A/N: I'm dedicating this chapter to my first reviewer, AnnaUnicorn. Thank you so much for reading!

I hope you guys like this chapter! RxR!

Annabeth's POV

He's staring at me. My cheeks felt very hot. I stared down at my lap. What might he be thinking? The one chance we have at a happy life, and I've ruined it. He was still holding my hand in his, which was reassuring. It was warm and solid, and I wondered why I even worried in the first place. He leaned forward and brushed away some tendrils of hair that had fallen over my face.

I straightened. While I wanted to stay down here, undisturbed by campers, blueprints and responsibility, I knew I had to face reality soon. Best not put it off. I took a deep, calming breath. "I think it's time to go back."

When we reached the shore, Percy carried me out of the water in his arms since I couldn't return to my human form without being completely dry. Hiding behind a conveniently placed rock, he used his powers to take all the moisture off me and my tail morphed into legs.

We reached the shore, where the other campers were quite far away from us, so it felt like Percy and I were the only ones on the beach. "We need to call a meeting," I told Percy. "We need to tell the campers what's happening and explore how we can fix this." He put his arms around my waist, "That's so typical of you, Wise Girl," he complained. "To do the responsible thing." I grinned. "That's why you love me, Seaweed Brain." He ran his fingers through my hair. "True," he said agreeably.

The moment was ruined when the volleyball players accidentally threw the ball too far and almost hit us. "Sorry!" they yelled. My smile disappeared as I remembered what I had to do. We looked at each other and communicated silently. Percy said, "Let's go find Chiron."

We rushed briskly, hand in hand, to the Big House in search of Chiron, and I had an uncomfortable memory of Tartarus, of the times we were constantly running from danger, with only the comfort of each other. No, I thought. I quickly suppressed that memory.

"Call a meeting." Percy said to Chiron. "There's something important we need to tell you and the camp." I really appreciated how he used 'we' without hesitation. It showed that we were in this together, and that he would always have my back.

Chiron looked from me to Percy, and sensed the urgency. Moments later he and all of the campers were waiting for us in the amphitheater.

I explained to all of the campers about my curse. "About a week ago, a curse was placed on me." There was a collective gasp in the background. I plowed on. "The curse was inflicted on me by the sea goddess, Thetis, and whenever I come into contact with water, I turn into a mermaid."

A daughter of Aphrodite said dreamily, "I would love that."

"It's not as romantic as it sounds," I said sharply. "There are many factors to this curse." I lifted my pearl necklace from my neck and held it up for everyone to see. "If I don't manage to figure out what twisted thing it is that she wants me to achieve for her before all these pearls turn blue, I'll be a mermaid forever, and that really limits what I'll be able to do. For example, I can't supervise the construction on Mount Olympus and here in the camp. With everything so disorganised, we and the gods are weakened.

"Also, with me out of the way, I'm worried that she or other disagreeable characters will launch an attack on the camp and cause another war." Everyone shuddered. We're all thinking of the previous wars that had happened, and how we definitely don't want another one."

Someone lamented. "And we won't be able to eat tacos anymore if there's a war and the world ends!" He was pushed by his friends. "What's wrong with you?" "Shut up!"

I ignored this. "Now the most important thing is to figure out what it is that Thetis wants. When we know, we can to do it before-"

As if on cue Rachel doubled over like she had been punched hard in the stomach. Her eyes shone with green light. She stiffened as green smoke poured out of her mouth. When she spoke her voice had the likeness of a raspy snake and there were multiple voices speaking as one.

"The immortal lovebirds shall travel far and near, to seek those which Thetis holds dear. The silver pearl is present, the rest lie iridescent. Red, orange, golden and green. Blue, indigo, violet and black."

Two children of Hebe rushed forward to catch Rachel just as she collapsed, and helped her onto the three-legged bronze stool that their sibling had already brought out.

Pandemonium broke out immediately.

"We're doomed!" "What are you talking about? You don't even know what the prophecy is about!" "That was a lot of color at the end. Don't indigo and violet both mean purple?" "Well, the peace was fun while it lasted."

Chiron held his hands out and the campers calmed down somewhat. "The answer is given to us! We are to have a quest! Percy and Annabeth will go and break the curse!"

I had thought that being a god meant you didn't have to go on quests. With a new prophecy in place, it looked as if Percy and I were going to have a massive throwback to all those times we went on quests.

"Well," Percy said, trying to brightened the mood. "On the positive side, at least we won't die as easily now that we're immortal."

Hahaha Sorry about my bad poetry.
I'll be returning to school on Monday, back from the Chinese New Year holidays, so I'll be a lot busier. I'll do my best to post a new chapter each week!

~ Nataliya118