I've been meaning to write this story for a while now.

It is the Story that belongs to my original characters in Reading The Children Of Artemis: When The Moon Fades.

The Next update for Reading The Children Of Artemis: When The Moon Fades is planned for this month 03/2021.

If you have yet to read that story, please check it out!

Chapter 1 - Welcome To My Life:

Have you ever wished your life was one filled with adventure?

That you could be the main character of an epic movie? That you could fight villains and have battles like in anime?

Yea?

We'll you should hope that you're lucky enough to have that stay a dream.

Because a life of adventure, one with sword fights against villains, that kind of life leads to pain.

How would I know?

Well, I wished for a life like that, and I got it.

I can't even count the number of times that I almost died. Or the number of times I had to watch my loved ones as they lay unconscious or withering in pain.

Don't get me wrong; I'm grateful for all the family and friends that I met since starting this life.

I just wish there were a way they could be in my life and not worry about who will die next. Or how much pain they must have been in leading up to it.

I'm sorry, I needed to get that off my chest.

I'm sure you must be wondering who I am and how I know all this.

My name is Luna, Luna Kobayashi.

Yes, my last name is Japanese. Yes, I know I don't look like it unless you really look for it.

It is that reason or at least one of the reasons I go by Luna Jackson in school.

Yes, Jackson. Yes, as in the son of Jack. And yes, as in Percy Jackson.

Yes, THE Percy Jackson.

Yes, I know him quite well. No, we are not related.

I'm sure you're probably confused.

As I said, my name is Luna. I am twelve years old and live in New York with my twin brother Archer.

You see, my brother and I...well, I wouldn't exactly call us normal, you see we are something called a Demigod.

I suppose another title for a traditional Demigod would be Half-bloods, but that title doesn't quite fit us.

I'm going to take some advice from my friend Percy...I never thought I would say that...

That advice is that if you just so happen to be reading this because you think you might be a half-blood, close this book right now. Walk away and forget you ever heard the term or tried to read this book. It would also be in your best interest to stay away from Percy's book too.

If your just a normal kid, reading this believing it to be fiction, then congrats, I guess.

I share my story with my brother and cousins, but I will tell you how it started for me.

Maybe Archer and the others will jump in and tell their stories too.

You see, my story starts at school.

Probably not the most ideal beginning, but that's how it started for me.

Well...me and two of my friends, that is...

You see, the school I went to at the time, Edgewood Academy Middle School was in a very woodsy part of Connecticut.

So if you were to ask me, the name was quite fitting.

The academy started as young as preschool and went all the way up to twelfth grade. The grades were split into groups and put in separate buildings like a regular school district.

All buildings were on the same piece of land - it was like five acres or something - with the Elementary and Preschool closer to town and the Middle and High school further into the woods. Most students who lived in the area went home after classes. But for those of us, who live out of state or further away, we were stuck in the dorms.

Fun.

I was sitting in algebra - the worst subject in the entire world - staring out the window next to my seat, into the forest that surrounded the school, my head resting on my hand.

"Miss Jackson?" A heavily accented male voice called from the front.

Reluctantly I moved my gaze from the beautiful outdoors and looked to the front of the class.

The algebra teacher was shooting me an unamused look, and the rest of the class was staring at me and snickering.

I was oh so tempted to shoot the rich snots all a gesture that a twelve-year-old shouldn't be using. But of course, if I were to do that while Mr. Nilsen was watching, I would get detention.

Mr. Nilsen was actually a pretty cool guy out of class, kind of shocking considering how his long platinum blonde hair and blue-grey eyes made him look like Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter movies.

In fact, with his dragon-headed cane that he leaned on, he looked so much like the Death Eater that you would assume he was in a constant cosplay of the character.

Granted, he stood a lot taller than Malfoy at 6'4, and his Scandinavian accent didn't quite fit the character. But from a distance and without hearing him talk, you could easily believe they were the same.

"I allow the lack of attention during reviews and after you hand in your exams. This, however, is neither case. Pay attention."

