Authors' Note: Merry Christmas! Just a quick Christmas oneshot that will probably take us over an hour to write on account of how we argue over everything. But that's what Christmas is about. No, just kidding. I have never heard Christmas is about sitting at a computer and fighting with your sister. Hope you enjoy, and we don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or the Heroes of Olympus, or any of the characters.

The Gifting Wars

The Christmas season was upon Camp HalfBlood, and in accordance with annual tradition, everyone pulled a piece of paper out of a hat to determine who their Secret Santa was.

Since the tradition was started by the Aphrodite cabin, it had a long history of bringing couples together. Everyone knew it was rigged so that couples would be forced to get presents for each other, or for someone else in order to create drama. But somehow, it always failed to get certain couples to hook up. When Silena was in charge, Percy and Annabeth had been Secret Santas for four years in a row, but for some reason, it had always failed to bring them together. This was most likely because they always got each other iTunes gift cards, the universal cop-out gift for teenagers.

This year, though, Piper was in charge, and she decided to do things differently. She called a cabin meeting, and explained, "This year, I want to do something different with the Secret Santa. It seems like every year, it's just a transparent excuse to get people who we think would make a good couple to hook up, and it never works."

"But it's fun!" protested Lacy. "Besides, Percy and Annabeth were Secret Santas for years, and they're together now!"

"They didn't get together because of Secret Santa! The years of denial finally made them crack! Besides, they always got each other iTunes gift cards. There's nothing romantic about that. And that's another thing I want to change. Unless someone knows for sure what their Secret Santa wants, they always get them an iTunes gift card. I'm banning iTunes gift cards!"

"No! You can't do that!" protested one girl.

"Yeah!" said one of the guys. "Now what are we going to do? Get shampoo gift baskets?"

"No," said Piper, putting her charmspeak to use. "You're going to really think about what to get a person. And this year, there's going to be no rigging."

"So you can't get Jason, either," said Drew.

"I can still get him a gift," replied Piper. "Secret Santas are just a way of making sure that everyone gets at least one." Piper held out a leopard spotted top hat that she had borrowed from the Big House. "Now pick your Secret Santa."

"But what if we get someone we hate?" asked one camper.

"Well, you get them a gift anyway. End of story," said Piper firmly.

..~0~..

Travis Stoll closed his eyes and pulled a name out of the ugly hat. From across the room, Katie Gardner crossed her fingers that it would not be her. Last year, he had decorated the roof of the Demeter cabin with chocolate Santa Clauses and gingerbread houses—a spin on the old chocolate-bunny trick. The birds had come and eaten their roof.

Travis's eyes widened as he looked at the name he had pulled. Connor Stoll, said the slip of paper. He saw Katie Gardner looking at him from across the room and went to talk to her.

"Hi Travis," said Katie.

"Hey, Katie," said Travis. "Who'd you get for Secret Santa this year?"

"It's a secret, Travis. Who did you get?"

"That's also a secret. But it's not who you think it is. The Aphrodite cabin decided to change things up this year."

Oh, crap. It is me, isn't it? thought Katie nervously. Now that Percy and Annabeth are together, the Aphrodite cabin is focusing on me and Travis. She'd heard all the rumors about them, and they were certainly not true. She and Travis did not sneak out and go ice-skating in Rockefeller Center. And nothing had happened when they got locked in that closet together for twelve hours. Well, not much.

..~0~..

Clarisse La Rue reached into the stupid leopard-spotted hat with the zebra ribbon. She was 100% sure she was going to get Chris again. This was becoming a bit of a problem, since she'd gotten him for about two years now, and both times, she had gotten him an iTunes gift card. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to do that this year, and gift-giving wasn't exactly her forte.

She read the name on the paper. And nearly had a heart attack upon seeing the name written there: Percy Jackson.

"What if you get someone you hate?" she asked Lacy, who was holding the hat. "Can't you exchange it?"

