"Is it common for humans to bite one another? If it is a land walker custom, I do not like it."

Annabeth bit back the sigh pressing on her lips and tightened her hold on Perseus's fidgeting arm, rubbing on more disinfectant alcohol. The teeth marks indenting his skin around the knife's prick were red, raised, and angry-looking.

"No," she said, her voice a little harder than expected. "I don't know why an adult would bite a kid like that…Luke needs to get his uncle some help-"

"Forget about that," Grover interrupted, "We need to get some help. Percy said that Kronos knew his dad was Poseidon! And some monster just tried to eat us at the beach! It was looking for Percy, right? More might show up. We're screwed."

Annabeth allowed the sigh this time.

"We're not screwed, Grover. We just have to think things through a little."

So much for keeping things under wraps.

How many people had found out about Perseus being a merman? And who was sending monsters out to kill him? It was only his first day on land! Annabeth never would have guessed harboring a fugitive merman could cause so much trouble so quickly.

Rachel Dare and the worst possible person, Kronos Castellan, knew about Perseus's supernatural origins. Luke remained clueless as usual but his ignorance didn't provide Annabeth much comfort about the situation.

She wasn't sure how to feel about him anymore. Would Luke be a liability? What about Rachel, Grover, and Perseus himself? Could she trust them?

Well...

...If there were any kids she would choose to have be on her team, it was those guys.

Luke had saved them all earlier. As angry as she had been with him the past few weeks she couldn't deny that when the challenge arose, Luke had answered the call. He had thought on his feet and braved the monster from the beach, with the help of Rachel's car. Maybe him knowing the secret wouldn't be the end of the world. Maybe he would actually be of some help?

Perseus was proving himself, too. As loose-lipped as he was, Perseus refused to be a damsel in distress. He had thrown himself in front of the beast, close enough for the claws to tear him to shreds. Besides. Annabeth was sure that after this biting incident, Perseus was not going to yap the secret to anyone else. He seemed to think the next person he told was going to bite him again.

Annabeth thought of the others. Rachel had courageously led her out of the dark beach house and Grover had helped use the banner to knock the creature down.

She felt a surge of reassurance.

Still. Things would be better if fewer people knew. Even though Grover and Rachel were aware of Perseus being a mermaid, that didn't mean Annabeth was going to run and explain things to Luke...or anyone else the whole story for that matter. Grover was the only one in the know, and he had proved silent on the secret this far.

Besides. She had other things to worry about besides how many people knew.

Like, who was the 'magic' employer that had sent that thing after Perseus? A master of disguises? Wielder of magic? A witch? Would they send other beasts?

"Percy do you know any witches?" Annabeth questioned wonderingly.

Percy nodded. "There are many."

The blonde pretended not to see the shiver that ran through Grover or feel the one threatening to crawl down her own spine. "Many? Many where?"

Percy stared at her, looking as if he could not believe she didn't already know. "In the deep, of course. Some reside above but most like it below."

"The sea level, you mean?"

"Yes. Where the light touches and where the light cannot reach."

Annabeth drew closer.

He knew about a whole other world that she didn't. She could feel the burn to know deep in her gut, curiosity stifling the fear in her.

"Tell me about them."

Percy thought carefully for a few moments before speaking slowly. "These things that I tell you are not to be shared to other land walkers. The peoples of the world should not trade secrets so freely."

Annabeth nodded alongside Grover. "We understand, dude," Grover insisted, "we won't tell anyone!"

Percy frowned at them both, though his eyes seemed to be looking past them. "I have already told you both too much at this point. It is not normal but…this is not a normal situation. And I trust you."

The two humans gave him shy smiles that bolstered a bit of confidence inside Percy. He continued on.

"Witches are among the land walkers and the seafolk as well as other peoples of the world. For seafolk, there are good and bad witches. Few are both. Bad witches harm other seafolk and steal their souls, turning them into foam. It's wicked."

"I thought mermaids didn't have souls?" Grover questioned.

