December 24th
It's now December 24th and all the demigods have woken up and found the gifts that were left in their cabins. They picked them up, speculated what was inside, and then made their way into the Big House where Leo had started a fire (in the fireplace for once) and made breakfast burritos.
Annabeth went first this time and opened her gift that was Mario Kart installed on a Nintendo switch and one of her favorite board games, Monopoly. She ran off to grab the TV that sat is Chiron's office while Percy opened his gift.
The Son of Poseidon opened his box to find fish food in a little box.
"Gilly will love this!" Percy had exclaimed.
Grover came next and he baa-ed happily when he found the fancy bottle of tree water. He held it up like Rafiki did to Simba in The Lion King and then held it close to his chest like he expected someone to reach out and yell, "Give me the water!"
Piper came next and she opened her gift to find a Pine Tree perfume bottle. Reyna hid a smirk, the gift had originally been a foul smelling liquid inside the glass bottle but with the help of Valdez, she had made a new and more natural smell and re-wrapped it.
Jason gasped as he unwrapped his floppy present and found swim trunks inside. He had never swam before but Percy had promised he would teach him in the summer.
Frank was next in line so he carefully unwrapped his gift and his eyes went wide as he gazed upon the beautiful bow he held in his hand.
"This is incredible," he whispered to himself.
Hazel now tore open her gift, wanting to see what was inside since she heard something moving around. A joyful screech escaped her mouth as a fluffy ball of cuteness jumped on her. The creature ran around her neck and nuzzled on her shoulder. Hazel was in love.
It was now time for Reyna's gift and she opened it and stared in amazement as the lipstick that sat in her hand. To some of the demigods, it looked like juts that, a lipstick, but Reyna and Annabeth knew that it wasn't actually lipstick. It was a taser.
Now, it was finally Thalia's turn and she ripped the paper covering her gift. She froze as she gazed at the envelope in her hand.
Luke Castellon
Asphodel
Underworld, 666
Thalia
In some forest
With Artemis
Leo took the focus off a stunned Thalia by ripping to shreds his paper and screaming "Yes!" when he saw a pocket knife inside. He had always wanted one but never had the chance to buy one.
Nico rolled his eyes at his friend and opened his gift. Inside was a drink called 'Prime', Takies, a box of Fruit Loops, and Oreos.
"Not the vanilla ones," Will complained.
"No, those are a crime," Nico stated as he took a bite of his chocolate cookie.
Will smiled and turned to his gift. He unwrapped the gift and held up a record player.
"Nico," Will turned to his boyfriend excitedly. "We need to go shopping soon!"
"Well, I guess that's it," Jason concluded, standing up. "We'll do this again tomorrow."
"Wait," Percy said, his smile dropping. "I'm not going to be here."
"What?" The demigods exclaimed.
"I have Christmas dinner with my mom at her apartment," Percy explained.
"You mean 'we'." Annabeth walked back into the room with a giant TV.
She set the television down and smiled at her friends. "I talked to Sally and she offered to have everyone over tonight."
"We don't want to intrude-" Piper said politely.
"Let's go!" Leo screamed. "A Jackson Christmas dinner? This is going to be great!"
"I guess we have dinner tonight," Percy finalized with a smile. "While we wait, we should finish decorating."
The demigods agreed and for the next half an hour, they hung stuff on walls and sang Christmas songs and took turns playing Mario Kart. After one game against Nico, Leo decided that was a smart idea to not get his any games. He did not need anymore practice.
"We're missing something," Percy said as he looked around the room.
"Yeah," Jason agreed.
There was a moment of silence and then they turned to each other with sparkles in their eyes.
"Are you thinking what I'm think?" Percy asked.
"I think I am," Jason said excitedly.
"Grover, Nico, Frank," Percy called.
"Leo, Will," Jason called.
The boys all rallied together and got into a huddle. After a minute of whispering, they smiled at each other and ran out the door.
"What are they doing?" Hazel asked, not taking her eyes off the screen.
"I don't know," Piper replied. "But I know I'm gonna win this."
"You sure?" Reyna asked with a smirk. She sent a blue shell to Piper and she exploded.
"What the fuck!" Piper swore angrily.
Reyna was about to cross the finish line but suddenly, a blur drove past her and when they looked at the score board, Annabeth had come in first.
"You little shit," Thalia accused teasingly.
"What can I say?" Annabeth shrugged smugly. "I'm just better like that."
The girls all cracked up at Annabeth's slang and they didn't stop until something big barged into the room.
"What the-" The girls stopped laughing as a humongous tree was being shoved inside the room.
"Almost there," said a muffled voice.
A second later, the tree was in and on either side of it were the seven boys.
"Perseus Jackson," Annabeth accused, hiding a smile behind her hand.
"It's beautiful!" Percy responded.
The girls ran over to the boys and helped bring it inside the room before propping it up against the two walls in a corner. For the rest of the day, they decorated the tree and played Mario Kart until it became nighttime and Nico convinced Will to let him shadow travel them all to the Jackson apartment.
They appeared in the living room of the Jackson apartment and were greeted by Estelle's sheik.
"Eeeee!" Percy's sister ran to the pile of demigods and greeted everyone with a octopus hug.
"Welcome," Sally smiled. She was wearing an apron and food was covering all the counters and tables. "Come sit!"
"Uncle Nico sits with me," Estelle said firmly.
Nico laughed and let her guide him to a seat at a long table. Will sat next to Nico and Percy too the other side of Estelle. Annabeth sat next to Percy and Hazel took a spot opposite Nico and Frank opposite Will. Grover and Percy were opposite each other and Annabeth and Reyna were opposite. Jason took place next to Will and Thalia sat opposite him, next to Frank. Leo sat across form Estelle and two seats were left beside Annabeth and Reyna, that's where Paul and Sally sat.
"Thank you all for coming," Sally said.
"Thank you for cooking," Leo said gratefully and everyone nodded.
Sally grinned, "Then let's eat."
The rest of the night was full of laughs and giggles and everyone felt like they were at a home. Not a safe place or a house, a real home.