Lacy looked at her with eyes of fear. "N-n-n-n-n-no," she stuttered nervously. "S-s-s-s-see, Piper s-s-s-ays we c-c-c-can't."

"Shit. Are you sure?" Lacy shook her head quickly. "Relax, kid. Stop stuttering. You're really sure I can't pick someone else?"

"I'm sure," she squeaked. Then she scurried away.

"Fuck."

..~0~..

Butch was generally a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. But he went a little nutty, though, when he picked Nico DiAngelo for Secret Santa. "What would I get this guy?" he asked the little Aphrodite girl who was distributing the Secret Santa assignment. "He's emo!"

"You could use this as an opportunity to give him some color in his wardrobe!" offered Lacy. "I can help!"

"You really think so?" asked Butch.

"Sure! Let's go shopping tomorrow. Nico has a pale complexion and dark hair. So I'm thinking… PASTELS. And some neutrals. He's got enough cool tones in his wardrobe already."

The thought of shopping with a girl made Butch nervous. He still had nightmarish flashbacks to when he was little and his aunt took him shopping and treated him like he was some kind of accessory. But he felt a little sorry for Nico-the-lonely-emo, so he decided to go along with it.

..~0~..

Leo reached into the hat, praying that the name he pulled out would be one of Piper's sisters. He unfolded the slip of paper and read the name, then looked at Lacy in confusion. "Am I reading this right? Does it say Charon? As in, the guy who ferries souls to the Underworld?"

Lacy looked at it and giggled. "Nope. It doesn't say Charon."

Leo looked relieved for a moment.

"It says Chiron."

"What? How? What am I going to get him?" he asked.

Lacy shrugged. "How about the gift of showing him what a great teacher he's been?"

"Nope. That only works in Disney Channel. And anyway, I don't know how to box that."

Lacy thought for a moment. "Try talking to him. See what he likes."

"Okay, I'll try," said Leo.

..~0~..

"Hi, Harley. Have you picked a secret Santa yet?" asked Lacy as she entered the forge.

Eight-year-old Harley stopped hammering on the robotic backscratcher he'd been planning to give one of his brothers for Christmas. Upon seeing Lacy, he attempted to fix his slightly singed hair. "Hi, Lacy," he said, trying to sound cool and completely unlike his brother Leo. "You look nice," he said.

"Aww, thank you!" she said. "But did you pick your Secret Santa yet?"

"No," he said. He reached into the hat and read the name: Lacy Channer. He smiled.

"Who is it?" asked Lacy.

"It's a secret. I can't tell you."

"Okay!" she said. "Have fun working on… um, whatever this is!"

As she left the forge, he did a little happy dance.

..~0~..

Travis had to get a Secret Santa gift for his brother. How easy was that? He went to the nearest convenience store, and while no one was looking, he made off with candy, soda, an Easter basket, duct tape, Silly String, and a Whoopee cushion.

Back at camp, he borrowed some Greek fire, diluted it with water, and mixed it with nail polish. This created a substance that, when painted on nails, would disintegrate the nail completely without causing a serious injury.

He put it all in the Easter basket, wrapped it in toilet paper, and tied a bow on top.

Katie came by a few minutes later, and saw him grinning maniacally while wrapping something.

"Hey, Katie!" called Travis. "Just finishing up my Secret Santa gift. Have you done yours yet?"

"No," said Katie. Oh, gods, what is he doing? Is that toilet paper?

..~0~..

Percy was not easy to shop for. Clarisse could not think of what he would like. It was easier to think of what he wouldn't like: being shoved in a toilet, losing Capture the Flag, books, general educational objects, Frank Sinatra, just to name a few.

Frankly, Clarisse would much rather give him something he didn't like. A wedgie, maybe. Or better: an electric wedgie. But she was getting a bit tired of people getting nervous every time they saw her. Sure, being feared was fun, but it was a lot of work being scary. Plus, everyone else's trembling and stuttering was getting annoying.

