Chapter Text
“What!? You took a job on that oil rig!” Rachel leaned back on her chair, eyes wide as she shouted. Annabeth shushed her before apologizing to their coworkers around her. Still her friends’ astonishment didn’t tamper down.
“Haven’t you heard of the myth surrounding it? Another marine biologist went missing there, hell, her boat was found split in half,” Piper hissed, eyes darting around like the ghost of the lady would appear. “Not only that, everyone who went there never came back the same. The sailors are superstitious about that area, they don’t even fish over there.”
Annabeth sighs, as much as their concern was heartwarming, she really didn’t need this now. Sure, maybe she shouldn’t have signed up for a 6 month job just to get away from her family. But what can she do now anyway? She snaps her fingers, stopping their concerned ranting, “Look, it can’t be that bad. Besides, that myth happened before I was born–”
“Only by a year!”
“–and I’m 23 now. It’s only a 6 month contract anyway, I’ll be back before you know it. I’m only there to make sure that the oil rig isn’t ruining the sea, knowing my luck I wouldn’t even get to dive.”
Rachel squints, a little too perceptive for her taste. A worry that is quickly proven true when her eyes soften with realization, “Is your family pressuring for you to get married again?” She winces, giving it away immediately. Both of them slump down at the silent admission. It was an open secret between them that she’s practically on the verge of being married off. Helen, her stepmother, never appreciated her going off to college and not starting a family. And her father was too much of a coward or didn’t care enough to stop her. Nevermind that she didn’t do something respectable like a doctor or lawyer but became a marine biologist instead.
Sure, it couldn’t keep up with San Francisco housing prices but it was decent money. If it did, she would’ve moved out a long time ago. But that’s besides the point, it helped her feel like she’s contributing to saving the Earth. Both of her friends offered to help pitch in for her first apartment, but her pride wouldn’t let her take the handout.
Either way, it’s always whether she found a man or woman, if she had to say anything good about Helen it’s how progressive she was, whenever she went home. So much so that it’s become one of the things they fight about the most. Still, it wasn’t okay for Helen to go as far as ambushing her with blind dates. The amount of men and women she had to gently, or violently, let down could fill a cruise ship.
It isn’t like she doesn’t want to settle down, just not now. None of them were even close to her type either. Of course, Helen picked nothing but corporate drones for her. All of them talked about their financial files and mumbled when she asked if they were doing anything to prevent destruction of the ocean. If she had to pick someone, she wants one that at least cares about the sea like she does.
Similar to her friends, she slumps while muttering a flimsy defense, “I’ll have enough money to move out once it’s done at least?”
Even thinking about it tired her out. So all three of them sit silently, bummed out at the fallen mood. Piper, not one to stay sad, slams her hands flat on the table. She shouts, “You know what! You’re gonna have a wonderful time over there. Haunted or cursed or whatever is going on that oil rig will not touch you, I’m manifesting it! And when you come back your family will be so sad and teary eyed that they’ll never ask you to get married again!”
“I think the only possible way that’ll happen is if I’m dead.”
“Shush, only put good vibes into the universe or you’re actually gonna show up missing.”
“Actually, I think it would be good character building if you went MIA for a little.” Both she and Piper stop to stare at Rachel. She shrugs, “What? I gotta make my autobiography somewhat interesting.”
Piper raises an eyebrow, clearly unamused, “Was the time we got lost in Iceland not enough for you? We literally followed a herd of sheep to their owner to get directions. You said that you “bonded” with one and then tried to buy it off of the poor shepard.”
“Look, I’m filthy rich and we got there on my private jet. I could’ve totally taken it back with me.”
“Oh, my name is Rachel and I say screw the aviation laws about flying an alive animal. I care not one bit of what my poor best friends –sorry, servants– would have to deal with.”
