Page 1 of Artemis' Bow
1
My sword crashes against the wooden staff as I whirl around to block the attack.
“Too slow. Again,” Chiron bellows.
“That staff is a damn menace. It’s like two weapons in one.”
I lunge forward, attacking Chiron with a feint that he blocks easily, bringing the staff around to block my actual strike. He’s too fast but that makes sense, since he has centuries on me.
“The gods will not go easy on you and neither will I.” He strikes quickly, sweeping my legs from beneath me.
“Oof.” All the air explodes out of my mouth as I hit the ground with a thud.
“Too slow.” Chiron holds out a hand and I shake my head, needing a second to catch my breath.
“How is the training going with the others?” I ask, scanning the training field.
The place is empty except for Raven, Jayden, Greyson, and Thad. Which is by design. Chiron never trains us with the other students around because we are far too advanced to spar with them.
“The students who haven’t already left are only showing up for their classes. They aren’t taking any other initiative to prepare themselves for what’s to come.” Chiron sighs.
“More students have left?”
“Yes, and not just those whose godly parent is against us. The students are scared and foolishly think they will be safe in the mortal world.”
I jump up just as the others jog over. Jayden hands me a water bottle with a small smile. Raven glances between me and Chiron with a frown.
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“More students are leaving daily. We have to do something to remind them it’s far more dangerous outside the wards.” I run a hand over my face.
“If they’re against us, it makes sense for them to leave,” Thad says.
“It’s not just them. Some of the students whose parents are on our side are leaving as well.”
Jayden squeezes my shoulder, offering me that small comfort. “We’ve tried to tell them. I don’t know what else we can do to remind them. Some were never attacked before.”
“That doesn’t matter now.” Raven shakes her head. “The monsters aren’t likely to attack the children of Apollo or Aphrodite, but the students whose parents are on our side will be targets.”
“We know that,” Thad says. “But many of them were too weak to catch notice before. They think we’re trying to scare them into fighting with us.”
“I’ll tell them until I’m blue in the face if I have to. They don’t have to fight with us, but the thought of them dying out in the human world doesn’t sit right with me.”
“Me either,” Raven says.
“Agreed,” the others say in unison.
“I guess we should make an emergency announcement.” I turn on my heel.
“I’ll call the students to the dining hall.” Chiron gallops off.
“I just don’t know how to do this,” I mumble as Jayden wraps an arm around me.
“How to do what?” he asks softly.
“How do I rally a bunch of terrified college students into running into battle?” I lean my head on his shoulder.
“We aren’t asking them to race off into battle right now. We have time to train and get them prepared,” Raven says.
