My birthday rolled around a week after Annabeth and I returned from Chicago. We were training harder than ever and I was always so exhausted that I actually seemed to forget that I was 16 years old now. I only remembered that it was my birthday after Travis and Connor Stoll took the liberty of reminding me by writing it on my forehead with permanent marker.

I was about to kill them, but I decided to brush it off with a kind thank you. I was beyond mad, but I decided to throw them off; I could always kill them later in Capture The Flag.

I never had a good birthday. The only time I'd ever gotten a present was back before my mom died and one year that I spent with a foster family. That specific family was my favorite and I probably would've stayed living with them if given the chance, but their house was filled to the brim with foster kids, so my social worker took me from them and placed me in a new place.

While I was living on the streets, a present consisted of a stolen candy bar from a gas station and a bag of chips if one got lucky. I'd been expected to treasure it whole-heartedly, although it was pretty much what my friends stole everyday to eat, so it wasn't really a gift.

Anyway, I wasn't expecting anything special when I left my cabin and headed down to the dining pavilion. But there sitting on the Hermes table were five wrapped boxes. Annabeth, Silena, Travis, Connor, and Chiron sat around the table, talking and laughing. They all turned their gaze to me as I walked towards them. Annabeth stifled a laugh as she noticed the "Happy Birthday" in marker on my head.

I was more surprised by the fact that Annabeth and Silena weren't getting into trouble by sitting at a different cabin's table rather than the gifts; Camp rules state that it's strictly prohibited. Perhaps Chiron's getting with the modern times.

I sat down opposite of Annabeth who smiled brightly, "Happy birthday Violet!" Silena grinned and threw a handful of pink confetti over my head while Travis and Connor whooped. Chiron also smiled and gestured towards the gifts.

One was small and wrapped in (what else?) shiny violet colored wrapping paper; one was slightly larger and hot pink, tipping it off to be from Silena. One was extremely large and wrapped lazily in newspaper that was clearly dated to be from three weeks ago; another was medium sized and a dark blue. The last one was the smallest and very simple, just a white box.

Annabeth rolled her eyes impatiently, "Well go on, open them!"

I opened the dark blue one first. Immediately, I knew it was from Annabeth, as it was a book. I wasn't the type of girl who read an awful lot, as I'd rather be beating you up in the fighting arena, but I still put on a smile and acted as if it was exactly what I've always wanted.

"Thanks Annabeth!"

She grinned widely, excited. "It's about the different temples dedicated to the gods!"

Silena raised an eyebrow and pushed her pink box forward. "Open mine, Vi."

It was perfume, not any better than Annabeth's book. Sure, I liked to smell good, but I usually just depended on soap and deodorant. Dutifully, I opened the bottle and took a whiff; it took all I had to not throw up.

I was scared to open Travis and Connor's present, as you never know what to expect when it comes to the children of Hermes, but they insisted that they didn't do anything bad to it. In fact, it was decent: a new sleeping bag. I had a ratty one, due to the loads of kids that've gone threw the cabin over the years, so it was kind of nice for them to give me a new one.

Chiron informed me that the purple box was from Michael, sent in last week for me. It was a bracelet. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes, not from the bracelet itself, but from the fact that he was so kind and sweet (and I loved him), yet I wasn't meant to be with him. Oh damn you Aphrodite and your cruel words!

The plain white box, however, Chiron didn't know who it was from. Annabeth was skeptical of the box, seeing it didn't say who it was from, but I opened it anyways. Inside, was a tiny gold ring with a turquoise gem. Underneath the ring lay a message:

"I hope you'll reconsider my offer. If you join me, you can be a goddess; if you join me, you can spare the life of at least a few of your friends. This ring has been passed down through all of my children and can help expand your powers. If you decide to take me up on my offer, simply wear the ring, leave the boundaries of Camp, and think hard about me. You will immediately be transported to my location.

Please reconsider, child. It is the destiny of one of my children to rule by my side and you, as my most powerful child, are the one I hope the prophecy given to me refers to.

-Morpheus"

Chiron was looking over my shoulder at the note, shaking his head. Silena's eyes widened and Annabeth huffed. "I can't believe it," she said, "He thinks that he can bribe you into joining him? Never mind the fact that he's threatened to kill you, Violet, but I doubt that Kronos would spare some of our lives! You can't join him!"

Anger ran through my body, "What makes you think I was going to? Just because he gave me a stupid ring? How can you keep thinking that I'm just about to betray everyone?"

Silena took a deep breath and Annabeth's eyes flashed to her face for a moment before she looked back at me, "All I'm saying is that your previous siblings all got wrapped up in the presents Morpheus kept providing! I'm just scared that you'll do the same!"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, they all really liked his gifts, but in case you haven't noticed-HE KILLED THEM ALL!"

Annabeth huffed and stood up from the table, walking in the direction of her cabin. Travis and Conner exchanged looks and kept glancing at the ring, as if they were slightly afraid of the thing. To admit it, I was also afraid of it. Expand my powers? That didn't sound good in my opinion.

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*Author's Note*

Just a short chapter so I could update quick. You all left reviews saying "Just update!" so I decided to just keep the chapters short, but steady…maybe…How come none of you answered my questions?

Here is a picture of the bracelet: ./_xrVQ_

Picture of the ring: .