NMG: Almost done! Just one more chapter and the epilogue.

Nico Muse: Wow, shortest story yet!

NMG: I KNOW! Isn't it amazing! Plus it's my first canon-only story! It's amazing! I feel like I've accomplished something great.

Nico Muse: Well anyway, she doesn't own PJO, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, ya, and review!

NMG: You don't do it right, you're supposed to say REVIEW! It has to be big enough for them to see the sign! Duh!

Nico Muse: Whatever.


A couple hours and one trip to the seafood market later, Thalia and Nico got Percy back in his room in his apartment while he was tearing can after can of fish. While he was doing that, Thalia and Nico were pondering Percy's condition.

"It's like he's possessed," Nico said.

"What do we do?" Thalia asked.

"We need to contact Chiron, he can help. Wait, are those gills on his neck?"

Thalia tipped Percy's head back a little and looked at his neck and saw three lines on both sides of his neck and brushed her fingers over it. Percy giggled at it.

"That tickles," he said.

"IM Chiron in the next fifteen seconds or I'm going to stuff you in a meat-flavored sack and throw you to the wolves," Thalia said in worry.

Nico raced around the room searching for drachmas and when he finally found some he also found a prism to make a rainbow out of.

"Oh, goddess Iris of the rainbow, please accept this offering and could you connect us with two people? It's kind of important," Nico said. He threw in two drachmas in and said, "Chiron, Camp Half-Blood, Long Island, New York and Annabeth Chase, San Francisco, California."

Two shimmering images appeared, one of a familiar blonde and another of the centaur.

"Nico, what did you contact me for?" Chiron asked. "And at the same time Annabeth contacted me."

"It's Percy, sir. He's been acting really weird lately."

"That's putting it bluntly," Thalia said from behind him.

"We need your help," Nico continued.

"Well, what's wrong with Percy?" Chiron asked. Thalia stepped forward.

"We have no idea. He's been like this since yesterday morning, at least that's what Grover said. He's been eating nothing but fish and he spends more time in the water than he does on dry land. Not to mention he's been growing gills on his neck," Thalia said. They didn't notice Percy reach for a flower pot until he spoke.

"I'm thirsty," he said.

"I'll go get you a drink," Thalia said.

But before she could heave he pulled out the flowers and began chugging down the water, splashing it all over his face and his bed.

"Percy! Don't!" Nico and Thalia said in unison. They looked and saw that he was completely soaked, unlike usual where he could just stay dry not to mention he grew scales on his arms when he became wet.

"Oh no, those white scales that's what Daedalus has!" Annabeth cried.

"Who?" Chiron asked.

"My new fish, he's been acting the exact same way Percy has been! He's hungry all the time and he's been acting really strangely too!"

"I don't get it, why would Percy be acting the same as your sick fish?" Nico asked. That's when Percy looked at the cut on his finger and sucked on it.

"The other night, the night before we left Percy gave me a piece of coral to decorate Daedalus' tank and he said he cut his finger when he was swimming!" Annabeth realized.

"Oh dear," Chiron said. "I'm afraid he's come down with a case of Pisces Febris."

This didn't have the effect Chiron was expecting because Thalia and Nico, confused, said, "Huh?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes and said, "Fish fever."

"Ooooooh!" the duo said in response.

"Yes, it's quite deadly, though it takes time. It normally affects only fish, but since Percy is a son of Poseidon it might have had a similar affect on him," Chiron said, ignoring Thalia and Nico's confusion.

"Well, what can we do about it?" Nico asked.

"There is only one cure and it's located in the San Francisco bay area, though I'm not sure where."

"Well, I'm already here in San Francisco for holiday, I'll spend the time looking for a cure and when I find it, I'll send it over," Annabeth said. "But since it affects fish as well, my new fish Daedalus has been affected as well, do you think I can use the cure on him as well?"

"Yes of course, but you must hurry. The infection will spread and if we don't hurry, Percy could die within the next twenty four hours!"

"Twenty four hours?" Thalia and Nico cried in unison.

"Oh no!" Thalia said. Chiron turned to Annabeth's IM.

"Annabeth, if you want to help your fish, I'd start by putting him in fresh water and then when you're done, go search for the cure. It's a very rare flower known only as the Surrexit Maris," Chiron said.

"The Rose of the Sea. Don't worry, I'm on it," Annabeth said. With that, both IM's ended.

In San Francisco, Annabeth filled up a bowl of fresh water and did what she was supposed to do like she was cleaning the tank. When the twenty minutes were up, she put Daedalus in the bowl, took the coral out, put it in a plastic bag, and empted out the tank. Then she called out to her parents saying she'll be going out for a while and caught a cab to the San Francisco bay area.

Once she was there, she began searching.

Meanwhile in Manhattan, Thalia was busy helping Sally cook the dinner (as in distracting her from going up to Percy's room) so that Nico could use Sally's hair dryer to try and dry off Percy.

"Hold still, will you?" Nico said.

"More fish!" Percy said.

"Again with the fish! Forget about the fish!" Nico replied, irritated. This caused Percy to pout. A very annoyed Nico stopped the dryer. "Fine, you win, I'll go get some more fish."

Percy smiled in response. When Nico was gone, Percy looked at his scales and then at the open window. An open window . . . with a fire escape . . . Percy smirked evilly and got out of his bed.

Nico went down to the kitchen and began looking for more fish. He saw Thalia cooking something and gave her a look telling her that they were out of fish and needed more. She nodded and snuck some of the anchovies and salmon they were cooking on a plate and gave it to Nico.

