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He didn’t have much time. He was careless. He broke his vow. Poseidon didn’t regret a thing, but he needed to act regardless.
In the first few years after little Perseus was born, his strategy was to hide. Hide Sally and hide his son. She refused to go to the Atlantis with him, so his only option was to let them be in the little flat in New York, not jeopardizing their safety with his visits. It pained him to do so, but there was no other choice. If Zeus knew about this, nobody knows how he would punish his son for the crime of being born. Despite that, Poseidon still had nymphs and aquatic creatures give him reports about Jackson’s whereabouts.
It wasn’t ideal, but it had to do for now.
And then something changed. A blue-eyed eight-year-old girl with powers of unmistakably electric origin was spotted by Camp Halfblood’s satyrs.
Zeus broke the oath himself.
What a fool. Upon hearing the news, the council was uneasy with the tensions among the Big Three. The other Olympians were waiting for the expected retaliation of the other two brothers.
It did come—at least half of it. Hades had already sent his servants to chase the poor child around the country, but Poseidon had a better idea. Of course, he was furious, but there was no time to act upon it now. This could be his chance! The council meeting where Zeus’s forbidden child was called to everyone’s attention was quite the spectacle, but he could see it in his brother's stoic face. A hint of fear. He grew fond of this child. That shouldn’t be a big surprise. This girl was his first demigod in decades, and it was a known fact that Zeus often held his daughters in higher esteem than his sons.
Poseidon could use those newfound parental instincts while he still had the time. He was no Hermes or Dionysus, but the move he was about to make couldn’t be called anything less than extreme gambling.
It’s a good thing, then, that he knew a certain goodness that owed him a favour.
**************************************
Aphrodite's palace was shining with its rich splendour, as always. She was waiting for him near the fountain, surrounded by colourful flowerbeds, the whole place a picture of an eternal summer evening.
“Hello, dear Sea King. How can I help you?”
Poseidon was careful; it wasn’t wise to underestimate Aphrodite, even if she owed him. She looked a bit different from when he last saw her one-on-one. Her features were softer and her usually black hair a bit lighter.
“Hello, Aphrodite. As you probably expect, I came for my favour.”
She elegantly played with one of the water lilies.
“Hm… You and Hades really are out to punish this girl, aren’t you? What do you want of me? To make her horrifically ugly? To have her unable to be loved? To…”
“It’s not about the Zeus’s girl.”
She laughed, the sound mockingly bouncing from the alabaster walls.
“So you want to impress some mortal then, dear? Just don’t lie to me! I noticed my form shifting, and I can see a new string of love in your heart clear as day…”
The doves sitting on the edge of the fountain took off into the air, feeling their mistress' playful mood.
“I need for you to strike someone with your influence. But not with romantic, but a familial type of love.”
At first, her perfectly symmetrical eyebrows rose in surprise, but then Poseidon watched as she smiled in understanding. It wasn’t always good to have Aphrodite entertained by one's idea, but he had a feeling this might be beneficial to him this time.
“I see…we should hurry, then. We wouldn’t want for this Thalia girl to die before she can meet her cousin. Would we?”
A few days later, in the dead of night, Poseidon appeared in the Jackson’s apartment. His essence slipped through the opened window like a soft breeze. He quickly checked on Sally, as beautiful asleep as she was awake, even if her frame was burdened with a strain of motherly duties. He then went to the little blue room next to hers.
He couldn’t contain his excitement. It was the first time he could meet Perseus. He carefully approached the small bed, avoiding any blocks and toys on the floor. Upon seeing the boy, the sea god felt his whole being swell with pride.
Water was the element of life! To create an oath that restrained him from having children was against his very nature! How did they get to this point? Little Perseus should be playing in the cabin three, among his many siblings or in Atlantis, swimming among its subjects without a care in the world.
Somehow, it made Perseus even more precious. His first demigod child in decades! Sleeping soundly in a small, rounded bed, he almost looked like a pearl softly nestled in a clamshell. There was a discreet aura of Aphrodite's blessing draped over him.
He was sorry to wake the boy, but if his plan paid off, they would be seeing each other many more times, and his son would have many more nights of peaceful sleep before him.
*********************************************
It was a quiet night on the top of Olympus, and the god King was fine with that. He was walking through cold hallways, calm and collected, even if the stormy clouds above New York betrayed his inner turmoil.
After Hades had sent his servants after his daughter a week ago, he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Poseidon hadn’t retaliated yet. Hera had told him that he was paranoid. That the king of the Underworld was attempting to take his revenge because of the unfortunate fate of Di Angelos, not really because of the oath-breaking. By this logic, there was nothing to fear from Poseidon besides some complaining and empty threats, but he knew better than to have any faith in his brothers.
He had nothing to do but to try and get his daughter to the Camp before Poseidon struck.
His walk led him to the Hearth. He was expecting to see only his sister, but he had to contain his surprise at the second figure present in the warm, orange glow of the fire.
