Okay, let's dive right into this, haha. Fairly good sized chapter. Lots and lots of fun ahead!

IMPORTANT! Also, hope you guys will respect me for this- I'm keeping Annabeth older than Percy. Trying to stay true to the books. And thank you to those who are actually reading these notes.

Enjoy. :)

Chapter 4

Reyna threw another duffle bag on deck. "Alright! That's the last of them!" she called down.

Will looked at his checklist. "Good, good… right on time."

A short man with a scruffy goatee squinted at the ship. He crossed his arms, his tunic dirty and torn in several places. "Somethin' isn't right about this…."

Will raised an eyebrow. "You sure, Coach?"

The man frowned. "Well, I'm no genius or anything, but you cupcakes watch yourselves. Somethin's off."

"Between the Royal Medic and the Personal Bodyguard, I'm pretty confident everything will be fine. Do we really need the Royal Trainer on board, too?"

Gleeson Hedge looked out to sea, the few gray hairs on his head shining in the evening light. "Hmm…."

Will sighed, the older man's worry penetrating his hopes of their short voyage having smooth sailing. "Oh, forget it. Last chance, Annabeth: do you really want to go out to sea for your birthday?"

"You only turn seventeen once, Will." She walked up the beam leading onto the ship, lifting her grey skirt so that she wouldn't trip.

"You said that last year," he mumbled. "But, whatever you say, Princess. As long as you're happy on your birthday. We've got quite a lot planned for you; just wait and see."

Frank shot another arrow at the bullzeye. It landed in the center circle with a thunk. "How long has it been?"

"Three hours and twenty… two minutes," Thalia said, not taking her eyes off the open water.

"Exactly twenty-two minutes?"

"Oh, what does it matter?" Nico joined Thalia on the pathway. "He left us. Made us look unprepared and foolish in front of the entire kingdom. What I'd give to be in that throne room when he gets here…"

"Give him some slack," Jason said. He swam up behind the two, finding himself just as restless as the others. Waiting in their practice arena while King Poseidon and Chiron discussed punishment inside was agonizing. "He works just as hard as the rest of us, and we all deserve a break every now and then."

"Are you defending him, Grace?"

"Of course I'm not. I'm just saying, I understand where he gets it from. We train every day. We work our tails off. Sneaking away shouldn't be that much of a surprise."

Calypso laughed. The boys looked at her. She'd been laying on a bench, tossing her dagger in the water and catching it. "Don't forget what he actually does when he slithers off. Going to old shipwrecks, finding human things… We're lucky we even know about that."

She sat up. "I think scavenger hunting is fascinating and all- and as much as I'd love to go around scurraging through ships instead of training- we still showed up. Percy needs to get his priorities straight. Our team comes before knick-knack collecting."

"There he is," Thalia said.

The training arena stilled.

Percy and Grover came swimming up the path, breathing heavily, causing millions of bubbles to swirl in the water.

Percy leaned against a pillar. "How… bad… is… it?"

"You're dead, Jackson," Thalia said flatly, her arms crossed.

He sunk to the floor. "Goodbye, dear friends." He rubbed sweat off his brow. (Though it didn't make much of a difference in the water.) "Jason, Frank, take care of Tyson for me-"

"Oh, grow up, Percy." Thalia yanked him upright and pushed him toward the castle. "We all want this to be over. Best to not let the anger boil too hot."

"I'll be right there with you," Grover said, also gasping. "We've survived worse than this. Bring it on!"

"I would not test Poseidon," Calypso warned.

"Just get in there." Thalia gave Percy another shove as he handed his bag off to Frank. "Seriously, the tension is killing me."

"I just don't know what we're going to do with you, young man."

"Father, I'm sorry. I just forgot, I-"

"As a result of your careless behavior-"

Chiron swam up next to the sitting King, staring down at Percy. "Careless and reckless behavior."

"-the entire training session was, well-"

"It was ruined." Percy winced at this, worried the crab would smack him in the head with his staff. "That's all. Completely destroyed." Chiron swam back down to cut the distance between himself and the Prince. "This session was to be the pinnacle of our entire program." He gave another harsh look. "Now, thanks to you, we are the laughing stock of the entire kingdom."

