𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙱𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚁𝚞𝚗....

𝙸𝚅

"Why did- it- have to- be- Dracaenae!?" Willow panted, swinging her sword again at the monsters.

We had been traveling with Oakley for a week now, and since then we had started encountering more monsters than before. Now instead of having three encounters per week, it was getting close to being once per day.

Oakley was running around, playing his reed pipes, while Willow and I hacked down Dracaenae left and right. Ash and Luna were circling around, occasionally dive bombing one of the monsters to scratch their eyes out. Unfortunately though, it wasn't making much of an impact. Zada was also trying her best by biting and scratching at them but it did nothing since her teeth and nails weren't made of monster killing materials. The best our animal companions could do was scratch out eyes and distract the monsters.

After killing my third Dracaenae I started to get concerned. There shouldn't be this many in one place at once. It's not normal. It was starting to look like the three of us were done for as we were being overwhelmed by monsters, when suddenly, I heard a whizzing sound and then Dracaenae started to drop dead left and right.

Silver arrows rained down on the monsters from my left. I looked over and at first saw nothing other than dark woods, but when I looked closer, I saw a group of young girls in camouflage pants and silvery parkas, all wearing combat boots and gloves. All of them armed with bows and a quiver of arrows. They were shooting their arrows with such perfect accuracy, every single one finding their mark. In moments, every Dracaenae was dead, all of them had disintegrated into dust.

As the dust settled, the girls emerged from the woods. The lead girl looked around the age of twelve, while the girl just behind her looked to be about fourteen. The older girl wore a silver circlet around her head, the other hunters had silver circlets too, but theirs were different than the one worn by the older girl.

"Thank you for helping us, there were far too many Dracaenae for us to take down, we were about to be overwhelmed." Willow thanked the group of girls. "Who are you guys? Sorry, that sounded rude." I apologized.

"Don't worry, it is okay. I am Artemis, and these," She gestured to the other girls, "are my hunters. What are you doing out here young demigods?" Willow and I shared pained glances. "We, um... We don't have homes to go to so we have been wandering the country for the past couple months." I admitted, looking down at my shoes which were very tattered and were beginning to tear.

"Oh dear, I see. As you two are maidens, I offer you the opportunity to join the hunt. To do so though, you must swear off men for all eternity." The goddess addressed us. By now Luna and Ash had settled on our shoulders and Zada was now by Willow's side, waiting for a command. Willow just signaled that things were okay and that she may rest now. The doberman laid down at Willow's feet, but still had her head up, watching the interaction.

The two of us shared a glance, unsure of what to do. "If you are unsure, that is fine. The offer will stand to join as long as you are still maidens. Here." Artemis handed us both cards that explained what being part of the hunt means and how to join. The two of us thanked the goddess and assured her that we will consider accepting her offer.

Oakley cleared his throat, "Not to break up the fun and everything, but we should keep going to get to Camp Half-Blood." Willow and I hung our heads in disappointment, and in doing so, we realized that our clothes were very torn up from the battle, we also had several cuts and bruises from the fight. Willow had a large gash on her right arm and I had one on my thigh.

"Please tell me we have spare clothes and stitches left in our bags." I turned to Willow. She just shook her head sadly. "Lovely," I groaned, "At least it's still dark out, there's a town right there." I sighed. "You up for some lock picking and stealing?" Willow grinned at me. "Always."