Page 41 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

“ W hat is that now?” Thad asks.

I glance in the direction he’s pointing. “Shit.”

“They’re pulling all the monsters for this one, then.” Raven shakes her head.

“But what is it?” Thad asks again.

“We’re trapped in a ring of phoenix fire with a bunch of damn wraiths,” I growl.

“Aren’t wraiths underworld creatures?” Thad asks.

“Yeah,” Jayden says. “They sided with Hecate to get out of the underworld and now they do the queen’s bidding.”

The fog inches toward us in eerily slow movements, rising a little higher with each inch closer to us. I turn in a circle, hoping that we aren’t surrounded, but the fog and the fire spread in all directions around us.

“We need to get in a circle back-to-back,” I command. “They’re going to separate us and divide and conquer.”

Everyone turns in a circle with Jayden to my right and Raven to my left. I reach for the Ares charm and call my sword. It lights up with white electricity that crackles along the blade. The fog retreats slightly but redoubles a second later.

Swinging my sword experimentally at the fog, a hiss escapes one of the creatures inside. “Zeussss.”

“Not Zeus. I’m his daughter and your worst nightmare,” I snarl.

“You realize they are literal nightmares, right?” Jayden asks with a smirk.

“I think that makes me even more of a badass, babe.”

“Are we seriously doing this while surrounded by monsters?” Thad asks.

“If I don’t laugh, I’ll cry, so let me have this,” I call over my shoulder.

“That’s fair,” Thad says.

“The nightmare of nightmares does have a nice ring to it,” Raven muses.

“Why aren’t they attacking?” I ask, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

“I don’t like this. Are they waiting for a signal or more monsters? Neither option is a good one,” Jayden says.

The damn phoenix is up in the sky, circling again. No doubt watching us sweat. What is Apollo’s game here? He gave his sister to a god who has been obsessed with her for centuries when he went to ruthlessly brutal lengths to keep her pure. Something isn’t adding up on this one.

It could be as simple as the queen ordered it and he had no choice, but what happened to his unyielding loyalty to Artemis? There’s something very wrong here.

“Anyone confused about where Apollo’s true loyalties lie?” I ask.

The fog has stopped advancing but it still pulses with menace and hatred. There’s definitely something else coming. The phoenix isn’t sending a signal so much as watching the outcome of the battle.

“Yeah, I get the impression that the phoenix doesn’t actually want to be a part of this.” Adrian glances up at the firebird.

“Can you communicate with it?” I ask.

“I get the sense that I could, but it’s blocking me. It doesn’t want to talk to me.” Adrian squares his shoulders.

“Well, that’s convenient,” I grumble.

“I am getting feelings off it. It’s bored and doesn’t want to follow us anymore. It’s acting like it’s only doing what it was told to do, no more, no less.”

“I guess that’s sort of comforting in a backward way.” I swipe the air in front of me again.

Shrieks fill the fog, and it retreats just a little from my glowing electric blade. It’s a small victory that freezes in my throat a second later when the ground shakes with the thundering of feet pounding the pavement.

“That is not fucking good,” Raven mumbles.

I glance over my shoulder at her and my eyes widen at the sight before me. There is a horde coming toward us of those damn lizard men. Just like the creature that murdered my mother on my eighteenth birthday.

“I don’t know if we can do this without help,” I say, chewing my lip.

“We have no other choice. The phoenix fire is surrounding us.” Jayden tightens his grip on his shadow sword.

“Do we have enough space for Spot here?” I ask. “That’s the only way I see having a shot of us surviving this.”

“I think if we clear out some of the hags, there shouldn’t be an issue,” Jayden says.

“I say we throw them off guard. On my signal.”

Jayden and Raven nod in understanding. We are going to catch the hags off guard and attack before all their forces are in position.

Swinging my blade in a wide arc through the mist makes the creatures hiss and shriek but I keep going.

The electricity crackles and sparks along the blade, lighting up the dark eerie fog a bright white.

Wraiths don’t do well in the light, which makes me wonder what the queen was thinking when she sent them out at a time when there is no nighttime.

To me, that’s cruel but to her they are only tools. Tools for my destruction. Well, they aren’t getting it. Even if I have to destroy every evil creature here, I will not fail. I can’t fail. Too many depend on me for survival.

I scream a battle cry and dive into the fog without checking to see if my friends followed me, cutting through the icy fingers of the oppressive fog with my crackling blade.