Perseus's brows drew together. "Every living thing has a soul."

"Hans Andersen didn't think so. The guy who came up with 'The Little Mermaid'? He said when mermaids died, they all turned into foam."

Perseus scoffed. "Oh! Him. He would think that."

"You know him?"

Percy laughed. "Many know him. He traveled far and met several of the peoples. Merfolk, fae, weres and others. He told humans stories of them, though his stories are not entirely…accurate. He is just one of the many land walkers that have met and spoken with other beings."

Grover looked intrigued before rattling off too many questions for Percy to keep up with. "So you guys do have souls? Do humans have them too? What happens when you die? Is there some kind of mermaid heaven-?"

The merboy raised a hand to halt Grover's chatter. "...We don't know any more about those things than you land walkers do. Merfolk like to think that our bodies become one with the ocean again, and that our scales become shards of sunlight that break through the waters. Some think we come back as other sea creatures. Some think that there is nothing after."

"What do you think?"

Percy's eyes twinkled. "I know that the land is wide and the water is deep. I know that souls exist and that they are too powerful to disappear. Something happens to them. I just don't know what."

Annabeth made a mental note to revisit the curious topic before prodding Perseus. They needed to focus. "Tell us more about witches."

"Ah! Well, sea witches have more power over the ocean than the average merperson but this is because they must give something up, usually something extremely important, in exchange for the power. The ocean is both chaotic and balanced. To be a good sea witch, one must achieve both states of being at the same time. Few can. Most witches fall under 'balanced' or 'chaotic'. In our kingdom, if a seawitch became too chaotic, we banished them to the deep."

Annabeth shivered. "The deep? Why?"

Perseus shrugged. "The creatures below are stronger. Darker. They can handle the antics of a chaotic sea witch better than the merfolk above. We are a balanced people. And to be banished is to be shamed."

"Were there any witches in your kingdom?"

"A few. Morgana. Atargatis. Namaka."

Annabeth nodded. "And were they bad? Which ones were banished?"

Percy shrugged. "Your definition of bad? Or ours? Some were bad. Most were a mix of both, I suppose. Namaka and Atargatis were banished."

"Did either of them have a reason to hurt you?"

Percy thought for a while. "I'm not sure. I never spoke to them."

Annabeth nodded. At least she had it narrowed down now. Namaka and Atargatis. She looked to Perseus.

"Percy, I need you to help me out here. C'mon, think hard. Did either of those two witches stay in the kingdom before? In your palace?"

Perseus frowned. "Why would you think that? The royals would never employ such conniving, heinous-"

She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. This kid's pride would be the end of her!

"Percy, no, stop. I know your family is respectable and honorable and all that, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if either of the witches were ever near you. Did Namaka or Atargatis work in the palace before? Because that monster from earlier was speaking English and only-"

Perseus's eyes lit up. "-Oh! Only a royal would be so well versed in the languages of the land walkers. You're right. Let me think...both were servants there. Yes. We had many servants doing many things but I remember the staff whispering about the two when they were both found guilty and banished. Not at the same time, of course, but the both of them."

Annabeth almost jumped with glee.

It was definitely one of those two. Perseus's enemy could only be someone strong enough to curse his conch, someone with access to deep sea monsters and someone with a reason. She was almost glad that Perseus's pursuer sent that dumb monster after them. It only helped shed light on who was behind all of this.

"Were either of them known as masters of concealment, or disguise? The Dark One had said that at the party. It said that's the kind of witch who sent it after you."

Percy shrugged. "Pfft. Witches are a boastful bunch, especially when there is nothing to boast about. Most all of them are talented with illusion magic. And as if one creature from the deep would be enough to best me in battle! I doubt they will send another because getting a creature of the deep to listen to you is hard enough, witch or not. Keeping it alive on land is even harder. There are other ways they will try to hurt me, I'm sure."

Annabeth frowned at his nonchalance. "Aren't you scared that someone out there is after you?"