“I WOULD’VE KEPT IT IN A SEPARATE COMPARTMENT–”
“Guys!” Annabeth slams her hands on the table, shutting them both up again. Both of them looked sheepish as she glared at them. She sighs, hand coming up to massage her temple, “We’re getting off topic and making a disturbance.” Her other hand lifts to gesture at the surrounding people glaring at them. Piper and Rachel wince, mouthing apologies. They sit in silence for a little bit, waiting for everyone’s attention to shift off of them.
Rachel droops, mood sinking as they return back to the downcast mood, “You stay safe, you’re coming back in one piece?”
Despite the tears obviously beading up in Piper’s eyes, she pushes through to contribute, “You have to, promise us.”
So for her worrywart friends, Annabeth promises, “I’ll stay safe, I promise.”
Mers come in all sorts of colors. While the fish half of them do resemble other marine species found in the sea, the color scheme does not have to apply. As they live in saltwater, most of them tend to be born with saltwater creatures within their habitat as their half. However, I have been told that this is not always the case. In special circumstances, one can be born with a freshwater or non-native species as their marine half.
– Sally J.
Annabeth sighs, staring deadpan at the small space she’ll be staying for the next 6 months. She already unpacked, but it only made the space seem sadder. There’s only about 2 strides she could make before hitting the otherside. God, what made her do this again. She really misses her bed.
She met some of the others, like Luke and Leo, as she navigated the halls but it was awkward. They weren’t Piper or Rachel after all. Once she’s settled in, she'll properly introduce herself to everyone. For now though, she’s getting started on her job. Annabeth doesn’t really have an exploring spirit, just knowing where she needs to go for her job and basic necessities is enough. She was provided a map when she arrived so it wasn’t hard to find the lab.
Still, it’s not the lab she’s here for. Beelining towards the office next door to the lab, she opens the door to a dusty room. Not a great sign. Especially when her fears are confirmed when she opens drawers full of paper data. She can’t have anything easy huh. Sure, it’s been awhile since a marine biologist came due to the rumors flying around but really. Not a single person thought to digitize the previous findings? Annabeth groans even as she hauls out a handful of the best looking papers. The wheels of the chair creak as she sits. It’s barely a footnote as she spreads out the data sheets across the desk.
The one condolence she has is the fact that the handwriting is legible. Fairly pretty too once she takes a closer look. Based on the dates stamped on the corner, this should be from the one who went missing. Annabeth curls the paper so she can see the name on the back. Sally Jackson. She tilts her head, it doesn’t ring any bells.
Still, she sighs as she buckles down to transfer the data to the laptop given to her. It’s gonna be a long few hours. Especially when the engineer, Leo, said to keep in mind that the wifi is slow this far out. To the point it’s like a river carving out a canyon. Which seems to be true as she watches excel start up. The keyboard crunches as her head smacks down on it. Another sigh dragged out of her when she noticed it didn’t even do anything since excel is still booting.
Once the stupid program actually opened, Annabeth fell into a trance of checking papers and typing in numbers. Her eyes flick over to check the clock. It’s nearly nighttime, the sun should be setting in an hour or so. A shame, she wanted to continue reading. She has to say that Jackson’s notes are the best of the bunch by far. As she went through them, there were little personal notes and reminders that made the woman –she thinks based on the small file of profiles she found– feel so much more real. But there was something confusing she thinks as her eyes drift to the stack of papers she set aside. Pulling them into her hands, she flicks through the diagrams and notes.
For all accounts, Jackson was a very professional woman. So why would she falsify notes on what seems to be a mermaid? Although, the drawings are closer to a merman if anything. Annabeth frowns, flicking through the stack with curiosity. To sum it up, it’s a species called “Mer” and the details of multiple meetings with one specimen. It’s incredible writing honestly. If she had known Jackson back then, Annabeth would’ve told her to write a novel.
But ultimately, it has to be false. She drops the papers back onto the desk. It’s not her problem after all. Still, she shouldn’t mix them back into actual viable data. Now the right thing would be to discard them as there’s no need for them…so why is she now standing in her room with them?
Annabeth sighs, tightening her grip on the loose sheets in her hands. From the office to here, it was like she was possessed walking back. But it just didn’t feel right to throw away something Jackson cared about. Even if the woman was dead. Whatever, she’ll just take it back to land and give it over to any of Jackson’s family members she can find.
