Piper laughed and walked over to the sea, with her surfboard. 'Sure you are better than I am, Percy!' She yelled over her shoulder. She stepped into the sea. The water was cold, but in her wetsuit she did not notice it.
She laid her board ready. The waves were high - but it was nothing she had not been in before. A wave come rolling up. At just the right moment, she got to her feet. She sighed happily. This day was just perfect.
She laid her board ready for a second wave, and managed to surf on that one, too. Yet, on the highest point, a second wave hit her right against the chest. She fell off her board.
She came up again, spitting up water. 'Percy!' She yelled, knowing he would not hear her. She looked around, but she saw her friend nowhere. The waves around her seemed to get wilder and wilder.
'Percy?' she got no answer - obviously. Now she was sure the waves around her were growing. 'Hello!' She yelled. 'Anybody?!' She felt a slimy hand on her shoulder.
'Yes, princess, me. Don't worry.' Piper was of the opinion that right now was a great moment to worry, but she didn't say anything back. An enormous wave rolled over her. Her head went under. She tried to swim back to the surface, but the hand held her back.
Piper panicked. She tried to kick the unknown foe away, but she could not feel a body anywhere. She clawed at the surface. 'Let me go!' She yelled, which was the only other thing she could think of. Nothing happened. More slimy hands reached over her entire body. One of them covered her mouth. That gave her a light feeling for a few seconds - after that, she passed out.
Piper woke up in a room that smelled so much like fish that she immediately covered her nose. 'Hng.' Her throat felt raw. Her voice sounded like she was walking over a few rocks. From her left side, someone pushed a bottle of water into her face. She took it and took a few long, nice, refreshing sips. 'Thanks,' she mumbled. Her voice sounded clearer than before. She turned to the person who had handed her the water.
It took a great deal of self restrained to not scream. Next to her stood... no, floated, a slimy... thing. It had a mermaids tail and a green body, which seemed to be made up of goo. 'Th-thank you,' she muttered. The mermaid-like thing bowed its head, before make swimming motions to get out of the room.
Piper concluded that she was probably under water. Vaguely, she remembered being thrown of her surfboard. It seemed like she was kidnaped by some slimy underwater folk. She took another sip of water - she had never assumed that being under the surface would make you this thirsty.
There was no clock, which made Piper hope that she was not dreaming this while being passed out. Yet, she assumed that about fifteen minutes passed until a second underwater jelly mermaid swam into the room. 'I'm sorry for the wait. Please follow me,' they simply said. Piper raised an eyebrow and stuck her chin forward. 'And where would we be going?'
'To the throne room.'
'And why do I want to be there?'
'You do not need to want it.'
'That does not make things better.'
'Come.'
That one, last word sounded more ominous than all of the other things the goo fish had said combined. Piper scoffed and got up from the bed. 'Alright then.' She clutched the water bottle against her chest.
The mermaid lead her through a hallway that was just as emerald green and slimy as the monsters themselves. Piper shivered. It was cold in here, something she felt through her wetsuit. 'Wait, how am I breathing?' She asked to the mermaid in front of her. They looked back at her from the corner of their eye. 'Look at your neck.' Piper raised one eyebrow. She realised she must look spoiled and annoyed, but she didn't really care.
'I can't do that.' The mermaid did not answer. Piper rolled her eyes. 'Alright then, stay quiet,' she murmured.
'Thanks, I will.' For a second, Piper was happy that everything was made of green slime - it made ignoring the urge to slap the fish a whole lot easier.
They arrived at two big doors. The mermaid clapped in their fin-hand hybrids. The door flew open. The fish bowed at her. 'You first.' Piper rolled her eyes.
'That is a very chique way to treat a prisoner.' The mermaid did not react, but Piper could swear they looked at her with daggers in their eyes.
She swam into a big, very richly decorated room. It looked like a room in the old Barok style with an extra portion of green slime and seaweed hanging from the walls and just floating around. One side was made of nothing but mirrors. When Piper turned to that specific wall, she had to hold back the urge to scream again. In her neck, a few holes had opened up. They looked like long stretched paper cuts without blood. Piper realised that whoever captured her gave her gills, and she was hoping they were not permanent.
