Freedom Has a Price

As soon as Percy had disappeared underwater, his friend, Grover, welcomed him. Grover was a relatively large fish with a yellow body and blue stripes that came down his back. For a fish his size, he was pretty much scared of everything, and didn't like the adventures that Percy went on.

"Did anyone see you?" Grover fretted. He started swimming in circles around Percy. "What if someone saw you?!" he cried.

"Relax, Grover," Percy tried to soothe the panicked fish. "No one saw me but Annabeth." Grover was the only fish to know about Percy meeting a human. If any of the other mermen found out, he would be disowned and his brother Triton would take over being the heir of Poseidon's throne.

"You are the most stupid fish in the whole sea!" Grover practically shouted. "Falling in love with a human!" Percy's eyes widened and he put a hand over his friend's mouth, trying to get the fish to shut up.

"Grover!" Percy hissed. "Do you want someone to hear you?"

"Sorry," Grover muttered, looking down at the ocean floor. They swam in silence for the next few minutes until Percy felt a shadow of a boat come across the ocean. Looking up, Percy could make out the black outline of the hull, and he could hear the shouting of the men on deck.

"Grover!" Percy exclaimed. "It's a boat!" Percy had always like watching the people work on their legs; he thought it was fascinating how fast they could run, and how they can kick a ball using only one foot.

"Percy, please." Grover tried to reason with the merman, but Percy had already taken off towards the surface. His green tail was staring to reflect in the sunlight, making it almost impossible to see where Percy had gone.

Percy had to slow down when he started to come towards the surface; he didn't want any of the people noticing him, especially if it's a pirate ship. He silently broke the surface of the water, swimming towards the side of the ship.

The first thing Percy noticed about it was the giant black and white flag with a skull and cross bones. A pirate ship, Percy mentally cursed himself for sneaking around a pirate ship, but his curiosity always got the better of him. The ship was huge and black with bronze lining. Something about this ship seemed familiar, but Percy couldn't place it.

Now, Percy's head was fully above the water, watching the men work from the shadows. They seemed to be carrying large crates that would make animal noises every once in a while. At one point Percy saw a large fish tank being rolled around the deck, luckily nothing was in it, but still, when he looked at it, chills were sent down his spine.

The last thing Percy noticed was the extremely large net that seemed to be sending sparks off of it. The net could cover almost half the ship at most, maybe a little less. Percy wrinkled his nose; he hated fishermen, especially pirate fishermen.

Something one the back of Percy's neck prickled and he turned his head only to meet the eyes of a human. Percy gasped and back up a little, going deeper into the water. Every instinct in his body was screaming, Run!

The man seemed a bit older than Percy, maybe by four or five years. He had tanned skin from being out on the ship all day and bright blue eyes. The most interesting thing that Percy noticed was the scar that ran down his cheep. The man's smile wasn't exactly a smile, more like a cruel sneer.

Percy had never felt this way in front of a human, usually they didn't notice them, but the ones that did thought it was always a blessing from Poseidon. They would never hurt a merman. This man was different; he looked at Percy as if he were a toy, nothing more, maybe even a money maker. Percy resisted the urge to shudder.

The man seemed to notice his discomfort with a smirk and called out, "Do you like my collection? They're all very rare animals."

Percy glanced at the wooden crates, and that one empty bowl. Now that he knew they carried animals, it made him even more desperate to go away, but he was frozen. Frozen by his own anxiety.

Percy looked back at the man, whose smirk was growing wider every second. The man pointed to the large glass bowl and said, "That is for a very special animal. One that hasn't been seen in years."

Percy couldn't take it anymore; he broke contact with the man and dived under the water. The words, that is for a very special animal, were ringing in his ears as the man's blue eyes seemed to inch their way into Percy's head.

"That's pretty interesting," Annabeth mused. "I mean, it sounds like the pirate ship I described, and the person that talked to you does sound like Luke, but I don't know. The chances that you would see that ship are one in one hundred. Besides I don't think they carried animals on their ship."

Percy rolled his eyes, and flicked his tail. "Come on, Annabeth. Who else could it be? That man—Luke told me those were rare animals."

"Percy, I don't know." Annabeth shook her head and played with the sand on the beach. It was around evening almost two days after they last talked, and two days after Percy had an encounter with the ship. He was still pretty shaken up, but he managed to calm his nerves a bit.

