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The night after Percy's impassioned speech to the Olympians, he goes to sleep in the Poseidon Cabin. He's exhausted and sore from the battle, he just had a big dinner; he's out like a light.
And as soon as he's asleep, Poseidon rises out of the cabin's water feature and goes to sit on the edge of his son's bed.
Perseus looks so vulnerable. So innocent. A young boy who's had to be so strong...
But he's survived the prophecy. The war is over. And his sweet boy's one request was for the gods to be better parents to their children. After everything, that's all his boy has asked. And where the strategy in it appealed to the likes of Athena, and the insult in it offended the likes of Zeus, Poseidon heard the plea itself, from the mouth of his brave boy.
Percy wakes up in an unfamiliar place.
He's in an unfamiliar bed. It's the only piece of furniture nearby; the room's other contents are a blue basketball and his skateboard. Actually, "room" is a weird word for it. It's more like...a pocket of air within an enclosed space of sedimentary rock.
And yet, he can hear the ocean all around him, and see the reflection of sea waves on every wall.
Climbing warily out of bed, he finds that the sunlight and the sounds of water are coming from a hole in the ceiling, about three feet in diameter. A hole in the rock, and past the hole, water. As if there were a pane of glass keeping the water from falling into his room, but he can sense that there isn't. The water just stops there. He can see the sky through it, and the sun. There's a similar hole in the floor, through which he sees water, white sand, and seashells.
He drags the bed beneath the ceiling hole so he can climb out.
Gripping the edges of the hole, he hoists himself up until his face breaches the boundary between air and water. He tastes salt. The ocean! As more of his body enters the water, it turns from climbing to swimming, and then finally his whole body is immersed in seawater. The sunlight glitters above him. Within two strokes, he breaks the surface of the water and sees that he's...
Wait, this is the same room.
The bed, the skateboard, the basketball.
Now he's just looking up through the hole in the floor.
He repeats this a few more times, always finding himself in the same room. When he's in the room, looking up or down, both holes seem to lead to an actual change of scenery, but they never do.
He's still in his pajamas from last night. He reaches into his pocket, but Riptide isn't here.
He feels like he should know his nautical coordinates, but it sits right outside his awareness, like forgotten trivia.
And suddenly Poseidon appears with a stack of blue pancakes.
"Perseus," he says sweetly. "You're awake already. How do you like your new room?"
"Dad, what's happening?" Percy says hoarsely.
Poseidon's bright expression softens, at the sight of his son's confused expression. Life has clearly taught his Perseus to fear unfamiliar situations. As much as he tries to disguise the fear in his eyes, he can't hide it from his father. He's trying to put on the face of the strong boy he's had to be all these years, but Perseus is afraid, and he's looking to his father for explanation. For reassurance and protection.
Poseidon sets the plate of food down on the bed and frames his son's face with his hands. (Perseus is unused to it and looks slightly uncomfortable. Has anyone ever been this gentle with him, besides his mother?)
"Don't worry. There is no new prophecy or frightening creature here to trouble you. You've already been the hero. Now, you just have to rest, and eat, and heal, and let Daddy take care of everything." (When Perseus was little, he had called Sally 'mommy'. He would have called Poseidon 'daddy', had he been around during Perseus' childhood. But he's still a child; it's not too late.)
"What do you mean 'everything'? Dad, where are we? I can't..."
"We are...in a place that exists just for you. Similar, in a way, to Calypso's island, except that it can only be entered by passing through my domain, which means you will always be safe."
Perseus backs out of his father's grasp. It was probably the comparison to Calypso's island that bothered him. "This isn't right. This place feels wrong. Dad, why am I here? I want to go back to camp!"
Poseidon shushes his son, consoling him, gathering the fussing boy into his arms, absentmindedly growing his body so that he can easily cradle Perseus like a baby. "No, my son," he murmurs in Ancient Greek. "Everything you want and need is here."
Eventually, Perseus stops struggling and just stares at him with mutinous eyes. It's difficult not to laugh at his cute, defiant face. Daddy's little riptide.
"Here. Let's get you your breakfast."
Poseidon feeds Perseus his pancakes, allowing his own fingers to be bitten in the process, as Perseus tries to refuse. The Lotus flowers in the batter will keep his brave boy more content with his stay, and the sargassum oil will bind him to Poseidon's realm in the same way the food of the Underworld would bind one to Hades.
About halfway through, Perseus stops resisting. He lets his loving father feed him the rest of his pancakes.
"That's my good boy," Poseidon praises. He's noticed that Perseus has started to stare longingly at the skateboard and sports ball, but he's a good boy, and he lets his daddy hold him even when he wants to go play. "Did you enjoy your breakfast?"
"Uh, yeah." Despite the effects of the pancakes' ingredients, Perseus still looks slightly embarrassed by all the affectionate contact. "Thanks, Dad. It was good. I didn't...even know you knew about the blue food thing."
"Of course I do. I know about everything my Perseus likes." That daughter of Athena, for example. But Perseus can learn to live without her.
After all, with enough Lotus petals in his diet, it will always feel as if he saw her just yesterday. As if he arrived in his new home just this morning.
Poseidon watches his lovely boy ride his skateboard across the room and partway up the rounded walls, and he smiles warmly. Maybe he'll take Perseus out to see the nearby reefs, or to play with the nereids for a little while. As long as he's with his father, it's okay to leave his room every now and then.
But for now, he'll just let his baby boy get comfortable here.