Chapter Eight - Getting Started
"I speak on behalf of our lady in saying that thou shall train this maiden in how to compose herself in battle." Zoë said.
Hunter balked, "What? No, I can't... You can't..."
"I assure you, I can and thou wilt," Zoë said in a commanding tone. "Consider it further training for thyself. Or would thou prefer we find another Leucrocotta? I believe milady's brother has two others still."
"No, lieutenant," Hunter said with a sigh. "I'll do it."
"As I thought," the lieutenant turned to me. "Consider this a boon from our lady, and heed well the instruction granted. You fought well and bravely, but there is still much for you to learn."
"Yes, of course," I said. "Um, thanks?"
Zoë nodded and, without another word, sprang back to the rooftop in a series of impressive acrobatic leaps and climbing. I stared in slack jawed amazement even as Hunter scoffed, muttering about 'showing off'.
"So," Hunter said, looking at me. "Guess I'll be staying with you until you can hold a weapon properly. Or until you bite it, whichever comes first. Show me up?"
She started walking toward the stairs leading up to uncle Joe's apartment and I scrambled to follow after her.
"Try to keep quiet," I said. "My uncle's asleep."
"You don't have to worry about me," she said. "Among other things, my lady's blessing allows me to move unseen and unheard."
"Your lady?" I asked, voice barely a whisper as we crossed the threshold into the apartment.
"Artemis," Hunter said. "Goddess of the moon, the hunt and the wild places. As one of her handmaidens, or more commonly referred to as hunters, I have been blessed by her directly. In addition to my stealth abilities, you noticed Zoë's acrobatic display?" I nodded. "Things like that still take time to learn, but the blessing makes it easier and allows us to perform feats that would otherwise be impossible without decades of training. But the greatest blessing my lady gives us is our longevity. So long as I remain in good standing with the hunt, I am functionally immortal. We never grow older, and as long as we don't fall in combat, we will live forever. Zoë may not look like it, but she's well over three thousand years old. Of course, she's been with our lady since the very beginning."
My mind went blank. Three thousand years? That was impossible to grasp. I couldn't imagine what life would have been like back then, but to have lived all the way from then to now, and experience everything in between? I blinked, trying to refocus my thoughts.
"How old are you, then?" I asked.
"You know, it's generally considered rude to ask a girl her age, right?" I blushed and she smirked, "I'm sixteen. Well... Forever fifteen, I guess. Just joined up last year."
"How do you join the hunt?" I asked as we reached my bedroom.
She didn't answer at first, instead she began silently unpacking a silver sleeping bag and laying it out on the floor. "Ask me again later," she said, finally. "Right now, I think we both could use some sleep. I'm immortal, not invulnerable. You're neither of those things."
"Good point," I yawned, crawling back into my bed. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of a plate bouncing off the bedroom floor. Blearily I cracked my eyes open to see uncle Joe standing in the doorway staring back at me in shock.
"Oh, hey. Good morning, uncle Joe," I yawned, sitting up, and felt the bed shift. That's when I noticed the extra lump under the blanket beside me. Frowning slightly, I lifted the blanket to see a mass of white hair splayed out on the pillow beside me.
"Nipote...?" uncle Joe started to ask.
"Five more minutes," the immortal fifteen year old grumbled tiredly, snatching the blanket out from my hands and covering back up.
"I can explain?" I said, the statement coming out as more of a question. For some reason, uncle Joe looked even less impressed.
"...and then she declared that Hunter would teach me how to use a weapon," I finished.
Uncle Joe remained silent for a minute, obviously processing what I had just told him, before turning to regard Hunter.
"So, you're a hunter named..."
"Yes," she groused. "Believe it or not, other people before you have made that exact observation, Old Man."
"Watch it with the 'old man' comments," he said with a grin. "But, you're not wrong either. I was planning on teaching this little troublemaker how to handle a weapon when she finished recovering, but seems the Fates have seen fit to provide a better instructor. I'll leave her training in your capable hands."
"There is one thing that I still don't understand," I said.
"What's that?" Hunter asked, warily.
"How did the two of us end up sharing a bed?" I replied, gesturing to the unkempt sleeping bag on the floor.
She blushed and looked away, mumbling something that I didn't quite catch.
"What was that?"
"You're warm, okay?" She snapped. "I got cold, and you put off so much heat that... I..."
Her explanation was cut short by uncle Joe laughing, "I see, I see. You really are just like a stray cat my niece has dragged in."
"Stray cat?" Hunter growled, her left eye twitching slightly.
"Old man," he replied with an unabashed grin.
"Tch..." Hunter looked away from him with a huff, looking back to me. "In any case, we should work out a schedule for your training."
"I agree," uncle Joe said. "First, and this is non-negotiable, you have to keep up on your school lessons." I groaned. "Now, don't be like that. You've been doing very well these past couple months, and I am sure you'll keep doing well. Second, if you are agreeable, I would like you to return to helping with the restaurant again."
"Of course!" I said, grinning. "I would have sooner, but some old man kept me practically confined to my bed while I was in recovery."
