FIFTEEN — Theo.

Theo woke a few hours later—she thought it was a few hours, at least; it was still dark out—to Percy knocking on her doorframe, backlit by the hallway lanterns and looking almost godly. His hair was brushed and he wasn't in his pajamas, so he must have been up and ready to take over Jason's position guarding the main deck from attacks.

Theo rubbed her eyes. "Everything okay, babe?"

He stood there for a long moment, and Theo could hear his mind locked in an internal debate, no doubt fighting whether or not to let Theo keep sleeping. She hoped he landed on the right decision.

Then he lowered his head slightly, as if ashamed to be asking.

"Will you come watch with me?"

Theo smiled. How could she ever say no to him?

A few minutes later, they were perched together at the forward rail, armed and ready to fend off any assailants. It was probably about four in the morning, and the weather outside was absolutely miserable. Fog hung thickly in the air, so dense Theo couldn't see Festus at the end of the prow, and warm drizzle tickled her skin like a thousand little pinpricks. The swells they sailed were twenty feet high. Theo was plenty glad she'd long ago gotten over her little seasickness spout (though she suspected, privately, that, due to its suddenness and lack of return, Percy had had a hand in the nausea somehow; they were in a fight at the time and it was just the type of thing he would do to get back at her).

Tiredly, Percy filled Theo in on the dream he'd awoken from. Those twin giants—the ones that were beginning to become main characters in the Great Prophecy, apparently—had been there, talking to their boss—a presence Percy could feel but not see, like a cold chill down his back. They were preparing for her, for Theo, to come; the giants and their cold-blooded employer. They had killed every child of Apollo trying to follow his Promise; Theo was next.

When he finished talking, Percy watched Theo carefully. He put his hand on hers.

"You have to promise me something," she said at last, staring out at the open sea. "Don't tell the others about this."

"Don't what? Theo—"

"What you saw," she said evenly, still not meeting his eyes, "was bad. It has you all freaked out. If you tell the others, they'll only worry about me, and it'll make it harder for me to go off on my own. I need them to think I have it under control."

"Theo, you can't be serious," he tried desperately, turning towards her. "That place, with the crumbling floor, it falls straight into Tartarus—"

"I have to do this alone, Percy."

Her voice shook, though, right at the end when she said his name, and that was enough for him to know that she was nowhere near as assured as she had been trying to act. She looked down, swallowing the dryness in her throat that felt suspiciously like tears.

"You know what's down there," he guessed quietly, turning out to face the water, too. "What you have to fight. Does it have to do with snakes?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "Yes."

Percy ran a hand down his face, exhaling sharply; the scoff wavered. "Then how can you even...?"

They stood in silence for a long moment, just staring out through the fog and across the ancient seas. Theo didn't want to say anything; she knew Percy was frustrated. She didn't blame him.

"I don't know," he said, finally, "how you expect me to let you go now, knowing you're heading into something even more dangerous. I—I just got you back, Theo."

She lowered her eyes, feeling much smaller than herself. He was starting to understand how she felt during the months he had been gone, when she thought he had forgotten all about her.

"We can make it a game," she suggested meekly, if only to have something to say. "Every time we have to say bye, the last person to say it wins."

That drew a small smile from him, however sad it looked. "Winner gets a kiss, I think it's only fair."

Theo laughed hollowly, and he looked back to her, and she finally met his eyes. She twisted her lips. "I'm gonna miss you, Aquaman. But it won't be long that we're apart."

He shook his head, leaning forward against the railing, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.

"Not long at all," he agreed quietly, and they didn't say much else for a long moment.

"We're not far from the Italian coast," Percy said finally, and Theo felt him tense under her cheek as his oceanic senses kicked in. "Maybe a hundred nautical miles to the mouth of the Tiber, and then from there..."

Theo chose to ignore the last bit of his sentence. "So we'll be in Rome by daybreak. Good. That's—"

"Stop." Percy froze, and Theo pulled away from him; his skin was pale, though she didn't think it was the fog casting its pallor on him. "We have to stop."

Theo searched his face. "What?"

"Leo, stop!" he yelled—too late.

The other boat appeared out of the fog and rammed them head-on. In that split second, Theo registered random details: another trireme; black sails painted with a gorgon's head; hulking warriors, not quite human, crowded at the front of the boat in Greek armor, swords and spears ready; and a bronze ram at water level, slamming against the hull of the Argo II.

Theo and Percy were almost thrown overboard.

Festus blew fire, sending a dozen very surprised warriors screaming and diving into the sea, but more swarmed aboard the Argo II. Grappling lines wrapped around the rails and the mast, digging iron claws into the hull's planks.

