It was Christmas. All of them had agreed on meeting at Jason and Piper's place. Jason and Frank were decorating the tree. Piper, Hazel and Reyna were cooking. Percy and Charles, who was the energetic four-year-old child of Percy and Annabeth, went to buy some drink and more decoration.
In the meantime, Annabeth, who was expecting her second child, was looking after Dave and Alice, the evil seven-year-old twins of Jason and Piper. They had bored of their toys already and had nothing to do. They turned to Annabeth and chorused.
"Aunt Anna, tell us a story! A story!"
"A story, huh?" She said thoughtfully.
She thought for a moment then said.
"Well then, I'm gonna tell you guys a story about a tree."
"What!?" the boy whined, "I don't want to hear a story about some trees."
"Oh, but this is no ordinary tree, It's a very, very special tree." Annabeth replied.
In contrast to Dave, Alive walked closer, put her two little hands on one of Annabeth's knees, and looked up at her with big, innocent eyes.
"Tell me." She said.
"Once, there was a half-blood girl." She began.
"I thought you said the story was about a tree?" Dave asked with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, I did. Later, you'll understand why it begins with a girl."
The boy opened his mouth as if to say something but then chose not to.
"The girl was pretty. She had short black hair, freckles across her nose and electric blue eyes." She continued before getting cut off again.
"Just like our eyes?" This time was Alice.
Both of the kids inherited their father's beautiful eyes.
"Yes, just like your eyes." Said Annabeth as she patted the little girl's head.
"However, she lived with a really bad mother. So when she was ten, she ran away."
The kids opened their mouths in shock.
"What a bad girl!" They said.
"What!? No! She isn't bad. She just had to leave because of her mother."
Before the kids got to say anything, the grey-eyed girl continued.
"Not long after that, the girl met a boy that was two years older than her and they decided to travel together. They had travelled for about two years when they met a little seven-year-old girl. They took her in and the three half-bloods became family. That girl and boy as the parents and the little girl as the child." She paused a little.
"When will the tree appear?" asked the boy.
"Be patient, Dave. Be patient." Annabeth replied.
"One day, the three met a satyr. The half human, half goat one, as you may know."
"Wait, what?" The kid shouted.
"Seem not."
"The satyr told them about a camp called Camp Half-Blood. So with the satyr's instructions, the three went to this Camp Half-Blood. However, because of some misdirection, they came across a Cyclops' lair."
"What's a Cyclops?" Dave asked.
"Well, Cyclops is big people with only one eye." Explained the daughter of Athena after coming up with the easiest way for the children to understand.
She swore she heard Dave said "Cool!" but decided to shrug it off.
"So when they arrived at Camp Half-Blood, there were Cyclops and many other dangerous monsters after them."
The kids gasped.
"The girl knew that they wouldn't make it, and that all of them would die before they reached the camp. She decided that…" She paused for a moment, the feeling of sadness overwhelmed her, "…that instead of all of them dying, only one should. That was why she stayed behind and fought the monsters, giving the others time to escape."
"That's so sad." Alice said.
"Indeed it is. However, her father decided to preserve her and turned her into a tree."
"Finally, the tree appears." Dave comment off-handedly.
"The tree creates a border that no monsters, no matter how strong, can get through. The tree protects the campers, just like how the girl protected her friends."
"What a sad ending." The kids said in sync and hung their head in sadness.
"Oh, but that's not the end of the story." Annabeth couldn't help but smile.
Upon hearing that, the kids immediately looked up.
"One day, somebody poisoned the tree. The tree was dying, causing the border to weaken, which put all the campers in danger. So some of the campers went to find a thing called the Golden Fleece, and after all the hardships, they succeeded. Thanks to the magical fleece, the tree was healthy again."
The kids clapped their hands in joy.
"However…" She stopped intentionally.
The kids held their breaths.
"…the Golden Fleece worked its magic too well. So not only did the tree become healthy again, it also revived the girl. And with that, the girl was back to life. The end."
The kids jumped happily.
"Did she live happily ever after, Aunt Anna?" Alice asked.
"Yes, she did. And she still does." Annabeth replied.
The little girl looked at her in confusion.
Suddenly, a knocking sound startled all of them.
"Must be Percy." Jason said as Piper opened the door.
A girl was standing there with a wide grin on her face.
"Miss me?"
Black hair, freckles across her nose, and that one of a kind electric blue eyes…
The kids' eyes widened, mouths opened in surprise.
Annabeth turned to the new coming girl and smiled.
"Long time no see, Thalia."
A/N: I was not so sure about the border part, so if I'm mistaken, just tell me. If I made grammar mistakes, spelling or punctuation, please do tell me so that I can improve my writing. Lastly, I hope that you guys will enjoy the story and please leave some reviews so that I can know what do you guys think about my story.