Page 34 of Artemis' Bow
“If you can’t work as a team with everyone, then get the fuck out of here,” Jayden growls.
“You’re putting us with them?” Jake asks with a sneer.
“Yeah, and if you can’t work with them, you can sit this one out, Jake.” Raven glares at her brothers.
Zeke tugs on Jake’s arm and shakes his head at him. “We can work together. We’ll be good.”
After he blew up at the Apollo students for the sun being out in the middle of the night, he hasn’t been the worst of the bullies, so he’s the one I would put in charge of their team.
“Zeke, you’re in charge of Jake, Mia, and Kyle,” Raven says. “You will be going up the coast to the western most temple of Artemis.”
Hopefully, they can just stay out of the way and no one will get hurt. Despite Draven being on Dax’s team, they are the most experienced team after us and that’s why they are going to a location that could actually be important. The others not so much.
“The strongest, most experienced teams are going to the two places that most likely hold the bow or possibly the goddess herself. Artemis is being held captive and that’s why the moon hasn’t risen in days,” I say.
“So, we really are just a distraction,” Mia snarls. “We likely won’t even come across monsters or anything.”
“You need to visit her temple and check it out to be sure. We are sweeping all three to be sure we don’t miss anything.” I scrub a hand down my face.
“I should be going with Jayden. I am more useful than just checking out a temple that’s probably a decoy anyway.” Mia plants her hands on her hips.
“If it was up to me, you would be staying here. Don’t test me, Mia. You are useless in battle. Get over it and Jayden. He will never want you.” I flip my hair over my shoulder.
Mia gasps. “Jayden, are you going to let her talk to me like that?”
“I didn’t hear anything in her statement that wasn’t true. I would have been much harsher than that.” Jayden wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me against his side.
“Yeah, that was nice compared to how she usually talks to you. I would call it a win,” Raven jokes.
Adrian steps forward. “Tensions are high. I think we should take a break so you all can pack and we can gather supply packs for each team. Meet back here after lunch.”
“That’s a fantastic idea.” I nod.
The other two teams disperse, and I sigh with relief. The less time I have to spend around Draven and Mia, the better. Jake was surprisingly quiet today so maybe he won’t be terrible.
“Hopefully they won’t see much conflict,” I say.
“Mia and the others likely won’t have a problem. I’m worried more about Dax and Kira.” Raven slumps into her seat.
“Is it wise to send Draven with them? I’m afraid his ego is going to get them all killed.” I rest my head on Jayden’s shoulder.
“We don’t really have a choice. Chiron approved the people on the teams. I mean, seriously, we didn’t want the other teams in the first place,” Jayden says.
“And to be fair, if anyone is equipped to go on a mission like this, it’s Dax and Draven. They have both stepped up in the past to help even if Draven only hindered us during the Ares mission.” Raven nods.
“We should probably get the normal supply packs together for them like the cards for expenses and things we normally take with us on a trip.”
“We need to stop by the healers’ office to get the elixir for healing just in case.” Jayden eyes me.
“I’m not the only one who ever gets injured during these missions.” I glare at him.
He should know this. He almost died last time. It’s one of my biggest fears and darkest nightmares. It will haunt me for eternity.
“I know, Beth.” He squeezes my hand. “We will need it. At some point, one of the six of us will be injured and need it. This one is the most dangerous of them all. I have no doubt about that.”
“You’re right. You would think knowing who the enemy actually is now would give us a better understanding of what we’re up against, but we’re once again in the dark about everything. Flying blind,” I grumble.
We walk from the courtyard into the admin building, headed for Chiron’s office down the back hall. When we get there, his doors open and he’s talking to Professor Cross.