Zeus recognized his aura before he recognized his appearance- cold but fresh like the ocean. Poseidon looked much different than what he would expect. In times of his senseless rage, his brother had a habit of making himself look like one of his deep-sea beasts, but now he not only looked human, but it wasn’t even a form he favoured as of late. This form was old. Sharper features, youthful face… he even was dressed in a chiton. It was how he looked when he first rescued him and their other siblings out of their father’s stomach.
How odd.
He turned to look at Hestia only to realise she too was in her older form.
“Won’t you join us, brother?” Poseidon's voice carried no malice. It was almost absurd.
But he did come closer. And then he saw it. A child dressed in a simple tunic was sitting idly on his brother's lap.
“What is the meaning of this?!” he dared not to scream in the presence of Hestia, but it did not mean that his tone, if quiet, carried any less authority. “…is this child-“
“He’s mine,” he said plainly, somehow sounding almost cheerful. “Do you want to hold him?”
Eight years. For eight years, he hid Thalia away, not even daring to look her way. And his brother comes to Olympus carrying his child in his hands as if it was a daily occurrence.
Even so, the question was so unexpected that even the king of gods, in his infinite wisdom, could not react in any other way than shock. Before he could say something, a boy no older than four was placed in his arms.
“Can you believe what his mother named him?” his brother asked, gentle amusement in his tone. He was speaking as if they were still godly youth, jesting around “Perseus”.
Zeus sat next to his brother, still conscious and guarded. Even so, he couldn’t help letting a smug smile pass by the guarded demeanour. Perseus was one of his most famous demigods. Apparently, the stories of his deeds were still so relevant to mortals that his brother's child was named after him. It was a wonder Poseidon wasn’t more bitter about it!
But the King of Gods couldn’t let himself be carried away.
“It doesn’t explain anything,” he said, trying to remember how absurdly disrespectful the whole situation was. “It doesn’t explain why you felt shameless enough to bring it here.”
He should smote the little brat. But he couldn’t do it, could he? When in his confusion, he accepted the boy into his arms, he made him his guest. Zeus could feel his domain forbidding him from bringing any harm to the child right now.
He then finally looked at the toddler. The boy seemed very confused but otherwise unbothered. He probably didn’t understand much as they were speaking in ancient Greek. The child was a few moments away from falling asleep. It was nighttime in the mortal world, after all. Deep black curls framed his little cherubic face.
And then he saw his eyes. At first glance, it would seem that the boy had his father’s sea-like eye colour, but Zeus immediately knew better. It was Rhea’s casleton green.
“He takes after our mother,” Zeus said, surprised hearing his own young voice. He only then noticed that his form had changed during their conversation to match his other siblings sitting around the fire. Gone was the beard and his striped suit, replaced now by lush, light hair on his head and silver-blue chiton draped over his form.
The King of gods manifested a small, plush eagle and gave it to his nephew. He now noticed also a few moles on the boy, a bit similar to those that graced Queen Mother's face since he could remember.
Little Perseus gently took the toy and began resting his head on its soft curve.
“It would appear that even you can have some non-monstrous offspring once every few centuries, brother.”
Well, it could still turn out that the boy would grow up to be the other kind of monster…but Zeus couldn’t believe it. He might not have his son's power of prophecy, but he could see a gentleness in his eyes. He could tell the boy would be more preoccupied with playing with the sea creatures and not chasing power when he grew up.
Zeus was the god of leaders after all; he could see desire for conquest, and yet he saw none in the little demigod falling asleep in his arms.
It was good that the boy’s father was known for his protective nature towards his children. There was no shortage of beings, both mortal and divine, who preyed on the gentle souls. And in case his brother was slow to act, well, there was nothing a precise lightning bolt couldn’t reach…
Suddenly, the realisation struck the King, and he put the child down as if it burned. How could he get so attached when the child in front of him needed to die?
“Take this spawn away, Poseidon! The council shall decide what to do with it! You broke the oath, this cannot be…”
Poseidon stood up, taking his child in his arms once more. His eyes were determined, and his voice a passionate confession.
“You are the king, bother! If you say it can be! It can!”
“The ancient laws, the prophecy...”
“Look at us, brother! Where are the times when we invited favoured mortals to Olympus to feast? And now we can’t even save our own children from being eaten alive by a pack of monsters! What a humiliation we forced ourselves into! It’s not how it should be! And you know very well that prophecies are as true as they are fickle. It is nothing to worry about for now!”
Then the sea king’s voice became softer, like gentle waves washing the rocky shore.
“Don’t you think Thalia and Perseus would get along nicely?”
It was easy for Zeus to imagine. He looked at his nephew again. He couldn’t be much older than his Jason. He usually didn’t think about the boy to spare himself a Jupiter-induced headache, but now he felt both sides agreeing. He could easily imagine two boys running around the Olympus gardens while Artemis would teach Talia how to shoot a bow. Or perhaps all three sparring at camp under Chiron’s watchful eye…
It felt right.
And what feels right to the King must be good. He had decided.