As she stares at the file now secured in her bag, she can’t help but feel a bit restless. She has been cooped up for a while now. Maybe it would be good to walk around, just to stretch a bit. Going to check the sea’s condition to see if she could dive anytime soon. She doesn’t have high hopes though, not after the rough waves she saw when sailing here in the first place. The sailors were not lying when they said the ocean acted like it was angry near this oil rig.
Still, maybe there’s a chance she could try and schedule a dive. But as she arrives where her company-provided ship is docked, she can tell there’s no way she can dive anytime soon. Waves slam against the pillars like it wants to topple the entire thing over. Something about it creeps her out, or that’s just the feeling of being watched.
The skin on the back of her neck prickles like there were claws delicately scratching over it. It made her shiver. But who would be out this late? No one that’s who, she’s just imagining things. Sighing, she looks down at the sea. From this close, she can see the shape of fishes darting to and fro. Nothing clear enough to identify what species they were, but still it was calming to see them swim.
Then something flickers in the corner of her eye. A bright tealish color glimmering beneath the water. It wasn’t smaller either but rather long and much too big to be a simple fish. In a blink, it disappeared. Annabeth leans over the railings, trying to catch another glimpse, “What the?”
There isn’t any species that comes to mind that fits what she saw. Not with that color and size together. Maybe a large Bluefish? But the vividness of that color is much closer to a Betta fish, even if there’s no way for one to be here. One of her hands came up to run through hair in frustration, “If only the sea calmed down, then I could dive and check out whatever that was.”
Even as she says it, she knows it’s a long shot. With how the waves are today, she wouldn’t be surprised if she couldn’t dive for the next month. But by then, whatever the creature was, would’ve disappeared. Annabeth slumps on top of the railings, staring curiously at where she saw the blur. For some reason, Jackson’s papers come to mind. That’s absurd and wishful thinking though. Besides, she should get some rest instead of thinking about nonexistent species.
While Mers treat the ocean to something similar to a god, the ocean seems to love them back. All of them exhibit some control over water and emotional communication with more intelligent sea creatures. As such, octopi, dolphins, and sharks are some of the few pet-like treated species allowed to traverse within the pod. Of course, even within the species, these are outliers and most are treated as food. However, their control over the water is rather fascinating. It shows itself in different ways: some can call storms, others can calm waters, but all have some aspect of dominion over the element.
I’m inclined to believe him when he says the waters are alive.
– Sally J.
“I could’ve sworn that the waves wouldn’t have calmed down this soon?” Annabeth tilts her head confusedly as she stares at the completely smooth ocean. At the very least, it wouldn’t be this calm. It’s like someone took a cake scraper and evened out the waves. No one would’ve suspected that just yesterday it thrashed around like a wild beast. Still, with a bait like this in front of her, there’s no way she wouldn’t bite. Not when there’s a real chance she gets to see whatever that teal blur was.
So she heads down to her boat and suits up. It’s just to see if the old data is still applicable, or well, that’s what she’ll officially record. The coldness of the ocean sinks in as she slips under the surface. Bubbles swirl around her as she tries to get used to the temperature drop. When she opens her eyes, her favorite part of her job reveals itself.
Life beneath the sea sprouts to life, fishes darting between rocks and crustaceans skiddling across the sand. While there is no coral reef here, as it would’ve been illegal for the oil rig to be here, there’s still an abundance of sea life. The trench right below the rig made sure for that. Swimming deeper, she tries to navigate to where she thinks the blur was. It was near the edge of the trench, maybe even swam into it out of sight. Sunlight flickers sparsely across the ocean depths. And once she’s actually up close and personal with the ravine, it is clear that it’s much deeper than she expected.
