Christmas' Presents

2017 Unique Chapter: Miracle on Half-Blood Street (for ObeliskX)

Watching the city of New Athens in the country of Olympia, transform for the holiday season was a spectacle not like any other.

Of course, Olympian citizens weren't like the rest of the world. They were especial and they showed so. The legend said that all the people that lived in the city were descendants of the Olympian gods and goddesses from old days and, just like any other religion, they were adored and venerated. Just that their traditions were a little different.

Just by starting to say that, instead of the normal Santa Claus, like you and I could probably have, they had Elpis. No one knows the exactly appearance of Elpis, as a goddess that can change her looks at will, but it's said that she looks like a elderly grandmother, with her hair all white and glasses on her nose, and a smile and ability to make the kids smile and feel welcome. Not to mention the occasional present that she would leave at the feet of the tree during the Winter Solstice.

But, a week before the Winter Solstice, New Athens was shook with an incredible and almost unbelievable situation. It made front news on the papers and every single women, men and kid that could read knew what was going on.

The city was having a case against a woman who claimed to be the real Elpis and they wanted to trial her and convicted her of fraud. At first, the news was about a woman who portrayed Elpis being arrested for engaging a fight, but things had gone out of hand when she claimed she was the real Elpis and officers on the scene decided that she was demented.

~oOo~

When Annabeth Chase read that news on the paper that morning, she felt terribly bad about it. Her week had been terrible and she could not fault anyone other but herself. Her boyfriend and father of her son Luke, Percy Jackson, had asked her to marry her. Sure, it wasn't the first time he did such a feat, but it was the first time Annabeth didn't had a reason to hide, so she did the worst: she blew up on him and acted as if she didn't want marriage, leaving Percy hurt behind her.

Then, it was the work. It was her, in her insistence, that the woman she had hired for the parade almost a month ago, was now vilified and turned against for everyone to see and hate. The face of her son Luke, who was staring to believe in Elpis despite what she told him was even most heartbreaking, a heartbreak that Annabeth wanted Luke to avoid.

Walking to work, Annabeth saw the heartbreak of millions of people, specially children. The guilt began to accumulate her body and mind and didn't know what to do. She could even hear Ms. Hope's voice in her head as she was walking:

"I'm not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit... And affects a jolly demeanor, you know. I'm a symbol. I'm a symbol of the human ability... To suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies... That rule the major part of our lives. And if you can't accept anything on faith, then you're doomed to a life dominated by doubt"

She had to do something, before her bosses separate themselves from her, leaving Ms. Faith Hope to the mercy of the press. So, when she arrived to her office at Half Blood's Department Store on, mind you, Half Blood Street, she decided to use that brain of hers.

"Get me Percy Jackson on the phone" she ordered her secretary, who immediately started to work. As soon as she left her coat, the phone rang "Percy?"

"I know. I saw the papers" Annabeth released a sigh, glad Percy could focus on something else at the moment.

"I want you to help her. She's at the psychiatric hospital, and I don't know what's happening. She's alone, and she shouldn't be-"

"What's Half Blood's position? Do the attorneys have an opinion?" Percy cut her, knowing she was rambling.