Page 10 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

“ H it me with all you’ve got,” Raven calls across the training area.

“Not gonna happen, bestie. I could hurt you. We don’t know how powerful we are.” I shake my head.

“We’re never going to know unless we try.” She shrugs.

“Have you felt anything more since we’ve been gods touched ?” I ask her.

“Not really, except that none of my brothers can pin me and I did throw Dax across the training field the other day and he’s huge.”

“Maybe you should be testing your strength,” I call to her.

“You’re the one who needs to test your magic. Throw it at me,” Raven shouts.

“I would rather practice with someone who can shield against it.” I cross my arms over my chest.

Jayden would be the best, but he refuses to train with me because he doesn’t want to hurt me, and Thad and Adrian aren’t gods touched so they may not be quick enough to stop whatever is building inside me.

It wants out and for me to use it but I’m afraid. My nightmares plague me throughout the day as well and it’s not all about the island but the atrocities I’m capable of with this new power.

Don’t think about that. We need to train, not just us but the army at our backs.

“You can’t hold back, Beth. We’re going to need you,” Raven says.

“Can you promise me I won’t hurt you? I don’t know what I’m capable of now.” I wring my hands together.

“I threw Dax into a wall. I’m pretty sure I can shield in time but just in case.” She turns to Jayden. “Can you shield me?”

Jayden turns away from his training with Thad and nods. “Of course, if it will help Beth practice, I’m up for just about anything.”

“Anything but practicing with me,” I grumble.

“I am physically incapable of harming you, baby. My magic won’t let me even if I did want to which is the last thing I want.” Jayden grips my hand, bringing it to his lips before pressing a kiss to it.

“You’re the only one who is as strong as me now. I need to practice. You’re the only other gods touched with a parent in the original three. We need to test each other.”

“Are you telling me that your magic would allow you to try to hurt me?” he asks.

I rear back as if slapped because he’s right. My magic won’t hurt him. I begrudgingly found this out before our first battle when I disliked him more than anyone else in the academy.

“No, we both know that would be a lie,” I grumble.

“Then we both work with what we have. I will shield Raven while you practice. Thad doesn’t need a shield because he can use water to shield himself.”

“Fine.” I brush a hand down my face before getting into a fighting stance.

I’m still not sure what we are capable of with our new magic or how the hell we are supposed to call these new abilities. Closing my eyes, I concentrate on the nearly endless well of power in my gut and bring it to the surface.

“Holy shit, that’s great, baby. Keep doing that. You’re glowing,” Jayden says, awestruck.

“What?” I gasp, opening my eyes.

Sure enough, there’s a faint blue glow around my body and lightning crackles at my fingertips. It didn’t even stop with Jayden startling me and losing my concentration. My entire body vibrates with the sheer amount of power thrumming through me as it continues to build.

“Beth, you need to do something with all that magic,” Raven yells.

“Okay, Jayden, shield her,” I say.

“On it.” Shadows writhe around his arms and blast out of his fingers darker and more solid than I’ve ever seen them.

“Whoa, what else could you do with those, I wonder?” I ask.

“Focus, Beth.”

I jolt at the reprimand and focus on the shadows in front of Raven. My vision blurs and the world spins for a second before I blink and glance around.

“What in Hades?” I say.

“That’s not what I was expecting you to do but still seriously cool,” Raven cheers. “You just god traveled like a fucking boss.”

I spin in a circle, finding Jayden and Thad staring at me in awe fifty feet away where I was just standing.

“I don’t know how I did that. I just focused my magic on the shield and then spun out for a second and ended up here.” I shake my head.

“Do it again. Focus on me, Beth,” Jayden calls.

I nod and focus my attention and magic on Jayden, but this time there’s no blurred vision or feeling like I’m in a spin cycle, just the crackle of magic before Jayden is standing right in front of me with a huge grin on his too handsome face.

“Not what I had in mind, but that’s good information to have.” Jayden leans down and kisses me hard.

Breaking the kiss, I sigh. “What? That I’m an even bigger freak now than before?”

“Hey, stop. You’re not a freak.” He grips my hips harder, pulling me closer. “It means you can call me to you when you need me.”

“Can you see all the strategic ways this can help in battle?” Raven bounces up and down. “You could be in one place one second and then across the battlefield in a second. It’s not only a way to protect yourself, but you can distract and confuse your enemies. So cool.”

“I didn’t even do it right when I actually tried.” I sigh.

