Page 38 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

“ W hat are we even looking for here?” I ask with a grumble.

“There’s some kind of magical disturbance but I can’t be sure. It’s bad, though, and if we don’t stop it, then San Antonio is going to look like Tuscan,” Adrian says.

“Nothing looks out of place here, though.” Jayden scans the street in front of us.

The sun is shining here, but even first thing this morning the heat was overwhelming. At least in the SUV the AC is blasting and we aren’t dying in the scorching triple digit weather. It shouldn’t be upward of one hundred degrees in the spring.

“I suppose we should park somewhere and take a look around?” I ask. “Are you sure this is the right place, Adrian?”

“Yeah, this is the place I saw. We definitely need to get out and scout the area for anything disastrous.” He shrugs.

“Okay.” I sigh. “Jayden, let’s find somewhere to park.”

We park and get out of the vehicle, all on high alert. I glance up at the clear blue sky and a shock of red and gold burns like flickering flames against the backdrop.

“This is no coincidence,” I mumble, still watching the bird fly in circles over our heads.

“Shit, it really is following us, but who sent it?” Jayden asks.

“I don’t know but we leave it alone unless it attacks us. We don’t know for sure that it has nefarious intentions.”

The forest opposite the parking lot is still, almost too still. “Shouldn’t there be some kind of noise in the forest?”

Greyson tilts his head to the side and shakes his head. “It’s like the forest is holding its breath. There are no birds chirping or scurrying prey animals. It’s complete silence. That’s odd.”

“It also answers our questions about whether we’re in the right place.” I peer into the trees but there isn’t even a rustling of anything.

It’s creeping me out. Forests are supposed to be teeming with life.

“Let’s go walk through the creepy forest. This should be fun,” Raven says with fake cheer.

“That’s the plan.” My shoulders slump.

Jayden squeezes my arm in comfort. “It will be okay. One thing at a time, remember?”

“Yeah, one step at a time. We are closer to Artemis’ bow than ever. We just need to get through all the hurdles to get there. It’s no different than any other mission we’ve been on.”

We stalk into the forest, and I reach for my lightning bolt charm, unfurling my whip. Everyone else has their weapons drawn already. We form a circle, keeping our backs to each other as we pick our way through the forest.

“Help,” a thin reedy voice calls.

I tense, holding my whip at the ready as a dryad comes racing between the brush. I don’t loosen my stance or put the whip away. Dryads have been less than friendly to us in strange forests in the past. Raven goes rigid beside me, her feelings about a dryad running up to us much the same.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“They are destroying everything. My poor forest,” the dryad cries.

“Who?” I ask, glancing at my friends in confusion.

“They’re the biggest men I’ve ever seen. Can you help?” she begs.

“Is this the thing?” I ask Adrian.

“Yeah, I think this is what my vision was showing me, but I can’t be sure until I see them.” He tugs the collar of his shirt away from his throat.

“Show us the way to them,” I say. “We’ll help however we can.”

“Oh, thank the gods,” she says. “This way. They’re destroying it. We need to hurry.”

She turns and rushes away and I glance at the others with a raised brow. We still aren’t any closer to finding out what this threat is to humanity and the secrecy of all paranormal creatures.

“What do you think this is about?” Jayden asks.

We race behind the dryad. My grip on my whip is so tight my knuckles are white. She could be faking us out to trap us somewhere, but one glance at Adrian tells me that isn’t the case here. This is what he saw in his vision.

“Maybe we should slow down and assess the situation before we charge in there like a bunch of idiots,” I say.

“You’re right but we don’t know where these things are, and that dryad is damn fast.” Raven swings her sword experimentally.

“I just don’t like running in blind. It makes me twitchy.” I roll my shoulders back.

“Yeah, I’m with you there, B. Let’s scout out the area where she ran and see if there are any clues about who or what she saw.” Raven waves a hand in the direction the dryad went.

“Sounds good.” I touch my lightning bolt charm, storing my whip inside, and pulling my sword from the either.

We creep through the forest, much quieter than we’d been before when a crash and a wail sound from just past the tree line where a clearing sits.

The ground shakes violently and I barely stay on my feet.

Steadying myself, I peek between the trees just in time to see a tree hurtling across the clearing.

“What in Hades is strong enough to uproot a tree and throw it across a clearing like that?” I whisper.

“I don’t think that’s a what but a who,” Jayden says.

