As soon as Amoretto was settled into the chariot the dolphins plunged into the lake. Aliya at first held her breath, but then she saw Poseidon smiling at her. She took a deep gulp of what she thought would be lake water but instead it was air.

"Did you do this for me?" He laughed and looked deeply into her eyes. Aliya found a fire burning there, one that threatened to consume her.

"It was either this or having you all decked out in scuba gear for the entire night, I figured that you would prefer an air bubble." Aliya smiled and then looked out at the world around her.

She was no longer in the lake, of that she was sure. Sea creatures of every shape and size swam around them. A group of sea turtles came up and bid Aliya hello, she said hello back and was greeted by a group of infant turtles who tickled her ears and swam playfully between her fingers.

As the dolphins swam more and more creatures came, and as they neared a glowing hunk of coral the mer-people came out. Aliya completely forgot the other creatures and could only stare at the beautiful women.

They came out in groups of six or seven, pods she assumed they were, one family. One group was covered in starfish and they had beautiful green hair that shown in the dark. Another group wore pearls, and another shells from various forms of life. When the final group emerged Aliya knew that they were the most royal, for they swam like royalty.

The leader of the pod was an older woman, her scales had dimmed to a dull shimmer. She wore under-sea flowers strung through out her gray hair. Her face was lined and worn, but Aliya could see that she had once held beauty there. The woman swam to Poseidon and placed a large sensual kiss on his mouth.

"You have returned home, husband…" Aliya was shocked into silence, and the mer-women around her giggled. The woman lead Poseidon inside the coral palace leaving Aliya alone with the mermaids.

"Look at her hair, it is dull, black as oil. And her skin, white as foam, she is not as beautiful as we are." One of them said next to Aliya. She blushed deeply, and then grew angry.

"You have no right to talk of me so sea dwellers. I am a daughter of Hades and Artemis." They laughed and pulled at her hair.

"Look, when she is angry her skin turns as red as a crab." The first one said again.

"She is a crab sisters." On with yellow hair said beginning to swim circles around Aliya.

"Let's make her uncrabby!" A sister with red hair said, thinking it was a game. The first one, from the old woman's pod knew other wise and egged them on.

"Yes pull her out of that bubble and make her play with us!!" Aliya quickly felt hundreds of fingers pulling at her. She clutched tighter to the chariot and then felt sharp teeth on her knuckles. Letting go immediately Aliya barely had time to take a breath before she was thrown into the icy sea water.

"Play with us!" They screamed at her and began to push and pull her around in the water.

Aliya reached for her staff only to find that she had left it behind. The first girl laughed and pulled her farther down under the water. Soon Aliya could feel the water crushing over her, her eyes began to sting and blur from the salt water.

"You will never be his new bride now…" The older girl whispered in Aliya's ear, then she let go. Aliya tried to swim for the surface, but her lungs were burning and she was so, so very tired.

"Swim faster or you will never make it…" Aliya giving up, on swimming turned her body to face the mermaid. With her last ounce of strength Aliya summoned a ball of fire to be incased in her hands. With a scream that turned to bubbles she threw the fire at the mermaiden.

A scream satisfied Aliya enough so that when she began to sink into a pit where there was on bottom, she had no regrets.

sSs

Percy stared up at the council. With a throat as dry as the Sahara Desert he tried to begin at the beginning, remembering with a smiled that that was where Aliya had said was the best place to start.

"Well it started when Hades came to the camp. I was so upset that he seemed to be devoted to Aliya to love her so much that I was jealous, my father had never done that; one else's had in fact.

"So I stormed out of the room, and she followed me. We talked and she comforted me. She left my cabin, and I felt like I was on top of the world. At three in the morning I felt myself wake. I looked out side and saw Aliya running towards her cabin.

"I followed her and when I got their found that she had been hurt very badly by someone. So I told her to undress…" A growl was heard from Hades. Percy swallowed and then quickly started again.

"Only to her under clothes. Then I filled a bath for her and because I learned healing magic earlier this summer I began to heal her bruises…" Percy then explained about going to Inside which he assumed was Aliya's heart. He told Hades about Innocence, but continued to leave out the god's name who had done these things to Aliya.

"After Innocence pushed me out of Inside I found myself soaked from falling into the tub. Aliya began to panic because she could sense you coming. Pulling on robe she pushed me to the back of the room I watched you with her.

"I then realized that she loved you like I love my mother and you love her how my mother loves me. I helped her get you into bed. We went outside and danced in the moonlight, we fell to the ground and fell asleep."

Hades looked to the Fates, the motioned that he was not lying but concealing part of the truth. Hades then looked thoughtfully at Percy, he had grown into a man, much different than when he first saw him.

"Percy Jackson, you do not tell me who has been hurting my daughter, why?" Percy looked Hades straight in the eye, and there was no longer fear there but loyalty.

"I cannot tell you because Aliya does not wish to cause a war, this would cause trouble for the humans and gods alike. I don't think that she can bear the thought of people being hurt over her." Hades nodded at the answer.

"Tell me now, what do you feel for my daughter. Do you truly care for her or do you lust over her body?" Percy blushed, he wanted to answer truthfully but the truth may get him into more trouble.

"He is preparing to lie to us milord." The smallest fate said with a twinkle in her eyes. Hades looked at Percy sternly and Percy shrugged.

"I have not known her that long Lord Hades, but I do know this, your daughter would harden a dead man and that's the gospel truth." Hades smiled and stepped from the throne, immediately the scene vanished and he was back in his street clothes.