Something touches my back and before I can whirl to take the head off the creature, Jayden’s soothing presence fills me with relief.

“It’s me, and we are going to talk later about you charging into battle without someone at your back,” he says with a growl in his voice.

Not the time to be lusting over Jayden’s sexy growl, idiot. Focus.

“Whatever you say, babe. Can we kill some hags before you spank me, though?” I whirl on the next creature that jumps into my view.

“Brat. Maybe I will spank you for it later.”

A shudder that has no business on a battlefield races down my spine and Jayden chuckles knowingly.

“Stop flirting with me and kill these bitches,” I shout at him.

“I can do both,” he calls back to me.

“We’re fighting for our lives and you two are flirting. Unbelievable,” Thad says, exasperated.

“It’s our way.” I shrug. “It breaks up the tension of battle.”

I spin to the left, hacking a hand that’s reaching for me clean off, and jump back as black blood oozes from the severed limb. Jayden’s back presses to mine. Thad comes behind the hag, slicing his sword through her neck.

Three more enemies surge forward before the hag’s body crumbles to dust. They just keep multiplying. I cut down another wraith, slicing my sword in a wide arc, and the electricity coursing through her makes her explode into dust.

“How are there this many of them? They aren’t even that affected by the electricity until it slices through them.” I spin again as another attempts to grab me.

“We need to figure out how to get rid of the fog. That’s their cover. If it’s gone, the sun should harm them. At the very least, it will slow them down,” Jayden shouts.

“How do you suppose we do that? None of us have power over the winds.” I duck beneath an arm and bring my sword up through the hag’s belly.

The wraith wails just before she explodes into dust like the others. I don’t have time to react or fix my stance before two more are reaching spindly fingers for me. From my spot on my knees, I swipe upward through the jaw of one. The other is beheaded by the shadow sword.

Jayden,” I say, out of breath. “It’s no use. They just keep coming. We kill one and two more spring up.”

I roll back to my feet but duck down as something touches the top of my head. I glance up, finding one of the lizard men with a sword locked with Jayden’s over my head. Godsdammit. Their reinforcements have arrived.

Jayden’s sword clashes with the lizard things and I use my crouched position to arc my sword up through its groin area. The animal death rattle that escapes the creature is chilling but I press my advantage and skewer it all the way until my blade pierces its heart and it crumbles to dust.

“That was brutal, baby. Remind me not to piss you off.” Jayden winces in sympathy.

It was a monster and he’s complaining that I cut its dick off. Typical man. They are all the same no matter the species. Dramatic.

“Would you rather I didn’t assist?” I raise a brow at him.

A scaled hand snaps out, reaching for me, but I roll away and jump to my feet. I crouch into a fighting stance and square off with the slimy bastard. It lunges for me right as something sharp scrapes down my spine. White-hot pain slams into my body where the nail scraped me.

A roar of pain and fury explodes from my throat and my magic blasts out of me in an inferno of electricity hitting every enemy circling me, but it isn’t enough.

“Raven, Greyson, get over here! We need to protect Beth long enough for her to get the elixir and use it. Her back is shredded,” Jayden shouts as he swings his sword again.

The battle rages around me as my friends close ranks, cutting down one enemy after another, but no matter what, they continue to pop up like damn locusts.

“Get the elixir, Beth. Hurry.” The clash of metal sounds with his words as he strikes at a lizard demon.

I grip my pack, glad I had it over one shoulder instead of strapped to my back.

I reach in and pull out the small vial, but with every movement pain shoots down my spine.

My hands shake as I fumble with the bottle.

I twist the stopper and sigh with relief as I drop three drops of the red liquid on my tongue and a soothing balm of healing coats my back.

I gingerly climb back to my feet, stretching my back out, and no pain flares. I grin. These bastards are going down for sure.

I twirl my blade in a circle and nod to Jayden who is watching me carefully. He turns and blocks a blade with his, then sidesteps so I can stand next to him in the circle.

“We’re going to need a miracle to get out of this one,” Jayden says.

“No, not a miracle. Thad, trade spots with Raven. I have an idea.” I stab a wraith in the throat with my glowing blade.

“What’s this idea?” Thad asks as he steps beside me.

“Our dads were trying to tell us something more than there’s a storm coming,” I say.

Thad’s eyes widen and he slashes at a blade that comes a little too close for comfort. I nod, indicating that I’m thinking the same. They weren’t telling us that a storm is coming. They were telling us to be the storm.