Rikki POV Emma started to rub her neck repeatedly, apparently searching for her gills, which had disappeared. "Having fun there?" "Oh shut up, Rikki," Emma snapped. "Can't you even tell what's going on here?" "What do you mean?" Bella sounded as confused as I felt. "This whole situation!" Emma gestured wildly. "This camp! These people! Us ending up here, the water tentacles. Cleo acting like an injured tiger, and me growing gills." "Glad you saved the worst for last." I mumbled. Emma and Bella gave me twin glares, and I decided it was probably in my best interest to shut up. "Well, what do you think is going on?" Bella asked. "I don't know," Emma looked troubled. "But I have a feeling we're going to find out soon." Bella frowned, throwing herself onto a bed, and burying her face in the pillows. "Fantastic. Just one question. Why is it always us?" "What?" Emma and I spoke in unison, narrowing our eyes at each other. "You know," came the muffled reply. "All the freaky stuff. All the magical stuff. Why does it happen to us? Why did it happen to us? Why did we all become mermaids. How come every time something magical gets within a mile of us, it blows up in our faces? I mean, we're unlucky, but are we really that unlucky?" Bella gave a strange laugh. "Is right now really the time for an identity crisis?" I said slowly. Bella sat up. "It was just a thought." "Ri- right, well, let's go look for Cleo, shall we?" Emma seemed rattled, which I honestly couldn't blame her for, but I pushed my thoughts to the back of my head. A little niggling voice was scolding me, saying that I shouldn't just dismiss Bella entirely, but I ignored it. I mean, when did I ever listen to the voice of reason anyways? Cairon or Charon, whatever his name was, met us half down the road. "Ah, hello girls. I assume your time at camp has been enjoyable?" "Yes, of course Chiron,"(I was close enough), said Emma the suck up. I snickered. The said suck up gave me a look that clearly said, "Die now, in a pit filled with poisonous snakes and bloodthirsty lions and bears and knives and spears and pink tutus," or something along those lines. "Good." Chiron gazed at us for a few moments, appearing slightly perturbed (yes, I do sometimes listen in class, just very rarely). "Err, something wrong, Chiron?" Bella hesitantly asked. Chiron shook his head for a few seconds, then gave Bella a quick, grandfatherly smile. "No, my dear. I'm fine. But thank you for asking." His sentence came out stilted, something which didn't fly over any of our heads. Emma shot him a skeptical glance, and his smile grew tight. "Well, I have to go, girls. Don't miss the bonfire!" And with that, he galloped off. I full-out cackled, then. "Chiron is in a lot of myths, isn't he? So he must be really old, but he lies about as well as a five year old." "Something must have really unsettled him." Emma looked thoughtful. "Well, no use worrying about it now, right? So let's go find our runaway friend!" Bella laughed nervously, yanking and twisting on a piece of hair. Emma and I shared a look, and then I decided that the only person worse than Chiron at lying was Bella. But we humored her, and continued walking. Suddenly, two women walked towards us. Both were pretty, I guess, though in very different ways. One sort of looked like a cross between a model and a mom, though I wasn't exactly an expert on what moms looked like, while the other resembled a battle princess. The model-mom gave me an amused smile. "Thank you, dear." The warrior lady just glared. "You're goddesses." Emma commented abruptly. "Give the girl a gold star." We all jumped as a man with curly black hair and blue eyes,( I couldn't really tell his age, what with all this supernatural crap) appeared next to Bella. "Hermes." The model-mom's megawatt smile cooled a few degrees. "Hera." Hermes nodded his head at her, before striding over to Hera. The warrior lady spoke for the first time. "Have you come to gawk at the show, Hermes, or is there a purpose to your visit." "It might surprise you, Athena, to know that I didn't come to here to look at these pretty ladies." He flashed a quick charming grin at Bella, who blushed, before continuing. "I have a message." Hermes chucked a small package at Athena, who glowered at him, before opening it and finding two small notes. She passed one to Hera, and the two women read them together. Athena's face remained stoic, but the fake smile that had been pasted on Hera's completely disintegrated, and she threw her crumpled note onto the ground with a scowl. "Thank you, Hermes." Hera, tried to compose herself. Hermes inclined his head, sent Bella the 'call me' sign, and vanished. "Well," Hera began, ignoring Bella's red face. "Let's talk, shall we?" A table and chairs formed, complete with tea and tiny pastries, and I suddenly felt dread in the pit of my stomach. What had we gotten into?