Now then, I was not lazy last chapter...I was exhausted! I had to cover an entire path with woodchips in 80 degree heat, and only got 6 hours of sleep that night
Also, the delay is due to a lot of work I got after a week of no work...that counts to a educational facility
"Okay...should Artemis read this chapter...or the next?" Apollo asked as his sister looked at him
"Well...we could flip a coin?" Hermes pointed out as Hera was thinking.
As a goddess of family, she could sense pain relating to said family. This chapter, was reeking in it.
Hera loathed her step children, and she bet that this chapter would be torture for her.
"No...I do believe that with the uncertain faith of the...boy, that Artemis should not read the last chapter...lest something happen" Artemis growled like an angry cat, and Apollo seemed to be looking around like a cornered mouse for escape "This chapter...should be...safe" she lied.
"Fine..." she sighed, taking the book as it was adjusted to fit on her lap with the much younger Armani she had snagged from the orphanage.
Luckily, he was not teething
Thing about hunters, the Hunters of Artemis that is, is that they're fast.
Artemis smiled at the comment, she trained them well, because of the, as Percy put it, love sick gods
But thankfully they were merely a part of the hunt. I, on the other hand, was of the hunt, so I came up trumps there at least.
"Yes, you are..."
So whilst I had a definite speed advantage on them it still left me with a few major problems: Number one: They were armed, and though they appeared to be missing on purpose in an attempt to startle me and slow me down (a tactic which was, unfortunately, starting to work)
"Wimp"
'Arrow shooting sounds'
"OW! FIGHT LIKE A MAN!"
'Arrows piercing sensitive fleshy organ sound'
they would still best me if it came down to a close up fight. This was compounded by problem number two: Thalia. She was hurtling blasts of lightning into my path and I had to change course several times to avoid them.
Zeus smirked in pride
Hera glared at him
One had managed to send me spinning into the air, but luckily I had bounced off one hand and propelled myself right back onto my feet and was running again, losing no time but feeling quite dizzy as a result. And finally, the problem at the top of my list of worries right now (excluding, of course, my impending demise)
An awake Armani was currently observing a golden tear that had fallen on his forehead with interest
was number three: Artemis herself.
Artemis paled as Hera smirked at her discomfort
Perhaps I should elaborate; I was of the hunt. Artemis, on the other hand, was the hunt.
"She is the force!"
"DO NOT COMPARE ME TO STAR WARS HERMES!"
"What, you have the Hunt Force?"
"DO NOT CALL IT THAT!"
This meant it was her game and there was no way of changing her rules to make her the prey, it simply didn't work that way.
"Unless your Horus..." Aphrodite recalled a fight those two had once in the Roman era...
"Why do we keep talking about those freaks anyway?" Zeus demanded as they exchanged looks...and the box from Taisune exploded again...releasing three other books
"NO! MORE BOOKS!" Ares cried
"And that one has a Pyramid on it..." Hephaestus muttered
"Great...just great...sons of Artemis and now Egyptians..." Hera muttered as Artemis paled
"Relax sister...I have no evidence that you have any more kids..."
"And...we can finally find the first nome..." Athena pointed out as Ares imagined the blood shed
"Can we go back to my son now?"
She had already overtaken me twice and I had barely avoided her—once by bunny-hopping over her head (a tactic that seemed to have aggravated her, as the next arrow that was fired skimmed my right arm; I admired her for her restraint at least, she could've killed or at least paralyzed me with that shot);
Artemis whimpered at the thought of doing that, while Hermes mentally laughed at the image
the second time, about forty seconds ago, I had evaded her by skidding to a halt, doubling back and taking a sharp left turn. But the gap between us was closing fast.
"Though only two times like that, with Armani's condition...is very impressive" Athena noted
This was all postponing the inevitable; as long as I remained in the forest I knew I had seconds before she got me to the ground.
"Yet, you'd also be faster there...and the tree's keep Thalia from bringing down lightning on you"
"I told her not to kill" Artemis cried
Athena frowned at that point ..."Good point...maybe some air manipulation..."
"Leave it Athena, her powers aren't as versatile as my son's"
"Brother...please SHUT UP!" Hera snapped
I had managed to leave the rest of the Hunters behind. Slowing to fire arrows (or bolts of lightning) had cost them precious seconds. This lead to my one and only advantage; I knew the terrain outside of the forests in this area better.
"That does weaken the disadvantage of leaving your parent's domain..."
"You know...I just thought of something...if Poseidon's kids get boosts on water, and Artemis's kid gets faster in woods...do my kids get better on battlefields or the drunk's kids in Vineyards or college dorm parties?"
Athena looked thoughtful as Hephaestus realized she was about to embark on another experiment
And I knew I had one hope; to increase the distance between myself and Artemis. The legends of her speak for themselves; when it came to the hunt she wouldn't slow, she wouldn't falter, and she would never give up. I had to get away from her, and I had to do it now.
Artemis wished she could take that as a compliment...but her own skill was going to get her son...well worse than killed!
And then what?
I knew what that thought meant; once I got away from Artemis, assuming I used up all my stamina and weakened Apollo's seal, well…I guess the answer would be obvious; I would die. But at least I would've beaten her.
Artemis paled as she recognized that sort of pride in victory...
The kind of pride that had cost her the one person who should have been Armani's father...the only one she ever loved
Focus.
I discarded my thoughts of my very short future and concentrated on the here and now. Light was up ahead, I was nearly there…
My plan was simple. Step one: put distance between myself and the tiny terrors. Step two: get back to the condo and stock up. Step three: ...Well, I'd burn that bridge when I came to it.
"Great, he has your recklessness" Apollo sighed
"Well, seeing as YOU raised him and didn't tell ME about him...its your fault" she was not going to let this go...and she was still wondering how to change the future so Apollo would not be ferrying them in Titan's curse.
Maybe she should get some flying steeds...or perhaps some Golden Hinds
I burst out of the trees and into the light exactly where I intended to be. I immediately felt myself slow as I left the domain of Artemis, landing square on a footpath with the loud sounds of traffic booming in my head. I fought my exhaustion and kept running across the concrete and over the narrow bridge that spanned the highway below.
I stopped halfway, gripping the side rail, fighting for breath. As I leaned over I glanced out of the corner of my eye. She was there, standing at the start of the bridge, flanked by three Hunters, the rest of them emerging from the trees to take up positions behind her.
"Is he going to..." Hermes wondered out loud
She could cross the distance between us in a flash, but she could tell I was exhausted. So she just stood there with her arms folded, regarding me,waiting…
"There is also the fact that we have a...tendency to baby mortals. After all, with a flick of my fingers, Jackson would croak..."
"And if you do...I will stab you in the stomach"
"Well?" I demanded between breaths.
"Are you quite finished with this meaningless game?" she enquired, "You cannot escape, and you cannot win. The only reason you remain in one piece right now is because I demand answers to my questions."
