SANITY; heroes of olympus

03.10

[act three; chapter ten     -     the danger of an idea]

Andromeda Storm had always loved dolphins, but she thought this...experience, or whatever she was going to call it, might ruin that for her.

She couldn't help the unsteady beat of her heart or the wavering breaths that left her lips while Chrysaor walked back and forth, inspecting them like prized cattle. A dozen of his dolphin-man warriors stayed in a ring around them, spears levelled at Percy's chest—which caused Andy to become angrier, then leading to the gag that was now wrapped around her face—while dozens more ransacked the ship, banging and crashing around belowdecks. One carried a box of ambrosia up the stairs. Another carried an armful of ballista bolts and a crate of Greek fire.

Andy had tried to say something about it being dangerous, though it only came out in hushed mumbles and shouts.

"Ha!" Chrysaor said. "We know all about Greek fire, girl. Don't worry. We've been looting and pillaging ships on the Mare Nostrum for aeons."

"Your accent sounds familiar," Percy said. "Have we met?"

"I haven't had the pleasure." Chrysaor's golden gorgon mask snarled at him, though it was impossible to tell what his real expression might be underneath. "But I've heard all about you, Percy Jackson. Oh, yes, the young man who saved Olympus. And the one who always stood at his side, the other half of Olympus' saviours, Andromeda Storm. And their faithful sidekick, Annabeth Chase."

Andy swore she could hear Annabeth mutter something in the back of her mind, a quip that she would have said, without a doubt, had she been present. Something like, "I'm nobody's sidekick."

The redhead waved her hands around best she could, which probably looked a little strange considering they were bound in front of her, so she might as well have looked like she was just flopping them around uselessly. "New Jersey."