"Sir," I began. "I am never once in my life going to need to use Algebra after my schooling. It is an unnecessary requirement placed by the Board of Education simply to torture the young in this country."

The rest of the class was either staring at me like I lost my mind, smirking at my obvious ticket to detention, or laughing.

My giant of a teacher, however, snorted back a laugh and cracked a small smile.

"I'll allow it for today, my dear. Tomorrow you best be paying attention, unless you wish to stay after school for remedial lessons. Your next test is in a week."

Don't remind me.

I nearly said it out loud but figured it would be best to stay quiet.

I started to return to my admiration of the great outdoors. As the lesson continued, the rest of the class returned the gazes to the front. But I locked eyes with the girl in the seat in front of me.

She had slightly tan skin, wavey honey-brown hair tied into a high ponytail, and light blue eyes. By all accounts, she was beautiful. It was just difficult for me to view her as such.

The reason being?

The ugly glare she was looking at me with.

Charlotte Rose always seemed to be out for me.

Every time I met her eyes, even by accident, I would be rewarded with a glare. I couldn't even try and talk to her. Every time I tried, she would give me this attitude, and the look would turn into this obnoxious look of superiority. It didn't help that she seemed to want to pick a fight over the littlest thing or criticize my every move.

"Can't you show the teacher a little respect?"

"I wasn't disrespecting him. Just stating a flaw in the education system."

Her response was a look of disgust, followed by a 'humph' as she returned her gaze to the front.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the window, a feeling of longing settling over me.

After that, nothing interesting happened for the rest of the class period. With the ring of the bell, everyone gathered up their things and started to leave.

As per usual, I was the last one out.

"Luna," Mr. Nilsen called.

"Yes, sir?" I turned to look at him from the doorway.

"I know it's hard, but please try to pay attention during lessons. You're a wonderful student, every member of the staff will vouch for that, but you can be better. I know you could easily raise your grades to a high B or low A. Why settle for a C?"

I couldn't meet his eyes, and with a sigh, I looked at my feet.

I didn't have an answer for him. Maybe it was just because I was comfortable where I stood academically. Or maybe, it was because I was afraid of being picked on if I was the smart kid.

I knew he was looking for an answer, but no matter how hard I tried to come up with one, I couldn't find one. So I settled for the default answer that I always give.

"I just can't keep my attention on the lesson long enough, sir."

My answer seemed to disappoint him slightly. However, he just nodded.

"I see. Well, I won't keep you any longer. Off you go."

He said the last part with a shoo motion.

It would have ticked me off slightly, but I knew he was just joking around.

"Have a good weekend, sir," I called as I left the room.

A soft 'You too, my dear' followed me.

I got to the end of the corridor before the problems started.

A new record.

I felt something ram into my back. It was strong enough to force me to drop my books.

"Oops, I'm so sorry. I can be such a klutz." The voice was dripping so much honey, I could smell it.

"What do you want, Rose?"

I practically was growling as I turned around to face Charlotte. She very rarely caused physical problems, so much so I barely kept count of it.

Charlotte was staring at me in disdain, almost like I crashed into her.

"Your too slow," she snapped. "Move your feet a bit faster, freak."

I growled again and clenched my fists. Oh, how I wish I could punch that face of hers.

"If you keep your guard down, your just gonna cause problems for everyone around you."

The hell? Is she seriously trying to blame me for this?

I narrowed my eyes, clenched my fist so hard I'm sure it turned white and started walking into her personal space.

"Look here you-"

"Luna!" A melodious voice called from the hallway to my right.

I stopped in my tracks, just now realizing that I was nearly chest to chest with Charlotte, and backed off. I turned around, picked up my books, and started walking towards the voice that called my name.

I wasn't sure if Charlotte was saying anything as I walked away, and honestly, I didn't care. I still had enough common sense to know if I didn't walk away...

Well, I probably would have decked her right across her face.

I swear I'm not the violent type, not usually anyway - no matter what my brother says - but I just can't stand that girl. It's like I can't figure her out, and I hate that.

