Landlocked Shark

Home Sweet Home

"Enough about work." I say, "Tomorrow, We're going to the Gardens of Bacchus."

Zoe's eyes light up at that. The Gardens of Bacchus is one of her favorite places in the entire city of New Rome. As much as
I dislike Dionysus, I do have to admit that his Roman counterpart has a very nice garden. Actually, that's where Annabeth and I had our reception. Speaking of parties...

"So, I'm starved." I look at Annabeth anxiously.

My wife smirks at me, "Good, we're having salmon."

I feel my eyes widen as Annabeth begins to laugh.

"Just kidding." She says as she pulls a giant ham out of the refrigerator.

"That was mean." I give her a hurt look.

Zoe begins to laugh loudly which quickly turns into a squeal as I begin to tickle her.

"Stop it daddy." She manages to get out in between fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Perseus..." I stop instantly.

"Hey Zoe, do you want to come with me to your grandfather's shrine?" I ask my daughter, "I need to go over there and your mother could use some space to finish making dinner."

"Yes daddy!" Zoe jumps off of my lap and begins running towards the door.

"Don't forget your coat." Annabeth calls out, "It's raining."

I hear footsteps as a little girl comes running back through the kitchen and into the living room. Seconds later, she races by again, coat half on.

"And stop running in the house." My wife calls out then shakes her head, "She got that from you."

I open my mouth to protest, then reconsider, "Yeah, probably. Well I gotta go before our dear daughter goes running off on her own."

Almost as if on cue, Zoe's voice floats in from the foyer, "Come on Daddy!"

I laugh and stand up, tieing my shoes back on. Zoe is practically bouncing with energy in the foyer. She loves coming with me to Dad's temple. Annabeth has always said that Zoe is more like me than she is like Annabeth. That may be true, but she's still smart enough to corner me in a discussion. Yes, I live with two females who can out-debate me, and one of them is six years old.

Anyway, Zoe opens the door and steps out onto the walkway. She clasps on to my hand as we walk through the city. Because of the rain, there's no one else out on the streets, and most of the stores are closed, though I do see a bakery open a little ways down. We turn onto the raid that leads to the temple hill. As soon as we pass beyond the city limits, the statue of Terminus appears.

"Admiral Lord Perseus." He nods at me, "I see you are going to your father's temple. Lord Neptune will be pleased."

"we've been over this Terminus." I sigh, "Don't call me Lord. I'm just a demigod. An old, creaky, retired demigod."

"Come now Admiral." The statue replies, "The Senate still respects you. Is that Miss Zoe I see over there."

Zoe waves at the statue in response, "Hi Mister Terminus."

"Hello there, my dear. And here are your weapons, Admiral."

"It's just Percy." I gritt my teeth as I take Riptide from the god of boundaries, "I'm going to leave the harpoon with you. I don't see a need for it."

"Very well." Terminus replies, "I shall see you upon your return."

I nod in response, "Come on Zoe."

The six year old races after me as I begin up the hill.

Five minutes later, we arrive in front of the temple of Neptune. It's still small, but my good friend, the Chief Priest Jason Grace, ensures that the temple is cleaned and kept in good condition. I wonder how he and Piper have been doing...

I'm pulled from my musings by a tugging on my jacket. I look down and can practically see the excitment pouring off of Zoe. I smile and kneel down next to her.

"Alright, you know the deal." I say, temporarily assuming the role of Admiral Thresher. This is one this I'm very serious about, "You must be very respectful, or else you can't come back with me."

She nods her head, and salutes me.

I smile and stand up, "Then let's go."

We enter the temple and I look around. The temple has a nice feeling to it, almost like I'm out at sea, standing on th bow of one of my battleships. I feel at home. Walking slowly, I approach the alter at the end of the temple. A small statue of Poseidon stands slightly behind the alter, trident clasped in his right hand. Water swirls around his feet as he looks out into the temple. This is my home. It seems to say, It may be small, but you don't want to mess with it. The alter looks considerably different from the first time I ever saw it. Gone were the rotting fruits of before. Instead, on the alter sat a pile of papers. These weren't just any papers. I wrote them. Each of them is a copy of a mission report from my time with S.H.I.E.L.D. they're all enchanted so that only me of Poseidon can read it, so even if someone would consider sneaking into a god's temple, they wouldn't be able to read what the papers said. They're confidential.

I bow to the statue of my father. Standing up, I pull another piece of paper out of my inside pocket. Its the report for my most recent mission; the one involving The Absentee. I place it on the alter and bow again.

"There you go dad." I say, "Your seas are a little safer. I know that there is still a lot of work I need to do, but I'll uphold my promise to you. The seas will be safe. With you gone, I need to do everything I can after all. Triton has his hands full trying to figure out how to be Lord of the Seas, so until he has everything sorted out, I'll be here, doing what I can."

"That's quite the speech there, son." A voice calls out behind me.

Zoe jumps behind my leg as I whirl around and reach toward the pocket containing Riptide. A second later, I recognize who it is and relax.

"Director Fury." I acknowledge the visitor.

Fury comes up next to me and bows to the statue of Poseidon, "Lord Poseidon." He says.

"Um, who are you." Zoe says suddenly.

Fury looks down, "You must be Zoe. Your daddy talks a lot about you."

"He does!" Zoe's voice begins to rise with excitment.

"Remember where you are Zoe." I gently chide her, "Pardon my rudeness Director, but what exactly are you doing here?"

"Why, I'm here to pay my respect to a revered god." He says, "And to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative."

My first update in weeks, so I'm sorry about that. I've had trouble coming up with ideas. This was the first of my stories where an idea actually came to mind. I hope you liked it.
Keep being awesome
~Leonidas_son_of_Nike