Page 30 of Artemis' Bow
There’s always a but coming with Adrian’s visions.
“I can’t tell if Artemis is there or not. Something powerful is blocking her from my vision and the world is going to collapse if we don’t get to her soon.” Adrian rubs his face.
“So just another Tuesday?” I ask. “Wait, is today even Tuesday?”
“I don’t even know what month we’re in at this point. If the sun never sets, do the days or months even pass as normal?” Adrian asks. “The phases of the moon are gone, so how do we know anything?”
“We need to stop the existential crisis and start planning,” Jayden says.
“We need to talk to Chiron. He’s in charge of the wards now. He keeps us safe, so he needs to know what’s happening.”
“Agreed, plus he’ll want to know that his favorite sparring partner is gone,” Jayden teases.
“Whatever. Are we going to see him?” I grumble.
Jayden jumps to his feet and holds out a hand for me to take. I grip his hand and allow him to pull me against his body as he helps me up.
“Don’t be mad, I was only teasing.” He presses his lips to my forehead.
Forehead kisses are the best kisses, so I beam up at him as we all head toward the admin building. My hands sweat and nervesrack my body as I worry my lip about what we could be facing this time. Will we all make it out of this alive?
Adrian said something powerful is blocking him from seeing Artemis. This could be a trap set by Apollo, but we don’t have a choice but to follow the lead. If we don’t, the world could have a catastrophic end and then the queen wins, and the rest of the gods will be destroyed.
No, we have to do this. Our very survival depends on this one way or the other.
“What else do you know?” I ask Adrian.
“Obviously, it has to be us to go to the temple.” He shrugs. “There’s a powerful force keeping the goddess hidden and we are going close to New Orleans. That’s the only impressions I got other than doom and gloom if we fail. More catastrophic weather events and old allies will help us at some point but those are just impressions.”
“Shit, that’s actually a lot more than the visions have given us in the past,” I say.
“Which is why I think we should be overly cautious,” Jayden says. “It could be Apollo giving us a false trail or false sense of hope.”
“Jayden isn’t wrong, but I don’t think this vision came from my father. It felt different.” Adrian shakes his head.
“Different how?” I ask.
“It felt like it came from someone or a group of ancients far older than my father. Though something was blocking even the ancient force, so that’s not good at all.” Adrian glanced at me warily.
Raven pipes in. “Could it be from the crazy old ladies?”
“Fuck, Raven, don’t call the fates that,” I snap at her. “What if they take offense and royally screw the world over?”
“They won’t do that. They like you. Why else would they keep showing up in Barstow and beating the crap out of idiots with their canes every time we’re there if they didn’t?”
“Hey,” Jayden says.
“You were being an idiot when she faced the Minotaur.” Raven raises a brow at him.
Jayden sighs and nods, making me giggle. My bestie is no nonsense and has no problem putting the guys in the academy in their place and it’s hilarious when they simply accept that she’s a badass. Even Jayden accepts it.
“Fine, that’s fair, but do you think the fates would really intervene?” Jayden asks.
“It’s possible,” Adrian mumbles, eyes widening. “She never beat me with her cane.”
“That’s because you’re not an idiot,” I say with a beaming smile.
“Hey.” Jayden pulls me close and nips my ear in retaliation. “Brat.”
