Page 43 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

“ T hey’re closing in,” Raven screams.

Greyson lunges at a lizard demon that attempts an attack on Raven. “What do we do?”

I slash with my sword and hold up my opposite hand to shoot electricity at another demon. “We fight until they’re all dead or until we can’t fight anymore.”

I can’t bear to tell the others this is hopeless. They just keep coming and we’re going to be overrun in a matter of minutes. We’re all exhausted, and we can’t keep this up forever.

I spin, swinging my sword in a wide arc, slicing through scales all around me, but more take their places. The Minotaur roars from its place, blocking the only opening in the wall of phoenix fire.

A male holler of excitement catches my attention, and I whirl, still lashing at enemies as Dax lands on the back of the Nemean lion.

“What the fuck?” I yell. “What is he doing here?”

Kira has some metal contraption I’ve never seen before attacking the Minotaur along with Draven shooting magic at the Chimera.

“They’re creating a hole for us,” Raven cheers.

The unexpected reinforcements galvanize the rest of us. With renewed purpose and another burst of energy, we carve a path through the demons to the others. I stab, kick, and slash at anything that comes close to me as we push through the enemy.

The Nemean lion crumbles to dust first and Dax whoops again as he launches into the fray with the demons, swinging a battle ax with precision, taking any limbs he can with the weapon. I never knew how much of a force Dax could be, but he’s come a long way in the months since I’ve known him.

Kira’s contraption whirls and blades fling from it, stabbing the Minotaur in several places.

The beast roars and tries to charge. An arrow whizzes past my head, taking a demon out that had been ready to kill me in my distraction.

I turn my gaze in the direction the arrow came from.

Olly is perched in a tree, nocking another arrow, ready to take another shot.

“We may actually win this now, Jayden.” I glance at him with a smile.

A bloodcurdling roar fills the space and the Minotaur crumples to dust next. Kira turns to Draven and the Chimera. He’s still steadily throwing magic at the creature and dodging the serpent’s tail and fire from the lion’s mouth.

“Thad,” I yell. “Draven has a fire problem. Help him out, yeah?”

Thad turns toward Draven and his eyes widen as a gleeful smile stretches his face. “With pleasure.”

Thad races away just as a blade comes much too close to my face and I dodge.

I bring my sword up and catch the blade with my own.

Pushing the creature back, I free my blade.

The demon holds up his sword as if to bring it down on my head.

Stupid demon. I thrust my sword at its unprotected chest. Sparks ignite its scales as my blade punctures its heart.

As soon as Thad and Draven take out the Chimera, the tides turn and as if there’s some signal only the demons can hear, they all vanish into thin air. The phoenix fire fizzles out, and I collapse on the ground where I stand.

“What are you doing here?” I ask Dax.

I appointed him leader of his group so his meathead ass has some explaining to do.

“Where’d they all go? I wanted to kick more demon ass,” Dax whines.

There he is. That’s the Dax I know and tolerate.

“I don’t know but you will probably have your chance to find out on your way back to the academy.”

“We’re not going back to the academy yet,” Dax says, crossing his arms.

“I don’t have the energy for a tantrum. We need to go to the temple of Artemis. Why aren’t you on your way to Chicago?” I ask.

“Yeah, Beth’s orders were pretty clear, Dax,” Raven says.

“It’s not his fault,” Kira says.

“It’s a long-ass story. Can we go somewhere and at least get cleaned up before we get into all of this?” Draven asks, stepping up next to Kira.

“That’s a fantastic idea,” Jayden says. “I’m disgusting, exhausted, and starving.”

Jayden lifts me up into his arms and I glare at him but don’t protest. If he wants to waste his energy carrying me when I can barely move, then why not let him?

“You’re not even gonna argue?” Jayden chuckles against my temple.

“What’s the point? You’re just going to keep doing it anyway. Why waste my breath?” I shrug.

“So, you’re saying all I have to do to get my way is be persistent? Good to know.” He grins as I elbow him lightly in the gut.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I’m exhausted and I can’t think clearly after how close that was.” I lay my head on his chest.

“I know. I thought we were done for. It was close, Beth. I saw your movements slowing and it terrified me.” Jayden squeezes me closer to him.

“I was scared out of my mind, thinking I failed you guys and the world dragging you all into this. If I got you all killed, it would stain my soul, even in the underworld.”

“Let’s just be thankful they showed up when they did,” Jayden says.