Despite all her actions, I don't think she's trying to be malicious towards me. Yet, she still causes problems.

"What's with that look on your face? And the levels of frustration that are radiating off you?"

I looked up from my feet and was filled with relief when my eyes met pink eyes.

Yes, pink. As in the pupils were the color of cherry blossoms, pink.

No, I'm not joking.

Standing before me was a young girl with pink eyes and blonde hair tied into a braid.

"Dove, I have never been more relieved to see you."

An amused look crossed my best friend's face.

"Yea, I can tell. Now, who do I need to beat up?"

Dove Derosiers - pronounced deh-rose-e-aye - was slightly smaller than me at 4'8. But don't let that fool you; she has a black belt in Korean Hapkido and is perfectly fine with proving it to you in a fight.

"I'll tell you during lunch." I waved off.

"Hmm, alright. Let's hurry to the cafeteria then, don't want Dylan to eat without us."

I snorted back a laugh.

She was right. If we didn't hurry, Dylan would eat without us. Then, he would complain about how long we were taking to finish.

Dylan was my other best friend.

His appearance was almost an exact copy of his older brothers. They had the same jet black hair that was the same length. Dylan's, however, was constantly disheveled, almost like he rolled out of bed, ran his hands through his hair, and was just too lazy to comb it.

They also had the same sea-green eyes, except there was something different about Dylan's...something...calming almost.

I'm sure his appearance sounded familiar. If you wanted to know why that's because his brother is none other than Percy Jackson.

There was a nine-month age difference between the two, but you could hardly tell because both of them looked and acted so much like twins, same height and everything.

"What's for lunch again?" I asked

"I think Jamaican patties and empanadas?"

"Hmm"

When we got to the cafeteria, we needed to wait a little bit longer before Dylan showed up, not surprising considering his science class was all the way on the other side of the school.

"Luuuuunnnnnaaaaa, Dooooovvvvveeee."

I saw Dove's eye twitch before she turned around to look at the one who called us, while I stood slightly higher on my toes to look past her head.

Dylan was running down the hallway, practically full sprint, arms waving like a total idiot and a huge grin spread across his face.

Sometimes I swear that boy was a puppy disguised as a human.

Like a black lab. Or something like that.

When he was close enough, and I'm serious about this:

He swan dived towards Dove, who stepped out of the way in the nick of time.

So my childhood friend crashed into my middle, face squished into my stomach, and his arms wrapped around me.

Unfortunately, because this was such a common occurrence, I had learned to brace myself as soon as Dove's head left my line of sight. It must have been a comical sight, especially when he looked up at me beaming and all I did was pat him on the top of the head a few times.

"Good boy."

I said it in such a flat tone that Dove burst out laughing while clutching her sides.

Dylan was still beaming when he let go of me - I swear if this were an anime, that boy would be sparkling -, and Dove was still laughing, not even a pause as I glared at her.

When she stopped, we made our way into the cafeteria, the other two falling into line behind me as we got food, each of us taking turns filling the other two in on our day since breakfast.

It wasn't until we got to an empty table in the back of the room that I mentioned my encounter with Charlotte after class.

"If I could, I would punch her for you," Dylan spoke between sips of his dr. pepper. "But she's a girl, and mom would be mad if she found out."

"Equal rights, equal fights." I shrugged before taking a bite of my food.

"Can I punch her?" Dove asked excitedly, a giant grin on her face.

Dylan and I looked at her with a deadpan before replying.

"No."

She deflated like a balloon and popped an apple slice into her mouth.

"You two have your own problems. No need to needlessly take over mine as well."

Just as I finished saying that, an obnoxiously loud laugh echoed from the other side of the room. When we looked, we were greeted by a diverse group of kids horsing around.

There were seven of them total, four boys and three girls. One boy had another in a headlock, while the other two egged them on. The girls were all laughing, and one - a blonde - just so happened to look in our direction.

When she saw us, she sneered and not so subtly got the attention of the other two. Just to point at us, whisper something, and burst out laughing with the other two following.

