Page 2 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)
My friends all shake their heads in exasperation. This is pretty damn stupid. Most Hermes kids aren’t fighters. We learned that when the majority of them were kidnapped just after the start of the term.
Raven sighs. “We know the gods pretty well at this point, between classes at the academy, and you know the battles we’ve faced together. The things we’ve learned about the majority of them don’t give me warm feelings of happiness and they definitely don’t speak of fairness.”
“These gods are millennia old. They can’t change their ways now, and anyone who thinks Hera won’t retaliate against you just because you don’t fight is a bigger idiot than I expected.”
Several sharp gasps and a few outraged shouts fill the room. Did they really expect anything less from me? We said we were opening up lines of communication to them not coddling them. That’s not who I am.
“How dare you?” The Hermes girl stomps her foot, outraged that I would call her out.
Jayden steps forward, shaking his head and holding out his hands in a placating gesture.
“We said we would be honest and though I don’t exactly agree with the delivery of the truth, she isn’t lying. All the gods have been vengeful to people who didn’t deserve it at one time or another, so to think that fairness is a concern in our world is na?ve at best.”
“And utterly stupid at worst,” Raven mumbles, smirking at me.
Jayden glares at us over his shoulder but quickly turns back to the shouting students. They’re all scared, and I can understand that, but they have a rude awakening coming if they think this won’t touch us all.
Mia shouts over the crowd silencing them. “So what you’re saying is the students who take Zeus’ side are all trapped here while those of us whose parents side with Hera are free to leave?”
Raven crosses her arms. “You wouldn’t know this as the daughter of Aphrodite, so I’m going to ask the crowd, what happens in an army when they find a deserter?”
Dax grins at Mia and it’s not a pleasant smile. “Deserters are given an even worse fate than the enemy. Athena will not be forgiving of anyone who deserts the cause and takes the coward’s way out.”
“You’re just trying to scare me. You’re all friends.” Mia plants her hands on her hips.
A girl from the Athena table steps forward, shaking her head. “He’s not lying. I have met my mother, and I can attest to the fact she will not suffer deserters from any of the demigods she expects to choose her side.”
“So why are you still here?” Mia sneers.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but other than the fact I don’t have anywhere else to go, I am choosing the side I want to stand on myself and not letting a family I never lived with or know very well dictate my own morals.
Beth has saved us multiple times, and if she needs my shield to fight in this war, she has it. ”
“That’s very wise,” I say. “I would expect nothing less from a child of the goddess of wisdom.”
“My mother didn’t raise me. I grew up in foster care. I have no loyalty to her.” The girl shrugs. “You have chosen multiple times to protect us and the world even though you didn’t have to and that, to me, inspires loyalty.”
The rest of the few students left at the Athena table stood as one.
Each of them thumping their hearts with a fist and bending at the waist in the custom of warriors showing respect.
Turning to the others, I widen my eyes at them, and we all return the gesture.
Mia huffs and stomps her foot, but I ignore any future outbursts from her.
The students at the Apollo table glance at each other with discomfort. Do they not all hold the same conviction as what’s left of the Athena students? It doesn’t matter right now. Maybe they’re unsure because they have been getting bullied.
Chiron stamps his hoof and the murmurs in the room are instantly silenced.
“I understand the need for self-preservation and while we don’t intend to keep anyone here who doesn’t want to be, we still will caution anyone against leaving.
This is a dire time, and we really just want to keep you all safe. You are dismissed.”
The other students all rush to get up and leave the heavy conversation behind but I’m still stunned.
My feet are rooted to the floor. How many of Athena’s children pledged their loyalty to me today?
There aren’t as many as before, but the Athena students seemed to thin the least after the last battle.
“Did that really just happen?” I ask Raven under my breath.
“Are you surprised?” Raven asks. “They’re the children of the goddess of wisdom and war. Of course they would see the wisdom in sticking with us over Hera.”
“They are the least culled,” Chiron says. “Many Apollo and Aphrodite students have left but fewer Athena students because they understand what we do. This could mean the end of the world if the queen wins.”
“It’s war. Chiron and I’ve learned time and again that in war there is no winner. All we can hope for is survival and against the gods themselves, do we have a hope to survive? Am I sending the others out to be slaughtered?”