𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑: 𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒 & 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐎 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐂𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐃𝐒

"If someone doesn't like you, they aren't worth your time."

CAMP WAS DIFFERENT IN WINTER.

Like usual, there was snow lightly falling, frost covered the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with Christmas lights and a
a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," Percy said.

   "Why is there lava pouring down it?"

     "It's supposed to be a little more challenging," Eris said.

     Personally Eris thought having a bunch of kids climbing a wall covered in lava was stupid but whatever.

     "Do you guys have McDonalds here?" Nico licked his lips, "I love McDonalds."

Eris knew that if Hippolyta was here she'd be horrified that Nico liked McDonalds, she thought it was the worst thing to walk the earth. Hippolyta was a bit of a health nut which was probably why she was so strict about Eris's training diet. But Eris had never had McDonald's before, they didn't serve McDonalds at camp and none of her previous foster parents had ever given her any. She was sure that if she asked Lena or Katherine they'd give her some even if Katherine would be scared of the food just like Hippolyta since she was a bit of a Heath nut too.

   "We don't, sorry," Eris told Nico softly and Nico pouted.

   "Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoë, have you met—" Percy started to say.

    "I know Chiron," Zoë said stiffly. "Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

    "I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

    "We know the way," Zoë said flatly and Eris winced.

    "Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"—Grover tripped over a canoe and came up still talking—"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

    Zoë rolled her eyes, but followed him.The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brother's ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

   "Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters. He winked at Percy. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon. Especially, you, Eris," he looked in Eris's direction, "I have a feeling you'll have a real pain in your ass later."

   "Huh?"

    Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus. "Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"

    He gave her a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't. Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. Eris looked away just in time for the chariot too take off in a blast of heat. When she glanced back the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico who still looked grumpy but looked up at Eris, "Who's Chiron?" He asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"Our activities director," Percy said. "He's...well, you'll see."

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

Eris yelped, slightly surprised when Nico grabbed her hand. She glanced at his hand that was entwined with her's. He didn't seem to be pulling away. Nico had cold hands but Eris didn't mind because her own were cold too.

Holding hands with Nico sent a warm buzz through Eris's heart similar to these she felt whenever she was around Tyson but so much stronger.

She glanced at Nico but he seemed to be looking down, blushing harshly as if he was embarrassed or worried she'd yell at him. Eris squeezed his hand lightly and didn't let go.

The corner of Eris's lip twitched.

She didn't know why he chose to hold hands with her of all people but whatever it was made her happy.

Neither of them seemed to notice Thalia and Percy's glares burning into Nico's back.

LIKE USUAL CAMP WAS PRETTY EMPTY.

Most campers went home but there were still a few year-rounders.

She spotted Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin stoking the forge outside the camp armory. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, from the Hermes cabin, were picking the lock on the camp store. A few kids from the Ares cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest.

Camp being almost empty wasn't new to Eris, she used to be a year-round camper herself. Usually around this time of year Eris would be in the Art cabin painting Christmas inspired paintings while Willow tried to annoy her. But this time well...

Eris had people she could actually spend Christmas with. Lena and Katherine already made plans that surprisingly included Eris. They were going to go to New Orleans's Christmas parade after opening their presents, go to Karaoke, then end the day with ice skating. Eris was surprised they actually included her in their Christmas plans but Lena and Katherine looked at her like she was crazy and assured her she was definitely invited. Eris knew that right now they were probably planning what they were going to do for New Years.

   Apparently holidays and Birthdays were always celebrated extravagantly in the Robinson Household. Birthdays especially, Eris would never forget on her 14th birthday they had invited her father of all people who actually came.

    Nico chatted in Eris's ear the entire time asking different questions that she happily answered each time. She found she liked it when Nico talked to her even if he asked a completely random question.

   The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

    Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

   He smiled when he saw them. "Percy! Eris!Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

    "This is Nico," Eris said gesturing to the small boy who continued to hold her hand. "Him and Bianca are demigods."

      Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

   "Well..." Percy trailed off.

   His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

    "Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice. "Not another one lost."

    Eris frowned. Who else was gone?

      She hoped no one else had left to join Luke's army. Some had gone to join his army which she didn't understand. Didn't everyone understand the war would just end in blood shed? Couldn't they find another way to solve their problems like, you know, having an actual conversation or just leaving camp and moving on with their lives and ignoring the gods.

