¹𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀. percy jackson

LIX.

☼

LUCIA STARED AT THE FLIER ON THE BULLETIN BOARD TENTATIVELY. She had been staring at the audition sheet for gods knows how long. A part of her wanted to write her name down but the other was still fearful. Of what? She wasn't too sure.

"Are you thinking of Auditioning?" A voice asked from behind her

Lucia whirled around to find Paul. She bit her lip shyly. Despite living with him, there wasn't much one on one talking between them. "I don't think I can."

"Why not." Paul furrowed his eyebrows, he held his briefcase at his side. Lucia guessed he just got out of teaching a class. "You can sing."

"Yeah, but I don't know how fair it is...." She murmured "You know, Apollo. Verano... if I don't get in well that's just embarrassing. And if I do get in, or worse, win. It will be blamed on nepotism"

"I don't think that's a problem." Paul hummed. "Your own talent will speak for itself."

"Mm and then people will just talk about me more than they already do." She murmured

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing." She brushed it off, "I know I'm good, I just haven't sung in front of someone that wasn't close to me in a long time. And the last time...well it doesn't matter."

"Hm, maybe you're right." Paul shrugged, "Just don't do it."

Lucia's mouth fell open. "What?"

"You can't do it so don't."

She scoffed. "I can do this and more!" She pivoted on her feet and took out a pen to sign her name in huge cursive letters. When she turned around she put a hand on her hip. "And just so you know. I will be winning."

Paul just laughed, "Oh I believe you."

Lucia gasped, pointing a menacing finger at the older man. "You did that on purpose! How'd you—"

"See you later Miss Verano." He said "And good luck with your audition."

"Wait!" She called after him in shock. "You—Huh—That's cheating!." once he was out of her sight she huffed.

Well, that's one thing I definitely inherited from Apollo.

☼

"I'M HERE TO AUDITION FOR THE TALENT SHOW"

"Name please."

"Lucia Verano." She said confidently,

The Music teacher gazed up. Lucia heard as the others auditioning began to whisper to themselves, but she tried her best to drown out the noise. She focused on the Music teachers face, watching as her brown eyes widened in shock. "As in..."

"Can I sing now?" Lucia interrupted her.

"Y-yes, Of course." She stuttered, "Please."

Lucia quickly prayed to her father that she wouldn't mess up. She then broke into song. The lyrics of Zombie by The Cranberries leaving her lips in a deep powerful melody.

In your head, in your head, they're still fighting
With their tanks and their bombs
And their bombs and their guns
In your head, in your head, they are dying
In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie
What's in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie

As she sang, Lucia slowly became more comfortable. Her voice amplified and bounced off the walls. All as her nimble fingers stroke the right chords on her electric guitar. When she was done, the room fell silent. A little too silent for her liking. Then the applause began.

"Thank you." She smiled, Her heart soared.

☼

THAT DAY LUCIA SWUNG THE DOOR OPEN TO THE APARTMENT. She immediately bounced over to Paul who was grading papers in the kitchen. The sun child was beaming from ear to ear.

"I got it! I got it!" She cheered, "I'm going to be in the Talent show!"

"Oh yeah!" He high-fived her "Tell me everything."

Lucia sat at the kitchen counter next to him. She gushed over every second of her audition. He listened intently as Sally and Percy entered the apartment.

"Sally! Percy!" Lucia stood excitedly as she saw them enter the Kitchen, "Guess what!"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Which band released a new album?"

"Good guess but no!" She smirked,

"What is it, sweetheart?" Sally looked between her and Paul.

"I'm in the talent show!" She cheered, before bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I'm going to be singing in the talent show! Oh, my gods, I need to tell Annabeth!"

"Wait, let me congratulate you first!" Percy complained as he reached out to hug her. He pouted slightly.

In seconds, Lucia ran over to the sink. She pulled a drachma from her pocket to call Annabeth. "No time! Need to tell Beth! And then Thalia! Oh and Will! Love ya!"

"Hey!" Percy whined,

Sally laughed, "Someone's excited."

"She's been glowing since she got home." Paul grinned "Who needs to pay for the lighting bill when we got Lucia."

Percy smiled at that. The kitchen ringing with harmonious laughter as Lucia excitedly told Annabeth about her Good news.

A/N: hi hi loves. I know this is pretty short and not so great (my editing is still pending hehe sorry )but I just wanted to give you all a little something for the time being since I haven't been posting as much. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to be writing and updating more of the final chapters of this book and I will be releasing the sequel very soon!!! I also will be updating my new story. I'm sorry for taking long I'm going into finals and things are getting chaotic but I'm truly going to try and release more because I miss Lucia <333

alsooooo finally I just wanted to give everyone a thousand thank yous for the 50k reads. again I started this story for many different reasons never expecting to get so much love and attention. But i'm so grateful for every single one of you who have taken the time to look at my work. So so very grateful. You have no idea how happy it makes me and how much it motivates me to keep on practicing my writing. Thank you again and I hope you stick around for more.