Child of Artemis

Chapter 17

Aron waved his free hand, and a dark portal opened. He stepped through, and the portal closed.

Aron stepped out of the other side of the portal. Looking around, Avalon saw they were in a forest, not unlike the one in camp, but it wasn't in Camp Half-Blood.

"Stop!" someone yelled. "Put her down!" another voice shouted. Aron whipped around as an arrow flew past his head. Ivan and Aurora shouted insults and threats at him. Taylor aimed another arrow that stuck, quivering, in his forehead. Aron angrily pulled it out.

"How did you-" Aron started. "Oh, we hitched a ride." Taylor said casually. She unsheathed something. At first, Avalon thought it was a dagger, but it was a golden tusk. Taylor tossed it end over end, then threw it at Aron. It struck his wrist. Instinctively, he dropped Avalon and covered the small scratch with his other hand.

Ivan flew up and caught her. Taylor and Aurora came over to see how she was doing. "What, you thought I'd forget to come back? That should diminish his power. He'll still be pretty strong, though." Taylor said.

Then Aurora screamed. Ivan and Taylor whipped around and drew their swords. Aron's hand was already out of reach, with Aurora in his palm.

Avalon groaned and rolled over. She gathered her arms and legs beneath her and heaved herself to a standing position with the help of a tree.

She reached back and pulled out her bow and gasped. The bow had broken in the middle and was now unusable. She unslung her quiver. Most of the arrows had broken as well.

Avalon looked up in time to be blinded by a flash of white light striking Aron in the chest, sending him stumbling back a few feet.

She saw Aurora say something, and Aron released her, and she scrambled up his arm and onto his shoulder. She stabbed him in the ear with her sword and held on to a lock of hair as Aron roared and shook his head in an attempt to shake her off.

Taylor shot arrow after arrow. Her quiver seemed to have an infinite supply of them. After a few minutes, Aron's arms looked like a porcupine.

Aron reached up and plucked Aurora from his shoulder and held her in his grip again after discarding her sword. "Don't move, or the girl dies. Understood?" he threatened.

 Taylor stopped shooting arrows and Ivan let the electricity sizzling between his fingers die.

"Stop," Avalon said, her throat dry. She now understood the prophecy. The four questers had gone to Athens. What they found didn't lead to somewhere in Greece. Ivan had led them to the forest clearing, where Taylor had joined the Hunters. And now Avalon had to trade her life for Aurora's.

"Take me instead," she insisted. "What? No!" Aurora yelled in reply. Aron chuckled. "I guess I'll take you, then." He reached down, dropped Aurora, and picked up Avalon.

Avalon thrust her hand in her pocket and felt the Night rock. She grabbed it and squirmed until her arm was free. She threw it down towards Taylor, Ivan, and Aurora.

Taylor was the first to unfreeze. She took a piece of string and an arrow and tied the rock to the arrow shaft.

Ivan stepped towards her and said something. Taylor replied, and Ivan paled and said something else. Taylor told him something, then she fit the arrow to her bow and aimed it at Aron's face.

Taylor released the arrow, and it sailed down Aron's open mouth. Aron immediately started choking and grabbing at his throat. He opened his palm and some force held Avalon there, suspended. Looking down, she saw herself breaking into small golden particles. Some of them wandered to Aron's hand and got absorbed by his skin, which opened up and swallowed the tiny gold particles.

Aron screamed. Light poured out of his mouth, blinding Avalon. She heard a muffled hissing sound. Opening her eyes, she saw Aron dissolving into gold and black particles. The gold and black seperated into two clouds of smoke and spiraled upwards. Light filled her vision once again, and she closed her eyes.

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"No!" Aurora screamed. She frantically searched the the clearing for any sign of Avalon. But there was nothing left except for the two wisps of smoke that were all remaining of Aron.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Ivan approached from behind her and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Come on. Let's get back to camp," said Taylor. It sounded like she was very close to crying. On cue, a portal appeared, and they stepped through.

They were back in Camp Half-Blood's forest. Campers swarmed around them. "Where's Aron?" Annabeth asked. "He's not coming back for a while," Ivan said. Campers hooted and congratulated them and lifted them up onto their shoulders.

"Where's Avalon?" someone else asked. "She's........ Gone," Taylor answered. She slid off of the shoulders of a teenage boy and stalked off to Thalia's Pine, where the Hunters were waiting. As she relayed the news, Artemis looked down and a tear splattered the ground.

Ivan and Aurora got down from the shoulders of excited campers. They grabbed two sleeping bags and dragged them a little ways into the forest, where they lay down and stared at the sky and the tree branches.

Eventually, Ivan fell asleep. His deep, rhythmic breathing soon lulled Aurora to sleep. Her dreams were filled with Avalon's final moments.

Aurora woke to an anxious whining. Sitting up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked around. Lupa's pack was sleeping all around them. Avalon's two wolves were pacing and whining.

When they saw she was awake, they trotted over and nuzzled her. "Hey," Aurora said, stroking each of their heads.

"Avalon's not coming back. She's.........." She found she couldn't say the word. The wolves seemed to understand and slinked away a few feet. They collapsed and tilted their heads back.

The two wolves howled. Their song was full of sorrow and sadness. The rest of the pack quickly awakened and joined the sad melody.

Soon, the song drew campers out of tents. Ivan groggily sat up behind her. "What-" He quieted as he heard the wolves.

The wolves finished the cadence. The makeshift infirmary was full of activity. Kids were being loaded onto stretchers and carried to the ampitheater, which miraculously the only building left standing.

Ivan got up and held out his hand to Aurora. She grasped it and pulled herself up. They followed the long trail of campers leading to the ampitheater.

Halfway there, Ivan got pulled aside. "Hey, honey," a girl said. It was Drew, Ivan's former girlfriend. "Um..... Hi, Drew." She spun him around and pecked him on the cheek. "I missed you."

"Drew," Ivan said, shuffling his feet. "I have a new girlfriend now." Drew looked between him and Aurora. "You want to date a rat?" Then, without waiting for an answer, she spun on her heel and marched away.

When they reached the ampitheater, the injured campers were lying down on one section of the stone benches. The Hunters of Artemis populated another section of the benches.

Ivan and Aurora sat down in the first row and scanned the line of shrouds covering the bodies. At the far end, a silver shroud decorated with a full moon and a bow was spread out. Avalon's shroud.

Lupa's pack marched in and took positions in the top row of the stone benches. The minutes flew by as words were said over dead bodies.

Finally, Artemis stood up and walked over to Avalon's shroud. "I've never had a daughter before. I don't plan on having one again." She took a deep breath. "But even though I am a virgin, I experienced a mother's love, something that cannot be replicated."

Artemis turned and joined the Hunters. Taylor got up and went to stand by Avalon's shroud. "We never really got to know each other well. I only met her a few days ago, and then we got stuck with a stinkin' quest."

"But she saved the camp. And we all owe her thanks." Someone passed Taylor a torch. She lit the silver shroud and went back to the Hunters.

Ivan put his arm around Aurora's shoulders and pulled her closer as they watched the smoke from the burning shrouds spiral into the sky.