Eleutheromania

20)

PERCY STOOD THERE, DISARMED AND outmatched.

I started remembering the history between Chrysaor. 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? I put the pieces together: the pirates had been turned into dolphin-men millennia ago when they had kidnapped the wrong person. Heck, the wrong person in question had threatened to turn him into a dolphin. 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.

I glanced toward the stern and spotted Frank, in human form, peeking out from behind a ballista, waiting. I resisted the urge to smile. The big guy claimed to be clumsy and useless, but he always seemed to be in exactly the right place when I needed him.

The girls...Frank...the ice chest.

It was a crazy idea. But, as usual, that's all I had.

"Fine!" I shouted, so loudly that I 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."

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

Annabeth was quick. "Yes!" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Mr. D! The great Dionysus!" Percy said also catching on.

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!" I 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?"

Hazel and Piper had stopped the shaking fits. They were sitting on the deck, staring at me, but when I 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, son of Lorcan. 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 gestured at the golden warrior like he'd just betrayed himself. "You see? We are doomed. If you don't believe me, let's check the ice chest!"

I almost smiled at Percy. The fact that we are such good friends, that one look is enough to form a plan. Percy stormed over to the magical cooler. No one tried to stop him. He knocked open the lid and rummaged through the ice. He was rewarded with 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. I could feel it.

"The god will take your ship," Percy warned. "He will finish your transformation into dolphins, or make you insane, or transform you into insane dolphins! Your only hope is to swim away now, quickly!"