Warriors of Wisdom

Chapter Eleven

We started to back away, but we were getting too close to the door, and we didn't want to bring these beasts inside to disturb the perfectly normal people who were probably just trying to enjoy some food. We decided to lead the wolves toward an empty town square. They followed us with alarming speed, so we had to pick up the pace. We hid behind a nearby building, but we doubted that it would cover up our scent long enough.

"What do we do?" I asked breathlessly.

"In Greek mythology with Chiron," Hayden explained, "he said that wolves are immune to almost any weapon material, except for silver. I don't have any of my silver arrows right now, and Alex's dagger is made of Imperial gold. Callisto, is your sword silver?"

"Sorry, it's not. It's Celestial bronze."

"Great. Now we don't have any good weapons to defeat these wolves." Alex sighed.

"Wait," Hayden unshouldered his bag and pulled something out. "I always bring a spoon with me."

"Why do you bring a spoon with you?" I asked.

"Hey, you never know when you will find a random pudding cup on a quest. Anyway, it's a silver spoon. Maybe it will hold them off for a while until we can get reinforcements."

"Worth a shot." Alex mentioned. Hayden ran around the building, and Alex and I followed him. We saw Hayden standing cautiously in front of the pack with his spoon in his hand. He looked ridiculous, but there was nothing else we could think of.

"Wolves!" he yelled. "Behold the terror that is my spoon--" He was interrupted by a blur of silver. It hit one of the wolves, and I realized that it was an arrow. Hayden looked just as shocked as Alex and I did, but I think he was mostly disappointed that he couldn't show off his skills with his spoon. We looked at Hayden, since he was the only one that used a bow and arrow.

"Not mine!" he admitted. We could tell that already, since he was still holding his spoon. Another arrow zipped by and pierced through the neck of another wolf. The rest of the wolves gathered their senses and decided that it would be best if they ran. Before the alpha wolf left, he gave us his last words.

"This isn't over demigods!" he shouted. "My mistress will get her hands on you, and when she does, she will reward us very much!" He laughed, and followed his pack. We looked in the direction of where the arrows came from. Standing there was a girl of about our age. She had long ginger hair and a crooked smile. She wore a silver parka hood and a silver tiara rested on her head. She was shouldering her bow and was about to walk away when Alex yelled back at her.

"Wait!" he hollered at her. "You saved our lives from those wolves. We don't even know who you are." She was at a distance, but I thought that she was sighing, as if she didn't want to talk to us. Nevertheless, she came over to us. The closer she got, I noticed some other things about her: the scars that covered her face and arms, her fierce blue eyes that could scare away any enemy if they looked straight into them.

"Well, I hear you three are demigods," she noted. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Amelie, demigod daughter of Poseidon, first lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis."

"Nice to meet you Amelie," I said. "This is Hayden, son of Apollo, Alex, son of Aphrodite, and I'm Callisto, daughter of Athena."

Amelie sighed. "Well, I'm always willing to help out demigods in need, so I guess I can bring you to my campground. Follow me." We did as she said. She led us around Chicago, walking through town squares and streets whose names I can't remember. We walked to the clearing where we landed, but our pegasi weren't there.

"Where are the horses?" I asked.

"Probably flew off somewhere," Hayden responded. "Pegasi aren't really the 'stay in one place' type." Amelie led us through the woods near the clearing. She brought us far away from the city. I didn't think that anyone would find her campground here. She brought us into a smaller clearing with a small tent the size of a twin-sized bed in the middle of it.

"Come in." She gestured for us to come with her inside the tent.

"Um," I uttered. "I don't think we'll all fit in there." And it was true. I was pretty short, but Alex and Hayden were pretty tall.

"It's fine. You'll see." She climbed under the tiny hood. Alex shrugged and followed her in.

"Woah." I heard Alex say.

"Callisto," Hayden said. "You coming?"

"Yeah." Hayden climbed in, and I came in shortly after. What I found inside was truly astonishing. The first thing that shocked me the most: the size of the interior. It was way larger than what the outside of the tent made it look like. From what I saw on the inside, it was about the same size as the clearing where the tent was. Inside the tent was the usual furniture: a few beds, bathroom, kitchen, and a few sofas and couches. I didn't think Amelie's tent needed this much stuff if it's just her here. She beckoned us to sit down with her on the sofas.

"So," she sighed. "What brings a bunch of demigods to Chicago?"

"What brings a Hunter of Artemis to Chicago?" Hayden asked. I slapped his knee. "What? If she can ask why we're here, we can ask why she's here!" I didn't think that's how it worked.

Amelie rolled her eyes. "The Hunters of Artemis split up across the country for a special mission for Artemis. You three don't need to know what, especially you boys."

"Hey!" Hayden exclaimed. "What does being a boy have to do with any of this?"

"Don't you know anything about the Hunters of Artemis?" Alex questioned.

"No," Hayden and I said at the same time. I thought that Hayden would know about them since he's been at camp longer than me, but know I was starting to wonder exactly how long he has been at camp.

"I actually just found out about being a demigod a few days ago." I told Amelie.

"Well," Amelie began to explain. "The Hunters of Artemis are a group of girls that follow the orders of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the wild." She pointed at me. "You may be new to the demigod world Callisto, but you should know who Artemis is."