The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Chapter 9: Trouble

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"Go back to Pan's hideout and round up all of Artemis's huntresses in case we need help!" I shouted to Alec in Greek as he, Artemis and I raced through the woods in the pouring rain.

Between the branches slapping my face as we ran along, I could just barely see Alec shaking his head. "No! You might need help!" he yelled back. I exchanged a quick glance with Artemis, wishing he would just listen for a minute.

Looking forward just in time, I jumped sideways to avoid crashing into a huge tree, then replied as we continued to run, "Then who will protect the others if they are attacked?" I looked him in the eyes seriously and said, "Alec, please, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Artemis will be, too. It takes at least one god to bring down another." As I had suspected, this short lecture worked, and so Alec frowned before cutting right and disappearing into the trees.

Artemis and I picked up our pace, and within fifteen minutes, we reached the edge of the forest. We tore off our armor and threw the pieces, along with our weapons, into a hollow log. We then paused to take a few deep breaths before we ran out onto the street and sprinted towards Alicia and Madison's house. Out in the open, there were no trees, so we got even more soaked than we did in the woods. Through the pouring rain, we could see even less in the darkness and randomly flashing lights, so we ran almost blindly for what seemed like forever before we finally got to the house.

The rest of the gods were standing out in the front yard, forming a large circle, and Zach and Alicia were screaming at each other, but I couldn't make out what they were saying over the deafening thunder. Madison stepped between the two of them, trying to calm them down, but she was pushed to the ground by Alicia, and she fell on her beautiful garden, crushing half of the colorful flowers. Mud splattered all over her cute summer dress, and her lower lip started to quiver. I was pretty sure she was about to cry, if she wasn't already; it was hard to tell through the rain.

"STOP IT!" I screamed at them, worrying that my voice would be lost in the thunder as I broke into the center of the circle. The rest of the gods turned to look at me in shock, and some also looked grateful that Camille and I had come. The silence didn't last for long, however, and within a few seconds, Zach and Alicia were yelling at each other again. Then Alicia slapped him hard across the face, and all of the gods joined in with Zach to start screaming at Alicia in a loud chorus.

With a cry of anger, I tackled Zach, pinning him to the ground before he could even think about doing anything to Alicia. He roared with anger, and another bright white flash of lightning lit up the stormy sky above us. Didn't he realize what he was doing? Not only was he causing what could end up to be the worst flood in Washington state history, but he could have ended up causing the end of the world if we didn't stop him.

Suddenly, I was yanked up off of Zach, and so I ducked instinctively, but unfortunately I was not able to avoid a hard punch from Matt. Ouch. I was quite sure that punch would have broken any normal person's jaw, and that I was going to have a horrible, ugly bruise by the morning.

Frowning, I desperately wormed my way out of his grasp, and he tried to punch me again, but this time, I caught his fist and twisted his arm behind him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Camille grab Luke by the collar of his shirt to prevent him from intervening as well. Still holding Matt hostage, I  pointed up at the sky with my free hand and yelled at the rest of the gods, "What the hell is going on here? Look at what you did!" I peered through the pouring rain at Zach, who was still sitting on the ground and also partly covered in mud. I couldn't believe it - we were already falling apart!

When our leader didn't speak, Haley tucked a stray piece of light brown hair behind her ear and explained quickly, without even pausing to take a breath, "Zach was kissing Madison and then Alicia got jealous and there was a huge fight and..." She trailed off, clearly unsure of what to do. As the rain continued to drench us, the group became silent again and studied Camille as I digested this information.