Page 1 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

M y sword crashes against the wooden staff as I whirl around to block the attack.

“Too slow. Again,” Chiron bellows.

“That staff is a damn menace. It’s like two weapons in one.”

I lunge forward, attacking Chiron with a feint that he blocks easily, bringing the staff around to block my actual strike. He’s too fast but that makes sense, since he has centuries on me.

“The gods will not go easy on you and neither will I.” He strikes quickly, sweeping my legs from beneath me.

“Oof.” All the air explodes out of my mouth as I hit the ground with a thud.

“Too slow.” Chiron holds out a hand and I shake my head, needing a second to catch my breath.

“How is the training going with the others?” I ask, scanning the training field.

The place is empty except for Raven, Jayden, Greyson, and Thad. Which is by design. Chiron never trains us with the other students around because we are far too advanced to spar with them.

“The students who haven’t already left are only showing up for their classes. They aren’t taking any other initiative to prepare themselves for what’s to come.” Chiron sighs.

“More students have left?”

“Yes, and not just those whose godly parent is against us. The students are scared and foolishly think they will be safe in the mortal world.”

I jump up just as the others jog over. Jayden hands me a water bottle with a small smile. Raven glances between me and Chiron with a frown.

“What’s going on?” she asks.

“More students are leaving daily. We have to do something to remind them it’s far more dangerous outside the wards.” I run a hand over my face.

“If they’re against us, it makes sense for them to leave,” Thad says.

“It’s not just them. Some of the students whose parents are on our side are leaving as well.”

Jayden squeezes my shoulder, offering me that small comfort. “We’ve tried to tell them. I don’t know what else we can do to remind them. Some were never attacked before.”

“That doesn’t matter now.” Raven shakes her head. “The monsters aren’t likely to attack the children of Apollo or Aphrodite, but the students whose parents are on our side will be targets.”

“We know that,” Thad says. “But many of them were too weak to catch notice before. They think we’re trying to scare them into fighting with us.”

“I’ll tell them until I’m blue in the face if I have to. They don’t have to fight with us, but the thought of them dying out in the human world doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Me either,” Raven says.

“Agreed,” the others say in unison.

“I guess we should make an emergency announcement.” I turn on my heel.

“I’ll call the students to the dining hall.” Chiron gallops off.

“I just don’t know how to do this,” I mumble as Jayden wraps an arm around me.

“How to do what?” he asks softly.

“How do I rally a bunch of terrified college students into running into battle?” I lean my head on his shoulder.

“We aren’t asking them to race off into battle right now. We have time to train and get them prepared,” Raven says.

“I doubt that anything will fully prepare them for what’s coming.” Jayden shakes his head.

We reach the cafeteria, and Jayden opens the door, holding it open for the rest of us. We trudge to the front of the room. I clench my hands into fists at my sides as students file in with confused frowns.

Their weighted stares pierce me as they take their seats at their godly parents’ tables. The Apollo, Athena, and Aphrodite tables are nearly empty. Even as more students arrive, the tables don’t fill up.

“It’s worse than I thought.” I sigh.

Adrian spots us and jogs over with a frown. “I didn’t realize how many had left with them always spread out, but seeing everyone in one place, it’s obvious.”

“All we can do is give them the truth and hope they make the right decision.” Jayden’s arm tightens around me.

“How are we ever going to win this thing?” I ask.

“There are more battles ahead before we have to worry about that,” Adrian says, cryptic as usual.

“Is that a prediction or have you seen something?” Thad asks with a raised brow.

“It’s a prediction. I’m not seeing as much now that I’ve chosen a side.”

“That’s not good,” I grumble. “Why do you say we have more battles before we have to face her?”

“Hera isn’t stupid. She’s going to play all of her cards before she faces Zeus.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Raven says. “There are still gods on our side who she hasn’t weakened yet.”

“Who do we have left?” Thad asks.

“Artemis and Hermes for sure and probably Hephaestus,” Jayden says.

Chiron stamps a hoof to quiet the room. The students all turn to him and an eerie silence follows until the centaur scans all their faces.

“I apologize for interrupting your normal classes. I try to do that as little as possible, but in these uncertain times, we felt it necessary to open up the lines of communication and be honest with all of you.”

Chiron waves us over and we stand next to the large centaur.

