{Kiara}
Kiara was sitting at her desk when the alarm bell sounded.
She jumped at the sudden sound, then quickly left her room, summoning her sword as she made her way through the hallway.
At the base of the stairs, she encountered the weirdest thing. A dozen human-like dolphins. The daughter of Pluto was too shocked to react. She just stared at the dolphin-men, and they stared back.
By the time she had decided to swing her sword at them, the dolphin-men had already lunged to grab her.
In a matter of minutes, she was getting dragged up to the deck by a bunch of dolphins. She kicked and trashed, but it was no use. The dolphin-men had taken her sword, so she wasn't able to cut them to pieces, and even if she could somehow take it back, her hands were tied. Literally. As if that wasn't enough, as far as she could sense, there were no dead below them. So, no way to raise a skeleton army, either.
Up on deck, Annabeth and Percy stood back-to-back, as they'd done many times before, their weapons drawn. Percy looked like he was trying to summon the waves, but nothing happened. He raised Riptide, ready to fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. Several dozen warriors lowered their spears and made a ring around them, wisely keeping out of striking distance of Percy's sword.
The dolphin-men opened their snouts and made whistling, popping noises. Kiara had never considered just how vicious dolphin teeth looked.
At least the warriors didn't seem interested in killing them immediately. They kept Percy and Annabeth contained while more of their comrades flooded belowdecks and secured the hull. Kiara could hear them breaking down the cabin doors, scuffling with her friends. Even if the other demigods hadn't been fast asleep, they wouldn't have stood a chance against so many. She hoped Hazel and Piper were okay.
Leo was dragged across the deck, half-conscious and groaning, and dumped on a pile of ropes. Below, the sounds of fighting tapered off. Either the others had been subdued or... or they were dead. Kiara didn't want to think about the latter..
On one side of the ring of spears, the dolphin warriors parted to let someone through. He appeared to be fully human, but from the way the dolphins fell back before him, he was clearly the leader. He was dressed in Greek combat armor—sandals, kilt, and greaves, a breastplate decorated with elaborate sea monster designs—and everything he wore was gold. Even his sword, a Greek blade like Riptide, was gold instead of bronze.
What really made Kiara nervous was the guy's helmet. His visor was a full face mask fashioned like a gorgon's head—curved tusks, horrible features pinched into a snarl, and golden snake hair curling around the face.
Annabeth turned so she was shoulder to shoulder with Percy.
"Who are you?" Percy demanded. "What do you want?"
The golden warrior chuckled. With a flick of his blade, faster than Kiara could follow, he smacked Riptide out of Percy's hand and sent it flying into the sea. Kiara saw Percy catch his breath. She guessed no one had ever disarmed the son of Poseidon that easily.
"Hello, brother." The golden warrior's voice was rich and velvety, with an exotic accent—Middle Eastern, maybe. "Always happy to rob a fellow son of Poseidon. I am Chrysaor, the Golden Sword. As for what I want..." He turned his metal mask toward Annabeth. "Well, that's easy. I want everything you have."
Chrysaor walked back and forth, inspecting them like prized cattle. A dozen of his dolphin-man warriors stayed in a ring around them, spears leveled at Percy's chest, while dozens more ransacked the ship, banging and crashing around belowdecks. One carried a box of ambrosia up the stairs. They were running out of ambrosia really fast. Another carried an armful of ballista bolts and a crate of Greek fire.
"Careful with that!" Annabeth warned. "It'll blow up both our ships."
"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 eons."
"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 his faithful sidekick, Annabeth Chase."
"I'm nobody's sidekick," Annabeth growled. "And, Percy, his accent sounds familiar because he sounds like his mother. We killed her in New Jersey."
Percy frowned. "I'm pretty sure that accent isn't New Jersey. Who's his—? Oh."
Kiara couldn't help it. She spoke for the first time in a while. "Medusa is your mom? Dude, that sucks for you."
Judging from the sound in Chrysaor's throat, he was now snarling under the mask, too. "You are as arrogant as your brother," Chrysaor said. "But, yes, Kiara Morrigan. Poseidon was my father. Medusa was my mother. After Medusa was changed into a monster by that so-called goddess of wisdom..." The golden mask turned on Annabeth. "That would be your mother, I believe... Medusa's two children were trapped inside her, unable to be born. When the original Perseus cut off Medusa's head—"
"Two children sprang out," Annabeth remembered. "Pegasus and you."
