Okay, let me have it, I deserve it. It's been... way too long, for this and for Two Princes. That one might take a little longer. But I've been really working hard on my original story (and it's coming along really well). Anyway, we start out with a little Tratie in this chapter, before jumping back to camp. Remember, archery contest. Who'll win? Sonny or Sloan? Already working on the next chapter.

Chapter 6

A few birds were chirping, just two rays of sun broke through the trees, and Katie was cuddled against Travis's side, her head on his chest. They had settled nicely into a small B&B in Connecticut on their unofficial honeymoon, though it was the closest they ever got to one. It had been out of the question the first time they married as they had both been broke and this time they had their daughters and conflicting work schedules.

Travis was busying himself with drawing the Greek alphabet on some of the exposed skin on Katie's back that he could reach, while Katie watched his other hand and mindlessly stroked some of the grass they were lying on. Personally, if she could have remained like that for the rest of her life, she would have been pleased.

As it was, they knew that they only had two more months of their 'honeymoon,' and somehow, it didn't upset them at all.

With a sudden gusto, Katie turned her head up toward Travis, and then crawled up onto him, straddling him within a moment and pressing her lips to his. He certainly didn't seem to mind.

And then he heard a low rumbling noise.

Without really thinking, Travis flipped his and Katie's positions, just as a Hellhound pounced out of the darkness of bushes it had been hiding in. It dug its claws into Travis's back and pulled down, shredding his skin before Katie was able to react, using her powers over the plants to capture the creature and pull it away from them. It struggled, but it was tightly caught up in tree branches and limbs from the bushes.

"Oh, gods, Travis," Katie gasped, noticing the grimace on his face from pain. "Don't move." She managed to wiggle her way out from under him and got a look at his back. There were four bleeding grooves down Travis's back. "Oh, gods, Travis." Katie was trying her best not to freak out. Since the incident in Oregon, Katie had incidentally not seen any monsters. "That looks so painful."

"Funny, because it really is," Travis said. His arms trembled as he carefully lowered himself to the ground, stomach first. "There's some ambrosia up in my bag."

"Right," Katie nodded, knowing that it had been packed for just this occasion. She turned to run inside as quickly as she could.

"Uh, Kates..." Travis got her attention just before she took off.

"What is it?" she asked, turning back to him. He pointed upward, where the struggling Hellhound was still stuck. It barked a few times at them. Katie simply reached out her hand and closed it into a fist, the branches closing together as if into a fist, breaking the Hellhound until it was crushed into dust. And then she turned and ran inside to get the Ambrosia for Travis.

A wave of gasps and whispers ran through the crowd as Sloan approached one of the shooting slots.

"What is he doing?" Izzy asked Addy, grabbing her sister's arm. "Why's he challenging Sonny?"

Addy, however, just stared. She turned and scanned the crowd, trying to spot Alex. She finally spotted the blacksmith girl and pushed her way through the crowd to the daughter of Hephaestus, aware that Izzy was following. However, because Izzy wasn't as aggressive, she fell behind.

"Does he have a chance?" Addy asked once she was next to Alex.

Alex looked at Addy for a moment, then looked back at the two boys. "Sonny has a better bow," she said. "It's sturdier and stronger. And his arrows are straighter." She looked at Addy again. "It depends on how Sloan views the bow. If he sees it as an aiming contest, Sonny will win. But children of Ares are natural masters of all weapons, so if he views the bow and arrow as a weapon, he might have a real chance."

"Coming through!" a voice carried over the whispers in the crowd. Addy and Izzy both turned from their respective spots to see Linda coming through. She passed just next to Izzy and took careful precaution to make sure she stepped on the girl's foot. Izzy winced, but then bit her tongue, determined not to make a big fuss about it. She knew that the majority of the crowd would jump to Linda's defense.

"You made it," Sonny said, smiling up at the counselor.

"Sorry I'm late," Linda said. She glanced through the crowd. "Something happened in the city with a few demigods and I was just with Chiron, getting the report." She smiled that beautiful Aphrodite smile she had been graced with. "Now, how many challengers do we have?"

"Apparently just one," Sonny said, gesturing to Sloan.

Linda looked over, and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"What is she doing here?" Izzy asked Addy once she had finally caught up with her sister.

"Beats me," Addy said. "But it makes me glad I'm not competing."

Linda turned to the crowd. "The rules," she said, loud enough to quiet all the conversations. "Each shooter gets five arrows. The best single shot wins." She turned back to the two shooters. "Ready your first arrow." Both did as she said, Sonny smiling at the crowd while Sloan concentrated on his form. "Fire at will."

