Chapter 14: De Ja'Moon

Selene awoke in a bed, patchwork quilt pulled up to her ears. She sat up, her arms and legs unbound, limbs their normal olive color. Eleanor was tying her shoes on the bed across from her.

"I was just about to wake you up," Eleanor said cheerfully. Seeing Selene's confused face, Eleanor asked, "What's the matter, Selene? You look like you've seen a ghost, are you alright?"

"I think," Selene paused confused. "What day is it?"

"March eighteenth," Eleanor said cheerfully. "I have such a day planned for us!"

Selene tried to rub sleep from her eyes. She had the strangest sense of déjà vu. "I had the weirdest dream," she said as she made her bed. Eleanor tapped her foot impatiently. She relayed the dream as they made their way to breakfast. As they entered the Great Hall, Selene saw Remus at the Gryffindor table. He waved at Selene.

"Wait, wait," Eleanor said as they took a seat, "vampires were trying to save you and they died?"

Selene nodded again.

"Impressive."

Selene blinked at Eleanor. Her mouth had moved and she had spoken but what had come out was not her voice. It had sounded like… Selene shook her head. There was no way Eleanor could sound like Artemis. Eleanor, not knowing Selene's thoughts, continued unperturbed, "You're probably just nervous. How would deatheaters ever get into Hogwarts?"

Selene shrugged, pushing the feeling of déjà vu from her mind. The first stop on Eleanor's list was flying. When they arrived in the quidditch pitch they saw James, Remus, and Sirius waiting for them there. Remus kissed her forehead.

"None of that," scolded Sirius. "Shall we fly?" He handed her a broom. "It's a relay. The route is around the astronomy tower three times, through an open window, out another one, under the Womping Willow and over Hagrid's cabin. Then, back here where Remus and James will be waiting to repeat. First team to finish wins. Questions?"

Selene shook her head as James motioned someone over. "Lily will say ready, set, go," explained James.

Selene smiled hello at Lily, secretly embarrassed she had not seen Lily before. She must have missed her, perhaps. Looking around Selene could not see Eleanor anywhere. It was like she had disappeared. Peter stood leaning against the castle wall. Odd, she hadn't seen him either.

Selene didn't have time to dwell as Remus kissed her good luck and she hopped on her broom. With a signal from Lily, they were off. Flying at full speed she circled the astronomy tower, once, twice, thrice, and then through the open window. Sirius sped behind her, inching closer and closer. He was right next to her as the exit window approached. He turned to her, face aglow with laughter and opened his mouth to speak, but it was not of a heckle or joke to distract her. Instead the familiar calm and rational voice of Soma, a voice only heard a few times before but still recognizable, said, "Do you care for him?"

"What," Selene asked seeing not Soma, but Sirius looking at her. In her surprise she tilted her broom down and caught a spare desk, flipping off her broom and onto her back. Sirius paused momentarily to make sure she was unharmed. She waved to show she was okay and he zipped out the window. Selene sat there for a moment. Normally with a fall like that the air would be knocked out of her. She inhaled and exhaled easily. She didn't feel any pain whatsoever- as if she had fallen on cushions. She leapt up and onto her broom. Once she was out of the window she could see Sirius zoom under the flailing branches of the Womping Willow. She leaned forward to speed up, dodging a plant fist, then another. Sirius we just starting around Hagrid's cabin, obviously confident that he was far in the lead- classic Gryffindor hubris. She was on his tail in a moment and gave him a wink as she passed his surprised face.

Selene could see her destination approaching. Wind whipping passed her ears made it so all she could hear was a constant whooshing sound. She didn't dare look back, lest she slow without meaning to. In the constant wind, she could hear something else. It tickled her ear and made her spine tingle uncomfortably, like the feeling of eyes on you without your knowing. Hidden within the breeze was a whisper, " the price of being a God, as the muggles call us, is a high price." Selene looked back at Sirius, his eyes were narrowed in concentration as he tried to catch up with her. Only the wind whipped passed her ear, the whisper was gone just as suddenly as it had come.

She landed and high- fived Remus, who shot off. Seconds later Sirius did the same. Selene saw Eleanor leaning against the castle wall. Peter and Lily were gone.

"Are you alright," Eleanor asked.

"I keep hearing lunar shadows worse than usually," Selene said sneaking a glance at Sirius again. He was watching the astronomy tower closely, using his hand to block the sun. Selene felt Eleanor's arms wrap around her comfortingly.

"It's probably just a symptom of tomorrow, you know?" Eleanor pushed Selene's hair out of the way, like a mother would to a child who needs a haircut. They stood like this in silence until James and Remus landed. James feet touched the ground first making Sirius give a victory whoop. James noticed the two girls and nodded to Remus and Sirius. They joined the hug, uninvited.

"I'm very sad your going to ascend and all that junk," Sirius said in their hug. There was a moment of silence. Then Sirius broke the circle and grabbed his broom. "But glad we whipped you in a race first!"

"No one likes a sore winner," Remus said, lacing his fingers through Selene's as they all began to move away from the pitch.

"As they say, 'keep practicing and discovering. Love and lose. Be careful and aware," James said with a smirk. Selene paused.

"Who says that," she asked confused. James shrugged.

"James, who says that?"

James looked at her over his shoulder. "I think you said Mawu did or something."

"When did I say that?" she felt uneasy.

"Just now, didn't you?" Had she mentioned it? She didn't think she had.