“As you can tell, many students have left the academy against my advice. I want to advise you all again, you are safer behind these wards than anywhere else in the world.”

Hushed whispers fill the room as the students warily glance at each other.

I step forward. “The lines of communication go both ways. If you have questions, we’ll answer them.”

“The war is still far off by our estimation.” Raven claps me on the shoulder as she speaks up. “We have time to prepare.”

“We don’t expect anyone to go to war unprepared, but if we are going to survive this, we need you to take it seriously and train harder than ever before.”

“Will we all be expected to fight?” Kira asks from the Hephaestus table. “Some of our skill sets are better used elsewhere.”

“You, my friend, are already a warrior,” I tell her.

“Oh, I’m fighting. I was asking for some of my siblings.”

“Not everyone will be expected to fight, but the added training is still a good idea. We could be attacked right here at the academy when the time comes, so everyone should be prepared.”

The whispers grow to shouts as everyone begins talking over each other. The fear in the room is heavy, pressing down on me. This whole thing is happening because my father had an affair with my mom which resulted in my birth. Hera is crazy and is trying to end the world simply because I exist.

They’re all terrified and it’s all my fault. Jayden wraps his arm around me as I hang my head.

“Don’t,” he whispers. “This isn’t your fault, but you will get us out of this.”

“Okay.” I blow out a breath and square my shoulders as if preparing for battle.

“You’ve got this.” He squeezes my hip and steps back, giving me space to be the leader.

“Look, I get it,” I call to the students gathered. “War is scary and dangerous, but it will find us all.”

“There’s no escaping it,” Jayden agrees. “The best bet we all have of surviving is to stay here and train for the battles to come.”

“Are we going to be able to leave?” a girl asks from the front.

I shake my head in exasperation. “We aren’t going to force you to stay and fight. That’s not what we are about, but I wouldn’t advise leaving.”

Raven steps forward. “How many battles have we faced? How many times have Beth, Jayden, and I saved you from the threat of the world ending and now you want to run and hide? There is nowhere to run. This war will reach every part of the world. You have all seen the effects the war has already had. You have seen the effect the gods have on the world.”

The cafeteria grows silent around us as the other students glance between each other. It’s going to be useless if they already have their minds made up to leave. We can’t stop them from taking the easy way out.

“If you want to leave, we can’t stop you. We won’t because we don’t want to be the controlling assholes that the gods can sometimes be. We still warn that it’s safer here, training for what is inevitable.”

“Some of us are already dealing with hate for staying behind,” a blond Apollo student shouts from the back.

Chiron stomps a hoof to quiet everyone. “Anyone found bullying other students because of their godly parent will be punished severely.”

I nod to him. “All are innocent until proven guilty. If you want to side with us against Hera and her minions, you are welcome. Even if you don’t want to fight, that’s fine too, but betrayal will be dealt with swiftly and brutally.”

“They have been acting against us from the beginning.” Jayden clenches a fist at his side. “They were behind the monster attacks on campus. Why would any of us side with them? It doesn’t make sense when they have tried to kill us all on more than one occasion.”

“Some have already sided with their godly parents, and we can’t blame them for that. The hard truth is that we will see our friends in the upcoming battles.” My shoulders slump.

This is hard because many of the students at the academy only saw monsters once they got here and clearly believe that Halfling Academy is not the safe space it’s supposed to be.

My friends and I have seen much worse. We were chased through the human world by monsters and know that they are everywhere.

“I was never attacked outside of the academy,” the girl from the front calls.

Weakling. She would be the one to voice my own thoughts. My gaze finds Raven’s and she rolls her eyes and shakes her head, most likely thinking the same thing as me.

“You’re a child of Hermes, right?” I ask the girl.

“Yes,” she responds with confusion.

“Hermes is on our side in this. The monsters that didn’t go after you last time will now be hunting the children of the gods that oppose Hera above all else because make no mistake, Hera is the reason they are alive and roaming the world now.”

Raven nods. “The same monsters that attacked the academy before. The monsters she sent here to kill us all will be hunting those who oppose her.”

“Even if we don’t wish to oppose her? That’s not fair.”

“Did you learn nothing from Cross’ history classes? Do you think fair is something the queen of the gods worries about?” I laugh.