So she sat and thought, what does Percy like? She came up with this list:

1. the color blue

2. Annabeth Chase

3. His mother

4. not being in complete pain or suffering

5. water

That was really it. What was she supposed to do? Dye Annabeth and his mother blue and stick them in the ocean? No. There must be another way.

All of a sudden, she had an idea. A brilliant idea. And a pretty unconventional one.

..~0~..

"What do you think about this?" asked Lacy, holding up a pastel green button-down. She and Butch were in the Forever 21 Men's section. Butch, standing there in a plaid shirt with the sleeves ripped off and jeans, seemed a bit out of place amongst the polished floors and racks of stylish clothes.

"I don't know," said Butch.

"Nice tattoo," said one of the salesmen, gesturing to Butch's rainbow-patterned arm. "And for the record, I think that shirt is awesome."

"Oh. It's not bad, but I don't know if the guy we're shopping for will like it," explained Butch.

"Yeah, that's true. I'd love it if Nico wore this, but the problem is, I think it would just end up in the back of his closet," agreed Lacy.

"See, he's really emo. He thinks about death a lot, and he wears black and skulls most of the time," added Butch.

"Oh, that's tricky. Well, if you're trying to get him out of the black, I suggest easing him out of it. Go for neutrals. Maybe a plain white, or a soft beige, olive green—stuff like that. By the way, what's his skin tone and hair color?"

Butch thought for a moment. "Well, he's got black hair and he's really pale, like a corpse."

"Not like a corpse," said Lacy. "More like... well, I heard he used to have an olive complexion, but he's been avoiding the sun for the past couple years."

The salesman thought. "Hmm. Well, he might look good in pastels, but if he won't wear those, definitely go for neutrals. Maybe a navy, or light gray, burnt orange, deep red, or blush pink."

"Actually," said Butch, "I think I may have an idea."

..~0~..

"Morning, Chiron!" said Leo brightly.

"Hello, Leo," said Chiron, who was supervising archery practice. "You might want to stay out of the way," he added, sidestepping as an arrow whistled right past them and impaled itself on a pine tree.

"So… um… what's your favorite color?" asked Leo, not sure how to discreetly ask a centaur what he wanted for Christmas.

Chiron looked at him sympathetically. "Leo, is something wrong?"

"No. Why would you ask that?"

"No reason. You're still working with the machines in Bunker Nine? Is that going well?"

"It's fine, sir. How are you?" asked Leo, feeling incredibly awkward.

The centaur gave him a confused look. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing. It's just that… doesn't this ever depress you?"

"What? Archery practice? No. Not unless I'm shot."

"No, I mean all of this," Leo gestured to the whole camp. "I was just thinking: you train and train all these demigods, without reward and without much thanks from the gods. You care about them, and you try to give them a few happy moments in what will most likely end up being a short and miserable life. And yet, ninety percent of the time, they end up dying horribly painful deaths before they're twenty-five, and you're left to sit there and save their stories for future generations of demigods, who will also die horribly painful deaths while being cruelly manipulated and ignored by at least one parent. Doesn't that depress you?" Leo stopped talking. He hadn't meant to sound so depressing, but once he started talking, it was as if he couldn't stop until all his dark depressing thoughts were gone.

Chiron offered a sad half-smile. "I realized that a long time ago," he admitted. "But I do still find it sad."

"What do you do about it?"

"I remember that there's always hope. There's still the ten percent who live a somewhat longer, happier life, and knowing that I can help them makes me happy. Besides, someone has to do this sort of work. And the gods aren't just going to stop having children, no matter how many oaths they swear."

"Does anything else make you happy? Like chocolate?"

"No. I can't say I care much for chocolate. Except for the time Laurel sent me those—"

"Who's Laurel?" asked Leo.

Chiron looked embarrassed. "No one. I've said too much."

