☾ The Child of Artemis ☾

16. I Am a Hunter of Artemis

          All of the hunters traveled far and wide with Artemis to find some animals to hunt. "Nicole," Artemis insisted, "why don't you make the first shot?"

     Artemis handed me a new bow and arrow set. It was a nicer one than I had owned. "Do I get to keep this?"

          "Of course," Artemis smiled.

          I took a shot right at a bear's heart. It roared in rage as I took more and the others followed. I shot at the bear's head, then its left eye. Faith even took out a boomerang and tossed it, taking all of the arrows out of the bear. In no time, it was dead. All of the hunters carried the bear to the camping site they decided on and skinned it. "Could I keep the hides, somehow?" I asked. "Animal hides are the only clothing source I have."

           "Yes, you may," Artemis replied.

          "Thanks."

          We roasted the meat over a makeshift fire I made and ate it for lunch. "This is really good." Faith commented. "I enjoy being a Hunter of Artemis."

          Thalia grinned at us. "I told you being a Hunter of Artemis is fun!"

          We spent the rest of the day exploring and climbing trees. "Who wants to have a competition?" I requested. Climb the most trees and you win."

          All of the hunters smiled. "Nice idea."

          I climbed my first tree and yelled, "You also have to get as far up as you can!"

          The hunters nodded and continued. I reached the top, climbed back down and continued with the tree next to me. We climbed for about an hour. I won with sixty-five trees climbed. (I climbed up, then down one tree in about a minute.) We hunted for dinner a few hours later, then ate. "How do you like being Hunters of Artemis so far, girls?" Thalia asked Faith and me.

          "I think it's pretty fun," Faith responded, eating her meat.

          "Pretty fun?" I questioned. "It's more than that! You get to hunt and climb trees and eat the meat you hunt with your friends and have fun forever!"

          Thalia laughed. "I'm glad you like it here, Nicole."

          "Yeah," another Hunter agreed, "there are no boys here to annoy you to pieces!"

          I frowned a bit. "I know some boys who aren't annoying..."

          Faith glared at the Hunters who agreed that boys were annoying. "I know a hundred billion boys who aren't annoying!"

          "I bet you can't find at least one boy who isn't annoying," the Hunters said in unison.

          "Boys are actually very funny and you only think they're annoying because of their constant teasing. They don't mean to insult you. They're just playing around."

          "Why did you join the Hunters of Artemis, if you don't think boys are annoying?!"

          "I didn't join. I'm shadowing. I'll join if I want to. Nicole doesn't think boys are annoying, and she's heavily thinking of joining."

          It was actually true. I thought about joining already, and I've only been a Hunter for a few hours. Unfortunately, my dreams have been shattered since the beginning of this huntresses' group. That was millennia, or even billions of years before I was born. Only girls could join and here I am, a boy named Nico McAngelico, disguising as a girl with the alias Nicole McAngelico. "Nicole, do you think boys are annoying?" the Hunters asked.