Page 39 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

One giant roars and it rattles the earth beneath our feet. I widen my stance to keep my balance as the giants move farther into the clearing. Jayden’s shadows pulse, waiting for the moment he needs to shadow walk between the two giants.

“Hey, Jayden, can you shape the shadows?” I ask, an idea forming.

“I haven’t tried anything too big. What are you thinking?” Jayden scrunches his brow.

“Can you form a deer in the shadows? Maybe we don’t have to fight them after all,” I ask hopefully.

“I don’t know. That’s pretty big for doing it on the fly without practicing first.” He taps his foot.

“It may be the only way to get out of this.” I tighten my grip on my sword.

“Let’s stick with the original plan for now and I will see what I can come up with while we’re fighting. My shadows might just respond to my request, who knows.” Jayden squeezes my shoulder.

The little dryad continues to lash out, practically herding them in the position we want them in. The sneaky little tree spirit was listening and trying to help. I grin as I glance at Jayden and nod.

“Now,” I say.

Before I can transport myself in the middle of the giants, Jayden wraps his arm around me, and we are engulfed in darkness so thick it’s nearly suffocating.

A second later the sun is back but huge shadows loom over us.

I crane my neck back to glare up at the giants, but they are still swatting at the branches and vines that are lashing out at them.

“We need to grab their attention,” I say.

I reach for the Ares charm and stow my sword before calling my whip and letting my magic flow through it. The electricity crackles with white-hot heat which is a new development, but I don’t have time to analyze that.

Jayden glances at the whip with a raised brow but I just shrug. I’ll freak out over it later. Pulling my whip back, I flick the whip at one of the giants and he roars. Jayden grabs me and shadows us away, so the giant turns on his brother.

The giant looks at the ground, then at the other giant and shoves him as he continues to swat the vines, oblivious to what’s happening with his brother.

“I think it’s working,” I whisper. “Let’s go back and I’ll hit the other one while they fight off the branches and vines.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Jayden asks.

“Probably not but if we can get them to turn on each other, they could end up killing each other.”

“Or one could kill the other and we’re just as fucked because we don’t have any way of killing him then.” Jayden squares his shoulders and crouches back into his fighting stance.

“Well, shit. That’s a gamble I don’t think we can take.” I dodge a giant foot that comes a bit too close to me. “Any other ideas?”

“I say we let Greyson shoot his shot, but we will all be there to make sure nothing goes wrong,” Jayden says.

“I don’t like this.” I snap my whip at the back of the giant’s foot, and he roars, spinning toward us but we are already gone.

We materialize behind the other giant and I repeat the same action with him and disappear. This time we land between them again and I hit them each in quick succession. The forest floor shakes. I stumble but we are already moving back through the shadows.

Both giants spin in circles. I open my mouth to call out to Greyson when Jayden’s eyes widen.

“Wait, I think I know what to do.” He pulls the cylinder from his pocket and presses the rune.

My buddy, Spot, jumps from his hiding place with all three heads snarling at the giants. He crouches low, growling as he positions himself between us and the giants. He’s almost as tall as the Aloedae giants and twice as vicious.

One of the giants growls at Cerberus and pulls a bow and arrow from nowhere. The other giant does the same. Cerberus races between the two giants, taunting them like he was in on the plan from the beginning.

“How did he know what we’re facing?” I whisper.

“Maybe he could hear us from the cylinder?” Jayden says. “He’s super intelligent and tall enough that they could end up killing each other.”

One of the giants spins on his heel and points his bow at me instead of focusing on Cerberus.

“Fuck no, I’m not getting shot with another arrow.” I transport myself behind him where Cerberus is snapping wildly at the other giant.

I flick my whip at the giant again, pouring more of my magic into it than I had before, and the howl of pain the giant lets out has a haunting quality to it. He glances down at me but I’m already transporting away.

Cerberus snarls again and snaps at both giants in quick succession. The two giants nock their arrows, ready to fire on the real threat, but the second the arrows fly, Jayden presses the button, bringing Cerberus back into the cylinder.

I gaze up at the giants. Yowls of pain escape them before they both explode into dust. I drop to the ground, breathing heavily. Transporting that many times in a row is exhausting. I lie flat on the ground and stare up at the sky.

“Not fair, B. You never gave the signal and just went in all bad bitch and threw a curveball at the last second.” Raven glares down at me, her arms crossed over her chest.

“You’re just mad you didn’t get to kick Aloedae ass.” I chuckle.

“Duh, why else would I be mad right now? Are you going to get up?”

“No, I think I live here now. Transporting all over like that tired me out for real.”

“It was badass though. The way you kept them guessing, and was your whip glowing white instead of blue? That was sick.” Raven holds her hand out to help me up.

“Not yet, mom. Five more minutes.” I bat her hand away.

Jayden crouches next to me and lifts me bridal style. A squeak escapes me as I glare at him. He just grins at me.

“I think Cerberus deserves a treat, don’t you?” Jayden asks with a wink.

“I think I have some jerky in my bag.” I tap him to put me down, but he doesn’t; he just keeps walking over to our packs.

“I can walk,” I grumble.

“You just flopped on the ground and declared you lived there now. Not a good idea, baby. I’m helping, so let me take care of you.”

The dryad races over to us with a beaming smile. “Thank you so much for saving my forest. You were amazing and how do you have Cerberus?”

“This is Hades’ son. The god of the underworld let us borrow him for help on our mission.” I point to Jayden still carrying me.

“That is fantastic.” The dryad bounces on her toes. “Can I meet him so I can thank him for his help too?”

“We were just grabbing him a snack. Then we will let him out to play for a while before we have to get back on the road.” I nod.

“Hey, Beth?” Adrian furrows his brow. “How are you bleeding?”

“I don’t know.” I glance down at the tear in my shirtsleeve and the small trickle of blood leaking from it. “Maybe a tree branch got me by accident?”

As I stare down at the small wound, it closes before my eyes. “That’s badass.”

“It healed that quick?” Jayden asks.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever healed that quick before.”

“That’s a good thing. You’re in less danger of dying on me.” Jayden kisses my temple.

“I wonder if you’re the same. Can you heal as fast?”

That would be an absolute game changer for us in this war against the queen.

“Let’s not count on that too much. The hole in your shoulder didn’t heal that fast,” Jayden says.

“We definitely don’t know what’s in store for us going forward or what will happen to the three of us who got hit with that stuff twice. It could end up being a death sentence.”