"Not at all. Let them try. I'm a prince! Princes don't get scared."

She rolled her eyes.

Now...

How many kids had seen the creature, if any?

What were the police going to find at the Dare beach house? Was the investigation going to lead back to Perseus? They had better lay low, just in case.

And why had Luke's uncle cannibalized Perseus so viciously if he knew Perseus wasn't human? Wasn't he afraid of catching some supernatural disease or getting the targeting force of Perseus's inhuman strength? And why biting? If they were fighting each other…she hated to even suggest it because Percy was her friend, but logically speaking, wouldn't the knife he had been holding been far more effective against Perseus in a fight rather than human teeth?

Annabeth just couldn't put those pieces of the puzzle together. She would have to look up a few things online, especially the names of those witches. If Poseidon was common knowledge of both humans and mermaids, who knows what else was?

Grover questioned Percy as Annabeth sank away into her thoughts.

"Man, this is just…surreal. You know so many things that we don't. That all this stuff exists, it's just…cool! I mean, you having all these creepy things after you isn't cool, but everything else is."

Perseus stared. "Land walkers also know many things that sea folk do not. I will tell my friends of them when I return home."

Grover nodded, wondering about what kind of creatures Perseus was friends with.. "You can do so much stuff Perce'. Breathe underwater, telepathy, strength, the list goes on."

"I 'could' do those things. Not anymore. Nothing but the strength remains, and I'm not even sure why that is."

Grover tilted his head in question. "Why didn't you fight Kronos off then? I mean, it looked like you were just letting the old guy munch on your arm."

Green eyes evaded brown as Perseus folded his arms before wincing and lowering them. "It's not that simple! He- he stepped on my fins...I mean my flippers- I mean-"

"-feet?" Grover supplied.

"Yes, those! They hurt very much. Too much to focus and...aaaaaaghh!"

He stood up abruptly on the bed, suddenly enraged.

Grover and Annabeth stared, bewildered. "I am a prince of the oceans! I cannot believe I was- maimed by a lowly land walker! An elderly one at that! This is unacceptable. My father would shed his scales if he ever heard. I should have destroyed that man. I will smite him if I ever lay gaze on him again! Neither of you will tell a soul! Swear it on the seven seas! I command you!"

Grover looked to Annabeth as she too stood up on the bed, leveling a hot gaze with Percy's. "...Uh?"

"Perseus." Her words came out low. "Relax. We're here to help you. But remember: you're not a prince now. Not up here. On land, you're just like the rest of us. So if you want to get back home you're going to have to work with us. You don't get to command us because we're not your servants, we're your friends. And we're not just 'lowly land walkers'. We're human."

Percy stared her down, chest rising fast.

"Breathe," Annabeth ordered, "and stop letting your pride get in the way of us helping you! Maybe if you hadn't been bragging so much, Kronos wouldn't have found out your secret."

Percy looked affronted. His lineage was no secret. Merman or human, royal blood still ran through his veins and would continue to do so until the day he died. Why shouldn't he be prideful of something so glorious? "For someone who says I shouldn't command others, you give a lot of commands yourself!"

Annabeth raised a sharp finger. "It's for your own good!" She didn't care if she was bursting the sea prince's bubble. His outbursts had unnerved her for too long and she needed to weed out his defiance. She needed Percy to listen and stay low if they were going to keep him a secret and get him home. Everything was already unraveling and it hadn't even been 24 hours yet. "Think before you speak next time, Percy."

"…Or what?" he whispered hotly. She couldn't tell if the breathy words were laced with anger, disbelief, or something a little more raunchy. All she knew was that it gave her goosebumps and Percy's eyes seemed to knife her, the green growing more intense.

"Or I'll…I'll…"

The door banged as Miss Jackson strode inside the guest room. Perseus quickly sat back down and hid his injured arm behind his back before smiling at the older woman. Annabeth wiped away sweat that she hadn't felt rolling down her temple.

"Oh good, you're home," Miss Jackson breathed in relief. "There's an accident all over the news about a party near the beach. I was worried about you three!"