It looks like an abyss was reaching up, only held back by the sunlight up top. There wasn’t any indicator of a bottom that she could see. Most people would’ve been scared but all Annabeth can think about is whether she can get a robot down there. Just think about the deep sea species she could find down there. She swims a little closer, attention completely diverted by the ditch in front. Maybe she’d get pictures of a dumbo octopus. Rachel and Piper would be so jealous–
A hand clamps down on her ankle. A flurry of bubbles escape her mouth as she screams, her trapped leg kicking out. Her body wretches around, leaving her face to face with whatever grabbed her. Bright sea green eyes blink up at her. They’re shimmery and absolutely gorgeous. Enough that her thrashing is momentarily paused.
The man–no, mer is practically all up in her personal space. That same teal color spreads out from behind him, coming what she can now see are wide fins. Just like Jackson’s depictions and all the myths, a massive fish tail replaced where his legs should be. A Betta fish one, which is strange considering they’re in the middle of a saltwater ocean. At least one of her assumptions proved to be true.
Yet it’s his face that draws her attention. It’s beautiful. There’s no other way to describe it. Still there’s no way to mistake him as human. Not with the sharp fangs poking out of his mouth, his slitted pupils, or the fins in the place where his ears should be.
He’s clearly curious if the way he is observing her is any indicator. Now whether it’s to sizing Annabeth up as food or not, she doesn’t know. Still, pretty boy or not, he has her ankle in his hand and that isn’t something she likes. Eyes sharpening to her patented glare, Annabeth jabs an accusatory finger at the webbed hand wrapped on her.
He blinks with those brilliant eyes, confused from what she can tell. She sighs, or whatever the equivalent is underwater. Holding out her hand, she opens and closes it to get her point across. He tilts his head. And then, in a flash, the hand in her ankle is now gently wrapped around her outstretched hand. Now it’s her turn to blink in confusion.
But after seeing the anticipation on his face, she nods in reluctant acceptance. His face does the most adorable scrunchy smile, sharp teeth on full display. She should be scared, or at the very least, concerned. Yet all she can feel is a sort of fascination with this new species. And maybe a little bit flustered at how cute he looks.
Annabeth can’t get distracted now, especially not by a pretty boy—or well mer? But being so close to him is well…distracting. Making space between them is just standard protocol, she's not running away. She swims backwards. Keeping her eyes on him, in case he's dangerous. The smile on his face flicks down to frown. Like he doesn’t know why she’s leaving him. If the blind dates that Helen kept forcing her on had that face, maybe she’d be more inclined to try.
He, uh, clicks? Like a dolphin. That’s the closest thing she can compare it to at least. It’s definitely nothing she can parse out meaning from. That causes a pang of sadness in her chest for whatever reason. It’s just because she wants to learn more about him, at least that’s what she tells herself. The mer floats there, waiting for a response that she can’t give. But she doesn’t want to leave him hanging, so she shrugs before shaking her head.
He tilts his head again, reminding her of a confused puppy. He’s so unfairly cute it’s actually gonna get her killed. Quite literally, as she cannot keep her wariness up when he’s basically a baby seal. The water shifts as he comes closer, a trill spilling from his mouth. Even without any understanding, she can tell that it’s questioning. Once again she shakes her head, trying her best to convey that she can’t understand.
This time he got it as his vocalizations drift into nothing. Still, he has a small pout on his lips like he was upset that she couldn’t understand. It’s a shame that her tank is running low on oxygen. She needs to make her way back up now if she wants to make it in time. With that thought, she starts to swim upwards. He trills again, easily overtaking the small gap between them. It’s clear that he’s much more mobile than her in the water.
His vividly colored tail swishes in the water as he appears right next to her again. Webbed hands grip her oxygen tank, tugging curiously at it. Annabeth flinches, immediately stopping him by taking his hands in her own. She shakes her head more vigorously, a frown playing on her lips.
He just blinks before breaking into a smile as he laces their hands together more firmly. Damn him, she thinks even as a blush rises on her cheeks. She tries to free her hand but he’s stronger than he looks. The mer simply drifts closer as she struggles. A purr rumbling in his chest as he uses her distraction to nuzzle the top of her head. Annabeth freezes, brain throwing a cannot compute error. Bubbles smack him in the face as she screeches. The mer jumps back, freeing her hand in the process. Sea green eyes blink rapidly before following the air bubbling up to the surface.
