Chapter 60

[Third Person's PoV]

As Annabeth tried not to laugh at the current situation, Lucian just scoffed, "Oh please, my presence wouldn't cause such a thing to happen. You're just making stuff up at this point."

"Just two more years, Rose, you just have to deal with annoying kids for two more years and you get to be away from annoying kids," the head counselor of the Demeter's cabin whispered to herself, audible enough for Annabeth and Lucian to hear.

Lucian's eyebrows twitched upon hearing this. "Look, all I'm trying to do is get along with everyone and just trying to fix any problems we may have due to our godly parents' grievances."

"I don't think having my half-sister imprisoned in the Underworld can just be counted as grievances," Rose, the head counselor, snarkily replied.

Lucian's expression then turned a bit awkward. "You're probably right, but you're saying that as if it's my fault that happened. If you guys have a problem with my dad, then you have a problem with my dad, but don't take it out on me."

Rose just groaned out loud. "Seriously kid, why don't you just drop it already? Not everyone is going to like you, and you're going to have to live with that."

Lucian started getting pissed off at that. "It's not about something as simple as someone liking me or not. I wouldn't give a single fuck if this entire camp ends up hating me, but at least they should hate me after getting to know me and hate me for something I did, instead of a stupid reason like just because I'm the son of someone."

An older looking girl with wheat-colored hair with an apron around her waist, approached from behind Rose and intervened, "Rose, that's enough."

"But–" Rose tried to say, but the new girl just shook her head, which caused Rose to click her tongue before walking away, unwilling to deal with it any further.

"Sorry about that. My name is Denise, what's yours?" she said, taking over the conversation.

"Lucian."

"Annabeth…"

"What was that all about?" Annabeth asked Denise.

She let out a small sigh before she began to explain, "Yeah, once again sorry about her. Rose just recently became the head counselor of our cabin and has a very hard time adjusting.

One thing about her is that she really cares for all the plants and is very superstitious when it comes to caring for them. That's why she was being somewhat hostile towards you."

"Will they all behave that way towards Lucian?" Annabeth curiously asked.

Denise just shook her head, "Just a few, mostly those that care very deeply about the plants and nurture them. Having the son of the lord of death around these parts is making them worry about the negative effects it would have.

Which is why they are hostile. So unless he can prove them otherwise, it will continue to be that way. As for me, I really don't see the problem of having Lucian around since some death is beneficial towards the growth of plants."

Annabeth was at first confused before she asked, "Are you talking about compost?" To which Denise nodded her head.

Annabeth turned towards Lucian as she asked, "So do you have a way to make them think otherwise? I'm guessing you do since I refuse to believe you actually came out here thinking your good looks would make it work."

"Of course I do," Lucian replied with an eye roll.

"You do?" Denise asked, curious about what he had in mind.

"Do you have some seeds I could borrow for a few seconds?"

Denise nodded and reached into her apron before pulling out a couple of seeds from its pocket.

"Thanks," Lucian said, taking them into his hands. He crouched on one knee and started digging the ground they were standing on with one hand.

When he was done, he put the seeds in the hole and covered it up before he put his hand over the pile of dirt and closed his eyes.

Denise and Annabeth both just looked at each other in confusion before looking back at what Lucian was doing.

After a few long seconds, a sprout started coming out of the ground, making their eyes widen in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"NO WAY!" Denise couldn't help but shout, causing the others who weren't so far away to stop what they were doing and look towards their direction.

They saw Denise looking down with a shocked expression with two little kids around her. Curious, some decided to go and see what they were doing, while some found the well-being of their harvest much more important and chose to ignore it.

As the others approached, they started to make the same face as Denise, a face of pure disbelief.

"How are you doing it?" Denise asked, unable to contain her curiosity.

While Lucian still had his eyes closed, he answered, "Have you ever heard the term, the richness of the soil is beneficial towards plant life and will help them grow?"

"Don't tell me…" Annabeth started off.

To which Lucian just nodded, "One of my father's domains is all of the riches underground…"

As Lucian talked, the sprout kept growing in size. "I'm controlling the richness of the soil underground to help support the plant to grow much quicker and healthier."

"How did you even come up with such an idea?" Annabeth asked in amazement as the others listened, still watching in amazement as they saw something impossible: the son of the God of the Dead was basically bringing forth life.

"Remember when I told you that for my training I was poisoned and had to come up with a potion while slowly dying to heal myself?"

Annabeth nodded, while the others looked confused.

"Well, one of the most important ingredients was a plant. That plant just so happened to not have been fully grown and was still underdeveloped. With the poison slowly killing me, I became delirious and was losing hope. As a last-ditch effort, I planted the plant before doing what I described and made it grow into maturity until it was perfect for me to use."

Lucian explained as the sprout in front of him started sprouting strawberries. What Lucian or anyone for that matter didn't know, however, was that during his time of conception… During his parents' threesome, some of Persephone's… bodily fluid got inside Medea, his mother's mouth as he was being conceived.

That little amount of fluid became the connection/link he needed for his idea of richness and plant growth to actually come into fruition; otherwise, it would have been a pointless endeavor and would have most likely died during his training.

At first, the strawberries started off green, but a few minutes later, they turned into a beautiful red color, which made them look almost enticing.

Lucian looked slightly tired, as controlling the plant took a lot out of him, as what he did was something that was at least next to impossible for him to do.

"Try them," Lucian told the others who were looking at the strawberries in awe, while hiding his fatigue.

Everyone around took one each, before they all looked at each other, afraid to take the first bite. Except for Annabeth. She had full faith in Lucian and bit into the strawberry without an ounce of hesitation.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she took a bite. "Woah!" she exclaimed before eating the rest. "It's so juicy and unbelievably sweet."

The others looked at each other once more before they all took a bite of the strawberry, sensing the juice flow in their mouths. Their eyes widen at the taste.

Denise patted Lucian on the back. "Nice job, kid. These are good, and you did that just by controlling the richness of the soil? I can see why they taste so good then. When talking about the richness of the soil, we're talking about the nutrients it carries. These nutrients help the plants that consume them reach their full potential."

The others just nodded in appreciation, which just caused Lucian to smirk proudly.