This Never Happened (Olympus Drive Chronicles)

Part 3 - I do not kill Bambi's mother

By the time Juno and I make our way back to Winfell it's well after dark and we're both punchy from exhaustion. After three detours of tracking that led absolutely nowhere, I for one am sick, tired, and ready for a shower.

"It's us!" Juno shouts to a pack of baying hounds. A woman runs up, quieting the dogs then hugging Juno. They're about the same height, and both raven haired, though this woman is lithe, with a small heart shaped face as opposed to Juno's strong jaw and thick cheeks.

"Hugh, you've met Luna," Juno says, hugging her sister.

"Hi, please don't shoot me."

"That happened once," she says, hugging me too.

"Once was enough," bow and arrow happy child. She's big now though, not big, but grown. She's wearing short jean shorts, practical boots, and a flannel over a tight black tank top that doesn't properly cover a black sports bra. Around her neck she wears an arrow choker, and then a longer crescent moon pendant necklace.

"Dara texted you were coming, this is going to be fun," she skips back to hug her sister again. I notice from her waist hangs a large knife. She's also holding a knife.

"Yeah. fun," I say, following them back into the pool of light from the house motion lights.

"You guys can go inside and get settled I'm sure you've had a long day," Luna goes back to a table where she is butchering a deer. A very large deer.

"Yeah we hiked in---um—," Juno is looking at the deer.

"Is there anyway that is NOT the deer we were looking for?" I ask, pointing to the carcass.

"None whatsoever," Juno says, wincing.

"What---Dad sent HIM after the hind?" Luna asks.

"Yeah, it's one of my dumb tasks," I say.

"Well nobody told me that," Luna says.

"He's supposed to kill it," Juno sighs, "Dad and Hector are giving him his freedom if he can prove he's normal and do all this dumb stuff."

"Well somebody should have told me that he needed to do it!" Luna says, "Oh well, whatever."

"Not whatever! I would like to complete the goals so I can have this over with," I sigh.

"Well, I can tell them you killed it. Happy?" Luna asks.

"Um---will that work?" I ask.

"I won't tell," Juno shrugs.

"I won't either. I don't care. I'll say you did it if that makes everyone happier. I don't give a shit," Luna says.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah. Super don't care," Luna says, shrugging, "Go inside. I made your rooms up. We leave in two days."

"What---leave—leave for what?" I ask, weakly.

"The next thing," Juno says.

"Boar hunt—it's gonna be fun, everyone is going---oh don't look at me like that. We're not making YOU hunt it. It's not like the lion thing. You just have to kill it, finish it off. We'll hunt it together."

"Oh. Okay," I resist thinking that that won't be that bad. It probably will be. But who am I to judge?

We go inside. It's more of a lodge than a cabin, easily 5,000 square feet, with two hallways of rooms overlooking a massive foyer. Juno gives me directions in hushed tones, as she informs me the rest of the house is asleep. Juno provides me with a key to my room, which is opposite hers, then pushes me in it when I was just standing there having personal problems.