A/N: Do you like it? I hope you do! Sorry for any grammatical errors or misspelled words. Thanks for taking the time to read this! RxR!

Percy's POV

"Is Annabeth here?" I asked, peering through the doorway. I had gone to the Athena cabin to look for her, since even though we were both given cabins of our own, they are unfinished and we were staying at the Athena and Poseidon cabin respectively.

One of her sisters raised her eyebrows at me and I heard a few suggestive comments reverberating around the room. Her sister pointed at Annabeth who was at the table drawing an outline of something. She looked up at me and I saw undisguised panic on her delicate features before she quickly masked it. Anyone else might not have noticed since it had only taken place for a split second, but I had known her for too long to be fooled. She smiled at me, showing a row of straight, white teeth. "Hi Percy!" Her siblings, detecting some tension in the air, gawked at us like we were celebrities on a reality show. "I know you want to go swimming, but I'm very busy with these blueprints. Maybe some other-"

I cut her off. "No excuses. Malcolm is here." I gestured to him. "And he can take over your work for you." Malcolm confirmed this by nodding. She turned to Malcolm with a look of betrayal in her eyes. "So we are going to the beach." I said firmly. "I'll wait you for you outside." Annabeth hesitated.

Malcolm came to my rescue. "Go." He gently pushed her. "You deserve a break. You've been working yourself to the bone. Even immortals need a break sometimes." She nodded with a look of resignation, similar to, I imagine, what I sacrificial lamb looks like before it is slaughtered. What's up with her? She never usually looks that stressed about going to the beach. In fact, she usually jumps at it. She has told me many times that she feels calm there.

I waited a little impatiently outside, tapping my foot on the ground. After a couple of minutes, Annabeth emerged from the cabin wearing an old T-shirt of mine over her swimsuit. She looked quite sexy. "You ready?" I asked. She shrugged noncommittally and we headed to the beach, Annabeth dragging her feet behind her.

We arrived at the beach, where there were only a handful of campers there suntanning or playing volleyball.

"Percy, I'm not sure about this. It looks pretty rough today." Annabeth said, pointing at the sea. She started walking backwards, edging further and further away from the sea, putting as much distance between herself and the water as she possibly could. "Nothing I can't fix," I said. I couldn't explain why I had to take Annabeth to the water, I just had to. I made the waters calm as I carried her bridal style towards the sea. She tried protesting, but it was too little, too late. I had tossed her into the water before she could even attempt to break my hold. I gaped at her as she sat up in the water, gasping and spluttering. Instead a pair of legs, where they were supposed to be was replaced by a shimmering silvery-grey tail. We stared at each other for awhile, me in dumb shock and she in apprehension. Then - "Annabeth-" but she had already swam off.

I found her a short ways from the camp at an underwater cave. She was sobbing gently, something I wasn't used to seeing. Hoping to lighten the mood, I said, "You know, if you were trying to run away from me, you shouldn't go into the sea. It's kind of my element." She sobbed harder. "Come on! I'm not that hideous, am l?" That warranted a small smile from her, though she still looked distressed. She still hadn't spoken yet, but I had to find out the truth. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?" I asked.

"I couldn't! You don't understand." she said as she wiped tears off her beautiful face. She had stopped crying, and was now hiccuping softly.

"Then help me understand." I pleaded. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened." "That's exactly what I don't want. For you to jump into action every time something happens to anyone close to you, like some kind of hero. Which you technically are, but I just don't want to rely on you. You had more than enough on your plate with your new job."

I took her hand in mine, gently rubbing circles on her palm. "Please," I begged. "Tell me what happened."

She sighed. "It was so unexpected. So out of the blue. I was walking along the beach after a stressful meting on design with some of the gods, when Thetis appeared to me. I was surprised, the least. I could think of no conceivable reason why she would seek me out. When she appeared, she definitely did not look happy. She told me that she hated me, because I had everything I could ever want in the world right now. Family, friends, love, a career. So she would take something away from me, and turn me into a recluse so that I would slowly lose the very things that she craves. Friends, family," She looked deep into my eyes. "You." I felt my heart break. I would make Thetis pay for hurting Annabeth like that.

She continued her story. "She turned me into a mermaid, and gave me this necklace." She showed the very necklace that I had scrutinized earlier that day. "See the pearls here? Once all of them turn blue, the curse is permanent. If I manage to achieve something before that, then the curse will be broken."

He gripped my hand. "Whatever it is, we're in this together. What is it that we have to do?"

She shook her head. "That's just the thing. I don't know. She wouldn't tell me, and said it was for me to figure out."

"How long have you been hiding this from me?" I asked hoarsely. "Two days after we were turned immortal." She stared at her hands. My breath caught when I realized that she had been holding this secret inside her for a week already. She had to take care of the new blueprints in the camp, the new designs for Mount Olympus, all the while hiding the truth from everyone else and me in particular, who was so close to the water, and making sure that she herself didn't come into contact with water in front of anyone, which is a lot more exhausting than it sounds. That would have pushed anyone past the breaking point.

"I'll take care of you. I promise." I said to Annabeth. "I'm sorry." I said earnestly, looking her straight in the eye. "If I had known, I never would have thrown you into the water." She smiled sadly. "It's alright. You hadn't known. In a way, this is better. I don't have to hide anymore."

I studied her. Her princess curls were in a high ponytail that stopped just before the end of her tail. Strands of hair framed the sides of her face. She tucked a stray curl behind her ear, and I noticed that her pearl earrings brought out her large luminous eyes. One thing's for sure. I wasn't going to let anything happen to her.