The Hunters of Artemis: The Return of the Hunters

Chapter 26: 7:45 AM

I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. The dream had scared me witless.

Instead, I lay awake in my bed staring at the ceiling.

Anna slept fine, but I can't blame her. I did wake her up in the middle of the night.

All I could think about was what Rhea had done to my mom. The were so many possibilities that I didn't want to think about. To many different ways to make sure she could not escape.

I wouldn't admit it to anyone, but I was so scared.

I mean, I was thirteen, on a deadly quest to find my mom, being hunted by my mom's traitorous ex-best friend... I had no idea what to do.

On top of that, I had school to deal with (hopefully that would be done with soon).

Closing my eyes, I tried to search for a good memory to hang on to. Something that would make me forget about the possibility of my mother's death.

I thought back to my childhood years and remembered how whenever I went to sleep, mom and dad would always make up stories for me.

My favourite one was about a princess lost in the modern world and how she had to learn how to survive in the concrete jungle.

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I lay in bed next to Daddy as he relaxed next to me.

"And then," Daddy continued, "a huge monster came around the corner!"

I cowered under the blanket and squeaked.

He lowered his voice. "And just as the monster was about to eat the princess," he growled.

Mommy came into the room. "The queen appeared and saved the princess!"

She sat down on the bed and snuggled me in her arms. "And the queen never let her princess get into danger again."

I giggled. "Another! Tell another!"

Mommy smiled and kissed my hair. "Not tonight. Growing girls like you need their sleep."

I pouted, but let Mommy and Daddy tuck me in. Daddy kissed my forehead.

"Goodnight, my lovely," Mommy said lovingly.

I yawned. "Goodnight..."

Daddy started towards the door. "Goodnight, Bugaboo."

Giggling, I replied, "Goodnight, Daddy."

They left my room and I fell asleep dreaming about the princess stuck in our world.

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I thought of them in that moment, when life seemed perfect. When it felt like nothing in my beautiful world could go wrong.

Then I thought of my current predicament and my lip curled.

My life was anything but perfect.

It was probably everything but perfect.

And all that I wanted was to go back in time and savour those moments of bliss when everything felt right. I wanted my mom and dad with me at that moment telling me a story again. A story where everything turned out alright. 

Instead, I was stuck in a story where nothing was certain. I was stuck in a story where I knew nothing about what would come next.

I wanted to cry.

In that moment, laying on a bed in a hotel in a foreign town with a girl I had met a month ago, pondering life and everything that came with it, all I wanted was my mom and dad.

Far too late, the alarm went off at seven fifteen.

Anna grabbed the clock and turned off the alarm.  "Five more minutes," she mumbled.

I chuckled and let her be while I went to have a shower and wake up the others.

As I stood under the stream of hot water, all I could think about was, "Today's Saturday. Shouldn't I be happy?"

But for some odd reason, I was dreading the rest of the day. Something felt off...

I didn't know what it was, but I knew that something was going to be different.

I shook my head and finished washing up.

Finally, after lots of prodding and waking people up, we sat in the breakfast area.

Lyra nodded at us. "Okay. So, Rhea has something to tell us."

All eyes turned to me.

I cleared my throat. "I had a dream last night. I... I think I spoke with the other Rhea. She said that my mom was alive for now."

The Hunters let out a collective sigh of relief.

"That's good to hear," Hannah said. "That's really good to hear."

I nodded. "Yeah. Um, also, last night at the dance I found another clue, saying that you guys would know where to go next. Any ideas? Or suggestions?"

Atlanta frowned. "I think I might have an idea."

Everyone sat forward.

"These clues seem to be... Well, following a pattern that I haven't forgotten." She sighed. "I think that these clues are sending us to the places that we went to on the original quest."

Robyn widened her eyes. "What?"

Jack shook his head. "Dang. This girl is so unoriginal."

Everyone gave him a look that said "shut up".

Lyra frowned. " I don't remember... I don't recall what happened after the dance last time..."

Hannah sighed. "Me neither."

Groaning, Robyn set her head in her hands. "If none of us remember, then what do we do?"

Atlanta smirked. "You do remember that I'm a minor goddess, right? I have magic. If none of us remember, I can do some magic and BAM. We have our answer."

I grinned. "Fantastic. So, does anyone know anything about last time?"

They all stayed silent.

"It was over twenty years ago," Anna said sadly. "I certainly couldn't remember."

I sighed. "Yeah..." Turning to Atlanta, I gave her a small smile. "I guess we'll be needing some magic, Miss Goddess."