-Percy-
Walking through the Olympus Estate late at night could be very dangerous if you weren't careful. People seemed to never go to sleep, because there was nearly always someone outside. Olympus Estate consisted of four long buildings in the shape of a square, with three being identical and one being slightly larger. That was the building Poseidon lived in. At the center of the square there was a small park, and around the sides and the back of the buildings there were alleyways and paths that were almost always occupied by some kind of group of kids or gang members. The walls were a pale white, but they'd become more of a grey colour over the years, and were mostly covered with graffiti anyway. Some of the apartments faced onto the park, while some faced onto the street. Neither was a particularly good view. There were usually people either sitting outside the apartments, in the park or in the street at any time of the day. This meant that if you weren't from the local area, or you were from a rival gang, or you were just plain rude to anyone, well, you better be careful, because most of the locals didn't take kindly to strangers.
You also didn't call the police if you got into trouble. That was a rule. If you were hurt, no ambulance for you. All problems were brought to Poseidon, or if he wasn't there, one of his top men. If you were injured at all, there was an old doctor on the estate who you went to, Paolo Solace, Will's father, sometimes called Apollo. Living on Olympus Estate brought on a lot of Greek Mythology nicknames. It was only in the rare circumstance that Apollo couldn't help you that you went to a hospital, but even then, the local hospital seemed to know a lot of what went on in the area, so they didn't ask questions.
If you had a dispute with someone else in the gang, you were supposed to go to Poseidon to sort it out. If you were in trouble with the police, go to Poseidon and he'd deal with it. If you were threatened or injured by another gang, go to Poseidon and… well you get the point. Poseidon dealt with all problems because no one wanted the police sniffing around. Fortunately, most people could handle themselves, and didn't run to the boss with every small issue they had, particularly the younger members. To a lot of them, asking the big guy to solve your problem was similar to being a coward, or running away. Percy in particular couldn't do this, being the son of Poseidon. Everyone would just call him a daddy's boy, no; he had always stood up for himself. At first, it had never ended well, but as he got older, he had gradually started earning his respect.
As he walked through the estate at night, Percy spotted a few groups of people. He nodded a greeting at them, seeing as he knew most people around here. Olympus at night was only safe for the inhabitants. Percy could see his own apartment door, but he didn't want to go home yet. It was midnight, and he'd left Luke's about an hour ago. It really had been an eventful night. Instead of walking straight to his apartment, where his mother was no doubt waiting for him to come home, he sat down on a bench in the park, and thought about the past few hours.
He'd kissed Annabeth. Well technically she'd kissed him first, but he returned it. And it hadn't been an ordinary kiss either, after all he'd also kissed Rachel; but as he'd said earlier he didn't really like Rachel, not like that anyway. Annabeth on the other hand was different. Percy had been sure that he didn't have any sort of attraction to her beyond admitting she was attractive, but that kiss had changed things a bit. Now, he couldn't get the image of her standing just in front of him out of his head. He could easily recall the smell of her perfume, the taste of her lips, the feel of her body. It was like she was a drug that Percy had tried, and now he was addicted.
He wasn't even sure why he had kissed back. When she had kissed him, he had been so surprised he barely had time to react before she had pulled away, looking slightly embarrassed. Maybe it was her embarrassment, maybe it was her looks, or maybe it was the fact that Percy actually quite liked it, but whatever it was, he had leaned forward and kissed her back.
And he had really enjoyed it. His heart had been racing so fast he could practically hear it in his ears afterwards, and when Annabeth pulled away, Percy had actually been disappointed. Of course, he wasn't an idiot. He knew that kissing Luke's girlfriend in his own house would come across as rude, disrespectful and no doubt cause serious problems. And then Silena walked in. It had been so obvious from her face that she knew what had happened. Percy decided to let Annabeth deal with that. After all, they were all her friends.
Annabeth's last words still rung in Percy's ears, after he'd asked if it would happen again.
"I'd like it to."
Did that mean she liked him? Would they see each other like that again? Percy quickly stopped his train of thought from going down that path. Why did he care so much? An hour ago he hadn't felt like this. Did one kiss change that much?
Percy was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the well-dressed man approaching until he was standing in front of him.
"Percy?" the voice was deep, and dripped with authority, but there was also an edge to it. It wasn't hard to tell that this man wasn't too fond of Percy. Percy knew who it was instantly, of course. He raised his eyes and saw one of the most intimidating men he knew standing in front of him, holding out his hand.