I teasingly allowed that one image of Midas holding the blue crystal in his hand pass in front of my eyes. "And what questions might those be?"
"Stop baiting me" Artemis begged, the more that he hid from her...the more she was going to go after him...
I enquired lightly. I saw the answer to my prayers out of the corner of my eye.
There. Just a few more seconds…
"How do you know about the shade?" she enquired in a calm and dangerous voice that was both quiet and yet somehow audible over the roar of engines.
"Our voices are like that...us gods can do anything us want"
"Except, Ares...to speak with proper grammar"
"Sorry Artemis…not that easy," and with that I grabbed hold of the railing and leapt off the overpass. The last thing I heard was the shocked gasps of the entire group and I briefly caught sight of Artemis' widened eyes…
Her eyes as wide as the moon, she mentally aimed at her son, and hit his brain with this thought again and again
'Do not jump off highway bridges!' that was the dumb thing Apollo would do...
A second later my body slammed into the roof of the flatbed truck that was passing underneath, knocking the wind out of me in an oddly satisfying manner (satisfying in that my timing was right and I wasn't laying broken on the road below…that sort of satisfying.)
Okay...it was the extreme sort of thing she'd do, so she decided to change the message
'Do not jump off highway bridges unless it is necessary!'
I rolled onto my back to catch my breath and saw the Hunters retreating swiftly into the forest. For a second I'd hoped they had given up, until I caught the silver glint of Thalia's circlet out of the corner of my eye and saw numerous shadowy figures dashing through the forest parallel to the road.
It was only then did it occur to me that a Hunter of Artemis in the forest could effortlessly surpass a truck going at sixty miles per hour.
"I've clocked them at eighty" Artemis said proudly.
"Wonder how fast he could go?" Athena pondered "With your blessing"
"FAVORTISIM!"
"ONLY CHILD!"
I was more shocked that they would retreat to the woods so swiftly, to be honest. But thankfully they were still slightly behind and I didn't need to remain on my hitched ride for long. I just prayed I hadn't been taken too far from the coast; I would need a slight lead to get back into the forest, then to dash the distance from the forest to the condo door. From there on I would have a few moments while Artemis figured out how to circumvent the rule of no entry into one of Apollo's 'temples' (not actually a temple, I know, but the rule still stands). I'm sure she'd figure out a way around it if she really thought about it.
"I'm surprised Apollo never gave her a master key?" Hermes admitted
"I want some time away from my little sister!"
"APOLLO!"
I pulled myself up, the chilly wind buffeting my inadequately protected form. I noticed again a small wisp of gold trailing off me. I gritted my teeth angrily. Obviously even a dash through the forest was enough to shorten the time I had left.
Artemis whimpered
"Ah...poor woodsy boy doesn't even get to run in the tick infested wastelands" Aphrodite mock cooed
It was as I patted myself down and looked out behind that I realized why the Hunters had returned to the forest so quickly, and chosen merely to follow parallel as they did…
One of their group had chosen to take an alternate method of pursuit.
Artemis grimaced as she had a feeling what she just did
Guess which one...
"ARTEMIS!"
"Thalia" Zeus decided to be the devil's advocate
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" I shouted.
Artemis (being Artemis) had, instead of joining her Hunters, leapt straight off the overpass right behind me and was now proceeding to leap from car to car with insanely scary grace.
They all gave her curious looks
Wisps of Mist surrounded her as she leapt from vehicle to vehicle. Judging by the way the drivers barely swerved at all I must assume that, whatever they were seeing, it wasn't an oddly dressed twelve-year-old girl jumping about the freeway.
"They probably see a bird or something"
"Tweet tweet" Artemis snarked back at Dionysus
I spun around, glancing back as she closed within three cars distance. I saw the flashing of the truck's indicator and sent a prayer of thanks to Hermes for guiding him away from the rapidly closing goddess.
I prepared to jump as the vehicle closed. I could leap straight into the forest and land without too much pain as long as it slowed down a bit more.
"At least he can do that..." Artemis frowned, to not run in the woods, for a hunter, or son of her, would be like a child of Poseidon kept from water, or children of Aphrodite from nail polish
That was when I saw how close she had come. She was now standing on the hood of a red sports car directly behind me and burrowing into me with those piercing eyes of hers. Her manipulation of Mist must be particularly good because the man driving didn't even bat an eyelash.
As the truck turned off and our paths parted, she never took those eyes from mine-as if daring me to look away. The instant moving up the exit ramp caused me to lose sight of her I turned to jump. In that same instant, however, I heard the sound of groaning suspension followed by the crash of shattering metal and screeching tires.
"ARTEMIS! NO CAUSING CAR ACCIDENTS!"
"But you blast planes out of the sky father"
"I GET INTO BAD MOODS!"
Oh she didn't-
She did…
I had about half a second to act as I saw her springboard herself up and over the concrete divide and into view in the air above me. She spun several times through the air, her eyes meeting mine mid-flight. She righted herself, raised a leg up and prepared to give me the drop… literally.
Apollo sweat dropped "I should have never given you my comic collection...or my anime movies"
"You can have the anime back..." at least comics weren't littered with panty shots. Overly sized breasts, however...
And so I jumped.
An instant later her drop kick slammed into the spot where I had been standing, embedding itself in the steel like it was a tin can.
"If it was one of my cars, it wouldn't even be dented"
"Then how do I dent my motorcycle!"
"I don't like you"
I grabbed hold of a high tree branch and slid down from limb to limb with practiced grace that would make a monkey blush. The instant I hit the floor I followed my usual first instinct.
Time to keep running…
"What is with those italized words anyway?" Hera scowled
"Stop using X-ray vision...we banned that after that minor god tried to peak at me!"
"Why'd you get upset, you've had sex with every male on Olympus..."
I could hear the rustling of branches not a hundred yards behind me. I had lost most of my lead but I knew where I was now, the scent of nature around me surged new strength into me, and I knew using that strength would cost me more of what little life I had left
Artemis cringed as did Apollo
, but I was doing this on principal. Unfortunately this principal was based entirely on hatred and I would have shunned my way of thinking earlier in life. But now the pain was gone, as was my time, and all I had left was my hatred.
"Self hatred" Athena frowned, before catching Artemis's eye
"I don't think that can he can be mentally influenced to avoid that...that's more a you thing"
"Hey, I would have tried!" Apollo cried
"Yes, but she's your sister's son, its not as effective"
An object crashed into the woods in front of me and I didn't stop to see what (or who) it was. I simply leapt over it and a second later I was dashing down the small grassy incline towards Apollo's condo.
Something sharp shot past my calf and I felt it slice right through the skin, down to the muscle. I immediately lost my footing with a cry of agony and fell head over heels, unceremoniously skidding across the asphalt and onto the driveway of the condo. A silver arrow was embedded in the earth nearby.
Artemis.
Artemis had a tear in her eye as she just realized she shot her son
"You don't know he is..." Apollo tried to comfort
"AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT!"