Percy grinned. "No need to worry Miss Jackson, we're fine."

She smiled warmly. "I'm glad. If you need anything, just yell. And Annabeth, no jumping on the beds, please. Honestly, you know better than that." Sally scolded. Annabeth felt her ears heat up as she sat down and watched the older woman leave the room.

Percy seemed to perk up at Sally's words, oblivious to the residual tension his human friends were still feeling from the recent confrontation. "'Yell' if I need anything? I don't think I've yelled my entire time stuck on land, friends!"

He inhaled a noisy lungful of air.

"No," Annabeth insisted, clapping her hands over his mouth. Perseus grinned beneath her fingers before peeking his tongue out, licking her palms. Annabeth of Chase was an annoyingly demanding land walker but he kind of liked that about her, he mused.

"You taste salty like the ocean," he noted, tongue poking at her skin.

Her eyebrows jumped suddenly.

"Oh my…Grover, that's it!" Annabeth yelled.

Grover quickly removed the look of disgust on his face from Perseus's saliva all over her fingers to focusing on her. "Uh- yeah, huh?"

"Taste...he was tasting...'-To eat'! Kronos wasn't fighting Perseus…he was trying to eat him!"

Grover shook his head. "No offense, Annabeth…but that's honestly the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say. He was trying to eat a full grown teenager? I mean yeah, he bit pretty deep, but..."

"Well…I don't think he was actually trying to eat Perseus but something along those lines…I don't know why he was doing it there in his library, and while Perseus was clearly conscious. Maybe he was trying to agitate him? Taste-test him? Maybe it's like, a way to challenge other mermaids? I don't know. All I know is that this theory fits better than anything else."

Grover shook his head. "Doesn't fit to me. I think he just forgot his old-person meds and decided to get a little chompy on Percy."

Annabeth wiped her wet hand on Perseus's shirt before turning towards the desktop computer in the room. Percy moved to taste Grover's hand, who yelped and slapped him off.

Annabeth booted up the PC and began to type. She was certain she was onto something. Maybe Kronos had known something they hadn't? Was there a benefit to biting mermaids?

A sudden warmth spread across her back before she felt Perseus settle himself on top of her, peering over her shoulder. There was not a nook or cranny of space between the two and the blonde could feel herself stop typing as Perseus breathed into her ear.

"Perce'", Grover called over, "what are you doing?"

"Watching what Annabeth is doing."

"Why are you on her, though?"

Annabeth felt Perseus shrug and jostle the both of them, as close as he was. She wondered if mermaids shrugged often or if Perseus was just copying what he had seen Grover do.

"She is comfortable," he seemed to conclude before twisting and burying his face deep into her neck, inhaling.

"I thought you were mad at me?" Annabeth asked, making a show of twisting away while ignoring the contented thrumming on her skin.

"Mm…I was but now I don't care. Princes don't hold petty grudges."

Annabeth almost laughed. Percy may have sucked at keeping secrets but at least he sucked at arguing, too.

Grover leaned onto Perseus, trying to get a grip on the squirmy kid.

"Boundaries man, you need to learn them!"

She inhaled sharply at the extra weight of the two boys before huffing in exasperation. "Perseus, Grover, please. I'm looking for something on the Internet right now."

"What's the 'Internet'?"

"…Why don't you go cuddle with Grover instead?"

Eyes brightening, Perseus untangled himself from her and hobbled over to Grover who scrambled back.

Annabeth ignored the sounds of struggle behind her and scoured webpage after webpage, looking for a clue.

'Mermaids this, mermaid that, blah blah blah, not relevant...'

She found a few ancient Grecian stories on men who ate mermaids and consequently, were cursed. Other stories from tropical regions said that humans became mermaids if they tasted the flesh. In some East Asian myths, it was thought that eating the flesh of a mermaid gave immortality. They spoke of the 'ningyo' in Japan, a fish-human that brought omen and disaster wherever it appeared.