"Tell me!" Leo insisted. "Is she your ex or something?"

"Yes," Chiron sighed. "Laurel is my old girlfriend; we knew each other back in the 80's."

"The 1980s?"

"No. The 1780s."

"Oh."

"For my birthday, she gave me a box of chocolate she had bought from a Swiss shop. She told me that it was custom chocolate, made only there and nowhere else."

An idea began to form in Leo's mind. "So, what happened to her?"

"Oh, she's still alive. Probably. She lived in Brooklyn, though, so with all the deforestation and pollution, she may not be there anymore," Chiron concluded sadly.

Leo had never been to Brooklyn, but he was sure that there were very few trees. And it was highly unlikely that a tree from 1780 was still there today. 1780—that was a long time, practically the Stone Age, when Leonardo DiCaprio painted the Mona Lisa.

Still, he decided to try. After all, dryads could never go far from their host tree. He just had to find a laurel tree close to a Swiss chocolate shop. How hard could that be?

2 Hours Later

Apparently, it was lot harder than Leo expected. Brooklyn was huge, and, in addition to city trees planted along the sidewalks, there were also parks. Parks had lots of trees. Also, there were a lot of Swiss chocolate shops (damn New York City's 'cultural crucible') and almost all had trees next to them. Whoever wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was a liar: there was more than one tree in Brooklyn.

Leo walked alone through the streets, and eventually wound up near some river. He wasn't too familiar with the New York City area, but he thought it might be the East River, because he could see Manhattan right across the water. The sound of arguing caught his attention.

"Carter, you know bloody well that we planned to spend Christmas with Mum and Dad," argued a girl's voice.

"But Sadie, what about the initiates?" protested a boy, apparently Carter. "We can't just leave them! Can you imagine the chaos they would create?"

"We defeated Chaos. There's no need to worry about that any longer!" insisted Sadie.

Leo turned a corner and nearly bumped into them. "Sorry," he apologized. "I think I'm a bit lost. Can you help me?"

The two traded glances warily. The girl made some sort of weird hand gesture, and the boy shook his head. "Sure," said the boy. "Where are you headed?"

"This is gonna sound weird, but do you know where to find any laurel trees?" asked Leo. He was expecting them to laugh, or look at him like he was an idiot. Instead, they exchanged glances again.

"Actually, we do," said the girl. "But we need to ask you a couple questions first." She had a slight British accent, and was rather pretty.

Leo smiled. This girl was definitely flirting with him. "You can ask me anything you want," he said, offering his signature Leo grin. He tried to do this cool flirty-eye thing that he'd once seen a vampire on TV do.

"Do you have something in your eye?" asked Carter.

"No. Why?"

"Never mind. My sister and I were just wondering—"

"Wait. Your sister?" asked Leo, surprised. They didn't look related. The girl was Caucasian- looking, almost blond, with blue eyes, while the boy looked African-American. Plus the girl—Sadie—had a British accent.

"Yeah, I know. She's too annoying to be my sister," said the boy.

"That's not what I meant, but okay. What were you going to ask?"

"What do you want a laurel tree for?" asked Sadie. "And have you come to see us?"

"No," said Leo, "But I will come back… to see you."

"I have a boyfriend."

"You have two," said Carter.

"No, technically I don't."

"And in another sense, you do."

"Shut up."

"I just need to find a laurel tree!" exclaimed Leo. "Is that too much to ask?" But the two were in a full-blown argument now, and they completely ignored him.

"You're just jealous 'cause you don't even have one girlfriend!" Sadie yelled. Leo gave up and started walking away.

"I do too!" Carter insisted. "It's not my fault she lives in Egypt!"

As Leo walked away, he could've sworn he heard something about a baboon roommate, and something else about the Underworld. Either these people were demigods, or they were crazy. But then again, there wasn't much of a difference.