"NO YELLING!"
I ignored the gravel digging into my flesh, dragged myself the last foot onto the doorstep and forced it open with my shoulder. Using my (mostly) uninjured hands I literally flipped myself backwards into the hallway and angrily slammed the door shut with my uninjured left foot as hard as I could. I was dimly aware of the sound of it hitting something before clicking shut, followed by a cry of protest and the sound of a body falling to the earth outside.
Ares chuckled, as an arrow embedded itself into his neck
"Why do you heal so fast" Artemis complained as he pulled it out
Safe…
There was one last thing to do. "I forbid entry to all not within the favor of his lordship Apollo!"
Artemis sighed in relief, it would keep her out for a time
It was technically a protective charm; it says 'not within Apollo's favor' but it was, strictly speaking, a defensive charm that allowed only those inside to grant entry to those outside-and of course, Apollo himself could come and go as he pleased, as could anyone he gave permission to enter. If it were literal it wouldn't really stop Artemis…or most of the female population of the planet, for that matter.
"True..." Hermes chuckled, the only female he wouldn't invite would be Olympian number 2
A shimmering gold film spread out over the walls as the charm took effect, and I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It echoed his mother's quite well
Limping over to the fridge, I retrieved a piece of ambrosia cake and took a bite. Leaning against the wall for support, I allowed its healing properties to take effect. As soon as I felt the muscle and skin in my ankle knit back together and the pain of the bruises fade to nothing, I immediately ran to my room.
"Um, I don't think hiding under your covers will help..unless they are cast iron steel" Aphrodite mocked
I rolled over my four poster bed and grabbed my sword, tossing it onto the mattress. Afterwards I changed into a black hunters garb, not unlike Artemis' Hunters' own except not so…well...girly.
Artemis frowned as she poked Armani's cloths, and turned them into something like that...and smiled as he seemed to like it
Aphrodite looked ill 'Not...fashionable'
I tossed some extra ambrosia into my knapsack and grabbed the golden whistle from my nightstand; I had a feeling I was going to need it. I belted my sword across my lower back.
From there I moved to Apollo's own room, which was locked, of course.
"If he finds your room filled with Playgod, I will kill you"
"I don't have any!" 'Near him...I hope'
Saying a silent prayer of apology I kicked the door right off its hinges and spied my target; a golden rectangular box laying on the sun god's lavish nightstand.
I grabbed the box and tossed it onto the bed. Drawing my sword, I slashed the lock off the catch and immediately reached in to rummage through the contents: Apollo's arrow collection, numerous different kinds for all different occasions. I could even spy a few of Eros' own mixed in there.(How Apollo came to acquire them I don't want to know.)
They all eyed him with various shades of nervousness
"If those go near my hunters, I will castrate you"
But there were only four arrows that I was interested in: their crystalline heads glistened in the sunlight and green light swirled inside each one.
Artemis groaned
Apollo was going to be seriously ticked at my taking them and I was sure that, should I ever see him again, I would apologize heartily.
Then there was his bow; gold and glinting in the sunlight. I couldn't remove it from the condo-only he could do that-but I only needed it as far as the threshold…
Apollo and Artemis groaned in unison
"JYNX! YOU CAN'T KILL ME!"
-3-
"Spread out, cover all the exit routes, and stay on guard!" Artemis shouted. Her huntresses immediately took up position.
Thalia however, must have taken the phrase 'spread out' to include the front door, as she was now striding right up to it with an annoyed scowl on her face…
-A-
I hooked the golden bow over my shoulder, stopping only to fix my bangs in the mirror on the way to the door. (It was, after all, about appearances when facing down your opponent, and it doesn't do to square up to the enemy with messy hair.)
"YAY! I TAUGHT HIM SOMETHING!"
"YOU WILL NOT TEACH MY SON ANYTHING!"
"I taught him video games..."
"They better have been rated E"
I saw flashes of gold through the window; they were testing the defenses. I had to hand it to Artemis: when she wanted something she really went for it.
She wanted to smile, but couldn't
I placed the arrows I had retrieved from Apollo's room in the umbrella holder by the front door. I was idly wondering what her first cunning break-in attempt would be…when the doorbell rang.
Hermes burst out laughing, and Poseidon seemed amused, in fact most of them did
She's joking, right?
I breathed a sigh. There was only one response to an anticlimax like that. "Who is it?"
More laughter
There was disbelieving silence for a moment when an annoyed voice spoke up. "Are you going to open the damn door, or am I gonna have to shout at you through a bit of wood?" It was Thalia, and I could hear her drumming her fingers impatiently on one of the doorposts outside.
"More polite than Zoe would have been" Artemis admitted
I shook my head wearily and yanked the door open. The lieutenant of Artemis was standing there, her arms now folded. Behind her I could see the Hunters forming a circle around the condo. I couldn't help but notice a petit blonde who appeared to be in the process of nursing a broken nose. (Oh my heart bled, but nowhere near as much as her face…and if looks could kill… Wow)
Artemis was conflicted, she didn't want him insulting her hunters, but they were chasing him...
Should she mentally condition him not to...
'Respect or Free Will? Respect or Free Will? Respect or Free Will?'
I turned back to Thalia, who was glistening with sweat, had a few brambles stuck in her wild black hair and was looking decidedly fed up.
I reached into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of chilled nectar off the counter. "Thirsty?" I offered with a smile.
"He has manners" Hera grudgingly admitted
She snatched it out of my hand grudgingly and took a few swigs before tossing it back. "Thanks."
I inclined my head. "Something I can do for you?" I asked in a convincingly curious voice.
She mopped her brow with her tunic sleeve, "Look, Ah-"
"-Armani," I finished for her.
"Again, where does his name come from? Do you just assume his father was a Mr. Dove?"
"Um...I plead the fifth"
"APOLLO!"
"Yeah, look Armani; I'm gonna level with you here."
I raised my eyebrows at her candidness, "Oh? Is that so? Very well, I'm listening."
"I've got nothing against you-"
"Except me being a boy and all."
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah there is that but-"
"At least she doesn't hate men on principle" Poseidon noted his son's friendemy
"Let me guess; this is where you ask me nicely to do everything your mistress says and be thankful if I manage to get out of it with my sensitive areas intact."
She rubbed her brow in exasperation, "She just wants you to answer a few questions, damn it! Why can't you just humor her?" she snapped.
Despite how unbecoming her behavior was for the lieutenant of Artemis I felt my mood darken at how simple she thought everything was.
Artemis felt despair again
"Should we get her anti-depression pills?"
"NO DRUGGING ARTEMIS!"
"You stupid girl…" I muttered angrily, and her jaw dropped. "You have no idea what's going on here, you have no clue what your precious mistress has done to me,do you?"
