The Silver Ring (PJO)

Chapter 8

"Can we turn back now?" Amelia asked for the umpteenth time.

"Do you still want to kill plants?"

"Yes!"

"Well," I smirked. "That answers your question."

I couldn't see her face, but I knew she was pouting. "How much longer?"

I shrugged as best as I could with her weight on my shoulders. "About two minutes."

She groaned dramatically and gave up trying to reason with me, instead promptly falling asleep and laying her head on my shoulder. I quietly groaned but then smiled.

Suddenly, the forest bustled with life. Deers, rabbits, and even birds squawked alarm, moving from their resting places. I stopped, and gently put Amelia onto the grassy ground. Somehow, through the cacophony, she stayed asleep.

I uncapped my sword, Riptide, and held it in front of my, facing the direction where the animals ran out, ready for anything, from the Minotaur to an ant. Suddenly, a powerful aura emanated from all sides, which obviously scared the animals. 

I figured that either Ares went hunting and scared all the animals away, or a god wanted me to detect themselves. Both were possible, but I knew the latter was probably right. 

An arrow thunked into the tree beside me, making me tense up. It was obviously a warning, but when would the god start aiming at me? 

Before I could try to recognize the shooter by looking at the arrow, from the corner of my eye, I saw another arrow coming directly at me, shining in the dappled sunlight. My eyes widened in horror.

If I was alone, I would've ducked out of danger and started running towards the camp, but since Amelia was on the ground sleeping, and vulnerable, my body automatically reacted by turning to face the arrow. Still, I could have probably ducked out of the way but stayed next to Amelia, but that would love me disorientated for a few seconds, which the archer could easily take advantage of. In the milliseconds that I had to react, I angled the sword just right that the arrow harmlessly bounced off Riptide with a clink and flew into the woods behind me.

I stayed in my position, with the sword in front of me, trusting my senses to warn me of any impending danger. There was a stillness in the air, as though the shooter didn't expect me to block the arrow and didn't know what to do next.

But I knew what to do next. while deflecting the arrow, I had noted what color it was. Silver. Which meant Lady Artemis was the god in question.

"Hey!" I yelled out. "I'm a demigod! There's no need to kill me!" Even though I said this, I kept my sword up, just in case they still decided to kill me since the was a boy.

The silence stretched on, and I began to wonder if the hunters had gone away. Maybe they're just waiting for the right moment to strik—

I crushed that thought before it could finish and worry me. 

"Hello?" I yelled, hiding the desperation in my voice. "Please don't kill me! Or knock me out! And preferably don't castrate me! I'd prefer death over castration!"

My mini lesson on my personal opinions seemed to annoy a hunter. "Shut up, boy," she growled, her voice sounding a bit closer to me than I liked. "I know exactly what's happening."

It suddenly occurred to me that a stranger seeing someone walking through a forest with a seemingly unconscious girl on his shoulders would be suspicious. Even more so after the said girl didn't wake up with the loud arguing . . . 

Make the stranger a hunter—or in my case, probably more—and that was probably why I was in this situation.

"It's not what it looks like!" I said, even though I knew they wouldn't believe me. I shifted my attention to my right, where Amelia was sleeping. "Amelia! Wake up!"

She stayed stubbornly asleep, and the aura emanating through the air increased in power, like Lady Artemis was getting mad, or was stalking closer . . . 

I felt something shift behind me. In a flash, I turned around, facing the threat, while getting ready to fight. 

A silver blur ran towards me from the dense foliage and crashed into me before I could react. My sword was thrown from my hands with a clash of sparks. I didn't know it then, but my sword had blocked one of the hunter's daggers which would've pierced my heart.

My eyes closed automatically in anticipation of the pain. I landed on the ground, the grass cushioning a bit of the impact, like a barely-inflated air mattress. It knocked the wind out of me, and before I could recover, gravity unfortunately made the hunter land on top of me, knocking out any lingering air molecules in my lungs.

Instead of being a tangle of arms and legs, our bodies fit together perfectly, like two adjoining puzzle pieces. My lips parted in a silent gasp of pleasure. Admittedly, it was a bit weird that I felt this way toward a hunter, so I started to push them off of me.

A cold, sharp feeling at my throat stopped my wriggling. The aura was very close to me, like the other hunters and Lady Artemis had surrounded me. 

I didn't open my eyes, instead, awaiting my fate.

Two minutes later, I was still alive, and the hunter growled in annoyance. "Fine, male,"—she spit it out like a curse word—"explain your side of the story." Her voice sounded familiar, as though I had met her many times before.

I was quite shocked. I was still happy she gave me a chance, but I didn't know why.

As though she could read my thoughts, she growled again. "I would've killed you a long time ago, but I can't," She said vehemently. "Now, tell your side of the story, fast, or I might kill you anyhow."

I gulped, the knife digging deeper into my skin, like a needle. A very fat and sharp needle of destruction. I couldn't stop my overwhelming curiosity to open my eyes.

And I saw a pair of beautiful silver eyes looking right at me. Or rather, from on top of me. Artemis.

I gulped again. Suddenly, things weren't looking too good.

A/N-I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Please feel free to leave any suggestions, and have a great day!