Two hours later, Leo had practically given up. He sat on a bench in the middle of some mostly empty, poorly maintained park, trying to think of something else he could give Chiron. Maybe he could get him a singing birdbath. Or a flyswatter, to kill all the bugs that crawled around him in the summer.

"Why so glum, chum?" asked a woman, appearing from behind a tree. Despite the cold, she wore a sleeveless green tunic and no shoes. Her skin was also green, and she had very long, dark hair. It was hard to tell how old she was: she could be anywhere from twenty-five to forty-five. She was definitely a tree nymph.

"Oh, hi," said Leo. "I'm looking for a dryad named Laurel. Do you know her?"

"You're looking at her," she said, smiling. "Can I help you with something?"

"Are you the Laurel that used to date Chiron the centaur back in 1780?" he asked.

She stopped smiling. "Yes. Why? You're one of his students, aren't you? Does he talk about me all the time? Does he have statues of me all over camp? Does he compose epic poems about me? Does he want me back?"

"He spoke fondly of you," offered Leo. He suddenly felt that he was in way over his head. He should have asked for help from someone from the Aphrodite cabin. Lacy, maybe. Or Piper. Or anyone, for that matter. This was not his domain.

She jumped up in delight. "Yes! Of course I'll come back to camp with you!"

"Really?" asked Leo. He wasn't expecting her to go along with it so well. "Okay, then. Sure, let's go."

"Okay!" she agreed happily.

..~0~..

Harley was in the forge for hours, working on Lacy's gift. It had to be perfect.

"Hey, little bro! Watcha doing?" asked Jake Mason, who had recently gotten out of his cast.

"I'm making a present," explained Harley. "See, it's for the Secret Santa thing! I have to get a present for Lacy, so I'm making something homemade."

"Okay," said Jake, watching as the eight-year-old pulled a welder's mask over his eyes and turned on an enormous blowtorch. "Tell me if you need help with anything."

"I will. Can you pass me the hammer from the top shelf? I can't reach it."

"Sure," said Jake, passing him the hammer. "You finished with the chainsaw yet?"

"Yeah," said Harley. "You can use it now."

"Thanks, buddy. Good luck with that."

..~0~..

At long last, the day of the gift exchange finally arrived. All the demigods gathered in the dining pavilion with their gifts.

Piper jumped onto the table and surveyed the room. "May I have everyone's attention, please?" she called, using her charmspeak to get their attention. The campers stopped milling around aimlessly and turned to look at her. "I'd just like to thank everyone for participating in this year's Secret Santa gift exchange. I know it was hard for a lot of you, because of the ban on iTunes gift cards—"

The crowd booed loudly. One of the satyrs threw a tin can at her.

"But that's okay, because I know there will be plenty of surprises," finished Piper, giving the satyr a death glare.

Katie stood next to one of the pillars, waiting for Travis to find her. She was a bit annoyed that, despite the claim that the Secret Santa custom was no longer rigged, she and Travis still ended up having to exchange gifts.

Of course, Travis hadn't said anything about her being his Secret Santa, but it was kind of obvious, wasn't it? Suddenly, she spotted him in the crowd, holding a basket wrapped in toilet paper. She cringed a bit, but walked up to him and said, "Merry Christmas, Travis."

"Merry Christmas, Katie," said Travis, walking right past her. "Have you seen my brother?"

Connor seemingly popped up from out of nowhere. "What's up?" he asked.

Travis held out the toilet-paper-wrapped basket. "Merry Christmas, bro! I'm your Secret Santa!"

Katie just stood there, with her mouth hanging open a bit. "You idiot!" she yelled, smacking him across the face.

"What did I do this time?" asked Travis, confused.

She just rolled her eyes and walked away angrily, throwing the box she had been carrying at his head. He opened it and found a boxed DVD set, containing… containing…. "No way," he murmured. He held it up for the whole world to see. "EXTENDED EDITION OF THE ENTIRE JACKASS SERIES ON DVD AND BLU-RAY!"