   That's what Eris was planning to do once this war was over. She had ambition now, things she wanted to do in life that didn't include camp or Hades. She wanted a happy life far away from camp.

   She didn't know where she would be in the future but she hoped that she was finally happy and alive.

   Mr. D was hard to ignore in the room with his neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and his purple running shoes. A golden laurel wreath was tilted sideways on his curly black hair, which must've meant he'd won the last hand of cards.

    "What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

    Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark. "The Hunters are all moved in!"

    Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

    "But...Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

    "It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool! But wait.." Nico frowned, "Can Eris come with?"

  There weren't a lot of things that made Eris happy but that sentence right there made her day. He wanted her to come with him?

    Chiron glanced at Eris, "I'm afraid not, Eris must stay here we have much to discuss."

   "But..." Nico looked down.

     "I'll see you after," Eris blurted out a goofy smile covering her face for the first time. "Just come find me when you're finished."

    "But where will I find you.?"

    Percy and Grover exchanged a knowing look, "She'll be at the Art Cabin," they said in unison.

    Eris squeezed Nico's hand and he let her go before followed Grover out of the room.

     "Now," Chiron said, "perhaps you three should sit down and tell us the whole story."

    When they were done retelling the story, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

   "I can—" Eris started to say.

    "I'll go," Thalia and Percy said at the same time.

    Mr. D sniffed. "Certainly not!"

    As Eris rubbed her arm awkwardly Thalia and Percy both started complaining, but Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if they didn't shut up.

    "From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade. We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"

    "Annabeth," Percy snapped.

    "Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her. So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."

    Percy looked ready to jump across the table and strangle Mr.D and Eris understood why. Gods disregarded a lot of peoples lives if those people weren't their own children but even then that was only to an extent.

    "She's not dead," Eris blurted out drawing attention. "I'm linked to the Underworld...if she died I'd know...she's alive somewhere.

    "Annabeth is alive," Chiron said, sounding relieved."She's very bright. If...if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

     "That's right," Thalia said. "Luke would want her alive."

   Eris bit back a remark. Thalia hadn't seen Luke in years. From what Eris had seen Luke didn't give a shit whether they lived or died.

    "In which case," said Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

    Percy got up from the table and Eris quickly grabbed his arm, "Percy, please—"

    "Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning.

    "You're glad to lose another camper," Percy snapped. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

    Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

    "Yeah," Percy growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

    A dark glint entered Mr.D's eyes and he opened his mouth probably to curse Percy.

   Eris forced Percy into his seat, "Sit down," she hissed lowly to Percy. She turned back to Mr.D. "Mr.D, he's just—"

   Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

   "SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're...you're a centaur!"

   Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

    "And, whoa!" He looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

    Mr. D turned his eyes away from Percy and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

    Feeling uneasy, Eris made her way towards Nico and grabbed his elbow slightly pulling him backwards. Nico didn't seem to mind her touch.

  "Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."

    "My figurine."

    "In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

    "Ah." Mr. D seemed truly perplexed,"Well, that's... gratifying."

   "Percy," Chiron said quickly, "you, Eris and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

    "Capture the flag?" Percy asked. "But we don't have enough—"

    "It is a tradition," Chiron said. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

    "Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

    Chiron jerked his head toward Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his game. "Run along now," Chiron told Them. Before they left he called out, "And Essence you will be participating."

Eris froze, "What?"

"You will be participating," Chiron said again, "We're low on campers this year."

"But Chiron I haven't done capture the flag in years."

"Yes, but now you've shown to have capable fighting abilities," Chiron said, his tone leaving no room for an argument.

"No, I—" Eris stopped herself.

She knew she had grown from the person she was two years ago. She had spent months training with Hippolyta, two weeks in Tartarus, and one whole year with her father. She trained her ass off and had amazing spirits by her side. She wasn't someone who was as easily beaten like before.

She just needed some confidence. She needed to learn.

"You have potential," Artemis had said.

"I...uh...Okay," Eris said after a while.

    I can do this...I think.

Chiron nodded, "Good, now run along."

"Oh, right," Thalia said. "Come on, guys."

    Surprisingly Thalia hesitated and grabbed Eris's hand, locking their fingers together. Eris didn't mind but Thalia's face looked so red it looked like she was about to catch on fire. Thalia grabbed Percy by his elbow and hauled him out of the Big House.

