This chapter is a little longer, so I hope it makes you happy! (I own the activities, not the place. Clover and her friends are mine)

Clover POV

I was scared. Yeah, Leo may have mentioned me having a scared face, but it wasn’t as good as it sounded. I was not scared, more like terrified! I didn’t want Leo to go all out on my birthday cake. I wanted it simple and normal looking. Sierra sat next to me and smiled. Her white teeth were amazing! I swear, she inherited them from her dad! She was dressed in a simple, but pretty dress. It was bright yellow, so everyone usually looked at her. Her blond hair was pulled back in a french braid, which went really well with her dress. I looked at the others around the table and realized that I never had really gotten my friends all together. Zach was talking with Jason about sword moves, trying to show him them with his fork. Sierra was talking with Piper and Tyson about how she was able to heal people. Mable was talking to Courtney and Flora about how she was able to get her floral pants on sale. I looked down at my plate and picked up the handwritten name tag. It read my name, Clover, but it was in Leo’s hand writing, which made it a little bit more special. I had tried to get Leo close to me for the past month and I think I had finally succeeded. I put the name tag in front of my plate and looked up. Leo was walking down one of the passageways and singing ‘Happy Birthday’. My other friends joined in until the whole bunker echoed their off key singing. Leo placed a simple rectangular brown cake in front of me and lit his finger on fire. It was about the size of a candle flame that he could lite the other candles with it. Right as I was about to blow out the candles, I heard a click sound and a piece of cake went flying at my face. My eyes widened as I got a face full of cake! Leo started busting up and so did everyone else. I smiled and tasted the frosting.

“Hey! This is chocolate! My favorite!” I started to bust up as I looked down at the cake. It was one of the cakes that had a lever in them and when the person was about to blow out the candles, it would activate then give the birthday person a faceful of cake. Leo pulled a knife out of his tool belt and started to cut the parts of the cake that weren’t flung at me. He started to dish it up to the friends and Piper helped scoop ice cream. I was served first, but I had an idea.

“Hey Piper, pass me the scoop.” She looked at me quizzically but handed it over to me. I put a scoop of ice cream on it and dumped it on my head. “Okay, now you guys can eat.” That made everyone laugh so hard, they couldn’t eat.  I had a pretty good laugh too. It was nice to see everyone in a happy mood. I decided that I couldn’t have my face and head covered in ice cream so I went to wash it off in one of the many bathrooms in the bunker. As I left, the others started to eat their cake and ice cream. I noticed that Leo was trying to keep an eye on me, but I had no idea why. I walked down a hallway and stepped into a bathroom that was completely covered in bronze. I went over to the sink and turned on the water. I washed off the icing that was totally going to waste! I grabbed the towel and went over to the tub. I bent down and started to wash the ice cream out of my hair. Sure it was hard to get off, but it was totally worth it. When I finished, I dried my hair out as much as possible and put the towel away. I looked at myself in the mirror on my way out. I didn’t look older, but my mom had said my hair would get slightly curly, which it was. I tried to think about the last time I looked in a mirror, which would have been yesterday. It was an odd sensation to see that I am one year older. I looked away from the mirror and left. I walked onto the bunker floor and saw everyone laughing, talking and all around having a good time. I saw a pile of presents in a pile on the floor. I wondered how they had gotten me all presents. Camp didn’t really want to bring mortal stuff into itself, so I wondered if they went to the camp store instead. I sat down next to Leo, who was sitting on the outside of the circle. I sat next to him and looked at my friends.

“Clover, you need to open mine first.” said Zach. I smiled and Leo handed me a green present. On the top was written in scribbled handwriting,

Happy Sweet Sixteen!!  ~ Zach

I ripped open the top and opened the box. Inside was a blue t-shirt with the words, Your Little Helper!  I smiled and showed everyone. I put it in a pile and reached for another present. I picked out a red one and for some reason, I had the feeling it was from Sierra. It was long, like it held a stick. I opened it up and pulled out a new bundle of arrows. In the rest of the wrapping was a brand new bow. I pulled them out and said,

“Thanks Sierra!” She smiled.