“You want to give Dax and Draven the benefit of the doubt?” I ask, raising a brow.

“They helped us. I’m just saying there is most likely a good reason for them being here, and if that battle was any indication of what’s to come, we may need them in the battle in New Orleans,” Jayden says.

“Follow us into Houston and we can book a hotel for the night. I’ll have one of the guys order food and we can debrief,” I tell Dax.

“Thank fuck. Choking out a massive indestructible lion and fighting off lizard people is exhausting.” Dax’s shoulders slump.

Somehow, the SUV is untouched from the battle. I thank the gods for small mercies as Jayden sets me in the passenger seat. My stomach grumbles. Jayden chuckles as he closes the door and jogs around the SUV to the driver’s seat.

“You okay, B?” Raven asks. “That bitch shredded your back.”

“The elixir fixed it all up. I’m all good. Just exhausted and starving. Once we get to the hotel, I want tacos. I don’t care where you get them. I just want tacos and maybe a burrito or nachos. Ohh, nachos sound amazing.”

“You really are starving.” Raven giggles.

“Magic literally exploded out of me. I need to refuel before I do anything else like that again.” I cross my arms.

She’s over there judging, but I used a lot of energy today and need food. It doesn’t have to be tacos but come on, we’re talking about tacos here. They are life.

The drive into Houston is quick and we find a hotel that appears normal. Still, I glance over at Draven as we get out of the vehicle. “Do you feel any strange magic or anything here?” I ask.

“No, why?” he asks, brows furrowed.

“We don’t have a great track record of finding hotels where people don’t want to kill us.” I shrug.

“I wasn’t trying to find anything, but I can check it out. I don’t think we have to worry about anything here, though.” Draven closes his eyes and his hands light up in a soft green. “Nothing like ours but there is a faint magical signature.”

Greyson stiffens and stops mid-step. A growl rumbles up his throat as he sniffs the air and scans our surroundings.

“Greyson, what is it?” I ask.

“Witches. They don’t really get along with shifters. We can’t stay here long,” he whispers.

“That must be what I felt. They don’t feel malicious, though.” Draven scans the parking lot as well.

“If they catch wind of us, that will change,” Greyson warns.

“Hey, Greyson,” Jayden calls. “Why don’t you come with me and Dax to book some rooms.”

I blow Jayden a kiss and he grins back at me with a wink. He artfully diffused that situation, and I love him more for it, especially since I can’t handle one more thing right now.

Thad jogs over, grinning. He points to something behind me and I turn to find a taco place across the street. This hotel is the best one we’ve stayed at, considering they have a taco place across the parking lot. I love it.

“Me and Adrian are going to get tacos, burritos, and nachos for the whole group.” Thad pats my shoulder.

“We’ll go with you,” Draven says, pointing to Olly, who nods. “That’s gonna be a lot of food for two people to carry back on their own.”

As they all walk off, I narrow my gaze on Draven. “What happened to him? He’s being… helpful.”

“I know, it’s weird.” Raven shudders.

“That’s part of what we have to talk to you about regarding our mission to Chicago, I think,” Kira says.

“It’s that bad, isn’t it?” I ask.

Dread fills my gut and my hands shake. Did they run into trouble?

Did the other team make it to their destination?

Hopefully they’re already on their way back to the academy and had no issues as I suspected they wouldn’t.

If any classmates die because Chiron didn’t listen to me, we are going to have some serious words.

“Yeah, it’s pretty awful. The guys are pretending everything’s fine, but I know it even shook Dax.” Kira runs a hand down her face.

“Hey, baby. We ended up just getting a five-bedroom suite instead of separate rooms. We figured it would give us room to have our debrief.” Jayden hands me the key card. “Go up to the suite. I’ll wait for the others so I can tell them where to go.”

“Okay,” I say and kiss him softly. “See you in a few.”

“C’mon, babe,” Raven calls to Greyson. “You can’t stay out here like this, remember?”

“Yeah, that has bad news written all over it.” Greyson stiffens and scans the area.

What is his deal with other supernatural species? When we met him at the Halloween party at his pack house, he didn’t seem bothered that we weren’t human or wolf. He just claimed Raven was his mate.

That night was pretty insane, and we got in huge trouble for leaving campus without permission. Raven had lied to me about being allowed to leave for that one night. I was surprised Jayden hadn’t spilled the beans and just tagged along, even though he wasn’t welcome.