Chapter 14: We're Not Giving Up
Mimi's POV:
"What should we do now? I mean, there isn't much we can do to find the merman, and we can't just worry about this all day every day." I say to everyone.
"I guess we won't really know much until we find the merman, but it's not like we can just search all of the water on Mako and find him- that would be impossible- and there's no way we could find him on land." Pearl starts, "I say we just focus on the virus itself instead of the merman. If we come across him that would be great, but the longer we waste our time trying to find him, innocent merpeople could be dying because of the virus."
"That's smart, I wouldn't have thought of it that way, but I guess our first step has to be telling Zac and the others, maybe even your mom Mimi, and Rita, about what happened."
"Should I call him and get everyone to meet us in the moon pool when they're out of school? It's going to be easier to tell them all at once." I suggest, "We just need to be really careful of the virus around Mako when getting there- maybe we should take the land entrance instead of the water one."
"That sounds good, but let's just go and get the others now- it's lunch for the people in school, and this is important enough for them to miss school for. Plus, we can take Cam's boat there to avoid the water." Ondina says.
"If you're sure, then let's go, I'll bring Rita and Nerissa, and you two can get Zac, Evie, Cam, and Carly." Pearl says.
At the high school...
Ondina and I look for Zac, Evie, Cam and Carly in the cafeteria of their school, but after realising that the school is too big for us to ever be able to find them quickly, I decide to just text Zac,
'Hey, could you meet me in the Library ASAP? And bring Evie, Cam, and Carly with you. It's urgent, so come as soon as you see this'
I get a reply within about a minute, 'You're at my school? We're on our way, and I know you'll explain what's up when we get there, so I won't ask'
"He's on his way, he should be here in a couple of minutes." I tell Ondina.
"Mimi!" I hear Zac say as he walks through the library door over to where Ondina and I are sitting, "What are you doing here? How did you even get on campus? Hi Ondina."
"We're mermaids, we can turn invisible Zac." Ondina says before I can reply.
"Right, forgot about that for a second."
"Is either one of you going to explain what's going on and why we're here?" Cam asks.
Ondina and I catch the group up on what happened with her and the virus, then we ask them to come with us to the moon pool to tell Rita and Nerissa and come up with a further plan from there. They all have varied reactions to say the least:
"So we're ditching? Cool. I'm fine with us taking my boat there."
"I'm so glad that merman saved you! But are you sure you don't remember who it was? Do you remember anything else about him?"
"Are you sure you're alright Ondina? Do you still have all your powers? Or have you lost them like I did with the water dragon?"
"I'm glad you're alright, and that no one else was hurt, and it'd be a good idea to tell Rita and mom- they'll be able to help us."
Ondina replies to all the questions with, "Yes, we're ditching, no, I only remember what I told you about the merman, I haven't tried my powers, but the virus almost killed me rather than taking my tail away, so I should be fine. Did I miss anything? No? Alright, let's go before we get caught."
Percy's POV
After the eventful time with Dr Denman and the virus, I train, with no breaks. I practice my fighting with Haze, I swim, I use weights, I do push ups, I fight again, but this time it's hand-to-hand combat, and then I go for a run on the beach. The beach helps me to think, and so does training, so this is good for me. I don't know how far I've run, or how long I've been running for, but I need to keep going. I can't stop if a monster is chasing me, so I can't stop when I train.
That's what Annabeth always taught me to do.
I still miss her training with me, I miss her forcing me to do my homework and study for school, I miss seeing her smile when I got As on assignments, I miss talking to the campers with her, I miss our time together, I miss her smile, her strength, I just miss her.
I wish she could have been there to know about me becoming a merman, I wish she could have been there to help me get through college, I wish she could have been there when I graduated and became a teacher, I wish she could have been there for me to propose (or she would have probably got there first), I wish we could have started a life together, I wish she was still here, I wish I never pulled the plug on her, I wish she never would have been put into that coma.
What would she even think of me for that? I know she wouldn't have made it, Apollo said so himself, but how could I have given up on her? My fatal flaw is loyalty, yet I gave up on her. I gave up on us. When have I ever listened to the Gods anyway? She must hate me. She'll look down on me with disgust and hatred. No, she won't be looking down on me at all. She'll never forgive me.
I'll never forgive myself.
Why haven't I gotten over this? It's been 10 years, but I still can't seem to forgive myself for what I did. I should have been there for her, even before she was in the coma. I should have never gone to Mako, that's where everything started. I'm now starting to see what everyone at camp has been telling me. Bad things happened because I went to Mako. I should never have come here.
