Author: hello! This is the other part to the chapter before this one. It is much shorter than the past few only because I was splitting these chapters up. Hopefully this works!

Also, to the Guest requesting I don't discontinue this story: I do not plan to discontinue this. This story I have plotted out fairly well and I consider it shorter than most of my other stories. The end is in sight for me. I may be slow getting there, but I would be pretty disappointed with myself if I discontinued this one.

Anyway, enjoy!

By the time Ash was pulling the boat onto the sands of Mako Island, Emma was standing there waiting patiently for him.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Ash asked over his shoulder as he started to tie down the small boat. Emma grinned and folded her arms, this time out of smugness.

"Perks of being a mermaid," Emma answered. "All part of the powers that come with it."

"Powers? Plural? So do you have more than one?" Ash asked as he jogged to her side. Emma giggled and Ash slipped his palm into Emma's, intertwining fingers. Emma gave his hand a squeeze before tugging him to the direction of the jungle.

"I'll tell you all about it. C'mon, let's go for a walk." Emma gave his hand a squeeze before tugging him to the direction of the jungle.

"Can I ask why we came here? Were you looking for a really private place to talk to me or something?"

"This is where it started," Emma replied. "I came here with Cleo and Rikki. We were stranded, but I had my phone. So we tried to get to higher ground so I could get a signal to get help."

The couple hiked up Mako Island as Emma explained her story to Ash. He listened well and asked a few questions, which Emma was surprisingly eager to answer. She told Ash how she became a mermaid, how Lewis got involved, how Zane knew being Rikki's boyfriend (but left out the part about how he discovered their secret), and how because she transformed by the full moon, it has strange effects on the mermaids. They didn't have a destination in mind-Emma wasn't going to take him to the moon pool just yet and wanted to enjoy the walk with him in the peace and quiet.

Just as Emma finished her story, Ash realized that there wasn't peace and quiet. He frowned and looked around.

"What's wrong, Ash?"

"Listen," he commanded in a low tone. Emma paused and suddenly heard it among the sounds of the birds chirping and leaves rustling in the wind-laughter. Her eyes widened and darted around the scenery for any signs of people. "Somebody's here-could it be Cleo or Rikki?"

Emma shook her head and let out an inaudible, frustrated sigh. "No, it couldn't be. We're looking at some research done on Mako that could explain what's happened to us. And it sounds like a man's voice. I thought Lewis would be with Charlotte all day today, and Zane doesn't have any reason to be here without Rikki."

"Maybe we should go. I don't have a good feeling about this, Em," Ash confessed. Emma nodded.

"Neither do I. Let's get out of here. We'll meet up at the JuiceNet, okay?" Ash nodded and the couple moved quickly in the opposite direction of the laughter.

However, despite attempting to go in the opposite direction, they could still distinctly hear the people. The people must be behind them and moving in the same direction, only decreasing the distance between them. Emma looked over her shoulder and saw no one, but it didn't ease her nerves.

They finally reached the beach. Emma looked at Ash and he squeezed her hand, earning a half-smile from her.

"I'll see you at the JuiceNet soon," Ash promised. Emma pecked his cheek and then walked briskly into the shore before taking a great dive into it. Ash went to untie his boat but then stopped himself. He scanned the beach for any activity, but it was just him and his boat.

"Ha! Like you could ever catch me, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth taunted.

"Wanna bet on it, Wise Girl?" Percy called after her. Annabeth's reply was a loud laugh. She wove around trees and ducked under low branches that would eventually smack Percy in the face. Annabeth had just glanced over her shoulder at that moment and cackled at Percy's infuriated expression as a red line formed across his forehead.

"C'mon, Percy!" beckoned Annabeth. The next time she dared to look back at him, he was advancing towards her and rapidly.

"You really live up to your name," he complained. Annabeth nimbly twisted herself away from Percy just as he was about to grab her and she swiftly leaped over a log. She broke out of the woods and found herself by a stream. She cursed, knowing that Percy was going to use it to his advantage. He was still in the woods, but following behind her, so there was no place for her to turn and go back to. The best way was to go forward and across in hopes of finding refuge or camouflage within the shadows of the jungle.

The blonde raced forward. She jumped up onto the geologic formation. It was slippery, but Annabeth stepped purposefully. Her speed was sacrificed in favor of balance to avoid loosing her footing and falling straight into the small waterfall.

Percy entered the clearing and his sea-green irises locked onto Annabeth's figure making her way across a waterfall. A wide smirk spread across his features and did not pursue her. Instead, he raised a hand. A tentacle of water raised itself from the stream and after Percy made a wide gesture, the water tentacle shot itself at the blonde.

Annabeth focused on the gap splitting the formation and prepared herself to jump, but noticed the water lash skyward towards her. She immediately ducked and sidestepped out of the attack. However, her foot slipped and Annabeth fell backward. Instead of landing on the rock and sliding into the water as previously predicted, she found herself descending into a cold, but dry, darkness into the rock.