Sonny immediately released his arrow, hitting the bulls eye, but the edge of it. Sloan, releasing a few seconds later, was just outside of the bulls eye dot.

"And so far the winner is Sonny!" Linda announced. "Shooters, ready your second arrow!"

"Go Sonny!" someone shouted from the crowd. It was followed by many more shouts for Sonny. Before long, someone had started chanting 'Son-ny! Son-ny!' It didn't take more than a moment for Izzy to join in.

"Fire at will!"

Once again, Sonny released immediately. This arrow was the tiniest bit closer to the exact center. Sloan's arrow, as he released immediately as well, was a ring out. He cursed under his breath in Ancient Greek, but the cheering of the girls for Sonny covered his words.

"Sonny remains in the lead!" Linda announced. The cheering girls got louder.

The next two rounds yielded similar results, until Sonny was just millimeters from a perfect bullseye and Sloan's arrow were just outside the center circle.

"And, time for the final shots," Linda announced. "Ready your arrows."

Everyone held their breath as both Sloan and Sonny brought up their arrows, aiming at the bulls' eyes. "Fire at will."

However, rather than either of them releasing, five silver arrows hit the target in between the two that were being used, each a perfect bulls eye, and each arrow splitting the one before it.

Sonny's arrow just dropped from his hand, and Sloan, barely paying attention to his arrow, released it, hitting the mark just closer than any of Sonny's arrows had hit.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Linda grumbled and turned to where the silver arrows had come from.

Standing in a tree was a young girl, probably about age eleven. However she wore a pair of camouflage pants and a black tee shirt with a silver vest. She had pale skin and long black hair with green eyes. In her hand she held a silver bow and had a few knives tucked into her belt.

At the base of the tree stood about a dozen other girls, all dressed in similar garb and most with bows or knives as well. They all seemed to range from about nine to twelve.

"So, I'm pretty sure that I just won," the girl in the tree said before leaping down, landing gracefully on her feet. She smiled. "What's my prize?"

"Prize for what?" Sonny asked, a frown on his face as he turned to face the girls.

"Clearly for winning what was an archery contest," the girl said. "I know there was a prize. The looks on your faces made it obvious."

"You were not a participant," Linda said, arms crossed.

"Who are they?" Izzy asked Alex quietly.

"Must be Hunters of Artemis," Alex said. "I wouldn't know for certain, as I've never met them, but... who else could they be?"

"I still beat both of them," the girl said, approaching Linda. "And from farther away."

"I don't care," Linda said. She stopped and looked at Sloan and Sonny. "There wasn't a prize, was there?"

"Nope," both boys said and shook their heads.

"Well, who's the winner?" one person in the crowd asked.

"Or, rather, who is the runner-up?" the Hunter asked.

Linda looked at the two targets. Sonny's only had four arrows, as his fifth was just two feet out. And then at Sloan's target, which had one arrow just a bit closer to the exact center dot than Sonny's arrows. "The winner is Sloan, son of Ares."

Addy, Izzy, and Alex, who had all forgotten about the contest for a moment, widened their eyes and turned to see that Sloan did have an arrow closer to the center than any of Sonny's. Addy and Alex smiled at one another while Izzy's jaw just dropped.

"Great job, Sloan!" Alex said, throwing an arm over his shoulders as the two girls caught up to him with the crowd leaving the archery range. Izzy was pushing through the crowd to get to Sonny and the Hunters were all gathering around Linda, questioning as to why their own hadn't been declared the winner.

"Yeah, whatever," Sloan said, shoving the bow into Addy's hands. "Next time, don't challenge an Apollo kid into an archery contest."

"It wasn't like that," Addy said. She flipped some of her still long hair off her shoulder, causing it to fan out and shine in the sun. Addy didn't notice as Sloan stared for a few moments in fascination. He had blinked it out of his eyes and turned away by the time Addy looked at him. "Izzy was trying to flirt with him, and because of this stupid curse that forces me to be Malibu Barbie... well... he was more interested in me. I thought I'd annoy him, but he said if he won the archery contest I'd need to take private lessons with him."

"You could have said no," Alex said with a small shrug. She cocked her head at Addy. "You know, I never did get the story about why the Aphrodite girls blessed you..."

Addy blushed and turned a bit away from Alex. She couldn't tell Alex that she had been asking the girls to help her look more feminine. "I... uh.. was kind of seeing if they had heard anything about Orion... for you."

