I'm a Mermaid (a PJO / H2O crossover) - Complete

Chapter 16

Percy's POV

"Percy, why didn't you tell me? After I told you? Do you really not trust me that much?" Cleo asks, sounding really hurt.

"It was only the other night that I turned. I wanted to share something with you, to have something in common, so that we wouldn't be keeping secrets from each other for long. I know it was stupid, but at least we can only get wet at will, right?" I say. Now I'm a merman, I can just use my son of Poseidon powers, and they'll just think it's because of the tail.

"Um, no? How can you get wet at will?" Emma says, very confused.

"Well, this morning, I knew I had a tail and I was in the shower, and I was thinking, 'If only I could stay dry.'. When I looked down, I was completely dry. Can you guys not do that too?"

"What powers do you have Percy?" Bella asks.

"Well," I say, thinking about the powers Cleo, Amma, Rikki, and Bella have, "I'm not really sure. I know that I can swim fast and stay dry, but that's about it. Oh, and I can spe-" I think about what I told Will, "Wait, never mind. That's all I know." I say, glad I didn't make a huge mistake, telling different people different stories.

Cleo's POV

I can't believe he's a merman! But, I don't believe that he only turned the other day- when we saw him with Will, he was completely dry, and he spoke underwater. So, he's probably lying to us again, but at least we now know his secret, even though we don't know everything. It means he's starting to trust us more, so that's always good.

We each show him our powers and see if he can do them, and to our surprise, he has every single one! How is that possible? Even Charlotte didn't have extra powers! This means he must have been turned somewhere else that gave him the other powers. I wonder why he didn't tell us he could speak and breathe underwater, he's one of us now, we know what he is.

Wait! I have to talk to him about Dr Denman! And I forgot to ask about why half of his DNA is missing. "Emma, Bella? Please could I have a moment alone with Percy?" I ask.

"Sure. We'll be back at our houses. See you tomorrow!" Bella says, and she and Emma leave us alone.

"Cleo, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you until now. If I had the confidence, I would have, believe me-"

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Then what did you want to say?" He asks me.

"When I told you about me being a mermaid, I didn't tell you everything about it. We've faced some pretty tough problems over these past years, and now you're becoming part of that world." I proceed to tell him about Dr Denman, Charlotte, Zane, and the Tenticle. He is about to speak, but I carry on talking. "But that's not all, Dr Denman is back on Mako. She was in the cafe earlier today."

"Why would she come back? She thinks you don't have tails anymore." Percy says, confused.

"She didn't come back for us, she came for you. So now I have a question for you that Dr Denman will soon enough find our about if you're not careful."

He gulps, and asks, "What?"

"Why do you only have half of your DNA? That's impossible, yet Dr Denman seemed to find that out about you."

"Oh, um..." He stalls for a while, silent and trying to come up with an excuse. I knew this wasn't his only secret, there's more to it. He is much more than just a merman. I turn to look him durectly in the eye, but he disappears out of the pool, turning into water vapour and diffusing into the air.

"Percy?" I shout, "Percy!" He's gone. How? That isn't an average mermaid power. He becomes more mysterious the more (well less) I find out about him.

Percy's POV

That went well! 

Obviously it didn't. I panicked and vapour travelled out of there, which probably wasn't the best decision to make, but it was all I could think of doing in the spur of the moment. How can you explain to someone why half your DNA is missing, without mentioning the Gods? Exactly, I couldn't have come up with an excuse to tell her.  I know I'll have to tell her soon, but I don't want the monsters coming over here. I don't want to put her, or anyone on Mako, in harm's way. I know I seem pretty selfish, but this isn't for me. If I could tell them without putting them in danger, trust me, I would.

When Cleo told me about Dr Denman, I was kind of scared at first. I know I've faced monsters and even Titans, but the human nature is much worse then all of them. Especially a marine biologist who would experiment on me, on Annabeth, on Cleo, Grover, Jason, on everyone, if she were to find out. I don't want her to know that I know about her history, so I have to keep that a secret.

Gods, this really is turning into Pretty Little Liars, isn't it? More and more secrets to keep. Once the Dr Denman thing blows over, I'll tell mom and Annabeth about me being a merman. I'll tell camp too, but not about the girls. I couldn't just expose their secret to everyone like that. 

I'm just in the water around Mako island at the moment, willing myself dry. I'm glad I still have my original powers, if I didn't then I would definately regret becoming a merman. I talk to the fish for a while, and race with the sharks. I let them win most of the time- they can get pretty grumpy, but otherwise they're great fun to be around with.

I say goodbye to the marine life (is that what they're called?), vapour travel to the beach, and walk back to Cleo's house. I need the excersise- I haven't had much time to train lately, with everything that's happened. 

Outside of the cafe, I see an ad for an assistant for the Marine Biologist, Dr Denman. This is probably to get me to go there so she can find out more about me- I'm not buying it. I mean, of course I'm going to try out for it- mom would think it weird if I passed up a job like this, and it would lead Dr Denman on to thinking I don't know who she is. It could either go really wrong, or go perfectly. There probably won't be an in-between. The interviews are in a week ( on next Monday). I'll be ready by then, Dr. Just you wait.