December 9th
Yesterday, Hazel had told Piper something strange. She had told her that when she had gone shopping for Frank, she ran into a boy. The boy made her believe she didn't know Frank well enough to get him a gift, so she had sworn on the Styx that she would return to the shop to find him before December 24th.
The girls had talked about it for a long time before Piper decided Hazel needed a distraction.
"Come shop with me tomorrow," Piper had suggested. "You know Annabeth pretty well and I could use your help."
Hazel had agreed and now there they were, shopping in a little town a few miles away form Camp Jupitar.
Piper had partly lied about needing Hazel's help. She knew Annabeth, they were practically besties. Did Piper have a little crush on her the first year she knew her, yes, but there was no hope of them becoming a thing anyway. Annabeth was straight and in a beautiful relationship with Percy and Piper was in her relationship with Jason. And even if they both broke up and Annabeth became queer, Piper was over it. She now saw her as a friend and only a friend.
"Let's go in here," Hazel said, dragging Piper by the arm.
The girls entered a bookstore with hundreds of books lining the walls. Fantasy, Fiction, Autobiographies, Non-Fiction, the whole sha-bang.
"Annabeth would love this place," Hazel said, looking around.
"Oh, yeah," Piper agreed.
"Let's grab her some books," Hazel suggested.
The two girls scoured the store, grabbing five heavy books on architecture and Greek buildings. Piper charmspeaked the lady at the front desk while Hazel's back was turned so their price was cut in half and they walked out of the store.
"You should carry these books," Piper complained.
"She's your Secret Santa," Hazel replied, skipping ahead.
"Books was your idea," Piper argued.
Hazel ignored her and skipped off to a post office on the street over.
"Hazel!" Pier called, crossing the street carefully and clumsily.
Hazel didn't heard her or continued ignoring her because she walked right into the post office with out turning back to look if Piper was following. With a groan, Piper heaved the books into a more comfortable position and walked after her friend.
She walked into the small building and Hazel, to Piper's relief, was just right inside.
"A post office?" Piper asked in annoyance. "Why did you come into a-"
"Sh!" Hazel whispered and pointed upwards.
Piper looked up and she gasped because dozens of owls were swopping around the ceeiling.
"Wow," Piper whispered.
"Excuse me?" a voice called from the front desk.
Piper and Hazel turned and saw a lady in a cloak standing there.
"Hello," Hazel said cheerfully. "I just saw an owl swoop in and thought I'd make sure everything was okay."
"Oh, yeah," the woman said. "The owls come in and out a lot."
"Is it possible to buy one?" Piper asked, a sudden idea coming into her mind.
"Sure," the woman said with a smile. "You can just take whichever one comes to you."
"It's not going to be for me though," Piper replied.
"Do you have something from who it is for?"
Piper thought for a moment. Then she pulled out a glove she had forgotten about in her pocket. Annabeth had dropped it when she came to visit her in Pennsylvania.
As soon as the glove came out, an owl with a yellow belly and yellow stomach dropped down from the celling and landed on the arm with the glove.
The lady at the front desk laughed. "Looks like you found yourself an owl Miss witch."
Piper gave the lady a questioning look.
"What do you mean-"
"Thank you so much!" Hazel interrupted, taking Piper by the are once more. "Have a good day!"
"You two!" the woman called.
As soon as the two friends were outside, Piper turned to Hazel.
"What was that?" Piper asked.
Hazel didn't say anything for a minute.
"I can't tell you," she said quietly.
"Why?" Piper asked.
"Hecate made me swear," Hazel explained.
Piper nodded in understanding. The gods sometimes told demigods things just to then make them swear not to tell anyone else.
"Well," Piper said, trying to break the tension. "Thank you for coming with me. I now have some good gifts to give 'Owl Girl'."
Hazel laughed, making every tension left disappear.
"You're welcome."