Annabeth disappeared from Percy's view, but a high-pitched shriek entered his ears. He cursed and sprinted to the source of his girlfriend's scream, his fingers instinctively searching for the pen in his pocket.

"Annabeth!" he called. He climbed to the spot where he last saw Annabeth stand, but she was gone.

"Percy!" Annabeth's voice echoed from below him. He desperately searched until he found an opening on the rock with a steep slope into darkness. Without hesitation, the demigod jumped in and expertly slid down. Once at the bottom, he leaped to his feet and spotted Annabeth standing with her arms crossed.

"Annabeth, are you alright?" Percy asked, clasping her arms and searching her figure for any signs of injury. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, Percy," she reassured. "That totally wasn't fair for you to use your powers like that!"

"I had to do something to catch you!"

"Well, you missed and I fell in a hole," Annabeth scolded. Percy scowled but it quickly was replaced with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Suddenly, Percy threw his arms around Annabeth and crushed her body to his. "Percy!"

"Gotcha!"

Annabeth groaned and squirmed in his grasp, but he only tightened his hold on her. She contemplated headbutting him, but decided against it and ultimately stilled in defeat. Percy claimed his prize by capturing Annabeth's lips in a kiss. All of her tension dissolved and her body automatically melted into the kiss.

After a moment, the kiss was broken. Percy tried to steal more kisses and Annabeth giggled but leaned away.

"Percy," she rasped, "C'mon. We need to get out of here."

"The world doesn't need us right now," Percy reminded softly.

"Yes, but we are still in a cave."

"Your point?"

Annabeth scoffed and playfully smacked his bicep. She pulled herself from his grasp with the slightest reluctance, especially after noticing the puppy-eyed look her boyfriend gave her.

The cave they were in was small. They had enough standing room for the two of them, and even a third person could stand comfortably inside, but any more would make it tight. The only other source of light came from another opening away from the slide that brought them there. Annabeth stepped up and ventured into the new opening with Percy trailing.

Inside, the cave opened up to a pool of water flowing in from the ocean. There were no obvious exits except for the water as twilight poured in from the top of the cavern, which was raised high above their heads.

"Whoa," Percy murmured.

"It looks like we're in a volcano."

"It's not going to blow up, right?" Annabeth gave Percy a look. "What?"

"I think it's dormant if it has a pool in here," Annabeth said.

"You never know!" Annabeth rolled her grey eyes and examined her surroundings. Her gaze drifted downward, and she frowned at the sight of something drawn into the sand.

"'Number of days since last incident?'" Annabeth repeated, tilting her head to read the writing in the sand. Percy followed her gaze to where she was looking at and took a step closer.

"Zero?"

"Maybe this island isn't so deserted after all," the daughter of Athena mused. "But who would come here? And why?"

"Do you think that there could be like a secret tribe of people living in the jungle?" Percy suggested.

"Of course not," Annabeth scoffed. "This island isn't big enough for a group of indigenous people to go unnoticed. Maybe a bunch of kids come here to mess around. But why in a volcano?"

"Why not?" he asked with a cheeky smile. "Volcanoes are cool. Maybe this is a magic volcano."

"No such thing, Percy."

"No such thing as gods too," Percy reminded. Annabeth shrugged slightly. He did have a point, but Annabeth was skeptical of there being any myths about magical volcanoes in Australia. The gods were located primarily in America, and the only other place in the world that had mythical activity was the ancient lands-Greece and Rome. The Stymphalian Birds were an exception, but the world can't entirely be free of monsters, can it?

"We should probably get out of here," Annabeth murmured after a pause.

"Lucky for us, this pool leads out to the ocean," Percy informed.

"Convenient."

Percy stepped into the still, cerulean pool. Annabeth sat on the edge, inserting her feet and shivering slightly at its coolness. Percy outstretched a dry hand to her and Annabeth reached to accept it, but stopped, her eyes catching something shiny in the sunlight. Instead of taking Percy's hand, Annabeth's hand lowered to the stone edge of the pool and picked up a transparent, orange scale.

"What is it?" Percy asked as he craned his neck to her. There were several identical scales dotting the stones, some resting on the stone ledge under the water. Annabeth scooped some into her palm and extended to Percy.

"Some kind of scales," Annabeth replied. Percy took a single scale from her palm and brought it to his eye to examine.

"Fish scales, but I don't know what kind of fish," he muttered. He rubbed his thumb over it. "Never seen one like these."

"Maybe we can look at them better when we get back," Annabeth suggested. Percy nodded and collected the rest from his girlfriend before pocketing them. He extended his hand once more, beckoning Annabeth to accept it and join him.

"C'mon. Let's get outta here," Percy insisted. Annabeth accepted it without question and Percy pulled her fully into the water. Although he didn't want to say anything out loud to worry her, there was something very strange about the water. It was colder than the water of the open ocean, but that wasn't it. An unsettling feeling draped over the son of Poseidon, and, well, it made his senses tingle. He hated to describe it that way, but there was no other way to put it. Percy's been in a lot of different water before, but no water has made him feel like this before. And the oddest thing about it was that it was a good feeling.

