Page 107 of Artemis' Bow
“Raven, do you think you have a battle ax or something that would do the trick in this?” I ask.
“You’ve seen the size of that guy, right?” Raven scoffs.
Car doors slam and Dax and team jog over to us. “What’s going on?”
“You see the two giants fighting?” I ask, incredulous.
“Well, yeah, obviously, but why’d we stop?” Dax asks.
“You see the giant man? We think that’s the hunter Orion and the other is the Scorpio constellation. If Orion loses this battle, Scorpio is going to rampage through this city.” I plant my hands on my hips.
“So, what do we do?” Dax asks.
“Do you have an ax that the big man can wield?” I ask.
Dax shakes his head but turns to Kira. “You got something, babe?”
“I might but you guys are going to need to distract Scorpio for a few minutes.” She chews her lip nervously.
“Draven and Olly, you guys stay with Kira and protect her,” Dax orders.
“With my life,” Draven says, bowing his head slightly.
“I don’t need protection. I need time. Buy me as much as you can,” Kira snaps.
Draven is staring at her like she’s unhinged. I nearly laugh when she snarls at him and races to the trunk of the car. I love my friend so much.
“You guys have a spitfire on your hands. I can’t wait for the drama to come after this is all over.” I cackle.
“Let’s just kill this thing and get back on the road.” Jayden squeezes my shoulder.
“Agreed. We may need Orion, so if we can stop Scorpio from killing him, then we need to do everything we can.” My shoulders slump.
The food restored my energy but without sleep, I’m still not at my best. The road to Hades really is paved with good intentions. I figured if we just got there, I could sleep for a while and be refreshed for the battle ahead, but I was wrong. Now, we are facing yet another battle and I’m just tired.
“How do we even kill a constellation?” Dax asks.
“It’s basically been reformed to its mortal body, I would guess?” I say. “That’s what I think happened when we fought the giant crab Cancer constellation.”
“You guys have some crazy kills under your belts. I’m slightly jealous,” Dax says.
“Only slightly?” Raven teases. “You’re insanely jealous of all my stories of battles.”
The ground rumbles and we all sway, catching ourselves before we stumble. I turn to locate the source of the commotion and Orion on his ass, his huge hands holding the stinger away from his face.
“We have to stop this, now.” I reach for the lightning bolt charm and my whip unfurls in my hand.
I snap the whip out and my crackling white lightning runs the length of it. From the shore, I crack the whip across the scorpion’s head. It shrieks in pain and anger as it turns its beady gaze on me.
“C’mon, you big ugly bully. Focus on me. I’m going to take you out,” I yell at the creature.
Orion’s gaze snaps to mine and an expression of horror masks his features. “Young hero, do not do this. The great scorpion is too strong for you to handle.”
“I’ve got this, I promise.” I smirk.
Jayden steps next to me, his shadows swirling dangerously around his body and his shadow sword drawn. “What’s the plan?”
“Who said I have a plan?” I ask. “I just needed his focus off Orion.”
