Chapter 17: What does this all mean?
Percy's POV:
"You ready to go for lunch?" I hear Isabella ask from my door.
"I will be in a second, and my day's going great, thanks for asking." I say back with a slight laugh. I tidy my desk area, put my plans for the fish tank away (which I still haven't gotten round to adding, not that I procrastinate or anything), then Isabella and I exit my classroom. "So, anything interesting happen so far today?" I ask her while we walk.
"Not really I guess, it's been pretty normal. What about you?"
"I guess the same, I lost my pencil, but I'll find it later, I probably dropped it." I dropped riptide and the Trident earlier, but I have to be farther away from it for the pencil to appear back in my pocket, so I'll just wait until I go home later, the café is too close. I'm not that worried- if people find it, then they'll just think it's a normal pencil, the mist will cover up the whole trident thing. I hope so anyway. "I do need to find it as soon as I can though."
"What's so special about a pencil?"
"My dad gave it to me, and I virtually never see him, so it's important to me. The same goes for my pen that I always have." I say, making up a minor lie that still has elements of the truth.
"I understand, I don't know what I'd do without my parents." We walk in silence for a minute or two, until Isabella says, "I've realised I don't know much about you, considering we've spent quite a lot of time with each other since you arrived."
"Well, what do you want to know? You know I was on Mako 10 years ago, I love marine biology, and that I'm from, and taught in America. Oh, and the fact that I rarely see my dad."
"I guess let's start on your family, since I already know one thing."
"Well, my dad got lost at sea when I was born, and everyone thought he was dead, until I managed to find him when I was 12. My mom was married to a guy named Gabe, but he was a really bad person to say the least. He went missing when I was 12, and my mom eventually found a really nice guy called Paul Blofis. He's a teacher too. My mom is the most amazing person in the world, and I'd do anything for her." I refrain from telling her too much about my dad's side of the family, like Thalia, Nico, and all the gods. Now that would be a complicated story to tell without revealing the Gods.
"It's great that you appreciate your mom, I honestly couldn't imagine growing up not knowing one of my parents, they've always been my whole life, and I couldn't have been without them when I was younger."
Right, time to start bringing up Chad, phase one of my plan begins now, "You know, Chad never knew his dad either. I talked to him the other day, and we've been through a lot of the same stuff. He's not that bad a guy, you know."
"Since when did you talk to him? And can we just keep this conversation Chad free? I'd rather not talk about him." I thought she'd say that, but all I did there was plant a seed, and that seed is just going to grow. Ok, I seriously feel like Aphrodite is possessing me at the moment. I need to talk to her about that.
"Of course, I don't even know why I brought him up. This is a Chad free zone. Now, you were getting to know more about me?" I say to change the subject.
"Right, back to that, I guess what got you into teaching? And marine biology?"
"Well, you could say I was a troubled kid, always being kicked out of schools, and no teacher ever understood me, apart from my 6th grade Latin teacher, which caused me not to try. I feel like if teachers showed more of an understanding towards me, then I would have actually tried to be a better student. So, if I can be that teacher that understands his students, then I feel like I can make a difference in their lives. I understand the struggles of ADHD, dyslexia, and not knowing one of your parents, and if I can get past that, then I can help others to as well. For the marine biology thing, I've always been good at it, and I've always had a passion for it. My dad loved the ocean, so I get that from him."
"I love that, people like you are what's right about the world Percy, you're the most amazing person I know."
"I'm not sure that would make me the most amazing person, but thank you, it means a lot that you said that."
"Honestly, it's not just that, it's hard to explain, but believe me when I say that you're an amazing person. And, it looks like we're here, and a little late."
"It was worth it for the conversation." I say, as we walk into the café to the table where the teachers are.
"And so they've finally arrived." One of the teachers says as we walk over to them, "I don't suppose we've met yet, Mr Jackson, I'm Chris Beckett."
