Hello, readers! It's nice to finally get to post something to you all again, after weeks and weeks of studying for mock exams!

So, here I have a Heroes of Olympus fanfiction for you, and since it's Christmas, I thought it would be a great theme! And a great Christmas present for you all as well!

So Merry Christmas, readers! Have a great New Year, and enjoy the fanfic!

Christmas Time

Percy sighed as he walked out of the cabin. There was a light layer of snow on the ground, the air was crisp and fresh, and it was nippy. Basically a lovely winter's day at Camp Half-Blood. The sun was up in the sky, which seemed to be clear, although it didn't seem to be making the Camp any warmer.

Percy stuffed his hands into his pockets as he headed over to the Mess Hall for breakfast. His breaths came out in puffs of steam as he walked over, his trainers crunching in the snow.

"Percy!"

Percy looked over when he heard his name being called, and spotted Jason jogging over wearing his Camp Jupiter t-shirt, a pair of jogging bottoms, a pair of dark trainers and a grey woolly scarf. He chuckled. "What's up with the gangster bottoms?"

Jason rolled his eyes at Percy. "Dude, they're warm."

"Dude, I don't care. You still look stupid."

"Shut up." Jason walked beside Percy. "You want to sit alone today?"

"You want me to sit with you?" Percy countered.

"Sure."

The pair walked into the mess hall and headed over to the Zeus table, sitting down and waiting to be given their plates. Once they had received their plates, got their food and done their usual ritual, the pair began to eat.

"So…" Jason started, ending the silence between the two. "It's Christmas soon."

Percy nodded, his mouth still too full for him to talk through. "Yeah…" he managed to mumble.

Jason smirked. "Dude, that's disgusting."

"I don' keh…"

Jason grimaced. "Seriously, Perce."

Percy swallowed. "What?"

"That was revolting."

"You sound like Piper."

"Shut up."

"Why should I?"

The air pressure suddenly dropped around the pair. "I said shut up."

The air became humid. "You don't scare me, Grace."

The pair didn't notice how much trouble they were causing until Chiron cleared his throat at the front of the mess hall.

"Campers, I have an announcement for you all. We have some guests arriving soon at the Camp…"

The campers groaned. Percy and Jason quickly retreated their powers, calming down quickly.

"Is it the Hunters?" one of the Ares campers called out.

Suddenly, a silver arrow appeared out of nowhere and embedded itself at the table where Percy and Jason were sitting.

The boys jumped before looking towards the entrance.

"Hey, Kelp Head?"

Percy winced. "Yep, definitely the Hunters."

"So, little brother, what have you been up to recently?" Thalia asked as she lounged in her alcove, looking over at Jason.

Jason shrugged. "Nothing much…"

"That's a lie," Percy muttered. "You've been on dates with Piper, and you helped Leo to pull a prank on the Hermes cabin for the first time, and you fell off that Pegasus and into the lake at least five times…"

Jason glared at Percy. "Okay, we get it now, Percy."

Thalia smirked. "No, no, continue, Percy."

"Thals!"

"Hey, do you want to do something for Christmas this year?" Percy asked. "We've never really done anything for Christmas…"

Jason shrugged. "I don't know…"

Thalia grinned. "That'd be a great idea! The Hunters are staying for Christmas this year, so we could do something really fun!"

Jason smiled. "Like plan our own Christmas?"

"Yeah!"

Percy thought about it carefully. "We could do it with the girls and the guys?"

Thalia frowned. "Which girls and guys?"

"Piper, Annabeth, Hazel and Reyna are the girls. Frank, Leo and Nico are the guys," Jason explained.

Thalia frowned a little.

"You remember Nico, right?" Percy asked.

"Oh, yeah, I remember him." She continued to frown. "I'm just not so sure I want to stay around Leo…"

Jason chuckled. "Don't worry. He's changed since you last met him."

Percy smirked. "You've met Leo?"

"Yes, and I regret it." She huffed. "Annoying little twerp."

The boys laughed, getting a glare from the 'older' girl.

"So, should we suggest it to the others?" Jason asked, looking over at Percy.

Percy shrugged before nodding. "I guess we could… but we haven't thought of anything about it. We haven't planned it at all."

"Then let's plan it." Jason sat up properly. "Thals, you got a pen?"

Thalia snorted. "Does it look like I carry a pen, Jason? I carry bows and arrows and knives, not pens."

Jason huffed. "A simple 'No' would've been enough." He got up and headed over to his bag to go through his stuff, searching for a pen.

Percy smirked. "You know, I think the Athena cabin has a load of pens…"

Jason turned and glared at Percy before getting up and leaving the cabin.

"Hey, where are you going?" Thalia called out to Jason.

"To get a pen!"

Annabeth sighed as she headed over to the Zeus cabin. She, personally, hadn't really been in there before, but she'd heard of it from Percy, Jason and Thalia. The place wasn't really meant to be that comfortable - a giant statue in the middle with only alcoves around the sides to sleep in. Yes, it sounded very uncomfortable.

So why were they meeting in there?

She was just heading over to the cabin when she spotted Piper at the door, staring at it. "Hey, Piper!"

Piper turned to look at Annabeth before smiling. "Hey, Annabeth. I guess Percy told you about the meeting as well?" Piper inquired.

Annabeth nodded. "He told me that it was being held in the Zeus cabin."

Piper frowned. "But it's empty."

Annabeth frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. There's even a sign on the door."

Annabeth looked over at the door and, lo and behold, there was a sign on it. She walked up to the door and read the sign, realising it was in both Ancient Greek and Latin. "They're not here."