Other places thought that eating mermaid scales gave humans the ability to breathe underwater or become stronger than ten men. A few sources claimed that the flesh of a mermaid caused nothing to happen, only that it was the best tasting meat you'd ever find in an ocean.

Annabeth felt a little guilty over her slight curiosity at the taste of Perseus. She quickly changed her mind. Not that she would ever seriously consider eating him, but in his mer-form he was far too beautiful, too strange to eat.

Did Kronos want to become a merman? Or immortal? Or did he simply want to eat one?

She wasn't sure. But she was willing to bet a man like Kronos leaned more towards immortality more than he did unique cuisine.

But what if it wasn't any of those things? Maybe he really was just crazy. But that seemed too easy.

Damn. Now she had one more thing to worry about!

Whatever the old man wanted to do, it involved hurting Percy. How far was Kronos willing to go to get what he wanted? She couldn't allow Percy to get hurt during his stay on land. Not only because she cared for his wellbeing, but also because he needed to be returned to Poseidon in one piece.

Annabeth doubted that Kronos would blow Perseus's cover. The tabloids would have a field day if he started ranting about mermaids instead of stocks and bonds.

She was going to make sure Perseus stayed far, far away from Kronos.

It was a good thing Percy's tail was gone. At least they could still pretend he was human no matter what anyone else said.

"Ah!"

She turned away from the computer to see Perseus gripping onto Grover's face and pressing their foreheads together.

Grover fidgeted. "Percy, this is weird and your ocean breath is like, killing my nasal senses right now-"

"I need to be close."

"What?"

"I can't mindspeak like before. Perhaps if I decrease the distance between us our thoughts will be able to touch?"

"Uh, no. I don't think it works like that."

Percy sighed and released Grover before slumping back onto the bed before curling onto his side. The fidgeting slowly wore away.

Annabeth and Grover sat beside the him.

"It is too quiet," he confided. "I do not like it."

Annabeth nodded. So that was the problem. "Do you want to listen to music?"

Percy shook his head slowly, before fidgeting once more. "The music at Rachel's party was amazing but...it's not that. I do not like this silence. I do not like how…how open…I need something to touch my skin besides air but I cannot feel anything." He ran his hands up and down his body before burying his head in a pillow.

He did not want his land walker friends to see him in a distressed mood but it was becoming too much.

He wasn't used to feeling so little resistance in every motion with the absence of water, or using his nose to smell, or hearing things so sharply, or walking upright for so long. His abdomen felt strange without the muscles being used to whip his mertail up and down. His mind buzzed in the silence that filled it without the thoughts of nearby creatures to fill it.

He felt very raw and open, like a fresh wound. He felt blinded.

He felt sad.

Where was his father? His family? Were they looking for him? Were they worried?

Did they even care? After all the trouble he had caused they might not even want him back. They might find a new prince to crown king of the sea. A merboy with more class and wit that wouldn't get turned into a human so easily. A merboy that would not be bested by land walkers or reveal the sacred secrets of the folk so easily. A merboy that did not crave the embrace of a human woman with no relation to him, the touch of something, anything, to anchor him. A merboy who wasn't so heavily attached to two land walker children.

He knew it was silly. Of course they wouldn't replace him, he was of royal blood. But that didn't erase the feelings of regret that bubbled up as he thought about all the things he had done and said before disappearing. He had hurt so many, trampled the feelings of others. He had spat venom at his father before disappearing. Would he ever get to apologize?

Percy hardly realized the tears were falling until he felt the pillow beneath him moisten. He burrowed further into it to hide his face.

Princes didn't cry. Certainly not in front of humans.

He turned the pillow over and rubbed an arm over his face to clean up.

The boy land walker…no, his friend… stood and went over to the machine they called 'a computer'. Within moments, Perseus began to hear the sounds of the ocean.

He looked up, curiosity winning over.

It sounded like home!

