Favorite : Change for the both of us

Chapter 32

The next big event is New Year's.

Unlike Christmas, we don't have a massive party - which, by the way, was pretty cool. Zeus must have dished in thousands of dollars on the event and with my cousins around, it was anything but boring. I got to see what everyone else got for Christmas - Thalia got a silver bow (like Artemis's), Annabeth got a thick journal to write and draw in and Nico, too, got a dog. He called her Mrs O'Leary, for some reason unknown. She and Blackjack get along pretty well, too.

Anyway, New Year's. Poseidon invites Annabeth over (and Athena, grudgingly, but she can't come anyway due to work), Grover, Nico and Thalia, along with their dads, of course. New Year's isn't really a very important event in the Olympia family. I mean, apparently everyone sits around the TV and watch the countdown and stuff, but really the only people who take it seriously are Thalia, Nico and Annabeth – and now, Grover and I too. Because New Year's is the day we give each other our beads, commemorating the past year. Annabeth has given Grover a necklace, despite his birthday not being for another month (January 31st – he's going to be eleven) and she has everyone's beads in her pocket – even mine, which I've taken off for the occasion.

"Let's go to my room," I say, half an hour before midnight. My friends nod and we all hurry upstairs, settling on my bed in a little circle.

"I've been waiting for this for weeks," Thalia grins, almost vibrating with excitement. She quickly composes herself. "Alright: seriousness, now,"

We all nod. "How does this work?" Grover asks.

"First, we recap the year," Annabeth says, looking at Thalia. Being the oldest, she must be in charge of all of this.

"Well, the year started off pretty boring," she says. "The most entertaining part was when Dionysus turned eighteen in March. The main highlight of the year was, by far, meeting Percy at Hephaestus's wedding,"

"Same here," I grin.

"Followed by his birthday, when we gave him a necklace, and then...well, the incident with our grandfather," Thalia says. We all shudder and thankfully move off from that topic with haste. "Anyway, you've changed this family, Percy. A lot. I've never seen our dads so close - even though they still manage to hate each other. Anyway, that's why this year's bead symbolizes the year that you became part of our family,"

"And Grover," Nico pipes, holding Mrs O'Leary on his lap. "Don't forget Grover,"

"How can we ever forget Goat-Boy?" I ask, ruffling my best friend's curly hair. He blushes and bats away my hand.

"I've got the beads," Annabeth says, holding out her hand. Five identical clay beads sit on her palm, each of them green with a golden trident painted on them.

"Youngest first," says Thalia. Nico takes a bead from Annabeth's hand and with my help, he gets it on to his necklace.

"Now I have three," he beams, examining it.

Thalia helps Annabeth put hers on next. Then Annabeth helps me with mine. Then I help Grover and he helps Thalia. Soon, all of our necklaces had on them green clay beads.

"Alright, people," Thalia says, standing on my bed. "Group hug,"

We don't really have a choice. My cousin hauls us all to our feet and we hug, swaying unsteadily on my mattress until we all fall over, laughing like idiots. Its ten minutes to midnight when we go downstairs again.

"Look at my necklace now, dad," Nico says, running over to Hades. "I've got three beads on it! See?"

"Very nice," Hades comments, giving his son a rare smile.