"Well, yeah, I can see that," Piper pointed out. "But where are they?"

Annabeth read through the note. "It doesn't say…"

"Does it give us a clue?" Piper asked.

The more experienced demigod shook her head before reading through it again. That's when it clicked, and she smiled. "Actually, it does."

"Really? What is it?"

"It says to bring your snorkel."

"Snorkel?" Piper frowned. "I don't have a snorkel… I go surfing, not snorkelling."

Annabeth sighed. "Piper, it doesn't mean that. It means that wherever the meeting is being held, there's water, and that means there are three places where the meeting could be held - the lake, the beach or the Poseidon cabin."

Piper thought about it. "Which one would you use a snorkel for?"

"The beach."

"So they'll be there?"

"Yup."

"Let's go, then."

The two girls turned away from the cabin and headed for the beach.

Percy sighed as he sat by the water, his knees up to his chest and his feet in the water, waiting for Annabeth. It was taking those two far too long to work out that they'd actually written when to meet up on the back of the note. Yes, he and Jason had decided to put a riddle on the front of the paper, but Thalia had suggested putting the answer on the back. And since Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, she'd definitely try to work it out.

So they probably would take ages.

"Remind me never to let Jason leave an encrypted note for Annabeth again," Percy muttered.

Thalia sighed. "I told you we should've just told them. It would've caused a lot less trouble."

Jason shrugged. "Well, it's too late now. We just have to wait for them."

"And we could be waiting a long time…"

About five minutes later, the two girls were spotted heading down to the beach by Leo, who had been enjoying watching Frank play (or rather, fight) with his new robot that he'd built.

"Hey, Pipes!" he called out, waving at her. The robot did the same - rather robotically, may I add.

Frank turned and smiled, waving at her. "Hey, you're here!"

Piper and Annabeth smiled and waved as they walked down the beach to where their boyfriends sat on the sand.

Percy grinned. "Hey…"

"Whose idea was it to stick that riddle on the door?" Annabeth asked.

"Not my door," Percy stated.

Thalia smiled sweetly. "Annie, dear, would I ever do that to you? I know what the consequences are."

Annabeth turned to glare at Jason. "Well?"

Jason gulped. "I'm sorry?"

She huffed.

Piper smirked before kissing Jason on the cheek. "At least you know better now."

"Yeah…"

Thalia turned to the rest of them. "Right, guys, gather round."

The ten of them sat in a group on the sand, with Percy and Annabeth right by the sea, and Piper and Jason as far away from it as possible. Nico and Hazel weren't too far from the sea, but they still say quite a distance from it. Frank sat beside Hazel, and Thalia beside Nico. Leo sat next to Jason, making sure to keep away from Frank for obvious reasons, and Reyna sat beside him.

"We have gathered, oh great and fearless Alpha Female," Leo joked. This brought a snort out of Percy and Nico, who in turn received glares from Thalia herself.

Thalia raised her eyebrows at the boys before sighing. "Right, so Christmas is coming up."

"Oh, yippee," Leo muttered. "Another year of undersized jumpers."

Piper frowned. "You never even get undersized jumpers."

"So? I just feel sorry for guys like Frank."

Frank frowned. "I don't get undersized jumpers. I just have to hang around with oversized morons."

Leo blinked. "You didn't mean me, did you?"

"Alright, alright," Hazel shut them up. "I don't see what's wrong with Christmas anyway."

"I love it," Nico muttered.

"Of course you would, Death Boy," Thalia pointed out. "It gets dark early."

"I love the lights…" Piper said.

Jason shrugged. "They're alright."

Percy sat forward. "So, what we were thinking was that we could have our own little Christmas party. You know, with lights and presents and food…"

Leo grinned. "That would be awesome!"

Frank nodded in agreement. "It would be a cool way for us to spend Christmas."

The rest of the group agreed and they began to mutter amongst themselves. "Food… Party… Presents…"

Thalia clapped her hands to get their attention again. "Alright guys, listen please."

The murmuring ceased.

Jason spoke up. "Right, so now we need to organise a date to do this all on…"

"The 25th of December?" Reyna suggested, as if it were obvious.

Annabeth shook her head. "We won't have enough time to get everything ready…"

"Then how about the 24th?" Hazel suggested. "We'll have enough time to shop and wrap presents, and then we'll do the cooking and stuff on Christmas day."

Nico nodded. "Good idea."

"I'm up for it," Percy said.

Annabeth nodded. "Sounds like a plan." She looked around as everyone nodded. "So, we'll meet outside the Zeus cabin on 24th before we get going?"

"Yeah," Thalia said.

Percy grinned. "This is going to be fun."

Thalia sighed as she stood outside the Zeus cabin - her cabin. She wore a silver-grey jumper with dark jeans and thick tights underneath, and a grey coat and scarf with dark boots over the top. Her dark hair was held back in a ponytail. "Where is everyone?" she muttered.

"I don't know… late?" Jason suggested. He wore his Camp Jupiter t-shirt with a pair of dark jeans and black boots. He was wearing a dark winter jacket over the top, with a dark blue scarf and a snow hat. His blonde hair poked out from under the hat. "You never know with them."

She sighed. "Of they don't hurry, we won't get to buy anything…"

About five minutes later, Hazel and Nico headed over in their dark winter attire. Both of them wore dark t-shirts over their camp t-shirts and dark jeans, with dark winter boots and dark winter jackets. Hazel had a dark red scarf on, whilst Nico's was plain black, and both of them wore dark gloves.

