Hello? *dodges multitude of thrown objects* LOOKI'MSORRYFORKINDARUNNINGOUTONYOUGUYSLIKETHATPLEASEACCEPTMYAPOLOGYANDDON'TKILLME! Spears down? Okay, good. More or less. Look, I have some news down at the bottom of this chapter, so please read it.

Congrats to The Girl With The Words for being the first person to get last chapter's reference! It was when Travis tried to confuse Annabeth by saying that he wasn't Travis, and that his brother was, just like how Fred and George Weasley tried to confuse their mother in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Disclaimer: Own I do not.

Ch 18

ANNABETH

Leo was the first one to try out the new blessing. He pushed himself out of the water, and was immediately surrounded by a glowing green light.

"Wait!"Calypso cried. "We don't know anything about it yet! Like if you're going to end up with clothes or not!"

"Whatever!" Leo shouted back through the light.

Frank covered Hazel's eyes.

The light around Leo slowly dissipated. Leo stepped out of the light and struck a pose, then looked down. "Aw! I have clothes on!"

Indeed he did. Leo had on a puffy white shirt and black pants that were tucked into black boots that stopped mid-calf. Leo's toolbelt was back around his waist, and there was a red sash tied around his head.

Aphrodite gave a small wave and a knowing smirk. "You're welcome!" she sang.

Calypso was speechless.

Leo noticed. He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Hey." He tried to walk over to her, but promptly collapsed in the sand. "I should probably figure out the whole walking dealio," Leo grumbled.

Percy just laughed.

"C'mon, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, yanking him out of the water. "It's time for you to learn to walk too."

"But Annabeth!" Percy complained as the green light engulfed him. When Percy came out, he had on almost the exact same thing as Leo. Almost. Instead of a tool belt around his waist, Percy had a green sash with a sword attached to it. The engraving on the side read Anakulmous. Percy's hair hung in its usual unruly mess.

"Percy," Annabeth breathed. He smiled sheepishly, then tried to take a couple hesitant steps towards her. He fell. Annabeth laughed, and pulled him up, helping him take a couple more steps.

Piper was the next to be enveloped in green light, followed by Hazel and Nico. Piper came out wearing a puffy white shirt, similar to the boys' shirts, but more feminine. Her black pants were pulled up a little higher than the guys' pants, and her boots stopped just above her knee. The sash around her waist was pink, and there was some make up on her face.

Piper looked furious. "Mom!"

Aphrodite tried to look innocent. "What?"

"Take it off." Piper glared at her mother.

"But-"

"Now."

"But you-"

"No. Now."

Aphrodite pouted, but waved her hand, and the makeup disappeared.

"Come, now. We must go back," Poseidon stated.

"Give the kids a little while. They'll meet us back in the ocean, don't worry," Aphrodite murmured to Poseidon.

Poseidon rolled his eyes, but consented. The Council slipped back underwater, swimming away.

By the time Annabeth's attention returned back to the beach, Leo and Percy were showing off their new ability to walk, and Hazel and Nico had changed into humans. Hazel had on an outfit similar to Piper's, except her sash was black and she had a black headband around her head.

Nico wore the same thing as Percy, with a black sash. He looked at Will, holding up his new sash in one hand. "Black, like my soul."

Will just laughed, and helped him start walking towards the others.

It didn't take long for the merfolk to get a hang of walking. They claimed that it was 'like swimming with two fins, plus balance!' The humans didn't get it.

"So, hopefully, every time we change, we'll end up with clothes and our weapons, no matter what?" Piper asked.

Annabeth nodded. "That's my guess."

Shouts and the clatter of feet interrupted their discussion. Torchlight flooded the beach, and the group stood, drawing their weapons.

"Search everywhere!" a familiar voice shouted.

"Polybotes," Percy growled.

Annabeth placed a hand on his arm. "Percy, I don't think this is the right time to fight him. You're still unsteady on your feet, Percy. Maybe we should go-"

"There!"

Annabeth stopped talking as a group led by Polybotes and Luke raced onto the beach, cutting off any chance of escape on land they had. Of course, they didn't know that the group always had another option. The sea.

"Well," Luke said with a smirk, "looks like the merfolk grew legs."

Polybotes smirked as well, his sword out. "Should've swam away while they had the chance."

The gang got into defensive positions as Polybotes' and Luke's men surrounded them. They stood back to back in a circle.

"We just have to make it to the water," Annabeth whispered to them.

"What about the rest of the crew?" Jason muttered back.

"They'll be fine. We can swim over to them and explain stuff. Right now, we gotta move."