Percy blinked. "So your brother is a winged horse. But you're also my half brother, which means all the flying horses in the world are my... You know what? Let's forget it."
Kiara had learned years ago it was better not to dwell too much on who was related to whom on the godly side of things. After she found out Nico and Hazel were her siblings, Kiara decided that that was about as far as he wanted to extend the family.
"But if you're Medusa's kid," Percy said, "why haven't I ever heard of you?"
Chrysaor sighed in exasperation. "When your brother is Pegasus, you get used to being forgotten. Oh, look, a winged horse! Does anyone care about me? No!" He raised the tip of his blade to Percy's eyes. "But don't underestimate me. My name means the Golden Sword for a reason."
"Imperial gold?" Percy guessed.
"Bah! Enchanted gold, yes. Later on, the Romans called it Imperial gold, but I was the first to ever wield such a blade. I should have been the most famous hero of all time! Since the legend-tellers decided to ignore me, I became a villain instead. I resolved to put my heritage to use. As the son of Medusa, I would inspire terror. As the son of Poseidon, I would rule the seas!"
"You became a pirate," Kiara summed up.
Chrysaor spread his arms. "The best pirate," Chrysaor said. "I've sailed these waters for centuries, waylaying any demigods foolish enough to explore the Mare Nostrum. This is my territory now. And all you have is mine."
One of the dolphin warriors dragged Coach Hedge up from below.
"Let me go, you tuna fish!" Hedge bellowed. He tried to kick the warrior, but his hoof clanged off his captor's armor. Judging from the hoof-shaped prints in the dolphin's breastplate and helmet, the coach had already made several attempts.
"Ah, a satyr," Chrysaor mused. "A little old and stringy, but Cyclopes will pay well for a morsel like him. Chain him up."
"I'm nobody's goat meat!" Hedge protested.
"Gag him as well," Chrysaor decided.
"Why you gilded little—" Hedge's insult was cut short when the dolphin put a greasy wad of canvas in his mouth. Soon the coach was trussed like a rodeo calf and dumped with the other loot—crates of food, extra weapons, even the magical ice chest from the mess hall.
"You can't do this!" Annabeth shouted.
Chrysaor's laughter reverberated inside his gold face mask. Kiara wondered if he was horribly disfigured under there, or if his gaze could petrify people the way his mother's could. "I can do anything I want," Chrysaor said. "My warriors have been trained to perfection. They are vicious, cutthroat—"
"Dolphins," Percy noted.
Chrysaor shrugged. "Yes. So? They had some bad luck a few millennia ago, kidnapped the wrong person. Some of their crew got turned completely into dolphins. Others went mad. But these... these survived as hybrid creatures. When I found them under the sea and offered them a new life, they became my loyal crew. They fear nothing!"
One of the warriors chattered at him nervously.
"Yes, yes," Chrysaor growled. "They fear one thing, but it hardly matters. He's not here."
More dolphin warriors climbed the stairs, hauling up the rest of their friends. Jason was unconscious, again. Judging from the new bruises on his face, he'd tried to fight. Hazel and Piper were bound hand and foot. Piper had a gag in her mouth, so apparently the dolphins had discovered she could charmspeak. Frank was the only one missing, though two of the dolphins had bee stings covering their faces.
Could Frank actually turn into a swarm of bees? Kiara hoped so. If he was free aboard the ship somewhere, that could be an advantage, assuming they could figure out how to communicate with him.
"Excellent!" Chrysaor gloated. He directed his warriors to dump Jason by the crossbows. Then he examined the girls like they were Christmas presents, which made Kiara grit his teeth. "The boy is no use to me," Chrysaor said. "But we have an understanding with the witch Circe. She will buy the women—either as slaves or trainees, depending on their skill. But not you, lovely Annabeth."
Annabeth recoiled. "You are not taking me anywhere."
The golden warrior tutted. "Oh, sadly, Annabeth, you will not be staying with me. I would love that. But you and your friend Percy are spoken for. A certain goddess is paying a high bounty for your capture—alive, if possible, though she didn't say you had to be unharmed."
