𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐎𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑 • PERCY JACKSON

𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐔𝐒 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑: 𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒'𝐒 𝟏𝟒𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘

"Hi!" Lena said excitedly. "You're Eris's dad right? Um...sorry I forgot your name."

Hades swore under his breath, "Heath," he replied flatly.

"Great!" With surprising strength that could match a God, Lena snatched his hand and led him inside.

He was surprised to find what seemed like at least twenty teenage girls of all races already inside chatting away, all of them wearing party cone hats. In the corner of a room there were an Asian woman talking to an older looking Asian man.

    The kitchen and living room were decorated with white and forest green streamers and balloons with a large banner with the words 'Happy Birthday Eris!" written on it. On the middle of the table was a green cake with Eris's name written on it in fancy white font.

    "Here!" Lena forced a party cone hat on his head making him glare at her but Lena didn't seem fazed. "It's a surprise party," Lena started to ramble, "Eris didn't tell us about her birthday but then I found a letter sent from one of her friends, I didn't read it though, his name was Peter Johnson or something? He wrote on the back 'Happy Birthday' so we decided to look at her birth certificate and we just figured—"

    "Lena," Katherine said tiredly, "Relax."

      Katherine looked a bit ridiculous dressed in a party cone hat with jeans and a t-shirt. Usually all she wore was pants suits.

     "Oh, I got carried away again, didn't I?"

     Katherine nodded, "Excuse her," she told Hades, "she gets excited and gets carried away. Holidays are a big day in our house."

      "I just want this to be amazing for her," Lena replied, "This the first time we'll be celebrating her birthday together! It has to be amazing or I'll just die!"

    "You're overreacting," Katherine said flatly but Hades could trace a bit of fondness in her voice.

    "Whatever, don't be mad at me because you're boring," Lena waved her off. She turned towards that steps that led upstairs, "Eris, honey, there's a special guest here for you!"

    Hades cleared his throat. He hadn't seen his daughter in months. He wondered if she had grown? Was she taller now? Did her hair grow longer? Had her voice changed? Just how much had she changed in these passing months? Was she happy?

     There was loud thumping from Eris's footsteps as she ran down the steps. Hades watched slightly amused as she landed on the bottom steps with wide eyes, her spear ready in her slightly trembling hands.

Eris hadn't changed too much. She had grown a couple inches, her hair was a shade lighter (hair dye?), and when her lips pulled into a snarl he could see green braces covering her teeth.

"SURPRISE!"

Eris blinked as she looked around, slightly dazed, "Um..."

"Eris, honey," Lena started, "Why are you holding a broom like that?"

Eris looked down at her spear, "Oh, um, sorry, I was...sweeping?" She cringed.

    "Sweeping?"

    "Yeah...my room is, um, really dusty," Eris blushed before turning her spear back into a necklace and putting it on. "My bad."