Daughter Of The Moon

Chapter 18

Author's note:  For people who have been reading this book for quite a while, you may not notice that I have made a change to some of the past chapters. This change is that Luna isn't thirteen years old- she's fifteen. It didn't change any of the content of the chapters, but I decided to speed the story up a bit, so that's why. So if you didn't know, now you do.

Enjoy!

Luna

"Rise and shine, little moon cake." Is what I hear before my sleep is interrupted by an almighty crash, and a mass of icy water is dumped on my head. I yelp and jump out of bed, but the floor I land on is slick with water, so I flail for a moment before crashing down onto the floor, right on my tailbone.

"Ouch." I groan, letting the rest of me droop onto the wet floorboards and screwing my eyes tight shut. I sense a shadow pass over my closed eyes, and I already know who it is even before I open my eyes to glare at him.

"Little moon cake?" Is all I say to Kai, quirking an eyebrow. "Really?"

From above me, he grins. His face hovers above mine in a background of the Apollo Cabin ceiling, which is emblazoned with a huge, sprawling sun, like an orange spider has been splatted on the roof.

"Yeah, I don't think it quite works," he says, sea-green eyes sparkling, "though you are as sweet as cake. Did you know that the moon cake is traditionally eaten during the Chinese festival of-"

"I'm going back to bed." I declare, sitting up, heaving myself to my feet, and flopping back onto the bed despite the fact that I'm soaking wet. Honestly, I don't care. It's the middle of the night, nobody else is awake, and-

Where is everybody, come to think of it...

My eyes snap open and I sit bolt upright. Kai is leaning against the bedpost, grinning smugly while I assess the fact that I appear to be the only person in the room.

"Where is everyone, Kai?" I ask, an element of wariness in my tone.

He snorts. "Bravo for noticing; it only took you three centuries."

I shoot him a glare before climbing out of bed -this time avoiding the water- and taking another puzzled look around.

"Where is everyone?" I repeat.

"At capture the flag." He says simply. "You see, as entertaining as I find you, Jacy, I am here strictly on business. Everyone turned up twenty minutes ago to find that the newest camper is still lounging around in bed. If it had been anyone but me to wake you up-"

"But Chiron said capture the flag was in the morning!" I protest, though I'm already shucking off my sleep clothes in favour of a t-shirt and shorts, while Kai averts his gaze and starts absentmindedly cutting patterns into the wooden bedpost with one of my hunting daggers.

"Well this is the morning. Look- sunrise." Kai jerks his head towards the open window, and I squint to see that the dark sky is shot through with the barest hint of the dusky red of dawn, though the moon is still up, and it's still practically black as pitch outside. Seeing the moon gives me a kick of adrenaline, but not enough to stop me internally grumbling about the atrocity that is getting up so early, and having it done by a pail of water to the face.

When I'm fully dressed, I snatch my dagger out of Kai's hand, gather my weapons, and scurry out of the door with Kai in tow.

"You know, when I heard you were a daughter of Artemis, I figured that would mean that you stay up at night or something, or are at least a morning person." Kai puffs as we sprint towards the edge of the forest. We're keeping in the shadows mainly for the reason that if I am caught in direct moonlight, I start glowing. Not that Kai knows this, of course, but it doesn't arise suspicion anyway.