𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

38

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐥 when the ship lurched.

The two of them were a mess of limbs and bodies, exchanging panicked looks. Great, another monster.

Hazel's spatha was in her hand, Dante's daggers in his when the dolphins burst into the mess hall.

A million questions ran through Dante's mind. In the split second, he noticed a lot of details. The hulking warriors weren't exactly dolphins, but they weren't human either. Some had gray snouts. Others held their swords in stunted flippers. Some waddled on legs partially fused together, while others had flippers for feet, which reminded Dante of clown shoes.

The alarm bell rang overhead which Dante thought was kind of late.

Dante and Hazel stood back to back, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. The sheer confusion made Dante audibly say "Huh??" Multiple times.

They tried to fight of course, Dante with two daggers in his hands. Sometimes being ambidextrous came in handy.

He cut through them like butter, not straying far from Hazel, and moving as much as he could in the cramped quarters.

He stabbed a few, blocking their strikes with the other dagger and kicking them away. Hazel, behind him parried, dodged, struck, but all of it seemed for nothing.

No matter how many they turned to dust, more just kept coming, like a never ending horde. Across the hallway, Dante saw Frank get overwhelmed by a small group.

"Frank!" Hazel gasped.

But from the confusion, emerged a group of bees. That again made Dante audibly say "Huh??"

Could Frank turn into a swarm of bees? In any case, the bees all circled the dolphins that had overwhelmed him. They swatted at empty air, dropping their weapons, chittering among themselves, trying to protect their faces or snouts from the bee attacks.

Coach, and Piper were pushed into the mess hall as well from their cabins. The daughter of Aphrodite was trying her best, Dante could tell.

"Oh, you guys are so tired," Her voice carried through the room. It was so effective, Dante felt his arms turn to noodles. Even lifting his daggers was a hard task. "You all are so sleepy." Her words washed over him, his eyes drooping slightly.

He wished she wasn't so good at her job.

She wouldn't be able to defend herself against many dolphins with just Katoptris, Dante could tell. He shook off his exhaustion and dropped to the floor, rolling through an opening to end up near her.

Hazel joined them too eventually. She used her powers to bend the metal of their swords until they were lumps of gold, but that didn't stop the dolphin men.

Dante still had no idea what they were and how they'd come aboard their ship. Percy had been on deck the last he knew. Which meant even the son of Poseidon was taken off guard.

That couldn't be good.

"Drop your weapons," Piper ordered, her voice a little too commanding. Before Dante could realize it, his daggers clattered to the floor in front of him, slipping through his hands.

The dolphins took that opportunity to tackle him.

He hit the floor hard. The breath knocked out of his lungs. After the "training session" he'd had with Jason an hour ago, he didn't like being beat this easily.