'Ahum, my reside over here,' she heard a deep voice boom. She looked over. On a blue, extra slimy throne-like thing sat a dark green, extra huge, extra extra slimy mermaid beast. Pipers' eyes grew wide, but by now she was used to the slimy green aesthetic that this place seemed to have. 'I think you're the leader of this toko,' Piper said.
The leader nodded. 'I would prefer it if you remembered me as Lord Goldshell,' he boomed. Piper nodded.
'Alright, Lord Goldshell. Now tell me why I am here.' Lord Goldshell sighed.
'You're not exactly nice, are you? I have you water and a bed, and this is how you behave towards me?'
Piper shrugged. 'I believe you kidnapped me and without that I would not have needed your water or beds, so I don't care.' Lord Goldshell looked like no one had ever spoken to him like that before.
'I did not kidnap you, milady. My employees did that.'
'Is there a reason that you say one thing not entirely correct in every sentence you speak?'
'What are you muttering about? Everything I say is completely right, and no one can speak against me!'
Piper sighed. She did not feel very scared, weirdly enough. 'Alrighty, lord goldshell. So, why am I here and why do I have gills?' Lord Goldshell scoffed. A bit of slime dripped of his hand and onto the floor. Piper stuck out her tongue a little.
'You're here to intimidate Aphrodite. She needs to make us pretty again. She cursed us completely unprovoked! As for the gills, I can also steal them away if you want,' he answered. Piper bit her tongue.
'I'll keep them, thanks. As for what you said before that, you mean to say that the green slime is not a choice you all made, but inflicted on you by my mother?'
'Completely right. You'll stay here until she has turned us back to usual. After that, you can go.' Piper sighed. So she was being held hostage for a kind of ransom.
'Oh. Cool. Can I return to my room.' The king sighed. A piece of blubber left his mouth, which made Piper feel sick.
'Whatever you may will. Go and think about it.' Piper bowed and left the throne room. On her way out, she saw her gills again - a shiver went through her body.
The same merperson as before took her back to her room. Piper did not ask or say anything. There had been attempts to kidnap her before. When she was five years old, an old 'friend' of her father had tried to take her back to his home to get money out a Tristan. A second time, a teacher on one of her schools had tried to take her somewhere while she was alone in a school bus. Yet, she had never before been kidnapped because people wanted something from her mother.
While she was just swimming around the room, trying to see what she had in there (nothing to pass the time with, that was clear), she wondered whether her mother would have care enough to save her. Would the mighty and radiant Aphrodite really lift a curse because of her? Piper doubted it.
Some time past when suddenly boredom kicked in. There really was nothing to do in the slime covered room. She tried her door. As she assumed, it was locked. She knocked on it. Immediately, it flew open, almost hitting her straight in the gills.
'Yes?' The same slime person as before asked.
'Can I explore the house a little?'
'We're in a palace.'
'Can I explore the palace for a bit?'
'No.' Piper sighed dramatically.
'Can I at least have something to do?'
'I'll be back.' She closed the door in Pipers' face and swam away.
She came back after a few minutes, with a book. 'You can study.' Piper sighed even deeper. More homework was the opposite from what she wanted, but there was nothing else. 'It'll have to do. Thanks I guess.' The merperson did not answer, but she closed the door again.
Piper swam to the bed. She felt a hole in her stomach, but the slime and ugly green color everywhere stopped her appetite. She also had no idea (or lust to see) what the food looked like. It might as well be more slime. So, instead of knocking again and asking for food, she opened the book.
It was a book on the history of the slime folk. Apparently, they had been regular merfolk. The only weird thing about them had been that they visited the surface now and then. One day, Aphrodite had gotten into a relationship with one of them. She had left, obviously, but after that the merman got a new girlfriend. Apparently, he had boasted about how she was so much more prettier than Aphrodite, he did not even miss the goddess. Out of anger, Aphrodite had cursed the merpeople to look like slimy blobs with tails and cut of their contact with the land.
