Chapter 67

[Third Person's PoV]

After a few very long minutes of awkward silence, Lucian couldn't take it anymore and reached into his shadow, surprising them.

"What are you doing!?" Annabeth asked, making sure there wasn't anyone looking at Lucian using his power in public.

Lucian didn't say anything as he pulled out his grimoire and started flipping through the pages, "I'm trying to find a memory alteration spell."

"Woah, Woah, Woah," they all shouted, trying to stop Lucian.

"There's no need to go that far," Luke said with an uneasy expression.

"Yeah, so what if you want to know if your dad did it with a skelly, that's pretty normal," Thalia teased.

Lucian saw their lips start twitching as Thalia said that, trying not to laugh, which just made Lucian start flipping through the pages faster.

...

After a few more minutes, there was an awkward silence as Lucian glared at them, "We will not speak of this again, am I clear?"

"Yes–"

"Wrong answer."

"I mean, we have no idea what you're talking about?" they said, which made Lucian nod his head.

"That's right, we weren't talking about anything, we were just simply discussing what Luke's going to do once we reach the Garden of Hesperides, isn't that right?"

They all nodded their heads, to which Luke then sighed, "I honestly don't have a plan of what I'm going to do…"

"If I'm being honest, then you're most likely to fight the dragon that protects and guards the tree to the golden apples if you want a chance to be able to grab one," Lucian said as he took out his reading glasses and handed them to Luke alongside a book with pages turned towards information on the dragon.

(A/N: imma be honest I keep forgetting they're dyslexic and imma keep making mistakes where they read things without the glasses.)

Luke read the book out loud for them all to hear, "Ladon is the massive dragon that has exactly one hundred heads. He is the monstrous son of Typhon and Echidna who guards the Garden of the Hesperides, which houses the tree of the Golden Apples of immortality. He is so powerful that even Hercules failed to defeat him during his 12 labor trials. He is known for his great strength and his poisonous abilities. It is said that Ladon may possibly be Typhon and Echidna's most powerful child."

There was a long and heavy pause between all of them…

"They want us to battle against a dragon that even the strongest demigod in existence couldn't defeat!?" Luke said, breaking the silence in rage.

"Didn't Hercules complete his 12 labors? I don't really remember how he completed each of them, but can't we do something similar to what Hercules did?" Thalia asked.

To which both Annabeth and Lucian shook their heads. Lucian nodded towards Annabeth, indicating for her to explain.

"Hercules managed to do it not with his strength, but with his wits. Yeah, he failed to defeat Ladon, but he made a deal with Atlas to help him retrieve the apples for him while he holds the skies in his place."

"Can't we make the same deal then? If we all work together, we should be able to hold the sky for a few minutes while he gets the apples for us? Before you say anything about this idea being stupid, I know, I'm just throwing ideas out there. We could come up with something if an idea sparks up," Thalia said with a pondering expression.

Lucian nodded in understanding before refuting her previous idea, "Well, you're right about one thing, the idea is stupid. Atlas was about to back out of the deal and leave Hercules there if Hercules didn't trick him back. Atlas is willing to do anything to get out of his punishment."

Thalia then snapped her fingers, "What if we make a false promise to him that gets him to help us? Since my dad is Zeus himself, I can say that if he helps us out, Zeus would be willing to free him from his task."

"It could work… but you're thinking along the lines of Atlas being stupid for falling for that trick. You have to remember he was Kronos' Lieutenant. One just doesn't get that title from being the titan of strength alone; he had to be smart as well to get that position. So when coming up with a plan, always assume your enemies are smarter than what you give them credit for," Lucian explained.

They soon realized that they had arrived at their destination and needed to board a few more trains in order to get to where they needed to go.

They continued riding trains, making a few stops to eat before sleeping on the train, and then getting back up to discuss what they could do and make up new strategies and ideas.

"That's right!" Annabeth exclaimed, remembering something, "Atlas isn't the only person that could help us get the golden apples. The Hesperides, the Nymphs of sunsets and Evening, are said to also be guarding apples from thieves. But if we ask them for an apple instead of stealing them, then we can't be considered thieves."

"That isn't a bad idea. Does the book say anything about the Hesperides?" Lucian asked Annabeth, who had the glasses on and was reading the book his mother made about the different beings in Greek mythology.

Annabeth ran her finger through the pages of the book for a few seconds before reading, "Ah, here it is. It says: When someone comes to their garden, the Hesperides 'dance' with the person to death, unless it is a man. They are fond of men, as they aren't allowed to leave their garden and rarely get to see any men.

Side Note from Mom: Be sure to have a woman present with you to be able to take you away from them if you go see them for whatever reason. If it wasn't for me, that bastard and the rest of the Argonauts would most likely have stayed with them and died."

"Damn it, you read that part," Lucian muttered under his breath.

Lucian groaned and rubbed his face in an exasperated manner as he could practically see the gears turning inside their heads.

Their faces of confusion slowly started to shift, their eyes started to widen, and their mouths slowly started opening as they turned to Lucian.

"You said your mother was a witch before…" Annabeth slowly said.

"Your strong and powerful magical abilities, not to mention the books of knowledge, and the mention of the Argonauts…" Luke said following after.

"Wanting to beat up a person named Jason…" Thalia also slowly said, referencing the bucket list, as that was the part that mostly stood out to her, as that was the same name as her late brother.

"YOUR MOTHER IS MEDEA, THE WITCH OF BETRAYAL!!!" They all exclaimed at the same time, unable to believe what they just discovered.

Lucian slouched in his seat and reinforced the mist that was surrounding them before letting out a sigh and running his hand through his hair.

"That's right… my mother, the one who raised me, was none other than the famous witch of the Argonauts, one of the heroes that retrieved the golden fleece, and her most infamous name… the Witch of Betrayal."