"Well Percy Jackson, you are loyal and truthful, I will not kill you after all, but may I remind you that if anything happens to my daughter when she is under your care I will personally see that you are tormented for eternity…and I am quite famous for those."

sSs

A strong pair of arms grabbed Aliya. Her body was cold, so cold that the warmth from the arms caused her skin to ache. She was laid down on soft fabric, and the warmth was taken from her waist and given to her chest.

A pair of lips lowered on to hers and she felt air move through her chest, but it hurt too much. Then Aliya was above herself watching as Poseidon pushed on her chest and then breathed into her.

It lasted for about five minutes until finally a rough feeling began to pull on Aliya's soul. Her journey back into her body was not as smooth as the trip out.

"Breath, dammit breath!" One last time the lips lowered the breath was given and then Aliya began to sputter and cough. Soon water was pouring out of her lungs and stomach at the same time. She breathed and it hurt, her body trembled from the cold and the wet.

Then Aliya began to cry. She sobbed so hard that it caused her to cough and retch more. Poseidon wiped at her eyes and face with a soft cloth.

"I'm sorry Aliya so very sorry." He sounded hurt as if this had just about ripped out his heart.

"I'm s-so cold…" Aliya said. She then looked around the room for Amoretto and didn't see the giant dog. Poseidon tried to hide his grin. He laid Aliya's head back on the bed and then wrapped his giant body around hers.

Aliya felt the warmth enter her body quickly and it made her heart pound, all at once her blood began to boil. Where was her dog, Amoretto should be stopping this. She turned to tell Poseidon that he should stop.

Then the lips covered hers again. They were soft and smooth, like sinking into a dream. Poseidon breathed in her smell deeply and then went to deepen the kiss. Aliya began to panic. She didn't want this she wanted to know for sure, hell she hadn't even thought about kissing Ares on their first date.

Poseidon didn't sense her panic, he thought that her muscles tightening were from pleasure. His tongue silkily entered her mouth, and she freaked out. As he drew his tongue back in slowly Aliya did the only thing she could think of she quickly bit his lip causing him to draw back.

His eyes looked at her startled and then he smiled. Her lip had his blood on it, it glistened with a slight mix of gold, it made her look like a vampire princess. He kissed her again softly and she shrank away.

"I thought that was what you wanted me to do…" Aliya shook her head, fear clearly in her eyes.

"I…don't like to give myself up to the vulnerability of a kiss at least not until I know for sure." Poseidon nodded though he really didn't understand her reasoning, but then he saw her swollen lips and the hurt in her eyes, someone had cut her deeply.

"Forgive me child, I lost myself…" Aliya smiled.

"Well, tell me about yourself. So that the next time you are lost I can help bring you back." After she said this Poseidon then saw the reason in her eyes, she was still innocent as the day she was born, but what had he expected from her to be a whore?

No, he thought that she would have at least been spoiled, but no she was pure, now purer than her Grandmother.

"Well you've already met my…wife." He sighed. "They are just so beautiful but it never lasts, they get older and jealous, more and more ugly washing away their beauty.

"If they didn't let such emotions get to them they wouldn't age but they are vain creatures. Asia, my current wife, was only her young self for twenty years after I married her, then the other girls began to tease her and she aged faster than the others.

"She has tried to regain her beauty but in doing so she has become a wise women to my mermaids and she will not return to her youth, she knows that soon I will cast her back to her pod so that she can try to teach them right from wrong." Aliya sighed.

"The one that tried to kill me was from her pod." Poseidon laughed loud and strong.

"Oh yes she tried to kill you but couldn't do it. You did quite a number on her tail and Amoretto scratched at her face." Aliya blushed, she did not feel good at the thought of hurting the girl.

"No, no she brought it on herself dear. Your burn caused her to flee from you, and she left a trail of blood so that I could find you. Awful stuff mermaid blood, as green as envy it is. But no after Amoretto clawed her face she swam to the surface. The Sirens took her with them.

"She'll return as one of them, you wait. She was a darling thing though, all full of laughter but you awakened something in her that will make her a good Siren, the need to kill and torment, and you've given her a chance to make the rest of the world hell."

"Well, I'll hunt her down and skewer her with a stick if she tries to hurt me again." Poseidon laughed.

"I know you can darling, don't I know it."

sSs

The Huntresses were on the move. Through every wood and city they hunted for the man named Kael.

Ariane lead them with quick precision, they left nothing unchecked, moving from city to city like a plague a trail of men in their wake.

The men were never killed; no most were left half dead lying near the body of a young, dead prostitute. It was true Ariane had no love for women who sold their bodies, and she saw that the woman had no use in the world for they were spoiled who would want them.

City by city they prowled, always searching and never finding. Ariane was becoming impatient, why could this man not be found?

The Huntresses soon found them selves in Las Vegas. A terrible city, women everywhere dancing showing off their bodies, clinging to men as though they were made of gold, it made her sick.

She watched from the rooftop of her hotel the women below her. So far the Huntresses had increased their numbers by five since the start of their journey. It made her smile just thinking about it.

Ariane sipped her bottled water. He was close, she could feel it, but where, there were no cities around for miles. Then it hit her.

"Marianne!" She called, a small mousy girl appeared before her, one of the new girls who had yet to fall prey to their intense training.

"Yes Ariane?" She asked softly.

"Rouse the others, I know where Kael is." Marianne looked at her in awe.

"Yes Ariane right away!" Ariane smiled and looked out to the desert. 'Here I come Kael, you had better be ready for me…'