"Orion?" Sloan asked. "Zeus's kid?" He lightly elbowed Alex. "Got a thing for him, huh?"

"A bit," Alex said blushing. "But it's not a real serious crush..."

"I just thought that they'd want to help," Addy said. "But, apparently they took Linda's side."

"Miss Linda's side against me?" Alex questioned. "What have I done to her?"

"Nothing," Addy said. "It's against me. Sorry, but being friends with me apparently makes you an enemy of the DOAs. If you want to stop talking to me now, I'd understand. I'd only be my friends to annoy those girls, personally."

Alex shook her head. "Naw, I think I'll keep you," she said smiling at Addy. "Never had a female friend before, nor someone that tried to do something for me without getting something in return."

"What am I?" Sloan asked.

"We have a mutual exchange," Alex said. "You get weapons, I get training."

"Anyway, this isn't a blessing," Addy ensured the two. "It's a curse."

"Oh, boys fawning all over you and perfect beauty," Alex mocked. "It must be tragic."

"You try to learn to fight in heels," Addy said. "I'm just glad Char managed to get Izzy drunk enough last night to forget certain events." She glanced behind them to where Izzy was, getting shoved around in the crowd by Sonny. "She'd be so sad if she remembered how Sonny ignored her yesterday."

"Okay, that does sound like a curse," Alex said.

"Anyway, you're just lucky that Sonny was trying to draw the tension out and managed to drop that last arrow," Sloan said, turning around and walking backwards so he could face the girls as they walked. "He could have hit the bullseye every shot… though I doubt he'd be able to split his arrows."

The three were almost at the food pavilion for lunch when suddenly there was a girl in front of them, hands fisted on her hips and a frown on her face. It was the girl that had fired five perfect shots from the tree. Sloan barely avoided walking into her.

"Why did you win?" the girl demanded to know.

Sloan stood still for a moment, debating how to explain why she hadn't been declared the winner. Alex stepped up. "It really was a stupid my horse is bigger than your horse competition."

The girl looked confused. She probably was only about ten when up close. "What does an archery contest have to do with horses?"

"You want to be winner, fine by me," Sloan said lifting his hands in defeat. "So long as it's not the other guy."

The girl's eyes lit up. "So, you'll give me the prize? What's the prize?"

"Archery lessons with Addy," Sloan said, motioning to the daughter of two demigods.

"Wha…" The girl was confused. "But I don't need lessons, clearly."

"No, you misunderstand," Sloan said. "You get to be the teacher, she is the student."

Her shoulders dropped. "That's such bull."

Eventually, Sonny managed to push through his throng of admirers. Char, Leiko, and another girl that Izzy didn't know, dome daughter of a minor god she thought, waited for him at the entrance of the archery range. Izzy tried to keep up, but kept getting pushed around too much to use her speed.

She watched as he grabbed Leiko's hand, and how the other two girls followed Sonny and Leiko until Sonny and Leiko split off toward the cabins rather than the food pavilion.

Izzy was about to follow when all of a sudden, Char and the other girl, also a beauty, were stopping her.

"Sonny needs some time to himself," Char said placing a hand on Izzy's shoulder.

"But, Leiko's with him," Izzy said.

"Okay, Sonny needs some time to let off frustration, and that's what Leiko's for," the girl said, brushing some long blonde hair off her shoulder. "Eri, by the way, daughter of Eros."

"I just wanted to make sure he was alright," Izzy said.

"He will be," Char said. "But he doesn't want you bursting in on him right now. Just give him time."

Izzy sighed, which apparently caused Eri to groan. "Okay, you know what, we'll help you."

"You don't sound like you want to," Izzy said, a little confused.

Char, however, looked thrilled at the process. "Yes, a make-over. Granted, it be so much easier to go your sister's route and get an Aphrodite blessing…"

"She hates how she looks right now," Izzy said.

"Ah, but a few touch-ups and you hang with us, you'll get on Sonny's radar," Char promised. "Come on, we'll start right now."

"Right now?" Izzy asked, her eyes going wide.

"It shouldn't be too hard," Eri said. "I mean, in a year or two, you'd probably be easy to turn into one of us. You're just a little small in the chest area, and you have a young face." Eri tilted her head, causing her blonde hair all to fall down her shoulder. "But, I think we can make it work."

"But only if you cooperate," Char said, staring Izzy in the eyes. "Can you commit to this?"

Izzy thought for a moment, and then glanced in the direction Sonny had disappeared with Leiko. And then she nodded. "I'm with you."

"Good," Char said with a smile. "I had a feeling about you, and I was right."