Hazel smiled. "Hey," she greeted, her breath coming out in puffs.

Thalia smiled. "Hey, you two are here."

Jason smiled. "You two are the first to arrive. Congrats."

Nico just shrugged. "They'll get here in time."

"You're late anyway," Thalia muttered. "They'll just get here even later."

Then Percy arrived, walking over from his cabin. The theme of his outfit was blue. He wore a dark blue long sleeved shirt and his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with dark blue jeans and dark converse, despite the snow on the ground. He had a dark blue winter jacket on, and wore a dark blue scarf, dark blue gloves, and a dark blue hat. He smiled at them. "Hey, guys."

"You're late," Thalia pointed out.

Percy just shrugged. "Oh well." He rubbed his hands together and blew hot air into them. "Where are the others?"

Hazel shrugged. "I don't know where Frank is. Maybe he's coming over with Reyna."

"Ah…" Jason nodded.

Thalia frowned a little. "What's this 'Reyna' like?" she asked. "I've never really spoken to her…"

"She's a daughter of Bellona," Jason began to explain.

"She's the Roman goddess of war," Percy continued. "Basically the one who took part of Athena's personality."

Jason narrowed his eyes at Percy. "Don't start dissing the Roman gods, dude, or I may have to injure you."

Percy smirked. "Let's see you try, Grace."

Jason's eyes narrowed dangerously, and the wind picked up.

Thalia frowned. "Hey, hey, knock it off. Or I'll zap you both."

The two stopped, and the winds immediately died down.

That's when Leo appeared, walking along with Frank. Leo wore a red jumper over his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with dark jeans and red winter boots that perhaps looked a little too feminine on his feet. He wore a dark red winter jacket over the top with a matching dark red scarf, and was wearing black gloves and a black hat with flame designs on it.

Frank, on the other hand, was far more subtle with what he wore. He stuck with a brown jumper over the top of his Camp Jupiter t-shirt and brown tracksuit bottoms, with dark snow boots. He wore a large brown winter jacket, with a black scarf and black gloves to match, and a black winter hat.

The two of them smiled as they walked over. "Hey."

The others smiled. "Hey, you two!"

Hazel ran over to Frank and hugged him tightly. "Hi!"

Frank smiled and hugged her back, kissing her hair. "Hey, Hazel."

Leo pouted. "So no hug for me?"

Hazel laughed and hugged Leo as well.

Thalia just crossed her arms at them. "You're late."

Leo rolled his eyes at her. "Oh well. We made it anyway."

Frank nodded in agreement. "The three girls are still late…"

Just then, Annabeth, Piper and Reyna were spotted heading towards the cabin.

Annabeth wore a grey jumper over her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, with dark jeans and leggings underneath. Over the top, she wore a pair of Ugg boots, with a black winter coat and a grey scarf and gloves. On her head, she had a grey winter hat.

Piper, on the other hand, wore her white skiing jacket - something she hadn't been able to wear in ages - on top of a dark blue jumper with her Camp Half-Blood t-shirt underneath. She wore dark jeans with thick tights underneath, and she had a blue winter hat with blue gloves on as well. On her feet, she wore a pair of thick Ugg boots.

Reyna wore a dark red jumper over the top of her Camp Jupiter t-shirt, with a pair of thick black trousers and a pair of sturdy winter boots. Her jacket was thick and dark red, and she wore a thick scarf around her neck.

Looking at their attire, no one would ever realise that all three of them had a dagger concealed at their hips.

Percy immediately headed forward to his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey."

She smiled. "Hey. Sorry we're late. Piper was stuck on deciding what to wear."

Piper skipped over to her boyfriend. She scowled at Annabeth when she heard what she said. "I was not!"

Reyna chuckled. "She was. I was there… unfortunately."

Thalia sighed. "You know, we're running behind on time…"

"Alright, alright," Jason sighed. "Let's get going before my sister has a mental breakdown…"

The group laughed as they headed out of the camp.

"So how are we doing this?"

The group stood in front of the large shopping centre, thinking of what to do.

"Well, there are a few things we need to get…" Hazel said.

"Annabeth and I can get the presents," Percy suggested.

"Jason and I can get the food," Piper said, holding her boyfriend's hand as she said so.

"Frank and I can get and make decorations," Hazel added. "It shouldn't be too hard for us."

"As long as there's no fire involved," Frank muttered.

"Nico and I can get the tree," Thalia suggested. "And that leaves Leo and Reyna to get the drinks for us."

Reyna frowned. "Why me?"

Leo pouted. "Oh, okay. I see how you feel."

Nico smirked. "You purposely put Reyna with Leo so that you didn't have to go with him."

"Was it that obvious?" Thalia asked.

Leo pouted again.

"Right, so we meet up again out here by seven?" Jason asked.

"Yep," Annabeth nodded. She took Percy's hand.

Hazel smiled at Frank. "Let's go, then."

Frank nodded. "Yes, let's."

"So we're getting the tree, huh?"

Thalia nodded as she led Nico into the tree seller's compound.

Large evergreen trees surrounded the pair: some green, a couple dark, and the occasional pink stood out, making Thalia cringe.

Nico shoved his hands into his pockets. He wasn't really that bothered about what tree they got. He just wanted them to get one that was good enough to decorate and go, because something felt wrong. He could feel it in his gut.

Thalia sighed as she walked around. "Of course we're getting the tree, Nico," she snapped. "We're in the compound." She herself didn't like this place. It gave her too many memories… bad memories. Before she could let herself get too carried away, she walked up to a nearby tree. "How about this one?"

