Update time! YAY! I'm really really really hyper right now! Woo-hoo! Okay, I will now funnel all my hyperness into writing a good chapter! I do not own anything copyrighted I happen to use. In fact, you can even ask my friend Gabby here.

Me: Gabby, do I own any copyrights?

Gabby: No, you do not, friend.

SEEEEE! I don't! Anyways….

Last time:

"Where's Michelle?" Emily shouted. "This girl needs a crash-course in Greek Mythology!"

January 3, 2012

All I could think was 'Oh no, more to cram into my head!' I already had a headache. I had always been interested in Greek mythology, but my daddy went out of his way to prevent me from seeing it. I knew some stuff- the Underworld was where the dead people went; the gods lived on Mount Olympus. But I didn't know many names. Once, I had secretly borrowed a friend's book about Greek mythology. The only names that had stuck, that I had remembered, were Artemis and Athena, because I thought they were the coolest. But I only knew that Artemis was the goddess of the moon and Hunt, and protected maidens, and that Athena was the goddess of wisdom. So, I got the crash-course.

~Enter flashback~

Krissetta followed, tripping over her own feet as Emily pulled her away. She was sure that, had she not been freezing and foggy-minded, she could have easily gotten away from the smaller girl. Emily was at least three inches shorter than her, with medium-length light brown hair and brown eyes. She had lots of freckles, and seemed the type of person that would always be cheerful and smiling. She kept up a constant stream of chatter as she pulled Krissetta over towards the campfire.

"Its so exciting that you're going to be a hunter! We're going to be just like sisters! We all are! You're going to have so much fun, just you wait! MICHELLE!" she shouted. "And you're a daughter of Athena too, right? You'll get along well with her, then. She's a nymph, but she's really smart!"

Michelle poked her head out of her tent. "What's up?" she asked, following them over to the fire. She was tall, with light blonde hair. She wore glasses over blue eyes. She looked like she would be considered 'the smart one.'

"Krissetta doesn't know anything about Greek mythology!" Emily said dramatically.

Krissetta blushed. "I know some stuff…"

Michelle smiled. "Like what?"

"I know that Athena is the goddess of wisdom, and Artemis is the goddess of the moon, the hunt, and maidens," Krissetta said hopefully. "And I know dead people go to the underworld. And that the gods live on Mount Olympus." She hoped that it would make her look at least partly informed, not like a complete idiot.

Michelle smiled. "It's a start." She picked up a stick and started writing something in the ground.

Kronos-Rhea

"Kronos and Rhea are titans," Michelle said. "They are the parents of the five oldest gods, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and Demeter."

Krissetta nodded. "Okay."

Michelle wrote some more things in the dirt.

Kronos-Rhea

Zeus Hera Poseidon Hades Demeter

"Zeus is the king of the gods. He controls the sky," Michelle said. "He uses a lightning bolt as his main weapon. His sacred animal is the eagle."

"He married Hera, and now she's the queen of the gods. She's goddess of marriage and motherhood. They had Hephaestus and Ares." She changed the picture on the ground so it looked like this:

Zeus-Hera Poseidon Hades Demeter

Hephaestus Ares

"Hephaestus is the god of the forges," Michelle said. "His symbol is the donkey, the anvil or the hammer. Ares is the god of war. His symbol is the boar, he uses any weapon.

"Poseidon is the god of the sea. His symbol is the trident, his most-used weapon. He married a mermaid named Amphitrite, and they had Triton." She changed it again:

Zeus-Hera Poseidon-Amphitrite Hades Demeter

/

Hephaestus Ares Triton

"Hades is the god of the underworld. His weapon is the Helm of Darkness. He kidnapped Persephone, Demeter's daughter, and forced her to marry him. They have no kids.

"Zeus had another wife, before Hera, and that's how your mother, Athena, was born. Zeus ate her mother and Athena grew normally inside of him. One day, she burst from his forehead, fully grown and ready for battle. You may already know this, but Athena is the goddess of wisdom. Her symbol is the owl.

"Also, sometimes, Zeus would get a little cocky and go have…affairs with mortals. Thus, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus were born. Artemis you already know about. Her younger twin, Apollo is the god of music, art, poetry, medicine, prophecy, plague, archery, colonization, light, and the sun."

"Artemis says that he is the god of all that, and somehow, he still finds time to be annoying," Emily added.

Michelle rolled her eyes and continued. "Hermes is the god of messengers, thieves, and travelers. Basically anyone who uses the roads. Dionysus is the god of wine." She fixed the chart again.

Zeus Zeus-Hera Poseidon-Amphitrite Hades-PersephoneDemeter ^ /

Artemis Apollo Hephaestus Ares Triton

Hermes Dionysus

"Last, but not least," Michelle said, "We have Aphrodite. She's married to Hephaestus, but she dates Ares. She was born from sea foam; she's not really related to anyone."

