Page 53 of Artemis’ Bow (Halfling Academy #5)

A n angry shriek fills the air as Kira and I transport directly behind Thad and Draven. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Mia rushes forward, hands balled into fists in some semblance of a fighting stance but not a good one. Kira raises a brow at her and glances at me.

“I think I can handle this one. Get them free because the monsters are already distracted by Mia’s screaming.” Kira squares her shoulders.

“You sure?” I ask.

“No,” Draven barks. “She’s got some kind of upgrade. She’s stronger now.”

“What?” I ask, shocked.

“Awww, did you and your little band of rejects think you’re the only gods touched ?” She sneers.

“Who the fuck would do that for a pathetic excuse of a demigod like you?” I ask.

They seriously made a girl who cares more about boys and what she’s wearing to the next big event more powerful? Are they dumb or were they misinformed about the type of person she is? Nah, they weren’t misinformed. Just stupid.

“What are you going to do? Magically give me a manicure?” Kira laughs and winks at Draven. “I’ve got this, babe.”

“Okay,” I say.

Draven thrashes against his bindings, screaming. “Stop, Kira. Don’t do this.”

“What is going on?” I ask Draven as I crouch behind him and untie him.

“She was how they caught us. They have been watching you guys and made Mia sacrifice a monster so she could become more powerful. She has a different magic now.”

“How did all of this turn to shit so quickly?” I mutter. “Like Mia is the last person I would make gods touched . She’s reckless, self-centered, and has zero fighting experience.”

I release him from the bindings and Draven springs to his feet, rushing forward, but Kira isn’t in trouble. Even a supercharged Mia is no competition against Kira’s gadgets and fighting ability.

I crouch behind Thad and whisper, “What the fuck happened?”

“They came up the south slope of the hill but someone or something made them invisible until they were on top of us. Olly was out patrolling, looking for another way in. As far as I can tell, they haven’t found him yet,” Thad says in a rush.

“It will be okay. We have Orion and he’s going with Jayden to get Artemis out.” I scan the area as the ropes finally slip free.

Thad jumps to his feet, calling his trident to him before pointing it to something behind me. I drop to a crouch and roll out of the way, closer to where Adrian is also tied up. Adrian’s eyes widen and he shakes his head.

“Beth, watch out to your left.”

I roll right and call my sword, lifting it in time to parry the strike Zeke lands on me. I shove him back, but he has the upper hand here because I’m on the fucking ground. He hacks at my blade with eyes devoid of any kind of recognition.

“Shit.” I roll to the side and jump to my feet, only to have to duck to avoid his swing aimed for my neck.

I’m just trying to subdue him, but Zeke is trying to kill. This just got exceedingly more complicated. The other team is fighting against us and the distraction hasn’t worked as well as I had hoped. The monsters are happy to let us fight it out between ourselves.

“We need a better distraction,” I say to Thad.

“This was a distraction?” Thad asks.

“Yeah, we’re actually supposed to be the distraction while Jayden gets Orion to the temple.” I dodge Zeke’s next strike. “I thought he was a son of Ares; why is he so sloppy?”

“Let’s focus. How big of a distraction do we need?” Thad asks.

I spin and kick Zeke in the chest and he stumbles back, dazed. “There are hundreds of monsters, Thad. As big as we can get.”

“All right, you get Adrian untied and I’ll work my magic.” He spins the trident in his hands and water shoots from him, spraying Zeke backward until he’s flat on his back, out cold.

I crouch next to Adrian and use my blade to cut the bindings instead of trying to untie them and waste precious time.

Mia screams. “I don’t want to fight you. I want to kill her so Jayden will come back to me.”

I snort and turn my back to the psychotic bitch, focusing on what I can do to help Thad with his distraction.

A huge wave crashes over dozens of monsters and an idea forms. I weave my magic through the air, creating a lightning storm in the now darkening sky.

Thad glances at the clouds and then to me and grins.

He swirls his hand in a circle and the water becomes a cyclone, directly under my lightning storm, and sucks a bunch of monsters into its vortex just as I let the lightning strike the cyclone, electrifying the monsters inside.

The cyclone spins around to several other groups of monsters sitting there watching the display, uncaring that it’s about to spell their demise. I grin as I turn to Thad and let loose my lightning on the bastards.

The tides turn immediately and the monsters’ attention all turn to me. Perfect. Just what we are hoping for.

“Thad, how big can you go?” I ask as I scan the area for Jayden.

