Page 17 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

“You’re right. You would think knowing who the enemy actually is now would give us a better understanding of what we’re up against, but we’re once again in the dark about everything. Flying blind,” I grumble.

We walk from the courtyard into the admin building, headed for Chiron’s office down the back hall. When we get there, his doors open and he’s talking to Professor Cross.

“You have the supply packs for all three teams?” the centaur asks Cross.

“Is this really necessary?” Cross asks him. “Their team has prevented disasters one after another. I have faith they will do so again. The others have little to no experience with this. It’s dangerous.”

“We had the same concerns, Professor, but Chiron’s logic is also sound. Divide and conquer makes sense. Ideally, we would have time to train with them and give them an idea of what they might expect, but we’re on a time crunch as usual.” I plant my hands on my hips.

“I understand.”

“We are going based on Adrian’s vision to the most likely place both Artemis and the bow should be,” Jayden says.

“The next most experienced team is going to Chicago, where the other possible location is,” Raven adds.

“The others are just meant to scout the third temple. It’s not likely that they’ll find anything or get into trouble,” I say.

“You all strategized it that way on purpose.” Cross nods, impressed.

“Yes, sir. It doesn’t hurt matters that it keeps Mia far away from me.” I shrug.

It’s no secret that I despise the daughter of Aphrodite just as much as she hates me. I’m not quiet about it, just like my dislike of Draven when he became an obsessed psycho. I’m just glad he’s finally given that crazy shit up now. Makes life so much easier.

“As long as you all have it settled.” Cross nods.

He hands over two packs similar to mine with the black cards and the same protein bars and bottles of water we keep for emergencies. I give the packs to Thad with a nod of thanks to Professor Cross.

“They shouldn’t have a need for the same healing elixir the healers gave you if there isn’t any real danger to them, but basic first aid is a must I would think,” Chiron says.

“Yes, sir. We were headed to the healers’ next. I wanted to ask about logistics, though. I don’t think all three teams should leave at the same time.”

“Absolutely not. That would cause too much of a disturbance and attract unwanted attention to what we’re planning.” Chiron shakes his head.

“Right, and we need the most time to prepare and trace our route. Greyson is going to have to alert shifter packs of our intended presence in their territories and we don’t have a clear route mapped out ourselves.

Since we’ve already made the trip to Chicago, we can give the beta team the route we took previously. ”

“Good. We will stagger the other two leaving at different times out of different sides of the academy and your team can leave in the morning. Is that enough time to prepare?”

I glance around at my friends who nod. That should be enough. “It’s more time than we usually get.”

“You’re not wrong, B. I just worry about what will happen if we take too much time.” Raven shifts from one foot to the other.

“I know, me too. Let’s get started on preparations. We need to head to the healers’ so we can meet the others after lunch and tell them the plan. Can you go track down the elusive shifter?” I ask her.

“He just feels uncomfortable here away from his own kind, so he keeps to himself as much as possible,” Raven says.

“I get it. The assholes here aren’t exactly the friendliest bunch, but he’s comfortable with us so he should be okay to hang out with us and ignore the other losers,” I say with a shrug.

“Make sure to beat that into him when I bring him to the cafeteria. He won’t listen to me.” Raven’s shoulders slump.

“It might be your brothers,” Thad says. “I know if I had a sister, I would probably try to intimidate whoever she was dating.”

“He’s a fucking alpha wolf shifter. He’s intimidating,” Adrian says with a shudder.

“Yeah, Thad might be right,” Jayden chimes in. “Several sons of the war god who know how to use any kind of weapon and have magic that he doesn’t understand coming at even the most intimidating of shifters would make me want to keep to myself too.”

“I’ll fucking kill them,” Raven seethes. “That’s exactly something the idiots would pull even though I’m more powerful than any of them could ever hope to be.”

“All right, go get Greyson and we will meet you at the cafeteria.” I turn to leave with the others.

“While you’re visiting the healer, I’m going to grab a map and outline our route as best I can,” Adrian says.

“I’ll help.” Thad claps Adrian on the shoulder and they rush in the other direction from the healers’ wing.

“How are you holding up?” Jayden asks me.

I sigh. “As best I can with the world on the brink of yet another catastrophic event.”

“Artemis may have had ulterior motives when we met her and anytime she would just pop up, but besides Hermes, she’s the god we trust most, and having her in danger sucks but I think it sucks the most for you.” He pulls me against his side.

“Everything just compounds, and I have already been told multiple times this is my fate. Fucking Nereus. Why is it all on me?” I sigh.

“It’s not. You have a group of people to help and support you. I get that it’s tough, but you can lean on your friends.” He kisses my temple. “You can lean on me.”

I appreciate the sentiment. I really do, but Nereus was clear when he said no one could do this but me when he tested me to make sure I will do what needs to be done. Nereus is the monster under my bed, haunting my dreams worse than the queen of the gods ever was.

We step through the door to the healers’ office and my favorite healer bounds over, scanning me for injuries. I chuckle, shaking my head.

“I’m not injured. We have a mission to rescue Artemis.”

“You’re going to bring back the moon?” he asks with a raised brow.

“That’s the idea,” I say. “We need a bottle of that healing elixir and a couple first aid kits built with four demigods in mind. There are two other teams going out as well.”

“You will all need the burn cream and first aid supplies. How likely is it the other teams will need the healing elixir or abide my warnings?” the healer asks.

“They won’t need it. They are going to locations we believe to be benign,” Jayden says.

“Good. It’s best if we don’t allow too many demigods even limited access to it and only in the most dire of circumstances.” The healer nods and hurries off to put together our kits.

“I don’t trust that they wouldn’t try to heal a fucking paper cut with it,” I grumble.

“Dax and Kira for sure wouldn’t but I can’t be too sure of the others.” Jayden shrugs.

“Draven would probably be wary because he’s been on a mission with us and knows how dangerous it is but still,” I say. “The others I don’t know well enough to be sure.”

“Mia would definitely abuse it.” Jayden shakes his head.

“That’s a given. That’s why none of them should have it.”

“Agreed.” The healer rushes over. “Here is your kit. Keep that separate because it does have the elixir in it. These two just have the burn cream and basic first aid supplies.”

“Thank you,” I say. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without your supplies.”

“I’m happy to be able to help save the world in whatever small way I can.” He bows his head, planting a fist over his heart, and I repeat the gesture before we leave the healing unit.

“Let’s put the first aid kits in the supply packs they belong in and then go find the others,” Jayden says.

“Yeah, we need to get moving so the other teams can get out of the academy hopefully safely.”

I can’t help but wonder, though, if we’re sending those teams to their deaths.