If you listen to the bawdy, drunken sailor songs of those on the high seas, you will hear them singing of the creatures below the seas: Krakens, Leviathans, and more. People often talk about mermaids as the main creatures of the sea; they are often are regarded as such. But people often associate them with beauty, mermaids are not the most gorgeous in the waters.

That right is reserved for the Sirens.

Creatures of such beauty and talent that the mere sight of them, the mere warble of their singing voice, is enough to send a man over the side of his trusty boat and into the arms of the deadly blue. Most of the creatures of seas live in the great and mighty city of Atlantis, all of them living in strict oceanic rules, but there is one rule you need to obey beyond all reason.

You never interact with anything of human nature.

But a little Siren, daughter of the Siren Athena, named Annabeth Chase, had a hard time obeying this rule.

In the upper sectors of Atlantis, Athena was swimming around in a panic. Athena glanced around, desperately for her youngest daughter, checking in the libraries, kitchens, bedrooms, and more. Athena's silver eyes and thick brown hair was in a whirlwind as she searched.

"Mom, I'm sure she is fine-"

"You don't know that girl as I do! She will go to the library and come back with a shark biting at her fins!" Athena cursed at her other child. Athena, the grand strategist of Atlantis, was angrily swimming through the Atlantian grand library.

"Momma!" A small little voice called out behind Athena. Athena turned around and saw her young seven-year-old daughter swimming into the library. Annabeth had a dark golden tail that glittered under the Atlantian light, which matched her blond princess curls that swayed around her head in the blue water. Annabeth's long lace shirt looked more like a dress on her, and it moved and twirled with Annabeth's every movement due to being underwater. Annabeth's brows were pressed down in worry, and she looked slightly panicked.

"Annabeth, where on earth have you been! I have to nail your fins to the floor to keep you put!" Athena snapped.

"Sorry, I got distracted. But come, look!" Annabeth exclaimed, dragging her mother's hand. Athena desperately swam behind her daughter and followed her to the outskirts of Atlantis. Annabeth turned around a sea stack and pointed to a sunken human ship.

"Annabeth, get away from there!" Athena begged, grabbing her daughter's hand and dragging her back.

"Mom! Look up!" Annabeth pointed upwards; her bright gray eyes pointed upwards. Athena glanced upwards and gasped. Above them, were three ships all firing cannons and sinking one another. Men were flying off the decks and landing in the water.

"We have to help them!" Annabeth begged. Athena glanced nervously behind her, hearing the Atlantian police force not far behind them. If they found these men and women in the water, there is no telling how they would react. Two new bodies fell into the water, two humans that looked to be Annabeth's age.

"Okay, quickly! Get them on some wreckage or some land. But don't be seen!" Athena claimed, swimming up towards the surface of the water, but not breaking it. Athena and Annabeth desperately threw the bodies onto the wreckage of the ships, keeping them above water. Annabeth pointed to the two young children, one of them being a bright blond boy with a small cut through his lip and the other a larger Asian boy. Annabeth tried to push them onto some wreckage, but the trumpets of Antalntian officers grew closer.

"Annabeth, we have done all we could, come on!" Athena hissed. Annabeth dragged the blond boy to safety finally, but the boy's eyes fluttered open, and he saw a young siren with a golden tail dragging him across the ocean. He screamed under the water, but Annabeth desperately put her hand over his mouth and shoved him onto the small wreckage the other boy was on. Athena grabbed her daughter's hand, and hid her behind a coral cluster, ducking down as the boy searched for them. Suddenly, the Atlantian trumpets sounded, and other sirens overwhelmed the area. Athena desperately held a hand to her daughter's mouth as the pressed underneath the coral cluster.

"Annabeth, run," Athena breathed.

"What?!" Annabeth whispered desperately.

"I can make an excuse for myself because I am in the Atlantian government, but they will never forgive you if you are found here." Athena breathed, desperately looking around the water for the officers.

"But where should I go? I can't leave you!" Annabeth whispered, tears starting to prick her eyes.

