Charmolypi

Chapter 101

They exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. Percy looked around and his eyes widened. For a moment, the son of Poseidon looked deep in thought, and he made eye contact with Thea. She knew the plan, it was a simple one, really, but still high risk.

"He figured it out," Regulus said suspiciously under his breath.

"Castaways, we are castaways," Thea started singing. "Ahoy there! Ahoy! We are castaways." Annabeth looked slightly confused but was able to spot the subtle wink Thea threw her way, and so they started singing together. "We're stuck where we are, with no house, no car! Castaways, ahoy! We are cast aways!"

"I've never heard of this song."

"Is it a muggle thing?"

"No, not in our current time," Ted answered, looking slightly confused by the song.

"Why would she be singing this song in particular though?"

Percy saw the puzzled look on Oreius' face when the two girls started singing. Tyson was too busy looking angry to even process the fact that the girls were singing.

"Now!" Percy told Tyson. The cyclops knew exactly what Percy meant and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.

"Since when is Thea the distraction?"

"Isn't she supposed to be the leader?" Lucius said in a mixture of disgust and confusion.

"Just because she's the leader or the most powerful, it doesn't mean that being the distraction is beneath her," Andromeda snapped.

"She's right," Bellatrix answered, shocking almost everyone there. "A leader is not someone that sends his friends to their inevitable death while they sit back and watch."

The two sisters made eye contact, but it was extremely awkward. Andromeda could not easily forgive what her sister had said and did when she told them about her and Ted, but she couldn't deny that she loved her. Bellatrix, on the other hand, was fighting against what she was taught, proving that her love for her sister would one day save her from her demise.

"Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"

One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Thea knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. She was turning to the other guard, but he had already bolted to the nearest alarm box.

"Stop him!" Annabeth yelled, but it was too late.

Just before Percy banged him on head with a deck chair, he hit the alarm. Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.

"Get out of there!"

"They're going to get caught!"

"Lifeboat!" Thea ordered. They quickly followed her initiative and ran to the nearest one.

By the time we got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above them, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

"Aren't these the same monsters that attacked Percy at the school?"

"You mean... Luke sent them?"

"It makes sense if he's working so closely with Kronos."

"How do you launch this thing?" screamed Annabeth.

A hellhound leaped at Percy, but Thea slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher. Tyson quickly fought off one of the giants that had made his way to them and threw him into one of the walls.

"And Thea saves Percy from a hellhound once again," Marlene says smirking over at James, who shot a triumphant look towards a fearful looking Sirius.

"Ouch," he whispered.

"Get in!" Percy yelled. He uncapped Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth and Tyson were having no luck with the release of the pulley, so Percy quickly jumped beside them. "Thea!" he called out to the girl that was still fighting off monsters.

Thea cast one look their way and ended her fight without a second thought. She sprinted over to them and cut the ropes with her sword as she jumped. Percy expertly grabbed her and secured her beside him as a shower of arrows whistled over their heads.

Marlene squealed, repeatedly hitting James' arm, as he grumbled with disdain.

"His hand is going too low!" James yelled, point at Percy's hand that was securing Thea beside him.

"It's either that, or she falls in the ocean, Potter," Lucius snarked.

James glared at the blonde man before he got pulled down by his friends.

"Thermos!" Thea screamed as they hurtled towards the water.

"What?" Annabeth looked at Thea ash though she had lost her mind. She was holding onto the boat straps for her hear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch.

"Thermos!" Percy repeated, knowing exactly what she meant. Tyson, fortunately, understood as well. He managed to open Percy's duffle bag and take out Hermes' magical thermos without losing his grip on it or even the boat.

Percy and Thea grabbed the thermos while avoiding the various weapons that were being sent their way. The pair readjusted their grips on the boat and each other.

Marlene shot James a glare when she saw him about to protest, which caused the Potter boy to start fidgeting in his seat.

"It's not like you're alive in her time to do anything about it, James," Peter said, not taking his eyes off of the projection.

Remus, Sirius, James, along with the rest of their friends that were sitting near them, all turned and looked at the mousy boy, eyes wide. The usually quiet boy was stepping out of his shell in a way that would be putting an end to his friendship with the rest of the Gryffindor group.

"Hang on!" Percy told Annabeth as he squeezed Thea closer to his side.

"I am hanging on!" she answered.

"Tighter!" Thea told her.

The pair hooked their feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and as Tyson grabbed the back of their shirts, Annabeth in one hand, and Percy and Thea with the other, they unscrewed the cap of the thermos open.

Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled the boat sideways, turning the downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing. The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the thermos, like it was glad to be free. As they hit the ocean, bumped a few times then they were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in their faces and nothing but sea ahead.

They heard wails of outrage from the ship, but they were already out of range for any weapon they were to use. The Princess Andromeda was fading in size before they would no longer see it. Thea focused and pushed the winds even more, making them go faster in the boat.

"They got away too easily," Regulus said in a low voice so that only his friends would hear.

Bellatrix looked perplexed by her young cousin's statement but couldn't deny that, with the amount of monsters that were on board, Luke could have easily captured them from the moment they got on the boat.

"That's true," Narcissa said. "But why would he let them go when he knows that they would be the biggest threat on his mission?"