Chapter 24-Birdie

247 9 3
                                    


Birdie woke up aching.  Yesterday had been exhausting.  She had archery, and sword practice.  Not her favorite.  Then she had Will insisting that they examine her wings.  They had spent hours exercising them and trying to get her off the ground.  But she was too heavy, and her wings too weak.  Now she had a stupid schedule for strengthening them.  Bleh.

Speaking of bleh, today was her birthday.  She quickly got dressed, and wrote a little in her journal.  Then she ran off to the woods.  She hid there.  No one would bother her until capture the flag.  Thank goodness.

"She's here!" said a voice behind her.  Styx, the tree she was leaning against was a dryad.  Juniper, to be exact.

"Ha!" shouted Piper as she, Hazel, and Annabeth came out from behind another tree, "We knew you would run away!"

Birdie groaned.  This was going to be a long day.


Two hours later she was blindfolded, being led somewhere by Hazel and Piper.  Joy.

"Ouch!" she yelled.  She had tripped on a stair.

"Sorry!" said Hazel.

They continued to walk up the stairs, and then they turned.

Suddenly the blindfold was whipped off.  There was a room in the big house.  It was decorated with white streamers and peacock blue balloons.  On the table, stood a huge pitcher of apple cider, a large bowel of fruit, and a stand of cupcakes.  There was also a stack of presents wrapped in white and gold.  

There were the seven, Calypso, Reyna, Nico, Grover, Juniper, and Luke.

Birdie was determined to hate it, but she couldn't help it.  She smiled, and grabbed a banana and put it in her pocket.  Perhaps it wasn't the best party ever, but to be fair, she had never been to one. 

"Do you like it?" asked Luke cautiously.

Birdie nodded.  It was perfect.

"Yay!" shouted Hazel, "let's start with everything!"

By that she simply meant, let's eat and play games while we open presents.

Reyna handed Birdie an envelope.  She opened it and found coupons to Faladan's Falafel.  Love Wise Girl, the card said.

"Ohhhhh, I love you Annabeth!  How did you know?"

"It's just a place my cousin and I like to go to.  I thought you might like it," she replied.

"I used to live in Boston.  That's my favorite restaurant!  I haven't been there in years."  She looked at the coupons like they were priceless.

"Opay, wad mek?" asked Leo through a mouthful of cupcake.

Nico handed her a large box.  Upon opening it, she found a flower pot filled with dirt, and a little sprout poking out.  She held it up, but didn't see anything special about it.

Suddenly it sprouted four stubbly legs and fell out of her hands.  It ran all over the floor, spilling bits of dirt here and there.  It looked so funny that everyone was laughing, even Nico.  Birdie picked up the card and it said, Happy birthday, with love, Sunshine and Repair Boy.

"Did you guys all sign these with your nick names?"

Everyone nodded.  

Birdie got a dagger from RA-RA and Death Breath, an enormous box of magic chocolates that made your voice sound different with each one from Sparky and Beauty Queen, a piece of coral that would stick to any surface and grow like crazy from Seaweed Brain, and a box of probably cursed jewelry from Hazel and Frank, who apparently didn't have nicknames.

The last gift was from Luke.  He handed her a small box.  She opened it, and found a necklace lying on crushed velvet.  The pendent was a bejeweled peacock's feather.  It glittered magnificently.

"Luke, it's beautiful," Birdie said.  It really was, mostly because it was from him.

"Yeah, well I didn't exactly get it for its beauty

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

"Yeah, well I didn't exactly get it for its beauty."  He took the necklace and fastened the chain around her neck.

"Pull on it," he said.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Birdie shrugged.  She took hold of the pendent and pulled.  Instead of breaking, it disappeared.  Suddenly her clothes started to melt into metal and leather.  When it was done, she was wearing a breastplate of silver with a sapphire right in the middle.  Her eyes widened.  It fit her perfectly.

"I guess wow doesn't really cover it, does it?" said Birdie, and she tackled Luke in a hug. 

"Awww," said Piper, "They're so cute together!"

"Birukie forever!" shouted Leo.

Yep, thought Birdie, I totally agree.


Awwwwwwwwwwwwww-gasp for air-awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!  So! Darn! Cute!  First kiss is almost here.  Keep posted!  Adieu.

The Child of HeraWhere stories live. Discover now