Thalia glanced between her and Eris's hands and flushed. A small smile graced her lips before she frowned and shook her head. She cleared her throat, " You've already got Ares on your bad side," Thalia reminded Percy as they trudged toward the cabins. "You need another immortal enemy?"

Now that Eris thought about it Thalia was right. Percy had major beef with almost anyone he met.

"Sorry," Percy said. "I couldn't help it. It's just so unfair."

Thalia stopped by the armory and looked out across the valley, toward the top of Half-Blood Hill. Her pine tree was still there, the Golden Fleece glittering in its lowest branch. The tree's magic still protected the borders of camp, but it no longer used Thalia's spirit for power.

"Percy, everything is unfair," Thalia muttered. "Sometimes I wish..."

Eris's face softened, "Annabeth is still alive...she...she'll be okay."

"We'll get Annabeth back," Percy promised. "I just don't know how yet."

"First I found out that Luke is lost," she said. "Now Annabeth—" "Don't think like that."

     "You're right." She straightened up. "We'll find a way."

    Over at the basketball court, a few of the Hunters were shooting hoops. One of them was arguing with a guy from the Ares cabin. The Ares kid had his hand on his sword and the Hunter girl looked like she was going to exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second.

    "I'll break that up," Thalia said. "You circulate around the cabins. Tell everybody about capture the flag tomorrow."

    "All right. You should be team captain."

    "No, no," she said. "You've been at camp longer. You do it."

     Eris thought Percy should've just said 'yes'. Thalia and Percy were two strong personalities and two people who barely got along. There was no way both of them as team captain would work, one would alway try to over power the other. But instead of saying 'yes' Percy said:

   "We can, uh...co-captain or something," Percy said.

Thalia looked around visibly uncomfortable but she nodded. Thalia looked down at Eris's intertwined hands and frowned before letting her hand go.

Thalia's electric blue eyes met Eris's and Eris couldn't help but notice that—

   Just like Percy, Thalia had really pretty eyes.

As she headed for the court, Percy said, "Hey, Thalia."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about what happened at Westover. I should've waited for you guys."

"'S okay, Percy. I probably would've done the same thing." She shifted from foot to foot, like she was trying to decide whether or not to say more. "You know, you asked about my mom and I kinda snapped at you. It's just...I went back to find her after seven years, and I found out she died in Los Angeles. She, um...she was a heavy drinker, and apparently she was out driving late one night about two years ago, and..." Thalia blinked hard.

"Thalia," Eris said, "I...are you okay?"

Thalia nodded and sniffed, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry." Percy told her.

"Yeah, well. It's...it's not like we were ever close. I ran away when I was ten. Best two years of my life were when I was running around with Luke and Annabeth. But still—"

"That's why you had trouble with the sun van."

She gave Percy a wary look. "What do you mean?"

"The way you stiffened up. You must've been thinking about your mom, not wanting to get behind the wheel."

Personally, Eris just thought Thalia was scared of heights. She also thought Percy should've shut up because the dark glare Thalia gave looked like she could shoot a million volts of lightning.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Yeah, that must've been it."

She spared Eris a glance before trudged off toward the court, where the Ares camper and the Hunter were trying to kill each other with a sword and a basketball. Leaving Percy and Eris completely alone.

Eris looked at Percy and their eyes met. Just as fast as they met they separated and both teens looked away blushing.

Percy smiled a bit and Eris found herself staring at his mouth and—

Oh, her heart felt like it was running at a million miles per hour. She swallowed as her palms suddenly felt sweaty. She couldn't force herself to look away because—

"Oh, I almost forgot" Percy said suddenly. He dug into pocket and pulled out a crumpled paper bag. "Here."

"What's this?" Eris asked. She took the bag and opened it. Her mouth watered. Inside there was a large plastic bag of blue gummy worms.

"My mom used to work at a candy shop," Percy explained. "And when I talked to her about you she wanted to give you some."

Eris looked up, "You talk about me?" She asked softly.

   "I..." Percy looked away, "Yeah."

    Eris glanced at his lips again, slightly confused about why it was hard to look away and...oh.

    Eris cleared her throat, "Thanks," she said, her voice slightly high pitched.

   "It's no problem," Percy replied. He glanced at her again before walking away.

