Page 120 of Artemis' Bow
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An angry shriek fills the air as Kira and I transport directly behind Thad and Draven. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Mia rushes forward, hands balled into fists in some semblance of a fighting stance but not a good one. Kira raises a brow at her and glances at me.
“I think I can handle this one. Get them free because the monsters are already distracted by Mia’s screaming.” Kira squares her shoulders.
“You sure?” I ask.
“No,” Draven barks. “She’s got some kind of upgrade. She’s stronger now.”
“What?” I ask, shocked.
“Awww, did you and your little band of rejects think you’re the onlygods touched?” She sneers.
“Who the fuck would do that for a pathetic excuse of a demigod like you?” I ask.
They seriously made a girl who cares more about boys and what she’s wearing to the next big event more powerful? Arethey dumb or were they misinformed about the type of person she is? Nah, they weren’t misinformed. Just stupid.
“What are you going to do? Magically give me a manicure?” Kira laughs and winks at Draven. “I’ve got this, babe.”
“Okay,” I say.
Draven thrashes against his bindings, screaming. “Stop, Kira. Don’t do this.”
“What is going on?” I ask Draven as I crouch behind him and untie him.
“She was how they caught us. They have been watching you guys and made Mia sacrifice a monster so she could become more powerful. She has a different magic now.”
“How did all of this turn to shit so quickly?” I mutter. “Like Mia is the last person I would makegods touched. She’s reckless, self-centered, and has zero fighting experience.”
I release him from the bindings and Draven springs to his feet, rushing forward, but Kira isn’t in trouble. Even a supercharged Mia is no competition against Kira’s gadgets and fighting ability.
I crouch behind Thad and whisper, “What the fuck happened?”
“They came up the south slope of the hill but someone or something made them invisible until they were on top of us. Olly was out patrolling, looking for another way in. As far as I can tell, they haven’t found him yet,” Thad says in a rush.
“It will be okay. We have Orion and he’s going with Jayden to get Artemis out.” I scan the area as the ropes finally slip free.
Thad jumps to his feet, calling his trident to him before pointing it to something behind me. I drop to a crouch and roll out of the way, closer to where Adrian is also tied up. Adrian’s eyes widen and he shakes his head.
“Beth, watch out to your left.”
I roll right and call my sword, lifting it in time to parry the strike Zeke lands on me. I shove him back, but he has the upper hand here because I’m on the fucking ground. He hacks at my blade with eyes devoid of any kind of recognition.
“Shit.” I roll to the side and jump to my feet, only to have to duck to avoid his swing aimed for my neck.
I’m just trying to subdue him, but Zeke is trying to kill. This just got exceedingly more complicated. The other team is fighting against us and the distraction hasn’t worked as well as I had hoped. The monsters are happy to let us fight it out between ourselves.
“We need a better distraction,” I say to Thad.
“This was a distraction?” Thad asks.
“Yeah, we’re actually supposed to be the distraction while Jayden gets Orion to the temple.” I dodge Zeke’s next strike. “I thought he was a son of Ares; why is he so sloppy?”
“Let’s focus. How big of a distraction do we need?” Thad asks.
I spin and kick Zeke in the chest and he stumbles back, dazed. “There are hundreds of monsters, Thad. As big as we can get.”