At that moment, Piper caused the disturbance Percy needed. She wailed so loudly it could be heard through her gag. Then she fainted against the nearest guard, knocking him over. Hazel got the idea and crumpled to the deck, kicking her legs and thrashing like she was having a fit. Kiara followed their example.
Percy drew Riptide and lashed out. The blade should have gone straight through Chrysaor's neck, but the golden warrior was unbelievably fast. He dodged and parried as the dolphin warriors backed up, guarding the other captives while giving their captain room to battle. They chattered and squeaked, egging him on, and Kiara got the sinking suspicion the crew was used to this sort of entertainment. They didn't feel their leader was in any sort of danger.
Kiara could tell Percy was rusty—at least against an adversary like Chrysaor. They battled back and forth, thrusting and parrying. The golden gorgon mask was too unnerving. The warm fog, the slick deck boards, the chattering of the warriors—none of it helped. Kiara could see one of the dolphin-men holding a knife at Annabeth's throat in case she tried anything tricky. That must've made Percy really mad.
He feinted and thrust at Chrysaor's gut, but Chrysaor anticipated the move. He knocked Percy's sword out of his hand again, and once more Riptide flew into the sea. Chrysaor laughed easily. He wasn't even winded. He pressed the tip of his golden sword against Percy's sternum.
"A good try," said the pirate. "But now you'll be chained and transported to Gaea's minions. They are quite eager to spill your blood and wake the goddess."
Nothing like a total failure to generate great ideas.
As Kiara stood there, disarmed, outmatched and hands tied, with nothing to do but watch, the plan formed in her head.
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? It didn't take long for Kiara to put the pieces together: the pirates had been turned into dolphin-men millennia ago when they had kidnapped the wrong person.
Kiara knew that story. Heck, the wrong person in question had threatened to turn her into a dolphin when she was at Camp Half-Blood. 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.
Kiara glanced toward the stern and spotted Frank, in human form, peeking out from behind a ballista, waiting. The big guy claimed to be clumsy and useless, but he always seemed to be in exactly the right place when someone needed him.
Percy seemed to be thinking the same thing as Kiara.
"Fine!" he shouted, so loudly that he 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."
Percy raised his hands dramatically. "The god appears only when he wishes. But he is our leader. He runs our camp for demigods. Doesn't he, Annabeth?"
Annabeth was quick. "Yes!" She nodded enthusiastically. "Mr. D! The great Dionysus!"
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!" Percy 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, Kiara and Piper had stopped the shaking fits. They were sitting on the deck, staring at Percy, but when he 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, Percy Jackson. 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!" 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. Kiara 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!"
"Ridiculous!" Chrysaor's voice turned shrill. He didn't seem sure where to level his sword—at Percy or his own crew.
"Save yourselves!" Percy warned. "It is too late for us!" Then he gasped and pointed to the spot where Frank was hiding. "Oh, no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"
Nothing happened.
"I said," Percy repeated, "Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"
Frank stumbled out of nowhere, making a big show of grabbing his throat. "Oh, no," he said, like he was reading from a teleprompter. "I am turning into a crazy dolphin."
He began to change, his nose elongating into a snout, his skin becoming sleek and gray. He fell to the deck as a dolphin, his tail thumping against the boards.
The pirate crew disbanded in terror, chattering and clicking as they dropped their weapons, forgot the captives, ignored Chrysaor's orders, and jumped overboard. In the confusion, Annabeth moved quickly to cut the bonds on Hazel, Kiara, Piper, and Coach Hedge.
Within seconds, Chrysaor was alone and surrounded. The demigod crew had no weapons except for Annabeth's knife, Kiara's sword and Hedge's hooves, but the murderous looks on their faces evidently convinced the golden warrior he was doomed. He backed to the edge of the rail.
"This isn't over, Jackson," Chrysaor growled. "I will have my revenge—"
His words were cut short by Frank, who had changed form again. An eight-hundred-pound grizzly bear can definitely break up a conversation. He sideswiped Chrysaor and raked the golden mask off his helmet. Chrysaor screamed, instantly covering his face with his arms and tumbling into the water.
They ran to the rail. Chrysaor had disappeared.
"That was brilliant!" Annabeth kissed him, which made him feel a little better.
"It was desperate," Percy corrected. "And we need to get rid of this pirate trireme."
"Burn it?" Annabeth asked.
Percy looked at the Diet Coke in his hand. "No. I've got another idea."