When Sally Jackson said Percy could have a few friends over for a New Year's Party, she hadn't meant for a mob of people, some not human, to show up at her apartment, and, according to a furry legged man who for some reason was armed with a baseball bat, "PARTAY ALL DA NITE LONG!" After opening the front door to speechlessly let in a cyclops and a red feathered woman into the already crammed room, she marched straight over to Percy and demanded to know why all of camp half blood was showing up to a small, uneventful get together.
"Well, mom," said Percy, rubbing his neck. "I invited Annebeth of course, and then Grover, my best friend. Then I thought I should bring Jason, but if he came then Piper would have to come, and if she came then Leo and Hazel and Frank would have to as well. But then I thought of Tyson cause he's my brother, and he invited Ella-she's the harpy over there in the corner-and then Hazel brought Nico and Nico brought Will and Will brought-is that Mr. D?!"
"Good to see you Parry!" Mr. D. swaggered over to Percy and slapped him on the back. He was wearing 3D glasses, at least 30 glowsticks, and an Elvis Presley outfit.
"It's Percy. What are you doing here?"
"I'm the official god of partying," said Mr. D. He spread his arms wide to gesture to the room and knocked a drink off the counter, "and this right here is going to be one of the best tonight. I intend to spend most of my time here." He grabbed a Liter Soda and started chugging it down between sentences. "You should take it as a compliment, Percival, that on the greatest day of the year for me I choose to hang out at your humble abode."
"Charmed."
"Um," Paul sidled up to the small group, ducking under Mr. D's swinging armful of soda, "not to be interfering, but why are a group of boys setting up fireworks in the bedroom?"
"Connor and Travis," Percy muttered. His mom gave him a look. "Be right back," he said and darted away into a group of kids trying to hang a disco ball from the living room fan.
Outside the apartment complex, Leo was strolling along the sidewalk with a girl in a plain white dress that reached her purple flats. Her wavy brown hair was twisted up into an elegant bun and she wore a simple gold headband on her forehead. She was looking confusedly up at the blaring lights coming from a few consecutive windows.
"Like I said," Leo said, too absorbed with the girl to see the commotion, "it's just a small get together with some of my good friends." They started walking up the stairs. "I told them what happened and they'll be really happy to see me and they'll love you. I know you haven't seen Percy since...well he knows you're coming I'm pretty sure and it won't be too bad. Just a few of my close friends and-Hot Tamale!" Leo jumped away from the door as soon as it opened. Calypso blinked several times as music blasted her ears and a slice of pizza came flying out over their heads. The girl who had opened the door grinned widely, leaning against the door jam and rattling a bottle of spray paint. She had short, spiky jet black hair with strikingly blue eyes that scanned Calypso quickly.
"So Valdez," she said, "I see you got yourself a girlfriend. Good thing too, now you'll leave my hunters alone."
"Hey!" Leo objected, and then collected himself. "Thalia, this is Calypso. Calypso, this is Thalia, the leader of the hunters of Artemis."
Calypso raised her eyebrows in surprise as she shook the girl's hand. "That's a high title," she said.
Thalia shrugged casually, "says a goddess. Come on in, we're just starting."
"Starting what?" asked Leo.
"Only the greatest social event of the year. It's too bad my hunters didn't want to come. They aren't as...boy friendly...as I am. Probably for the best though. I don't know how many more people are going to fit in this apartment." She glanced at the commotion going on behind her. "Well come on in then! I'm not sure where Percy's at-Hey Rachel! Will you put a red streak in my hair?" She held up the spray paint bottle and Calypso watched as a fiery redhead with paint stained clothes stopped in the middle of an elaborate dance impression to jump down from on the sofa and walk into the crowded kitchen with Thalia.
"Well," said Calypso, "this was not in your description." She crossed her arms and turned to face Leo, who was eyeing the pizza sprawled out on the counter.
"What?" he said, snapping back to focus on her. "Oh yeah...but you have to admit, this is flaming!" He started walking with Calypso to the living room, moving with the music, his eyes getting excited as everyone around them started dancing. Grabbing a funny red hat and shoving it on his head, he grinned and spread his arms. "What do you think?"
Calypso raised an eyebrow. "What in the name of sanity is on your head?"
"It's a fez! Fezes are cool. I wear a fez now!" He started moving to the music and glanced back at Calypso, who was standing awkwardly by the sofa staring at the dancing teenagers all over the room.
"Hey," he stopped dancing, "are you not feeling the beat?"
"Um, I'm not exactly the party type."
Leo practically fell over. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Calypso shrugged. "Um...we didn't really have New Year's celebrations on my island. We didn't really celebrate anything, what with there being no seasons and time being so fluent."
