The Tail

Mako Island

Percy's POV

I woke up to the sunlight streaming on my face. I blinked a couple of times amd sat up. I could hear the sounds of Paul and Mom preparing breakfast in the kitchen and by the smell of it, it was pancakes and bacon. PANCAKES!
I shot up and ran toward the kitchen dodging the wooden furniture. I skidded to a stop next to the table and sat in the chair facing my parents.

"Good morning Percy!" Mom said as she put a steaming plate of blue pancakes and bacon in front of me. I immediately started devouring the pile.

"Goo murnong." I mumbled around my mouthful and Mom and Paul laughed.

"Sooo... What are you doing today?" Paul asked me also attacking his pancakes.

I swallowed my food and answered him, "Dunno. I'll probably explore the reefs. I heard there was an island near here. Maybe I'll go over there."

"Ok, Perce. Remember, tomorrow Paul's niece and her friends are coming over for lunch!"  I nodded finishing up my food and walked back to my room. After taking a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I was ready to go. I walked back out in my blue
t-shirt snd shorts.

"Bye Mom! Bye Paul!"

I proceeded to walk outside. The beach house we were staying in was small, with only two bedrooms and a kitchen/dining area. It was only a 5 minutes walk away from the water. I strolled contededly toward the waves admiring the beauty of Australia. I dimly registered walking past 4 girls, 3 blonde and one dark haired girl. They stared at me and though I didn't know it, they started following me.

I halted at the sea shore and looked up and down the beach. Good. There was no one here. I waded into the waves with my shoes on. The salt water immediately made me stronger and more aware. I breathed in the salty sea air and sighed happily. Everything was perfect. Everything except the fact that Annabeth wasn't here. Mom and Paul had wanted to spend more time alone with me and I couldn’t blame them. I had dissappeared for more than 8 months.

I dove straight into the water not knowing that there were four very peculiar girls stalking me at that very moment....

Cleo's POV
We were walking along the beach as we normally did every morning when we noticed a very handsome teen. He had sea blown midnight black hair and beautiful sea green eyes that reflected the water perfectly. He was very tanned and had an obvious six-pack. He looked around 17 or 18. In other words, he was a mermaid's perfect man. I sighed along with Rikki, Emma, and Bella. I don't know about them, but I could faintly sense a slight sea aura emitting from him and I felt drawn to him. We looked quickly at each other.
"D-did you guys feel that?" I whispered. They nodded.

"Let's follow him. Maybe... You know. He might be one. It's 10:30 right now and we don't have anywhere else to go." Rikki whispered back and we nodded in agreement. We followed him from behind staying well back as not to be seen. We followed him to the water's edge and hid behind a rock staying away from the waves. We peered over the edge.

The teen was standing in the waves with his hands in his pockets. He seemed deep in thought as he looked around the beach. He suddenly dived forward into the waves and we gasped.

"Quick! Into the water!" Emma cried and leaped in. We jumped in quickly and our legs fused into mermaid tails. We swam deeper and gazed around to find a clue of where he had gone. Bella pointed to a watery streak leading away into the depths. I started swimming, slowly going faster and faster following the jet of water leading away. I slowed when I saw a silhouette of the boy in front of us. I was dissapointed to find that he had no tail. Rikki elbowed us and pointed. I saw what she was looking at and gaped. The boy was breathing! As in breathing in the water!! Even we couldn't do that! I glanced towards my friends to see that they mirrored my shocked expression.