Daughter Of The Moon

Chapter 10

Artemis

"Do you know what today is?" Jake says. I stop polishing my bow, and look across the room at the calender.

"Er... December 24th?" I say, puzzled. He nods, but is still looking at me expectantly. 

"C'mon Missy, what is December 24th?"

He has taken both hands off his type writer, and is gazing intently at me. Between him stopping his work and calling me 'Missy', I can see quite how much he wants me to know, but since I don't, it is probably wiser to ignore him.

I slide off my perch on his desk, take a stub of chalk from my pocket, walk to the opposite side of the observatory and start drawing an archery target on the wall. When the drawing is done, I walk back across the room to Jake's desk, lift myself up to sit on it, and take an arrow from my quiver. Even though I don't need to, I aim carefully. Just as I am about to let the arrow fly...

"Artemis?"

"What!" I snap impatiently. He suddenly looks slightly scared, and that's when I realise that my loaded bow is pointing at his nose. Guilty, I set my weapons down, lean forward,  and look him in the eye. Since he is sitting at his desk, and I am sitting on his desk (and leaning towards him), we are very close, and my nose is only a couple of centimeters away from his face.

"Sorry," I murmur, "What did you want to say, again?"

He doesn't reply at first, he just sort of gapes at me like a goldfish. When he finally does find words, they are whispered.

"Why are you sorry?"

I turn my head away, embarrassed, shocked, and scared by our close proximity. "I don't want you to be scared of me." I answer simply, staring at the target I have drawn on the wall.

Why did I just say that? Why don't I want him to be scared of me? I want all men to be scared of me; that's the only way to show that I'm better. But I don't want Jake to be scared of me, I want us to be equal.

Now that my head is turned, Jake has ceased his goldfish impression, and turns his head to look at the target. "I'm not." He says, his tone mimicking mine.

"You should be, though. You don't know how many I've killed." I say bitterly, picking my bow up again and firing the arrow straight into the bulls eye to prove my point.

"But would you kill me?" We turn to look at each other again, and I find his expression slightly cocky.

"I could kill you. But you needn't fear for your life just yet." I say in a teasing tone. But what I really want to say is:

I could kill you, Jacob Night. But I can't. I would never be able to live with myself if I did. But you should fear for your life; it is in my hands. I am growing fonder of you by the day, and as this continues, your safety from Zeus decreases. I should stay away from you, but I can't, even though it could save your life. I'm sorry, Jake. You have no idea how much.

"Then I'd better be getting you a nice Christmas present." Jake says, grinning.

"A Christmas present?" I ask cocking my head to one side in a questioning way.

"Yes, which leads me to my first point. Today, Artemis, is Christmas Eve!" He replies, leaning back in his chair and throwing his arms into the air like a happy child.

But I am not feeling the love.

"Christmas?!" I cry, despairingly. "You celebrate Christmas, with all it's garish decorations and violation of nature by cutting down trees? And think of all those poor turkeys! If you could speak to them, then I'd bet you wouldn't eat another animal again. Do you really celebrate that?"

Jake nods cautiously. "Not as much as most, and ever since I've been on my own, I haven't celebrated it, but now..." He looks longingly at me.

"Now what?" I still can't seem to catch onto his point.

"Well..." He begins slightly awkwardly, "Now I have... you."

"You want to celebrate Christmas with me?"

My thoughts towards this really don't add up. Some are saying : Isn't that sweet of him! Of COURSE you want to celebrate with Jake; he's your only friend! Others are more like: Christmas? Bah! You HATE Christmas, Artemis, especially since that lumpy old man Santa Claus is based on you. And there are more ominous ones that are saying: But Christmas is a Mortal celebration. Spending it with Jake when you have no reason to will set alarm bells off in Zeus's head!

"I've never celebrated Christmas before..." I start, and Jake looks at me expectantly, his startlingly blue eyes large and pleading. I still haven't come to a conclusion yet, but staring into his beautiful eyes gives me the answer. "So yes. Of course, Jake. I don't want you to be lonely."

And then he does something that surprises me. He jumps out of his chair, takes me in his arms, and hugs me tight. "Thank you Artemis." He whispers in my ear, his messy dark hair tickling my neck. And then, on spur of the moment, I do something that surprises me.

I hug him back.

I feel so warm, comfortable, and safe in his arms, which is strange considering how I am much more powerful than him. I don't want him to let me go, and he doesn't. We just stand in the abandoned astronomy observatory locked in an embrace for what seems like an eternity. 

"On one condition," I whisper.

"Anything." He promises.

"No inflatable Santas."