Page 131 of Ares' Shield
The doors open and we all exit into the lavish hall and wander to our room. Double doors stand at the end of the hall with our room number on the wall.
The room is similar in its modern interior to the MGM loft we stayed in. Black couches fill the living area and I move quickly to them and slump onto one. Jayden hands me my bag and I rifle through it to find the conch shell.
I pull the heavy shell from the bag and turn it around in my hand. I will forever be grateful to the Naiad for this amazing gift.
“Goddess Artemis,” I say clearly into the shell and it vibrates in my hand.
Mist curls up in front of me and a warrior stands before me with a bow, launching arrows at something. “Artemis? Are you okay?”
“Beth? This isn’t the best time.”
“Where are you? You were supposed to meet us in Denver.” I scoot forward in my seat.
“I’m in Nebraska.” She fires another arrow. “More monsters are attacking. These ones are particularly savage.”
“What do you need? I thought you were going to tell us where we need to go.”
Fuck, if she’s too busy with monsters somewhere we can’t go, where the hell do we go from here?
“You defeated the bulls?” Artemis asks.
“Yes, we have the creepy horns to prove it.” I shudder.
I still don’t understand why Greyson brought them with us.
“Good. Bring them to me in Omaha,” Artemis says and the mist clears.
“What the fuck?” I ask, turning to the others.
“Is Nebraska even on our way?” Raven flops on the couch across from me.
“Artemis understands how dire this is. I don’t think she would ask us for help if it wasn’t on our way.” I scrub a hand down my face.
Draven huffs. “Are we even sure it’s monsters and not humans? She did ask you to release her lions from the monster plus humans.”
“She wouldn’t have us come help her kill humans, idiot.”
I’ve lost all patience with the words that come out of his mouth.
Jayden rubs my shoulders. “I think we all need to rest. You lost a lot of blood today and we are all beat down from the fight.”
“Artemis sounded like she needed help now though.” I chew my lip.
What if we decide to rest and something bad happens to her? What about her hunters? Are they with her? Why would she need us if she has them?
“We aren’t going to help anyone if we don’t get some sleep.”
He’s right. I slump back on the couch as someone knocks on the door. Raven has her ax in her hand in a second.
“Easy, Raven, it’s probably room service.” I hop off the couch, but Jayden holds a hand out and goes to answer the door himself.
“We didn’t order room service.” Raven growls.
“The manager said they were sending stuff to apologize for that bitch’s rudeness.” I glance pointedly at the ax in her hand.
Jayden opens the door and a man walks in with a cart, several domed dishes sitting on the top. I raise an eyebrow at Raven and the ax vanishes from her grasp.
“You can just leave it there, thank you.” Jayden pulls some human cash from his pocket and hands it to the man before closing the door behind him.