Annabeth's grey eyes looked at Percy's stiff posture, he was staring out into sea and Annabeth could tell something was bothering him.

"He seemed so calm when he was talking," Percy continued. "It's like he knew what I was. All he did was smile, well, more like sneer. He talked about the animals like they were just objects, and I didn't like it."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him in concentration. That wasn't the only thing bothering him, she could tell. "Percy, what's wrong?"

He cast a sideways glance at her, before burying his tail in the sand. "Nothing." He muttered quietly.

"Percy," Annabeth said sternly. She was surprised at her tone of voice, it almost sounded like her mother's when she knew something was wrong. He looked at her with those green eyes before the silence took over.

"When Luke was talking," Percy started to say quietly, and Annabeth had to stain her ears to hear him. "He pointed to a bowl, a giant glass bowl, almost three times my size. He told me it was for a very special animal and I can't shake the feeling that it's meant for something that he shouldn't know exists."

"You think it's for the mer-people." Annabeth said, quickly catching on. Percy nodded much like Annabeth was doing two days ago, listening, but not comprehending.

"Percy," She put a hand on his shoulder, making butterflies go off in her stomach. "Just avoid them, okay? Make sure your dad knows. He can protect your family."

"I can't avoid them," Percy said, his voice was louder and more confident now. "Those animals need help. I can guarantee that a lot of them are from the sea. I can't just leave them."

"Percy," Annabeth tried desperately to get him to see her reason. "Please, don't go. If they caught you—I don't know what I'd do. Tell your dad, tell someone, let them do it, please."

Percy sighed and flicked all the sand off his tail. His eyes were like the sea right before a storm, calm yet deadly. Annabeth knew that she couldn't change his mind, but she had to try. She had to know that if anything happened to his, she'd at least tried to save him.

"Annabeth, I can't." He whispered. "I don't want to do it, but I can't leave them. Who knows what that bastard is doing to them?" Annabeth didn't even try to correct his language. Again, they were silent.

"Luke, he's already planned this," Annabeth realized, breaking the silence and making Percy jump in surprise. "I know—I mean, I knew Luke. He's got this already planned out. If you go you'll just fall into his trap. He may be dense but he's certainly not stupid."

"I can't just leave them." Percy tried to protest, but Annabeth interrupted him, "I know that. I know you can leave them because of your stupid fatal flaw, but I know that if you go you'll just fall into his trap and he's have you and all the animals." Percy gave Annabeth a hard look, before casting his eyes back towards the ocean.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth." Percy said, before he flipped his tail and launched himself in the water. Annabeth wanted to scream at him for being an idiot, but she couldn't move. Percy was stupid, but he wasn't that stupid.

Annabeth pulled her legs up to her chest; hugging them like she would do with a teddy bear. She was biting her lip to keep from crying, but she couldn't stop the tears, knowing that her best friend, and her crush was going to sacrifice his freedom and possibly his life, to save some sea creatures.

Annabeth was too busy crying to notice the two large men approach from behind. They were huge, and very muscular, but their faces were hidden by the darkness the surrounded them. One of them carried a potato sack, while the other carried a rope.

They snuck behind her at incredibly quietly for their large forms, and one of them wrapped his arms around Annabeth's waist to keep her from moving too much.

"Wha . . ? Hey!" Annabeth tried to struggle out of his grasp. "Hey! Let me go!"

The man that wasn't holding her quickly shoved the sack over her face to keep from her screaming louder than she already was. This, of course, only caused Annabeth to struggle more. She kept repeating in her head; I can't give up. I can't let them take me.

She managed a good blow to the guy's stomach, and made him groan in pain, but he didn't loosen his grip on Annabeth's waist. Annabeth could imagine the guy's eyes glaring at her, but she didn't care, not now.

"Let me go," Annabeth snarled in such a deadly voice that it surprised her.

"Joe," The man that was holding her grunted, "She's giving us trouble."

The man that wasn't holding Annabeth down—Joe came lumbering towards her. Annabeth couldn't see much through the loose strings, but she could make out a few gold teeth in his crooked smile. Annabeth's stomach dropped, they were pirates.

"Don't worry, miss." Joe said in a very low voice. "This won't hurt much."

That's when she felt the sharp pain in the back of her head and then everything went black.