Cold. The cold was the first thing Artemis felt when she came to her senses. Body ached, temples throbbed, and it was hard to breathe. She opened her eyes. A gloomy sky covered with leaden clouds stretched overhead, and it was completely unclear whether it was day or night. The grayness of the sky was covered by dark spots that looked like either people or trees.

A white haze covered her mind. Where is she? She couldn't remember anything. Artemis tried to sit up, but colored spots flashed before her eyes. Head started to ache.

"Quiet, quiet. Don't move," a man's voice came from somewhere to the left.

Artemis turned her head. The spots stopped flashing, and she saw the blurred silhouette of a young man. The goddess blinked several times, the fog in her head cleared a little, and her vision finally focused. Worried eyes stared at her. Artemis propped herself up on her elbows.

"Are you going to lie down or not?" The young man hissed, lightly pressing on her shoulder and forcing her to lie back down.

Artemis was furious. Who was he to tell her what to do? She jerked again, but the young man's hand held her in place. The goddess shifted her gaze to the face of this cheeky boy. Blue eyes, golden matted hair and pale skin. The fog finally cleared.

"Apollo?" Artemis asked quietly.

"She finally woke up," the young man chuckled and, taking her arm, helped her to sit down.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Where are we?" Artemis ignored his question, looking around. There was only one forest and nothing else. They were sitting near a spreading fir tree, no different from the others, hiding in the shadow of its wide paws.

"In the woods," her brother replied blithely.

"I figured that out without you, idiot," the goddess snapped, waving her hand. Apollo abruptly exploded and grabbed her before she could touch the branches.

"Hey!"

"Shh," Apollo hissed, clamped over her mouth, "there may be intelligence here."

Artemis pushed his hand away from her mouth and asked in a whisper:

"Intelligence?"

"Yeah," Apollo nodded and released his grip, "we were caught between two fires. I do not know how long I was out, but you were unconscious for almost the whole day." Artemis's eyes widened. "Don't look like that, I'm not lying. In general, I managed to find out a little bit. Firstly, we are very close to the The Gulf of Finland, less than half a mile away. Secondly, while I was walking to the water, I almost ran into a reconnaissance group. They were wearing the uniform of Nazi Germany. So, if we are near the bay and there is a Nazi base nearby, then we are about from Leningrad."

"Oh, it's bad," the goddess shook her head, "but where exactly are we?" The bay is big, and since the city is in the ring, the Nazis are everywhere. We need to somehow figure out how far the city is from us.

"Don't worry, sis," Apollo chuckled. Artemis narrowed her eyes. "I found out."

"Well?"

"I noticed a couple of people in Finnish uniforms among them, which means that…"

"... we are not far from the Finnish border," the goddess finished her brother's sentence.

"Bingo," Apollo clapped his hands soundlessly," and the only city that fits these criteria from those that I know is Sestroretsk. A little over a week ago, a ring was closed around its. There should be a lot of Soviets in the city. The Nazis have not yet been able to break through the defenses.

"Wow... how far are we from the city?"

"I do not know that," Apollo turned sour, the smile slipped from his face.

"So," Artemis took the situation into her own hands, "we need to move out. We can't sit under this tree forever, can we?"

Apollo smiled faintly:

"I recognize my little sister," Artemis pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. "But I agree: We have to go, but there's a catch. You will have to go as unnoticed as possible. They'll notice from the air.

Artemis raised an eyebrow questioningly. Apollo, making a stern face, swept his arms around himself, pointing to his clothes. And indeed: he was wearing camouflage trousers, high black boots, a dark green overcoat, buttoned at half, which showed a white shirt. He looked like... a soldier. She looked down at her hands: she was wearing an almost identical overcoat; high boots on her feet and, gods of Olympus, she was wearing pants. For a girl to put on pants? It is incomprehensible to the mind! But she didn't care about all these Aphrodite oddities, she didn't care.

"Got it," Artemis said, shifting her gaze to the forest. She took a deep breath. "Ready?"

"Ready," Apollo nodded.