She snorts before continuing to swim upwards. He drifts back to his side, head tilted. When he tries to reach for her hand again, she pulls away. The fins on the side of his head fold down, a downcast trill echoing in the water. It makes her feel incredible amounts of guilt. Stupid baby seal eyes. The third time she pulls away, he curls downwards like he’s sulking.
A whistle flits through the water, loud and reverberating. It’s sudden enough that Annabeth jolts. Her attention is immediately caught by the shadow swimming straight towards them. A warning then? Based on the size and aggressiveness, it’s probably a shark. Which means it shouldn’t be a problem. As long as she flips it over, it can’t harm either of them.
Actually, wait. What if she accidentally teaches it to the mer? It’s clear he has intelligence. She doesn’t know how their environmental relationship works. If it’s a predator and prey relation, then she risks ruining the dynamic. Mers could easily kill sharks when they’re stunned.
She swears if she’s losing an arm because of this, she will file this as a work accident and rip off the company as much as she can. Annabeth shuts her eyes and awaits the feeling of teeth sinking into her flesh. There’s darkness and–the feeling of sandpaper rubbing into her hand? Opening her eyes, she can see a black tip reef shark begging for pets like it’s a puppy. Which first of all, how cute. Second of all, this species does not belong in open water. How and why is it here?
The flash of teal catches the corner of her eye. The mer looks delighted, swimming closer to the pair of biologist and…shark. Annabeth has no idea how this is her life. For some reason, the shark gets more excited. It starts circling him as if greeting an old friend. He pulls it along, showering it in pets. The scene is rather adorable, unfortunately.
But they don’t swim off like she expected. Instead, he brings the shark closer. If she weren’t so accustomed to swimming with sharks, she might’ve been scared. Still, she’s unsure on what he wants her to do with it. Annabeth reaches out, cautious, and when it doesn’t make any move to bite her, she pets it on the head. He laughs, gills dancing in the water.
She huffs, tilting her head in a show of confusion. He finally decides to help her. Taking her hands into his, he wraps them on the dorsal fin of the shark. It really doesn’t make anything clearer. When he lets go, she’s about to ask the meeting when he smacks the shark’s tail fin. The shark bolts immediately.
Bubbles fly past her as she screams. The sandpaper feeling of shark skin digs into her hands. Around her, the sea gets lighter as they reach the surface. Cold air graces her face as they break through the water. At that point, she lets go of the fin to scramble onto her boat. Ripping off the regulator from her mouth, she sputters before turning around to face the laughing mer, “What–why would you do that without any warning!?”
He trills with a mocking undertone. Not only that, he mimics her own screaming face.
“Don’t do that, anyone would’ve been surprised in my shoes.”
The mer raises an eyebrow, disbelieving. He points at himself and makes a stoic expression as he hooks his other hand around the shark’s fin to spin in a circle. Annabeth crosses her arms, exasperated with his taunting display. Like he was that composed when he did it the first time–wait, he’s understanding her? She blinks, astonished. She leans over the edge of the boat, pointing a finger at herself, “You can understand me?”
He freezes. Fins suddenly perking up as he starts doing happy circles around the boat. She laughs waiting for him to arrive back to pat him on the head. He purrs, head leaning into her hand. It's startling, enough that she pulls back flustered. She coughs, trying to play off her abrupt departure, “Now, I know you can understand me. But can you speak English? Your vocal cords might not handle it so don’t push yourself if it’s too much–”
“Percy.”
Annabeth sputters, “Huh?” Out of every word out there, she wasn’t expecting a name. Now whether it’s his own or someone else is a little unclear.
He swims closer, hands wrapping around the railings around the boat. Webbed hands pull him up just enough so he’s face to face with her again, “My name. I’m Percy.”
As she looks down into intense sea green eyes, she can’t help but smile, “Alright Percy, my name is Annabeth.”