Page 125 of Artemis' Bow
Orion clears his throat. “What happens to me now?”
“I don’t know.” Artemis sighs. “That will have to be up to my father. My only hope is that he will need every person at his disposal for the coming war and he won’t make you go back yet.”
“This is so sad,” I whisper to Raven. “Why do they have to be apart?”
“I don’t know, B. It sucks because you can see they truly care for one another.”
“We will go see my father after I have a chat with my little sister and her friends.” Artemis squeezes Orion’s hand.
“Wait a second, did anyone ever find Olly?” I ask.
Adrian blinks and steps forward. “That was weird. My father just spoke to me. He said he pulled Olly out of the chaos because he wasn’t meant to be there; he has another path in this war.”
“I wish I had a different role to play,” I grumble.
Jayden places his hand on my hip and squeezes it gently. “I wish you did too.”
“Oh well, what do we do next?” I ask.
“Oh, give you a gift and take you back to the academy.” Artemis grins.
Please tell me it’s another charm that does something seriously cool and not something that’s going to be a problem. Artemis loves to fuck with me and ask me to do things that are stupid and dangerous. It’s because of her that we becamegods touchedin the first place.
“What gift?” I ask with more trepidation in my voice than I would like to admit.
“Don’t be like that, little sister. I give great gifts. And this is a two for one.” She holds out her hand.
A charm of a bow and arrow rests in her palm. I sigh in relief, seeing the charm, but I’m still reluctant to touch it.
“What does it do?” I ask.
I gingerly grasp the charm and add it to the large collection of them. Artemis has a sly grin on her face that makes me even more nervous.
“It will call my hounds to you in time of need and as long as you wear it, your aim will be true and your strikes deadly,” Artemis says.
“That’s it. There’s no crazy catch or anything?” I ask.
“Why would there be a catch?” Artemis asks.
“Did Alpheus erase your memories in the last week? Everything you have asked me to do has had a catch.” I throw my hands up in the air.
She does remember the lion, right? What I had to do for her to rescue him even though she could have gotten him out all on her own.
“Name one time.” Artemis crosses her arms.
“Oklahoma City Zoo. The lion. You didn’t actually need my help getting the lion out of that enclosure,” I say.
“That was Apollo’s doing. He needed that to happen for some reason.” Artemis shrugs.
“Of course he did.”
“Abby, Beth. We met Abby in the chaos, remember?” Jayden says.
“The tiny seer. Yup, her poor mom was terrified and running constantly. I cursed Apollo for that little girl getting such a dangerous gift so young.” I tap my foot.
“Cursing me is a bit uncalled for, don’t you think?” Apollo asks.
“No, I don’t think so.” I narrow my gaze on him.
