Chapter 1: My New Home

Percy's POV

I really hate this head band thing, but I have to wear it because it detaches my mind from my connection with Theseus. I have been wearing it since I arrived in Atlantis. No time to think now, damn it I thought as I was hit by another energy blast from Triton's trident.

"Percy, keep your concentration, you can do it." Triton said. I was trying to block the energy blasts with a shield of water, but I was getting pretty tired.

"Can we stop now, we've been training for two hours straight?" I asked.

"Alright, but we're going to start this all over tomorrow." Triton said.

It's been two weeks since I left Camp Half Blood and I miss everyone very much. Poseidon and Triton say that my training is going well, but I don't know. Atlantis is beautiful, the rebuilding effort over the past couple of years has been amazing. The city is made of a beautiful mix of dark basalt stone intermingled with white marble. In some parts of the city the buildings are made with golden sandstone, which adds an even more unique quality to the city. I love the city, but it's not home like New York or camp. You see I now live in an underwater city, I can stay underwater without needing to breathe air because I'm a son of Poseidon, but it's weird going so long without breathing air. Actually, it makes me feel incredible, I'm so connected to the sea now and all the life within it, but I still miss my family, friends and Annabeth, especially her. If Tyson and Triton weren't here I would go crazy. They are both really good brothers, but more than that they have become my best friends as well.

"Percy your last training session went very well brother. You're doing a great job controlling your power and most importantly your anger." Triton said as we relaxed by the door of the training facility.

"Thanks, I don't feel that different." I said.

"Don't worry I can see your progress and it's very encouraging." Triton said.

"I think I'll walk back to my room, I'll see you later brother." I said as I walked out of the training facility and made my way to my quarters. I passed a long hallway with beautiful arched windows that looked out onto the sea floor, the light from the windows illuminated the sea and many beautiful multi-colored fish were attracted to the light. The mix of colors was like an undersea living rainbow. As I walked to my quarters I tell myself that I've been exiled from home, but actually I live in a incredible palace. My quarters have a master bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, dining area and a living room. The walls are white marble and I have large windows that look out into the beautiful depths of the sea, the light from my windows causes the sea to look a beautiful shade of blue. My quarters are so nice it's like I have my own apartment. I'm really not exiled, or a prisoner or banished. My dad says that I'm on an adventure of self-discovery, that does sound better than forced training to control my out of control powers. Whatever the case may be I'm a prince of the sea in training, I guess. Hey, that does sound alright, I'll go with that one for the time being.

I reached my quarters and sat on my bed. Being underwater I can't play my guitar or draft up some ship designs, but my dad did give me this computer like terminal and I can use it to draw ship designs. It's pretty cool. Suddenly a light flashed and my father appeared in front of me.

"Hello Percy." Poseidon said, he was wearing his typical Bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt.

"Hi, dad." I said.

"Triton says your training is coming along well." Poseidon said.

"I guess, he says it is." I said.

"You don't believe it's working?" My father asked curiously.

"I don't feel different." I said.

"You may not feel different, it's not like you were always ready to explode with anger, it only effects you during times of duress or stress." Poseidon said.

"Dad did you come here to check up on me or did you have another reason?" I asked.

"Well, how would you like to go to Olympus next week for a few days?" Poseidon asked.

"That would be great, but will it adversely affect my training?" I asked.

"No, two days won't hurt anything." Poseidon said.

"Dad, will Theseus and Athena be there?" I asked.

"Of course they will be. They'll be happy to see you." Poseidon said.

"Great, I'm in I can't wait to see them, thanks Dad." I said.

"You're welcome, I have to go, take care son." Poseidon said as he disappeared in a sudden surge of water.

Suddenly I heard a knock on my door. I walked over and opened the foor and floating in the doorway was my new friend Aquillas the merman.

"Percy are you ready for your daily swim?" Aquillas asked. Aquillas and I for the past week have been swimming around the vicinity of Atlantis. There are many sea creatures to see and I have already started to make new friends.

"Sure, let's go." I said. Aquillas and I raced out of the palace and swam full speed to the outskirts of the city. The light from the city illuminated the ocean around it for at least two hundred yards. So we usually stay in the lighted portion of the sea, but today I wanted to travel into the darker reaches of the deep. As a son of Poseidon I have great eyesight in the dark of the deep ocean, but I also have a sixth sense about obstacles almost like sonar or echo location. Then we saw a pod of dolphins and began to race with them. We swam through massive shipwrecks that looked like they had been there for a hundred years and through caves and other rock outcrops. The rocks of the ocean depths are usually a very dark brown almost black in color. The sea is a very dark blue at these depths and without my sixth sense I would never be able to make my way safely through all of the undersea obstacles. We swam straight passed another pod of dolphins and then they joined us in the race. That seemed odd to me. Usually dolphin pods avoid each other, somethings going on I thought. I guess Aquillas had the same idea, "This isn't right Percy, somethings up." Aquillas said.

"I agree" I said, then I saw a large dark figure appear behind us, it was huge.

"What is that?" Aquillas yelled.