"Nevermind," Dove growled. "I'll just punch her."

By her, she meant the blonde.

Stacy Benjamin-Lewis.

She had blonde hair, brown colored eyes, and was the self-titled 'Queen Bee' of the grade.

As well as the bane of Dove's existence.

While Charlotte was annoying. What with the; constant judging me, glaring at me, acting superior, and occasionally starting crap.

I wouldn't call her a bully. You can. In fact, go right ahead.

But Charlotte never had any malicious intent behind her actions.

Stacy did.

She was constantly picking on Dove, physically attacking her, ganging up on her with the two mindless drones that followed her, getting Dove in trouble for things Stacy did.

She was the textbook definition of a bully and held the cliche role of the mean girl.

If I had to guess a reason?

Probably, because of Dove's looks. Like, she most likely will grow up to be drop-dead gorgeous. I mean, I guess Stacy could also be called pretty, but Dove was on another level.

I'm not just saying this because she's my best friend, but Dove could easily be a model.

The only problem; and the biggest reason I can think of Stacy being out for Dove's blood. Is that Dove couldn't care less about how pretty she was.

Granted, that's not a reason to be out for someone's blood. But I can't think of anything else!

Dove wasn't the type of person to cause problems. She was a good student, despite having ADHD and some slight reading problems. Dove was respectful to everyone - as long as they deserved it, went out of her way to help people - even with her social anxiety. And she was just an absolute joy to be around.

...Granted, she did have a slight temper...

I noticed Dylan trying to hide behind Dove from the corner of my eye and turned back to face my friends. Considering he had a good five inches on her, he was doing surprisingly well.

"Please tell me Matt isn't looking this way."

Dove looked past me to get a better look at the boy who was giving the headlock.

"Nah, too busy giving Freddie a noogie."

"What about Shareef and Kaz?"

"Occupied watching Matt and Freddie."

Dylan poked his head out from behind Dove's shoulder to look at the group, then looked back to his half-eaten jerk chicken patty and coco bread.

"You're not eating under the table again." I deadpanned.

"Hurry up and finish. We'll sneak out and head to English early." Dove sighed.

I have never seen someone scarf down food so fast before in my life.

And I never want to see it again.

When Dylan was done, everything was thrown out, and we snuck out of the cafeteria; we started heading to the east wing of the school.

The school was built kinda weirdly -well, for me anyway. See, I've never been to a boarding school before. This was my first year. I'm usually in Queens with my grandma, or sometimes on the Island with my uncle, and for my entire school life so far, I've always been in a public school.

The school was one building. From the front, it looked like a sideways 'I' shape. But if you looked from an airplane, you would see that the east and west wings each turned into an L shape. So the whole building looked like some weird-looking C.

The corridor from the east wing turned into the girls' dorms, and the hall off of the west wing turned into the boys' dorms.

Which, by the way...

This may have been where I found myself after the 9th-period gym class let out.

Yes, I had snuck into the boys' dorms and was currently making my way to the second floor's room 213.

When I got there, I knocked and patiently waited for the door to open.

When it did, I was met with the shocked and confused face of Dylan.

I looked at him with a deadpan.

"I do this at least once a week. You can't tell me that you haven't started to expect it."

He blinked twice.

"This is the boys' dorm. You'll get in trouble just for being in the hallway."

"We're twelve. What are we gonna do?" I sighed with a roll of my eyes. "Besides, the majority of the staff thinks you're my brother. I think they will be a little lenient with me coming to get you."

I looked past Dylan and into the room. His roommate was lying on his bed reading a marvel comic.

"Hey, Ari," I called with a slight wave.

The darker-skinned boy looked up from his comic with a grin and waved back before returning to his reading.

I turned back to Dylan and looked at him expectantly.

"You ready to go?"

His response was a bright grin. He called goodbye to Ari before closing the door, grabbing my wrist, and dragging me back the way I came.

The next chapter is in the works, I plan to post within the next two weeks.

Thanks for checking out my story.

:)