The Moon's Child

by Clockworksoldiergirl

"I knew what I'd seen. I was 6, in Manhattan on holiday. I watched as a girl and a boy crossed swords with a man with golden eyes" Amaris bounces around from psych ward to psych ward. She knows what she saw though and she sticks to her story. She knows she's not crazy. She thinks... Along with her friends Cynthia and Harley she goes questing around the world.

5. Silver Cresent Moon

The campfire that night heralds the arrival of four dozen campers. They sit in groups around the campfire which glows with unnaturally bright colours. Leo is with two girls. One has pale brown hair and looks like a goddess. Literally. And the other has kaleidoscopic eyes and choppy, chocolate brown hair. Will and Nico are beside each other, Nico's head tucked into Will's shoulder. They are joined by two other kids. One is a boy who has a maniacal expression. He looks like he just set something on fire, or possibly blown something up. The girl with them is willowy and had already introduced herself to us previously as Lou Ellen. One of Cynthia's half siblings.

Up the top of the bleachers, a girl with twin plaits is lecturing two boys with identical brown hair and crooked smiles. Cynthia, Harley and I sit at the bottom of the pavilion steps in weighted silence. In front of us, some of the campers jump around in front of us with musical instruments. One of them is playing an honest-to-goodness Saxophone.

The night air is clean and cool and the smoke from the fire drifts into the sky. In all my life, I have never seen a gathering so happy. The closest things to parties I have ever had are weekly meetings in the psych ward cafeteria. And really. Nobody wants a party where the only refreshments are soggy fries and day old meatloaf.

I still haven't taken the sheaths off. There is something comforting about having the blades strapped to my legs.

Suddenly, one of the girls screams. I see her stand up at the top of the pavilion and point towards the dark woods. Some of the other campers jump to their feet and draw weapons. Harley pulls his sword out of its sheath and it becomes visible as he pulls it away from his waist. At first, I don't see anything, but then a glowing pair of eyes emerges from the woods. The monster is the size of a small garbage truck with red eyes, bristling fur and razor blade claws. "Hell Hound!" One of the boy's cries. The creature bounds into the circle of the firelight. A few of the campers are swept off their feet by its massive tail. One of the girls gets thrown into the air and lands with a thump a few meters away. The so-called 'Hell Hound' tears down the campers and kicks up dirt in huge furrows. The girl with the kaleidoscopic eyes, who was sitting beside Leo, drew a dagger and gave a yell. "Stop!" She commanded. Her voice was so powerful that the whole camp stopped. The night seemed to hold its breath. The Hell Hound froze for a second then it bared its teeth and charged at her. She fell back with a pained grunt. "Piper!" Leo helped her struggle out of the way. Harley turned and ran up the pavilion steps, two at a time, then he turns and jumps onto the Hell Hound's back. His sword digs in between the monster's shoulder blades and it throws its head back and howls. Harley grunts and rolls off its back. His sword is still embedded in its flesh. The Hell Hound snarls at him. "Holy Hephaestus " I hear Harley mutter and then the beast charges. Without thinking, I snatch up the bow and fumble an arrow out of the quiver. I fit the arrow into the bow clumsily and draw the string back. "Harley, move!" I yell. He glances at me and dives out of the way, rolling to avoid the monsters claws. I bring the bow up to my face, and release the string. It should be an impossible shot. The Hell Hound is moving around wildly, thrashing and bucking and slavering but the arrow flies like a shaft of moonlight and buries itself in the Hell Hounds flank. It's back legs buckle. I palm my knives out of their sheathes and run forward, bringing my blades down. As soon as they make contact with the Hell Hounds flesh, it explodes into golden dust that clings to my clothes and clumps in my hair. The whole camp is silent but for the howling and chirruping of monsters in the woods. Then, one by one, all of the campers fall to their knees. Even Harley. But he stares at me in shocked silence. Chiron slowly sinks to his knees, his face dark and unreadable. "All Hail Amaris." He says. I look up and I see it. The silver crescent moon floating above my head. "Daughter of Artimus."