Grover swam between the two, no longer able to linger behind his best friend. "But it wasn't his fault." Poseidon and Chiron raised their eyebrows, unimpressed, as if daring him to come up with a decent explanation for their actions. "Uh, well, um, first, the shark chased us. Yeah… Yeah. And we tried to-" He mimicked fast swimming motions.

King Poseidon put an elbow on his throne chair's arm, leaning into his palm. His face said, Great. Here we go with the stories.

"-But we couldn't. And he-" Grover barred his teeth and growled. "And, and then we, whoa!" He spun in the water, making his brain dizzy. "And then we were safe. But then this seagull came, and it was- 'This is this, and that is that, and-'" he mocked Rachel's voice.

"Wait." Poseidon sat up straighter. "Seagull?"

Grover gasped, realizing what he'd slipped. He put his fins over his mouth and hid behind Percy. The Prince looked at his friend, annoyed.

"What?" King Poseidon gripped his trident. His green eyes flashed. "You went up to the surface again, didn't you?" His son looked away. "Didn't you?"

Percy wrung his hands. "Nothing… happened." He tried for a shrug.

"Oh, Percy. How many times must we go through this?" The merman rubbed his forehead, getting out of his chair. He would never understand his son's obsession with the world above them. "You could have been seen by one of those barbarians- by one of those humans."

"Father, they're not barbarians."

"They're dangerous." He put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Do you think I want to see my eldest son snared by some fish eater's hook?"

Percy backed away. "I'm sixteen years old. I'm not a child anymore."

Poseidon pointed a finger at him. "Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young man."

"But-"

"As long as you live under my ocean, you'll obey my rules."

Percy threw his arms out. "But if you would just listen-"

"Not another word!" King Poseidon's voice boomed around the throne room. For a split second, Percy feared his father would fire a burst of energy at an unsuspecting pillar with his trident. "And I am never, never to hear of you going to the surface again. Is that clear?"

Percy tried to straighten up, frustration swirling inside him. He looked at his father, the one merman he felt had never understood him. The one person that had been there his whole life, but hadn't taken the time to know his brain.

He turned away, no longer able to hold himself together, and darted out of the room, Grover right on his tail.

Poseidon sighed. He sat back down, putting his chin in his palm again.

"Teeneagers," Chiron said. "They think they know everything, don't they? You give them an inch and then… They practically swim all over you."

King Poseidon pursed his lips. Handling his son was never as simple as carrying out his royal duties. He wished he could make a law that made his son obedient. But that would be breaking too many morals. "Do… you think I was too hard on him?"

"Oh, no, sire. Definitely not. These children need restraints. If Percy was my son, I'd show him who's boss. At least, that's how they phrase it these days.

"But, none of this, flitting to the surface and other foolish nonsense. No. I'd keep him under tight control."

Poseidon rubbed his chin. "You're absolutely right, Chiron."

"Thank you, sire."

"Percy needs constant supervision."

Chiron nodded. "Constant."

"More than the royal guard. Someone to watch over him; to keep him out of trouble."

"All the time," Chiron agreed.

"Someone who already knows how he would act. And you-" Poseidon poked the crab's shell, "-are just the crab to do it."

Chiron almost dropped his staff. His eyes widened. "Of- of course, your majesty." He gave a small bow.

King Poseidon smiled, satisfied, secretly hoping he'd fixed a temporary problem. Once his son started acting within reason, he'd let him go wherever he wanted.

Chiron turned and started down, making his way to the floor to follow Percy. He gave a small sigh, wondering why he'd given the King any ideas at all.

He trained warriors day in and day out- and now he was given the task of babysitting Atlantica's eldest Prince. Like he hadn't been doing that already.

I feel like this chapter was a lot shorter than it should have been. More to come next time- Part of Your World will certainly be interesting.

I like portraying Thalia as the older, responsible, sister role-model figure. She just tries to keep order among the 'children'.

Just a little trivia, I never post a new chapter unless I have the next one done. Like, I have this posted, but I already have Chapter 5 written. I still have to finish editing and writing Chapter 6, that's all. It's my way of making sure I always have something to post. (Also, FYI for those who don't know, you can leave guest reviews.)

I'll be back soon enough :)

~Reader4ever1