Eris couldn't take her eyes off of him as he walked away.

   "IT WON'T LET ME SUMMON CHICKEN NUGGETS," Nico told Eris over dinner as he picked with his food with his fork.
   
They both sat at the Hermès table with Bianca on the other side of the room. Bianca sat with the Hunters at the Artemis table.
The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoë sat at the head like she was the mama. She didn't laugh as much as the others, but she did smile from time to time. Her silver lieutenant's band glittered in the dark braids of her hair. Bianca seemed to be having a great time. She was trying to learn how to arm wrestle from the big girl who'd picked a fight with the Ares kid on the basketball court. The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

"Yeah," Eris told him after being lost in her thoughts that consisted of Percy Jackson's lips, "It doesn't let you order fast food, it's not healthy."

Nico pouted and Eris resisted a smile. It was nice finally having someone to talk to during meal hours. Most kids still avoided her and she rarely had someone voluntarily talk to her. It was better when she was a school though, at school she eat in the library with her small friend group.

Nico eyed Eris's plate and he scrunched up his nose like he had smelled something nasty, "You eat a lot," he said but not unkindly. His tone was more curious.

    Eris looked at Nico's plate of pizza before looking at her own. Her plate was filled with grilled chicken, salmon, rice, green beans and broccoli. For her drink was a chocolate high calorie protein shake. Her food was everything Hippolyta wanted her to eat on her diet plan to gain muscle weight. Healthy food wasn't that bad if you seasoned it right.

    "Oh," Eris said after a moment, "Um, I need to gain muscle weight...it's a bit hard but...I'm doing my best."

   Nico tilted his head adorably, "Why?"

    Eris went on to explain to him how her powers worked. Though it was easier to use her other powers like controlling the earth or skeletons, summoning spirits was a different level.

   "Um, If you eat your veggies," Eris added, glancing at Nico's untouched broccoli. "You'll grow big and tall."

   "Like you?" Nico asked eagerly.

    Eris sat there stunned for a for few moments, "Um, yeah..." a small smile graced her lips, "Like...like me...I guess."

   Nico made sure to scarf down all of his broccoli after she said that.

When they'd finished eating, Chiron made the customary toast to the gods and formally welcomed the Hunters of Artemis. The clapping was pretty half hearted. Then he announced the "good will" capture-the-flag game for tomorrow night, which got a lot better reception.

ERIS FOUND HERSELF MOVING BACK INTO THE ART CABIN.

She just didn't want to stay around people who were obviously uncomfortable around her. It's not like anyone really came here anyway.

She couldn't sleep but Eris never slept much after coming back from hell. Her sleep was mostly spent dreaming of nightmares and to distract herself from those nightmares she stayed up late to do the only thing she knew how to do—

She painted.

"What am I doing?" Eris muttered to herself taking a step back from her paining. "Why do I keep painting this?"

All Eris could find herself painting was a very detailed set of lips. They were soft looking with a pink color and perfectly curved Cupid's bow. She kept painting the same thing over an over again.

Apparently Eris all could paint the future but what did lips have to do with the future or was this just her drawing whatever she wanted. Ever since she glanced at Percy's lips all she could draw or think about were lips and...kissing.

Eris blushed at the thought. Eris had never been kissed before and have never thought about it before either. She blamed it all on hormones. And puberty.

   Everything was puberty's fault.

Eris thought Thalia was attractive (really attractive like seriously how was someone that pretty?) she also thought the Hunters were pretty (they're gorgeous) and it only dawned on her now that...Eris wouldn't mind kissing them.

Her mind had only just connected that...Eris wouldn't mind kissing a girl. Eris had never really thought about her preferences on gender before, she didn't think she had any...she'd worry about that another time.

And then there was Percy and well...

Percy was just different. He made her feel weird. Whenever he smiled at her, her toes curled a bit. When he bought her candy because he knows how much she loved it, she smiled too much. When he touched her, her stuttering habit that she had been trying to stop had kicked back in.

   Eris covered her face and groaned. None of this had been a problem mouths ago why was it now she was thinking of him like that?

There was a loud sudden "Meow!" She turned just in time to see Salem emerging from the shadows in the corner of the room with a small piece of paper tucked into his collar no doubt just returning from the Underworld.