"Annabeth, you need to go!" Athena begged as the officers grew closer.

"Mom-"

"Athena!" An official voice sounded. Athena tensed up and instantly moved in front of Annabeth, trying to tuck her behind her silver tail and body.

"How can I help you?" Athena asked, her voice even and unbothered.

"What... are you doing here?" The voice asked again. Annabeth was shaking behind her mother's body.

"I am investigating the human wreckage. It seems the humans engaged in a naval battle that ended in at least one shipwrecked." Athena explained, only bending the truth.

"Very... well? If you could come with us-" Annabeth's hand accidentally tapped a rock, which slowly tumbled down through the water. The figure in front of Athena stiffened, and Annabeth cringed.

"Madam Athena, please move aside." The guard commanded.

"Excuse me, who do you think you are bossing me around-" The guard swam beside Athena and saw her daughter cowering behind her fins.

"Shit- run!" Athena grabbed Annabeth and swam as fast as she could away from the guards. They sounded out trumpets and pursued the two fleeing syrens desperately. Athena held Annabeth close to her chest and swam in a frenzy, only focusing on escaping. Athena spied a dark enclave in one of the coral reefs, and she dove for it, pressing her body and her daughter against the dark rocky walls as the guards studied for them.

After the guards were gone, Athena grabbed Annabeth's hand to leave their temporary hiding spot, but a slick, slimy tentacle wrapped around Annabeth's arm. Annabeth screamed as it tugged her out of her mother's arms. Athena unsheathed her golden sword and pointed it in the darkness.

"Annabeth?" Athena called out, her voice slightly cracking.

"Hello, Athena," A dry voice scratched out. Athena paled as a dark creature, crawled out of the darkness. She had eight long tentacles, matching her eyes ungodly reflective eyes. Her once golden skin was pale and covered in moss and slime, algae and barnacles stuck onto her skin. In one of her tentacles was a writhing Annabeth, her gray eyes wide with fear and a slimy squid limb covering her mouth.

"Arachne," Athena seethed, her hand tightening around the pommel.

"I'm surprised you remember me! Last time I saw you, you ruined my life and threw me aside as if I were some alleyway rat." Arachne snapped. Annabeth whimpered under Arachne's tentacle, and Athena's face hardened.

"Let her go now, you witch! Or I will do more than take away your pitiful beauty!" Athena seethed, trying to both come off as intimidating and quiet, as to not raise the guard's attention.

"And what will happen if I do? You both return to Atlantis to be exiled or worse, killed?" Arachne asked. Athena faltered when she said that, a slight crack on her stone-cold face.

"You know the severity of the rules your daughter broke. She will be lucky if she doesn't become a loosehead rolling of the execution stage." Arachne said with a smirk, showing off her slimy yellowed teeth.

"What do you want? Is this what you resorted to? Holding innocent girls hostage-"

"I WAS INNOCENT ONCE TOO! And what did you do to me?!" Arachne roared. Athena swallowed the guards outside, hearing her roaring.

"What do you want?!" Athena begged. Arachne turned to the little girl in her arms, looking her up in down as Annabeth squirmed in her hold, her golden tail slightly kicking up sand.

"I want to save her," Arachne decided.

"I-I'm sorry?" Athena asked, coming out a somewhat breathy whisper.

"I save the girl, make sure she stays out of the hands of the Atlantian government, and you return me to my original form." Arachne proposed. Athena looked at her daughter desperately, her gray eyes bright.

"Tick tock, Athena," Arachne whispered sweetly, caressing Annabeth's face with one of her slimy limbs. The guards cried out from outside the coral reef, saying they spotted a cave. Athena looked at Annabeth with a look of pure agony, before letting out a shaky breath.

"Just keep her safe," Athena said quietly. Arachne leaned forward, mere inches away from Athena's face.