Leo titled his head and looked her for a moment. "Oh, yeah I guess you didn't." Brightening quickly he said, "I guess it's up to me to teach you." He held his hand out to her and she took it, smiling. "Let's get you ready to party!"
He first had her try pizza, and then soda. After she'd so uncharacteristically devoured six cookies and three slices of pepperoni, he dragged her all around the apartment to introduce her to all his friends. She talked to one girl, Piper, for half an hour before Leo come back to them with arms full of glow sticks.
"You bend them like this," he explained, "and put them on as bracelets or necklaces." He helped her attach the ends and put them on her wrists. After fiddling with a few of them, he held up a makeshift glowstick crown. Somehow he'd managed to construct them into a shape that fit her head, and she allowed him to place in her hair. He stepped back a bit and looked at her.
"How do I look?" she asked, tilting her head and holding out her glowing arms.
Leo just stared and slowly smiled. "You look like an angel. An extremely bright, neon angel. With pizza sauce on your dress."
Calypso glanced down at herself and then back at him with a pretend frown. When he burst out laughing she couldn't help but laugh with him.
Then "Girl on Fire" came on and Leo may or may not have done an exaggerated flame dance on the coffee table. In a moment he pulled Calypso up with him and they danced under the disco ball swinging dangerously from the ceiling fan as the music blared around them. Her hair fell out of its elegant updo and whipped around her like a comet's tail. Her usually composed character dissolved in her laughter as Leo taught her how to dance hip hop.
An hour or so later a karaoke tournament broke out and Calypso cheered as Leo sang a solo to "Wrecking Ball." He was horrible at it but he won third place anyway, probably for his enthusiasm and fire dance.
In the middle of a Katy Perry song a jet black pegasus somehow found its way into the room and made straight for the pizza. It took a full fifteen minutes of Percy screaming at the top of his lungs above the still blasting music to get the pegasus to relent and remain outside. During the chaos, Leo slipped out on the balcony of the apartment with Calypso.
The cold air was a relief to the stuffed room and she leaned on the railing, watching the cars go by beneath them. Ever since Leo had taken her from her island prison she'd been fascinated with city life, so different than what she was used to.
"It looks so alive," she said, staring at the lit up buildings and moving streets.
"Yeah," said Leo, resting his arms on the rail beside her. "Kind of like one, big machine. Every person you see is like a gear in a huge system of pulleys and levers, and all together they create a fully functioning system."
Calypso's eyes drifted to him. "You think of everything in mechanical terms."
He caught her gaze. "I'm a mechanic."
"Yes."
Something exploded above them and they jerked up to see a set of fireworks burst in the sky directly above the apartment.
"What are those?"
"Just fireworks. They should be harmless."
"Should be?"
"Usually people don't set them off right above major cities." Leo glanced back at the door as the party going on behind them grew even louder, if that was possible. "Probably someone from the hephaestus cabin started them." He fished his hand into his tool belt and pulled out a clock. "Oh! It's midnight. I hadn't even noticed."
"What does that mean?"
Leo grinned at her. "It's the new year."
Calypso smiled and then jumped back as around a hundred fireworks exploded, showing the whole sky with streaks of red, gold, green, blue, and purple fire.
"They might have gotten carried away," said Leo as a firework in the shape of a dragon flew over the city, showing rainbow glitter over everything in its wake.
"You think?"
He laughed and looked at her. The light from the fireworks danced in her eyes as she smiled. Her expression seemed brighter than anything else around them and Leo stared, transfixed.
"You know," he said, suddenly finding it hard to breathe, "there's this old tradition for New Years."
Calypso tilted her head. "Yes?"
He swallowed. "When it turns to midnight, it's a tradition that all the couples share a kiss."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
Leo rubbed the back of his head and stuttered, "Well, yeah, but it's not mandatory or anything and I completely understand if you don't want to-or just don't feel like-I'm not saying you don't because I-"
Calypso put him out of his misery and kissed him. Leo moved his arms confusedly for a moment before he shut his eyes and held her face in his hands. Smiling, Calypso wrapped her arms around his neck and Leo felt fireworks explode in his mind.
Unfortunately, the kiss was short lived as it was then that Sally Jackson finally broke up the party and literally shoved people out the front door. Leo grabbed Calypso's hand in the hussle and they found themselves walking back on the sidewalk again.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"I parked Festus a few blocks down from here," he said. "I think we can make it back to Camp Half-Blood before morning."
"Will I live there?"
Leo smiled at her. "There's a place for everyone at Camp Half-Blood. We'll get you your own cabin until we start our shop."
"Leo and Calypso's Garage."
He squeezed her hand. "Auto Repairs and Mechanical Monsters."