   She crouched and Salem sprinted into her arms, "Hi," she said softly, all the tension in her body leaving her as he purred. She frowned and took the small envelope off his collar.

    The back of the envelope read:

    To: Essence Lewis

   From: Lord Hades of The Underworld

   She scowled. Hades had been sending her letters for months but she never read them. She read the first couple of ones he had sent but stopped when it seemed like all he could ask about was her powers. Hades thought he was putting in effort by sending letters but Eris didn't want letters she wanted an apology.

   She didn't think twice before tossing the letter in the trash. She kissed Salem's head, "Sorry, you had to waste your time."

   Salem only purred in response.

A knock on the door kicked her out of her thoughts. She frowned, it had to be almost midnight. She hoped it wasn't Chiron coming to tell her she needed to go back to the Hermès Cabin.

   Instead of Chiron it was Nico. But instead of his usual cherry self his eyes were rimmed red and his face was wet and puffy. He kept wiping his nose his aviator jacket getting snot all over it. Surprisingly he was still wearing the jacket over his pajamas.

   Eris's heart broke when she saw the tears in his eyes.

"Hi, Eris," Nico sniffed.

"Oh, come in," Eris hurriedly ushered him inside before closing the door. "What's wrong?"

Nico hiccuped, "it's Bianca," he rubbed his eyes and Eris quickly put Salem down to dig through her bags. "And those stupid hunters. They won't let me sleep in there 'cause I'm a boy a-and it's not fair 'cause Bianca and I always share a room and now—" he cut himself off and sniffed harshly.

Eris pulled out a bag of gummy worms she got from Percy earlier and handed it to Nico, "Here, candy makes me feel better when I'm sad," she said softly.

   Nico stuffed a gummy worm in his mouth, "And then when they told me to leave Bianca agreed with them!" He seethed. "I hate them!"

More hot tears rolled down his cheeks and Eris started to panic. She wasn't good with crying people, Eris could barely handle herself when she cried.

"What's you usually do when your upset?" She blurted out.

Nico rubbed away his tears, "Bianca gets me McDonald's but now she only does things with those stupid hunters!"

"McDonalds," Eris muttered.

There was no way to get McDonalds at camp unless you got the Stoll twins but they were probably sleeping. Campers weren't even allowed to leave camp without permission well except for a couple months ago when Percy, Annabeth, Tyson and Eris snuck out to go save Grover.

Snuck out...Eris shook her head. There was no way she could sneak out. There was no way she could even get to McDonalds on foot but then she remembered....

She couldn't believe what she was about to do.

Eris looked at Nico's teary face and sighed. "Do you wanna go to McDonalds?" She asked softly.

Nico immediately brightened, "Yeah!" The he frowned, "but you guys don't have McDonalds..."

Eris bit her lip, "Come on."

     "WHO ARE WE WAITING FOR?" Nico whispered. They stood at the top of half-blood hill

    Eris quickly shushed him before warily looking around to make sure no one spotted them. "Where is he?" She muttered.

   "Where is who?" Nico asked.

   On cue, the earth rumbled a bit under there feet and Eris immediately grabbed onto Nico. The air picked up and they could hear and a car engine rumbling. Nico watched with wide eyes as something zoomed towards them at high speeds until suddenly coming to a stop right in front of them.

"Woah," Nico muttered, "So cool."

In front of them was an extremely fancy black limousine with dark tented windows. The car door opened and Nico's has dropped when a skeleton man dressed in a fancy black suit came out and bowed to Eris, "Mistress."

Eris blushed, "Hi, Jules-Albert. This is Nico...sorry for calling you so late."

Jules-Albert shook his head, "It is no problem what so ever," he turned to Nico, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Nico muttered still a bit dazed.

    Jules-Albert opened their car door and ushered them inside before getting back into the front seat of the car. "Where would you like to go?"

   "Um," Eris paused, "The nearest McDonalds...please."

    "THAT'LL BE 12.95," The cashier at McDonalds said flatly. They looked tired which made sense because it was past midnight.

Jules-Albert was outside in the limousine waiting for them to finish, he wouldn't join them even when Eris asked if he wanted to come with.

Nico looked around sadly, remembering he didn't have any money and Eris fiddled around in her pockets only to remember she forgot her wallet. She swore under her breath, slightly disappointed when she knew she would have to tell Nico she didn't have money to pay but then something sharp irritated the heel of her foot in her boot.

