Artemis Child

Artemis Child Ch45

"Can you believe it? There are Roman denigods in this world." Someone said from a far table. I was eating lunch when I heard this. I was slowly moving on. Andrew informed me that Cory was a werewolf so maybe he went to where monsters go when they die. 

   "Dude, why do you sound pumped?" The guy asked his friend. "They murdered hundreds of our ancesters in constant wars." He added his reason for not being excited. "The gods have chosen us as their main love. We can crush them finally." He said and took a bite of his food. "Also I hear that some Greek demigods have accidentally showed up at the Roman camp." He whispered to his friend. "Being a child of hermes has its perks." He said and snickered.

   I didn't want to get my hopes ups, so I walked away with my food. Today was the day that Cory was supposed to have his funeral. Or at least the fire made to honor him since we had no body to burn or bury. I trained every day for the last two weeks. I couldn't wait any longer for him to suddenly walk into camp. I needed to accept his death.

  There was a small ting in my ears like always. I guess since getting knocked in the ear three days before, everything sounded different. It was a back fire from a new invention. It was supposed to be a type of head phone that nutralized any monster sound that could kill. A small practice keg blew up and my invention did the opposite. It amped up the sound, which damaged my eardrums slightly.

   "Gena." A voice called from my left. It was Drew, Serena, and Toni. Only Toni and Serena were kissing. 'They finally got together.' I thought to myself. Drew was holding Cory's bow, and he was standing firmly. "I'm sorry to say this, but it's time to say goodbye." He said and made a sound for clearing his throat. The two people behind him pulled each others tongue back in their own mouths after hearing it. "Sorry, her mouth just taste better." Toni joked a little. 

   Soon I was in front of a large fire pit, it burned with a green flame. There was a symbol that was shown hard against the white supports of the pit. The fire gleamed against them, and made everyones expressions more hollow. "Would you like to say any final words?" Someone asked but I didn't look at them. "Cory. Gods damn it Cory. How can you leave me like you did? You were stronger than him, why did you have to get yourself killed?" I asked, but no one responded. How could any one respond?

    I placed his bow into the green fire, and wiped my watery eyes. No one spoke. No one around me knew him like us four. Yet most of them came besides the ones training or on guard were here around the funeral pit. 

   "News from hunters of Artemis." Someone said and rushed through the croud. The person stopped in front of me. "Gena, your presence is requested by them." He said and handed me a peice of cloth. It had the same symbol on the fire pit, and the faint scent of a wild flower was noticed. The person was a teen about my age, and his hair was wet with sweat. "One of her followers asked me to come get you." he said and ran back to his post. 

   "Well go with them." Drew told me and gave me a little push. "We can finish everything here." He assured me. So I followed the teen to where he was headed. There was nothing to prepare me for what was going to happen next.

   Standing infront of the camp enterance, was a teenage girl a little taller than me, but with shorter hair with a streak of color in it. Her eyes were like lightning, and she stood tall with confidence. "Gena, daughter of Hepheastus." She said, definatly not a question. "Yes?" I asked mocking her voices firmness. "I was sent her by our goddess. She wants you to join her group of hunters." She said and offered me the direction of a chariot. 

   'This is one off day.' I thought to my self and climbed into the back of the chariot. She was the only one here, must have been because it was a small ride. "Wait, how does this thing drive?" I asked her confused since it had no visable engine. "It doesn't." She said and cracked a whip. Suddenly air tighten into two solid horse, that were connected to the front. "Hold on." She said and pulled back the reins. The horses launched themselves into the air and we took off.

(Camp Jupiter) Marc was standing and instructing me on archery. He said since I was a child of Diana, I should learn everything there is to know. Lexi trained Jake; although, I caught her sneaking glances at me. "Pay attention." Marc said, snapping me back to his training. He stood almost six feet six inches tall, built like a UFC fighter. He had a tight military haircut, and a sturn look on his face that said he was raised tough. His sister on the other hand looked delicate and too shy for her own good.

   Marc was notching an arrow into a bow that looked flimsy compared to his arms. 'Why do I have to be the weakest demigod here?' I thought to myself. "Holding your breath will increase aim, but reduce your reaction time if you are getting swarmed." He said and let the arrow go. It made a woosh sound as it hit a far away target. "You try. Hit all seven targets twenty yards away. You don't get to eat lunch til you do." He said and handed me the bow.

 I put an arrow into the slot, pulled the string back, and was ready to fire. Woosh, I let go and the arrow head embedded itself into the target, bullseye. I let out a happy cheer, and wasted no time to fire more. This time I loaded two, and fired them into two seperate targets. Each arrow hit the bullseye, and sank into the target like wet clay. The next one I made the arrows line up into a smily face on the target. But, just as I was about to make the nose, Marc popped up behind me. 

    "Having fun?" The arrow launched from my hand and skimmed over the target. "You scared the crap out of me." I said because I was so interested in the archery, I didn't notice him getting close. "So, was this two easy for you?" He asked me, with a distant look in his eyes. "Heck yeah. So what is for lunch?" I said, only after realising that it was a bad idea.

   "Did I say twenty yards? I ment a hundred yards, bullseye only." He said and took the bow. He fired an arrow Into a target that was so far the color lines danced from the heat waves. If I walked over there I could have bet that it was a bullseye. "Beat that." He said and handed me the bow.

   Hours, hours I fired arrows, hitting either the blue around the bullseye, or the missing the target all together. My fingers hurt from where the string gets pulled, and my whole right arm burned. Marc came to check on me from time to time to see if i had progressed. "You still here?" He asked me, "I thought you would have given up and gone to get some food." His voice said that he was thinking something. "Look I'm sorry about earlier. I was such a bad fighter when I arrived here. My sister was a natural at combat, and as her older brother, I wanted to become better. You know to protect the people you care about."

  His sentence sparked something in me. "I will never stop fighting! Not until my last breath! Not until I see everyone I love or call a friend, be able to grow old!"   

It was my voice, but I didn't recall ever saying the words. "It's ok to give up on this, come on lets go get some food." He said and held out his hand for a truce shake. "I respect that, but this was a challenge, and it is what I am going to do." I said and fired another arrow. Bullseye. Next target, next bullseye. It wasn't til the last target, that I finally became out of arrows. "Wait, no that isn't fair." I said and looked arround for a spare arrow. "It's ok, you can try again tomorrow." He said, but he was smiling because he had won. 

   "Nope." I said and took out my sword. I willed it to change into a javlin. "There is no way you can throw that a hundred yards and hit a bullseye." He said and was no longer smiling. "Better try." I said and flung the spear as hard as I possibly could. 

   The spear traveled in slow motion through the air, making me laugh as it punched a hole through my target and took the whole target it down as it landed. "Yeah baby!" I shouted the second it made it there. "Can you taste it?" I said as I pelvic thrusted the air. "Damn I'm good." Then I stopped and held my stomach. "Damn I'm hungry."