[on the first day of christmas, megswriting gave to me... a Flynn Hale in a pine tree]

Flynn was used to winters from his growing up in Montana, but there was something magical about winter in Camp Half-Blood. The barrier around camp protected the training ground from any bad weather, but was normally inclined to obey the wishes of whatever the campers wanted the weather to be like. So, in the wintertime, Flynn would park himself in the window of Cabin Seven and watch as the first flurry of the season fell upon his home. Like clockwork, the glowing orbs of colored light would string themselves up around the trails and along the railings. It was the most beautiful thing that Flynn had seen in his life.

Well...that was a lie.

That title belonged to a certain daughter of Hecate whom he'd been lucky enough to befriend. Her name was Amelie Winters, and it was fitting that half her name consisted the season that Flynn so greatly admired. Amelie had dark mahogany hair, eyes that never seemed to stay one color, and a tendency to blend into the shadows like she never wanted to be seen. Flynn desperately wanted to be the light that brought her out of the shadows, but as of now, they were just friends.

"What are you daydreaming about this time?" Reese spoke, breaking Flynn out of his reverie.

Flynn jerked his attention to his twin brother, who was giving him an impish look. Reese smirked and drew back the arrow he'd nocked into his bow, pulling it back to his cheek.

"You gonna tell me or what?" Reese spoke, releasing his grip on the arrow. It flew true, directly into the bulls-eye.

Flynn puckered his lips in thought, averting his sapphire gaze. Reese was his brother, he could trust him. But then again, no one knew just how much Flynn liked Amelie. It was intimate, a secret he wanted to keep.

"Is it that Hecate girl?" Reese's words made Flynn's eyes widen in surprise.

"How did you know? I mean—no. Pfft, of course not. No." Flynn ran a hand through his blond hair, folding his arms across his chest.

Reese arched an eyebrow. "Flynn. You're my brother. There's some things that I just know."

Flynn narrowed his eyes at his brother in suspicion. "Brotherly intuition?"

"Exactly!" Reese confirmed, firing another arrow. Flynn watched as the blur of gold hit the snowy target, sending a thin layer of the white fluff off the target's canvas.

Flynn slumped back into the bench in defeat. "Then yes."

Reese lowered his bow, going to retrieve his arrows. "She's Tessa's friend, right?"

Flynn nodded. While Tessa Brennan was the brave and daring daughter of Poseidon, Amelie was quiet and timid. The fact that the two got along was shocking to most people, but Flynn knew that Amelie liked nice people, and Tessa was friendly.

"Maybe she could hook you guys up," Reese wiggled his eyebrows.

Flynn forced out a laugh. "This coming from the boy who could hardly say hi to that one daughter of Aphrodite last year."

Reese's expression fell instantly. He jerked a gloved hand at his brother. "You know that Rylie Kane was on a totally different level of existence, okay? Practically a goddess. No one could talk to her."

Flynn rolled his eyes. "You ran into the basketball hoop right in front of her."

Reese winced. "It was one time!"

"Twice, actually."

Reese fixed his brother with a steely glare, but Flynn only grinned right through it.

"So anyways," Reese cleared his throat, stuffing his arrows into his quiver. "What're you thinking about Amelie for?"

Flynn shrugged. "I wanted to get her something for Christmas, but I'm not sure what."

"Yeah, can't help you there."

"You're useless."

"I will skewer you with one of these arrows."

Flynn gave his brother a skeptical look, but Reese's façade only fell. "You're better friends with her than I am, Flynnigan. If you want to get her something, I'm sure you know just what would make her happy."

Flynn nodded in silence, partially lost in thought. He watched as Reese drew another one of his golden arrows, shining in the sunlight. The arrow arced across the winter air in a blur of gold, and suddenly, Flynn knew.

"We both can control light, right?" Flynn asked, his energy practically off the walls.

Reese flinched out of his focus, the arrow falling limply at his feet. "I know that I can. Have you ever tried?"

"Not once." Flynn beamed.

Reese blinked. "Why do you look so happy about that?"

"Just trust me! I'm gonna try something. Holy Hera, Amelie's gonna love it!" Flynn got to his feet and hurried out of the archery range, slipping and sliding on the ice lining the paths. He had an idea and nothing was going to deter him from that.

--

Well, there was something that could deter him after all.

Flynn had gathered just about everything he'd needed from the Big House and the camp's store. With a smile on his face, he carried a box filled with lights and baubles and other things into the woods. He got a variety of weird looks, but for the most part, Flynn was too high on his excitement to process them.

He'd gotten to his destination within the woods and had just set down his box when a squirrel scampered up to him. Flynn glanced down at the squirrel and suppressed a laugh, remembering the time that Amelie had accidentally caused some jinxed campers to attack Reese in squirrel form. It was a long story, but a funny one, so Flynn didn't notice when the squirrel chomped down on a strand of Christmas lights and ran off.

"Hey!" Flynn protested.

Immediately, the son of Apollo darted after the squirrel. It zigzagged across logs and low-hanging branches of trees, and Flynn tried his best to keep up.