"I don't know, but we need to get closer to the surface for more light." I said as we ascended a hundred feet closer to the surface. The beams of light were visible through the ocean water, the light illuminated us and the water around us. The water was now a beautiful green-blue color. One thing I did notice was the total lack of sea life, almost like something scared them away. The large figure appeared behind us again, but this time I could see it clearly. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw it, but I continued to swim faster and I could sense Aquillas's fear. The creature that was behind us was a shark that looked a little different than a great white in appearance, but it was huge. It was mostly gray in color, but a little darker gray than a white shark and without the white underbelly. The shark had to be at least sixty feet in length with teeth longer than my hand.

"I can't believe it, its a Megalodon!" Aquillas said.

"That's impossible they've been extinct for twenty thousand years." I said.

"Tell him that!" Aquillas said. The shark swam incredibly fast for such a large creature and it was after us. It wasn't after dolphins or whales which were it's usual diet. It was after Aquillas and I, or was it just after me?

"Aquillas we need to split up, at the next rock outcrop I want you to veer to the left and head to the surface and I will head to the right and go deep, alright?" I said.

"Percy are you sure?" Aquillas asked.

"Yes, it's an order." I said. We reached the rock outcrop and split up and as I suspected the shark followed me. Great I thought, why does this stuff always happen to me?

The shark stayed on my tail, I couldn't lose it, I willed the currents to move me as fast as possible. I concentrated and willed my body to be stronger so I could survive in deeper water. I used the techniques that Triton taught me and I kept my anger in check. I raced further out to sea and deeper into the ocean until I was thousands of feet below the surface. I could feel the shark still behind me, but it was too dark to see it. I raced toward the mid-oceanic ridge. I had an idea, but I would have to find the perfect spot to pull it off. I could feel the heat first before I could see the light from the underwater volcanoes. The volcanoes illuminated the sea with a reddish orange color that off-set the usual dark blue of the deep ocean. Once I was over the ridge I swam at full speed along it. I could see the head of the shark as it was illuminated by the lava flows. I needed a big volcano to pull this off and then I came to an area where the ridge met an oceanic plate boundary, it's a good thing that I liked geology because I was about to use that knowledge to save my ass. Where the ridge and the plate boundaries met stood a huge underwater volcano. It had to be several thousand feet in height off the ocean floor, it was made from the dark rock that comprised the mid-oceanic ridge. It was smoldering, but it didn't look like it had erupted in a while. I raced forward as fast as I could and hid behind the volcano. I saw the shark slow and it swam around it's surroundings looking for me. I focused completely on the volcano and as I began to initiate small earthquakes along it's base I saw the shark begin to slowly swim toward me. I felt the earthquakes I created start to build, the pressure from the lava within the volcano was taking over. I could feel the pressure increase and I knew it would only be a matter of seconds before an eruption occurred. Then the shark saw me and swam at me full speed. It reached the top of the volcano and I couldn't wait anymore, I turned to swim and then I forced a new earthquake near the top of the volcano. The shark swam over the volcano and then the mountain exploded sending rock, steam and lava straight up. The explosion engulfed the shark and I could see it's body covered in lava and then I felt the explosion hit me and I was pushed hundreds of yards away from the mountain. My back was on fire and then I realized that it actually was. I swam to the sea floor and hit the golden color sand hard. I rolled on the sea floor and the heat on my back subsided, but the pain was terrible.

I swam back to Atlantis slowly as I was tired and my back was killing me. My vision started to blur and I started to fade in and out of consciousness. I looked and I saw a figure swim towards me, but I blacked out before I could tell who or what it was.

I awoke with a jump and nearly fell out of my bed. Was this all a bad dream and then I saw my dad standing at the foot of my bed.

"Percy, thank Zeus your awake." Poseidon said.

"Dad, ow my back!" I said.

"Yes, you have third degree burns on your back, but they should heal nicely" Poseidon said.

"What about Aquillas?" I asked.

"He's fine, worried about you mostly. That was a brave and stupid thing you did going up against that huge shark." Poseidon said.

"It seemed like the right thing to do considering it was after me and not Aquillas." I said.

"It was after you. You see this was the last of the Megalodon sharks, it was Oceanus's pet. We had trapped it in a underwater cave and I thought it was dead, but clearly it escaped and wanted revenge. It sensed that you were my son and so it took out it's revenge on you. I'm sorry son." Poseidon said.

"It's alright, I did help kill Oceanus so I should expect this to happen." I said.

"Well Amphitrite is very worried about you so do what she says, alright?" Poseidon said.

"I will dad, she doesn't have to worry." I said.

"Hey, she considers you to be one of her boys so she's going to mother you, get use to it." Poseidon said with a smile.

"Ok dad!" I said.

"Good, now I have to help Hephaestus put out that underwater volcano you started, but no worries it would have erupted sooner or later. Take care and get well my boy." Poseidon said as he disappeared into a green-blue mist.

I felt tired again, I closed my eyes and dreamed of camp, I wonder what they are doing right now. I drifted off to sleep thinking about life there and my girl Annabeth.

Hope you enjoyed this first chapter to "Prince in Training" , is this a good title many reviewers did not want me to use the title Exiled, so let me know if this new title works, thanks to you all as usual. I updated this chapter a little to provide a few more descriptions on locations such as Atlantis, the open ocean and the volcanoes.