They headed into the thickest part of the forest, walking carefully on the ground. Men's clothing turned out to be very comfortable, even if it was heavy. The girl had already found a bunch of pockets in it, which could fit a lot of things. With a light, centuries-honed gait, Artemis walked noiselessly through the dry grass. On it, mixed with dry, blackened leaves, lay emerald fragments of bottles, scraps of stretch marks, metal casings, steel fragments of shells, scraps of paper and other debris.

The goddess has always been annoyed by people polluting forests, rivers and nature in general. She, like her hunters, were outraged every time they found human garbage in search of a camp, even in the depths of what seemed to be a virgin forest. And tin cans, glass and scrap metal took a particularly long time to decompose. Even after the war, people will find all this junk for another hundred and fifty years.

Apollo tried to enter, as quietly as his sister, but broken branches and all sorts of debris crunched under his feet every now and then. The brother and sister kept looking around, checking the area.

"Are there mines or traps here?" Artemis finally asked, brushing the midges away with her sleeve.

"There is, of course," Apollo replied and, anticipating his sister's question, added, "Don't worry, we are bypassing all mines. On the way, we already came across one, I noticed it from a distance. The main thing is, don't leave my side, okay?"

The girl nodded and began to carefully study the grass in front of her.

Everything was quiet and peaceful. They had already walked for about half an hour without meeting a single person. Suddenly, Apollo raised his hand. Artemis stopped.

"What the?" she wanted to ask, but her brother, without explanation, grabbed her by the hand and threw her over a concrete block that happened to be nearby. The girl fell, hitting her hand painfully on the ground, but did not make a sound. There was someone nearby-she could hear their booming footsteps very close. She lay down silently, pressed against the block. Apollo fell down next to him, hugging his sister and covering her head with his hands. Artemis wanted to be indignant, but kept silent - there were people nearby, knowing their luck: the Nazis. And, to be honest, she was pleased with her brother's care. Already lying on the ground, Apollo answered her unasked question:

"There!" he pointed to the left.

"Und dann fiel er direkt unter ihre Füße! (germ: And then he fell right under her feet!)" German voices were heard very close by. Why does Tyche hate them and his brother so much?

"Ich kann es nicht glauben! Er ist bis auf die Ohren in sie verliebt! (germ: I can't believe it! He's head over heels in love with her!)" The footsteps were getting closer. They must run, otherwise they will find them.

"Let's get out of here, quickly!" she whispered.

Apollo nodded silently and helped her up, trying not to touch the shards of glass and pieces of collapsed concrete himself. He continued to hold his sister to him, trying to cover her head. Artemis hugged her brother tightly around the waist.

They stood up carefully, and without hesitation, headed in the opposite direction. Without looking at their feet, they quickly walked into the depths of the forest, hiding behind the wide paws of the fir trees - they can be noticed from the air.

Suddenly, something rattled below. Artemis looked down. There was a simple but well-hidden structure of ill-fated tin cans on the ground. For some reason, the explosive device, cleverly placed in one of them, for some reason did not work.

But they were unlucky, again. Somewhere behind and to the side, it did explode. Her step set off a huge chain of traps all over the clearing. The area is large, so a whole platoon was waiting in ambush. Perhaps they even prepared a machine gun. Now their situation leaves much to be desired.

"And what should we do now?!" Apollo asked desperately, or screamed, hearing the Germans approaching from all sides.

A thousand gears were already turning in Artemis's head in search of a solution. They have nowhere to run - they are surrounded, there is no point in fighting - even they cannot stand against so many armed soldiers. Break through? Very risky, but the only option.

A bird landed on the lower branch of a nearby tree, and the girl came up with the craziest idea possible. Should I ask her for help? As the Mistress of the wild, she could talk to animals, understand them, and command them. But she never resorted to it-her authority was enough. Now she is not a goddess, and she could only ask.

"Listen," she said to the bird, which turned its black head in her direction. It turned out to be an unexpectedly well-fed blue tit with pale yellow feathers. Artemis felt very foolish addressing the bird while they were surrounded by enemies. But she continued anyway, not wanting to lose the ghostly hope. "Can you help us? Please, you're our only chance.

To her surprise, the chickadee seemed to nod and, descending to the ground, settled right in the tin can. Without wasting a second, Artemis grabbed the bewildered Apollo by the arm and, pulling with all her might, pushed her brother over the hill. It was to be hoped that they would not be approached from the rear.

