.

Weirdly it was the two children of Poseidon were thinking on the same brain wave, because  Percy had an almost exact plan foring in his head like his sister. They both glanced toward the stern and spotted Frank, in human form, peeking out from behind a ballista, waiting. Tori would have probably smiled if it wasn't for the cloth in her mouth. The big guy claimed to be clumsy and useless, but he always seemed to be in exactly the right place when they needed him. The other girls...Frank...the ice chest.

"Fine!" Percy shouted, so loudly that he got everyone's attention. "Take us away, if our captain will let you." 

Chrysaor turned his golden mask. "What captain? My men searched the ship. There is no one else."

Percy raised his hands dramatically. "The god appears only when he wishes. But he is our leader. He runs our camp for demigods. Doesn't he,Annabeth?"

Annabeth was quick. "Yes!" She nodded enthusiastically. "Mr. D! The great Dionysus!"

A ripple of uneasiness passed through the dolphin-men. One dropped his sword. 

"Stand fast!" Chrysaor bellowed. "There is no god on this ship. They are trying to scare you."

"You should be scared!" Percy looked at the pirate crew with sympathy. "Dionysus will be severely cranky with you for having delayed our voyage. He will punish all of us. Didn't you notice the girls falling into the wine god's madness?"

As soon as the words escaped Percy's mouth, Tori dropped to the floor and started a shaking fit  like Piper and Hazel had been doing previously.  Hazel and Piper had stopped moving, but when Tori glared at them pointedly, they started hamming it up again, trembling and flopping around like fish. The dolphin-men fell over themselves trying to get away from their captives.

"Fakes!" Chrysaor roared. "Shut up, Percy Jackson. Your camp director is not here. He was recalled to Olympus. This is common knowledge."

"So you admit Dionysus is our director!" Percy said.

"He was," Chrysaor corrected. "Everyone knows that."

Percy stormed over to the magical cooler. No one tried to stop him. He knocked open the lid and rummaged through the ice. Tori prayed there would to be one. Please. Her hopes were rewarded when Percy held a silver and red can of soda. He brandished it at the dolphin warriors as if spraying them with bug repellent.

"Behold!" Percy shouted. "The god's chosen beverage. Tremble before the horror of Diet Coke!"

The dolphin-men began to panic. They were on the edge of retreat. Tori could feel it.