I watched as she gritted her teeth in frustration, "So what? She outfought you; bruised your ego a bit? How typical of a-"
"Perhaps I stand corrected" Poseidon sighed
"I was right: no idea…" I butted in before she could get into a feminist rant and turned to slam the door in her face, but sighed. I felt her attempt at diplomacy was worth something. "I will, however, say this much; if you capture me, then you have my word that Lady Artemis will get the answers she seeks." However, I paused and muttered a dark warning before slamming the door in her face.
"And I will not take it well" Artemis finished
Whatever levity I had built up had evaporated. But I chilled my heart and dampened my emotions: the lone wolf had to keep moving…
Thalia turned and walked away from the door, feeling slightly bad inside for some reason. "It was worth a try…" she said, shrugging.
"Indeed, but it's pointless to negotiate with him, Thalia; his heart is drowned in rage and sorrow, words will not reach him."
"Swords would"
"ARES!"
Thalia's voice was quiet. "…Is this really all that important? I mean, with all possible respect Lady Artemis, this seems a little excessive…"
"Seeing as if you leave Armani will most definately die...don't"
Artemis was staring dead ahead, seeming deep in thought as she spoke "It's important, Thalia. As far as this boy is concerned, these secrets are the most important thing in the world to him and he believes them to be of the utmost importance to me also. I intend to find out why."
"Well it's not like he's going anywhere…"
"YOU JYNXED IT!"
Artemis didn't take her eyes off the front door as she spoke, "Don't make predictions about someone under the protection of the lord of prophecy, Thalia. Jinxing oneself in such a situation can be very foolhardy."
Thalia blushed, "I'm sorry, Lady Artemis"
"Well, let us just hope my brother is being as inattentive as usual."
"He did say one thing, my lady…" Thalia said uncertainly.
"And what was that?"
"He said that if we capture him he'll tell you what you want to know…but…"
"But?"
Thalia paused as if dwelling on it, "He also said…that by the time he's done, you'll be praying you'd never asked."
Apollo really hoped Armani didn't do something cruel...
That was when the sound of an explosion rocked the ground from behind the condo.
"BOOM BOOM!"
"It would seem Apollo is indeed on his side…"
-A-
"Time to go…" I sighed, I hadn't moved from my position leaning against the door since I had closed it in the Huntress' face. I pushed off and strode off towards the back door, grabbing a single arrow from the umbrella holder as I went.
I opened the French doors. There were four Hunters back here. Two on each side, bows drawn and aimed directly at me. I paid them no heed, just glad they had left a decent gap between each other. I strode back a few steps, nocked the arrow in Apollo's bow and loosed it at the ground a safe distance from the huntresses.
Greek fire concentrate; a Hephaestus special, extremely expensive too: five drachma per custom arrow.
"MY ARROWS!"
"Hey, if Armani can make normal arrows, or hunter arrows anyway, could he make special arrows with training?"
Artemis paused at that, and Athena seemed to be thinking
Zeus meanwhile had a dark thought 'Children of Artemis...may be stronger than my children...there better only be one'
Its head cracked open on impact with all the grace of a rocket propelled grenade.
Back I strode, grasping another arrow in the process, and walked to the side window to fire another. The Hunters who had been dashing round to assist their comrades hit the dirt to avoid the shockwave.
Two shots left. But I didn't need them. I had broken their formation and hopefully I could get away without injuring anyone.
"Thank you" Artemis said in relief, son or not she didn't want the hunters hurt either
I had no gripe with the Hunters-shame the feeling wasn't quite mutual-but regardless…
Time to leave.
I couldn't help one last passing glance at the place that had been my home for most of my life, before lifting the hatch that lead to the garage below.
If Apollo was mad at me now…well…let's just say there are bonuses to considering it to be the last day of your life.
"And being the son of his sister" Hermes quipped
-A-
Apollo's little toy box; that's what I called this place. Motorcycles designed for flash and speed; no muscle bikes here. No, all sleek and curvy and lined neatly up in a row.
Ares and the gods grinned
The goddesses frowned, aside for Artemis
"Why ride one of those, death traps?" Athena had to wonder
I'm not entirely sure why I picked his Hephaestus modified Yamaha R7 (Or as Apollo called it: his Sun Steed)
Dionysus had a coughing fit, like he had a hairball or something
. It wasn't particularly the newest or the fastest and having Apollo's little nickname for it emblazoned on the side always made me cringe, but it was the one he had been teaching me to ride since I was twelve (gods don't let little things like traffic laws get in the way)
"APOLLO!"
"Why are you yelling so much?" Apollo cried
"You taught him to ride a Olympian bike, on roads?"
"Wait...its not him on a Motorcycle just for...?"
"I teach my hunters all methods of hunting...even on bikes"
so I suppose it was more out of a sense of nostalgia than anything else.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a speed freak by any means, but even I could tell it was a thing of beauty: its silver and golden highlights glistened in the dim light of the garage. Apollo had bragged about its 15,000 drachma price tag while teaching me. However, I guessed by the time I was through with this one of his many prides in joy today, its resale value would have plummeted somewhat. Shame really…
"MY BIKE!"
I had seconds before Artemis realized what I was up to and reasserted her cordon, so, grasping the correct key from the hook on the wall and ignoring the helmets (I figured if I crashed at the speeds this thing reached then it wouldn't make much of a difference), I braced myself and kick-started the ignition.
Athena shook her head in exasperation
That was when another problem occurred to me: only Apollo could open the garage door. He had no remote or such, he just waved his hand and the mechanism would trigger-no doubt one of his many ways of stopping me from running away.
"Apollo...NEVER CAGE MY SON!"
"HE WOULD HAVE DIED!"
I wheeled back the bike as far as I could and said another prayer of apology to my uncle. There was only one way out now.
I nocked one of the remaining arrows…
'Meep'
I was really taking a page-the loud and overly flashy page-out of Apollo's book today…
-3-
"Thalia?" Artemis demanded as her lieutenant ran around from the other side of the condo.
"Everyone's all right, my lady! It looks like he was missing intentionally. What in Hades were those?"
Artemis glanced at the crater, "Greek fire arrows… It would appear our quarry is better provisioned than we first assumed." Suddenly her silver eyes widened. "Who's guarding the front?"
Athena shook her head in exasperation
Thalia glanced around; eight around the back ensuring no injuries, some at the sides, but that would mean… "Oh no," she groaned and, without another word, sprinted back to the front of the house.
The sound of a high-pitched engine roared to life from within the closed garage.
"Positions!" Artemis shouted, and her followers immediately appeared from both sides of the condo, taking up a semi-circular position formation around the driveway. This would've worked perfectly had the garage door not suddenly exploded outwards in a blaze of green fire and sent most of them flying back through the air.
"MY CONDO!"
Thalia had braced herself and therefore hadn't been given impromptu flying lessons. She was not, however, prepared as a gold and silver blur shot out from the green fire with a scream from its engine. The rider weaved past the lieutenant, who remained rigid and daring at the end of the driveway. His hand shot out as he passed, slapping the silver circlet from the top of her head. It clanked to the ground several feet away.