Krissetta blinked. "Whoa." It was a little overwhelming, finding all of this out. She could understand and grasp it, sure, but she wished she had more details.

Emily laughed. "Wisely said by a daughter of Athena."

Krissetta blushed again. "Well, it's really long, and kind of messed-up," she said.

Michelle smiled and nodded. "It is really complicated. But I have some books you can borrow, if you want," she offered.

Krissetta's eyes lit up. "Books? Really?" she asked excitedly.

Emily started laughing again. "There it is!" She said. "The daughter of Athena shines through!"

Michelle sighed and shook her head. "Come on, I'll show you." She stood and offered Krissetta her hand. Krissetta took it and pulled herself up. Michelle led her to one of the tents. "Home sweet home," she said, holding the flap open as Krissetta walked inside. She looked around. The space was really much larger than it looked from the outside. In one corner was on of those fold-up hunting beds, in another, a chest full of books.

"Oh my gosh," Krissetta said, staring.

Michelle smiled. "I like to read in my spare time. But you should really talk to Ari, if you like reading all that much. Girl's got a book for every day of the year!" she exclaimed.

Krissetta looked at her, eyes wide. "Really?"

Michelle laughed. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you like to read."

Krissetta blushed, nodding. "Yeah, kind of…" she admitted, like it was some big crime. She quickly changed the subject. "So, where should I start?" she asked.

"Well," Michelle said, quickly becoming studious, forgetting all about Krissetta's confession. "I think, for a beginner, you should start out with this." She handed Krissetta a small book full of illustrations. "It shows a lot of Greek tales, and describes a lot of the gods and goddesses."

Krissetta nodded gratefully. "Thanks! I'll be sure to bring it back when I'm done." She stepped outside and looked around, wondering where she was supposed to stay. She felt in her pocket for her compass. Pulling it out, she turned in a full circle, but still, the needle spun. She looked at it, confused. "It's never done that before," she murmured. She turned in another circle, but still the needle spun.

"What's that?" asked a voice from behind her. She jumped about two feet in the air. Turning around, she saw it was none other than the goddess of the hunt, Artemis herself. No one else could come up behind her so quietly in the fresh snow.

"It-it's my compass," she said.

"It looks broken," Artemis commented, pointing to the spinning needle.

"I don't think it is," Krissetta said. "Its not really supposed to point north."

"Well, where does it point?"

"Truth be told, I don't really know," Krissetta admitted. She was doing a lot of that lately, she realized. Admitting things. "Its always just pointed, and I've always just followed."

"Interesting," Artemis said. "What's that on the back?" she asked, indicating to some markings on the back of the compass.

"I really don't know. I don't know anything about the compass, just that it showed up one day on my windowsill, and it always points to somewhere that ends up being good for me." She turned the compass over to get a better look at the markings.

"That's Greek," Artemis said, looking at the words.

"What does it say?" Krissetta asked, excited to get some clue as to what the compass was.

"Καθοδήγηση," Artemis said. "Guidance."

"Guidance," Krissetta mused. "Interesting." Her eyes took on a distant look. She started thinking hard about the compass. "Well, if it was supposed to guide me, which it likely was, as it always pointed me somewhere good, and its named 'guidance,' I think we can assume that it was supposed to guide me to where I should be. And now that it doesn't work, I'm assuming I've finally reached that place, and therefore I am where I am supposed to be."

Artemis looked at her for a second, confused, and then she seemed to understand what Krissetta had said. "That sounds about right. Only a daughter of Athena could word something like that, have it sound so confusing when it's really not. All you had to say was, 'it was supposed to guide me, but now I don't need any guidance because I'm where I should be'."

Krissetta looked at her. "I'm so sorry, I should've-"

Artemis cut her off with a laugh. "I was kidding. Lighten up," she said.

Krissetta frowned. "You try lightening up when you just came out of where I've been," she muttered, embarrassed. Her temper started to show through.

Artemis stopped laughing and looked at her. "What?" she asked. Having never heard real concern in an adult's voice, Krissetta mistook Artemis's tone for annoyance or anger.

"N-nothing," she said quickly. "Um, where am I supposed to stay?" she asked, changing the subject again.

"I'll show you to your tent," Artemis said kindly, leading Krissetta to one of the tents set up in a semi-circle around the campfire.

And thus ends chapter four. Sorry it took so long, but with school starting and all, I haven't had a lot of writhing time :'(.

Gabzilla-the-beast: I'm glad you like it. I hope you two will have a long and happy life together.

Artemis the Moon Maiden: I am defiantly not planning on having her fall for a guy. I hate it when people do that. A real huntress wouldn't fall in love. If I do write a sequel, it will most defiantly be about Krissetta having fun and adventures with the hunters, not her falling in love. Because I agree, hunters don't fall in love. And Krissetta is no wannabe hunter; she's the real deal ;)