Percy's POV

I woke up to the sunlight streaming on my face. I blinked a couple of times amd sat up. I could hear the sounds of Paul and Mom preparing breakfast in the kitchen and by the smell of it, it was pancakes and bacon. PANCAKES!
I shot up and ran toward the kitchen dodging the wooden furniture. I skidded to a stop next to the table and sat in the chair facing my parents.

"Good morning Percy!" Mom said as she put a steaming plate of blue pancakes and bacon in front of me. I immediately started devouring the pile.

"Goo murnong." I mumbled around my mouthful and Mom and Paul laughed.

"Sooo... What are you doing today?" Paul asked me also attacking his pancakes.

I swallowed my food and answered him, "Dunno. I'll probably explore the reefs. I heard there was an island near here. Maybe I'll go over there."

"Ok, Perce. Remember, tomorrow Paul's niece and her friends are coming over for lunch!"  I nodded finishing up my food and walked back to my room. After taking a quick shower and brushing my teeth, I was ready to go. I walked back out in my blue
t-shirt snd shorts.

"Bye Mom! Bye Paul!"

I proceeded to walk outside. The beach house we were staying in was small, with only two bedrooms and a kitchen/dining area. It was only a 5 minutes walk away from the water. I strolled contededly toward the waves admiring the beauty of Australia. I dimly registered walking past 4 girls, 3 blonde and one dark haired girl. They stared at me and though I didn't know it, they started following me.

I halted at the sea shore and looked up and down the beach. Good. There was no one here. I waded into the waves with my shoes on. The salt water immediately made me stronger and more aware. I breathed in the salty sea air and sighed happily. Everything was perfect. Everything except the fact that Annabeth wasn't here. Mom and Paul had wanted to spend more time alone with me and I couldn’t blame them. I had dissappeared for more than 8 months.

I dove straight into the water not knowing that there were four very peculiar girls stalking me at that very moment....

Cleo's POV
We were walking along the beach as we normally did every morning when we noticed a very handsome teen. He had sea blown midnight black hair and beautiful sea green eyes that reflected the water perfectly. He was very tanned and had an obvious six-pack. He looked around 17 or 18. In other words, he was a mermaid's perfect man. I sighed along with Rikki, Emma, and Bella. I don't know about them, but I could faintly sense a slight sea aura emitting from him and I felt drawn to him. We looked quickly at each other.
"D-did you guys feel that?" I whispered. They nodded.

"Let's follow him. Maybe... You know. He might be one. It's 10:30 right now and we don't have anywhere else to go." Rikki whispered back and we nodded in agreement. We followed him from behind staying well back as not to be seen. We followed him to the water's edge and hid behind a rock staying away from the waves. We peered over the edge.

The teen was standing in the waves with his hands in his pockets. He seemed deep in thought as he looked around the beach. He suddenly dived forward into the waves and we gasped.

"Quick! Into the water!" Emma cried and leaped in. We jumped in quickly and our legs fused into mermaid tails. We swam deeper and gazed around to find a clue of where he had gone. Bella pointed to a watery streak leading away into the depths. I started swimming, slowly going faster and faster following the jet of water leading away. I slowed when I saw a silhouette of the boy in front of us. I was dissapointed to find that he had no tail. Rikki elbowed us and pointed. I saw what she was looking at and gaped. The boy was breathing! As in breathing in the water!! Even we couldn't do that! I glanced towards my friends to see that they mirrored my shocked expression.

The boy swam toward Mako Island and I followed. What if he found the Moon Pool? We hid behind another rock and watched as he walked out of the sea completely dry. Whatever he was, he wasn't one of us. He jogged toward the forest and dissapeared from sight.

Percy's POV
I jogged toward the forest and into the trees. While we had one at Camp Half-Blood, this one was quite different. The trees and plants were all tropical and I couldn’t sense any nature spirits around. Not even a naiad. Weird. I spent most of the morning hiking through the forest and examining the plants. I just knew Annabeth would love this place. It was wild and beautiful, hardly touched by humans. It was definitely a place she had to visit. Oddly enough, there weren't any monsters either. Usually, they would jump at the chance to attack an alone Son of Poseidon.  It was like there was a giant magical forcefield around the whole island like the one at Camp. A twig cracked behind me and I froze. Maybe I spoke too soon. I whipped out Riptide and uncapped it. I turned around slowly expecting to see a monster to find an empty green forest behind me. It was weird because I felt like I was being followed ever since leaving the mainland. I dismissed the feeling and sighed. I capped my sword. I was just really jumpy I guess. I continued to walk on.