A minute later, the clearing was surrounded by Germans and Finns, who were surely expecting a bunch of enemy soldiers here, caught off guard.

"Was zum Teufel ist das? (germ: What the hell?)" They heard the indignant shouts of the soldiers.

"Verdammte Meise! Sie hat alles abgerissen, wie mussen es neu aufstellen. So der Bastard ist weggeflogen! (germ: Damn tit! I tore everything off, I'll have to put it back on. The bastard flew away!)" One of the soldiers exclaimed.

While they were sorting things out, re-setting traps and commemorating the poor bird with all the wide range of German and Finnish mats, Artemis grabbed Apollo by the arm and ran forward, dragging her brother with her, until he finally came to his senses and, grabbing his sister in his arms, rushed forward. After a few dozen meters, Artemis finally broke free from her brother's arms and ran next to him. The branches of the fir trees scratched his face and hands painfully. My feet kept getting caught on roots, but I couldn't stop.

How long did they run? An hour, two? The wide paws of the fir trees covered the sky, and gray clouds completely beat off all chances to use the sun to determine the time.

There was a noise from above. Artemis stopped. Apollo continued to run and apparently did not hear anything. The hum grew louder. The goddess's eyes widened. The plane! With luck, Nazi. The girl rushed forward and in a matter of seconds, the experience of thousands of years of hunting affected, caught up with her brother. The hum became louder. Apollo stopped abruptly. Artemis grabbed the collar of his greatcoat and yanked on herself, falling under the branches of a nearby fir tree. All that remained was to pray to all the gods that the Christmas trees in the north were simply huge.

The rumble was getting closer. Apollo jerked violently. Artemis leaned on him with all her small weight, pressing him closer to the cold ground.

"What the?! What is it?" he asked, but the girl put her hand over his mouth and mouthed:

"The plane."

Apollo froze, realizing that his sister had just saved him. He gently wrapped his arm around her and also silently said:

"Thanks."

Artemis smiled. The hum became very loud. The brother and sister froze, not daring to breathe. The noise of the engines grew louder. The girl squeezed her eyes shut, lowering her head. The hum became incredibly loud. It seemed that blood was going to pour out of his ears and nose. The noise became quieter, getting farther away by the second.

Only when the hum of the plane had completely died down did Artemis exhale. The girl realized that she hadn't been breathing all this time. Apollo twitched weakly, and Artemis, understanding his hint, rolled to the ground. The girl stood up and began to shake off the stuck needles, moss and clods of earth. Apollo followed.

"Well," the girl jerked her head, "We need to move on."

"Wait," Apollo said heavily, "let's... take a break..."

"But we don't have time! We need to get to the city. At least we won't be caught between two fires there."

"Sis, we ran non-stop for several hours. I need a few minutes."

Apollo plopped down heavily on the ground. Artemis sighed and realized that she was also very tired. When she was a goddess, this distance seemed ridiculous. But not now. Still, overcoming her pride, she plopped down next to her brother.

"Here you go," Apollo said, handing her a piece of bread.

Artemis broke off half of it.

"Where did you get it?"

"I found it in my pocket," he shrugged and took a bite of bread. Artemis began to check her pockets, hoping to find something else, but alas, nothing.

They sat on the cold ground without saying a word. After a few minutes, Apollo got to his feet, shoving the last piece of bread into his mouth, and held out his hand to her. Artemis smiled and accepted it, rising. They walked on in silence, but they didn't run anymore, they just walked. No one knew which way the city was, but Artemis hoped they were heading in the right direction.

The sky began to darken. Night was falling, and still there was no sign of the city. They were all walking, making their way through giant fir trees and getting tangled in the roots. It was completely dark. Artemis could no longer see beyond the tips of her fingers.

But now a faint light loomed ahead. Artemis turned to her brother. He nodded. They walked forward, cautiously approaching the light. The first checkpoint appeared ahead. The brother and sister came out of the forest, stepping onto the concrete. On a small stone building in front of them, the Soviet flag fluttered in the weak wind. They're not far from the city! Artemis took a deep breath and allowed herself a faint smile. But then, out of nowhere, two guards appeared with machine guns, which they immediately pointed at the twins.

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