Nico shrugged. "Looks big enough to me." He walked over to her. "Nice and sturdy, tall and wide…" He looked at her. "Do you think we'll even be able to get this out of the compound?"

She shrugged. "I thought you'd deal with that, with all of your skeleton dudes, and I'd just handle the Mist."

Nico shrugged. "If you say so."

Thalia nodded and looked around for someone who could help them with the tree.

And that's when Nico realised there was something wrong. All of a sudden, the branches of a nearby tree began tickling the back of his neck. He frowned and moved away from the branch… only to be tickled again. He frowned and turned, finding a tree right behind him. "What the hell?" he exclaimed.

Thalia turned. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"That tree!" he exclaimed. "It's following me!"

She frowned and sighed. "Nico, trees don't move."

"Well this one does!"

"Does it talk too?"

Nico narrowed his eyes at her. "Quit mocking me, Thalia."

"Sorry. Force of habit." She went back to finding help for them.

Nico sighed and kept a wary eye open for anything mysterious. After a while of nothing happening, he calmed down, relaxing.

And then the tree hit him.

"Gah!" Nico cried out as he was thrown forward.

Thalia swivelled quickly, only to have Nico crash into her. "Ow!"

The pair landed in a heap on the ground, with Nico sprawled on top of Thalia.

"What the hell, Nico?" Thalia exclaimed, pushing Nico off her. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing! Someone, or something, pushed me!" he bit back defensively.

Thalia scoffed. "Don't play games with me, di Angelo. I know you did that on purpose!"

"Why would I do anything like that on purpose?"

"Because-"

They froze when they heard laughing coming from behind them. They turned and found they were surrounded by a circle of trees, all if the looming over them.

"Uh, Nico…?" Thalia began.

Suddenly, nymphs emerged from the trees, cackling.

Nico gulped. "I told you…"

"Right, presents."

Annabeth opened her purse. "You remember what we discussed yesterday?" she asked him.

Percy just stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

Annabeth sighed. "Of course you don't." She pulled out two pieces of paper. "Right, let's go over everything again."

Percy nodded, actually trying to pay attention this time.

"We have two different lists," Annabeth explained, holding up the two pieces of paper. "One of them has the gifts for the boys, and one has the gifts for the girls."

Percy nodded.

"You're going to take the list with the gifts for the girls, and you're going to buy their gifts. I'm going to buy the gifts for the guys. Got that?"

"Yup."

Annabeth raised her eyebrow at him. "Seriously?"

Percy nodded. "Mhmm."

She waited for a few seconds to see if he was lying before handing him the list with the presents for the girls on it. "We'll meet outside the store when we're done, okay?"

Percy nodded as he took the list. "Sure, Wise Girl." He pecked her on the lips.

She smiled and kissed his cheek before heading off.

Once she was gone, Percy sighed.

He had no idea what he was meant to do.

"Jason, get a trolley."

Jason huffed as he walked over to get a trolley. "Why do we have to do the food shopping?" he grumbled. "Why do I have to get a trolley?"

Piper chuckled as she watched Jason. "Quit moaning. It's for Christmas, Jason."

Jason just sighed as he pushed the trolley over. "Yeah, but… why couldn't we do the presents? Why do we gave to do the food?"

"You didn't mind when it was suggested."

"Well, I do now."

Piper just signed and pulled the list out of her pocket. "Yeah, well, it's too late now. So deal with it, Jase."

Jason pouted. "That's mean."

"Tough nubs." She opened up the list fully. "Right, so first we have to get… the turkey."

Jason nodded as they started heading towards where it would be. "How big?" he asked.

Piper thought about it. "Well, there are ten of us… and five of is are boys… so it would be nice to get two large ones."

Jason nodded. "Alright." He looked at the shelves.

As expected, most of the biggest turkeys had been taken, but there were a couple left.

To be more specific, there was one.

Jason headed towards the turkey, and suddenly tensed. There was someone else heading towards the turkey… a small old woman that seemed to have a slouch.

And then the image fuzzed a little, and Jason saw… a gorgon.

His eyes widened, and he unsheathed his sword.

Piper frowned and brought out her dagger. "What's wrong, Jase?" she asked.

Jason glared at the old woman. "Gorgon," he muttered.

Piper looked over at the woman and frowned. She only saw an old woman…

"The Mist is playing tricks on you, Pipes," Jason pointed out, reading her mind. "Don't let it fool you."

Piper nodded, trying to focus. "What do we do? We can't start a fight in a supermarket."

"Can you think of anything better?"

"We could negotiate?"

Jason stared at her incredulously.

"You know what? Your idea sounds far more logical."

"Good. Then let's go."

Frank sighed as he and Hazel headed through the shop. There were so many decorations to pick from: tinsel, baubles, ornaments, and even stars to sit on the top of the tree.

Hazel looked around in awe. "Wow…"

Frank smiled. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in, isn't it?"

Hazel nodded. "So many decorations…" She noticed a star and stared at it, admiring its beauty.

Frank grinned. "You know what, I think we can make our own star."

Hazel frowned. "We can?"

"You trust the Hephaestus cabin, right?"

Hazel nodded.

"Well, if you can find a couple of metals and some gems, we can get them to make a star for us."

She looked a little sceptical. "What if…"

"They won't get cursed, Hazel."

She sighed. "If you insist…" She looked around at the other decorations. "What else shall we get?"

Frank grinned. "Tinsel. Lots and lots of tinsel. And baubles. You can't have a Christmas tree without baubles."

