☾ The Child of Artemis ☾

15. Please, Help. I'm a Poor Waif

          We stopped at a nearby clothing store. "Nico, do you know how to style your hair?" Faith asked. I immediately started to braid little pieces. "Yeah."

          "I'll buy some hair ties for you." Faith went into the store. She came out with a twenty pack of black hair ties. I put each hair tie in. That's twenty braids in my hair. "Is it that easy to disguise as a girl?"

          "I guess you have to talk like one? I've never been good at girly dialect. Slay means 'keep up your achievements or something.' OMG is short for 'oh my gosh.' Add 'girl' in sentences. And that's basically all I know."

          "Slay, girl."

          "Yeah like that."

          "OMG, do we really get to join the Hunters of Artemis?"

          "Try to make your voice higher, instead of speaking monotone, and squeal high-pitched.

          I repeated the same sentence and squealed at the end.

          Faith cringed. "Did I do it right?" I asked.

          "If you get a reaction like this, from me, you got an A, at least."

          "Slay, me!"

          "Also, you can be more emotional in disguise."

           "Okay."

          "You also need to zip up your jacket or buy a shirt, so no one can suspect you as a boy.

          It was true that I wore a leather jacket, unzipped, without a shirt. "I'll zip my jacket."

          "Artemis, goddess of the moon, please hear our plea. We want to join the Hunters of Artemis. Faith curled up on the street and whispered, "Pretend you have to sleep on the street."

          I lay down on the cold, hard cement and closed my eyes.

          "Hey, not so fast," a mysterious voice said.

          "Wha?" I mumbled. "I wanna sleep."

          "It's an empousa!" Faith warned, twisting the silver part of Graphititide.

          "A what?" I questioned.

          "They're like vampires!"

          "Oh. I don't have my bow and arrows! They're snapped in half!"

          "I'll have to fight them off. You run!"

          "No, I want to help!"

          "Try to attack physically!"

          I snuck behind the empousa and requested a piggyback ride. "Gimme a piggyback, girl! Slay!"

         She roughly grasped my arms and threw me to the nearest lamppost. My head struck the tough metal.

          Faith was struggling to keep the monster at bay. "Bruh," she called, "are you okay?!"

          I felt ill, yet I nodded and stood up. The world was spinning. "Time to bring out the big guns!" the empousa screamed. "I know your worst weaknesses!" I ran over to see what it was. "Sweet dreams," she patronized, swinging a long metal bar. She missed the first swing, and the bar looked really heavy. "Ugh," the empousa struggled.

          She swung the bar once more. It slammed my head and I almost blacked out, trying not to.

          "Hey!" Faith shouted. "Knock it off!"

          "You mean, 'knock me out!' "

          The swung bar hit Faith's face with a clang, making her glasses fly off. She howled in pain and spat out a tooth. Her nose was bleeding, and so was her mouth. The empousa swung the bar and knocked Graphititide out of Faith's hand. Faith grabbed the bar, but let go and the bar swung the other way, striking Faith's left wrist. I tried to reach my arm out, but fell unconscious.

          I woke up on a different street. T'was arvo, instead of nighttime. The clothing store was nowhere to be seen. Every part of my body ached. Faith looked better. Her chin had a long scar, but her glasses were not broken. "Ambrosia?" she offered two cubes in a Ziploc bag.

          "Ow," I complained and took one. "Wow, this tastes great."

          "Artemis came," Faith explained, "and drove that empousa away."

          "I hear you wanted to shadow the Hunters of Artemis, Nicole." Artemis said.

          Faith's look told me, It's your disguise name. "Yes, please. My sister and I were such poor waifs on the street. We wanted a family of our own, someone to take care of us." I tried to make my eyes well up with tears.

          "Very well. You do not have to take the oath unless you really want to. Have fun, Faith and Nicole."

          "Cheers, mate." I exclaimed to Faith. "We're going to be Hunters of Artemis!"

          "Welcome to the sisterhood!" a girl with short hair, like Faith's, greeted. "I'm Thalia, Artemis's lieutenant."

           "I haven't seen you in a while!" Faith said.

           "G'day, Thalia." I introduced my (disguise) self. "I'm Nicole."

          "I like your hair, Nicole."

           "Thanks. I did it myself."

           "Girls, let us hunt for lunch," Artemis declared.

          "You'll love the Hunters of Artemis," Thalia told Faith and me. "Wait and see."