Unfortunately, Sally took notice of this.

"Why do you keep taking fish to Percy's bedroom?" she asked. Thalia and Nico looked at each other.

"Uh . . . because . . . Percy wants fish," Nico said. Though it sounded more like a question than an answer. Sally raised an eyebrow at the statement.

"He's going through a phase in his life where he . . . craves fish," Thalia continued, trying to fix up Nico's mistake. Sally frowned, showing she didn't believe them, but dropped the subject.

Nico gave an internal sigh and went back to Percy's room. But when he opened the door, Percy was gone! Nico almost dropped the plate and put it on his bed which was littered with cans of empty fish. He ran back to the kitchen and tapped on Thalia's shoulder.

"Thalia, we have a situation, can you come here?" Nico asked through gritted teeth.

"Uh, sure," she said. She turned back to Sally. "I'll be right back."

Without getting an answer, Thalia walked with Nico to the hall hoping that Sally couldn't hear them.

"He's gone," Nico whispered.

"What? I thought you were keeping an eye on him!" Thalia whisper/yelled.

"I know, but he must have run off when I came down to get more fish."

"Did you remember to lock the window?"

No response. Thalia face-palmed and then whacked Nico upside the head.

"You gotta go after him," she said.

"Me? Why me?" Nico asked.

"Because I'm too busy making sure Mrs. Jackson doesn't find out Percy's gone!"

"Fine! I'll go! Jeez."

Back in San Francisco, Annabeth was searching all over for the flower and went up and down the whole beach looking for it, but nothing. She decided to take off her shoes, drop her stuff down (hoping no one steals it) and dived under the water. Since its name was the Rose of the Sea, she figured it might be underwater. She swam through the water until she found a faint red glow. She went back up to get a huge breath of air and dove back in.

She swam to the glow and saw it: the Rose of the Sea. It was a bright red color with a blue tint at the edges. It was very beautiful. She swam to it and plucked the flower. She then rose back up to the surface and swam back to shore. Not caring that she was soaking wet, Annabeth dried herself off as best as she could and got a cab back to her house.

She IM'd Chiron when she was inside, ignoring her parents' questions on why she was soaking wet.

"Chiron, I got the flower, how do I use it?" she asked.

"Use it by juicing the liquid out. Once it's out administer it to your fish and Percy. It should take effect immediately," Chiron said.

"Thanks!" she said. She wiped a hand through the IM and went downstairs to the kitchen.

She put the flower through the juicer and juiced it. A few minutes later it was done and it was a perfect liquid. Annabeth took the bowl and filled an eyedropper with it. She ran back to her room, filled the tank again after cleaning it for half an hour, and waited another twenty minutes for the disinfectant to set, and then used the cure on Daedalus.

Within another minute of waiting, Daedalus was back to his golden scales and was perfectly fine. Annabeth sighed in relief and put him back in the tank.

She then went back downstairs and poured the rest of the liquid in a spray canister. She used the water from the sink to IM Thalia. What she saw was unexpected. Thalia was cooking with Sally.

"Thalia!" Annabeth called. Thalia turned and saw Annabeth.

"You've got it then?" Thalia asked.

"Yeah, I'm gonna send it to you by IM, hang on." Annabeth took a couple extra drachmas she had, tossed them in the rainbow, and then tossed the cure through. Thalia caught it and waved it at Annabeth.

"Thanks a million! You're a life-saver! Literally!" Thalia said.

"Thalia, who are you talking to?" Sally asked.

"Gotta go, talk to you later, bye!"

Back in Manhattan, Nico was searching everywhere for Percy. He even dove into the water to search, but he didn't find anything. He then saw a little girl walking with her mother.

"But mom, I wanna see the fish boy again!" she whined.

"Hannah, I'm sure that if they had someone dress up as a merman they'd advertise it, let's go," the mother replied.

"He wasn't a merman, he didn't have a tail!" Hannah replied. While her mother ignored her and kept walking, Hannah stood there, pouting.

Nico stayed where he was, watching the little girl. That "fish boy" must have been Percy, so he was hoping she might see him again. Hannah turned her head and saw something ripple in the water. She walked over to the edge of the tank/lake and walked slowly.

"Fish boy? Mister?" she called. Another ripple in the water, though this time with a shadow in it.

Hannah walked over to the water and kneeled at the edge, hoping to see the "fish boy." She sat there waiting and another ripple in the water as a response. She reached out to the water, expecting a gentle hand. But after another minute of waiting, the little girl got impatient and began getting up. Suddenly, a hand with silver scales and now black claws reached out of the water and grasped onto Hannah's leg.

The little girl screamed as the hand let go of her as she ran off to find her mother. Nico's eyes widened at how fast the illness was progressing. Nico ran to the water, yet nothing was there. But a ripple remained showing that something WAS there. He walked off, knowing that it was feeding time and that Percy was probably off to find more food.

But just as he left in one direction, Percy was walking in the other, looking at a brochure of the marine park. He then realized what time it was and began walking a new direction, abandoning the brochure on the ground.


Nico Muse: Wow, this feels like something from a horror movie. I like it!

NMG: I thought you would. So the story's almost done, I hope you guys have liked it with all of this going on.

Nico Muse: You know, you didn't even torture me that badly! Thanks for that, maybe you're not so bad after all.

NMG: Aww *holds up button* but I am *hits a button*

Nico Muse: *gets hung up by his feet and zapped with electricity and is slapped around and tickled*

NMG: REVIEW!