Atlas.
Atlas was Calypso's father, and he had other daughters as well, but none of them lived on Olympus estate anymore. Now, you may be wondering what Atlas's first name was, and honestly, Percy had no idea. He had always just gone by his surname. Atlas was one of Poseidon's top guys. In fact it was probably safe to call him the second in command. He was strong, well muscled and always dressed better than most people in Olympus; he was fond of suits. His sleeked back black hair and stone grey eyes only added to the intimidation levels. If anyone around here looked like a proper, stereotypical gangster, it was Atlas. Oh, and he wasn't too fond of Percy. In fact, he didn't like him one bit.
You see, Percy had dared to touch Atlas' daughter, and despite the fact that he was just about as distant as a father could be to Calypso, he didn't want anyone touching her. When he first found out about Percy and Calypso, the only thing that had prevented him from 'ripping Percy's spine out' (his words) had been the fact that he was Poseidon's son. This meant that he was the last person Percy particularly wanted to see after midnight.
Percy looked at the outstretched hand of Atlas and shook it. It felt like he was attempting to crush Percy's hand with his own, his immense strength evident.
"Atlas… Sir. Hello." Percy muttered. He was never quite sure how to address his father's friends.
"You're on your own." the suit clad man pointed out.
"How observant of you." Percy muttered under his breath, sarcastically. It was dangerous; Atlas was known to have a short fuse. Even a small bit of sarcasm might send him into a rage, but if he heard Percy's comment, he didn't react to it.
"Tell me, what are you doing out so late, on your own?" Atlas asked. Percy wanted to know why he cared; after all, past experiences told him that Atlas wasn't his number one fan.
"Well I was with friends earlier, and on the walk back I decided to sit down for a minute." Atlas nodded, as if he was genuinely interested. Suddenly a huge smile broke on his face.
"And you are aware that your father is waiting in your apartment for you to get home? Has been for about four hours." Atlas flashed his pearly whites, with one golden one, as he saw the panic spread in the sea green eyes. His father was home?
Percy knew better than most how his father hated waiting, so the knowledge that he'd been back for four hours, waiting for Percy was enough to press the panic button inside his head. Would he be angry? That was a stupid question; of course he'd be angry. This explained the gangster's demeanor. Percy could see that Atlas was enjoying his momentary freak out, but honestly he didn't care. He quickly got up, excused himself and walked straight to his apartment door.
As he entered the apartment, he heard what sounded like a muffled argument in the kitchen.
"He'll be here, okay?" Percy recognized the voice of his mother.
"He better be." That was his father. Percy didn't like his tone of voice. He braced himself for whatever torrent of words his father would throw at him. He was 17 years old, and he could still get nervous whenever he was in trouble with his father.
"Guys, I'm home!" he called out. Immediately the talking stopped, and Percy heard footsteps.
"Where the fuck have you been?!"
That was, of course, Poseidon. Now Percy was never actually sure what his father's real name was. He knew his real surname was Waters, but he never asked him what his first name actually was. Percy always guessed it was Peter or Paul or something like that. The first thing anyone would notice about Poseidon was how intimidating he was. Percy would rather run off and face one hundred Atlas' than his father if he could. Poseidon was tall, around 6'4", and was incredibly well built. He kept his jet-black hair and beard neatly cut, and his face looked like it might break if he tried to smile. Whenever he wore a short-sleeved shirt, like he was right now, you could see lots of tattoos up and down his arms. A gold medallion, shaped like a trident, hung from his neck, and he had a collection of rings on his fingers. The rings actually served another purpose, and that was to add extra pain when he punched someone.
"Nice to see you too dad." Percy replied, perhaps a little bravely, in a sarcastic tone. His father walked closer to him.
"Don't get fuckin' rude with me, answer the damn question. Where have you been?" His father sounded irritated, and that irritated Percy. He hadn't seen his son in a week, and he didn't even say hi first, no, it was straight to swearing at him.
"Percy," his mother ran up and hugged him "you should've called." Sally Jackson never went down the 'Poseidon route', in fact, Percy struggled to remember the last time she'd gotten really angry with him.
"I know, I'm sorry mom."
"Hey, answer the fuckin' question dipshit." Poseidon shouted. He certainly swore like a sailor, living up to his name in that sense. It was evident that he would be reaching new levels of anger soon.