"Hmmm...I might just like your son after all" Ares smirked as Artemis shook her head
The sound of taunting laughter was audible over the roar of the engine and crackle of the green flame as he sped off.
Artemis would've growled in rage had there not been more pressing issues. She turned back to her Hunters who, thankfully, were all in the process of getting up again, "Is everybody uninjured?" she enquired, looking around at Thalia.
"You care about them too much" Hera muttered
"I'm fine…" Thalia said, bending down to retrieve her head accessory. This was followed by several more affirmatives from the other Hunters. Thalia then glanced between the gaping hole in the condo wall and the direction in which their prey had escaped. "Is he insane?!"
"YES!" Aphrodite cried...as she narrowly avoided an arrow
"No, Thalia, he was cornered, and acted accordingly," she said, giving a sigh and focusing on deciding the best method of pursuit whilst doing her best to ignore the searing heat of the green flames that burned all around the building.
"Mistress…" Steff suddenly spoke up.
Artemis turned to the huntress, who was standing in the remains of the garage door, "Problem?"
"No, it's just; with him gone it looks like the field keeping us out of the building has gone too."
"That's normally how it works," she commented, walking up to the redhead.
Apollo groaned, he was not going to like this at all
"Yes. But it's just, well, look." And look she did and, more importantly, the Goddess of the Hunt saw…
-A-
The escape through the forest after that little stunt on the freeway had cost me even more of my time but that worry was quelled; I was moving, and this time I mean really moving.
The bike screamed down the freeway at over a hundred and eighty miles per hour. The Mist field it generated from the exhaust disguised me from mortal eyes. I had to hand it to Hephaestus, what he could do with a normal mortal machine was amazing.
"I like him...he's better than Jackson"
Poseidon looked annoyed "My son is perfect"
"I wouldn't say that...but he's one of the better males" Artemis added
If I weren't a half-blood there's no way my reactions would be enough to ride this monster accurately, and considering the speedometer could measure up to seven hundred and fifty, I guessed I wasn't even pulling a fraction of its power out.
"I hope so" The smith god muttered
It was, for lack of a better phrase, seriously freaking awesome. (like I said: 'lack of a better phrase', I was concentrating on not crashing at the time, after all).
Artemis cringed
As I streaked by the woods and the open sea was exposed I finally spared a glance in my mirror for the first time since my escape. (I know I know; mirror, signal, maneuver, but like I said, I was busy.)
Now you may see many strange things on a freeway: mammoth trucks so large they could crush a normal car like tin foil; drunken drivers being chased by the police; tanks and military vehicles. But what you really don't expect to see is eight young girls dressed in Greek hunting gear screaming up the road at over two hundred miles per hour on the backs of four pilfered Olympian-modified superbikes.
"MY BIKES!"
Yeah…that's kinda weird.
The lead bike pulled up alongside; Artemis was seated on the back. Unlike the rider, Artemis wasn't wearing a helmet either. I suppose falling off a motorcycle at any speed wouldn't really kill her anyway.
"It would hurt...a lot"
I spared another glance in my mirror; I spied Thalia gripping onto the shoulders of her driver. Judging by how hard she was holding on and the whiteness of her knuckles, this obviously wasn't her preferred method of transport.
"Oh, scared of heights and motorcycles...something's wrong with her" Ares muttered
ZAP!
It didn't shock me that out of all the Hunters, four were capable of driving motorcycles. After all, more than a few had ages that could be measured in centuries; you pick up quite a few skills in that length of time.
Artemis did admit, she had lock pickers, assassins, even a hunter capable of completing a rubix cube in 30 seconds.
However, the sight was so strange I found I really could come up with just one thing to say. "Hey!" I shouted and Artemis narrowed her eyes at me. "That's stealing!" And with that I opened up the throttle, pulling the bike back into a wheelie as the engine roared triumphantly and shot forwards.
Artemis cringed
It was time to see what this thing could really do…
I prayed the traffic was with me today; any congestion and she would have me. I weaved in and out of the traffic; the cars and trucks, probably going at sixty or seventy, appeared to stand still.
Hermes whistled in amazement
At over three hundred miles per hour I knew only a few things were keeping me alive. One was my reflexes and the second was the modifications: the auto-corrections would alter my course subtly if there was anything up ahead and the magical stabilizers would stop me from toppling over. The enchanted wind and g-force dampers were a bonus too, as they were among the only things stopping any bugs hitting me in the eye with all the gentleness of a thrown shard of glass.
"Ouch" Dionysus muttered
I dared to reach a hand down to the whistle around my neck and bring it to my lips. Inhaling a breath I blew for all I was worth and it let out a long harmonious note that resonated even above the engine. I knew this chase couldn't go on long, so I had to be ready. I just hoped my contingency plan got here in time…
"Its going to be dangerous...I know it" Artemis muttered
I cursed as I glanced at my mirror: one of the bikes was moving in directly behind, while two were moving to the left and right. I knew a boxing-in maneuver when I saw one, and, being on a motorcycle at this speed, it was not something I would like to get caught in.
I spied possible salvation in the far distance in the form of an off-ramp and my hand brushed the brake. I was aware of the redhead's bike (Apollo's new Suzuki Intruder, jeez was he gonna be mad when he got back) pulling up for a second, but I really couldn't pay attention; this would require immensely precise timing to pull off.
I saw out of my peripheral vision her pull closer and then, strangely, suddenly pull away and back. I felt a minor jolt in the bike's suspension but I held on.
Get ready…
My hand gripped the brake; at this speed I had no room for error. That was when I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder, "Not now!" I snapped angrily at the small person sitting behind me.
They all looked at Artemis incredibly
"Really?"
Wait…What?
I felt the color drain from my face, and my head turned involuntarily round to discover a pair of silver eyes staring back from about two inches away.
I blinked in disbelief and could feel my mouth hanging open. Artemis smiled calmly. "I believe the colloquialism is… Pull over."
"Burn"
There's tenacious, but this wasn't tenacity. Neither was this recklessness; I was reckless, this chick was grade one daffy.
"Quack?"
"Whose the dead duck that just said that"
"IT WAS HIM!" Ares, Hermes and Dionysus yelled at once
I spied a golden blur streaking through the skies in the distance and felt a smirk tug on my lips, "As you wish." I squeezed the brake and the discs screamed their objection as I violently leaned left, cutting square across three lanes and shot up off the exit ramp. I hoped silently the sudden braking or the sharp movement would dislodge the bike-jacking deity. Sadly, I wasn't sure if it was the modifications or her Olympian grip, but when I glanced back she hadn't even flinched.
"We are gods of course! We don't flinch!" Hera said seriously
Thankfully, I'd shaken all the other Hunters who had since well overshot the exit. Unfortunately, however, I still had her. It was all or nothing…
"Stop! Now! There's nowhere for you to go!" I heard her shout, and I could feel her leaning over to grab the handles. I knew that with Hephaestus' changes, even if we fought violently for control we wouldn't topple over. I also knew, however, that she needed me alive and in my current form to give her the answers she needed.
