Chapter 161: Hell-of-a Summer

[Third Person's PoV] 

"Wait, how did you guys know who he was right away, and why did it sound like you have history with him?" Percy asked, looking at all three of them suspiciously.

"Fish brain here actually has a point for the first time in his life," Clarisse said, raising an eyebrow and glancing at all three of them.

Percy just looked at Clarisse in exasperation. "Will it kill you not to insult me with every sentence?"

"Yes... it would," Clarisse said, looking at Percy with a serious expression.

Percy rolled his eyes and chose to ignore her before turning toward the others. "So?"

"Why do you think?" Lucian scoffed. "He tried the same thing he's doing to you on me."

"What!?" Both Clarisse and Grover exclaimed, looking at Lucian in surprise.

Percy grumbled. "So what, am I his second choice? Can't say I really appreciate that…"

Lucian looked at Percy incredulously. "That's what's seriously bothering you about all this? That you weren't picked first?"

"I mean, it would feel good to be the first choice for something, no matter what it is..." Percy mumbled, slouching slightly.

"Thank you!" Thalia said, motioning toward Percy and looking at Lucian. "See, it's a normal feeling to have. I wasn't being weird."

Seeing their confused gazes, Thalia clarified. "Lucian found it weird that I was upset that I wasn't even contacted or considered an option to help our grandfather."

Percy tilted his head in confusion. "You weren't contacted?"

"THANK YOU! I know, right!? I'm not saying I would have agreed, but it would have been nice to at least be considered an option."

"You're the daughter of the one that caused him to end up there in the first place. I doubt contacting you would benefit him in any way. Not to mention you're a girl," Lucian said, rolling his eyes.

"What the hell does my gender have to do with this!?"

"Back in his time, women were just for breeding and being trophy wives. I can't imagine someone like him changing his views on women. He'd probably think of you as less capable," Lucian shrugged.

"That's ridiculous!" Thalia exclaimed before clearing her throat. "Not that I would help him if he asked," she added quickly, raising her index finger to emphasize her point.

"But that still begs the question: If you knew about him and he contacted you, why didn't you inform the gods about what he was planning?" Clarisse asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Yes, let's inform the gods that the child of Hades is being contacted by his supremely evil grandfather who wants to kill them all. Let's see how well that would go for any of you," Lucian said sarcastically.

"Would they seriously not believe you just because you're his child?" Percy asked, surprised.

"Oh, they'd believe me all right. But they'd also believe that the reason he could contact me is because I'm in cahoots with him. They'd see that as a good reason to execute me. I'm sure her father would be more than happy to have that excuse," Lucian said, motioning toward Thalia.

"Would they really believe that?" Percy asked, taken aback by how absurd that sounded.

"Percy… You thought I was evil when we first met as soon as you found out who my father was. What makes you think the gods would be any different? In fact, some of them—cough cough, Thalia's father—think that because my father is who he is, I'm some evil person with dubious intentions."

"I mean..." Annabeth said, rotating her hand back and forth as if debating the point.

"All right, maybe that's true, but that's not because of who my father is. That's just me being me," Lucian said in amusement.

"So, you really couldn't tell anyone…" Percy muttered.

"Why not tell your father?" Grover asked, tilting his head in confusion as he looked at Lucian.

Lucian tilted his head back. "What?"

"I mean, you said you didn't tell the other gods because they'd suspect you were in cahoots with your grandfather, which is understandable. But why not tell your father? I don't think he'd think you were working with him…"

Lucian, Annabeth, and Thalia blinked in unison.

"Well, that's obviously because I didn't think about it… I just figured not telling any gods would be safer," Lucian scoffed. "If I had a nickel for every time I almost got executed by Thalia's father, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it's happened twice."

"Well, that's understandable…" Grover nodded.

"Three times. So you have three nickels," Annabeth corrected.

"What?" Lucian asked, tilting his head.

"You said twice, but it's actually thrice. First, because your father broke the pact, so Thalia's Father sent those monsters. Then, when you stole the Golden Apples and defeated a god, and you were put on trial. And finally, when you kissed Thalia, his daughter, on top of the observatory you built for him that he had blessed," Annabeth listed.

"That's right…" Lucian muttered before turning to the others. "I'd have three nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it's happened three times... Man, he really has it out for me now that I think about it…"

"I'm sorry, but you totally deserved to be smited the third time. What were you thinking?" Clarisse said, shaking her head, before her eyes widened. "Wait! Was that the time when the buildings appeared, and later that night it started raining heavily with thunder and lightning everywhere?" Clarisse asked, remembering the instance.

Thalia simply blushed and looked away, while Clarisse mouthed a silent 'Wow,' looking between them.

"I think we're getting off-topic here…" Percy said awkwardly.

"Right, right, sorry about that…" Lucian said, a bit apologetically. "Anyway, yeah. He's trying to crawl out from the abyss, and to do that, he'll need the help of a demigod..."

Percy sighed after hearing everything. "Why can't my life just be normal? Is that too much to ask? I don't think I've even hit puberty properly, and already I have to stop a war, fight monsters, stop a god, rescue my mother from Hell, and prevent my evil grandfather from escaping the abyss that imprisons him..."

Clarisse turned toward Percy, addressing him by name for the first time. "Percy... what you just said isn't even considered normal for demigods."

"And why the hell are you guys smiling?" Percy asked, a bit irritated, seeing Lucian, Thalia, and Annabeth smiling contentedly.

"Because what you just said sounds like we have one hell of a summer waiting for us," Lucian said happily.

Percy could only feel his eyebrows twitching at how excited Lucian sounded about the chaos that awaited them.

Before he could comment, Annabeth slapped her hand against the window of the moving train. "Guys! Look! It's the Gateway Arch!" she exclaimed with a fascinated expression.

"Can we stop exploring for a little bit? I promise it won't take long!" Annabeth said, looking at Lucian with puppy-dog eyes.

Lucian pinched her cheeks and teased her, "I can't say no to that look..."

"Yes!" Annabeth celebrated, pumping her fist.

"But our quest..." Percy muttered, wondering if they could even afford to take the day off.

"I don't know about you, but these train walls are driving me mad," Lucian said, looking at the others. "Plus, we have different quests. We don't really need to stay together the whole time. This could be where we part ways."

Percy looked at Clarisse and Grover and consulted them. "What do you guys think?"

"I agree with Lucian. The train's walls are driving me a bit mad too," Clarisse nodded. "I wouldn't mind joining them, but this is your quest, so the decision's ultimately yours."

"We still have a few days before we need to complete the quest, so I think it would be fine to spare at least one day to stretch our legs—or rather, hooves," Grover added.

Percy nodded. "Not to mention, Lucian's group has been our main fighting force. Separating from them would weaken us a lot... So I say we stick together until we absolutely have to go our separate ways for the quests."

After reaching an agreement, they decided to make their stop at the Gateway Arch.

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