Hi everyone! I didn't get enough votes to make a decision like I had planned, but there were more votes for another chapter at camp than to skip to wintertime. If you thought Luke was OOC in chapter 4, it will be more or less fixed here. Now to have some fun…

Thalia had fainted.

A couple of witnesses and I carried her to the infirmary, where Chiron was waiting. " What happened to her?" he asked.

"I don't know, my eyes were closed when she fell," I desperately lied. I had been closing my eyes, but I knew why she had fainted. I had dropped a bombshell, more or less.

"Ugh," Thalia grunted as she slowly opened her eyes. "Who hit me?"

What? I thought she fainted because I told her Annabeth's last words!

"I didn't see, " I said quickly. "My eyes were closed."

She got up from the white bed I had been on so many times. "I'm all right. I'll just go with Percy." Thalia grabbed my arm and dragged me out the door. "Percy, no one hit me. I just needed an excuse to cover up for you. Don't expect it to happen again." We walked some more, towards the cabins, my feet crushing grass beneath me.

Thalia spoke again, "I was just, like, really surprised, you know? I knew that she liked you, but I never thought she'd bring herself to tell you."

A horrible thought sprang up in my mind. "Who else knows, besides Grover and possibly the satyrs?"

She stopped abruptly. "Everyone does, Percy. Everyone knew but you."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" I asked, restraining my anger and indignation.

"Probably because Annabeth would kill them. How dumb can you get, Seaweed Brain?" she commented.

That's it. Only Annabeth had the right to call me a Seaweed Brain without me getting angry. She had earned my respect. And she was dead. Not forever, I silently pleaded to myself, not forever.

I aimed a punch at Thalia's forehead. She dodged easily and belted me in the gut. Wow, she's stronger than she was before. I guess it's being in the Hunters that gave her this. Too bad none of the gods will start a male "Hunters" club.

"Bring it on, "she said.

Now I was even angrier. "I liked you better as a tree."

Before long I was on the ground and she stood above me. She walked away and muttered to herself, "Artemis was right. Boys are pathetic. "

I didn't even have the nerve to call out, "I heard that!" I hobbled back to my cabin in embarrassment. I met Tyson there.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"I got beat up. By Thalia." I said.

"Thalia? The daughter of Zeus?" He had his eyebrow (he had only one eye) slightly raised, as if he was ridiculing me. "You got beat up by a girl?"

"Not just any girl, " I retorted angrily. Then I realized how awkward that sounded. I fell silent. "She's a Hunter of Artemis. "

"Hunter?" he asked. "Whatsthat?"

"Hunters are girls who have sworn themselves to Artemis and pledged against love. Only girls." I sounded bitter, even to myself. I thought of Annabeth. As soon as I did, the bitterness in my voice vanished. Even if there was a male Hunters group, I could never join.

"Ah." Tyson said.

I was just about to say something else, but then I remembered. Today was Friday. Capture the flag tonight!

I mentioned this to Tyson. "Good! What do you do?" he asked. He had never played a game of capture the flag.

"Um, well, you capture the flag. Without maiming or killing anyone. "I said without prelude.

The door burst open. It was Thalia. "Look, I'm sorry, all right?" she said quickly. "I'm leaving with Artemis and the Hunters tonight, and I just wanted you to know." She gave Tyson a hard look, and slammed the door shut.

Things went uphill after that. The teams for capture the flag were Athena, Poseidon, Hermes, and Zeus against everyone else. Some Demeter guys ambushed me, again, and I was once again stymied by the vines. Tyson, however, had no trouble with them. By the time they got back to their base we had already taken the flag, the Demeters were heavily bruised and sore. Thalia had a nasty cut on her cheek. She stood on top of Half-Blood Hill, and called lightning down to strike her. She healed instantly.

Things passed in the same uneventful matter for a several weeks. Over the long period between summer and winter I almost forgot about my quest, but every time I passed a member of the Athena cabin, I would be painfully reminded of Annabeth, her long blonde hair and beautiful gray eyes…

Thalia and I were walking in the forest, the dead leaves crunching underfoot. It was already autumn. Neither of us had been able to dispel the terrible memory of Annabeth's death. "How did Luke die?" Thalia asked me. Now that I had forgotten about.

"He died begging for mercy," I said dispassionately. I didn't hate him any less now that he was dead.

Thalia grimaced. "He wouldn't beg for mercy," she insisted. "He just wouldn't do that. It's not in his character. " She sounded like she was trying to persuade herself, as well as me.

"I know what Annabeth would say," I said quietly. She fell silent. "She would say that Kronos had perverted him. You saw, on Mount Tam, that his body is decaying from all the time with Kronos. I guess his influence has begun to touch Luke's mind, now, as well."

"And besides," I continued slyly. "How would you assume you knew him so well?"

She blushed and muttered something about liking him a lot. I could tell that I had gotten to her.

"Well," she said bitterly. "Your explanation sounds worthy of Athena."

I turned away, tears burning my eyes. She knew how to get to me, too. I walked off, pain still blossoming in my heart.

As I walked back to my cabin, Chiron intercepted me and told me that we would begin preparing for our quest once the first flake of snow fell to the ground. I had to point out that Camp Half-Blood never had any precipitation, except for that time when Zeus was mad at me. Chiron said he'd ask Mr. D to let in the first snowflake.

It soon became frigid and cold. The capture the flag games were now played with everyone wearing heavy jackets, and the Demeters came to almost useless. Their vines shriveled and died whenever they tried to summon them. I, on the other hand, was even more powerful. My power could melt the ice and douse people with water cold enough to cause hypothermia.

I was shivering outside, just finishing a bout with Thalia. I had won, barely. I was striding toward my cabin when I saw something white in front of me. I grabbed for it, thinking it was a spore. It never occurred to me that it was too cold for fungi to grow.

I caught it and tried to examine it, but the white particle had disappeared. I noticed a drop of water on my finger.

The first snowflake.

How was it? I know I didn't put much of Tyson in here; I just am better at writing with Thalia than with Tyson. I also tried to fix Luke being out of character, as some reviewers commented on. The next chapter, obviously, will be about the quest. With time and reviews, I will be able to post it. Thanks again for all the reviews!