Child of Artemis

Chapter 6

The sound of growling was followed by the sound of somebody screaming. Avalon sat up, rubbing her eyes. Other campers were getting up, wondering what the ruckus was about. Connor was sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth, cradling his injured hand. Selene's fur was standing up on her shoulders and she was baring her teeth at him.

"You scream like a little girl," Travis said, laughing at his brother. "Okay people, tidy up for cabin inspection. Go on. Hop to it," Connor spoke dryly. He then turned and exited the cabin.

The campers set to work making their beds and folding clothes. Avalon left the cabin and went to the restroom. She locked the door to a stall and switched her clothes to her other pair, which had been freshly washed. She folded the clothes and put them in her pack, then swung it over her shoulder and went back to her cabin.

Avalon straightened her bedsheets and folded the top over. Then she placed her pillow above that reached under the bed for the dog beds. One was clean, one had silver fur on it. She went outside and shook it out, then went back inside and placed it under the bed again.

Then, at 8:00, all campers went to the dining pavilion for breakfast, except for Travis who did the cabin inspection.

Avalon and Selene headed to the infirmary, where Nova still lay. 'Are you hungry?' Avalon asked. 'No, not right now,' he replied. Avalon stroked his head, and Selene licked his muzzle. "He sleeps alot," Avalon turned to see Will Solace standing in the doorway. "What did that to him?" Avalon turned back to Nova and said, "We got attacked by drakons,"

"Go back to breakfast. He'll be fine," Avalon stayed by Nova for a minute longer, then went back to the dining pavilion, Selene at her heels.

Sitting down at the Hermes table, she waited a moment as a wood nymph brought her biscuits and gravy with hashbrowns and orange juice. Behind her, the nymph delivered to Selene a plate of hot dogs.

The campers ate and chatted for the rest of breakfast, then at the end of the hour, everyone went where his or her schedule took them. Avalon headed for monster class, held in a clearing in the forest.

Malcolm, second-in-command of the Athena cabin, headed the class."Okay, today's lesson is on sea serpents. At the end of class, we'll go to the canoe lake and try to find one,"

Malcolm continued on, about the monster's origins and how to kill it. An hour later, the boarded a trireme and divided into groups to fight the monsters.

Her partners, Ryan and Dia, were back to back with Avalon and had weapons drawn. A bright red sea serpent burst out of the water, roaring. It launched itself towards them, and Ryan swung his sword at it. It danced out of his reach and roared again.

When it opened its mouth again, Dia threw one of her throwing knives down its throat, and Avalon shot an arrow at the same target. It dove underwater, and the trireme tilted to the side as the serpent smashed into the boat.

Dia slid down the length of the boat and fell into the water. She surfaced, and screamed as she saw the sea serpent coming towards her. She paddled towards the boat, and Ryan reached down to help her.

Then the serpent rammed into the boat again. Ryan tumbled over the edge, but grabbed hold of a piece of wood. Malcolm rushed to help him aboard. The serpent rammed into the trireme, pushing it away from Dia.

It circled around her, roaring. The serpent dove downwards, then came straight up under Dia with jaws open. 'Stop!' Avalon sent her thoughts to the sea serpent. It faltered, then its head surfaced next to Dia. Then it leaped into the air and plunged into the water and swam away.

"What happened?" Ryan asked Dia. "I don't know. One moment it wanted to eat me, the next it was swimming away," Malcolm handed her a towel. "Well, lets just be glad that you didn't end up as its dinner,"