Emma was sitting at a table on the patio of the JuiceNet cafe toying with her phone when Ash greeted her.

"Feels good to sit down after today," Ash joked after he took the open seat across from the blonde. Emma giggled and felt her face flush slightly with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry. I totally just dropped a bomb on you, didn't I?" Emma admitted as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Ash chuckled and smiled at her.

"Yeah, but I'm glad you did. I'm so unbelievably glad that you did," he reassured. "Mermaids. Incredible." Emma snorted. "Are there...you know...more…?"

"Highly doubt it. Just Rikki, Cleo, and I," Emma answered.

"Does anybody else know?"

"Only a handful. Pretty much just Zane and Lewis."

"What gives us the honors? Boyfriends only?" Ash teased. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Lewis has been a very good friend of ours for years. He helps us out a lot. And Zane...well, he found it. Accidentally. Kind of. Let's just leave it at that," she replied.

"Ah. I see."

"He helps out too sometimes," she added. "Even when it doesn't seem like it."

Ash nodded and paused before asking, "And your families don't know?"

"Nope. They don't know about any of it. Not Mako, not the magic, nothing." Sadness drifted into the mermaid's tone as she broke eye contact with her boyfriend. "It's better that way. It's safer for all of us."

"It really is quite the honor for you to trust such a secret with me, Em," Ash said, reaching his hand across the table to her. At first, she hesitated, but then she relaxed and slipped her palm into his and he gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I promise I'd do anything in my power to help you and to protect it."

"That's good to hear. I would hate to have to freeze you to a wall or something," Emma snickered. It amazed Ash how a girl with such warm hands held the power to create snowstorms and hurricanes. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat, not wanting to say what he was about to.

"Listen, there is something I thought I'd like to share with you," he began. "I don't want to upset you or anything, but I thought you'd like to know."

"What is it?" the blonde asked as she frowned and furrowed her brow.

"The people that were on Mako Island earlier," he said. "After you left, I went back to see who it was-just in case. And I saw that it was your cousin and his girlfriend."

"Percy and Annabeth?" she gasped. Her concerned look twisted into one of anger and irritation. "Why would they be there? I thought I told them not to go near there."

"I don't know. They are on vacation after all," Ash pointed out.

"They didn't go to the moon pool, did they?"

"The moon pool?" Ash repeated. "I'm not sure. I don't know where it's at."

"I was going to show you before they showed up," she murmured and sighed. "Thanks for letting me know, Ash. I really appreciate it. I'll deal with them later."

"Are you sure this is so serious?" Ash asked. "Not to undermine the importance or anything, but Percy and Annabeth are just on vacation. So they won't be sticking around."

Emma nodded and agreed, "Yeah, you're right. It would be more concerning if it was scientists investigating."

"But if you ever need my help for something like this-or anything at all-I'll gladly do it," Ash insisted. A smile tugged on Emma's lips.

"Thanks again, Ash. There's not much you can do now and I can handle my cousin. But I'll let you know if I ever get into any trouble."

"I wish I had a microscope," Annabeth mused aloud as she and Percy approached Emma's villa.

"For once in my life, I wish I did too," Percy admitted. "I've never seen fish scales like that before."

"Well, Australia is pretty diverse, after all. Perhaps it's a species that's not common by us," Annabeth pointed out. Percy's brow was furrowed as he pushed open the front door.

"Maybe," he muttered. Even though they were already back at the Gilbert home, Percy could not shake the feeling he got from the pool in the volcano of Mako Island. He had a feeling it had to do with the golden fish scales. Perhaps if he found out what they were, it would ease his nerves.

"Can I see them?" Annabeth asked, snapping Percy from his thoughts.

"What? Oh, right." Percy slipped a hand into his pocket for the smooth scales but found nothing. He frowned and started fishing in his other pocket for them, but the pocket was empty. Both pockets he turned inside out to fully empty them and at the sight of no scales, Annabeth scowled.

"You lost them, Seaweed Brain?"

"I just had them!" Percy complained. "Seriously. They could not have fallen out of my pockets."

"They had to have," Annabeth said. "They couldn't have just disappeared into thin air."

Percy picked out the lint and some thin flakes of dead skin from the inside of his pockets before digging his hands into the back ones.

"Annabeth, I swear," he gritted. "I don't know where they could have gone."

The blonde sighed and said, "Well, we can't go back. It's getting late, and I'm too tired. Besides, it wasn't a big deal anyway. But that's disappointing."

Percy opened his mouth to protest some more, but words betrayed him. He was only growing more uneasy, almost to the point where he was jittery. What in Hades was wrong with him?

"Yeah. Huge bummer."

Author: lame chapter is lame. I totally rushed the ending but I had a hard time writing it. But I hope you guys liked it!

The next chapter will be slow to update. I know where I want to go with this story, but I'm not quite sure how I want to get there yet. So thank you for being patient with me!

And always, please review! I'm so grateful for everyone's support! It's really helping me get through this!