Hazel giggled. She had never seen Frank so enthusiastic about anything before… "We'll also need decorations for the actual room."

Frank grinned. "Like stockings?"

"Yeah!"

"And even more tinsel!"

"We could even make paper angels!"

The two grinned at each other. The apartment was going to look fantastic.

Reyna sighed as she walked through the store with Leo by her side.

Neither of them looked particularly happy.

"Why did I get stuck with you?" Reyna muttered.

"Because I'm totally awesome and you know it."

"I beg to differ."

Leo pouted. "Come on, Reyna. I'm not that bad."

"As I said before, I beg to differ. You seem to be extremely annoying and arrogant, and quite uncaring towards others."

Leo tensed. "I care about my friends."

"Oh really? How much do you actually care?"

"So much that I do t even think about lighting a flame around Frank. I always leave Jason and Piper alone when they need the privacy. I provide the guys with training robots and all that." Flames lit in his eyes. "I would lay down my life for them. All of them. Including you."

Reyna huffed. "Not very reassuring words, but I suppose they will do."

"Shut up," he snapped. "You know nothing about me."

"I do not need to know anything about you."

"You can't judge a book by its cover."

"Maybe this book needs to be judged."

"Maybe you need to shut your trap and pick some damn drinks."

Reyna fumed before turning to look at the drinks. "It is a shame that we are underage. Otherwise I would buy that bottle of overpriced wine and smash it against your thick skull."

Leo rolled his eyes as he picked up a bottle of sparkling grape juice. "Thank you so much for the compliment, Rey of sunshine."

"Very funny, Valdez."

"Oooh, we're back to surnames now?"

"Shut up." She began looking through the drinks again. She picked a couple of the sparkling grape juice bottles and carefully put them in their shopping trolley.

Leo was just picking another bottle when he spotted something out of the corner of his mouth. Or rather, someone. He tensed. "Reyna," he hissed.

Reyna rolled her eyes at him. "Leo, I do not have tome for your silly games."

Leo frowned. "Reyna," he hissed again.

Reyna just ignored him.

"Reyna!"

"What?" she snapped, looking over at Leo sharply.

"Look!" He pointed over in the direction that he had been looking before.

She followed his finger, and her eyes widened. "No, it cannot be…"

Leo's frown matched hers. "Mr D.?" he asked.

"No… Bacchus."

Nico muttered to himself sourly as he felt himself being grabbed by the tree and being pulled into the ground and greenery. "Stupid tree nymphs…" he muttered.

Thalia huffed. "Don't insult them," she warned. "You'll just make them mad."

"As if our situation can get any worse," he muttered.

"Oh, but it can," one of the tree nymphs hissed.

Nico frowned. "How?"

The grip of the branches tightened around him, restricting his breathing and squeezing him tight enough to suffocate him.

"Okay, okay," he managed to choke out. "I get it. You can kill me. You can stop now."

The grip around him loosened, but it was still there, warning him not to make another stupid comment.

"What do you want with us?" Thalia demanded, trying to stay completely still in the branches' grip.

"You are demigods, yes?"

They both nodded hesitantly.

"Then we want your blood." A head emerged from one of the trees. It looked like a teenage girl around Nico's age, with a very pretty face. It just seemed to be distorted by her frown. "We want your parents to suffer for the pain they have caused us," she snarled.

Thalia paled and glanced over Nico.

Well, this was just great.

Percy sighed as he walked down one of the aisles.

He was trying to find one of the presents that Jason had written for Piper, but was finding it difficult to find. Especially as he was dyslexic. Everything looked like mumbo jumbo to him.

And not only that, but he'd written in Latin, not Greek.

Percy groaned as he tried to read it again.

N… n… necklace? Necklace!

He grinned before heading towards the jewellery aisle. He paused when he spotted someone near the entrance, however.

Annabeth.

She seemed to be looking for a gift as well…

He smirked. Maybe he could follow her and see what he was getting for Christmas…

"Jason! Look out!"

Jason ducked as something sharp flew over his head and impaled the shelf opposite him. His eyes widened.

That was one sharp nail.

He span to see Piper approaching the gorgon, her face fierce and her dagger ready to attack.

And then the gorgon turned.

Jason took this as his chance to attack.

Before the gorgon could even touch Piper, a large gust of wind picked up the female demigod and carried her out of reach.

At the same time, Jason threw his sword, much like one would a Javelin, and watched it soar through the air.

The golden weapon sliced through the gorgon's chest, turning it into a pile of monster dust that he quickly blew away.

The wind dropped Piper gently, and she stared at Jason. "Well…"

Jason frowned slightly. "What?"

"A negotiation for the turkey certainly would have been less messy."

Jason smirked. "I like my jobs done messy, thank you very much." He grabbed the turkey and dropped it into the trolley. "So, what's next on the list?"

Hazel sighed as she picked up the huge pile of tinsel and hefted it into the trolley.

She and Frank had finally managed to get as many decorations as they could. The pair of them had already gone searching for gems and valuable metals, and had gone back to the Hephaestus cabin to get them to make the star for them. It hadn't taken much convincing – all of them knew about Hazel's gems, and were willing enough to do it to avoid her wrath.

Frank walked over with the box of baubles and placed them on top of the tinsel. "Are we all done here?" he asked.

Hazel nodded. "I suppose we are… any more decorations needed?"

Frank shrugged, thinking about it. "Should we get some lights and ornaments?" he asked.

"I've already got the lights," Hazel pointed out, pointing to the many boxes already in the trolley. "We only need ornaments."

