Warriors of Wisdom

Chapter Sixteen

Alex's arm started to get better, but not by much. Blood seeped through the bandage. Hayden said that he might not be able to fight for the rest of the day, maybe a little longer depending on how well his arm healed up. Alex's response didn't seem to surprise me.

"All day? I'll be useless!" he exclaimed.

"Doctor's orders." Hayden ordered. "And you won't be useless. Right, Callisto?" I tried to say yes, but it came out as a horse whinny. "I'm gonna take that as a yes. Plus, we're almost there." We trotted past a sign that pointed us in the right direction toward the Angeles National Forest. It wasn't that long of a trip, either. We were definitely there in less than 30 minutes. When we did get there though, it was definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been to.

Forest seemed like an understatement. More like... I couldn't even think of a word that would captivate all of the beauty before my eyes. Vast mountains lined up and formed a valley below. There were so many trees that I bet it rained seeds a long time ago, and the numerous amount of trees grew from them. There were a few signs pointing toward several small clearings and campgrounds. A larger sign read "Angeles National Forest." I quietly galloped behind a large tree without anyone noticing. Once both boys climbed off of my horseback, I turned back into human form, which came easier than I thought since I've only shapeshifted a few times. Thanks to the Californian heat, our jackets were useless, so we tied those around our waists and came out of our hiding place for now.

"Now what?" I asked.

Alex shrugged, which seemed to cause a little bit of pain from his arm. "Well, where's Cecilia?" We looked around for any sign of a Hunter of Artemis. Nothing seemed to strike me as very suspicious, just a bunch of tourists and campers roaming around with either cameras or canteens in their hands. Then something caught my eye. A little farther in the distance, a girl was hiding behind a tree. She was spying on everyone from her hiding spot. Her black hair was braided on the side, and her brown eyes scanned the activity around her. She had the same outfit as Amelie, with a silver parka, camouflage pants, and a silver bow and arrows. Her eyes found us, and she set off running.

"After her!" I yelled, and we sprinted after her. We made a lot of tourists look at us suspiciously, but they just went back to what they were doing shortly after. Cecilia was fast, but we were faster. We eventually caught up with her and Hayden tackled her to the ground, thus stopping her pursuit. She looked up at this, and a look of annoyance bloomed on her face.

"I told you." she complained. "I'm not donating anything!" We looked at each other confusingly.

"Um, we're not asking for money." I said. "We're demigods. A hunter named Amelie said we would find another hunter in California named Cecilia that could help us. Are you Cecilia?"
   
The hunter rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm Cecilia. And I got Amelie's message the other day about you three. She told me about you and that you would be coming. Let's see," She studied all of us and pointed at each of us as she said our name. "Callisto Gates, daughter of Athena; Hayden Warren, son of Apollo; Alex Holland, son of Aphrodite."

She almost got it. Almost."Actually, the blonde one's Alex. The brunette is Hayden." I explained.

She chuckled. "Sorry. You don't really see brunette children of Apollo. Mostly blonde. And blue eyed."

Hayden rolled his eyes. "I get that a lot. Well, can you help us, or what?"

"Yes, I'll help you. Follow me." She lead us down a trail into a smaller clearing then the one we were in earlier. There was no visible tent. The clearing was completely empty.

"Where's the tent?" Alex asked.

Cecilia smirked at us. "Watch this." She raised her palms in front of her body. Then, the air in the clearing seemed to rip. It kept on tearing until a new image appeared in front of us: a small tent, a campfire, and a pile of supplies.