Page 176 of A Touch of Chaos

Dionysus remained silent, assessing the crew. There were about fifteen on the deck, and there would be even more below deck. They carried a variety of weapons but mostlyguns. The bullets could not wound him—unless of course they had somehow gotten their hands on Hydra venom.

He shuddered at the thought of feeling that kind of pain again.

When Dionysus looked to his left, he noticed that he was not alone. Another prisoner sat beside him, similarly restrained, though her mouth was gagged.

He knew who she was immediately, though he had never actually seen her before. Her beauty was enough to speak for itself.

Medusa.

“You should thank us,” said another pirate. “She bites.”

“Is that why she has a black eye?” Dionysus asked.

“Bitch deserved it,” said one.

“I suppose that depends on why she decided to bite you,” said Dionysus. “And given that she has been kidnapped, I imagine she had reason.”

The pirate offered a humorless chuckle.

“You seem to know a lot, prince. Did you intend to be a hero? Because if so, I will warn you, it won’t end well for you.”

“Bold of you to think you can fight me.”

“Well, you are the one in chains.”

There was a beat of silence, and then one of the pirates nodded toward him.

“The man is a god.”

A few of the men laughed. “What kind of god gets captured so easily?”

The kind that listened to their oracle.

Dionysus had not decided if he regretted that decision yet.

In truth, he could free himself from these bindings easily, but he had to think about Medusa before he made a move to escape. One of the challenges was that they were in the middle of the ocean. If they were going to run, he’d prefer to be within view of land.

“When we found him, he wore Hermes’s sandals,” the pirate explained. “What kind of mortal wears Hermes’s sandals?”

“A favored one,” said the pirate. He turned to look at Dionysus. “Are you favored, prince?”

“If I was favored, I would not be here,” said Dionysus.

“See, Leo? Even the prince agrees.”

Again, Dionysus glanced at Medusa. He had expected to see a thin and frail woman, someone whose traumas would make her meek and afraid, but instead she looked fierce and determined. He got the impression that if he had not arrived, she would have escaped on her own.

Dionysus waited until the pirates seemed distracted before turning to whisper to Medusa.

“Can you swim?” Dionysus asked.

She stared at him, her strange eyes assessing. They were like yellow starbursts—both beautiful and unnerving. She did not trust him, but he did not blame her.

Finally, she nodded.

“Good,” he said.

He was quiet after that, waiting. He listened to the pirates’ conversations and learned that they were crossing into the Aegean. Dionysus felt a little relief at that news, though he wondered why, and if they were heading to New Athens specifically to trade Medusa to Theseus. While it would be nice to have the pirates take him right to the shores of his home, facing him and his demigods would not.

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