Frank nodded. "I'll go and get some of them, then." He headed towards the ornament aisle.

Hazel sighed as she waited for him to return.

As she leaned on the trolley, she spotted a shady man walking her way with an empty trolley. She frowned.

She'd seen him before in the shop, going around looking for things to buy. How could he still have an empty trolley?

Suddenly, within a split second, she found her trolley half-empty. She blinked before looking around and seeing the man walk off with her items. "Hey" she called out. "Give that back!"

The man continued to walk, pulling along the items with a smirk on his face.

The smirk disappeared when Frank appeared in front of him, a large box of ornaments in his arms and a scowl on his face.

"Put the stuff back in our trolley," he commanded.

The man gulped before slowly moving the trolley back.

"Now!"

He jumped and rushed back to Hazel's trolley, putting all of the stuff back, before running off.

Hazel smiled at Frank. "Thanks."

Frank smiled back as he put the ornaments in the trolley. "No problem." He began to push the trolley towards the tills. "We just need to pay for this stuff, and then we'll head back to camp to get the star."

Hazel nodded. "And then we head to Percy's apartment?"

Frank nodded. "Yep."

Hazel followed him to the till. "Well, we have to get there early, right?"

"Yeah."

She grinned. "This is going to be so much fun!"

Reyna sighed as she leant on the side of the trolley, feeling extremely annoyed.

The damn god wouldn't leave them alone.

"And this wine? Well, it's an exquisite wine from the South Americas. It's perfect for dinners and—"

"Bacchus!" she and Leo snapped at the same time.

The god stopped in the middle of his explanation. "Yes?"

Reyna sighed. "Look, I am very sorry to say this, but—"

"We're underage!" Leo exclaimed. "No matter how many different wines you show us, we're not going to be able to taste them legally for the next few years! So put that bottle back before I end up grabbing it and doing something stupid!"

Bacchus looked taken aback for a little while before his face went bright purple. "You dare have the nerve to speak to me in such a manner?"

Reyna bit her lip. "Leo… what have you done…?"

Leo shrunk back, shrugging. "I don't know…"

"A demigod has the nerve to say such things to me?!" Bacchus lifted the bottle of wine. "How dare you! How… how…" He cracked a smile. "How funny! You, young demigod, are quite the joker!"

Leo frowned. "Huh?"

"I have heard a lot about you, Mr Valdez."

Reyna's eyebrows rose. "You have?"

"Yes," Bacchus nodded. "I hear a lot from Mercury and Vulcan, you know." He chuckled. "You are a very imaginative boy."

Leo smirked. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Reyna sighed as she watched the two converse. It was very annoying. After about five minutes, she finally snapped. "Are you done here?" she asked.

Leo stopped. "No."

She glared at him.

"Okay, yes." He turned to Bacchus. "It was nice speaking to you, Lord Bacchus, but we've got to get drinks…"

"For your party?" Bacchus smiled. "I believe you are already finished with your share of the shopping."

The two demigods looked inside the trolley and smiled. Bottles and bottles of sparkling grape juice were piled neatly in there, and there was enough to last their group quite a few weeks, let alone one night of Christmas dinners.

Leo was grinning. "Thanks, Bacchus!" He turned to thank the god properly… but he was gone. Leo frowned. "He's gone…"

Reyna nodded. "It seems so…" She looked over at Leo. "Shall we pay for our items, then?"

"Sure."

"Gaaaaah!"

Nico ducked as another bolt of lightning flew through the air, zapping another tree. "Woah, Thalia! Watch it!"

Thalia just pushed aside another tree… or was it a nymph? "Sorry. I went a little overboard."

Nico stood up. Almost all of the trees had now been fried with lightning, along with their stupid little nymphs that seemed determined to destroy them. The foolish nymphs had actually decided to challenge the two demigods, not knowing that the two of them were actually children of the Big Three.

That had led to Thalia getting extremely annoyed with them, and frying half of the trees right there and then with lightning. That hadn't exactly shocked Nico, but it had really scared the other nymphs.

Then Nico had brought out the skeletons, which had chased off the nymphs and left the yard empty apart from one slightly fried tree, which was very, very large.

Nico guessed that the nymph of this tree was smart enough not to annoy them and glad that its tree was still alive.

"Are your skeleton soldiers still available?" Thalia asked Nico.

Nico shrugged. "I guess so…"

"Good." She turned to the tree. "This one's gonna need some strong fellas to carry it."

Nico sighed. "If I pass out by the time we get to Percy's apartment…"

"I'll carry you, don't worry."

Nico just shook his head before raising the skeletons again. "You owe me, Grace."

"Perseus Jackson!"

Percy winced as he froze. "Crud…"

Annabeth folded her arms as she walked towards Percy. "You were spying on me. Again."

He bit his lip. "Look, I'm sorry—"

"I'll forgive you if you've got all of the other gifts."

Percy turned and looked in his trolley. He had, in fact, retrieved all of the gifts that he had been instructed to get. Annabeth had just so happened to pass by all of them on her search for the girls' presents, which had saved him the job of going around to find them all. He turned back to Annabeth and smiled. "Yep."

Annabeth frowned. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Let me see!" She tried to look into the trolley.

Percy stopped her. "Nope. You're not allowed to look."

She pouted. "Awww…"

He chuckled and pecked her on the lips. "Are you done with yours?"

Annabeth nodded. "I've just picked up the last one."

"Shall we go and pay for the items, then?"

"Sure."

Percy grinned and turned back to his trolley. "Race you to the tills, Wise Girl!"