"Poseidon, just lower your voice. Calm down." Sally tried to keep the situation from getting out of hand; after all, they had neighbors.
"Calm down? I am fuckin' calm. Don't fuckin' tell me to calm down. You watch your damn mouth Sally," he barked, turning his gaze to Percy's mom. Sally was not a short woman, but Poseidon still towered over her. Percy was worried for a second that his father may go too far and hit her or something, although, to Percy's recollection he never had before.
"Hey!" Percy yelled, "You don't talk to my mother like that. You're pissed at me, so shout at me. You wanna know where I was? I was with some people from school. They invited me to a party, and I couldn't really say no." He could see his father was about to interrupt him, but he didn't give him the chance. "You know why? Because I'm trying to fit in, because you made me go to some school where I know no one, which by the way, I really fucking hate." Percy hadn't realized how loud he had been shouting. Hell, Calypso probably heard him, and she lived three doors down. The neighbors had gotten used to living next to the bosses family.
Poseidon just glared at Percy. It was a long glare, as sea green eyes met sea green eyes. According to everyone, Percy was the spitting image of Poseidon as a teenager, and his eyes were no exception. They were one of the many things Percy inherited from his deeply dislikable dad. The father son stare contest was ended when Poseidon faced away, before looking back, his face emotionless. No anger, no hatred, no love.
"Next time call your mother," he said, completely deadpan. "I don't want to have to wait four hours again. Understood?" He pointed at Percy, cocking his eyebrow as he talked. Percy nodded, which was good enough for his father. Without another word, Poseidon walked to the door, stopping only to pat Percy on the shoulder. No doubt he thought it was affectionate, fatherly, but Percy just wished he'd leave. Then, in one second, the door slammed shut, and the room was silent.
The silence hung in the room, neither Percy nor Sally daring to move. It was like they expected Poseidon to burst back in or something. Then, Sally let out a huge sigh of relief as she walked into the kitchen.
"Mom," Percy started, "I'm sorry I didn't-" Sally cut him off.
"I know Percy, I'm just glad you're home safe."
"I would've been home sooner if I'd known he was waiting, that's all." he assured her.
"Percy," his mother sighed, "I'm very tired, and I just want to go to sleep now. I'll see you in the morning." And with that, Sally Jackson trotted off to bed. Percy felt so bad. His mother didn't deserve to be spoken to the way his father had done. She'd been nothing but supportive of him, she'd allowed him to try and be a part of his son's life, even if he was really bad at it, and she put up with a lot of his shit. But Percy also knew that his mother was frustrated at him. After all, this was mostly all his fault. He should've just called, even if his father hadn't been waiting for him, just so his mother knew he was safe. Maybe if he hadn't been so distracted by Annabeth…
Annabeth. Why could he not stop thinking about her? This wasn't like him at all. Her curly blonde hair, the feel of her body, her strikingly beautiful grey eyes. No, he had to get her out of his mind. He had to kick her out, because he knew he couldn't think straight otherwise. And he only knew one way that he could clear his head. Without a second thought, Percy left the apartment and walked down the row of apartments, exactly three doors down, and knocked on the door.
"You alright?" Calypso stuck her head around the door. She was wearing a simple, thin white sundress, and the look on her beautiful pale face was one of slight concern. Percy hadn't come round after midnight for a while.
"Yeah. You busy? I want to cash in my rain check." Calypso's face lit up, she was clearly delighted, having hardly seen Percy all week.
"No, come on in." She let him past her and into the apartment. It was practically identical to Percy's except much messier. "Dad's out, what a surprise, so it's just us." Turning to face Percy, Calypso was met with the familiar feel of his lips crashing against hers. They made their way to Calypso's bedroom, another familiar place to Percy, their lips never parting. Percy knew that he'd have to explain some of his reasoning behind this visit afterwards, but for now, he was lost in the moment, trying to push the grey-eyed blonde girl invading his thoughts out of his mind. He heard Calypso stifle a moan as they fell onto her bed, before ripping each other's clothes off. Percy needed this, badly.