“How much more do we need? I can go a little bigger but I’m not sure how long I can hold that for,” he says.

“Jayden is in position. Orion just crossed the threshold of the temple. I don’t think we need it for much longer.” I call the lightning to the ground around the monsters closest to the temple entrance.

Jayden disappears into a cloud of shadows and the next second, there is a wall around us, blocking us from the enemies’ view.

“Did you have any issues?” I ask, scanning him for injuries.

“No, once you and Thad started working together to distract them, it was easy.” Jayden shrugs.

“Good,” I say. “Duck.”

Jayden crouches down and I swing over his head with my sword, decapitating a lizard demon instantly.

“Thanks, baby.” He springs to his feet and kisses me hard.

“Of course. We need to get back-to-back. They are closing in and Mia is completely unhinged.” I point to where she’s struggling to fight against Kira.

“Why did they warn me not to fight a weakling like you?” Kira asks, chuckling.

Mia waves her sword wildly in front of her as Kira dodges and uses a mace type contraption to block the wild blows.

“This is just sad,” I whisper, turning to Jayden just in time to catch a spear aimed for his back.

I push Jayden out of the way at the last second and grasp the spear from midair. It jerks me back and pain shoots through my shoulder, but I react instantly, sending it hurtling back the direction it came from and hitting the lizard demon square in the eye.

“Jayden, fucking pay attention. You almost just died,” I scream.

“Shit, sorry, love.” Jayden’s eyes widen as he shoots shadows at something behind me.

I spin on my heel and find another lizard asshole caught up in his shadows. “Back-to-back. This isn’t working.”

“There are too many of them. We can’t fight them all off. We need Orion to hurry up and get Artemis out of that temple,” Jayden says.

I slash my sword across another demon’s throat and black blood sprays across my clothes. “You think I could send my clothing bill to the gods?”

“What?” Jayden asks, confused.

“Nothing. At this point, I’m not going to have any clothes left,” I mumble.

“Is this what you worry about during a battle?” Jayden dodges a spear and brings his shadow sword up in a wide arc, taking out two enemies at the same time.

“Have you seen what demon blood does to my clothes? Yes, I worry about normal things while killing monsters. I’m going to have to burn these.” I grimace.

“I love you, baby, but let’s get through the battle before we worry about having to burn our clothes.” Jayden chuckles.

“Fine.” I swipe a leg out, taking down another demon. “Where are the others from the third team?”

“I don’t know. You took Zeke out pretty easily so maybe they’re retreating? The enemy probably still wants them for something,” Jayden says and the clash of metal follows his words.

“Mia, you really should give up and run away with the rest of your team. You’ve lost,” Kira taunts.

“Not until that bitch, Beth, fights me,” Mia roars.

“You realize the little added power you got from being gods touched is going to your head, right? You can’t fight me. I’ll put you down in less than a second.” I shake my head.

“You’re a bitch and you stole Jayden from me. You will pay,” Mia snarls but can’t get past Kira.

“Beth, watch out,” Jayden roars and I duck into a crouch as an ax swings over my head.

I roll to the side as the ax hits the ground with a reverberating thud and I swing my blade at my attacker’s shins, taking him out at the ankles.

It’s yet another lizard demon. I grimace.

How many of those damn demons do they have?

This is getting ridiculous. Orion needs to hurry up and get Artemis out of the temple.

“Anyone have eyes on the others? They were supposed to make their way here,” I call to Thad, Draven, Adrian, Jayden, and Kira.

“No sign of them yet,” Adrian says.

“They’ll be okay. Raven and Greyson are gods touched . I bet Raven is counting her kills right now.” Thad chuckles.

“Shit, I should have been counting, damn it,” I shout.

“You’re really worried about that right now?” Draven asks.

“You have met Raven, yes? She’s going to be insufferable.” I spin away from the blade careening toward my throat.

“Fair point. Maybe we all should have been counting our kills.” Draven scratches his head.

“Baby, now who isn’t paying attention?” Jayden blocks a blow to my head with his shadow sword.

“Fine. I just need eyes on the others.” I flip up in the air as two demons come at me from each side.

They collide, falling on each other’s swords.

I scan the area for any sign of Raven and the others but I don’t see them.

Fuck. Hopefully, Raven and the others are okay.

My gaze collides with Thad’s and I realize that I’ve let myself get so distracted with the rest of the battle that I’ve dropped the magic keeping most of the monsters away.