Piper rolled her eyes. 'So a garden variety 'people getting slapped down for their hubris story',' she said out loud. 'And I have to be bait.' She scoffed. 'They should have used Eros instead. That would have gotten her attention. Me? Never!' She laughed. 'And now that I am talking to myself, the chance of being rescued probably lowered itself,' she whispered. A tear rolled down her cheek when the reality hit her. She was stuck in a palace. Being held for ransom. And all that without knowing if she would ever see the surface again.
Piper bit her lip. Would she become just like the merpeople? Green and covered with slime? Her hands slid past her gills. She shivered again. Suddenly, she started to sob. Tears streamed down her face. 'I want to go home!' She yelped.
Her door opened again. The mermaid came swimming back inside. They sat down on the side of Pipers' bed. 'Dinner will be held in a few minutes. You're expected.'
Piper looked at her. Her lip quivered. 'I don't want to go.'
'You have no choice.' The merperson stroked her cheek. A little bit of goo stayed behind. Piper didn't even feel it. 'I do. I'll stay here and nothing you do will make me go there.' The mermaid scraped their throat and clapped in their fins.
Three incredibly slimy (but not as slimy as lord Goldshell) guards swam into the room. They grabbed Piper by her arms. She sobbed once more and took a deep breath. 'No. I'll swim there myself. Just show me the way.' The servant nodded, and the guards let go of Piper. The servant swam out of the room, with Piper behind her. She lead her to the dining hall.
It was less slimy, which Piper was thankful for. She did not think she could have eaten anything in a completely slime-covered room. 'Sit here, please,' the servant said while motioning at what was probably a chair covered with seaweed. Piper sat down. The chair felt just like she thought a chair of seaweed would feel like, which was not very comfortable.
The servant sat down at the table as well, which made Piper wondered if it was really a servant. She looked up and realised she sat right in front of lord Goldshell. He grinned at her. A little bit of slime oozed out of his mouth. Piper bit her lip. Maybe she would not eat anything tonight after all.
The king clapped in his hands. Two more mermaid slime fish people came in, with plates filled with food (and yes - it was all green and slimy). While they started to give everyone portions, the king turned his attention to Piper.
'You are not allowed to leave your chamber if I am not serving a meal,' He said. Piper groaned. 'Yet, I can offer you reading material.'
'Hm.'
'This will be the regime until your mother gives us what we want.'
'Hm.' Piper stared at her plate. She felt her stomach turning over. She shivered. She heard lord Goldshell laugh. 'Not that appetizing, are you on my line?'
'Don't You mean 'do you agree?'' Piper snapped. Lord goldshell scoffed while he picked up his fork.
'No, I never, little brat.' Piper shrugged.
'Sorry, lord,' she sissed. She decided that setting him up against her even more was not the smart thing to do. She picked up her fork. A little bit of slime touched her thumb. She felt a chill go up her spine. It was like touching a bit of food during the dishes, but ten times worse. She picked up a small piece of whatever was laying on her plate, closed her eyes, and stopped it in her mouth.
She swallowed it, although she felt like spitting it out immediately. She opened her eyes. The portion that was on her plate looked way to big. She sighed deeply and lowered her fork again. When she picked up another bit of so-called food, the door of the dining hall flew open.
Lord Goldshell jumped up and clapped in his fins. 'Lady Aphrodite! That was swiftly!' Piper looked around. The person who was standing in the doorway was not her mother - it was Percy. She turned back to Lord Goldshell and raised one eyebrow. 'Lord, I am sure that that is not...' She felt a hand on her shoulder. 'Sh, Miss Piper, let us do the talking.'
She looked up. A lady was standing next to her, but she was sure it was not her mother. It was a lady with long blond hair and a wavy, turquoise dress. She took a step back. Percy walked over to her. She let out a sob and hugged him.
The lady straightened her shoulders. 'I am afraid I am not Aphrodite, lord Goldshell,' she said. She sounded tired and annoyed, like she had had this conversation a million times. Lord Goldshell scoffed again. 'Tss. Random Persons are not allowed in my radiant palace!' The ladies' expression turned darker.
'Let me introduce myself. My name is Amphitrite, queen of the seas. I am here to release the girl and arrest you for breaking the laws of the oceans.' Lord Goldshells' eyes widened.
