Chapter 91

[Third Person's PoV]

(Image of every building)

As the buildings finished glowing and receiving their blessings, Zeus' face started to dissipate along with the clouds, allowing the sunlight to shine upon them once again.

The children of Apollo immediately sprang into action, rushing into their cabins. After a minute, music began to play, and they emerged, marching out and playing their instruments to set a festive mood.

Lucian threw up two rock signs in the air and shouted, "LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!"

"WOOOOOOOH!!" Everyone shouted in agreement.

Food was brought out, and after offering their share towards the Gods, they began to eat. Some started dancing together to the lively tunes played by the children of Apollo.

Amidst the party, Artemis approached Lucian, "So this Nature Reservoir…"

Lucian didn't let her finish and quickly said, "Yup, built it for you. In case you encounter an endangered species of plants or animals in your adventures and want to preserve them, you can bring them here, and we'll take care of them for you."

"I see…" Artemis muttered, gaining a small blush before quickly composing herself to avoid anyone noticing.

She gave Lucian a closed-eyes smile, "Thank you for your gift; I really appreciate it."

It was Lucian's turn to blush slightly as he found the smile quite beautiful. "Yeah, sure, no problem," he said as he scratched his cheek.

Zoe felt her middle finger twitch as she wanted to draw her bow and arrows and shoot Lucian for some reason. However, a look from Artemis was enough to stop her. She wanted to complain but decided it was best not to.

One person watched their interactions with suspicion—Hestia narrowed her eyes slightly in their direction but didn't say anything. 'Hmmm, interesting, very, very interesting.'

Meanwhile, Annabeth looked at them with gritted teeth.

"What's up with you?" Thalia asked, looking at Annabeth weirdly.

"Nothing, don't worry about it," Annabeth said dismissively.

Thalia followed Annabeth's gaze towards Lucian and Artemis before looking back at Annabeth with increased curiosity.

"Are you perhaps jealous?" Thalia teased.

Annabeth scoffed at the accusation, causing Thalia to laugh.

"She's literally a goddess who hates men; it's like her thing. This tree has a better chance to be with Lucian," Thalia joked, tapping the tree she was leaning on.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Except they're literally being sponsored by the goddess of Fate, which means another god, so it's 4 against 1, it seems.'

"You wouldn't understand," Annabeth muttered.

Thalia shrugged. "You're right, I guess I wouldn't. Sorry."

Annabeth eyed her for a moment. 'I think it's time I even the odds.'

"So, tell me, do you like him as well?" Annabeth asked, glancing at Thalia.

Thalia looked puzzled.

"I'm talking about Lucian, obviously?"

Thalia looked lost. "Of course I don't."

Annabeth smirked. "That's not the way I see it."

"Then you're probably the only one because, for one, I'm 15 and Lucian is literally 10," Thalia replied, confused by the conversation.

"So it's just age you're worried about? We're Greek; age should barely be a concern, especially considering who your dad is," Annabeth casually remarked, until she heard Thalia's cold response.

"What?"

This caused Annabeth to realize she might have said something insensitive. "Sorry. That didn't come out the way I wanted it to."

Hearing the genuine remorse in Annabeth's voice, Thalia decided to leave it be and let out a breath.

"Seriously, what's going on with you?" Thalia asked with concern.

"I'm just curious, since you and Lucian seem to have very good chemistry whenever the two of you interact."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "If you're worried about me getting with Lucian, you have nothing to worry about," she said in a confident tone.

"Oh, don't get me wrong. I really hope you do have something for Lucian."

"Huh?"

"You were literally blushing and everything when Lucian called you beautiful."

"That's—"

Before Thalia had a chance to retort, Lucian appeared carrying two plates of food.

"My ladies~" Lucian said teasingly, offering them the plates.

Due to the conversation they were just having and Lucian's actions, Thalia gained a faint blush, but she shook her head slightly to make those thoughts disappear and took the plate while muttering a "thanks."

Annabeth looked at Thalia with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up."

Just then, children of Aphrodite appeared. "Come and dance with us, Lucian~"

Lucian just spread his arms. "Take me away, ladies."

Which caused them to giggle and drag him away from Thalia and Annabeth.

Thalia looked towards Annabeth's direction to see her reaction and saw her giggling at Lucian being dragged away as they laughed.

"Huh? You get jealous towards a woman that hates men, but to them you don't feel anything?"

Annabeth let out a sigh. "It's Lucian's fault. He has a thing for older women, so I don't feel that threatened when he's with someone young. Luckily, we already kissed and I secured my place with him, but that doesn't mean I get to relax."

Annabeth said this as Thalia was taking a bite from her food, which caused her to start choking and coughing.

From her shadow, a cup appeared wrapped around in a shadowy tendril; she snatched the cup and downed the juice, causing her to start breathing heavily.

She looked towards Lucian, as he was the only one who could have handed her the drink; she saw him doing the Bully Maguire dance and winked at her, causing her cheeks to slightly redden before looking at Annabeth in shock.

"You two kissed!?"

Annabeth puffed her chest with pride. "Yup."

Annabeth then pretended to look surprised and covered her mouth. "Oh my, don't tell me, the mature, older 15-year-old still hasn't gotten her first kiss yet."

"Of course I haven't, I have other things to worry about than boys!" She continued blushing.

Annabeth just patted her shoulders, "It's okay, you don't have to make up excuses, afterall I be pretty embarrassed as well, I was the only one that hasn't gotten my first kiss"

"I'm not the only one, Luke hasn't had his first kiss as well," Thalia said aggrieved

Annabeth looked at her with a straight face as she pointed towards the side.

Confused Thalia followed Annabeth's finger and stood Frozen in shock, a girl around his age wearing a pink toga was grabbing Luke's face kissing him as he tried to desperately push her away.

As he pushed her away Luke quickly wiped his lips looking embarrassed and blushing, as the woman threw her hands in the air, "Wooah!"

Thalia had her mouth wide open, "BULLSHIT!" She cursed.

Annabeth patted her back sympathetically, as she finished eating.

She then went and joined Lucian as they started dancing, Annabeth laughed and giggled as Lucian twirled her around which caused her toga twirl as well.

Thalia watched the scene in silence before turning to look towards Artemis and her group of girls and not say anything as well.

It was then turning darker and as it did Lucian appeared before her, with a bow and a hand extended towards her, "May I have this dance my lady?"

"What are you doing?" Thalia asked in amusement.

"What does it look like, you seem bored and it's supposed to be a party. No one gets to feel bored when the great Lucian throws a party"

Thalia thought about but seeing Lucian's insistent expression and actions, she let out a sigh and smirk, "You know what, Whatever. Let's dance" she said as she took his hand.