The Angel Prophecy (original)

16) the moon's birthday

Elizabeth:

It was the moon goddess's birthday.

All the excitement from earlier in the day had increased ten fold. Everyone was dressed beautifully in white. A band was playing music on the stage. The smell of strange foods wafted into the air. Bunches of white flowers were on every lamp post. Fireflies joined the festivities as their light joined with the string lights strung from the buildings. It was truely a sight.

On the way back, Lilly had explained to me the difference between Artemis and the moon goddess. Artemis, she said, is the goddess of the moon in terms of Greek and Roman mythology. She, like Apollo, brings the moon around the Earth. But more importantly, she is the goddess of the hunt. The werewolves will always pray to her before hunting and after a kill. When necessary, she acts as the moon goddess's messenger, kind of like Gabriel is to God. She says without Artemis, the moon would be floating around space in pieces.

Apparently, the moon goddess, Theia, was born when the moon crashed into the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. She was young and she hardly spent time on the moon because she was so fascinated with life on Earth. Whenever she was on the moon she would try to create life, but never managed to do it sustainably. During these times the moon had a wild orbit as it followed the moon goddess around the Earth. And when she was on the moon, it would float away if God had not asked the young Artemis to practice her moon powers and real it in, knowing that his sister would be devastated if she never got to at least see Earth again. Now, just like Apollo and Helios, Artemis and Diana, Artemis' Roman counterpart, rotate pulling the moon every phase cycle.

At midnight, the lights dimmed, everyone crowded around the stage, and Lilly began to lead a song for the moon goddess:

Moon, high and deep in the sky
Your light sees far,
You travel around the wide world,
and see into people's homes.
Moon, stand still a while
and tell me where is my dear.
Tell him, silvery moon,
that I am embracing him.
For at least momentarily
let him recall of dreaming of me.
Illuminate him far away,
and tell him, tell him who is waiting for him!
If his human soul is, in fact, dreaming of me,
may the memory awaken him!
Moonlight, don't disappear, disappear!

As soon as the singing began, the same feeling that led me to the moon goddess temple washed over me and I began to sing the song just as whole heartedly as the werewolves around me. When it was over every single werewolf shifted into their wolf form and howled at the moon in a beautiful harmony.

As the party progressed, and the children went to bed, it turned into something very similar to what you would see at Apollo's club in Delos. The band began to play erotic and sensual music and the dancing followed. Many couples snuck off into the woods.

And then, something dreadful happened.

"Hey! Let the angel sing!" Someone drunkenly shouted. Many hoots of agreement aounded throughout the crowd and Lilly, much to my disgrace, grabbed me by the arm and began to drag me up the stage.

"What? No! I don't sing!" I hissed at her.

"Oh sure you do! Every angel sings!" She exclaimed and continued dragging me.

Before I knew it, I had replaced the band on the stage and everyone was watching me with expectant eyes. The worst part of it wasn't that I even had to sing. And it certainly wasn't that I had to use magic to play the instruments like I'd seen Azazel and Apollo do. No, it was the fact that I'd have to sing something just as, if not more, sexual as the last song. I had absolutely no experience in the area.

I scanned the crowd hoping to find some sort of idea from watching the couples in front of me. And then it hit me: mates! I could take what I knew about mates, and what I'd seen here tonight, and surely put something together that would meet their expectations... right?

I was glad Raphael and Uriel had taught me the basics of musical magic. Although I've never done something on this scale, I have played a couple tunes on guitar and piano before.

I took a deep breath and focused my energy on the instruments behind me. And soon enough, the music began.

Okay so maybe I lied. I do sing. Kaylee was way into music, she's even in her own band, and we used to sing songs together. But singing in front of a crowd? I never got that far.

"....So many mornings, I woke up confused
In my dreams, I do anything I want to you
My emotions are naked, they're taking me out of my mind...."

This was beyond my wildest dreams. In fact, this wasn't even my wildest dream. It was Kaylee's. God if she could see this. She would lose her mind.

".... Right now, I'm shameless
Screamin' my lungs out for ya...."

I couldn't watch the crowd anymore. It was far too awkward for me. I let my eyesight drift to the treeline in front of me. Hopefully I won't see anything nasty there.

"... Show me you're shameless
Write it on my neck, why don't ya?..."

I nearly chocked on my own tongue at what I did see.

____________________________________

The song all the wolves sang for the moon is the English derivation of a song in the Czech opera "Rusalka" by Antonín Dvořák. The translation may not be entirely precise, but I did my best. To all my readers who know Czech, please correct me on the translation.

Here are the original lyrics:

Mesiku na nebi hlubokem
Svetlo tve daleko vidi,
Po svete bloudis sirokem,
Divas se v pribytky lidi.
Mesicku, postuj chvili
reckni mi, kde je muj mily
Rekni mu, stribmy mesicku,
me ze jej objima rame,
aby si alespon chvilicku
vzpomenul ve sneni na mne.
Zasvet mu do daleka,
rekni mu, rekni m kdo tu nan ceka!
O mneli duse lidska sni,
at'se tou vzpominkou vzbudi!
Mesicku, nezhasni, nezhasni!

In this chapter Eliya finally puts her angel voice to use and sings "Shamless" by Camila Cabello!

As I've stated before in regards to other songs, credit it due to the original songwriters and composers for both of these songs; however, the characters in this book do sing them as their own songs, or in the case of the moon song, their own ritual.

________________
That is all,
~Ez