"Nice to meet you Chris, I'm Percy." All of the teachers introduce themselves to me.
"So, Percy," One of them starts, "What's with the no technology policy then?"
Later that day...
Mimi's POV:
"So, what did you guys want to show us?" Ondina asks as we meet up with Zac, Cam, Carly, and Evie. They texted us that they had something to show us, and not much else. So naturally Ondina, Pearl, and I really want to know what they have.
"Well, here it is," Zac says, and pulls a mechanical pencil.
"That's it?" Pearl asks, voicing everyone else's opinions.
"Wait and see..." Evie says as Zac removes the eraser from the top of the pencil, which somehow transforms the pencil into something I would never expect: the Trident.
"What? How did a pencil become the Trident? Where did you find it?" I ask.
"Outside of Mr Jackson's classroom. But before we talk about that, there was also this bronze pen that turned into a glowing sword that no one else could see."
"Do you think they're his?" Pearl asks.
"Wait- I know for sure that the pen is his-" Carly starts, "Remember that first lesson where he kept playing with a pen? That was the pen! Which means that the Trident is most likely his too!"
"Where's the pen now then?" Ondina asks.
Just as Zac is about to tell us what happened to the pen, the Trident disappears right in front of us, as if it were never there. "That." Cam says.
"So, Mr Jackson most likely has the Trident, and carries a sword disguised as a pen with him all the time. What does this mean?" Pearl asks.
"Well, he has the Trident, and he will most likely know that he has it, so he has to know about mermaids, which means he could know about us." I say.
"He's also most likely the merman you saw with the Trident for the first time on Mako, that you thought was me from a distance."
I remember when I first saw that merman, who is most likely Mr Jackson, on Mako. I thought it was Zac and I was so mad at him for not telling me. I also remember this merman being really in control of the water and Trident, he looked so powerful, it almost didn't feel real when I found out it wasn't Zac- I thought I'd imagined the whole thing at first. Having found the Trident proves that I really did see someone use it on Mako. I am surprised though, Mr Jackson didn't even come into my mind as the merman with the Trident, I know I only met him that once on the beach, but he seemed like a normal adult who loved the ocean. The only thing I was worried about was that he was a marine biology teacher, so if he found out about us, there could have been trouble. I can't believe he could actually be a merman! "When I saw him around Mako, he seemed to be really powerful, it was like he could command the whole ocean." I tell the others.
"Why don't we ask him for help? Maybe he already knows about the virus?" Evie asks.
"As far as we know, the Trident is bad news, and we don't know if Mr Jackson created the virus." Zac says, "But I think we need to find out if he's a merman or not for sure."
"How do we do that?" Ondina asks, "You know, without exposing ouselves if he's not."
"Well, we could always spill water on him after school once, especially since us mermaids can turn invisible, so we could easily do it without detection." Ondina suggests, then remembers to say something else, "Oh god, sorry Pearl, I can't believe I forgot about both of us. I guess Mimi and Zac can go and do it then." Remembering that she lost her powers and tail makes Ondina look defeated, I think losing her powers has really taken it's toll on her.
"What happens if he knows you're there? He was able to tell I was on my phone that first lesson without looking at me, he may be able to tell you guys are in there."
"I don't think we have to worry about that- he can't see us, and as long as we're quiet, there's no way we could know he was there. We can then spill some water on him using our powers from inside the room and see when he turns into a merman." Zac says.
"So, we're doing this after school tomorrow?" I ask, to which Zac agrees, "I can't believe we're actually going to find out if Mr Jackson is a merman." If he's a merman, then he could be the one who saved Ondina, or he could have started the virus.
"I just hope he wants to help us if he is one, and I hope it wasn't him that caused the virus." Pearl says, "No offense to everyone else, but if he's the merman who saved Ondina, then he could be pretty much immune to the virus. Imagine how much help that would be."
"But if he's the one who created it, but pretends to help us, we could all be in danger." Evie says.