"You're such a seaweed brain Perce." What? It's not her, it can't be, she's dead. "Yes, I am dead Percy, but it is me. I'm here."
"Annabeth?" I look up to see golden blonde princess curls and the grey eyes I love. It's her, she's here, but not, I guess. "You're here?" She nods, and we immediately hug, "How?"
"I called in a little favour from Lord Hades- I heard what you were thinking, and it seemed like you needed me. I will never blame you for my death, Seaweed Brain, you should never think that. Imagine what it would have been like if I stayed like that forever, I was never going to wake up, you put me in a better place. I am watching down on you, by the way, don't ever think I'd leave you like that."
"You don't hate me?"
"Hate you? I could never hate you! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm annoyed you didn't tell me about the merman thing straight away- we could have had an amazing time with you showing me around! I'd have loved to see your tail in person-"
"Then let's go in the water, I'll show you it now!" I drag her into the ocean with me and create an air bubble for her to breathe through. Then I realise that she isn't technically here, so she doesn't need it. I turn, showing her my tail.
"It's amazing Percy, you're amazing."
"You're not scared of me?"
"Percy, I love you, how could I be scared of you?"
"I love you Annabeth, and I can't get over your death, I miss you so much. I wish you were still here-"
"I do to, Perce. I'm proud of everything you've done too, you know. I never thought you of all demigods would become a teacher."
"I know, right!" We both laugh, "I wish you were always here, I miss this. I miss us."
"But at least we have this time now, and I'm allowed to come back a couple more times, just not often or for too long. Lord Hades is already bending the rules too much as it is."
"You always were one to stick to the rules, Wise Girl. How long do we have?"
"About an hour."
"Then let's make the most of this hour together. Do you want me to show you the moon pool?"
Ondina's POV
If someone were to tell me two weeks ago that a virus would be put in Mako's waters, and I would end up getting caught in it and almost dying, I probably would have believed them with all the crazy stuff that goes on here. I'm sick of all the sympathy from people though, they don't get how it felt, and I feel fine now. It's just annoying having people keep asking if I'm ok, but that's better than them not caring at all, so I'm not going to complain too much.
"What do we do now?" I ask everyone as I sit on the edge of the moon pool, not realising that my feet are touching the water, yet I still remain human. "Rita? Nerissa? Do either of you know what to do?"
Nerissa starts to speak, "Throughout my whole time of being a mermaid, not once have I heard of someone using a virus to kill mermaids, and who apart from the pod, knows about the Mako mermaids? I'm afraid I don't know what to do to stop it, and my advice would be to evacuate the pod, and for you all to stay out of the water until it passes."
"You can't expect the pod to leave! This is our home, and it will always be that way!" I shout.
"What good will it do if we just run away and don't fight back?" Pearl says.
"You're all forgetting," Nerissa begins, "This isn't a physical enemy that you can fight or defeat. This is a virus, that of you enter, you will be killed. You can't fight back. All we can do is run."
"No. We have to do something! We can't just sit back and let this virus take over the whole of Mako!" Zac says, "Rita? What do you think?"
"I'm afraid your mother is right, we cannot fight a virus that is designed to kill us- that would be a suicide mission. The pod must leave, and maybe it will pass. If you do not want to leave then stay, but stay away from the water. Viruses spread, it's their nature, soon, all of Mako island will have this virus, and there's nothing anyone of us can do to stop it." Rita and Nerissa swim out of the moon pool, probably to go and tell the pod what's going on.
"If we leave, we're giving up. When have any of us ever given up on something this important? Never. We're staying, and we're fighting back." I say.
"Ondina," Evie says, "Why don't you have a tail?" She asks me.
"What?" I look down at my legs, that are still there, even though they're in water. "No, no, no! I can't be human! I can't have lost my power!"
"Ondina, I don't think the virus is meant to kill us- I think it's meant to take our powers away." Zac says after a moment of realisation.
I'm not a mermaid anymore.
Who/whatever started the virus did this to me, and they'll pay for it.
AN:
Sorry for the minor absence, I didn't get much time to write over thanksgiving break, and now teachers are loving to give me homework, so that's fun. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please stick with the story as well!
Vote, comment, read, do none of these, whatever you want to do, I don't mind, I'm not in control of what you do.
See you all next chapter!