"And that, is why you are still alive" Hera conquered
"I'm not yielding to you! Not after what you've done to me!"
She probably enquired what I meant, but the bike had reached the top of the incline and flew straight over the crossing and landed oddly well on the sandy earth on the opposite side.
The bike tore across the dry off-road terrain and I could see the drop into the ocean in the distance. I had one chance and one chance only. If I didn't act, I knew Artemis would stop me.
I bent the brake handle forwards until it snapped off and once the throttle was opened I twisted it back until it locked into place with a crack. The engine roared back to life. Nothing could stop us now.
Demeter's eyes went wide "is he serious"
"No, he's Armani?" Ares said dumbly
"What have you done?" Artemis demanded, grabbing me roughly by the shoulders.
"How about that, Artemis? I win," I said and smiled darkly, locking my feet under the pedals as the edge drew closer, my peripheral vision focusing on a gold dot closing in fast.
Her small hands grabbed me to jump but then I felt her hesitate. She knew the fall alone from these speeds would be enough to liquefy my organs. She released my shoulders with a shove. "TO TARTARUS WITH YOU THEN!"
Mommy hunter flinched
she bellowed into my ear. She climbed up onto the seat until she was crouching and launched herself off with a back flip. I watched in my mirror as she twirled once in the air and landed in a crouch, skidding for at least a hundred yards and to a halt; her feet had to burn after that.
Then the ground disappeared from under me…
"ARMANI!"
-3-
Artemis pushed herself to her feet angrily and began striding towards the cliff edge. She heard the sound of the bike exploding off the rocks below a second later. "The fool," she muttered and, an instant later, a golden blur shot down out of the sky, curved down, and soared back up into the air again.
The Olympians were alarmed...did he have a...
It coiled round and slowed until it was hovering in the air, its wide golden wings beating rhythmically up and down and glinting in the sunlight, Armani Dove's dark-clad form just now adjusting itself onto its back.
"The Guardian of the Divine…a Griffin?" Artemis breathed, watching as its eagle head regarded its passenger, who ruffled its mane affectionately. Artemis could feel another emotion surface in herself somewhere, something that oddly resembled relief.
"Ah, maternal love...or instinct" Hermes jokedShe narrowed her eyes curiously as the boy now seemed to be trailing a strange golden aura, which disappeared after a moment. A wave of weakness appeared to overcome him for a second and he almost fell straight off before shaking off whatever it was and righting himself.
Armani turned his head around to the goddess, "Close call…beautiful, isn't she? Got her when I was just six, she was only a chick at the time.
Artemis decided to get this Griffin herself
Her name's Tim…don't ask."
"Tim?"
"Her?"
"...APOLLO I BLAME YOU!"
"Tim the Griffin?" Artemis echoed dryly.
"Yup! To be honest I always wondered why she would seem so disgruntled when I would call her by it. But then, I wasn't really adept at sensing what things in nature were feeling until I was like ten, and by then it had grown on her. Hadn't it, Tim?" She cawed affectionately in response as he scratched her neck again.
"That's...cute" Hera decided
"An unnaturally infuriating half-blood and a gender-confused Griffin, you make a fitting pair," said Artemis as her bow materialized in her hand.
"eh, not as fitting as my son and Blackjack"
"SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR SON BROTHER!"
"Things haven't changed, Artemis! Shoot Tim and I plunge to my death and you still don't find out what happened all those years ago."
"You have not escaped me yet, Armani Dove."
"Are you a T.V villain or something?"
"Oh, yeah? Well I'll tell you what; why don't you try flying after me!" Tim turned and flew leisurely off, following the coast north, the half-blood laughing to himself all the while.
Artemis stared after him for a moment, the sound of motorcycles approaching in the background. She would have to issue orders to her Hunters first, but, "If that is what is necessary, Armani…"
"Stop baiting me" she said desperately.
-A-
I all but collapsed forwards into Tim's mane. Don't exert yourself is what Apollo said. Time was running short.
"Where's grampy when you want him" Ares grumbled, as they all stared at him in shock
"What...I have a sense of humor"
I felt Tim's concern for me, "Don't worry girl, I'll be fine" I said as lightly as I could, but she was difficult to fool and she cawed sadly.
I smelled the distasteful stench of smog beginning to saturate the air and I glanced up ahead. A city was coming into view.
"The big city..."
"What big city?"
I knew my geography well enough to know where I was, "Well I'll be the son of a virgin;
"You are"
the city so nice they named it twice…"
"New York, New York" Apollo sang
"DON'T, DO, THAT!"
I winced as an angry crackle of thunder echoed through the skies around us.
They all eyed Zeus
Tim tensed under me and picked up speed. Like some birds she could sense changes in the weather and whatever was coming must've really been scaring her. Storm clouds were gathering seemingly all around us, and with unnatural speed. I felt the static cause the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle as we began to fly over the outer suburbs of the metropolis. Another crash of thunder, ten times louder than the last, echoed over the landscape. That made me flinch.
"FATHER!"
"Welcome to my world dad" Apollo muttered
I didn't need to guess what was happening; we were cruising above New York City, in the air. And the air was the domain of only one certain someone, especially here, right next to the seats of power, and that someone didn't like people treading (so to speak) on his turf, particularly half-bloods not of his own loins.
"None of whom, should even exist" Hera muttered
"You own one..." Demeter pointed out
"Zeus…" I breathed, and no sooner was the syllable out than a streak of lightning crashed through the air nearby. Tim reared to the right with a cry of panic and curved down lower as several more bolts erupted from the clouds. These were still warnings. Zeus could sense something of the gods in his domain and this was his way of telling it that it wasn't welcome.
"Oh well. In for a penny, in for a pound!" I reared Tim around and set a descent course straight for the Empire State Building. The weather seemed to calm as we went lower. Tim spread her wings and began circling the building gently, going no lower.
"At least he has some sense" Zeus muttered
"Yeah, Jackson could use some" Athena sighed "A sense...to not anger gods...and to be less...heroic"
and to stay away from her daughter
She was obviously enjoying herself. She never went near cities normally. I didn't think the air was good for her, plus her ability to control the mist was about as adept as mine.
"Okay, one Griffins are tougher than he thinks, second the mist is everywhere in New York" Athena pointed out
A mild rumble of thunder signified we really should be out of the air by now. But then I never really was one for pandering to the whims of the gods.
"Okay...maybe he's like Jackie-Chan-son" Dionysus yawned
That brief second of peace was shattered as a silver arrow streaked past my face, missing me by less than an inch and cracking the building's glass.
"No..." Artemis said in despair
I had two choices, and so I picked one. "CLIMB!" Tim cried out, arched a wing and spiraled up around the structure, higher and higher. Once every couple of seconds I would spy a silver arrow streak by just below, intermittently striking the spot we had just passed.