***

I eventually found a stream and I stopped next to it to rest. I cupped my hands and drank after making sure the water was clean. I crossed the stream willing myself dry. I climbed the tall rock overlooking the waters and sat down. I leaned against a rock and gazed at the forest canopy. I could hear the faint sound of birds singing and flapping from tree to tree. It was really peaceful. I stayed leaning against the tree and watched as the sun slowly moved across... Finally, it was late afternoon. I should probably be going home now. I stood up and walked toward the edge of the rock. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going because I stepped in the wrong place and the next thing I knew I was sliding down a tunnel. I yelled surprised. I reached the bottom and tumbled out, hitting my head on a rock. Ouch. The last thing I saw were four girls all leaning over me as I closed my eyes...

Bella's POV

We stayed hidden watching the hot boy. Even though I had Will, I couldn't help but feel attracted to him. He was just so cute. He had spent most of the afternoon staring at the sky lost in thought. I was elbowed by Emma who pointed. The boy was standing up. He walked toward the edge of the rock and he suddenly slipped. He fell down the tunnel to the Moon Pool yelling in surprise.

"Oh, C'mon," Rikki moaned. "So close to not finding it!"

"Let's go. He might be hurt." Emma exclaimed and ran up to the rock. She slid down closely followed by Cleo. When I finally shot out after Rikki, I saw them bending over the boy and I quickly followed them. Those sea green eyes of his were slightly opened and I swear he saw us before they flickered shut.

"What are we gonna do!" Cleo cried. "We can't just leave him. I raised his head to find that he had hit his head on a rock. It had already started bruising.

"Help me lift him to the Moon Pool." I told them. I raised his head and carefully grabbed his arms. Even with the four of us carrying him, this guy was heavy as a sack of rocks. Rikki quickly voiced this opinion but we shushed her because his eyes had started flickering open. After setting him down in the sand near the pool, Cleo took out her phone and read the time off.

"It's 6:41. Hold on. I've got to text Louis." Cleo said. We waited in silence until Cleo looked up again.
"Guys. It's the full moon tonight. Louis says it's already rising." She whispered worried.
Uh oh.
"Then we can't leave! We'll have to stay here tonight or risk seeing the Moon.." I exclaimed.

"We might get comfortable as well." Rikki shrugged and sat down away from the Moon Pool. We followed suit and soon we were all playing Truth or Dare and we had all but forgotten about the man on the other side of the cave wall passed out.

Percy's POV

I woke up to find myself in a volcano. Luckily, there was no lava. I thought I faintly heard the sound of talk and laughter echoing in the cave but since I didn't hear it again, I dismissed it as the wind. I rolled over to find a large cerulean pool of water in the heart of the volcano. I stood up and I immediately got a pounding head ache but I ignored it. Who were those girls I saw before passing out? And where were they? I was interrupted from my thoughts as the full moon peeked over the edge of the volcano. Oh schist! My Mom would think I was captured or something. I jumped straight into the pool of water forgetting to will myself dry.

I was immediately soaked but I didn't care. I was about to swim out when I noticed the pool bubbling. The full moon shone directly over the pool of water. The light of the moon sent silvery ripples across the pool. The water bubbled beneath me and surrounded my legs. I was astounded by the beauty of it. I stayed floating in the pool and staring at the bright white disk above me. I shook my head and turned away. I dived below the surface and kicked my legs. I shot out of the pool and swam toward Australia, and my parents.

Rikki's POV

We watched silently as the hot teen woke up. Even though Zane was pretty handsome, he had nothing against this guy. He was just way too hot! I watched as he leapt straight into the Moon Pool. I stared with bated breath as the pool started bubbling. The full moon shone directly into the volcano and it was hard to force myself not to look. I was aware of the internal battle between my friends and the moon. The guy stared at the Moon one last time and shook his head. He dove straight into the water and I caught one last look of his legs before he dissappeared.

"Why didn't it work?" I asked aloud.

"Remember, it wasn't until the day after we got our tails." Emma explained.

Cleo nodded. "We have to keep an eye out for him."

"What if we don't see him again?" Bella asked us quietly.

"We'll worry about that tomorrow. Now let's just go to sleep." I reassured them and curled up against the wall. With the full moon still out, we couldn't risk going home. Today really was an exciting day