"I got it for you because you're a jackass sometimes," explained Katie, momentarily forgetting that she hated him. "But not in a bad way, though."

Travis put two and two together, and realized that Katie had thought that the tradition really had been rigged. "Come on, Katie, you know that stupid trick wouldn't have worked anyway."

She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess not. I mean," she said, laughing, "The two of us? Together? Seriously?"

Travis grinned. "I know, what were they thinking?"

..~0~..

Percy was busy looking for Annabeth. He'd already given his Secret Santa gift to Leo: a book called 500 Things Not to Do If You Want a Girlfriend, and also, some of his mom's cookies. He wondered who his Secret Santa would be this year. He was incredibly glad that they had stopped the whole 'couples get gifts for each other' idea, but he'd gotten her a present anyway.

Suddenly, someone grabbed him from behind and pulled a blindfold over his eyes. He attempted to throw whoever it was off, but failed. "What are you doing?" he yelled.

"Shut your piehole, Prissy," said a voice. "I'm your secret Santa, by the way."

"In what way is blindfolding me a present, Clarisse?" protested Percy. She started dragging him away, toward what he thought might be the direction of the Big House. Okay, he thought, she's going to push me into the canoe lake. No big deal.

Instead, she pulled off his blindfold and shoved him into a closet. "Merry Christmas," she called, locking the door. Percy stumbled around, wondering why she would consider this a present.

"Percy? Is that you?" asked a familiar voice.

"Annabeth? You're in here too?"

"Yeah. Clarisse just told me to come with her, and then she pushed me in here and locked the door. Hold on, I think there's a light switch somewhere."

"Wait a minute! I get it now. She's my Secret Santa, so she got me time alone with you!" said Percy.

"Oh," said Annabeth. She was probably blushing. "Well, now that we're here, what should we do?"

"How about you get off my foot?" suggested another voice.

"Travis!" hissed a girl. "Be quiet!"

"Katie?" asked Annabeth.

Percy stumbled backward and hit the light switch. Travis and Katie were sitting at the back of the closet—wait. Were they holding hands? And why was Travis's face covered in something that was clear, shiny, and smelled of cherries? "What are you guys doing here?" he asked, confused.

Travis and Katie looked at each other. "We were… um…"

"Looking for, some, uh…"

"Crayons!" said Travis.

"Yes. We were looking for crayons," said Katie. "But Travis closed the door, and we got locked in."

"Oh. That makes sense," said Percy, nodding sincerely.

"Yes, it does," added Annabeth, smirking.

"So what do we do now?" asked Travis.

"I guess we wait for someone to let us out. Percy, do you have your sword?" asked Annabeth.

"Yeah. Why? Oh, I get it," realized Percy, uncapping Riptide and slicing the door open.

"I was going to just undo the screws in it… But that works too."

..~0~..

Butch handed Nico a package, wrapped in snowman-covered paper. "Merry Christmas," he said. "I hope you like it."

"Thanks, Butch," said Nico, picking up the package and slowly unwrapping it. "I wonder that this could… Oh."

"Do you like it?" asked Butch, somewhat nervously.

Nico slowly removed the olive-green button down shirt from the wrapping. His eyes filled with tears. "If you don't like it, the receipt's in the box," Butch offered.

"This was my sister's favorite color!" sobbed Nico, sniffling. "She used to have a hat this color, before she died inside a giant metal robot!"

Butch began to feel guilty. "If it brings back memories, I could just go exchange it now," he offered.

"No!" said Nico, hugging the shirt. "Thank you Butch! I really needed some more color in my wardrobe!"

..~0~..

"So, uh, you wait out here, okay?" Leo explained. "And…close your eyes. It's a surprise."

Chiron obliged, silently praying it wasn't another electronic birdbath. He heard Leo's footsteps in the background, as well as something that sounded like…giggling?

