Luna Silver: Daughter of Artemis: Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – I get a quest to save Mom
Cuinn and I didn’t speak along the way to the Big House, Rachel just arrived from Clarion and she was having a little chat with Chiron when we arrived. Nico was there too, and so were Percy and Annabeth and Thalia.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked as I approached them.

Just a second after Rachel got a good glimpse of me her eyes glowed green, a mystical green fog surrounded her, and Nico caught her before she collapsed. Percy brought in a seat with three legs and let Rachel sit on it. She looked at me straight in the eye.

Her mouth opened and a green fog, much lighter compared to the growing dark fog surrounding her, came out of her mouth.

The room began to fade – melting away into darkness – I wanted to run, just run away – but something made my heart stop. It was Artemis – she was wearing a black shirt under a white jacket, her faded blue jeans had mud and cuts, she was wearing purple converse shoes, though she was in the form of a twenty year old woman – she was so beautiful, graceful and so strikingly intimidating. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, she had a glowing gold chain around her wrist, I can see faint bruises on her skin – golden bruises and golden blood oozed from her left arm, I noticed. She was being herded towards a familiar peak – Mount Skylight. But was that always so big and turned into a massive cave like mansion?

Suddenly, Rachel appeared by my side, she spoke:

''

''

'' “A goddess of Hunt, chained, ''

''You will seek and give her aid, ''

''The skull and owl be with you on your quest ''

''And in the end, you will sacrifice for what is best.” ''

And all at once, as if I was being warped back in time, I was standing in the Big House. Everybody was staring at me with questioning and concerned eyes.

“We heard the Prophecy” Thalia said.

“But you saw something,” Nico hinted, “What was it?”

I shook my head, trying not to vomit in front of them. The feeling in my gut just felt bad, very bad. I felt like I can hurl a cow out of me.

“What happened, Luna?” Thalia asked me, her eyes wide in mixed emotions; anger, despair, hurt, guilt. “Did something happen to Artemis?”

I shook my head, trying to get my bearings. Was Artemis really in danger? My gut feeling tells me yes, and it doesn’t mean a good thing at all.

“How did you know?” Annabeth asked.

“I’ve been theses dreams…” I said.

“She dreamt of Artemis being taken by the Aloadae.” Cuinn intersected. Thalia’s eyes got brighter with despise. “They dare!?” she screamed.

I felt quiet. My headed was hurting. Mom was definitely in trouble, and I have to help her. I looked up at Thalia, who was glaring out at the window. “I need to save Mom.”

“You best go now.” Thalia said, “Olympus has been chaotic lately. Artemis is one of goddess and maintains piece with the Hall. And tonight is a full moon, yes, Selene has faded but her soul and power remains within her station - the moon.”

“But her successor can be the only one to handle such strength and to preserve the power of the Moon.” Annabeth added her tone grim, “If Artemis cannot come back before full moon turns into a half moon, and then the moon’s power will be too powerful to contain.”

“What will happen?” Percy asked.

Annabeth glared at him and whispered, “You should start reading”, before she faced me and said, “Simply the moon will haze out – disappear. Selene had the habit of always striding every night to watch over at the moon.”

“But Artemis is different, she is the goddess of Hunt. She rarely checks the moon because its power still lies in her.” Thalia continued.

“How long do I’ve got?” I asked.

“There three days when the moon looks like its full and two more day before it actually starts to shift. So if you save Artemis before that, then we are guaranteed.” Chiron said. “The moon is vital to both mortals and immortals. The moon is one of most precious things that keep the balance.”

I nodded. ''Okay I have to save my mother so that moon won’t disappear and so that world would be in balance. ''Easy job for a thirteen year old.

“Haven’t the gods noticed this?” Nico asked.

Percy shook his head, “They can’t be so arrogant already, can they?” he looked at Chiron, we all did.

He sighed and said, “The gods and the immortals are not allowed to interfere with one another, unless it is called for. But in this case, Artemis has a reputation to be very proud of what she does, and that is a trait many admire about a woman. And she had not asked the gods for help, not even Apollo, her own brother.”

“Somehow I am not surprised by that part.” Annabeth said, and grunted in agreement.

Chiron cleared his throat, then continued, “Rather she chose to ask the help of her daughter, of you, Luna.” He looked at me, straight in the eye, “May you be safe in your journey, dear child.”

I gulped, and looked at everyone else, “So, who’s going with me?” I looked at Thalia, she shook her head and said, “The prophecy speaks of the skull and owl. I am a child of Zeus.”

I sighed, “So who am I taking?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Percy smiled at me, “The skull means death, who else can be associated in death?”

“Well,” Annabeth taunted, “You actually gave a proper and useful suggestion.”

Percy beamed at Annabeth who grinned back.

“Wait,” Nico said, “Do you guys mean me?”

Percy nodded, “Who else Nico?”

Nico looked at me with a weird expression on his face, I mouthed the words: ''I need help. Please. He gave once grim look as if to say I-think-I-might-regret-this ''before nodding. I smiled and thanked him, he smiled back (well if a gruff form of an up side down frown was smiling).

“And, who’s the owl?” Thalia asked, she was looking at Annabeth.

Annabeth shook her head, “I don’t think its me.” She said and looked at her brother, Cuinn, “I have a feeling someone else from the symbol of Owl should go.”

Cuinn looked back and forth between me and Annabeth and smiled, “I’ll go.”

Annabeth raked her arm around his neck, “Atta boy!” and laughed.

I looked up at Thalia, who gave the expression so grave that I felt my heart just slipped out of chest.

ℓʋиα ƨιℓvɛя 09:10, February 12, 2011 (UTC)