Chapter 3

Artemis Prime discovered herself in her room after waking up. She sat up, stretched comfortably in her queen-sized bed and yawned. Then the events of the day tumbled down on her. She groaned in confusion as she stumbled into her spacious white-colored bathroom.

She took out a brush from the drawer and started to comb out her unruly dark hair. She was especially proud of her hair. It was all silky and a little wavy. Girls would kill to have hair as awesome as hers. She placed the comb back down into the drawer and pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail to wash her face for the night.

But then she saw her reflection on the mirror. She looked the same as always; heart-shaped face, slightly tanned complexion, rosy cheeks, but her eyes… Her eyes were silver.

"Holy s—"Artemis was interrupted by a silver mist around her reflection. The mirror cracked a little as though someone punched it, and then it turned clear again.

Her reflection smiled, but Artemis wasn't smiling. The reflection waved at her, opened her mouth and then closed it again. Artemis wasn't doing anything of the above. Artemis held up a hand. Instead of seeing her reflection do the same, it stared back blankly at her in confusion.

"Who are you?" Artemis croaked out.

The reflection smiled again and said, "Artemis."

"You're me. Of course that's your name." Artemis was astonished. Here she was, talking to her own reflection. She was definitely turning crazy.

Artemis's reflection pouted. "You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly. I'm talking to my own reflection! Good God, what is wrong with me?" Artemis turned away from the mirror, blinked, and then stared back at the mirror. Her reflection was perfectly still.

"Stop that!" The reflection exclaimed. "There's nothing wrong with you, really. I just need to talk to you." Her silver eyes glistened slightly as she said, "It's time for you to be told the truth." The mirrors cracked again, and then the reflection disappeared.

Artemis widened her now-silver eyes in surprise as she noticed that she had no reflection. Weird, she thought, as she exited the bathroom. She closed the bathroom door gingerly behind her and faced her huge all-white bedroom. Her bed, which was covered in comfortable pillows and a puffy blanket, was positioned in the middle of the bedroom. Her white wardrobe was pushed to the side of the room, beside the window. Pictures of her and her friends were plastered all over the room. Everything looked the same as usual, until she looked at her bed again.

There was a girl, wearing a silver tunic that matched her silver eyes. She had a type of weapon in her hand and a slight smile on her pink lips. She looked perfect and extremely identical to Artemis. The room temperature dropped ever so slightly as the girl took a ginger step towards Artemis.

"Hello," the girl grinned and Artemis immediately felt as though she was being wrapped up comfortably in a cold embrace. "My name is Artemis, or you can call me Arte, and I am the goddess of the moon, hunt, hills and –" she stopped. "Well, let's cut these formalities. You've known me your whole life. I have been there, inside of you, for gods knows how long. Wait, how old are you?"

"15." Artemis said hesitantly.

"Okay, then maybe I've been in you for 15 years." Arte said thoughtfully, twirling a strand of midnight hair around a finger. "Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm here, right?" Without waiting for a response, Arte rattled on, "I'm actually here to tell you about everything." She tapped a finger to her chin. "But I don't know where to start…"

Artemis was really shocked with the appearance of a long-lost twin that she didn't know about. And she was pretty sure she was hallucinating, maybe she was in a dream, or a nightmare. She cleared her throat and asked, "Maybe you could start by telling me what happened to you." She decided to play along, since this was a dream. She would wake up sooner or later.

"Oh," Arte said, "A decade ago, Cronos, my grandfather, escaped Tartarus." She paused for dramatic effect. She was expecting Artemis to react in some way, but she didn't know how to respond, so she sat there speechless, blinking stupidly.

Arte sighed exasperatedly. "Anyway, he was really, really evil and decided to build an army. An army of gods, demi-gods, titans, nymphs… You got it. He's got many on his side, and I don't know how to stop him. If I join him, his army would be complete. He could take over the world. Humans would perish under him and he could do anything and get everything he wants, because he's the most powerful immortal I've ever known.

"I hate him. I hate him to the core of my being. He had taken everything away from me… my twin brother, my friends, my family, my home, everything. I cannot even begin to explain to you how much it hurts to have had everything and then, in a blink of an eye, it was all gone." A single silver tear escaped the goddess's silver eyes. She turned away, wiping it off with the back of her hand. But alas, it was of no use, because more tears came and soon, she was sobbing.

Artemis offered a piece of tissue to the weeping Arte and patted her on the back. Even though this was a dream, Artemis was kind and didn't want her guest to cry.

In between sobs, Arte explained, "At that time when Cronos escaped, there was an Olympians meeting. I wasn't there at that time. I was late. And everybody else was early. Cronos placed all of them under a spell. He found out what everyone held dear and threaten it against them, forcing them to join his army. Also, anybody who left would be turned into particles in the air. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't informed of that when I finally reached Mount Olympus. I went through the gates, saw Cronos, and immediately went out again, causing my whole body to disappear, like that." Arte snapped her fingers.

"I shouldn't have left. If I hadn't, I might've been able to save them. But I was selfish, and weak. I escaped and sought for refuge at the Mortal World. I went to the only place that I would be needed: The Delivery Room of a Hospital. There was a woman in there, in pain. It doesn't seem like she was going to make it. I heard the doctor say that both the woman and the baby wouldn't be able to make it. I couldn't leave the baby alone. I saved you. But, I wasn't strong enough to save the woman. I'm sorry, Artemis.

"Your father felt indebted to me, so he named you after me. And then—" Arte disappeared in a puff of silver smoke.

The bedroom door creaked open. Artemis was so absorbed in Arte's story that she didn't even notice. "Artemis, why are you still awake?" Artemis's dad, Andy Prime, asked kindly. "I heard you talking."

"Dad!" Artemis lied, "I was on the phone." Artemis plastered a smile on her face. "Have you had your dinner yet? Do you want me to whip up something for you?"

He shook his head and closed the door behind him. Artemis sat on the bed, hands on her face, knees pulled towards her chest. That evening was getting weirder and weirder.