The Hunt

So, what's the plan?

"... sorry Lyra." Kat looked down at her feet and I tried to put a brave face on,

"What for? I'm fine seriously." Eva raised an eyebrow, clearly un-impressed and gave me her best 'we'll talk about this later' look. I rolled my eyes in response. Kaylen, clearly sensing my discomfort, decided to change the subject,

"Well, whoever it is, we still need to decide where we go first." 

"The death chic's right." Theo nodded, Kaylen punched him in the gut and stomped on his foot.

"Call me 'death chic' again and your guts wont stay in your stomach much longer." Theo's eyes widened and he held his hands up in surrender. 

"What Kaylen is being called is besides the point" Charlie said,

"Charlie's right. We need a plan, and fast." I agreed

"Right. A plan."Kat looked thoughtful for a minute, "Well, if we go for the book first, maybe Lycaon will be weaker by the time we get to him." 

"Or, he will have fled." Robyn pointed out,

"Yeah. If we go for Lycaon first, maybe his minions or whoever he's got guarding it will give up and the book will be undefended."

"Why don't we split into two groups? Then strike at the same time." Surprisingly, it was Jasper who had spoken,

"You know, thats the first intelligent thing you've said this entire quest." Eva decided, turning Jasper's cheeks slightly pink. I concluded that he was the least annoying male out of the pair. 

"Are you sure splitting up is a good idea?" Kat voiced her concerns,

"If there were only like five of us then no, it would be a terrible idea. But I think there are enough of us for it to work out okay." I responded.

"Yeah... I guess you're right. I'm probably just being paranoid." Kat admitted,

"Okay, so who's up for making two separate groups?" Kaylen asked, one by one, we all raised our hands.

"I guess it's settled then."

"How will we split the groups?" Charlie enquired,

"Uh, how about... Me, Lyra, Jasper, Charlie as one group, and Kat, Kaylen, Theo and Robyn as the other?" Eva offered,

"Sounds good to me." I shrugged

"Yup." Robyn nodded.

"Hm... I'm not sure how I feel about being stuck with him." Kaylen jerked her head at Theo,

"Hey!" He protested, "What's wrong with me?!" Kaylen raised her eyebrows at him,

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Theo narrowed his eyes at her and crossed his arms in a strop. I struggled to hold back fits of laughter, and beside me I could see Eva and Robyn doing the same. Kat shrugged,

"Well, he has to go with someone-"

"Not if we leave him in a ditch..." Kaylen muttered, Kat ignored her. 

"And it might as well be us. I think those groups will be fine."  Eva nodded in approval,

"Great. So that's that sorted."

"I guess so."

"Well, we should get some rest." Kaylen suggested, taking back control. Murmurs of agreement rippled across the group and they all peeled off in separate directions to the tents, apart from Eva and I, who stayed behind to put out the fire and clear up. 

"So," Eva began promptly, "What's up?" 

"Nothing." I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but Eva could see right through me. As usual.

"Sure. You do realise that you said you were 'fine' earlier?" She pressed, using air quotation marks with her fingers when she reached the word 'fine'. 

"So?" 

"Well, Miss I'm Fine, thats like, the most over-used lie in existence. Whoever says that is a terrible liar."

"So now you're telling me I can't lie?" I smiled, "Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?" 

"Take it as you will," Eva shrugged, "It still means I can tell there's something bothering you. And as you know, I wont quit nagging you until you tell me. And, as you also know, I can be very annoying when I want to be."

"No kidding..." I muttered under my breath, but Eva still heard and seemed to take it as a compliment, beaming proudly. 

"So, Lyra, I'm going to ask you again: What's up?" I sighed, giving up.

"It's just... I've spent my entire life since I was fourteen trying to escape him. I finally thought I'd managed it, and then this happens." Eva looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Well, at least now you've had training. You're faster, stronger, more skilled, and have a much higher chance of kicking his ass." She smiled at me and I returned it, grateful. "Especially, when you have such a shamazhang team, which includes me." She winked and then decided to launch into a long explanation of the 53 different ways she could kill a man (one of which included spaghetti). Eva was interrupted by Kaylen, coming out of our tent.

"Can you two get a move on? We all need our rest." Her tone was playful, but there was a seriousness in her eyes that made me stand up and start to clear the plates. Kaylen often had that effect, she was a good leader, I guess that's how she became Artemis' Lieutenant. 

Later that night, as I lay in bed, unable to sleep, I thought of my years as a hunter. I realised how grateful I was that Artemis had taken me in. I hadn't really felt at home at Camp, I had spent most of my life on the move, so trying to settle into a 'home' hadn't really been my thing. The hunters let me be on the road, whilst still feeling like I belonged. In that moment, I made a decision: I was determined not to lose anyone on this quest. It would be too painful, like loosing family, and I knew how much that hurt. It was with these thoughts that I finally fell into an uneasy sleep.