He awoke the next morning in his own bed, having left Calypso's at around two. He never liked to stay the night with her; it was easier to avoid Atlas as much as possible. Of course he had stayed for a bit, lying naked in bed, talking about their issues. Percy told her about his argument with his father, and she ranted to him about her emotionally distant father, who never ever seemed to be around. He hadn't been home last night. Percy assumed that when he saw him in the park, he had just been heading out, either to business or a woman. Honestly, Percy didn't care too much, but he knew it affected Calypso. They agreed to see each other soon, Percy still unsure on where his feelings were at.
Eventually, Percy left and came back to the comfort of his own bed. His plan had worked, because for the rest of the night, he hadn't thought about Annabeth. It was like she had been completely erased from his mind for a few hours. But now he was awake, she was all he could think about again. It concerned him, because Percy wasn't the best guy when it came to feelings. He tended to keep them bottled up until they went away, and they usually did in the end. Maybe that would be the case with Annabeth. Despite that, Percy knew he'd have to face her eventually, and while part of him just wanted to avoid it, another part, a much deeper part, wanted to see her again, to talk to her, to kiss her.
Snap out of it, he thought to himself. The clock by his bed told Percy the time was 11:46. Hey, it was Saturday, he was allowed a lie in. But he couldn't lie in bed much longer, avoiding his problems. By midday, Percy was showered and dressed, and standing in the kitchen, pouring himself cereal. Sally Jackson was at work, but she had left a note for Percy on the kitchen table.
Your father wants to speak to you today, he told me to tell you to find him. Mom.
Great, more time with Poseidon. He probably wanted to talk to him about whatever he was round yesterday to talk to him about, y'know, before he stormed out in a furious rage. Well, Percy didn't really want to keep him waiting long. He finished his bowl and walked to the door, grabbing his jacket before leaving the apartment, locking the door behind him.
The walk to the farthest block of flats, where Poseidon lived, was not long, and Percy was there within minutes. There was a surprising lack of people around today, so there had been no reason to stop and chat. As he reached the door of his father's apartment, he nodded his greeting to the guy who always stood outside, kind of like a bodyguard, before knocking.
"It's open." He heard the muffled yell from inside, his father's voice, before he entered.
Percy walked in to the familiar room, and saw his father, and four other guys, sitting round a table, playing what appeared to be poker. Percy knew two of them by name, and the other two he recognized. There was Atlas, looking as imposing as ever, even sitting down, and to Poseidon's left sat Gabe Ugliano. Gabe, a man who had somehow gained the unfortunate nickname Smelly Gabe, was a short, pudgy, bald asshole of a guy, who just so happened to be one of Poseidon's closest friends. He wore a stained brown shirt and beach shorts, and from the looks of it, was winning a fair amount of money. Percy had never liked him. He used to live next door, but always gave Sally so much shit. He bothered them night and day, and finally, Poseidon forced him to move to a different block. The whole situation left Percy and his mom in Gabe's bad books, but there was little he could do about that.
"Percy? What are you doing here?" His father looked up from his hand at his son with confusion in his eyes.
"You… uh, mom said you wanted to talk to me?" Percy was getting slightly nervous; he didn't like that everyone in the room was staring at him. He saw a look of disdain in Gabe's eyes, as he looked up from his hand too.
"No, I told her that I wanted to talk to you after 3 o'clock" he said, rubbing his face with frustration. "Did she not tell you that?"
"No, she was at work, just left a note that said you wanted to talk to me," he said, defending his mother. "I didn't want to keep you waiting," he added, seeing a small smirk on Atlas's face. Poseidon got up out of his seat and walked over to Percy, until they were face to face. To Percy's surprise, he didn't look angry at all, he was being quite passive.
"Okay, go back to your place, I'll come round as soon as I can. I want to talk to you about the school" he said, in a lower voice, so the others wouldn't hear. What did he want to talk about the school for? I'll find out later I guess, thought Percy. Just as he was about to walk out of the door, he heard Gabe shout from behind his dad, and it made Percy's blood boil.
"Tell your stupid fucking idiot mother to remember the time next time. You interrupted our game." Percy wasn't about to stand by while this fat piece of shit talked bad about his mom. Percy turned slowly, and went to launch himself at Gabe, shouting, "What did you fucking say?" No doubt he would've made some contact if Poseidon hadn't held him back.
"Calm down Percy!" Poseidon shouted as he easily pushed Percy back. Percy was red in the face, partly from rage, partly from embarrassment. All of his father's friends were laughing at him. Gabe had the biggest grin on his face.