As the day wore on, she saw and heard the voices more and more. Khon's pharaoh hat lay on the grass next to her. In the next moment it was gone. Tsuki-Yomi's voice whispered in the grass, "Soon you will be brightest of all of us. The most dim was the moon first, but we all seem the same after a certain point." Fredrick flew over her without taking noticing, in fact, no animals came to her as she walked in the forbidden forest. No vampires or centaurs approached. She flicked her wrist at her water cup during lunch and the water sat motionless. Was this a symptom of the day before the ascent? Did all her powers vanish before rushing back with the rest of the moon? She felt a nagging feeling nudging her mind as if trying to wake it from a daze, but it was speaking so quietly that Selene could barely hear it. She could barely feel it because the touch was so light. Selene felt tired.

"You know what will make you feel better," Remus asked kissing her forehead.

"What," Selene asked curiously.

"A swim, lets go."

She laughed and they rushed off to change into swimsuits before meeting again at the lake and jumping into the freezing cold water. Selene surfaced, confused. The water wasn't cold at all. It was not warm. It didn't even feel like water. It felt like some Jell-O imitation. She flicked her wrist. No wave was made, no ripple, just a splash from the water that had caught onto her hand. It hit Remus, who laughed.

"So you want a splash war, eh," he said with a smile. He splashed her back, but even on her face the water felt odd. She looked down at her hands in the water. They looked normal. She could see herself treading water and beneath that… there was a flash of an image: the face of Artemis with her mouth open but no swirling cloud of mist.

Selene blinked and it was gone, but she swore she had seen it in the water, looking up at her expectantly. She lay on her back as the marauders splashed water at one another. Ears submerged, the world was quiet. Selene closed her eyes, seeking darkness to reassure herself, but behind her lids she saw glowing silver light. She opened her eyes again to find herself looking at the clear sky. She closed her eyes again; in the silver glow she felt no splash of the water on her face. She could not smell the lake, or the breeze or the grass. Instead it smelled like mildew and rot. She felt suffocated. She could hear muffled yelling, getting louder, louder, louder. Then as if right next to her ear she heard the voice of Diana say, "Technically, your unconscious."

She gasped and opened her eyes to see she was in a bed, patchwork quilt pulled up to her ears. She sat up, her arms and legs unbound, limbs their normal olive color. Eleanor was tying her shoes on the bed across from her.

"I was just about to wake you up," Eleanor said cheerfully. "What's the matter, Selene? You look like you've seen a ghost, are you alright?"

"Breakfast," Selene said jumping out of bed and throwing on shoes. Eleanor followed behind. When they entered the Great Hall Selene spotted Remus at the Gryffindor table, just as he had been last time they did this. She jogged over and sat next to him, pushing Peter to the side.

"Kiss me," she demanded. Remus blinked surprised, but pleased.

"Alright." He lifted her hand and kissed the knuckle.

"No," Selene said, looking down the table of Gryffindors. No one was paying them any attention except for the marauders next to Remus. "Kiss me here." She pointed to her lips expectantly.

"Selene means business this morning," teased Sirius.

"I have morning breathe," Remus said with a smile. "Wolf morning breath is worst of all."

Selene leaned over and closed her eyes, kissing Remus as forcibly as she could. But on her lips she felt no lips. She could not smell him or feel him or sense him at all behind her closed lids. All she could do was smell was rot and mildew, all she could see was glowing silver light. The nagging voice in the back of her head suddenly burst through as if it were screaming next to her ear. Except that it was not one voice, it was many.

"I was never able to do such things so soon before the spring," declared Ix Chel, "I couldn't control water with such precision until it was mid winter."

"And I hear whispers that even when she is not aglow, she effects those who have conditions effected by the moon," agreed Coyolxauhqui loudly.

It was every familiar lunar shadow all yelling at once in her mind as her nose smelled that rotting and her senses felt nothing but empty air. Selene wanted to cover her ears but with her eyes closed, she felt like her hands could not move. They felt trapped and bound.

"We are all connected by the bond of our blood tribe. Now that you know the tribal secret, you can see us in your dreams," Tsuki-Yomi's calm voice said, though it echoes so loudly Selene felt as if her head would split.

"Because you now know what you are, and have used your power, you are connected to the moon. We are in the moon."

"After a certain thousand years or so, our souls go wherever souls go, but until then they remain in the moon. To help out. We are less powerful then the new moon, but each helps to train the moons power," explained Yarikh's voice, gruff and commanding, tearing through her headache and worsening it.

Selene forced her eyes open to make the noise stop and she found herself not at Hogwarts but in a cloud of white- silver mist, glowing and pure. There was no smell and no sound, not even crickets. Selene looked around and tried to move but found she was bound to a wall by a chain across her waist and around her arms. Her feet were free. She closed her eyes and opened them again to find the same thing. A figure moved forward and Selene recognized the long flowing hair and robes of Diana.

"What's going on," Selene asked. Diana pointed and Selene saw that her feet were glowing so brightly that it made her eyes ache. She was barefoot. She hadn't gotten shoes before the deatheaters had kidnapped her from Hogwarts in her dream. She had no shoes now. She looked at Diana. "Where am I?" asked Selene.

Diana seemed to dim as a breathe of air that left her swirled into white mist and was inhaled by Selene, who coughed. Diana smiled and replied, in a voice so soft that Selene would not have heard it had the white mist not been so silent, "Technically, your unconscious."

With a final blink, Selene opened her eyes to find herself in a windowless dungeon lit by only her increasing glow. She needed to know what time it was and if she could ascend. There was the sound of dripping water in the corner, an ancient leak gone unnoticed and unfixed. The scent of rot and mildew filled Selene's nostrils and with a flick of her fingers, the water jutted to the left and fell away from the puddle. She moved her hand again and a wave moved in the puddle. Then, she moved again, pulling a line of water from the puddle and beginning to slash at the chains on her arms as if using a nail file.