The Hunters of Artemis: The Return of the Hunters

Chapter 13: Deja Vu In All Its Glory

The next morning, we set off again, taking down camp in minutes. Surprisingly, we hadn't met a single monster yet, which I hadn't at all expected. However, there were some other monsters that were more difficult to kill.

For instance, the anxiety that was eating away at me about my mother. It killed me not knowing where she was, or if she was safe. I didn't even know if I would be safe for the next few days.

I was alone with seven other people I had only known for a month (Jack and Anna) and a few days (Lyra, Atlanta, Robyn, Hannah), and I was on a life or death quest to find my kidnapped mother.

Now, many of you might be thinking: when are we getting to the good stuff?

Well, you won't have to wait long. The drama has just begun.

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"So... Here we are..." Robyn said, not exactly excited to see the town hall of Gray Birch again. It was huge, with big, golden letters. There weren't many people meandering around, but most likely because school and work was still in session.

"Um... Where do we start?" Hannah asked, her short red hair gleaming in the sunlight.

Everyone looked at me. I shuffled my feet, twitching my fingers. "Um... Well, maybe we can ask around to see if there have been any strangers in town lately. Or, first, we should find a place to stay for the time being."

The Hunters exchanged glances. Atlanta looked to me. "I think we know a place."

Jack, Anna and I all looked at each other. It appeared the Hunters knew more about this place than we had originally thought.

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A few minutes later, we were in the lobby of a small hotel called the Gray Birch Hotel. I remembered Lyra saying that Mom had joked about it a lot when they were first here and I felt a longing for my mom again.

Lyra and Robyn were at the front, paying and talking to a young woman with a bright smile and dark brown hair. 

She appeared to be about twenty, and didn't look like she had been working very long. Her name tag said: Rachel Shaw-Norbash. Lyra looked at it and smiled slightly. Then she said to her, "Hi, we're from out of town. We've just come for the weekend. Can we have... four rooms?"

The woman, Rachel, smiled and nodded. "Sure. Four rooms for two nights?" she confirmed. Lyra nodded. "That would be four hundred dollars."

Wow. That's a lot of money. But, then, I calculated it, and realized it was super cheap. It was only fifty dollars a night. Multiply that by four for each of the rooms, then by two, for each of the nights, yeah, it was four hundred dollars. How would we pay for all that?

Someone nudged me in the arm. "Hey, Rhea." Anna gave me a small smile. "You okay? You're staring off into space."

I shook my head. "Yeah. I'm fine."

I looked over and saw Robyn counting some money out of a giant wad of cash to give to the young woman. I whistled. "Wow. They're loaded."

Jack joined us. "Yeah. I was talking with Hannah. Apparently, the money just... reappears once it's used. It can't run out. Some sort of magic, apparently."

Anna narrowed her eyes. "A Hunter, a girl sworn to never fall in love, was talking with you, a boy?"

He stiffened. "Um, yeah. She was nice and all."

I saw Anna's face contort into a slight grimace. Then I remembered her huge crush on him. "Um, you realize that since she's a Hunter, you have absolutely no chance, right?"

Jack chuckled lightly. "Yes. Yes, I know." I saw in his face that he was hiding something, but decided to let it go.

"So, girls and guy," Lyra interrupted, stepping into our little triangle/circle thing. "We have bought out four rooms. One for Robyn and I; one for Hannah and Atlanta; one for Rhea and Anna; and one for Jack. We're up on the second floor."

For some reason, she had a bemused expression plastered on her face, along with a small smile.

"Why are you smiling?" Jack asked.

The smile fell away and was replaced with a slight frown. "What do you mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "I mean that you were smiling."

"No I wasn't. Anyway, let's go." With that, she turned away, smacking Anna and I with her long blonde hair.

Jack snickered at us. Anna kicked him in the shin. "Ow!" he yelped.

"Nice goin'," Atlanta called out from the other side of the lobby.

"It wasn't my fault," Jack protested.

"Sure. Sure," she replied, walking towards the hallway that led to the first floor of rooms. I giggled and followed her.

When we got up to the top of the second flight of stairs, I saw Atlanta and Hannah take out their room keys and swipe them through the scanner; their room was first.

After that came Lyra and Robyn's, then mine and Anna's, then finally Jack's. He stuck his tongue out in a childish way, saying, "I get a room to my ooooowwn. I get a room too my ooooowwn."

I rolled my eyes at him and swiped my card to open the door. Inside were two queen sized beds, a dresser with a television on top, a bedside table in between the two beds, and a door that led to, I had guessed, a bathroom. 

The room was painted a sky blue, with one thick white line spanning across the middle of each wall. Inside the thick line were black paintings of animals. Like someone had stenciled them onto the white. I saw deer, dogs, cats, eagles, fish, frogs, and other animals that I couldn't name from the silhouette. They were all beautifully done, though.

I flopped onto my back on the soft, downy blankets and closed my eyes. I'm coming Mom. I'll find you.

Opening my eyes and turning to see what time it was, I then noticed that there another sticky note on the bedside table. I leapt up and snatched the paper off of the table. 

Well done, girl

You're on your way

Ask around

See what they say