He points to my left and I glance at legs the size of tree trunks themselves.

Shit. Tilting my head back, I stare up and up and up until I finally catch the face of a giant.

He rivals Claud in size. His intelligent eyes scan the clearing.

I follow his gaze and land on a second almost identical giant.

“We may be in trouble with this one,” I say in horror.

“Hades, there are two of them? This is just fucked up.” Raven crouches next to me.

“What do you remember about the stories of Artemis?” I ask. “They have to be in one of them, right? That’s what happened with the Calydonian Boar as well.”

“Yeah, she sent the boar to terrorize the people of Calydon because they forgot her sacrifice or something,” Jayden says.

“Wait,” Thad says. “I know this one.”

“Who are they?” I ask.

“We’re definitely in trouble. They are the Aloedae giants. My half brothers. They are fucking powerful. They have the ability to grow in size and in power. The gods had Artemis kill them because they were afraid they were too powerful.”

“I remember now and we’re completely screwed,” I say. “They have few if any weaknesses and the only way to kill them is by tricking them into killing each other. Artemis turned herself into a deer. None of us have that ability.”

I stand and back away from the clearing so we aren’t seen before we implement our plan. Whatever that plan may end up being. We can’t do what Artemis did, so how can we get them to kill each other?

“What about me?” Greyson asks. “I can turn into my wolf and get between them the way she did. Maybe it will work a second time.”

“No, it’s too dangerous,” I say. “I’m not using your wolf as bait.”

“We may not have any other choice,” Raven says and chews her lip nervously.

She doesn’t want to let that happen any more than I do, but she’s right. We may not have another choice. I glance back at Thad; he may be the only one who has a bit of insight on the giant twins.

“Any idea what those few weaknesses might be?” I ask.

“Not a clue. None of the stories about them talk about their weaknesses, if they even have any at all.”

“There has to be something,” I mumble, turning back to watch the giants through the trees.

“Not necessarily. I think Artemis would have done something else if there was another way,” Raven says.

“So we just need to stay between them and draw their own fire at each other?” I ask. “That’s fucking risky.”

“I know but it may be the only way, and if we don’t defeat them, then it’s going to be really bad for supernaturals everywhere,” Thad says.

“Fine. Greyson, go shift but you’re not going to be bait. Jayden and I are going to transport between them once they move closer together. Hopefully that startles them enough that we catch them off guard, then the rest of you come in and try to draw their fire on each other.”

“Wait,” Jayden protests. “You won’t let Greyson be bait, so your solution is to make yourself bait? No. I’ll shadow walk between them and distract them so you all can come in and draw fire.”

“No, fuck no.” I shake my head emphatically. “You promised not to run into anything you couldn’t handle and we can’t handle this. This plan is full of holes at best and at worst a death sentence.”

“I’m not letting you run in to save everyone again, Beth. I’ll be fine.”

My hands shake as I grip Jayden’s shirt. Is this how it happens? If I’m forced to choose him or the world right now, I know I can’t choose the world over him again. It will break me for real.

“Please,” I whisper. “Don’t make me choose.”

Jayden’s eyes widen in understanding. He is putting the pieces together. He doesn’t even have to say the words or intentionally force me to choose to make me do it.

“We’ll go in together.” He turns to Raven. “How good are you at shielding?”

“I have been practicing. It’s fun beating the shit out of my brothers with my indestructible body armor.” She shrugs.

“Indestructible?” I ask. “How indestructible?”

“We have been testing it. Even brought Kira in on it and walked into the forge close to the volcano. Nothing. I couldn’t even feel the heat.” Raven grins.

“You’re going to need to shield for as long as you can and draw their focus. Maybe brute strength will work.” Jayden taps his finger to his lips.

“That could work, especially if they are competitive and want to kill the strongest of us for bragging rights. We could pit them against each other.” I nod.

“All right, we have some semblance of a plan,” Jayden says.

I stare between the trees, waiting for the perfect moment to transport in, when a small figure runs into the clearing, screaming.

“Shit, what is the damned dryad doing?” I ask. “She’s gonna get herself killed.”

“You’re hurting my trees,” she shrieks, and the trees come alive in her anger.

The trees reach out with their spindly branches, lashing at the two giants, but they swat them away like an annoyance rather than them being in any actual pain from the attack.

“All she’s doing is pissing them off,” I hiss.