VIII| Unexpected rescues

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"Thermos!" Percy screamed as they hurtled toward the water.

"What?" Daphne screeched, thinking the boy had lost his mind.

Annabeth and Daphne were holding on to the boat straps for dear life, their hair flying straight up like a torch.

But Tyson understood. He managed to open his duffel bag and take out Hermes's magical thermos without losing his grip on it or the boat.
Arrows and javelins whistled past them.

"Hang on!"

"I am hanging on!" Annabeth screamed back in response.

"Tighter!"

Daphne did not need to be told twice, her grip becoming so hard her knuckles slowly turned white.

Percy hooked his feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and as Tyson grabbed Annabeth and Daphne by the backs of their shirts, Percy (who was holding onto Annabeth) gave the thermos cap a quarter turn.

Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled them sideways, turning their 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, they bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then they were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in their faces and nothing but sea ahead.

Daphne heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind them, but they were already out of weapon range.

The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.

As they raced over the sea, Percy, Annabeth and Daphne tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron.

They figured it was important they let somebody know what Luke was doing, and they didn't know who else to trust.

The wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight-perfect for an Iris-message-but their connection was still poor.

When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show us Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.

The demigods told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos's remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on their end, Daphne was not sure how much he heard.

"Guys," Chiron yelled, "you have to watch out for-"

His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him-a bunch of voices whooping it up like
Comanche warriors.

"What?" Percy yelled.

"Curse my relatives!" Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "Annabeth, you shouldn't have let Daphne or Percy leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece-"

"Yeah, baby!" somebody behind Chiron yelled.

"Woo-hoooooo!" The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made their boat vibrate.

"-Miami," Chiron was yelling. "I'll try to keep watch-"

Their misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.

"That was helpful." Daphne muttered.

An hour later they spotted land-a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise hotels. The water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers.

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