Daughter Of The Moon

Chapter 14

Artemis

"You really need to try this, Arty." Dionysus slurs. "It's just so..." He swirls the cocktail drunkenly in it's glass. "Pink." He concludes. I wrinkle my nose and step back.

"You're drunk, little brother." I accuse, folding my arms.

"No I'm not. Now come 'ere and give me a kiss." He lurches forward and tries to pull his sweaty arms around me, but my reflexes and fighting skills are much better than his, and I have spun around him and got a hunting knife at his throat before he can catch a breath.

"Like I would kiss you." I sneer. I can't stand drunks, and one of my least favourite half-brothers just happens to be the god of drunkenness. Am I the only sensible one in the family?

"That's not fair..." Dionysus whines. "You kiss that sickly-pale astronomer dweeb down on earth."

At the mention of Jake, and a romantic connection to him, I lose my focus, and the god of wine manages to stumble out of my grasp, rubbing his neck before grabbing a cocktail and downing it.

"Where did you hear that?" I hiss at him, not threatening him with weapons, but still very much determined.

"Word around the parties..." Dionysus replies, leaning on a marble pillar. "Looks like big sis is finally gonna break her vow, huh?"

"No." I spit back. "And I haven't kissed him. And he's not a 'sickly pale astronomer dweeb', his name is Jake, and-"

"Jake?" Gasps Dionysus, giving a drunken giggle. "Do I detect a nickname, Arty? Next you'll be telling me that you're doing couple's counselling and going to parenting classes."

"Shut up! Someone might hear you!" I say frantically, shoving a glass of wine at him to pacify him for a short while.

"Honey, everybody knows. There's, like, this countdown until Zeus blows. It started on five. First you held his hand at that hot dog place: that was one. And then at his house, you were hugging and doing all kinds of crazy... that was another, and-"

"Dionysus! We were talking about inflatable Santas."

"Oh, Artemis." He says, shaking his head patronisingly. "First it's inflatable Santas, then-"

"Look, I'm not talking to you anymore." I say, raising my hands. "And if you want to talk to me again, you had better be sober." And then I stalk off through the crowd of Olympians, all swaying to the beat of the Muses, or downing the various drinks available.

I know, I know. I said I'd spend Christmas with Jake. And I wanted to, too, but I got caught up in the Olympus Christmas party because Poseidon persuaded me to come. Poseidon and I have never been the best of friends: he is one of the big three, and his element is water, but I've still caught on to the trouble he's been going through. Recently, he got a girl pregnant on Earth, which meant that he had to leave her. Her name was Nora Murphy, and he seemed to have really loved her, which is why he's been drunk pretty much ever since he had to leave. I was on my way down to Earth this morning to go to Jake's, when he met me in the street and persuaded me to come to the party. I said I'd come for a little while, but time on Olympus moves differently to time on Earth, and after only half an hour in the party, my Earth clock read 5pm.

Eventually, I manage to wrestle my way out of the party, and stumble out onto the portico of Zeus's palace. It's already dark, and I button my jacket right up to the collar and shove my hands into my pockets as I make my way to the portal in my house.

Because I designed it, my house is, in my opinion, the most beautiful of all of the Olympian palaces. It's not huge and ostentatious, but it's still big enough to show that I'm a major goddess. It's slightly Parthenon-shaped, and made out of a mottled grey marble that holds shades from pearly white all the way down to black. Silver lanterns burn brightly with blue flame either side of the arched door, and the knocker is shaped like a perfect crescent moon.