The Moon's Shine (PJO)

Chapter 7

"So what do you think?" Artemis asked. There was a hint of nervousness in her voice.

Normally, Percy would've picked up on it. But he was too busy staring at all the luxurious furniture in the humongous castle to notice.

He cleared his throat. "You could've brought me here instead of going with my idea."

"I should have," Artemis agreed. "You humans have the worst ideas."

Once again, Percy was too distracted to take offense. The castle was just too . . . glamorous for his human brain to accept it was real.

And it wasn't just this wing of it that Percy was awed by. The moment Lady Artemis teleported them from the dour, oily Manhattan streets to the inside of her clean and fancy silver palace, Percy couldn't close his mouth—it was just too incredible.

Every room was furnished with fancy paintings and carpets and chandeliers. They all followed a specific, gorgeous silver theme—but all of them looked unique. Unique in a good way. Moreover, the rooms themselves were each the size of a small house with sprawling ceilings, impeccable paint, and so incredibly well furnished that, whenever Lady Artemis led him into another room, he felt like he was in a different house altogether.

It was so amazing that, for the first thirty minutes of the tour, Percy was completely silent, gawking at everything—until Lady Artemis asked him her question, of course. (You couldn't ignore a deity; it was an easy way to get silenced forever.)

Lady Artemis led him through a door into yet another room; it seemed as though the castle had infinite space. 

The room was a living room—the tenth one he'd seen in her palace. There were enough silver couches for an entire army to be comfy—and then some.

In a normal home, a living room of this size would have dozens of TVs spread out all over the place.

However, In the palace of the moon goddess, paintings were in their place.

As Percy entered the room, Lady Artemis suddenly spun around. "If you tell anybody about this, I'll castrate you, cut your head off, and put it on a stake," she threatened.

Percy gulped in fear, but he simply said, "You don't have to worry about me."

Only, when she shot him a terrifying glare he bowed his head respectfully. "Of course I won't, Lady Artemis."

However, Percy was still afraid that he made a huge mistake and would die. He'd heard tales of males who Lady Artemis turned into jackanapes just for meeting her gaze. Percy'd done more than that—he had spent hours with her and no doubt annoyed her to the very end.

So when Lady Artemis burst into a fit of giggles, Percy could only stare at her in shock—a common emotion he'd been experiencing this day.

There were two reasons why:

Firstly, because it was Lady Artemis: the cold goddess who despised males. He'd only seen her smile once—and that was just barely. He couldn't imagine her laughing—that too, giggling. Especially when she was laughing at something that wasn't particularly funny.

And secondly; he didn't expect her to laugh to sound so . . . enticing. It sounded like music—refined, soft, and at the perfect volume.

Lady Artemis soon stopped, and Percy felt himself fill with disappointment. He quickly shook his head. What was he thinking?

"What's wrong?" Lady Artemis had mischievousness dancing in her eyes—something he'd never seen before. "Are you still scared of me?"

Percy didn't know how to respond. He thought the goddess wanted to be feared by males. Was it a trick question?