Page 12 of Artemis' Bow
“She is. I believe she’s been kidnapped in her weakened state.” Hermes rubs his eyes.
“Who would have kidnapped her, though? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“There have been men throughout the millennia who have tried to best the huntress and failed to get what they want. In ancient times, virginity was a virtue and many men wanted Artemis’ virtue for themselves.”
Raven shoots up off the couch. “Are you telling me some creep kidnapped her because she shot him down millennia ago?”
“I’m not entirely certain that’s what happened. She could be hiding out at one of her temples until the dust settles and you find her item of power, but that’s unlikely.”
“I doubt even if she was in hiding, she would stop the moon from rising.” I shake my head. “She’s not just hiding; she’s been taken.”
“Who has enough power to kidnap and restrain Artemis, though?” Raven asks.
“It would have to be another god. Do we think Apollo could be behind this?” Jayden wraps an arm around my waist.
“She would see Apollo coming a mile away. They are twins of equal power,” Hermes says.
“Hold on a sec,” Raven says. “Did you say one of her temples? I thought there was just the one in Ephesus.”
Hermes cocks his head to the side. “What would make you think that? Artemis was a beloved goddess of the ancient world, rivaling the popularity of Aphrodite. She had several temples dedicated to her throughout Greece.”
“Fuck, this complicates things even more. Damn it.” I flop back on the couch with an arm over my eyes.
“It’s good that we know this now, Beth. We might have made a terrible shortsighted mistake if we didn’t have this information.” Jayden squeezes my hip.
“If it helps, the temple at Ephesus was a favorite of Artemis’ and the official temple of Artemis.” Hermes shrugs.
The messenger god actually shrugged like a college student. If this wasn’t such a serious conversation that would almost be funny.
“So, how many temples are we talking here and where in Greece were they?” Jayden asks.
“You do realize these temples are in Greece, correct?” Hermes asks.
“Probably not. They could be like the other temples that we have found through our travels. The fountain of Delphi was in the middle of the mountains in Arizona,” I say.
“You think all the temples from the ancient world just up and moved to the US? That seems unlikely. Probably just the ones the usurpers plan to use against us. The amount of powerit would take to pull off something like that would be immense.” Hermes taps the arm of the chair.
“Is someone even more powerful helping the queen?” I ask in horror.
“Not necessarily. They could be pooling their collective power to pull off this atrocity,” Hermes says.
“Let’s say they only brought over temples they plan to use. That doesn’t explain the fountain of Delphi or the giant ugly snake,” I point out.
“Giant snake? I may know what this means. The snake was said to guard the heart of Gaia. Over the centuries as advancement began and new civilizations and empires rose to power, Gaia would move her heart to the new empires.”
“So, the snake and the stupid rhyming fountain were never actually a part of this and just bad fucking timing?” Raven throws up her hands.
“That’s fucked,” I say.
“That may be the case. The wrong place at the wrong time,” Hermes agrees.
“So, say they are only bringing back the temples they plan to use. Only one of Artemis’ temples will have been moved to the US which makes the situation even trickier,” I say, rubbing my eyes.
If we go to the wrong temple, then we could doom the world to a catastrophic weather event. I run my clammy hands on my jeans. The information overload is making everything worse.
It couldn’t just be easy to find the damn item of power. Now we have to pick the correct temple and face an unknown entity who’s strong enough to restrain the best hunter the world has ever seen.
“I still think the temple of Ephesus is your best bet, but without an oracle, we won’t be of much help to you on Olympus.” Hermes stands.
