A 1

Finally the kelp forest opened up. Leo gasped. They were standing (swimming, whatever) at the
summit of a high underwater hill. Below them stretched an entire town of Greek-style buildings on
the seafloor.
The roofs were tiled with mother-of-pearl. The gardens were filled with coral and sea anemones.
Hippocampi grazed in a field of seaweed. A team of Cyclopes was placing the domed roof on a new
temple, using a blue whale as a crane. And swimming through the streets, hanging out in the
courtyards, practicing combat with tridents and swords in the arena were dozens of mermen and
mermaids—honest-to-goodness fish-people.
Leo had seen a lot of crazy stuff, but he had always thought merpeople were silly fictional
creatures, like Smurfs or Muppets.
There was nothing silly or cute about these merpeople, though. Even from a distance, they looked
fierce and not at all human. Their eyes glowed yellow. They had sharklike teeth and leathery skin in
colors ranging from coral red to ink black.
“It’s a training camp,” Leo realized. He looked at Aphros in awe. “You train heroes, the same way
Chiron does?”
Aphros nodded, a glint of pride in his eyes. “We have trained all the famous mer-heroes! Name a
mer-hero, and we have trained him or her!”
“Oh, sure,” Leo said. “Like…um, the Little Mermaid?”
Aphros frowned. “Who? No! Like Triton, Glaucus, Weissmuller, and Bill!”
“Oh.” Leo had no idea who any of those people were. “You trained Bill? Impressive.”
“Indeed!” Aphros pounded his chest. “I trained Bill myself. A great merman.”
“You teach combat, I guess.”
Aphros threw up his hands in exasperation. “Why does everyone assume that?”