Grover looked back at him smiling. "It's a soundtrack," he explained, "you can play music or other sounds from this thing," he patted the computer. "This soundtrack I picked out has sounds collected from underwater. I was going to pick a beach one, but I figure you spent more time in the water than on the sand."

Perseus stared at the computer, mesmerized. "How…?"

"The Internet."

"…I like the Internet."

Grover chuckled and drew close as Annabeth wrapped an arm around Perseus. The prince turned to look at her before turning in pleasant surprise as Grover draped his own arm across Percy's shoulders.

"We could stay for awhile and hold you? So the open air doesn't bother you as much. It's not the same as the ocean, but…"

Perseus nodded. "Please."

Grover made a show of heavy sighing before mumbling something about boundaries and clambering into bed with them.

Percy hummed between them and Annabeth couldn't help but laugh. Grover smiled over at her, resting on a pillow.

"Is this going to be like a frequent thing? Mermaid cuddle time?"

The blonde shrugged but her eyes twinkled knowingly. Perseus didn't answer.

He was already asleep.

.

Apology meant failure.

But dishonesty mean punishment.

Calypso struggled to calm her mind and get the words out.

"I'm sorry, Mistress. The creature I sent…it failed."

It was strange, being afraid. Calypso had thought the exchange would kill her fear.

Dim light conjured itself up, illuminating parts of the stony walls. The light could only spill so far, but it was enough for Calypso to see a sliver of the furious face in the shadows.

"Of course it failed. You're a failure of a student. Why would your creatures fare any better?"

Calypso couldn't help but curl her tail around herself, tension stringing it tight. "I'm sorry," she tried again, voice cool and calm. She didn't know why the Mistress chose her for this important task if she knew Calypso was going to make a mess of things. Calypso knew herself. She was a poor study for dark magic.

"You're always sorry," the Mistress said tightly, "but never good enough. Apologies won't kill the sea prince."

A clammy hand reached out of the shadows and Calypso let it curl tight around her throat, stilling herself. Resisting the touch would be stupid. There were worse things.

"Don't you want him to pay? For breaking your heart?"

Calypso could feel her eyes redden. It surprised her. She hadn't thought she could do that anymore. Tears were hard to catch underwater but she had no doubt the Mistress would try it and use them for her experiments. Mermaid tears were valuable, witch tears even moreso. And that was all she was now.

"Don't you?" her master repeated.

Calypso thought on it absently. There was a time she might have cared about Perseus. She hadn't wanted to send the creature after him at first. The news of his survival and her failure should have brought her joy. She had loved the boy once, after all. Strangely, she couldn't bring herself to feel anything.

It was the trade. The Mistress was slowly taking what Calypso had promised her.

"I…I don't care anymore. It's not worth it," Calypso projected honestly.

The hand tightened. "Whether or not you wish to stay the path you took when you sought me out, you will walk it. You swore. Signed the contract. Made the trade. Even now, I take what you promised me. I know you feel the change."

Calypso bit back a groan as the Mistress's voice crawled through her mind. She was so tired of hearing the hideous sound! She missed the light, the above. Without the entirety of the heart that had blinded her before, she could see much clearer now. Perseus was not worth all of this, never was.

"Obey me, guppy. You will finish what you started. Since you are too incompetent to direct one of my creatures to kill a simple land walker, you will be punished."

The smaller mermaid closed her eyes, willing away the fear and failing like she always did. As awful as it made her feel Calypso dreaded the day that even her fear would vanish and she would be like stone, feeling nothing. "What would you have me do?"

"They sleep now. I want you to send out your spirit to find him. Once found you will climb into his mind."

Calypso's tail tightened further in on itself. A strange bout of emotion flared up inside her once more. She would have been relieved if not for being distracted by the heinous request of her superior. "Mistress, please…! I can't- I am not good at mind weaving or spirit throwing. Please don't make me…! I cannot unweave the mind of another living creature and live with myself. And I cannot throw my spirit for I have trouble returning to my body afterwards. It is unnatural-"

"Silence! Excuses, that's all you ever offer guppy! I tell you to hex, you hesitate. I tell you to travel to the deep, you tremble. I tell you to kill, you apologize! You take my knowledge, my lessons I have graciously bestowed upon you and you squander it all. You came to me first, remember?"

