The Forest Gods' Reign [Published]

Chapter 21: The Absolute Worst Times to Call

STILL IMPORTANT: If you don't know already, @KiaGarriques has messaged me inviting me to enter in an Unpublished Gem of Wattpad competition with awesome prizes. I entered by sending her an email myself, but I NEED 5 OTHER NOMINATIONS to continue in the competition. So PLEASE, if you love this book as much as I do, send her an email at competitions@kiagarriques.com just explaining why you like the book so much and why you think I should win. Remember to include the title of this book, smile4pie as the author, and your own Wattpad ID. THANKS so much!!! Type fast and tell all your friends ;)  (comp. ends in February 2013)

Also, I have just been informed that if you have already sent your nomination to competitions@kiagarriques.com, you will need to re-email it to her because apparently her email crashed :(  You can also try emailing info@kiagarriques.com if that doesn't work. Sorry and thanks for your votes!

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Artemis, Apollo and I had been patrolling the woods for about two hours, so our watch was almost over. Luckily I didn't have to do too much work for once, since both of the twins were archers and they shot almost every monster that came our way. That was a total of five, by the way. I won't bother recounting all of those details, since a lot of it was just Apollo cursing at everything from the bushes that kept getting caught on his red sweatshirt, to the monsters themselves. Though I will say that Artemis and I were getting kind of annoyed with his behavior after a while.

"Shut up, idiot! You're giving away our position!" Artemis hissed at Apollo, who was cursing and trying to kick his way out of a thick bush with thorns. You might think Apollo would be used to navigating the thick undergrowth after spending nine years of our lives in that forest, but no, he was still just as clumsy as when he accidentally stepped on the skeleton the second day we went in.

Sure enough, I heard a low rustling of the bushes coming from off to the east and I knew that the monsters had caught up with us. I exchanged curious glances with Artemis and Apollo, who had finally clamped his mouth shut, and the three of us cocked our ears toward the sound, waiting for the monster to reveal itself. But as the rustling sounds grew closer and closer, I realized that it couldn't have been just one monster - the creepy sound was coming from every direction around us now, and the silver mist seemed to thicken suspiciously.

I tightened the grip on my sword as both Artemis and Apollo placed arrows in their wooden bows, ready to let them fly at a moment's notice. We were standing back-to-back-to-back, covering each other's blind spots because we still couldn't see the unknown amount of creatures, while I was silently reprimanding myself for not bringing my golden shield. The extra leverage probably would have come in quite handy, but oh well. As the old proverb goes, there was no use crying over spilled milk...even if it was my own blood that was going to be spilling.

Suddenly, multiple dark figures came out of the shadows, moaning like zombies from one of the boys' video game. But there was another sound coupled with the moaning - a quieter sound that was definitely less noticeable, but I knew immediately that it was creaking. The creaking of bones, to be exact.

Yes, this was our first encounter with a few of Hades's undead warriors, or the "zombies" of the real world. There were about ten of them - skeletons with brittle old bones in disgusting shades of yellow and gray, shrouded with the ripped remains of what looked like black, hooded cloaks. As they marched towards us, surrounding us, they growled menacingly and waved their swords made of sharp iron, slicing their way through the thick mist. And as if their appearance alone wasn't enough to scare any child to death, the tips of their black iron blades were bright orange with heat. Thin streams of smoke rose farther up into the cool air, making it quite obvious that the undead warriors were happily ready to burn, slice and dice their poor victim all at the same time. What a way to die.