Annabeth chuckled before turning to her trolley. "I'm so gonna kick your ass, Seaweed Brain!"

But Percy was already gone. "You think so?"

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Hey!" She raced after him.

Jason sighed as he loaded the food onto the till.

A large turkey, two large pork legs, some chicken breast pieces, a huge bag of potatoes, two large bags of mixed vegetables, a sack of flour, some butter, and some other ingredients for lots of different foods they'd eat.

Piper sighed as she began to pack the scanned items into bags. "How on earth are we meant to carry all of this to Percy's apartment?"

Jason shrugged. "The apartment isn't too far from here, Pipes. Maybe I can get the wind to help us?"

Piper nodded. "That's a good idea…"

"You could charmspeak some people to help us as well, you know."

She blushed. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, it would help us a lot…"

She sighed. "Fine…"

Jason slipped his hands into his pockets to fine his wallet, and his eyes widened. "Uh, Pipes… we may need the charmspeak for a little more than carrying our stuff to the apartment…"

Piper just held up his wallet. "You're not resistant to charmspeak, you know," she pointed out as she pulled out the needed amount of money.

Jason blushed. "Oh…" He huffed. "Please don't do that to me…"

Piper grinned. "Jason. You don't know how much I've benefitted from this charmspeak business."

He paled. "Hehe, you're kidding right?"

She just smirked.

Hazel grinned as she began to hang up some of the tinsel on the walls. "Thanks again for helping us with the decoration, Mrs Blofis."

Sally smiled as she continued to help Hazel hang up the decorations and ornaments. "You're very welcome, darling. And please, call me Sally. I'm not that old, you know."

Hazel smiled. "No problem, Sally."

Frank and Paul walked in with some more ornaments.

"We found some more ornaments in Percy's room," Paul announced. "Let's see what he says when he finds out what you've been using his room for."

Sally rolled her eyes at Paul. "Don't you dare, Paul."

"Why not?" Paul was grinning. "I'm sure your highly explosive demigod teenage son wouldn't mind if he came home and found that his bedroom was filled with storage stuff."

Hazel and Frank were sniggering. They knew full well that Percy wouldn't be too pleased about his room being used as a storage closet, although they had a feeling that Sally had a way to win him over…

"He'll be fine," Sally dismissed the thought. "I've got blue cookies in the oven."

The two demigods blinked. "What?"

Sally smiled. "Oh, Percy loves his blue cookies. I'll be fine. If there's anyone he'll take it out on, it's you, Paul."

Paul paled. "You don't think…"

"He would."

Hazel snorted, getting the adults' attention.

"What's so funny?" Paul asked.

"I don't think Percy would risk anything with us around…"

Frank nodded. "He wouldn't. You'll be fine."

Paul smiled with relief. "Oh, that's good."

Sally grinned. "For now…" she added.

Paul paled before throwing some tinsel at his wife. "Oh, stop it Sally!"

Leo grinned at the huge trolley of drinks they were currently pushing out of the shop. "Woah, Reyna. When they said get drinks, I didn't think that they meant this much…"

Reyna chuckled. "I believe that this is more than enough." She picked up one of the bottles. "It is a good thing that they are not alcoholic, otherwise something terrible would happen."

Leo smirked. "Or maybe Bacchus has done something to the bottles…"

"Leo, please."

Leo laughed. "It's alright, Reyna. It's not alcohol."

Reyna blinked for a couple of seconds before chuckling. "You never cease to amuse me, Valdez."

Leo grinned. "I'm glad you think so."

"So, shall we head to Percy's apartment now?"

"Sure."

Reyna smiled at Leo as he began to push the trolley. The demigod son of Hephaestus did not seem to be the strongest, or the fastest, or maybe even the most intelligent, but he definitely was the funniest.

And the sweetest.

But she wasn't going to tell anyone that. Lest Aphrodite cursed her with a difficult love life.

Nico sighed as he watched his skeletons carry the Christmas tree us the stairs, his face just a bit paler than usual. "I… I don't think I can go much further, Thals…"

Thalia sighed as she helped Nico up the stairs. "Not much further. The apartment should be on the next floor."

Nico nodded as he and Thalia reached the landing. "Thalia, I have to drop it."

"No, Nico, don't—"

The skeletons dropped the tree right in front of the door before disintegrating, leaving dust on the ground. Nico leaned against Thalia tiredly.

"I'm not flipping immortal, you know."

Thalia smirked. "I know." She moved, leaving the tired Nico to fall to the ground tiredly. She headed to the apartment door and knocked on it. "Mrs Blofis?"

Sally opened the door. "Oh, Thalia! How are you?" She noticed the tree by the door and blinked. "Paul! Boys! We're going to need your help with this!"

Paul headed to the door, and paused when he saw the tree. Percy and Jason stood behind him, their mouths agape.

The three males stood there silent for a little while before one of them actually spoke up.

"How in Hades are we meant to get that in here?"

"Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree…"

"Jason, get this into your thick skull: You can't sing."

"Neither can you, Leo."

"But I know what good singing sounds like, and that definitely wasn't it."

Percy sighed. "Can't you both just shut up?"

Frank grinned. "How about you sing for us, Perce?"

"Shut up, Frank."

"Percy can sing?" Jason asked with a grin on his face.

Frank nodded.

Percy frowned. "I only sing in the shower. How do you know I can sing, Frank?"

Frank blushed.

Nico smirked from where he lay on the couch. "Yeah; how, Frank?"