'You.. You... can't make that. I am the lord in this palace!'
'And the king of the oceans send me here to get the girl back.' Lord Goldshell growled.
Suddenly, the servant mermaid got up. They swam over to Amphitrite. 'Leave.'
'I'll have to arrest you too, if you try to stop me again.'
'Leave.' Amphitrite nodded.
'I will. Perseus, take the girl. I'll send a patrol of Dolphins over here.' Amphitrite swam away and gestured at Percy and Piper to follow them.
They made it to the gates of the palace. It was the most slimy, green, seaweedy thing she had seen in the palace. Amphitrite clapped in her hands. The doors begun to open, but suddenly slammed shut again. Amphitrite once again straightened her back. 'Open up,' she commanded. Nothing happened.
The mermaid came swimming in so fast that Piper zoomed back a little. 'Leave without the girl.'
'No, we will not,' Amphitrite answered calmly. She narrowed her eyes. 'I did not know you got transformed as well, Zeta.' Zeta's lip quivered.
'She stays. Leave,' she repeated. Amphitrite grabbed Pipers' hand and pushed Zeta away. 'Open!' she commanded again. The doors flew open. Zeta said another word, but Amphitrite swam away without looking around. Percy and Piper followed her closely.
Piper took a deep breath when she was outside. She did not know fresh sea water could feel just as good as fresh forest air. She made a mental note to look better at her contribution to the plastic soup from now on. Amphitrite lead them to an underwater chariot. When they all sat down, Piper asked: 'So, who are that, why did I not know about them and how do you know Zeta?'
Amphitrite swallowed. A small piece of slime hung in her silver blonde hair. It did not even look very disgusting on her. 'Those are a race of cursed mermaids, they have been cursed in the last century and as such no poets you study at camp have written about them and Zeta was my youngest handmaiden, who disappeared a long time ago. I never thought she would be cursed, too.'
'Maybe she was that mermaids girlfriend.' Amphitrite shrugged.
'Might be, she might just have been unlucky.' She looked at the palace. Piper noticed she looked slightly sad. 'I wished...' at that moment, the doors opened again. A slime covered mermaid came swimming out. Piper noticed it was Zeta.
She swam up to the chariot. 'I want to come.' Amphitrite gave her a light smile. She tapped her on the forehead. The slime monster might a slight transformation, to a small mermaid with a blue tail and short, black hair. She still had the same, emerald green eyes. She sat down next to Amphitrite. The queen smiled at her. 'Welcome back, Zeta. Long time no see.' The mermaid bowed her head. 'Your majesty.'
Piper groaned. 'Can we go? I haven't eaten anything in a day and I am tired.' Amphitrite sighed deeply. 'Teenagers...' she whispered. 'Go!' she told her charioteer. Her chariot started moving.
On the way, Piper stared at Zeta. She was quietly staring at the horizon. Piper wondered why she had tried to stop her from leaving, but later joined them. For a few seconds, the mermaid made eye contact with her. She gave Piper a very small smile, as to make it up. Piper turned her head away.
'You were really quick,' Piper remarked, while she and Percy were travelling back to her dads' house. Percy shrugged. 'At some point, I saw that the waves were acting weird. The next moment, you were gone. I left all my stuff with Tristan and swam to my dad's' place. He felt a weird presence in the corner of the ocean where you were. I think Amphitrite had a suspicion it was those things, so she went along. You know the rest.' Piper slowly nodded.
'Yeah, yeah.' Piper took a deep breath. She still had a little scar in her neck, from where her gills had been. 'Hm. Breathing is better than getting oxygen via gills.' Percy laughed.
'Glad I know that.' He sighed. 'I had never heard of Zeta.'
'I don't think there was ever a moment to bring it up. I mean, you do not talk to Amphitrite a lot, right?' Percy shrugged again.
'More often than my dad, to be honest. She is a nice stepmother.' Piper chuckled and put her arm around Percy's shoulders. 'I'm glad about that,' she said, while she fished the key to the house out of her pocket. 'Come. I think there are still some hot pockets in the kitchen.'