²𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐘. percy jackson

XXXV.

ΉӨЦƧΣ ӨF ΉΛDΣƧ

AT FIRST, LUCIA FELT UNEASY SHARING THEIR PLANS WITH A GIANT. However, Damasen had been a gracious host, saving Percy and providing them with a surprisingly delicious drakon-meat stew. He made her comfortable enough that she could let her guard down. But of course, Lucia still treaded lightly.

In the warmth of Damasen's hut, Lucia found an unexpected sense of comfort, a rare moment of relaxation since entering Tartarus. It was ironic, sharing a meal with a Titan and a giant. Feeling relaxed with them.

Yet she sat there and recounted her life and the crazy adventures she was pulled into—most with Percy by her side.

"Percy was trying to do something good," she promised Bob, who listened attentively. "He didn't know Hades would be so cruel. If he knew...He would have done more."

Lucia thought about what Bob told them, how Nico di Angelo had been the only person to visit him in the palace of the Underworld.

Nico was one of the least outgoing, least friendly demigods Lucia knew. It wasn't his fault, he wasn't always like that...Lucia knew that deep down, he had the biggest heart.

And it was that heart that allowed kindness to Bob.

By convincing Bob that Percy was a friend, Nico had inadvertently saved their lives.

Lucia made a mental note to tell Nico how awesome he was and give him the biggest hug when she got out of there. If she got out of there.

No. I will, I will get out of here.

Bob washed his bowl with his squirt bottle and rag.

Damasen made a rolling gesture with his spoon. "Continue your story, Lucia of Sparta."

She explained about their quest in the Argo II. When she got to the part about stopping Gaea from waking and destroying everyone, she faltered. "She's, um...she's your mom, right?"

Damasen scraped his bowl. His face was covered with old poison burns, gouges, and scar tissue, so it looked like the surface of an asteroid.

"Yes," he said. "And Tartarus is my father." He gestured around the hut."I was a disappointment to my parents. They expected...different from me."

Lucia couldn't quite wrap her mind around the fact that she was sharing soup with a twenty-foot-tall lizard-legged man whose parents were Earth and a Pit of Darkness.

Olympian gods were hard enough to imagine as parents, but at least they resembled humans. The old primordial gods like Gaea and Tartarus... How could you leave home and ever be independent of your parents, when they encompassed the entire world?

"Oh well...." she said. "Sorry, we're fighting your mom? But she kind of wants to destroy the world which includes all of humanity. Can't exactly let that happen. Some people don't deserve it. And I have friends and family."

Damasen snorted like a bull. "Best of luck. At present, it's my father you should worry about. With him opposing you, you have no chance to survive."

Lucia didn't feel so hungry anymore. She put her bowl on the floor.

Small Bob came over to check it out.