"Annabeth, we should've slipped into the water while we had the chance," Piper hissed.

Annabeth shot her a glare. "You think I don't know that?"

Polybotes made the first move, swinging his sword at Percy. Percy's response was immediate. Annabeth knew that Percy was a master swordsman underwater, but she still worried how he would fare on land.

Unfortunately, a sword swinging towards her face made her stop worrying so much about Percy and start worrying about herself. Years of battling pirates at sea made her duck the sword and immediately retaliate with a slice towards her attacker.

"Hello Annabeth," Luke smirked as he parried her sword away.

"Luke," Annabeth said in response, slashing at his chest. He sidestepped the swipe, returning it with a swipe of his own.

"Annie, come on," Luke sighed. "You know you could never beat me."

"I don't need to beat you," Annabeth replied, a plan forming in her head.

o.O.o

Percy had quickly discovered that being good with a sword underwater and being good with a sword above water were two completely different things. Because while Percy was the best swordsman ever underwater, above water, he was only okay.

This was what Percy blamed for the drops of blood rolling down his chest and arm.

Like the slash on his chest, for instance. It was shallow, but still deep enough to sting. Polybotes had swung his sword, and Percy screamed SWIM BACK at his legs, forgetting he couldn't swim on land. He remembered a little too late, jumping just far enough back so that Polybotes didn't kill him.

Percy met Polybotes' sword with his own, pressing him back with all his strength.

"You're just some stupid merman," Polybotes hissed through gritted teeth. "I'm far more superior."

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Percy grunted. Percy slammed the hilt of his sword down on Polybotes' head. The brute went down.

"To the water!" Annabeth yelled. Percy glanced at her. She had knocked Luke out cold, and was sprinting towards the ocean. Percy followed suit.

The moment they were completely underwater, they changed. Percy's tail returned to him, and Annabeth grew one. But Percy didn't have any time to see her change. The minute Percy was back to a merman, he reached his hand out and made a grabbing motion. The water followed his direction, grabbing all of Percy's friends, and dousing everyone else. The gang was sent tumbling through the water, changing mid-tumble. Concentrating, Percy pulled the ball of water containing his friends deeper into the ocean. They spiraled into the water beside Percy and Annabeth.

The merfolk, laughing, straightened themselves out, and swam to help their human.

Annabeth was floundering. "Percy! Percy! I can't breath! Percy, help!"

Percy laughed. "In through your nose, out through your mouth, Annabeth. It's just like breathing up above."

Her breathing slowed down to normally. "This goes against everything science," she muttered.

Percy took her hand, and slowly started leading Annabeth farther away from shore. The rest followed suit.

Once Annabeth got the hang of swimming and breathing underwater, she moved on to her next order to business. "We need to contact Thalia."

Percy saluted. "Copy that! Leo, drachma me!"

Leo tossed a gold coin at Percy, who caught it, created mist underwater (Annabeth made a mental note to figure out how that worked), and threw the coin into the water.

Thalia's concerned face appeared. The bustle of the Argo II was clear in the background, as was the tension in the atmosphere.

"Thalia!" Annabeth shouted.

"Annabeth!" Thalia's eyes widened. "You have a tail."

Annabeth shrugged. "Poseidon's blessing. Where are you? What's going on up there?"

"Luke forced us out of Jupiter City. We aren't allowed to dock there anymore. I'm not sure exactly where we are, but the shoreline of Jupiter City is still in sight."

"Alright. I'm coming. We're coming."

Thalia nodded, her mouth set in a grim line, before the message ended.

"So just like that?" Piper asked. "We're leaving? Leaving all those other merfolk, leaving Silena behind?"

"We'll be back, Piper," Annabeth sighed, looking at her friends. "At some point. For now, we need to regroup."

"Regroup," Piper repeated.

Annabeth nodded.

"You know, I here New Rome's pretty nice this time of year," Calypso said, holding hands with Leo.

Percy smiled. "Then to New Rome, Captain?"

"To New Rome." Annabeth took his hand.

They looked at one another, smiling, glad to have made it out of mess number 1 alive.

"Here we go," Frank muttered.

And they swam off into the unknown.

The end.

Yeah, that's it. That's all I'm going to write for this universe. I've realized that there are too many holes in the plot, too much backstory left unanswered. If anyone wants to adopt this universe, shoot me a PM! Thank you all so much for sticking with me and my sporadic updates, and for understanding that I've simply grown too much as a writer to let this hole-ridden universe weigh me down.

Also, on the related note of writing, there is a POLL on my profile! Please check it out! It pertains to which fic I publish next. Thanks!