"Get back here, you furry little thief!" Flynn called after the squirrel.

The squirrel chattered back to him, which in squirrel, probably translated to eat my dust, sun boy! It leapt off a log, the lights trailing behind it, when it sped underneath the needles of a pine tree.

Flynn, entirely unaware of his own momentum, leapt for the squirrel. He slid headfirst underneath the tree, biting back yelps as the carpet of fallen pine needles beneath him dug into his jacket.

That's when Flynn made two discoveries:

1. The squirrel still had the lights.

2. The squirrel had escaped.

Flynn huffed a breath, looking around in exasperation. "One upped by a squirrel. Not your finest moment, Hale." He made to shimmy back out of the tree, but the needles that pricked him in protest forced him otherwise.

"You have got to be kidding," Flynn breathed. He groaned, resting his head forward onto the ground.

In the distance, Flynn heard footsteps and muffled voices. Instantly, he perked up. "Help! Somebody, help me!"

"Flynn?" A voice that Flynn recognized as Kaden's asked.

The next thing that Flynn knew, he was being dragged out from under the tree by Kaden Gray, son of Aphrodite.

"Thank you," Flynn croaked, coughing from the sudden whiff of pine he got.

"What were you doing under there?" Kaden asked incredulously, blinking his emerald eyes.

Flynn gave Kaden the abbreviated, less embarrassing version of his duel with the squirrel. Kaden gave a curt nod.

"So are you sure Amelie's gonna like it?" Kaden asked.

"Positive," Flynn nodded. "Well, I hope so. Or else that would just be awkward."

Kaden laughed. "That's understandable. I have an idea as to what to get Tessa, but I have yet to get it for her."

Flynn gave Kaden one of his signature impish grins. He knew all about Kaden's huge crush on Tessa Brennan, but Flynn wondered how the son of Aphrodite couldn't tell that Tessa felt the same. Practically everyone at camp wanted them together, it was only a matter of time.

"Well, best of luck, Flynn!" Kaden patted the son of Apollo on the shoulder before turning on his heel, emerging from the grove.

Flynn retreated back to his earlier destination, gazing up at the tree. The squirrel had stolen his lights, so he only had one choice left. He wasn't sure it was going to work, but he was the son of Apollo. It would have to work.

Flynn cracked his knuckles, nodding in determination. "Let's do this."

--

By this point, Flynn was surprised his heart wasn't beating out of his chest. He'd finished his task an hour before sunset, and had just enough time to rid himself of his new collection of pine needles before he went to surprise Amelie.

Now, he was leading the daughter of Hecate through camp's midnight trails. Their footsteps crunched atop the snow, echoing the sound of Flynn's erratic heartbeat.

"Flynn, where are we going?" Amelie whispered. "We aren't supposed to be out after curfew."

"I just want to show you something," Flynn gave Amelie a reassuring look. "Trust me?"

Amelie pursed her pink lips but they stretched into a shy smile. She continued to walk at his side, and before either of them knew it, they were in the forest.

"Almost there..." Flynn breathed, guiding Amelie around a grove of trees to the small clearing near the creek. "Here!"

Amelie glanced around with her misty eyes, confusion evident on her face. "It's, uh...it's wonderful, Flynn."

The son of Apollo smiled, going to stand by the pine tree in the center of the clearing. "If you thought this was good, just wait until the main event."

Amelie arched an eyebrow, cuing him to continue.

Flynn gulped down his worries, turning to face the tree. He shut his eyes and muttered a quick prayer to his father before holding his hand up before him.

As if night had melted into day, Flynn's hand was shrouded in warmth. Light began to blaze from his palm like the sunrise, and in response to his command, thousands of tiny little orbs of sunlight replicated themselves onto the layers of the pine tree before them.

Amelie gasped, her misty eyes widening in amazement. "Flynn, wow..."

Flynn grinned, stepping back to gauge her reacting. "Do you like it?"

Amelie beamed. "It's beautiful! Of course I do." Her eyes caught on a point at the top of the tree, where the star belonged. "There's no star."

Flynn felt his heart sink. He didn't have enough energy to create a star, and the Big House didn't have anymore Christmas decorations. He stared glumly at the point of the tree.

That's when the warmth returned to Flynn's palm once more. Except this time, it took the form of Amelie's hand. She'd laced her fingers with his, and despite her eyes being locked on the tree, Flynn could see the blush on her cheeks.

Flynn smiled and turned his gaze back to the tree. At the top of the tree, a light now blazed in multi-color: a star of Amelie's own making.

"I tried," Amelie bit her lip. She glanced at Flynn at her side.

Flynn squeezed her hand. "It's great, Amelie."

The two blushed, laughing sheepishly as they returned their gazes to the tree. And in that moment, Flynn wondered if the Fates on Olympus had planned this all along. He wondered if those three old hags had made him fall in love with the snow and the lights and the chills in order to meet the girl who radiated all of that and more.

The lights on the tree shimmered a little brighter in answer.