"You did a Jackson "Athena muttered
What?
With blinding speed Tim beat her wings faster and our upward spiral became a blur until the building itself became narrower and then we broke free above the spire.
But she was already waiting for us and I suddenly felt immensely stupid.
Artemis stood poised, bow drawn with two arrows nocked, in her glowing silver chariot. I breathed an apologetic sigh, "Sorry girl…forgot she had that."
"He must have tuned out what Apollo said about me after a while...probably why he's still sane"
"Sure...like any hunter is sane" Aphrodite scoffed
Tim cried out angrily, and I didn't blame her. I had just made the worst tactical error in my short existence.
Tim beat her wings to move backwards but the Griffin hadn't even flown a foot when a spear of blue lightning missed us by feet with a deafening crash and struck the spire. She shook it off and instead tried moving slowly in a circle around Artemis, who hadn't budged from her position, and another ribbon of light missed us again, by even less distance this time. Tim was trembling beneath me but managed to move back to where she was before for safety.
It was obvious what had happened. Artemis had pushed us into a corner, with her on one side and Zeus on the other. It seemed daddy was choosing to help out his little princess today…
Zeus and Artemis blushed, Hera glared
A wave of rage and resentment surged through me, at both myself and the goddess as the truth dawned.
She had me.
And she knew it.
'Why did it have to be like this...'
I couldn't even just jump; her chariot was so fast she'd simply stop me before I hit the ground. In fact, I'd hazard that was her intent when she started firing on us; take out my steed and then simply pluck me out of the sky.
The wind buffeted me as I stood up, balancing on Tim's back to face my pursuer.
Lightning continued to crackle over the wailing wind (thankfully at least blowing my bangs back out of my face) and my eyes met Artemis' over the distance between us.
I saw in them this time the triumph of the victor, the scorning of her superiority. And I knew that my eyes in turn held nothing but hate, and rage...and pain.
Artemis wished she could stop reading this...but the book was stuck to her and it had to be read, that beganafter Ares had to read the chapter where Percy beat him up
Hera, meanwhile, was grinning in triumph
"Did you really think you could escape me?" she enquired calmly, her voice somehow carrying across to me unhindered by the storm around us.
I sighed, "As a matter of fact, no."
"Then why did you persist?"
I paused, but I chose to answer truthfully. "To be perfectly honest, I intended to die in the attempt."
I saw her eyes widen slightly at my answer. "But surely you knew that as long as you had information I required I would not kill you in the chase."
"It was not you that I thought would end my life."
Artemis flinched
She hesitated before speaking. "So I was right, you are…" she trailed off.
"-Dying? As a matter of fact, yes, you were absolutely correct, congratulations," I interrupted sardonically.
"And how exactly would fleeing have ended your life? Every time you yourself have been in danger you have prevented your own demise. This Griffin is proof of that."
"He's a fighter...its something he gets from you" Apollo noted with a sad frown
My eyes narrowed at her, "Exerting myself, particularly in relation to a hunt, drains my life force. You hunted me all the way up the eastern sea board, Lady Artemis!"
She paused again as if taking it in; she seemed genuinely disturbed for a moment. "Despite what you may have heard of me, I am not totally without sympathy for someone in your position-"
The worst part was she really sounded genuine, and I think that's what made me snap. "DON'T! NOT YOU!" I shouted, stabbing a finger across at her, "I DON'T WANT PITY FROM YOU!"
Her son didn't want her...
I took twisted amusement in how stunned she looked, "I do not understand…" she breathed after a moment.
I laughed darkly, shaking my head, "You still haven't figured it out, have you? All this and still you haven't put the pieces together!"
Her shock gave way to annoyance. "Figured what out?"
"That it's all your fault!" I snapped, shaking my head and flinging my hands up disbelievingly at how dense she was, "This whole situation! You! Me! I'm only here because YOU dropped your guard!"
The month they are reading in, April, is Autisim Awareness Month.
As some people (Like the writer) have experienced first hand, autistic people, or those with something like autism, such as aspergers, get overwhelmed by what was going on, they can black out
Gods, while not autistic...could do that, and the scene was so stressful for Artemis that she was currently curled up in a ball, a silver sphere around her and Armani, utterly motionless
Hera and Aphrodite seemed amused by all that, while the others seemed mildly worried
Apollo was in total shock
"Um...she won't be out for a while..." Athena commented...this was too much for her. Hera telepathically took the book to finish it, a catonic god was not part of the spell after all
"What is all my fault?" she snapped, her voice was deep and laced with power, but I didn't falter; I was lost in rage.
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you," I said in a venomous tone, and suddenly a small, dangerous smile appeared on my face, "I'll tell you what, why don't you just take a look for yourself?"
Hera grinned at what was going to happen
"I attempted once before, but your mind was clouded with ang"er, and is still guarded."
"It still is my lady, the anger part at least, but I'm going to congratulate you for being the first person in all of history to succeed in what you are about to do."
"And that is?"
" making a teenager open up to his elders.
"I doubt she's the first" Athena commented
Well, come on, Artemis!" I shouted, holding my arms out as if to embrace her, "I'm letting you in!"
Her eyes locked with mine, I could feel her peering straight into my mind, and so I began. However, I felt her hesitation and I knew why; with direct telepathic links comes a direct empathic link which meant that as well as exposing herself to my memories she'd be exposing herself to the feelings I associated along with them.
Of course I wasn't about to jump to the chase. No, that would defeat the purpose of it, and so I began walking her through my mind; my earliest memories.
Is this relevant?
I ignored her mental query. It was laced with discomfort. I ran her quickly through what memories I had at the orphanage, the first time I summoned my bow accidentally.
"How does it even exist?" the guy who made it wondered
There! How did you use that power?
"Not just yet, Artemis"
Next was the time I was backed into an alley by a larger boy with a knife, not long after I moved in with Apollo. It was dark, and so I screamed, the sound of every enraged and wild animal in creation tearing out of my vocal chords and into the air. Out of the shadows alley cats, stray dogs and rats alike swamped the boy and seconds later he ran off screaming and bloody from lacerations.
Ares smirked
I could feel Artemis holding onto the questions she was itching to ask.
Then the memory of the pain came. That first time, later the same night that the boy attacked me, when I had collapsed and Apollo had stopped it.
Suddenly I ran the memories in fast forward; assaulting the goddess' mind with my experiences and pain over the years with such speed she didn't even have time to turn away before I had effectively downloaded my experiences up until recently into her.
It was each time I had used my power, each time the pain had come, and years of unshakable self-loathing seething beneath the surface, all of it compressed down into one neat little package and crammed into her divine cranium.
"Armani...NO!" Apollo cried out, this was the second case worst scenario...it would only be worse if he died, and Artemis didn't find out until some time later...
What…that was…
"That was me. That was all of me up until lately." I could sense her absorbing the feelings and trying to shake them off, but it was too late, even a goddess cannot unfeel what has already been felt.
