Banished

4

Artemis PoV

I sighed, leaning against the tree trunk as I sat on a branch high in the air.

I had just escaped a horde of monsters and had sustained several injuries.

They were all minor, but if I didn't cover them up, the monsters would track me down or the injuries would become infected.

After checking through my bag, I found that I didn't have any bandages or medication.

Once I thought about it for a little while, I wondered if it was even safe for me to consume nectar or ambrosia.

My blood was red and I couldn't use any of my powers, so I was definitely mortal.

I finally decided that I needed to go purchase supplies from the city and jumped down from the tree.

Consulting the compass Hephaestus had crafted for me, I found that the closest city was still Manhattan.

I appeared at the edge of the city and wandered around until I found a
pharmaceutical store.

After rummaging through my backpack for a little, I found the green plastic card and slipped it into my pocket.

Once I cleaned myself up, I would need to go purchase sturdier clothing than what I had been wearing when I was turned mortal.

I grabbed one of the baskets from the front of the store and went toward the first-aid aisle.

As I was grabbing bandages and painkillers, it hit me. I was mortal now, about eighteen, which meant I would definitely have a period.

With a sigh, I moved over to the sanitary living aisle and grabbed tampons from the shelf. I was beginning to thank Athena for making me learn my size and preference of pad or tampon.

I also grabbed sanitary wipes because I had the feeling that I looked like Tartarus after being chased. Once I went up to the cashier, a sketchy looking guy in his twenties, he asked for an ID.

"Do you have an ID?" He asked, entering all the item codes.

"No," I replied.

Without missing a beat, he said he could get me one.

I nodded. "What information do you need?"

"Name and age. I'll fake the rest," the sketchy cashier answered.

"Artemis, age eighteen," I informed.

He ducked down under the counter and I could hear a faint grinding noise.

Within a couple of minutes, I was staring at an ID card without a photo. "Why did you say I was 26?"

"So you can use it to buy alcohol and rent a car," he explained. "Credit card, please."

I handed him the green card and he swiped it before handing it back to me. "Does this store have a bathroom?" I asked. "At the end of the family planning aisle," he
directed, ducking into an employees-only room.

I moved through the family planning aisle and saw many brands of condoms, all with different sizes and specialities.

Shaking my head, I stepped into the handicap stall.

With the sanitary wipes, I cleaned off my wounds and any other grime I had picked up.

After that, I bandaged all of my injuries and took a painkiller.

Once I sat down to use the bathroom, I found out that the ache in my stomach was not solely from hunger.

I was menstruating.

After I dealt with that, I stepped out of the stall, washed my hands, and repacked my bag.

It was still early in the day, so I decided to find a hunting store and purchase more suitable clothing.

My stomach was still hurting, though, so I decided to find something to eat first.

Upon stepping out of the pharmaceutical store to find something to eat, I learned that my problem was not finding something to eat but instead deciding what
I wanted.