The Hunters of Artemis

Chapter 19: I'll figure it out

Liam and I rushed out of the room, escaping from the impending awkwardness of our prior conversation, and ran to the room the screaming was coming from. Lyra and Robyn's room. I pounded on the door. "Lyra? Robyn! What's wrong?" I called through the doors. Another scream rang out. I hit the door again and screamed, "Open the door!"  No one responded. I paced around, hearing nothing coming from the room, before getting an idea. 

"Wait here," I ordered Liam and ran into my room, which was miraculously open again. "Rhea? Where's my bow?"

Rhea didn't answer; she was engrossed in a TV show. 

I ran over to my bow and quiver and rushed back to Lyra and Robyn's room. Liam was still there, just like I'd told him to be. I motioned for him to get out of the way. I nocked a special arrow: my small explosive. It looked just like a normal arrow, but inside the silver tip was a bunch of chemicals, that when the tip broke, (which it easily did), the chemicals would mix and explode, but since there is such a small amound of it, it's not a big explosion. Perfect for this.

I aimed the arrow at the door, which wasn't hard, since it's so big, and fired. The arrow buried into the wood of the door and started to smoke. I heard a pop and a flash of light. When my eyesight cleared, I could see a hole in the door. Sorry, Mary. I stuck my arm through the hole and twisted the doorknob from the inside. 

Opening the door, I saw a horrific sight. There were three wolves, (Lycaon's minions, no doubt), Lyra tied up and getting carried through the window and Robyn unconsious and on the floor. Her forehead was bleeding from a bad gash. 

"Lyra!" I cried, and ran forward. I ran straight into their trap. As soon as I reached halfway, a wolf attacked me from the back. It shoved me and I fell onto my face. It sliced along my back and I screamed in pain. It felt like my back was on fire. Suddenly, the weight was lifted off of me. I gasped as I looked up.

Liam was slapping the wolf across the snout; the wolf tried to bite him but Liam was too fast. For the first time in a loooong time, I found myself admiring a boy.

Liam looked absolutely furious. I had an idea why, and I wasn't happy about it. It crossed my mind that Liam was attacking the wolf back because it attacked me, but that couldn't be it. Oh well. I would be grateful no matter what or why.

Liam brought out a knife and stabbed the wolf, which exploded into yellow-gold dust. Then I realized that it wasn't one of Lycaon's minions; it was just a regular monster wolf.

I heard a scream and saw that we had forgotten about Lyra. I jumped over a fallen chair and went to reached for her hand. Something hit my hand; it stung like a bee sting. I grasped my hand and screamed as Lyra was torn out the window. 

"NO!" I screamed. I reached out the window, but she was gone. I smacked the wall with my hand. 

Tears ran down my cheeks, hitting the carpet in soft pats. I let them take her. I... What have I done? I cradled my hand, thinking about looking to see what was making my hand feel like it was on fire and my skin was searing off. 

I fell to my knees. I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder, and without looking to know who it was, I put my hand on top, turning into them. They kneeled next to me and put their arms around me. At first, I thought it was Rhea, or Atlanta. After all, it couldn't have just been me that heard. 

But when I looked up, it was Liam. He cradled me for a few moments, and I let him. It... it felt good to be held like this again after so long. 

He rested his chin on the top of my head. "It'll be okay, Kat. We'll get her back." His voice sounded angrier than I would have expected. I thought he didn't like Lyra because she had been one of the angriest after the you-know-what. 

I just nodded. We would get her back if it's the last thing we do... or, the last thing I do at least.

I shakily got to my feet and went over to Robyn, who was starting to stir. Liam's arms fell off of me, although, I almost missed their warmth. I shook my head. I couldn't think about that. I had to think about Robyn. She was hurt and needed my help. 

I kneeled down next to her as she opened her eyes. "Robyn? Are you okay?"

She reached up to touch her forehead and wince when she reached her gash. "I don't think so. Where's Lyra?"

I glanced at Liam and back to Robyn. "She... she got taken by the monsters who gave you that," I said, pointing to her cut. 

Robyn at first looked at me disbelievingly. "What do you mean she got taken?"

Another tear that had been held back a second again dripped down my cheek. "It was my fault. I didn't get to her in time." I tried to twist around but gasped in pain. I had all but forgotten how that wolf had tried to cut me to ribbons. I felt a burning in my hand again and this time, took the time to look at it. 

It was a dart. My eyes widened and I tried to crawl away from it, but you can't crawl away from your own hand, can you? 

"Kat?" Liam asked, concerned. 

"Take it out. Take it out, take it out!" I ordered. I would not have another one of those awful visions that I was sure was real, and then wasn't. Liam grabbed my hand and plucked the dart out of it and threw it out the window. There was already a bloom of red spreading around my hand.

He looked me in the eye. "Kat, what's going on?"

I shook my head. "I'm not really sure, but I'll figure it out." I tried to stand up, but found myself falling to the ground, my head colliding with the carpet, and I blacked out.