"Ooh, I'm so scared Jackson," he taunted, "is Percy Jackson gonna hurt me?"
"Gabe," Poseidon warned, "stop it."
"What? It ain't my fault his mother's such an idiot. If she had any brains, she wouldn't be working in a fucking candy store everyday," he laughed, looking at the others, expecting them to laugh too. They, however, were all looking at Poseidon, waiting for his reaction. He seemed to not have one, and that made Percy angry again.
"Dad," Percy snapped, "are you gonna let him talk like that?" Poseidon had his eyes fixed on his son, before he talked.
"Percy, I'll talk to you later." It was clear he wanted Percy to leave, for whatever reason. Just as Percy was about to reluctantly oblige, Gabe shouted one more thing, and it made the room freeze.
"Yeah, run back to your fucking whore mother." You could hear the sound of everyone simultaneously holding their breath. Percy wanted to kill him, to run at him and beat the shit out of him, but before he could, his father reacted. But not in the way anyone expected.
"Gabe, how well do you know me?" he asked, no sign of malice in his voice whatsoever.
"What the fuck?" Now it was Gabe's turn to look bemused. Smelly Fucking Gabe. "Pretty well I guess, why?"
"Can you tell me what I love most in the world?" It was a simple question, but something about the way Poseidon talked was beginning to sound off, as if he were being too polite.
"Uh, money? Power? Control? All three of those are pretty good bets" Gabe answered, laughing slightly. Poseidon just laughed under his breath, as if there was some private joke only he knew.
"All right, you three," he pointed to the other people around the table, "I want you to fold." He was talking about the game of poker they'd been playing. The others hesitantly looked at each other, before Poseidon repeated himself.
"Fold!" he said, louder. It wasn't a request; it was an order. There was a trace of danger in Poseidon's voice now. Quickly, the other three laid down their cards and sat back. Gabe was looking slightly worried now. Poseidon walked around the table, mirroring the movements of a lion hunting its prey.
"Gabe, show me your cards." Poseidon talked almost so quietly that you couldn't hear him. Gabe looked at him in shock, as if he'd just been slapped in the face. Percy wished he'd just get slapped in the face, but a part of him knew something worse was coming.
"What? Show you my cards? No, why would I fucking do that?" It was a fair argument; after all the whole point of poker was to not let anyone know what hand you had.
"Because I told you to. Now do it." Gabe stared at him for a minute, unsure of how to react. Percy imagined his dilemma. On the one hand, you could potentially lose the hand, or even lots of money, depending on how the next few minutes went, but on the other hand, refusing to do so would put you in the bad books of your boss, who happened to be prone to serious anger management issues. It looked like Gabe went with the former decision, as he slowly, reluctantly flipped his cards over. Poseidon stared at him.
"Ah, looks like you've got a King high, not very good. Planning on bluffing were you?" Gabe wasn't looking as Poseidon spoke, he seemed much more interested in his shoes. Poseidon, on the other hand, looked ecstatic.
"Well, you see Gabe, I have a pair of sevens, also not amazing, but better than yours. Now, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're going to go all in, and I'm going to take your money, understood?" Gabe's eyes shot up, and he stood up, eying up Poseidon.
"Are you fucking crazy? I got almost five grand, and you want me to lose on purpose?" Gabe looked angry now, "Listen to me, you-" Poseidon angrily cut him off.
"No Gabe, you listen to me," he yelled, practically pushing Gabe back down into his seat, "you're going to go all in, because I fuckin' said so! Now fuckin' do it!" Percy was pretty sure that Gabe had begun to shake, probably in fear. He was also pretty sure he hadn't seen his dad this angry in years, and it was not something he felt like he should be present for, but he also couldn't leave, especially if it involved pain for Gabe.
Gabe nodded, and slowly pushed all of his chips into the middle of the table. The tension in the air was so thick, that you'd need more than just one knife to cut through it; you'd need the whole kitchen drawer. Not one of the other men in the room, Atlas included, had moved a muscle, but their eyes darted from Poseidon to Gabe like a tennis match, an extremely one sided tennis match. No one dared even breathe loudly. Once Gabe's chips were in the center, Poseidon pushed all of his chips into the middle too.