“Maybe the instructions were wrong the second time,” Jayden muses.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I had you focus on me instead of a place. The first time you focused on the shield, right?”

“Yeah, I focused on hitting the shield with my magic, not being in front of it.”

“It could be because the shield was made from my magic and so your magic rebelled and did something else instead.” Jayden taps his chin, deep in thought.

“Of course, my magic is a hostile asshole to everyone but you,” I grumble.

Am I pouting like a toddler? Yes. Do I give a shit? Not really, no.

“Let’s try something else. When I shadow travel, I focus on the place I want to be and let the shadows envelop me. Thad,” Jayden calls over his shoulder. “Stand next to that tree.”

With his hands tightening on my hips, Jayden turns me to face Thad where he’s leaning up against a tree fifty feet away.

“So, focus on the tree?” I ask.

“Focus on the spot directly next to Thad in front of that tree.” Jayden points to the spot.

I nod and stare at the spot, letting my magic crackle and hiss at my fingertips. My vision blurs for a moment and I blink back the dizziness. A tanned hand lands on my shoulder, the scent of brine filling my nose.

“You did it,” Thad whoops.

Spinning in a circle, I grin at my friend. I did it on purpose. My magic actually did what it was supposed to do for a change. My grin spreads as I focus on Jayden and a second later, I’m lifted into strong arms and spun around in a circle.

“You’re so fucking amazing,” Jayden praises.

“This could be a game changer,” I whisper mostly to myself.

Could this be the answer to all my fears about the coming war? This could save Jayden without me having to choose. So many scenarios run through my mind on a loop. Do I dare hope that this can all end the way I want it to?

“You still need to work on your offensive magic and test it though, Beth,” Raven yells.

I stick out my tongue at the daughter of Ares. She couldn’t just let me have a minute before the drill sergeant came back to destroy all.

“I think we should switch it up.” Jayden runs a hand through his hair. “You work with Thad, and I’ll work with Raven and shield her from whatever may come.”

“Have you forgotten something, Jayden?” I ask, raising a brow.

Electricity and water don’t mix. I found that out the hard way when I fought the Minotaur the first time and nearly fried myself in the process.

Jayden stares at me, his brow scrunched in confusion, and I glance pointedly at Thad. It takes mere seconds for him to burst into laughter at my expense.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, getting himself under control. “I forgot. You working with him on this is out of the question, yes.”

“Wait, why?” Thad asks.

“We could both end up electrocuted. I have experience with that and zero out of ten, do not recommend.” I shrug.

“Um, yeah, let’s not do that. The second your lightning hits my water it could take us both out.” Thad nods, taking a step back.

“Raven,” Jayden yells. “Come over here.”

“Wait,” I say. “Let’s see if my new trick works on her too.”

I focus all my attention on Raven and let my magic do its thing, but nothing happens. Raven is still in the same spot. My shoulders slump in defeat.

“Hey, it’s a brand-new trick. It might just take some practice.” Jayden squeezes my hip.

Yeah, he could be right, or my magic is just a horny bitch. I’m kind of thinking it’s the latter.

Raven jogs over and claps me on the shoulder. “Hey, stop being so hard on yourself. We can practice that until it works.”

“I actually had an idea that could help,” Jayden says.

“What kind of idea?” I ask.

“You’re gods touched too and you have battle magic. How do you access that?” Jayden asks Raven.

I frown in confusion, wondering where he’s going with this. We haven’t focused much on Raven or Greyson’s magic. We need to do better in the coming days because we will need every trick at our disposal to win against the queen of the gods.

“I just think about what weapon I need and pull it from the ether, why?” Raven asks.

“You don’t have a well of power in your gut?” I ask.

“Well, kind of, I guess? I never thought about it like that before.” Raven crosses her arms.

“Could you use it to erect a shield?” Jayden asks.

My eyes widen at the possibilities that could mean for us. If Raven can shield herself, then we could practice my magic, but it would also protect her in the battles ahead.

“Hmm, I probably could. I never thought about it because why would I need to when I can call a shield to me no problem. My brothers probably could too if they thought about it. I had battle magic before I was gods touched .”

“The thing is that metal shields aren’t as strong as magic. They can be broken. If you erected a shield with magic, it would be at the same strength as anything thrown at you,” Jayden says. “In theory anyway.”

“That would be my guess as well. Even though I’m slightly more powerful than you, it should still hold up better than any shield you could call.” I nod.