"We'll see what he's like when he turns, maybe we could find out something from that." Zac replies, some of us look unsure about all of this so Zac says, "The plan will work, it has to. We'll all be ok. I promise."
AN:
Hi everyone! So here is the Q&A to celebrate 100K reads on I'm a Mermaid...
1. What inspired you to write this book?
Before I'm a Mermaid, I'd never written fanfiction before, and I was on Wattpad one day when I found a few other Percy Jackson H2O fanfics, but none of them were complete, so I thought, why don't I write my own? I didn't really plan where the first book was going, and I definitely didn't plan to write a sequel, so the first book isn't the best, and it takes a long time for anything to happen. Luckily, I planned out every chapter for the sequel, so it's more organised.
2. Do you have any ideas for future books one this one is finished?
I've had a load of ideas for different stories to write after this- some fanfiction, and some of my own. I'm pretty much using my wattpad for fanfiction though, so a couple of ideas I've had are for a Percy Jackson/ Vampire diaries crossover, and also for a Percy Jackson/ Lunar Chronicles one, because I've barely seen either of those on Wattpad. If anyone has any suggestions, or anything they would like me to write, then let me know, I'm always up for suggestions.
3. Do you watch Alexa and Katie?
No, I don't, but if you recommend it, then I'll watch it when I have some free time.
4. How long have you been a part of the PJO fandom?
I've actually only been a part of this fandom since 2018: one of my friends recommended the books to me and let me borrow her copies of them, then after reading the first book in one night, I fell right into the fandom. I actually don't own any of the books (and I haven't read TOA because of a spoiler I got), which is why you see that all my fanfics are set after BOO.
5. What other fandoms are you in?
Percy Jackson is my main fandom, and it will be the base for most of my fanfics, but I'm also a fan of Divergent, The Lunar Chronicles, Vampire Diaries, Hunger Games, The Selection, Starkid, and there are probably more that I can't remember right now.
6. What's your OTP?
Now that's hard, but I have to say either Solangelo, Cresswell, or Kaider.
7. Why did you kill Annabeth in I'm a Mermaid?
By that point, I'd already decided on the plot for the next book, and the ending of it, and that involved Annabeth dying of the coma. I needed Percy to go through the sequel almost alone (with only a few people he trusted by his side), and I'm not giving anything away about the ending, but I always planned on Annabeth dying, and for there to be a bittersweet ending. I also feel as if I cannot write her character well enough to do it justice, she has so many elements to her personality and she isn't just Percy's girlfriend, but if she was in this series more, that would have been her main role for the book and I didn't want to write that, especially as I didn't want to lose her character the way that Rick writes it.
8. What's your favourite Percy Jackson ship?
It has to be Solangelo, but that is followed very closely behind by Percabeth (or Brason).
9. How do you make your chapters so long, detailed, organised and on time?
First of all, thank you for calling my chapters detailed and organised! And honestly, I originally didn't intend to make the chapters very long, but a couple of them turned out to be that way, so I decided to do that for the whole story. Because of the length of the chapters, it means that my updates can be a little slower though, that's why my goal is once every two weeks, rather than every week. For the organisation part, I have a chapter by chapter plan of everything that is going to happen in the story (though I've strayed from that with a few things). I also recommend writing the last chapter first, so you know where you're going to end up with the story, no matter what happens in the middle.
10. Will there be a third book?
I honestly haven't decided yet, but if, at the end of this one, I get people asking for a third book, then I'll probably write one. It's honestly up to all of you as to whether I write a sequel or not.
11. Are you the oldest in your family?
I'm actually the youngest in my close family, there's my parents, then I have one older sister. If you're counting cousins and everything, then I'm right in the middle in age.
And that's all! Thank you to everyone who has read my story, I may be writing it, but it's all of you guys that got it to 100K reads, not me! I hope everyone continues to read the book, I honestly can't believe how close to the end we're getting!
See you all next chapter :))