Almost exactly a year ago, Jared Fern found Theseus Henderson – a smart little six-year-old with brown curly hair, bright blue eyes, arched eyebrows and a sarcastic smile – hiding from Echidna in Queens, New York City. To make the long story short, he made it to camp in one piece; got the long and grueling explanation for Greek gods being real; seriously pissed off Mr. D by saying he needed to buy a cooler shirt and was claimed by Hermes.

And now, almost exactly a year later, it's Christmas. A light dusting of snow covers the grass, the roofs of all the cabins (except for Hephaestus and Apollo) and the trees. It's unseasonably warm for December, and everyone's in a great mood despite the wood nymphs explaining that it's because of global warming. Chiron's wearing a red Santa hat, white fur trim and all, and James, son of Hecate bewitched the wind chimes at the Big House so that they sing Christmas carols whenever a gust of wind comes along. Even Mark Robronski, a burly Ares kid who's always itching for a fight, abstained from pummeling anyone until the New Year rolled around. Even the kids who didn't celebrate Christmas were getting into the holiday spirit, humming cheesy Christmas songs and singing demigod versions of the classics such as "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (changed to "I Saw Ares Punching Santa Claus") and "Jingle Bell Rock" (now "The Furies Suck").

Theseus was hanging out with his older half-siblings and Michael Yew in the archery pitch, trying to get the hang of the newly forged crossbow Jake Mason had "lent" him. Most of the younger kids were still eating lunch, but he'd skipped it so he could practice with the older lot.

"So you just, like, put in on your shoulder?" he asked, struggling to get it in the right position. It was way too big for him, since it had originally been made to fit Jake. He managed to keep it stable for longer than 30 seconds, then put the arrow in and took aim at the dummy.

"Yeah, pretty much," said Michael Yew who was adjusting his own crossbow that he'd just made and not paying very much attention to the seven-year-old next to him. He shrugged as if to show that he couldn't really bother with the little son of Hermes' problems. "I suppose it's exactly the same as a regular bow, only slightly different. You work it out."

"Exactly the same only slightly different? Gee, thanks, everything is so much clearer now."

"No problem."

Theseus shook his curly-haired head and tried to aim right at the straw dummy's head. When he pulled the trigger, the arrow went whizzing through the air, making a soft whistling sound as it flew, and shot the practice dummy in Trojan-style armor right between the eyes. A broad grin illuminated his face, and he did a spastic victory dance, not unlike the one Chandler Bing does in Friends.

"Did you see that? Did you see that? I'm the boss at this crossbow thing! I got it straight in between the eyes! I mean did you see that? It was epic! I totally killed that dude! If that had been a monster, there'd be dust everywhere! That was the coolest thing ever! Did you see that?"

"Yes, Thes," said Travis Stoll exasperatedly, "We saw it. It was brilliant. Stunning. Magnificent. Can you stop talking now?"

"Come on! That was so cool!" shouted the elated seven-year-old, "I'm totally asking for this thing for Christmas."

"I'm sure Jake could make you one," suggested Emily, one of his half-sisters.

"Nah. He sort of hates my guts after I fiddled with that robot he was making and accidentally made it exploded. The only reason he lent me this is because, well, he actually didn't. Nobody tell him, or else…" he notched an arrow in the chamber and aimed it at Connor Stoll, "I'll have to kill you."

"Psht," said Connor, clearly unimpressed, "I could totally take you."

"Wanna bet?'

"Bring it on, shrimp."

"Actually, forget it. We'll settle this after Christmas; there's no way in hell Santa will get me a crossbow if I end up beating the living daylights out of my brother." Theseus took aim, this time at the dummy's stomach, and let fly his arrow. It hit its mark, only a half-inch lower than he'd planned.

"Santa?" scoffed Connor. Travis elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to double over and almost collapse into the snow. The Hermes and Apollo kids all glanced at each other. They'd forgotten all about the mythical Santa Claus, not having believed in him for years. A few, even, had never believed because they didn't even celebrate Christmas in the first place.

"You believe in Santa?" asked Emily, trying to keep her voice even and devoid of all sarcasm. This was insanely difficult, because, despite being a daughter of Hermes, she had a sense of sarcasm none of the Athena kids could match. Michael Yew smirked silently, but was given the evil eye by everyone else, so his expression turned into a scowl as he aimed his crossbow at the top of a snow-covered evergreen.

"Well yeah," answered Theseus. "Don't you guys?" Everybody mumbled in ascent and nodded, biting their lips to stop themselves from laughing.

"Absolutely," said Connor Stoll seriously, "The proof is undeniable. In fact, Trave and I even saw him once." He winked at his brother, who caught on pretty fast and nodded convincingly. The seven-year-old boy's face lit up. They'd seen Santa Claus! He hadn't even known it was possible, seeing as he knew when you were awake and all.

"Yeah," continued Travis, "When I was about your age and Connor was six, we woke up at around two a.m. to booby trap our living room so we could catch Santa in action. We got dressed really fast and we crept down the stairs, slowly – Connor made me go first because it was really dark and he was scared."

"I was not!"

"Relax, you were six. Don't be embarrassed; any six year old would be scared of the dark. Anyway, we descended the stairs very quietly, ropes, triggers, pots and pans in hand, and…"

"And Travis tripped!" interrupted Connor, "Yeah, he tripped, and went crashing down the stairs, making a huge racket because he was carrying most of the kitchen stuff. So Santa…"

"Santa heard the noise and realized he needed to leave fast. He dumped the rest of our presents into a pile on the floor, and a big space hopper with a red bow on it bounced around the corner out of the living room. We saw it, and we figured that Santa must be in there. So we ran down the steps and barged into the living room, just in time to see him about to climb back up the chimney."

Connor picked up the slack. "So I shouted, 'Hey, Santa! Leaving so soon? What, are you chicken?' He wasn't insulted though. He just turned around and smiled at us and said, with a twinkle in his eye, 'Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.' And the next morning we woke up in our beds. We still have no idea how we got there. Am I right, Trave?" Travis nodded, impressed by his younger brother's storytelling skills, and concluded,

"That, Theseus, is how we met Santa Claus."

A/N: I'd just like to point out that I started this at 4 a.m. and therefore take no responsibility for this random idea. Cheers and Happy Holidays! - SK