Calypso shivered at the truth of it.

"You will not unweave his mind, you are too weak for such a task. I simply want you to crawl into it and see his ongoings. I want you to send him visions that will cause him pain and frenzy. And if your spirit gets lost on the journey, so be it."

"But-"

"That is your punishment. And if you refuse me I will snatch your soul for my own purposes. I will swallow the offering of your trade so that you can never earn it back from me! Surely you can think of a frightening enough vision to force into his dreams."

Calypso bit her lip so hard she could taste copper.

Her heart may be half gone but she still had half enough to realize how wrong this was. She was terrified of being unable to find her body after a spirit throwing, but if she denied the Mistress, her spirit would get snatched! It was unthinkable. She would rather become a wandering ghost than whatever the Mistress did to her soul for not obeying orders.

"Whatever you desire, Mistress," Calypso whispered tiredly.

The hand released her neck. "Good. Now go before I decide to eat the rest of your heart."

Calypso turned as quick as she could and whipped her tail in a frenzy to get away. As she disappeared into the shadows, she thought of Perseus.

The boy who had been so, so sweet to her when no one else had. Back then, she would have done anything to be his.

Now she just wanted him to survive this.

She palmed at the dark spot of veins on her chest. Some things were not worth it. Even if he had been one of the few things made her life worth living. Now she couldn't even live, not properly. Not with half a heart. Only survive long enough to break the contract with the Mistress. If she could even do that.

But Calypso had gotten herself in this mess and she was going to get herself out of it. For now she would do the witch's bidding, become a proper witch herself. Then when the time was right, she would steal back her offering and flee from the depths.

...Until then.

She swam the long trail back to her lonely grotto and went to work, but not before moving the heavy stone to block the entryway.

She set up her crystals and gems before breathing soft enchantments on them to illuminate her shoddy home and settle her wracked nerves. Seeing the Mistress always did that to her. The light helped. Things would be easier if she were above.

Hating herself for the violation she was about to commit, she cleared her mind and stretched out her arms, fingers weaving. The words of the incantation filled her mind, slowing down everything around her.

Leaving her body was the easy part. She left it below safe in the deep and reached out into the void, searching each warm light that passed her but not edging too close. She didn't want another powerful mystic being sensing her intrusions.

Finally, she found the one that smelled of old oceans, lineage, and land walkers. She brushed against the edges, checking to make sure this was the right one.

Fingers clenched, she dove into Perseus's mind.

It was not the screaming that woke Annabeth up.

What brought her out of her sleep was the strange, heavy feeling that had settled over the room.

Her skin felt sweaty and her stomach tight. Still stuck in the place between wake and sleep, Annabeth vaguely noted the shouts and pondered on the feeling. It felt like something foreign was in the room. Something unseen.

Something wrong.

An arm rained down on her and her thoughts so heavily that all the air left her chest, leaving her gasping. Stunned, she rolled away from the flailing limb only to fall off the edge of the bed and onto the floor. She heaved onto the carpet trying desperately to get her breath back as the shouts continued to puncture the silent room.

The noise continued until Grover fell onto the floor at the foot of the bed, halting his shrieks. He scrambled back in fear until he saw the blonde gasping. He was at her side instantly, patting her back and speaking in a wrecked voice. "Breathe in…in…yeah, that's it- one, two…now let it go. Again-" and he coached her breaths back to regularity until her vision cleared. She could see purple bruises forming on Grover's brow and cheek.

The door opened and both Miss Jackson and Paul came running into the room.

"Don't-!" Annabeth rasped, Percy still silently flailing from his nightmare on the bed. If his blows made contact he could seriously hurt the adults.

