A Different Tail

Chapter 1

The rays of light reflected brilliantly off the waves as the sun set over Camp Half Blood. Tonight Annabeth had snuck away from the campfire to come to the beach because she was in desperate need of some alone time, which was a rare thing at camp. She was absolutely exhausted from the day's events, the soft splash of the waves lulling her to sleep as she lay on the beach.

Her rest was cut short by loud splashing. Annabeth sat up and looked around, trying to find the source of the noise. It sounded frantic, like someone may be drowning and trying to signal for help. She concluded that it was coming from near the fishing dock and began running across the sand.

Once Annabeth got closer, she could make out exactly where the splashing was coming from. Wading into the water, she made her way to the spot underneath the dock. She froze in her tracks when she saw what was making the noise.

It wasn't a demigod from camp like she had suspected, in fact it wasn't human at all. A long, cerulean blue tail was thrashing in the water. This was no dolphin, or any other sea creature she was familiar with for that matter. It must be something mythological, she thought. But why is it staying under the dock?

She took a closer look and noticed something kept pulling on the net hanging from the dock posts. Underwater, Annabeth saw the creature's tail snagged on the net. She drew her dagger and stepped forward, hoping to be able to free it. But as she approached, the tail's thrashing increased, preventing her from getting close enough to cut the ropes of the net.

Annabeth took a step back and sheathed her dagger. The creature was probably terrified and pointing a knife at it would only add to the fear. She took a different approach, crouching in the water and attempting to find its eyes so it could see she wasn't a threat.

She moved to the other side of the creature, keeping her space as she went. Most of its body was underwater, a mottle of blue in the waves. From this side Annabeth could see something else attached to it. Something that looked like skin. It was clouded by the dust and algae kicked up in the water. Ducking under the surface, she opened her eyes to a blurry image.

Before her was the face of a boy. Dark pink lips, soft cheekbones, aqua-marine eyes that matched the color of the ocean. This face was, of course, connected to an upper body. Her eyes traced down his abdomen and found the tail. So he's a merman. That's new.

His eyes widened in fear as he caught sight of her and he began thrashing even more. This was of no help to him as his tail was still wrapped up in the rope of the net, preventing him from swimming off. She knew she needed to free him, but that was going to be difficult if he wouldn't stop moving. If she could communicate to him that she wanted to help, he may calm down enough for her to cut him loose.

After coming up for a breath of air, Annabeth returned underwater. He looked at her again and this time she tried her best to hold eye contact. Pointing to the spot where his tail was stuck, she made a cutting gesture. Evidently he got the message, because he slowed his movement to a level where Annabeth could get in safely.

She drew her dagger once again and began grabbing the ropes around him, cutting them off one by one. As her hands brushed against his tail, she was surprised by how smooth it was. She had always expected merfolk to be scaly and rough, but his tail was the opposite. The last piece of netting was cut and she was amazed by the speed at which he swam away. She didn't even have the time to see what direction he went, he was just gone.

As she returned to the surface and swam to shore, Annabeth considered telling Chiron about what she'd seen. Chiron would, no doubt, send the camp harpies out to make sure the merman never returned. There were some nasty stories about merfolk attempting to kill campers throughout the ages, and Chiron had a bit of a vendetta against them. He taught every demigod about just how dangerous they could be.

But Annabeth remembered the look of fear in the merman's eyes. Perhaps this one was different from the rest. He had seemed more scared of her than she was of him, and Annabeth couldn't bear the thought of him being hunted down because of her. So she decided to keep this little event to herself, at least for now.