"I'll keep in touch," She said sweetly. Arachne swarmed into the darkness, dragging poor Annabeth with her. Annabeth felt like she was being pulled through a cold vacuum of darkness; Arachne's laughter howling over the chaos. One of the tentacles came off Annabeth's mouth, allowing Annabeth to scream. Suddenly, the dark vacuum was over, and she was in a pathetic little coral room, to light let in and bottles of emptiness littering the floor. Little Annabeth didn't swim after the Sea Monster Arachne; she was too busy shaking with fear.

"If you want to live, you will drink this." Arachne snapped, throwing Annabeth one fo the only empty bottles that was in her arrangement. Annabeth's hand fastened around the neck of the bottle, but she glared at the sea witch.

"Where am I?! Where's my mother?!" Annabeth cried out.

"Ugh, the brat of the famous strategist Athena, you would think she would be a bit smarter," Arachne muttered.

"You need to hide for a long time. You broke a lot of rules for saving those kids. One of them even saw you. And there is only one place you can hide without them finding you. Not going to say it again, drink." Arachne snapped.

"But, where is that-" Annabeth was cut off as Arachne snatched the bottle out of her hands, ripped off the cork with her yellow and chipped teeth, and shoved the bottle against Annabeth's lips, forcing the liquid down her throat. Annabeth choked against the liquid, but it went down her throat quickly, and she was gasping afterward.

"I thought you would never shut up," Arachne snarled. Annabeth's body turned feverish and weak, she lost all energy to move her tail, and she slowly fell to the ground. Her entire body was turning numb, and her face was distorted into anger.

"Relax, if I tried to kill you, your mother would rip off my head. Besides, if I get your stupid carcass out of their hands, I can get my beauty back." Arachne sighed. No words could form on her lips, but Annabeth had multiple words on her mind.

"Oh by the way," Arachne turned to the young siren on the seafloor,

"Might want to hold your breath, it's a long way up." She said smugly. With the least of her energy, Annabeth opened her mouth, "Up?" She croaked out. But she knocked out before Arachne could answer her.

Jason POV

"Young man, this better be good. If someone finds out that the East India trading company is looking for fantastical mermaids-"

"I know what I saw, sir!" Young Jason Grace claimed, looking over the side of the navy ship.

"Mr. Zhang, what would you say?" Their commander asked.

"I don't know, sir, I was still asleep. But Jason and I were safely on wreckage heading straight towards this ship; it seems like a pretty big coincidence." Frank said quietly.

"Unbelievable- You two are two of the many children enrolled in the EITC youth program, and this is how you like to act?! Believing in-"

"MAN OVERBOARD!" A sailor cried out from the hull. Everyone rushed to the port side and gaped at a young girl draped over a piece of driftwood. She had long curly hair, and from what Jason could tell, she wasn't wearing much.

"Avert your eyes, boys," The General snapped. Jason and Frank quickly closed their eyes, and the girl was hauled onto the boat. When Jason and Frank were allowed to open their eyes again, the girl was lying on the ship with the General's cape draped over her. Men were checking her temperature and pulse.

"She is alive, but barely." One of the sailor's told the General. The General paled slightly and turned to Jason and Frank, sizing them up.

"You two, do you know this girl?" He snapped. Jason craned his neck to look at the girl, and he gasped.

"That's the one, sir!" Jason cried out.

"What?"

"That's the one that saved us! The one with the fins!" Jason claimed. The General made a big show of looking at her feet, then looked at Jason with a big pouty face.

"She doesn't seem to have a fin or gill in sight." The General joked, the crew laughing. Though Frank turned pink, Jason's gaze was fixated on the girl. The general just sighed and patted them both on the shoulder.

"You care for her, if she wakes, you tell me." He snarled. Both Jason and Frank nodded, and walked over to the girl, crouching over her. She was shaking from the cold and the water but was breathing.

"Jason, I know you think-"

"Frank, she saved your life too. I know what I saw, she had fins and gills, with a long golden tail." Jason snapped. Frank rolled his eyes, but something at the girl's neck caught his eye. A silver pendant of a feather, with waves engraved up the silver chain. Jason saw it as well and reached for it.