"Hey, watch the old man comments, nipote," he groused good naturedly. "And, thank you. These last few months have shown me just how much I'd grown used to having your help around the place. Ari's great, don't get me wrong, but she is flighty by nature."
"Who's Ari?" Hunter asked, just as a breeze blew open the bedroom window.
"I am!" exclaimed the girl in question. "Oh, wow! You're one of Lady Artemis' hunters, ain'tcha?"
"I am," Hunter replied. "And you're a wind nymph, unless I missed my mark?"
"Right in one," Ari grinned. "Would be bad form for a hunter to miss her mark, don'tcha think? Anyway, my name's Ari, though I guess ya already knew that. What's yours?"
"Hunter," Hunter said, introducing herself. "Hunter Kowalski."
"Oh wow, a hunter whose name is Hunter? That's really cool, and kinda funny too!"
Hunter huffed in irritation as Ari obliviously chattered on. Apparently nature spirits of all sorts were huge fans of Lady Artemis and her hunters. Perhaps sensing her discomfort, uncle Joe took pity on the situation by interrupting.
"Ari, did you get the notes from camp?"
Ari turned to uncle Joe and nodded, her smile not fading in the slightest even for being interrupted. "Yup, got 'em right here with me."
She reached into her carrier bag and pulled out the notebook, though it would better be described as a huge leather bound tome.
"What's all this?" Uncle Joe asked, bewildered, as he was handed the book.
"It's all o' Elena's old notes. Th' silly nag said he went an' compiled 'em altogether like that. Took 'im a fair bit to find 'em though. I think 'e said it was holdin' up the ping-pong table in the game room or somethin'?"
"I... I see. Thank you for collecting it for me, Ari."
"Aww, it wasn't nothin'," she said. "So what were ya talkin' about that got my ears burnin'?"
"We were talking about coming up with a schedule for my training," I answered. "Hunter's going to be teaching me how to properly use a weapon. I mean, I already know the basics..."
"You know which end of the knife to hold so you don't stab yourself," she said. "I'd hardly call that 'the basics'."
I huffed and Ari giggled, "I like her, Gio. Where'd ya find her?"
"In that one's bed," he said with a smirk, pointing at me as Ari gasped and Hunter sputtered. I grabbed the pillow from my bed and threw it at his head, which he easily ducked. The pillow landed in a pile of dropped food in the doorway. "Ah, right. I suppose you'll just have to come to the table for breakfast this morning. The bacon's probably already gone cold by now, but it should heat over just fine. Go on, all of you. I'll pick this up and be right there."
In the end it was decided that I would help out at the restaurant during the day with schoolwork in the afternoons, and Hunter would have me during the evenings. Ari chimed in that she would help me out with my sight training. According to her, it could possibly mean the difference between life and death. Thinking back to the fight with the Hellhound, I was inclined to believe her. If I could track monsters like that, I would be able to avoid them easier in the future.
I face planted on top of my bed with a groan, not bothering to even kick off my shoes. My head throbbed painfully and my whole body ached in ways not even my broken ribs had caused. After just one day of training with her, I was not absolutely convinced that she didn't enjoy inflicting pain on others.
After breakfast, I set to work helping out with the morning preparations in the restaurant. Once done with those, Uncle Joe had me working from the homeschool packets once more. By the time I finished my 'lessons', it was time to open up the dinner menu. Luckily, I avoided dumping plates of food on the heads of any more guests. Afterward, uncle Joe had given me a reprieve from dish duty, so Hunter had started my first training session almost immediately after the restaurant had closed for the night.
Ari had taken a moment to walk me through turning on my Sight. Once she was satisfied that I could activate the power with a focused blink, she told me to keep it active for as long as possible. After that, Hunter had me follow her outside for 'endurance training' - a fancy term for running over three miles to Central Park and then back again. Hunter had of course run along with me, not even breaking a sweat as she easily kept pace - no doubt thanks to that blessing of hers.
My bedroom door opened, bringing me out of my thoughts, and I felt the bed shift from someone sitting down. I turned over onto my back with a groan, eyes closed in a futile attempt to fight the pounding headache that was threatening to become a migraine.
"You know, I thought weapon training would involve more weapons and less exercise," I groused, cracking one eye to glare at her smirking face. To my Sight, she stood out as a brilliant, shimmering silver beacon that was broken up with thin veins of white just under the surface.
"I'm supposed to teach you how to fight, not just how to use a weapon. Endurance is very important in a fight," she said. "Outlasting your opponent could mean the difference between life and death."
"I've managed fine so far."
"Up until now you've been lucky," she countered; "but you can't rely on just luck forever. Fortune favors the bold, after all. You've been given an opportunity few others in your position have before, so seize it with both hands.
"To start with, your training will be three times a week to give your body time to recover. Fortunately, being a demigod means your body can recover more quickly. We're literally born for this sort of thing, after all. When you are able to make the trip to the park and back, without keeling over from exhaustion, then we'll begin working with weapons."
I groaned, pulling my pillow over my face. She laughed, snatching it away and smacking me with it. "Now, get up. We're not done yet."