By the time Theo had recovered her wits, the enemy was everywhere. She couldn't see well through the fog and the dark, but the invaders seemed to be humanlike dolphins, or dolphinlike humans. 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 Theo of clown shoes.

Somewhere, the alarm bell was ringing. Theo and Percy stood back to back, as they'd done many times before, their weapons drawn. Every time one of the dolphin people attacked, Theo did her best to blind them, but there were just so many of them and she didn't want to accidentally obscure one of her friends' vision.

"Bad news," Theo muttered to Percy, between his grunts of sword swinging. "Think we might be outnumbered here, Aquaman—"

"You think?" said Percy, as about twelve of the dolphin soldiers surrounded them, clicking their idiotic dolphin tongues and teeth in their direction.

The good news was that they didn't seem immediately interested in killing; they dragged Leo, Jason, Mayfair, Hedge, and Hazel out to the deck, all half-awake and looking incredibly off-guard. Jason was unconscious, bruised up all over his face. Mayfair had a gag in her mouth, so Theo guessed she'd already tried to get some use out of her iron tongue. Frank was missing, but two of the dolphin warriors had a billion little bee stings all over their faces.

The dolphin warriors parted their little circle around Percy and Theo to let someone through. He was, presumably, fully human; decked out in full Green combat armor. Everything he wore was gold. Even his sword, a Greek blade like Percy's Riptide, was gold instead of bronze.

Percy turned so he and Theo were shoulder-to-shoulder. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want?"

The golden warrior chuckled. With a flick of his blade, faster than Percy could follow, he smacked Riptide out of Percy's hand and sent it flying into the sea. Percy's eyes followed it. Theo felt all the air leave her lungs.

"Always happy to rob a fellow son of Poseidon," the warrior said happily. His accent was thick. "I am Chrysaor, the Golden Sword. As for what I want..." He turned his helm onto Theo. "Well, that's easy. I want everything you have."

"Specificity is key," Theo said, still clutching her dagger despite the horrible feeling of being outnumbered so easily. "You want my period cramps? You can have them."

But Chrysaor's men purveyed the ship, ransacking everything they had, banging and crashing around belowdecks. One carried a box of ambrosia up the stairs. Another carried an armful of ballista bolts and a crate of Greek fire. Theo's stomach clenched with unease; one misstep, one tiny little shake of that box and both ships would blow up.

"Your dad is Poseidon," Percy repeated curiously, eyeing the golden warrior in a confidence that made it look like he had the high ground. "And that accent—it's familiar. Have we met before?"

"His accent is familiar 'cause we killed his mom back in Jersey," Theo suggested, mouth filled with a bitter taste at the memory. She tipped her head to the side. "Chryasor, son of Poseidon and Medusa."

"Medusa is your mom?" Percy laughed. "Dude, sucks for you."

Chrysaor's eyes flashed beneath his helm and he pointed the tip of his golden sword beneath Percy's chin. "Yes, my mother is Medusa. But does anyone ever remember me? No, never. When your brother is Pegasus, you get used to being forgotten. But you'd do well to not underestimate me—my father is still Poseidon, and I vowed to rule the seas with villainy and—"

"Piracy?" Percy said, raising his eyebrows.

Chrysaor spread his arms, which Theo was fine with, because it took the end of his sword away from her boyfriend's neck.

"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."

"You can't do this," said Theo angrily, clenching her fists. She hated the thought of her crew being disarmed so easily—by a group of half-aquatic men, much less. She scowled at Chrysaor's crew. "You take your dolphins, Chrysaor, and get off our ship, or I swear to—"

"You swear to what god?" mocked Chrysaor. "It would be plenty difficult right now to find one to listen to your prayers, I think, child of Apollo. And as for my men—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 the ones that survived... I took them and made them into warriors! They fear nothing."

One of his soldiers chattered at him nervously. Theo cocked an eyebrow.

"Nothing?" she said, feeling rather ballsy now. After all, she had nothing to lose, because she was pretty sure she was on the cusp of defeat already. It couldn't get much worse than that. "Your men fear nothing, Chrysaor? I'd beg to differ."

For the first time, the golden warrior seemed put off. He glanced around to his men. "Alright. They fear one thing. But no matter—he is not here right now."

Beside her, Percy met Theo's eyes. She tried to send him brainwaves about the only myth Chrysaor's men were known for—Dionysus Dionysus Dionysus. He seemed to pick up what she was putting down, and Theo thanked whatever god handled teamwork, because she and Percy were perfect at it.

"So you think!" Percy announced, so loudly he got everyone's attention. "But I don't think our captain will appreciate your thieving."

