Daughter Of The Moon

Chapter 7

Luna

Six words: Sunlight is definitely an Apollo thing. I have to squint at the cabin to even look at it, and I don't think I've ever seen so much gold.

"Gah! What have we done? Walked into the sun?" I complain, clasping a hand over my eyes.

"Sort of, Mrs Vampire; Apollo is the sun god." Says Zack, and though I can't see his expression, I'm almost certain he's smiling fondly at his cabin.

"I thought that was Helios," I grumble irritably.

"Well... it's a complicated story involving a spatula, a llama, and a couple of drunk wood nymphs. Do you really want to know?"

I shake my head. "I guess not. But anyway, if that cabin is brighter on the inside, then I swear I'm not setting foot in it."

"You won't have to. In fact, you're not actually allowed to go inside any cabin that isn't your own."

Well now I'm curious...

 "But if it isn't brighter..." I start.

"It isn't." He assures.

"Then can we break the rules?" I open my fingers a crack to see Zack smiling to himself at my suggestion.

"I guess." I hear the scuffing sound of footsteps coming towards me, and then I feel him pick up the hand that isn't covering my eyes. I swat it away, disgusted. "Keep your hands to yourself!"

"Sorry. But I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was that you will end up walking into the wall unless you know where you're going, and it doesn't look like Mrs Vampire will be very eager to look into the light again."

He has a point...

"Okay. Whatever. But if you touch me without telling me again, then you will be getting up close and personal with my arrows instead." I warn menacingly.

"I get the picture." His hand trembles slightly with silent laughter, and we start to walk forward slowly.

"You can open your eyes now." He whispers, letting go of my hand. I open my eyes gradually to see... a wall so close to my face that I jolt in surprise and hit my nose on it.

"Ouch!" I exclaim, rubbing my nose and whipping round to glare at him. He is doubled over with laughter, clutching a nearby bed to stop himself falling over.

"You... should have seen... your face!" He gasps between laughs. I scowl at him.

"That was mean." I state, folding my arms across my chest.

"That was funny."

"Well this won't be." I snarl, pouncing on him, knocking him onto the bed, and sitting on his back with a loaded bow pointed at his head.

"Floored by a girl!" He groans into the mattress.

"You better believe it." I say, grinning victoriously before getting off him and watching him get off the bed and stagger to his feet.

"You sure can fight; you might be an Ares girl," He remarks. I grimace.

"Yuck, no way. The music resonating from that place..." I trail off in horror, and Zack grins.

"Well it's either that, an Artemis kid, or..." A strange expression crosses his face. "We could be siblings."

 "No, you're all far too bad at archery for me to related to you." I say in a superior tone, firing the loaded arrow into the bulls-eye of one of the many targets hung up on the walls, and picking out another to pierce the eye of a poster of Mozart.

"Which reminds me of our competition. Shall we?" He nods towards the door.

"Sure, if you're willing to see yourself loose in front of everyone..." I tease as we pass through the door frame.

"Right back at you, Mrs Vampire."

But when we get out into the open, my thoughts of the archery competition are flattened in comparison to the awe that strikes me when I look directly at the Artemis cabin. Even from the outside, it takes my breath away. It is elegant, it's shaped like the other cabins, a kind of Parthenon shape, but it is almost the opposite of the Apollo cabin, because it glows silver instead of gold, and I bet that it would reflect moonlight at night the way the Apollo cabin reflects sunlight. I wander up to the front steps, and push on the door.

"Luna! Umm, you're not allowed to go in there..." Says Zack nervously from the bottom of the steps.

"Yes I am," I whisper, ignoring him, "this is my cabin." I step inside and smile. It's quite similar to the interior of my bedroom at home, with black walls with pictures of the moon pinned on, and windows with silver curtains. But that's where the similarity ends, because there is a fountain right in the middle of the room, complete with a statue of a deer in the middle, pegs beside each bed, some of which hold bows and arrows, and the roof depicts the night sky, with a full moon and stars that actually twinkle. At the far side of the room, on the wall between the two isles of four poster beds, is a painting of a girl. She is... well... me. Flyaway black hair, pale features, and solemn silver eyes. No wonder they mistook me for her; if it weren't for the fact that I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have a picture of a random girl in their cabin, I would have thought it was me.

"Mom?"