Daughter Of The Moon

Chapter 12

Artemis

"Do I look..." I turn around dramatically, "Stunning?"

Jake doubles over laughing before playfully pulling the hat down over my eyes. "Of course, Artemis. Don't you always?" He jokes, pulling the hat up again so that I can see him grinning down at me. He knows that I don't care about my appearance, and seems to be the only male I've ever met that doesn't have a problem with it.

"But you know what would round off the outfit?" He says, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to a rack of woolly red jumpers with reindeer on them.

"Ugh, kill me now!" I groan, making an arrow materialise in my hand and making a show of pretending to have struck myself in the heart.

"You know, first off, you are lucky enough to be immortal, so don't flaunt it," Jake points out, holding my hands securely to stop even the pretence of me killing myself, "and second of all, who would I spend my Christmas with if you were frolicking about in Elysium?"

"Look on the bright side," I slowly take my hands out of his in order to walk over to a display harbouring my worst nightmare. Inflatable Santas. "you would be able to buy one of these monstrosities, and on the good side for me, I would have lived an entire lifetime without having to wear a pair of these torture weapons." I cross to a nearby shelf and hold out a pair of sparkly red high-heels.

"Nice." Says Jake appreciatively, "You'd look amazing."

I snort disdainfully. "Please."

Jake shrugs, and absentmindedly starts walking towards the shop door. After putting the heels away, I follow him.

"So what does a mortal do for Christmas?" I inquire as we walk slowly down the high street, savouring the holiday buzz. Jake shrugs. "Every family is different, but when I was a child, we used to all sit around a tree and exchange presents before going off to church. After an hour of standing in the freezing air, we'd come back home and eat a roast meal together. I loved it, but nothing lasts forever, and I haven't celebrated Christmas once since living on my own." He sounds sad and slightly wistful, so I take his hand as we walk down the next block.

"But what is this whole gift giving thing? What should I get you?" I try cheering him up with promise of presents, feeling foolish as if I am talking to a child. But then again, from my experience of my twin brother, men practically are just over-grown children. True to my statement, Jake's face lights up and he chuckles. "You don't have to get me a gift, Artemis."

"But I want to." I say, frowning stubbornly. Jake just sighs in an exasperated kind of way.

"You see, Artemis, I've always found the tradition of gift giving just like a huge guilt trip. If people give you a good present you have to return the favour, and then it just goes around and around in a nauseating carousel of wasted money in which both people want to stop keeping it equal but they both think the other doesn't. It's tiring and unnecessary if you ask me." 

This makes me laugh, and I can't help agreeing with him. I still want to get him a present, but I admire his logic.

"Oh, come on then you old miser, we have to buy food in any case." I tell him jokingly. He beams at me and starts walking towards the butchers shop when I pull his hand back sharply and glower at him.

"What? Roast turkey is-" He starts, puzzled.

"No meat." I say sternly, letting go of his hand and folding my arms. "And besides, neither of us can cook. From what I have seen you could burn salad, and since I can just summon food I have never learned. You wouldn't be able to eat the kind of food I can summon; you would catch on fire, so we had better keep the whole food thing minimal."

"Okay, your ladyship. What sort of food would suffice?" He puts on a mock British accent, and I have to hold back a grin. "Cake." I decide. "If there's one thing mortals have graced the world with, it's cake. Ooh, and sweets."

Jake cracks a smile. "Do I detect a sweet tooth, Artemis? Anyway, we should get moving unless you would rather we ate hot dogs instead."

I shudder at the thought. "No hot dogs, please."

"Then this way." 

We carry on moving in the direction of a cake shop, and when we reach it, I can see how good it is by the number of children crowded around the door and windows, inhaling deeply and sighing with satisfaction. I have to crane my neck to get a good view over the sea of youngsters, but my jaw drops when I see the cakes. 

Cakes of every colour, height, density, topped with every topping, frosting, icing or garnish I have ever seen. There are Christmas cakes and wedding cakes and birthday cakes all on display, and I can't decide which one I like most.

"Jake, I want one." I demand, tearing my eyes away from the food to gaze pleadingly into his eyes. He nods and I tiptoe through the crowd of children and enter into the shop to see the full variety.

Wow.

After examining each cake, I pick a favourite: a three-tiered white one with blue flowers climbing up it.  "I like this one." I say, fondly admiring the triumph of baking. Jake, who is standing behind me, leans forward and examines the label before bursting out laughing.

"That's a wedding cake, Artemis!" He laughs. I scowl at him.

"It's the nicest one." I point out.

"It's tradition to get a Christmas cake on Christmas, if that didn't occur to you. And look at the price..." He sounds slightly worried, and I squint at the hand-printed numbers.

"Meh. I want the cake." I say, shrugging and smirking at Jake's astounded expression as I will a bunch of mortal dollars to appear in my palm.

"I would like this one, please." I say sweetly in my best polite mortal lady voice, gesturing to the cake. The baker smiles at me, and then at Jake. "Congratulations to the two of you and have a merry Christmas!" She trills, taking the dollars, walking over to the cake, putting it into a box, and handing it over. She is very pretty, with rosy cheeks, blond curls, and wide blue eyes. She reminds me of someone, but I can't quite recall who.

"You too!" I say back, and I walk out of the shop with a triumphant grin on my face as Jake struggles to follow my brisk pace with the huge cake.

When we get back to the observatory, I realise something and frown before opening the door. "Why did she congratulate us? That baker, I mean." Jake, who has been strangely quiet since we left the cake shop gives me a strange look.

"She thinks we're getting married." He answers simply, ascending the steps towards the large dome.

People get that impression? I worry to myself. This is bad. What if Zeus saw that? No, he can't have; it's not like he's spying on you...

But somehow I know that I am trying to put myself under an illusion. Zeus may not be watching, but I know another deity that most certainly would be.

I knew that I baker reminded me of someone.

Aphrodite.