"Now Gabriel," Poseidon was feigning politeness, "show me what hand you have." Gabe dropped the cards onto the table, everyone of course already knowing what they were. "King high, ah well, better luck next time." Poseidon said mockingly, as he showed his pair of sevens. He collected the chips in the middle. From what Percy could tell, it was around ten grand. No wonder Gabe looked miserable. But if he thought his humiliation was over, he was certainly mistaken.
"Gabe, you named what you believed to be three things I love most in the world, and you are right, I do love all those things. Money, power and control. What I just did shows I have all three. I have money, thanks to you, around ten thousand dollars extra now. I proved that I have power over you, because you did exactly what I said, and I also had complete control of the whole situation. You see Gabe, money, power and control. But you left off one thing, the one thing I love more than anything else. Well, technically it's two things. My sons, Percy and Tyson." Percy stopped breathing for a second. Did his father just say he loved him? Had he heard him right? Percy couldn't recall his father ever saying that to him before. Well, he hadn't actually said it to him, he'd said it to Gabe, but he'd still said it nonetheless. Poseidon continued, not even glancing at Percy.
"I love my two sons more than anything else, and you insulted my eldest son's mother. That woman, regardless of my relationship with her, will always have a place in my heart, because she gave me my first son." Gabe had gone as white as a sheet of paper by this point. It looked like he wanted to defend himself, but knew he should probably keep his mouth shut. "You've always had a problem with her, and I don't like to get too involved in other people's lives, so I tried to let you sort it out yourselves. I had to move you, and I hoped that would be the end of it."
"But Gabe," Poseidon stepped closer to the quivering, pathetic excuse for a gangster, "when you called her stupid, an idiot, a fucking whore, you didn't just piss off my son, you finally pissed me off. You insulted the woman who brought my son into the world, and has raised him. I can't let that go unpunished." By now, he was towering over the shorter man, who was standing and breathing rather heavily.
"Boss, please…" Gabe began, but Poseidon held up a hand, silencing him.
"Gabe, I'm sorry, but you should've known better. I'd say I don't wanna do this, but that wouldn't strictly be true now would it?" He smirked slightly. Everyone in the room, including Percy, knew what was coming next. Then, in one swift movement that took all of half a second, Poseidon's fist connected with Gabe's cheek. The short man stumbled, but as he again turned his head, he was met with another fist. Before anyone could even move, Gabe was on the floor, Poseidon above him, delivering a torrent of punches to the head of the smaller man. Percy began to move forward, but saw Atlas hold up a hand, his face completely serious. The other men had still not moved at all. Poseidon was shouting at this point, but not words, just a primal yell, the sound of every punch seemingly echoing through the room. Thud. Thud. Thud. Poseidon was punching his body now, Gabe's face looking nearly unrecognizable from cuts and blood. Poseidon pulled at Gabe's shirt, lifting him into a sitting position, before grabbing a beer bottle and smashing it over the bloodied man's head. His father stood up, and looked directly at Percy. He could see the blood on his father's knuckles and rings. The only sounds in the room were Gabe's moans and Poseidon's panting.
"You three, drag him into the other room. We're not done." He looked at them. Atlas immediately got up and dragged the groaning Gabe through the door at the far end of the room, with the other two men following. Percy almost didn't want to think about what further punishment Gabe would receive.
Poseidon walked up to him, blood still on his hands, and looked at Percy sympathetically.
"I'm sorry… son, that you had to see that" he said awkwardly. He never usually had to explain his acts of violence.
"It's alright… dad." Percy replied, just as awkwardly. He rarely called Poseidon dad.
"So I'll talk to you later, about school." Poseidon stated
"Yeah, I'll see you later I guess." His father patted him lightly on the shoulder, just like he'd done yesterday, before Percy turned around to walk out.
"Oh, and Percy?" Poseidon added, "Don't tell your mother about this, okay?"
"Sure thing" Percy replied, quietly. He could understand his father not wanting his mother finding out about this: Gabe's insults, his beat down of the aforementioned Gabe and particularly Percy seeing it all.
He left his father's apartment and stood outside the door for a minute. He said goodbye to the large bodyguard and began to walk down the stairs. One thought running through his mind.
'My father said he loves me. He actually said it."
It was a big deal to Percy. It was like the situation with the thugs in the alley. As violent as it was, it was actually proof that Poseidon was capable of love, in his own weird way. Percy briefly wondered if Tyson, his half brother, ever worried about things like this. Either way, today had taken a strange turn, but one that Percy welcomed.
'My dad said he loves me."