“I will show you how to shoot it if you want.” I nodded and set next to the shirt. I reached into the pile and pulled out a heavy rectangular one with a blue bow on top. I opened it up and a pile of books landed in my lap. They were all the books I had wanted from the mortal world. I had a feeling who they were from.

“Thanks Tyson! You know what I will be doing over the weekend!” He grinned, put his hands behind his head and said,

“I don’t anyone will be able to sneak out of camp better than I can!” I smiled, because a) it was true and b) I was already in a good mood. I set the pile of books next to the other presents and continued to dig through the pile. I pulled out a yellow one which, I thought, was from Courtney. I opened it up and pulled out a necklace bead. It was similar to the one Aspen had given me, but hers was made out of wood. The number sixteen was painted onto its side in bright colors. I took off my necklace and strung on the new bead. I put it back on and smiled. Now that made five beads.

“Thanks a lot Courtney! It has all of my favorite colors!” Courtney smiled and blushed. I reached into the pile again and pulled out a green present. I tore off the wrapping and pulled out the seeds. There were at least half a dozen packs of green beans, peas, yellow squash and watermelon.

“Mable and I got a bunch of seeds together for you to start your own garden!” said Flora, who looked like she was going to shoot through the roof on a rocket. I smiled, but I had no idea where I would put a garden. I would probably send them to my mom who lived out in the countryside. I bet she could do something with them. I put them on the pile of the other presents and turned to the last three presents. I picked up the pink one. It was thin, but not too thin, like it was a book. I opened it up and pulled out a laptop!

“OMG!! Who got this one?” Piper raised her hand.

“I did. I sort of snuck out and charmspeaked a man to give it to me. Mind you, it might not last long.” I smiled and opened it up. The keys were just as I had imagined them and the screen was huge! I closed it up and put in the pile of the other gifts. I picked up the blue one and opened it. I knew it was from Jason because I shocked myself on the object. I picked it up and looked at it. It was a mechanical pencil and I thought that it was sort of out of place compared to Piper’s present.

“Um, thanks Jason.” Jason smirked.

“It is like my sword. Click it.” I did so and the pencil expanded into a new dagger!

“Sweet! This is awesome!” I touched the tip of the dagger and it shrunk back into a pencil. I placed it in the pile of things and picked up the last gift. It was wrapped in brown paper, as if it was shipped in from far away. I picked it up and asked,

“Leo, is this from you?” He shook his head.

“My gift isn’t in the pile. It comes later. Is this anyones?” Everyone in the circle shook their heads. I looked at it once more. I had a feeling about what it was. I opened the top slowly and pulled out the note that came with the object.

Dear Clover,

Here is the next book of the future. Read carefully and do NOT tell any of the seven or your friends. Happy Sweet Sixteen!

~Rick Riordan

I looked into the package and saw the book sitting there. I put it in the pile of presents, with the wrapping still on, and said,

“Don’t worry guys. I know who it is from.” I stood up and everyone else did the same. To break the silence, Leo said,

“Alright, let’s move on to more fun!” He went over to the tables and threw a tarp off of an object. It looked like you could play your Ipod on it. It had huge speakers which attached to the ceiling, a dock for your Ipod, and a CD player so you could play some other songs. Leo went behind the object and pushed a button. The ground rumbled and multicolored tiles shot up from the ground! I stepped on one and it glowed a thousand different colors! I realized it was a dance floor! I looked up and spot lights popped out of the ceiling lights. Leo smiled his mischievous smile and said,

“Not good enough?” I shook my head,

“Hardly!” Leo winked and pushed another button. The other lights dimmed and a TV popped out of the wall. The only normal thing was he was holding a CD. He put it into the CD player and hit play. The very first song that came on was ‘Teenage Dream’ by Katy Perry. I gasped.

“How did you know I like this song?” Leo spread his hands and said,

“I know a lot more than you know.” He clicked the next button and scrolled through the songs. All of my favorites were shown. I realized that all of the songs were on my Ipod at home! How did he hack my Ipod? I thought.  Well, at least it wasn’t my phone! Leo played one of my favorites, ‘Stronger’ by Kelly Clarkson and the party began!