I'm a Mermaid (a PJO / H2O crossover) - Complete

Chapter 11

Percy's POV

She's a mermaid? They exist? Does that mean her friends are too?

"Cleo, please come out of the water, there's no one else around, you're safe." I say. She comes to the surface, looking really shy and timid. "Who else knows?" I ask, hoping she's told her family about this. She doesn't say anything. "Cleo, please tell me your family knows about this." I say.

She shakes her head, looking even more embarrassed than before. "No one knows apart from you three now."

"Somehow I find that hard to believe. Are Rikki, Emma, and Bella mermaids too?" I hope she won't lie to me this time.

"No, it's just me." She says without hesitation. Yeah, sure. Well now I know that they're all mermaids. I can't believe they exist.

"So, your fear of water? Is that all just so you can keep the secret?" She nods. "How did you become a mermaid?"

"Well, I was on Mako one night and it was a full moon. Short story is I fell into this cave with a pool inside of it leading to the ocean. I went into the pool and it started bubbling as the moon passed over u- I mean me, and the next morning I got in the shower, and I had this tail." She slipped up, she almost said 'us' that means that the others are mermaids too.

"It must be hard keeping this secret from your family. Why don't you tell them?" 

"I can't." She says, "I've had a scientist find out about me before and it didn't go well. So is my family found out, Sam would leave my dad, Kim would freak out and turn me in to scientists, and I don't know about my dad, but he would probably hate me for driving Sam away."

"So, let me get this straight, you all trust your boyfriends to know your secret but none of you have told your families?" I ask.

She nods embarrassed, and says ,"Yeah," She suddenly realises what I said, "Wait- how did you know we were all mermaids and that we told Zane, Lewis, Ash, and Will?" She asks, shocked that I figured it out.

"Well, when I asked if the others were mermaids too, you answered too quickly, almost as if it were rehearsed just in case people were going to find out. Plus you slipped up when I asked how you were turned. And the boyfriends thing is that when I asked if we wanted to swim to Mako, they all denied it immediately like you guys implying that they know to secret too." Even Jason and Grover are surprised I figured that out without Annabeth. I may be a seaweed brain, but I'm not stupid.

"Okay Perce, it looks like you've been hanging out with Annabeth too much." Jason says to me.

"Cleo, would you give us a minute to take this in and talk?" I ask. The reason I want to be alone with them is I want to call Annabeth to ask if we can tell her about us.

"Sure." She says and returns under the water.

//The italics are them speaking in Ancient Greek//

"Just in case she can still hear us, let's talk in Ancient Greek."

"Ok." Jason and Grover say in perfect unison.

"I'm going to call Annabeth to ask her if we can tell Cleo about us."

"Percy, telling Cleo is a bad idea."

"I agree with Grover, I know we know about her, but our secret isn't just exposing us, it's exposing the gods and Camp as well. We can't tell her, and Annabeth will agree with us."

"But, we know about her and her friends now. There might be more, but she just hasn't told us about them."

"Percy, by telling her you're putting the gods, demigods, and camp in danger. You're also putting her in danger. Once she knows about the whole mythological world, her scent will become stronger and monsters might attack her and her family. You don't want that, Perce."

"I guess you guys are right- we really wouldn't want them mixed up in all our problems."

Cleo's POV

I can't believe he found out so quickly. I've managed to keep it for about a week. A WEEK! And he doesn't like the fact we haven't told our families too, which I see his point, but I don't want bad things to happen to us because I told them. 

I was so amazed that he figured out that Emma, Rikki, and Bella were mermaids too, I mean I know I slipped up once, but people aren't usually that observant of a small mistake. He  found out that we told the guys too, which didn't go well.

I wonder what they're talking about there though- I can't hear much from down here, but I could have probably figured some of it out if it weren't in another language. I don't even recognise the language they're speaking in either- I've definately never heard it before. Percy just keeps on getting stranger and stranger. I know he has a secret, so now he knows mine, he might trust me enough to tell me his.

"Cleo?" I hear him call. "You're good to come up now." 

I return to the surface to see just Percy there. His friends must have left. "Hey, I'm really sorry for keeping this from you." I say, feeling bad even though I barely know him.

"No, it's fine. We've only known each other for a week- I couldn't expect you to tell me something you haven't even told most of your family. I honestly get it, don't worry. I won't tell them either- you know- Sam, your dad, and especially Kim. I'll keep the secret, as long as my friends can know. I can't keep anything from them, and they won't tell anyone else, I swear on the river Styx."

Thunder sound in the distance even though there's no chance of a storm at this moment. "Alright, you can tell them, but make sure you don't let the others know that you know."

He nods.

"And what was that 'River Styx' thing?"

"Basically, it's an Oath that you make only when you are sure to keep it. If not you'll be punished for eternity when you die." Well, that sounds happy. He's really serious about keeping this secret, huh.

"Thank you for keeping the secret." I say.

"It's fine- we all have our secrets and I would hate it if someone just told everyone mine. I have another question though, what happened with the scientist?" He asks. That brings back memories of the first year we were mermaids, and Dr Denman.

"Well, her name was Dr Denman, and-" I tell the whole story about Dr Denman, including the part where we got rid of our powers.

He is pretty much speechless when I'm done, "Wow. I can't believe that happened to you guys- it must have been hard, thinking that you could never be a mermaid again." 

"It was one of the hardest things we've ever done, but it was worth it to get rid of her. She's in New York at the moment, doing who knows what, but at least she's far away from us." I say. Percy just nods in agreement. 

I wish he'd tell me his secret now- I've literally just spilled everything about being a mermaid to him. He knows everything, so why doesn't he trust me with his secret?

"I can't tell you my secret Cleo. Like you said- you've only known me for a week. Trust needs time- I'm sorry. You'll know eventually."

Percy's POV

I wish I could tell Cleo about me being a Demigod, but I can't- it would put her whole family in danger and I can't risk that. I wish I could tell her something though, as if it was my secret. I kind of wish I was a merman too, so that we'd have something in common too.

Hey, maybe I could be a merman. I could ask dad to turn me like them, so when I get wet, I turn. That would be amazhang!

I walk to the beach to ask Dad. I know he'll probably think it's stupid of me, but I really want to do this to make Cleo feel better, then I'll be telling her a secret I won't even tell the demigods.

"Dad, if you can hear me ripple the water." I say, hoping he's listening for once.

"I can do better son," I hear his voice say. I turn to see the water vapour materialising until my dad appears. "What's troubling you?" He asks, sounding genuinely concerned.

"I want to become a merman."