"I'm sorry, one moment," Eris said awkwardly before taking off her boot. She turned it upside down and a twenty dollar bill fell out. She blinked, slightly confused before handing the bill to the cashier.

   When they got their food Nico started to rapidly ask her questions and like usual Eris answered each of them. Eris nodded along to everything thing he said as she poked at her chicken nuggets and fries. Nico had acted like the was the worst thing ever when Eris told him she never had McDonalds and insisted on her order chicken nuggets and fries while Nico ordered a happy meal. She felt a bit uneasy about breaking her diet but she didn't think one day would hurt.

   Nico watched as Eris took her first bite of a McDonalds chicken nugget, "Good, right?"

   Eris nodded and sipped on her milkshake. "Good," she agreed.

    "So if Percy is the son of Poseidon?" Nico started to say suddenly.

  "Yeah?"

"Would that make him Ariel's uncle," Nico asked, "Does Ariel exist?"

    Eris paused, "I guess so...I mean...I'll have to ask him."

   She didn't have the heart to tell him that no, Ariel does not exist.

    Nico munched on his fries, "Thanks for the food," he told her and Eris hummed in acknowledgment. "So whose your godly parent?"

Eris froze, "Um...I...I don't really wanna talk about him" she muttered, nibbling on a nugget.

"Why? Is he a bad guy?" Nico asked.

"I...Hades is—" she stopped.

Nico's eyes widened comically, "Hades?! Your dad is Hades?!" He asked eagerly.

Eris's lips formed into firm line, mentally preparing for rejection when—

    "That's so cool!" Nico said excitedly, "he's the only figurine I don't have."

   "You...you're not scared of me?" Eris asked, "or think that I'm...weird or crazy."

   "You're my friend of course I don't think you're crazy," Nico replied. "I pinky promise."

   Eris frowned, "Pinky promise?"

   Nico nodded, "Yeah," he held out his pinky and Eris wrapped her own pinky around his. Then he stuck out his thumb while keeping their pinky's interlocked. "Now you have to kiss your thumb," he said and kissed the tip of his thumb.

   Eris blinked before shrugging and kissing the pad of her thumb.

    "Then you press your thumbs together like this," he added, pressing the pad of his thumb against Eris's. "If you don't do this it won't work. I'll never think you're crazy because you're my friend...and because you gave me this cool jacket, I pinky promise."

   Eris glanced at their hands and smiled, "Pinky promise...you...you're not freaked out?" She asked.

Nico shook his head, "No way! You're so cool you're like...like a ninja!"

"A...ninja?"

"Yeah! Why would I be freaked out? You're so cool!"

"It's just," Eris rubbed her arm, "most...most kids kinda try to stay away from me...I thought you might be the same...sorry."

"No way!" Nico said a bit too loudly, "If someone doesn't like you then their not worth your time. Who cares if you're the daughter of Hades? I say you should own it."

Eris had never been ashamed of being the daughter of Hades but it wasn't something she talked about openly. She didn't like it when people stared at her at camp or sent whispers behind her back but she never thought about attempting to be proud of who she was. Most of herself she felt like she was absolutely worthless but and she was slowly trying to break herself out of that mentality.

Own it.

"I..." Eris smiled, "Thank you, Nico."

Nico blinked innocently, "What for?"

Eris shrugged, "Just...Just for being you."

"Oh," Nico smiled brightly, "Okay!"

Not me updating two days in a row... thank you so much for reading!

Please comment it helps me update faster.

If you think Percy and Eris are going to get together fast...they're not. I'm developing Eris's feelings a bit early for character development purposes. They're not getting together any time soon.

Is there anything I can improve? How do you feel about this chapter?

I like slow burn romances with a bit of angst and unrequited love.

In an alternate universe where Percy Jackson didn't exist I'm certain Thalia and Eris would be endgame.

Also, with Eris finding a twenty dollar bill in her boot. Hades is also the God of Wealth.

Y'all not ready for my Leo Valdez fanfic. It's coming out after this series with Eris. I'm so excited for it.

On the bright side I figured out how I'm concluding the story. I think you guys will like the ending.

A Bonus chapter will be posted next so keep an eye out for it!

Coming up: Chapter 4: Percy and Thalia break a promise

Also coming up: Chapter 5: Never Been Kissed