Page 81 of Artemis' Bow
The flames die out and leave nothing but ash behind where the clothes were only seconds ago.
“Your magic is growing again. We figured something like that might happen.” Jayden shrugs.
“But I didn’t even do it consciously.” I turn my hands around, staring at the palms and then the backs of them as if they are some foreign entity.
“We’ll figure it out. Don’t stress yourself out about it.” Jayden squeezes my shoulder.
Once dressed and the ash cleaned up, we head down the stairs and out to the front patio where the others all sit waiting for us.
“We ready to go?” I ask.
Raven hands me my sword with a grin. “I cleaned the ichor off for you.”
“Thanks, bestie.” I touch the shield charm Ares gave me and my sword disappears into the ether.
“Whoa, that’s a cool trick,” Dominic says.
“It’s the charm. Courtesy of the god of war when we helped him out a while back.” I shrug.
“You probably have a thousand stories I wouldn’t understand but would be fascinating to hear,” Dominic says with a chuckle.
“If only I could tell you,” I say. “Flip this and call for Hermes when you find your brother.”
I hand the coin over to him and turn to the others, waving for them to get moving. We need to get to San Antonio and face whatever new fresh hell awaits us there.
20
My knee bounces and I fidget in my chair the whole twelve-hour drive from Tuscan to San Antonio.
No matter how many times I’ve asked him, Adrian won’t tell me anything about his vision, just that we’re running out of time. We need to be at this place in the morning so at least we will have some time to rest.
“Beth, you need to calm down.” Jayden pats my knee.
I glance down at the offending appendage and grimace. We’re running out of time, and he seriously thinks that telling me to calm down is going to help matters. He has met me before, right?
Raven sits forward between the front seats. “Jayden, my friend, you do realize telling a woman to calm down is the quickest way to get kicked in the balls, yes?”
“Haha, Raven. I’m trying to soothe her. Shut up.” Jayden shakes his head.
“Being told to calm down isn’t soothing,” I mumble.
“See? You’re just making things worse for yourself, buddy.” Raven grins but I can’t muster one in return.
The prickle on the back of my neck intensifies and I glare up at the bird circling the vehicle. It’s constantly watching, waiting… for what, I don’t know. Is it friend or foe? I have no clue and that’s the only reason I haven’t zapped it out of the sky.
“Holy shit, that came out of nowhere,” Raven gasps.
She points her finger to the left window and about a half mile away across what appears to be a cornfield is a huge tornado. I clench my hands into fists so I don’t reach for my charm. That is not a normal reaction to seeing a tornado, but when you’ve met Typhoon and heard reports that Tartarus has been breached, you tend not to react naturally to a tornado.
“It’s just a tornado, baby,” Jayden says.
“I can’t help reacting to weather.” I glance at him, then the sky.
Everything having to do with random patterns, I’ve found that out in the last several months. I can’t trust the weather. Which sounds odd but the gods control the weather and a good many of them aren’t to be trusted.
“Are you sure it’s not Typhon?” Adrian asks.
His gaze is narrowed on the huge tornado. It’s not uncommon for Texas as far as I’ve learned but we can never be too careful.
