Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, or H2O.

Chapter 1.

This is the fifth orphanage I've been to in three years. I was really starting to hope that things would become a bit more normal, since I'd managed to stay in the last one for almost a year, but I just can't get a break.

My life is a bit… abnormal. By abnormal I mean I have been attacked on countless occasions by mythological creatures, monsters to be exact, everyone avoids me as if I'm spreading the plague, and I am part fish.

You heard me. Well, the actual term is a half-mermaid, only half because when I am completely dry, I revert back to my human form, but it's much more simple to just refer to myself as a mermaid.

I became a mermaid on my seventh birthday, almost exactly six years ago, while I was staying at an orphanage on Amelia Island, Florida. The caretakers decided that it would be "fun" for us to go camping, us being me, them, and the few other unwanted children that they put up with constantly.

Unable to talk the caretakers out of taking me camping with them, I decided to take a look at the cliffs that were a short distance from our camp, not bothering to tell an anyone where I was going. No one noticed that I was gone, or if they had, they didn't think to alert anyone or search for me.

I found the cliffs shortly after departing from camp, it was a small distance, but far enough that if I were to yell nobody would hear me. The view from the cliffside was breathtaking. I could see the wide array of colors decorating the sky in a seemingly impossible display of beauty as the sun slowly made its descent below the horizon, illuminating the sea that both it and I overlooked. For a minute, I sat and marveled at the sunset, wondering how the sky had turned from blue to such pretty shades of orange, red, and pink. I was disappointed to see that purple was not one of the colors decorating the sky.

Soon it became dark and I began to head back towards camp before the dreaded nighttime came and claimed my vision, but as I started to retrace my steps, I fell into a hole that I had not seen before, screaming as I tumbled down the slope that it formed. Upon reaching the bottom of the slide, I took one look at the relatively large scratch that now adorned my left arm and lost it. I sat for a quarter-hour screaming about how my arm hurt and demanding someone to come and save me.

After calming down and unsuccessfully attempting to climb back up the way I came twenty-seven times, I turned and examined the cave to see if there was another way out. I could hear a faint sound coming from somewhere inside of the dark abyss, water perhaps? I stumbled deeper into the unknown, whimpering and telling myself the Boogie Monster wasn't real and that darkness couldn't hurt me, yet I still trembled uncontrollably.

Upon reaching the end of the tunnel which the cave formed, I came across a glittering pool of water, high above which was a hole in the ceiling of the cave, revealing the starry sky above. After brief internal debate, I slowly slid into the pool, crying out when the water stung my arm. I wanted to see whether or not it was a way to escape this awful and boring place, but tried to stay as far above the water as possible for fear of drowning, even though I had taken swim classes three years prior. Just as I became comfortable with the water and inhaled deeply preparing for a dive, the water around me bubbled and small specks of what appeared to be light spiraled around me, heading upwards. As I marveled at what was happening, I tried to reach for one of the pretty lights, thinking it was a firefly or a bubble. I was upset when my hand went right through it as if the light I had reached for didn't exist. I looked around and then above me, where I saw the full moon passing above the hole in the ceiling, glittering majestically. As it passed directly overhead, my whole body started tingling and I felt a sudden surge of power. Then, as suddenly as it happened, it all stopped. I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion, not understanding what made the water or the lights act that way, but quickly shook off my bewilderment, took a deep breath, and dove under the water.

I came up near a break in the cliffs, luckily not far from the camp.

So after I got back to camp and suffered through a long lecture, I snuck some s'mores into my tent after being told that I couldn't have any as a punishment, read my favorite Magic Tree House book, and fell asleep.

What, do you think after all that I'm gonna be like a yorkie, full of energy and never shutting up? A girl needs her sleep ya know?
So, after being shaken awake by the caretakers, I took my precious alone time and used it to my advantage. Living with 58 other people means that my life is always being invaded by others not minding their own privacy, but I got a tent to myself due to none of the other kids or caretakers wanting to share anything with me, and I don't blame them. I'd managed to destroy a lot of things by accident, one of the lunch room tables being the least expensive of them.

Let's just say that I had slight anger issues (still do actually).

Anyways, after getting dressed, I took a long swig of water, dribbling some down my chin as I did so. Within seconds I had drained the whole bottle. Man, it is HOT in Florida, even more so overnight it seemed!

As I reached to unzip the tent, I felt a strange tingling in my legs, much like the one I had experienced during my time in the pool, and next thing I knew I was on the ground, lying flat on my stomach. I turned over to see what I had fallen over and screamed at the top of my lungs as I looked down.

"Mira are you alright?" I heard one of the caretakers exclaim.

"Yeah, just thought that I saw a spider," I lie smoothly, keeping my eyes glued to my lower body.

"Okay, just let me know if you need anything."

I reached down and examined where my legs should have been, but instead there was a brilliant golden-orange tail, and instead of my green t-shirt, I was wearing a scaly bikini top that matched my... *gulp*.. tail.

So that's how I found out what I am. Scared me to death at first, but hey, it's probably the best, and worst now that I think about it, thing that's ever happened to me. When I dried off after sitting in the tent for a quarter hour, I turned human again. Along with the tail, I acquired quite a few powers, which you will learn about with time, along with some other mermaid mania. ;)

For now, you get to learn how crazy my life can really get.

It all started when I moved to an orphanage located in a town in the mountains somewhere around western North Carolina, Rashville or something along those lines. I was close to being kicked out of the orphanage system for good, which worried me because even though I could take care of myself and had a fair bit of money saved up, there were some awful people out there that I might not be able to fight off if they tried mugging me, mermaid or not.

I was unaware that being kicked out onto the streets should have been the least of my worries at that time.

Thanks for reading guys! :) Please review, any criticism is greatly appreciated, this is my first FanFic so I'm kinda new to all this. Not to mention I had to type half of this on my iPod, my fingers are STILL sore. Dx Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP, this was more like a mini chapter. Until then. :D OH and please note that none of the characters from H2O will be in this FanFic unless I find some random inspiration to change what I have in mind. :) Only the general idea of how she became a mermaid and what her tail looks like and etc come from H2O. Thanks again! :D -K