The girl woke up with a large gasp, immediately snatching Jason's hand and holding it in a deadly grip. She was panting, and her gray eyes had a crazed look to them. Jason nearly screamed with the girl's awakening, along with Frank, but they both quickly calmed down and tried comforting her.

"It's okay; your safe now," Frank said warmly. She continued to pant, looking around her in a frenzy.

"Above. Water." She breathed. She glanced at her body and almost screamed when she looked at her feet.

"Feet, toes... HUMAN." She hyperventilated, and Jason saw as her necklace pendant slightly flipped over, showing the engraving of a fishtail on the back of the feather.

"I knew it..." Jason whispered, pointing to the necklace. The girl recognized Frank and Jason as well, and she shook her head.

"Tell. Nobody." She begged. Jason and Frank desperately nodded their heads as she caught her breath.

"Our names are Jason and Frank. What's yours?" Jason asked, helping her sit up, the jacket still covering her. The girl looked at him with a perplexed look, and Frank nudged Jason.

"I don't think she fully understands us, Grace." Frank then leaned forward, a kind smile on his face. He pointed to his chest, "Frank Zhang," He pointed to Jason, "Jason Grace." He said slowly. The girl nodded as if digesting the information.

"Anna-" She started over, having trouble to speak in the human's tongue, "Anna-b-beth," She chattered. Jason pointed to her pendant.

"You're a mermaid, aren't you?" He asked quietly. Much to Jason's chagrin, the girl shook her head and knew Frank was going to tease him about his theory later.

"No. Mermaid, but," Jason watched with wonder as she tapped on her throat, indicating her vocal cords, "Siren." She croaked out, clearly her voice still raw. Jason and Frank gawked at her for a moment too long, and she shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"Do you need help getting back?" Frank asked. The girl again looked confused at the long sentence, and Frank restructured it.

"Help? Going back?" He asked slowly, pointing towards the water. She viciously shook her head, her gray eyes wide with fear.

"Stay away! No going back!" She begged, slightly thrashing. Jason and Frank immediately held up their heads in surrender, nodding in understanding.

"We will help. We're friends," Jason whispered.

"Friends?" Annabeth asked slowly.

"Friends," Frank confirmed. The girl bit her lip and looked at the ship as if wondering to trust anyone.

"Friends. Secrets kept, right?" Annabeth asked slowly. Though Frank and Jason had trouble deciphering what she said at first, they quickly got it.

"Yes, we will keep secrets," Jason confirmed. Her face hardened, and she tapped her throat again, pointing to where her Siren vocal cords sat.

"Tell. N-no one." She whispered. Frank and Jason glanced around and the bustling sailors, and nodded shyly to her. She suddenly turned to cough out seawater but turned back to Jason and Frank.

"Then friends," She said with a small smile. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she returned unconscious. Jason and Frank figured to let her sleep, and they jumped at the sight of their commanding officer right behind them.

"Did she say anything?" He pressured.

"Only that her name is Annabeth sir," Frank piped up. He looked unimpressed, but he shrugged.

"We will bring her with us. One more child training in the armada won't hurt." He sighed, poking her with his walking cane. Jason wanted to swat away the commander's walking stick, yelling at him to treat his and Frank's savior with respect, but Frank held him back.

"You two keep an eye on her when we get back. Once we arrive, you help her get settled into the child quarters with you two. Her training will start two days after we land." The General decided, before turning away and tending other business. Frank and Jason let out a breath and looked at one another before looking at the girl.

"We should probably teach her how to speak English before she starts training," Frank said quietly.

"And how to walk," Jason whispered back. They both looked at one another, only eight years old, but holding a person's life-changing secret in their hands.

"We say nothing," Jason said sternly.

"We say nothing." Frank echoed, confirming their silence. 

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This story is extremely new, so be patient with me, might take me some time to figure out everything!

_Sibylline_