Sally ignored the teens on the floor and dodged a hand before cooing and rubbing Percy's forehead. Paul raced over to hold the boy's limbs down as his wife soothed him.

One moment he was pulled tight like a wire and the next, Perseus stilled. His eyes opened slowly, eerily wide and roving. When they landed on everyone surrounding him he forced out a breath. Recognition dawned.

"I'm sorry," he said, reaching for Annabeth's face. She flinched and his hand lowered. "I don't know what..." he trailed off looking at Grover and his bruising.

Sally ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, hon', it's alright. Bad dream?"

Percy opened his mouth to speak but was stopped at a strange nasal sensation. Pressing two fingers to his lips and nose, he found traces of dark red. "Yes. A dream." He knew better. It was an attack.

"I'll go get you all some water. Will you be alright?"

"Yes."

Paul looked shell shocked and released Percy's arms to look at his own reddened palms. The kid had felt like a linebacker to Paul. "Must've been some dream, huh? You were thrashing pretty hard." Paul stared for a moment at the disheveled states of the three kids. "I'll, uh- I'll get the first aid kit."

Percy breathed deeply as the two adults left. He pressed at his eyes before wiping a thumb over Grover's bruises, ignoring the skittishness of the land walker. When nothing happened, he groaned.

"Percy…?" Annabeth questioned, waiting for the boy to fill them in on what the hell happened.

"I just- it's not…why won't it work?" He gestured harshly at Grover. "Everything about me that made me part of the merfolk is gone. That…that witch…took everything. Now they have caused me to hurt you both. I'm so sorry."

Grover gripped Percy's arm, unafraid once more. "Wait, hold up. What witch? What did you just wipe on me?"

Percy looked to him. "The witch from the dream! They tainted it on purpose and doing so, I struck you while sleeping. You both are so much weaker than I. I could have killed you. My actions are unforgivable."

Annabeth stepped forward, still rubbing a hand over her aching chest. Feeling all her ribs intact comforted her. "You dreamed about a witch?"

Percy shook his head. "Didn't dream of a witch. The witch was in the dream."

Annabeth looked confused. "What's the difference?"

Grover paused. "In it like…possession? Like alien babies? Like mentally?"

Perseus nodded at the brunette. "Mentally. Mindspeak. But in a bad way. There were no words traded, only nightmares."

"Who was it?"

Percy paused, looking confused. "I…I don't know. I didn't see their face, pfft." His nosebleed spilled over his lips and he spluttered at the feeling.

Annabeth quickly wiped at Percy's nose with his shirt, trying to clean the mess away. Someone, somewhere had sent Percy a nightmare and she believed it. Ever since Perseus had arrived the supernatural had been at work. Like the ningyo from the stories online, chaos trailed after the boy.

"I was dreaming of home. I was with my family, my subjects. Then the witch came. My tail tore and I drowned in front of all of them, like a land walker. None of them could help me. Then she just showed me horrible visions over and over..." he rubbed a hand over his face.

The atmosphere had felt way off when she had woken up. Whoever had done it was hostile. Dreams couldn't kill and so the act must have been just to mess with Perseus. Annabeth would bet anything it was the person who was behind turning Percy human or sending that creature after him, but she couldn't assume just yet.

"What did you wipe on me before?" Grover asked again. Perseus looked to him.

"A tear. Under normal circumstances it would've healed you. These aren't normal circumstances, though. I'm too human now for such things."

He hated even saying that. He wasn't human. He was a merman!

Perseus stared at the ceiling, determined. Annabeth of Chase believed that this anonymous witch was the one causing him hell in his life. The witch had made him unconsciously hurt Grover of Underwood, ruined Rachel of School's party by sending the Dark One after them, and had even stripped a prince of the sea of his scales! Now he couldn't get a decent night's rest?

He growled in frustration before laying back down trying to close his eyes.

"Maybe you shouldn't go to sleep," Annabeth agreed. "Aren't you afraid she'll come back?" Grover asked.

Perseus glanced at his human friends before grinning.

"She can try."