Leo sniggered. "So, we know where you've disappeared to when we can't find you and Percy's in the shower."

The boys laughed as they continued to decorate the tree, hanging the ornaments and wrapping the tinsel around. There was red, and gold, and green, and silver tinsel hanging everywhere, some pieces of the tinsel actually on the floor. There were already ornaments on the tree, such as mini-Santas and snowglobes, as well as baubles.

At the same time, Nico and Leo were working together to wrap the girls' presents. With their small, unmanly fingers, the two found it quite easy to wrap the presents neatly, and they were able to do so quite quickly.

"We should put some Christmas music on," Leo suggested, getting into the Christmas spirit already.

Jason nodded. "That would be awesome." He turned to Percy. "Do you know where your mom keeps the Christmas CDs?"

Percy nodded before standing and heading to his mother's CD shelf to look for some Christmas CDs. "Pop or jazz?"

"Pop," the boys answered.

"Got it." He picked out one of the CDs. "This one looks cool."

"Put it in, then," Jason said.

Percy nodded and popped the CD into the CD player, smiling when he heard the Christmas songs.

"Good memories?" Leo asked.

Percy nodded. "Really good ones." He sighed and went back to decorating. "I miss the times when I didn't know I was a demigod…"

The girls sat in the kitchen, wrapping presents and cooking the dinner whilst they set the dinner table.

Hazel held the star for the tree in her hands, looking it over. It had a golden frame, which was twisted with silver and platinum to make it shimmer in the light. In the gaps in the frame, different gems glittered, such as rubies, and diamonds, and emeralds, and amethysts, and sapphires...

To cut the story short, the star was beautiful.

And worth "a whole load of cash", as Leo put it.

"That star is beautiful," Piper sighed as she looked up from where she was wrapping Jason's present.

Hazel smiled and nodded. "I know... I didn't think things could be this beautiful..."

"Neither did I..." Reyna added, smiling a little at Hazel.

Hazel gave her a small smile in return.

The group of girls smiled when they heard the music come on in the living room.

"That's some lovely Christmas music, Sally," Annabeth complimented.

Sally smiled. "Thank you, Annabeth. To be honest, I haven't heard that CD since… well, since my previous marriage."

Annabeth went quiet whilst the others looked confused. She was the only one who knew about Gabe…

"Your previous marriage?" Piper asked hesitantly.

Sally frowned as she bent down to take out the roast chicken. "Hasn't Percy told you?"

Four of the girls shook their heads, whilst Annabeth just sat there.

"He told me," she said quietly.

The girls turned to her. "Spill."

Annabeth sighed. "Right, so there's this guy…"

The group sat around the living room, lounging around with their glasses of sparkling grape juice and bowls of chocolate log with ice cream or custard.

The dinner had been lovely, with all of the pork and turkey and chicken, along with the vegetables and mashed potatoes that the girls had worked together to make. Not only that, but the decorations that the boys had set up had really brightened the mood, and made sure that the whole group were really happy.

So now they were just sitting there, waiting for midnight, so that they could all open their presents.

Thalia sighed as she leaned against her brother. "You know, this has been an awesome Christmas…"

Jason nodded in agreement. "I don't think I've ever had a Christmas like this before…"

Percy frowned. "Never?"

"Nope. I grew up in the Roman camp…"

"Oh…"

"The last time I really had a fun Christmas was when I was much younger," Annabeth explained. "I was probably about five years old, before my dad got remarried."

Piper smiled. "Same; except for the getting remarried part."

Leo sighed. "My mom and I used to have great Christmases…"

The rest of them sat quietly, thinking over their childhoods before they found out that they were demigods.

"You know, I think that there's at least one good thing that came out of being a demigod…" Percy said, startling the others out of their reveries.

"Really?" Frank asked, disbelief clear in his voice. "What is it? Because I'm not really seeing it right now…"

Percy smirked. "Look around us, Frank."

The others looked around, before Annabeth smiled.

"I don't…" Frank was still frowning.

"It's us," Annabeth said with a huge smile. "If we weren't demigods… we would've never met each other."

Thalia smiled. "And we wouldn't be friends."

Jason wrapped his arms around Piper. "I wouldn't have you…"

Percy pecked Annabeth's cheek. "And I wouldn't have you either."

Annabeth sighed. "There wouldn't be any love life for Aphrodite to mess with…"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? That's what you worry about? Not our parents' rivalry?"

"Oh, that too."

The others laughed softly.

"I find it quite amusing, actually," Reyna said. "In a way, all of our parents have something to do with each other that affects us. For example, Poseidon and Athena's rivalry; Bellona having one of Athena's aspects; Zeus being Jupiter; Zeus, Poseidon and Hades being the 'Big Three'; Hephaestus and Aphrodite being married…"

Leo cringed. "Piper and I are step-siblings? Ewww!"

Piper huffed and threw some tinsel at him. "Shut up!"

Leo laughed at her before throwing some tinsel back and hitting Jason instead. "Oops…"

It wasn't long before all ten of the demigods were throwing tinsel at each other, getting it all over their clothes and in their hair. At one time, Piper even sat down to plait some tinsel into Reyna's hair whilst Leo messily tied some tinsel into hers.

And then the clock struck twelve.

The demigods froze, looking to each other before grinning.

And then Percy scooped Annabeth into his arms, spinning her around as the others began to cheer and sing.

He pressed his lips to hers softly. "Merry Christmas, Wise Girl."

Annabeth smiled as she pulled away from him, caressing his cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Seaweed Brain."

So, what do you guys think?

And Merry Christmas to you all!