"No...please don't Armani!"
Wh-what are these feelings? The hatred it… it's aimed… inwards?
"I guess a god wouldn't know about that, considering how much you just love yourselves."
"HEY!"
And then we reached recent memories…
She saw my fight with her played out through my eyes, the feelings surging through me as I fought. I even permitted her to know what fear and reverence I felt when I first faced her. I omitted the realization of my lineage that I experienced during the fight with great difficulty. I then played through the conversation with Apollo from the previous night, again omitting the information about her.
A month? So short a time... As I said, I am-
"I said I didn't want to hear it." I forced out her sympathy, and indeed tried to ignore it.
"Tried is the key word" Athena noted
How long now? How long do you have? I felt her idly wonder. I didn't especially want to answer, but if I had to guess I'd say I had used up about eighty five percent of my remaining time in my jaunt today. Artemis didn't send a thought at that revelation, just dwelled upon it.
Why is this happening to you? I have never seen a half-blood with such a disease. And what does this have to do with the Midas shade?
I didn't need to respond, as then we came to the tale Apollo had showed me. And now slowly, very slowly, I began to play forward events. I could feel Artemis now paying rapt attention, although I could tell she had been shaken greatly by the onslaught of alien emotions and was doing her best to remind herself that they weren't actually hers.
"If you don't, you will blow up" Aphrodite added, with a slight hopeful air to her
Kronos… So, it was he who was responsible for Midas' escape.
I suppose she could at least think the titan's name safely. We observed as Midas changed into his Shade form and disappeared.
I also felt her revulsion as Midas brutally murdered the man who was my father, "Sympathy for another male? What's coming of you Artemis?" I jibed teasingly.
Aphrodite grinned, romances she could see blossoming flowed through her ditzy little head
Be silent!
I then began showing her in real-time (or as best I could remember) the events of the '94 annual eclipse.
It was as Midas cracked that crystal and it erupted into swirling light that I sensed a change in Artemis. Kind of like a horrified dawning realization, so large a realization that I couldn't comprehend it, like a titanic mass of thought and fear on the edge of her mind.
"And now...she realizes it"
That energy…was the life force of a mortal?
"Yes, now shall I put it all into context for you?" and with that I ran past Midas' attack and then recalled the images she wouldn't have seen: a ball of light streaking through the night sky; Apollo's crash landing and finally…the discovery of the infant wrapped in the veil bearing her symbol.
She seemed to dwell on the image for a second, then, as if my mind had somehow electrocuted her, she yanked herself away from my consciousness with such force I nearly fell right off Tim's back.
I blinked once to clear my head and found her staring across at me from her chariot, frozen to the spot, wide-eyed and looking decidedly pale (odd for a goddess). She said nothing for a moment; the only sound was the raging weather around about us. Then she spoke, "That light...that energy...that...child-" she breathed in disbelief.
"Yes, that was me…" And then I said the one word that I hadn't said yet, the word that finally made it real, for her and for me, "…Mother."
Abruptly the thunder ceased. The wind disappeared and the clouds suddenly began clearing around us until there was a perfect circular gap in the skies above us, as if nature itself had just done a double take and needed to cut out the racket to make sure they'd heard that right.
"I would be" Zeus commented sadly
I was glad, because if I were forced to raise my own voice now I probably would've choked on my own words, as I suddenly found myself speaking quietly, my voice shaking and thick with emotion, "Do you have any idea what it's like...to be me?"
Artemis was shaking her head in denial, but I knew part of her was paying attention, so I carried on.
"To be the child of Artemis…the male child of Artemis?"
Apollo was glad his sister suddenly went catonic
She opened her mouth to try and speak, "I…"
But I wasn't having any of her excuses, "Do you UNDERSTAND what that means?"
I could see fear in her eyes. Fear and sorrow and they were getting worse, but I wasn't nearly finished.
I felt myself choke slightly and fought to get the next words out, "I hate myself…I walk through life, day after day, feeling like no matter how hard I try, no matter how good a deed I do, I will NEVER, EVER be good enough! Unable to shake the feeling that there's something wrong with me! Like there's some incurable filthy disease at the core of my being that makes me utterly worthless as a life!" I paused, my eyes were stinging for some reason and my vision was blurring. "This is the life you created: a life born to hurt; a life born to die."
"That was too poetic...he takes after you a bit too much" Poseidon sighed
"He'd be better if he had cereal"
Artemis' head shook in despair, golden tears starting to form in her own eyes. But still, I wasn't done.
"YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU… MADE ME!" I found myself roaring this over the maddening quiet and now I could feel my own tears starting to fall freely as I spoke to the goddess who stood there, bow still drawn, like the most pained and fragile thing in all creation. "I hate you, mother, but not for the reason you're thinking of, not the self-loathing, not the pain…" I paused as a silver ball formed in my hand.
"ARMANI! NO!"
"Stop!" I vaguely heard her choke out, she knew what I was doing and what it would do to me, but she had to know. She had to know what it was shedid.
I formed my bow.
Nocking an arrow, I took aim at my mother. Her own bow was still aimed with trembling hands. And then I told her, "The one thing I can never forgive you for, the greatest wrong you ever committed, was this: you allowed me to be born."
Apollo was...well this was never something he had expected to be said
Hera had an evil smirk as Zeus caught it
"We will not repeat what Armani said to Artemis when he awakes...UNDERSTAND!"
and those words hit the goddess of childbirth with more force than the arrow I had aimed at her ever could. I saw the pain hit somewhere in her so deep that it went beyond despair. And then I realized with horror, and just a sentence too late, exactly what I had just done…
You just broke your mother's heart.
"Well...at least he's not totally mad"
Before I could say anything else a wave of weakness came over me as my entire body shimmered with gold light and my thumb and forefinger lost their grip.
Unfortunately, Artemis had un blacked out and heard the last one
"NO!"
No!
"Weird"
As I swayed, I managed to alter my aim a few degrees to the left, just enough to miss, but not quite enough. Fortunately my arrow only skimmed across the top of my mother's right hand, lacerating it slightly. Unfortunately, in her unfocused state this caused her hand to twitch for a fraction of a second.
Oh the irony…
An instant later I was vaguely aware of the ground under me start evaporating into dust and I realized with detachment that one arrow had struck Tim's hide.
Artemis looked ready to black out again
I would've said a silent prayer to Hades in the hopes he guided her to be reincarnated in a form she would have liked, had not a sudden, deafening THUD echoed in my ears. I felt myself thrown backwards in the air, a dull ache starting to spread across my torso.
Artemis was shivering in horror...she had SHOT her son...AGAIN!
Time seemed to slow as I glanced down at the silver arrow now protruding from my chest and, as my consciousness faded to darkness, caught a last fleeting glimpse of my mother's despairing face, her bow discarded and her hand outstretched desperately as if to grasp me out of the air…
Falling…
To be concluded…
"NO! NO! NO!"