Chrysaor turned his golden mask back to Percy and Theo, having been eyeing Mayfair and Hazel like two Christmas presents. He looked Percy up and down. "Captain? There is no captain on this ship. My men have searched the whole thing."

Percy raised his hands dramatically—Theo was suddenly very grateful for the one-semester theatrics class he had taken in the fourth grade. "The god appears only when he wishes. But he is our leader. He runs our camp for demigods. Er, doesn't he, Theo?"

She nodded quickly, solidifying his wariness. "Yes, that's right, Percy. Mr. D! The great Dionysus!"

A ripple of uneasiness passed through the dolphin-men. One dropped his sword. Theo nearly huffed a sigh of relief for having guessed their story correctly—they kidnapped Dionysus, and she only remembered that because, hell, he'd threatened to turn her into a dolphin, too.

Theo glanced at the stern as Percy went on about their great captain, the god of madness and wine, and she saw a sliver of a purple shirt slip behind a ballista. She almost smiled. Frank always claimed he was clumsy and useless, but he always seemed, to Theo, to be in just the right places at just the right times.

It was a crazy idea, but Chrysaor didn't seem convinced at all by any of Percy's ramblings, so Theo threw out her hands.

"Wait," she said, eyes wide. "He is here! And he is not pleased with you, Chrysaor, for interrupting our voyage."

"That's ridiculous," said the golden warrior, though his crew seemed more skeptical. "Your camp director is not here. He was recalled to Olympus."

"So you admit Dionysus is our director," said Percy, pointing at Chrysaor sort of like a mad man. "You see? We are doomed! If you don't believe me, let's check the ice chest!"

Every head on the ship—human and dolphin alike—followed Percy as he stalked over to the magical cooler. He flipped the lid open and dug around in the ice for a moment, then brandished in the air a crisp can of Diet Coke.

"Behold!" Theo said, gesturing to the silver can as Percy held it high. "The god's chosen beverage!"

Percy nodded, holding the drink out to the dolphin-men like it was a can of bug repellant. "Tremble before the horror of Diet Coke!"

"The god will take your ship," said Theo, nodding as gravely as she could manage, given the incredibly unserious circumstances. "He will finish your transformation into dolphins and make you insane. Save yourselves!"

"Ridiculous!" said Chrysaor, in a shrill voice. He didn't seem to know where to aim his sword—at the demigods or at his own crew.

"Oh no," said Percy suddenly, pointing in the direction of Frank's hiding spot. "Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"

Nothing happened.

"I said," Percy repeated, "Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"

From behind the rigging, Theo heard a little "Oh!", and Frank stumbled out, clutching his throat, making a big show. "Help me, I am turning into a crazy dolphin."

As a daughter of the god of theatrics, a little bit of Theo died inside at his soulless performance.

But he got the job done; in a matter of seconds, Frank transformed into a full-blown dolphin, hitting the deck with a slap. He flopped his tail against the floor.

That got the pirate crew, once and for all. They went running. All of them dumped the captives and stolen goods back onto the deck and made mad dashes back for their own ship, ignoring Chrysaor's orders. In the confusion, Theo moved quickly to cut all of the bonds holding her friends.

"This isn't over," Chrysaor insisted, backing to the edge of the ship uncertainly. "I will—"

His vow was cut short by Frank, who had changed forms again. An eight-hundred pound grizzly bear can definitely break up a conversation. Chrysaor was pushed overboard and fell to the ocean, disappearing beneath the waves.

"Well, that was brilliant," said Hazel, after a long silence of everyone staring over the rails toward the water. "Whose idea was it?"

"Hers," said Percy, at the same time Theo said "His." They shared a glance.

"It was genius either way," said Leo, smiling slightly. "I mean, ha! Talk about scaredy-cats. Or scaredy-dolphins."

"So, uh," said Frank, scratching the back of his head, having wandered back over to the rest of them in his usual demigod form. "What do we do with their ship?"

"Take it," suggested Mayfair from Jason's side, trying to help him wake back up. "They spent plenty of time stealing from demigods. Don't they owe us?"

But Percy met Theo's eyes, and she shook her head, understanding his brainwaves. "We need to give Dionysus a tribute. As much as he hates us, we wouldn't have gotten out of this without him."

So they spent the rest of the night shaking up cans of Diet Coke and dousing the trireme, sending it off deep into the ocean, Percy leading them in a prayer of thanks to Mr. D—trying his best not to gag getting the words out.

Soon after that, when the sun was coming up and Leo took the ship to the air for the rest of the trip, nobody said anything when Percy and Theo headed off to get some sleep in the same cabin. Not even Hedge could have stopped them.

They all knew better than to mess with a sleep-deprived Theo.

Via Speekz

Steady increase in Theo povs because Duh This Is Her Book