Chapter 1: Annabeth and I Meet Some Unfriendly Mermen

I am Percy Jackson, and I am the son of Poseidon, the sea god.

Now, being a half-blood makes you stronger than your average human being; being a child of Poseidon means you are stronger than your average half-blood. You get awesome superpowers like being able to breathe underwater, conjuring water from within you, and having mako sharks as pets. Taking that into account, you'd think that, hey, you won't face trouble with the aquatic folk, wouldn't you?

Wrong.

My friend, Annabeth, and I found ourselves surrounded by some of the ugliest sea-folk I'd ever seen, and their spears were aimed at us. These guys had grayish skin and long, wild, green hair. Their eyes were bright yellow, and their teeth would have given dentists nightmares. They looked nothing like my father or his wife and son.

His other wife and son.

Anyway, I didn't even know how we got there. All I could remember was that Annabeth and I had been kissing inside an air-bubble under the lake at Camp Half-Blood. Suddenly, our bubble had started spinning, there had been a loud 'pop', and we had appeared here. We floated inside the bubble for a while, trying to figure out what the place was, when these guys materialized out of nowhere and got all aggressive.

'Monsters?' asked Annabeth, slowly taking her knife out of her back pocket.

I shook my head although I had got Riptide out already. 'They should be able to recognize me,' I said. 'I mean, they should know my dad.'

'Well then, tell them, Seaweed Brain,' she replied with a roll of her eyes.

'Hey, everyone,' I said loudly, facing the green haired guys, 'I am Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. I honestly don't know how we got here, but you want to be lowering your spears right now.'

They looked at each other and had a quick discussion amongst themselves.

I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Annabeth. 'We'll be all right,' I told her.

'Are you from the school?' croaked one of the green-haired dudes suddenly. He spoke in a harsh, throaty voice.

Annabeth glanced at me. 'School? Do you mean Camp Half-Blood?' she asked them.

'Hogwarts,' he said. They still hadn't lowered their spears.

'No,' I answered. 'But you surely know Lord Poseidon? I mean, he is the god of the sea.'

'We know no god,' said the man, now looking a bit furious. 'Leave if you know what is good for you.'

Funnily enough, Chiron had never told us that there were rebel sea-folk who defied my father's rule.

'Something's wrong, Percy,' said Annabeth. 'I don't think we're anywhere near Camp Half Blood.'

'Do you think they're Oceanus' soldiers?'

'Could be, I don't know,' she said urgently. 'But we need to get out of here now.'

'Well, I need to tell my dad if trouble is brewing under the sea,' I said. I uncapped Riptide and it instantly elongated, turning into the sword made of celestial bronze which hadn't failed me yet. 'Right,' I told the guy. 'Now, tell us who you are, or I'm going to pulverize you with this.'

It only took them a second to attack us. No problem, I thought as they charged towards our bubble. I had handled plenty with Riptide, monster or sea-folk or immortal gods. These mermen wouldn't be any different, right?

Wrong again. Riptide went right through the stomach of the first green-haired dude to reach us, and came out of his back without having done any harm. In retrospect, I think that was the moment I realized I should have listened to Annabeth and got us out of there sooner.

His spear, however, pierced a hole in the air-bubble and it burst. My only concern after that was to get Annabeth to the surface. Fortunately, I could still fend them off with Riptide as it clanged against their spears, but I knew I couldn't keep it up. Annabeth was already struggling, kicking hard against the water. Grasping her hand, I concentrated hard and we shot straight out of the water and landed on the ground next to a tree.

Annabeth was coughing hard.

'Are you all right?' I asked her worriedly.

She nodded, although her cough didn't subside. I stood up and looked around. There was a castle right in front of me.

'Whoa!' I said. Annabeth got up and stared at the castle.

'Now what is this place?'

She shook her head, but her eyes gleamed as though she was taking in the architecture. 'Let's look around,' she said unsurprisingly.

'I think we should leave,' I said.

'I think we're safe now that we are out of the water and away from your inflated head,' she said irritably.

I flushed. 'That was the first time no one ever recognized me!'

'Good for you,' she said and walked off towards the castle.

'HEY!' I shouted and followed her.

'What are yer two doin' down here?' asked a gruff voice from behind us.

Annabeth and I turned around and gasped when we saw who had spoken. It was a man – a massive man, with wild tangled hair and beetle-black eyes.

'Monster?' asked Annabeth for the second time.

'Definitely,' I said.

We charged straight at him. The startled man cried 'OI!' before drawing his weapon in defense – a pink umbrella.

'Wait – WHAT?' I yelled and slowed down, but Annabeth had already reached him and slashed his thigh with her bronze knife. Well, you could say she attempted to, but once again, celestial bronze failed to work against the monsters here.

Annabeth looked at her knife in surprise, but before she could act again, someone cried something that sounded Latin and she instantly froze and fell down flat. I whipped around and saw a kid running towards us. I vaguely registered him wielding a stick; I was paying more attention to his hair which quickly turned from pink to a fiery shade of orange.

Confused as hell, I turned towards him instead, but a huge hand caught the collar of my shirt and pulled me back.

'Who're you?' he asked suspiciously. His accent sounded British.

'Percy Jackson,' I answered him.

'Are you all right, Hagrid?' asked the kid with the strange hair, pointing his stick at me. 'Who're these people?'

'No idea, Teddy,' said the giant, 'but we best take 'em to McGonagall.' He put me down and scooped up Annabeth. 'Now, listen to me, boy,' he said. 'I'm gonna be takin' yeh to the Headmistress. Any smart move, and Teddy here will give yer a pig's tail, understood?'

Teddy chuckled. I gave them a stiff nod and followed them into the castle.

I do not own any of the characters featured in this story. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase are taken from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, while Hagrid, Teddy Lupin and Hogwarts belong to J.'s Harry Potter series.