True son of the Sea God

The bubble has burst and Percy knew exactly where he was, both the coordinates and the depth he was in. It was forty foot deep. Curious, the same depth that statue of Athena was tall. He saw Annabeth arrive, and rushed to give her the Air Bubble so she could breathe. Annabeth wanted to know the depth and tried to communicate it to Percy.

Before Percy could communicate it back to her, Nico arrived and Percy had to bubble him. Then he noticed a small figurine of Athena that caused Nico to grin, and picked it up. He showed it to Annabeth, who nodded. She held up her ten fingers and then pointed at her feet.

Stop every ten feet, Percy figured, and nodded. He went up to the depth of thirty feet and stopped to wait for them, so as to measure the depth for them. Percy himself was immune to water pressure – among other things.

Once the others had joined him, they waited and Percy went up to twenty feet. At this point he had to renew their Bubbles to allow them to wait before going yet another ten feet up. They were surrounded by sharks, which caused a bit of fear in the other two. The sharks, however, merely nudged Percy who pat and scratched their heads like someone would do with puppies, causing the others to look at him with odd expressions.

And finally, the last rise up to the surface. The sharks followed; they seemed to be very fond of Percy. Once they were on the surface, Annabeth and Nico took deep breaths, happy to be able to breathe clear air. They took moments to console themselves while Percy played with the sharks.

"Percy – are you sure they're safe?" Annabeth asked, now that she finally could talk again.

"Of course I am," Percy replied. "They're so nice fishies, really. I hate Jaws. That stupid movie gives poor sharkies such a bad reputation."

Percy's baby-talk caused Annabeth to laugh. "Is this your first contact with live sharks?" She asked.

"No," Percy told her. "That was during a class trip to some aquarium. We were above a pool of sharks. I pushed the wrong button and we all took an unexpected swim. And that was the fourth time I was expelled. About two years before camp for me that is."

Nico found it funny. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy the swim with "sharkies"." he said.

Annabeth did not. "Really, they must have been so scared," she said. "What got you to push the button?"

Percy frowned. "That's one of the memories I did not get back," he said.

"My theory is that they told you not to," Nico said."You just missed the NOT and thought they said you could do it. Possibly the sharks had something to do with it, so they could meet you..."

"I don't see how they can imprison sharks and use them for entertainment," Percy said sternly. "And the poor sharks get no fun at all."

Annabeth decided it best not to argue that point in water filled with sharks. She could deal with Percy being upset at her, but here it wasn't just Percy. It was the sharks and Percy's father too. She decided to change the subject. "It was rather lucky you found that little figurine of my mother," she said.

"You get to start your collection with your godly parent's figure," Nico said enviously.

"That's not what I was getting at," Annabeth said. "Just so convenient that it was exactly where we ended up, wasn't it?"

"Dad thought of everything," Percy told her.

"Really?" Annabeth raised her eyebrow. "Including a way for us to get back on land?"

"How about that ship over there?" Percy asked, looking at a ship that was already nearby and was heading towards them. It was behind Annabeth so of course she hadn't seen it before. She turned and pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Are you sure your father sent that?" she asked.

"I bet he did." Percy said confidently. "We'll ask the Captain once we're on board. I win and you'll be organizing our first-kiss anniversaries from now on. It's my birthday anyway."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Right… and if I win you'll be organizing anniversaries for our first trip abroad as a couple. I think that would be worth celebrating."

"Where did you go?" Nico asked curiously.

"Paris, France," Percy and Annabeth said in unison.

The ship was now close enough for the captain to call down on them – which conveniently prevented Nico from asking any further questions. This time, Annabeth was to go first. Percy tied Annabeth to the rope and called for the ship's crew to pull her up. Nico went up next. Percy hesitated before going up himself, since he really liked the sharks' company.

"Do you wish to stay there or come up?" someone asked from the ship. Curiously, the question was presented calmly and with respect. Apparently it made perfect sense to whoever was calling that Percy might actually wish to stay in the water with the sharks. Yet, there was that debt to settle. Grinning, Percy decided to go up.

The captain welcomed him heartily. Too heartily in Annabeth's opinion. People who acted that nicely had so far been monsters in disguise. She opened her mouth to protest, but the captain didn't allow it. "Missy," he said harshly. "I'll have you know that I am the captain of this ship. Everyone on board is to obey the captain – that law is true in every ship. Any other so called law some landlubbers have made up is not valid as long as we're on my ship at sea. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Annabeth said reluctantly, trying to control her anger and panic at being supposed to obey someone unknown to her.

"It's captain," the man told her.

Percy was uncomfortable at the captain's firmness on Annabeth. He knew he only told the truth. And it was best to get it down before anything got out of hand. Still, something was slightly off. For a captain, he seemed to be rather nervous - too nervous.

"Is there a problem, captain?" Percy asked sternly.

"Not really," the captain said. "Just the fact that I have never crossed Gibraltar before. Sea is great and beautiful but also unpredictably dangerous. I was quite satisfied within Mediterranean."

"You're afraid to be here, captain?" Nico asked. Fear was something he knew well – particularly in others.

"Well, yes, you could say that." the Captain replied. "I never dared before."

"Then why did you do so now?" Annabeth asked. "Captain?" She added when she didn't get an answer.

"Because the Sea-God told me to," the captain replied. "Something about proving my faith – though there apparently were other motives he decided not to tell me."

"I won," Percy told Annabeth smugly. "Told you my Dad sent the ship."

"You… call the Sea God 'Dad', sir?" the Captain asked, blinking.

Percy grinned at his astonishment. "Yes. Nico's my cousin on Dad's side – and Annabeth's mother is a goddess. I'm dating her so I'd rather not go to the relation part."

"Greek or Roman?" the Captain asked.

"They're Greek," Percy said at first. He felt rather unsure was he Greek or Roman. He had been in both camps and felt himself to be one of them. He had friends in both. He did well in Greek AND in Latin. He wished his Dad would tell him. But he'd organized all this. Maybe he already had told him? Then Percy remembered. His dad actually had told him the first chance he got back on that Summer solstice.

"I am his." he announced, remembering his father's words. "I am true son of the Sea-God."

The Captain bowed and didn't ask further. Apparently he wasn't supposed to be naming the Sea-god. "You three look like you could use some rest," he suggested.

"That's the best thing I've heard today," Nico replied and yawned.

Annabeth was tired too – after all she had done so far with practically no sleep and a swollen ankle, not to mention few cuts from the monsters, she really did need her rest. Percy, however, had been completely healed and revived due to his time in the sea. He decided to go with the others, though.