"O-kay, Chiron, you can open your eyes now!" Leo triumphantly gestured to the dryad standing next to him. It was like one of those old-fashioned movies, where the lovers run into each other's arms with a sunset in the background, embracing when they finally reached each other. Except when Laurel reached him, she slapped him.

"Uh-oh." Leo had a feeling this wasn't going to go well. What had he been thinking; reuniting him with an ex-girlfriend?

"You son of a bitch!" Laurel yelled at him.

"Laurel, what happened between us was over two hundred years ago. Can't we just forgive and forget?" Chiron pleaded.

"I could never forget what you did! You left me at the altar!"

Leo gasped. He didn't mean to, but he couldn't help it. "What? Chiron, is that true?"

He looked embarrassed. "Yes—well, in a way—It's not what you think."

"Then what is it?" asked Leo.

"It was a funeral pyre for her squirrel friend. She wanted me to go, but there was a war going on, and we had terrible magical borders at the time. I just couldn't make it there," explained Chiron.

"You liar!" screamed Laurel dramatically. "You lied to me, Chiron! You vowed to stay with me!"

"Laurel, please see reason. If I remember correctly, you were highly intoxicated at the time. And I wasn't even the one who said it." He turned to Leo. "In reality, your brothers were experimenting with an early form of sound recording. That was just a line from a play that they'd seen."

"Don't use that excuse with me!" she shrieked. Her face was turning green with anger. Suddenly, poof! She exploded into green mist.

Leo stared at the spot on the carpet where she had been standing. "So I kidnapped a tree for nothing."

Chiron patted him on the back. "No, Leo, not for nothing. You see, for centuries, I've trained heroes. Many of them have tried to thank me in some way, but it's often just a way of displaying the wealth they're acquired. Other times, they are meaningless trinkets, or chocolate. But you, Leo, despite your own horrible failings in romance, still tried to do something kind for me. Thank you, and it wasn't a humongous failure. It was more like what you kids call an epic fail."

..~0~..

Harley looked around the crowded pavilion for Lacy. It was getting late, and the sun was beginning to set. Suddenly, he noticed her walking back to her cabin.

"Lacy, wait!" he called, picking up his present and running after her. "Merry Christmas," he said, when he finally caught up. "I'm your Secret Santa."

"Oh, thank you, Harley!" she said, accepting the rather large package. "What could it be?" she asked, setting it down on the ground and beginning to unwrap it. She pulled away the layers of paper to reveal an enormous mirror.

"It's got sixty-seven different light settings, including strobe and neon!" said Harley, beaming, "And a bunch of secret compartments! Oh, and it plays music."

Lacy smiled brightly. "Oh, you're so sweet! Thank you so so so so so so so much!" She kissed him on the cheek.

Harley's world spun. "You're welcome," he said giddily. Then he ran off to his cabin to tell Jake of his epic win.

Lacy watched him run off. "Why can't Carter give me something like this?" she mumbled. "I mean, I drop hints all year long, and what does he get me? A candy cane. An effing candy cane."

..~0~..

That was the first Christmas in seventy-six years when the Camp Half-Blood Secret Santa hat wasn't rigged. That year, Travis and Katie ended up getting together. Jason narrowly avoided getting Seven Minutes in Heaven with Drew, because fortunately, the closet she tried to shove him in had a broken door. Nico DiAngelo started dressing in colors besides black. Clovis from the Hypnos cabin finally stayed awake for more than ten hours, due to the super-espresso-mocha blend that Rachel Dare had gotten him as a Secret Santa gift. That year, because they were dating and therefore socially obliged to exchange gifts, Percy Jackson gave Annabeth a shampoo gift basket and she got him an Amazon gift card. This started a new trend, since shampoo gift baskets and Amazon gift cards are the cop-out gifts for adults. And Harley got his first kiss, and bragged about it for weeks.

Perhaps the most important, though, is that it was Christmas without an impending apocalypse.

..~0~..

The End