Daughter of Light

Chapter 17: Know Me

~Chapter 17~

Clarence

“What are you doing here?! What do you want from me?!” she yelled to the pack of wolves encircling her. She was frightened and confused, Clarence could tell. She wanted to run up to the girl and rescue her, but her legs disobeyed. She stood frozen on the spot, watching the little girl.

The little girl had light brown hair, kind of like Ami and Jed’s and unusual white eyes. She had rosy cheeks and sweat and tears were drenching her face. She wore a white dress with a blue floral pattern on it, plus pale pink ballet flats. And she looked about eight.

“Calm down, child. We will keep you safe,” the wolf on the center said in a motherly voice. It had a silver-ish fur and piercing grey eyes. Clarence had seen it – or her – before. She knows it.

“I-I saw it. Y-you were supposed to f-fetch me,” the child stuttered, though a little calmer this time. The wolves had stopped moving towards her and the girl was now sitting on the ground. The forest looked somehow like the one behind Clarence’s school.

“Yes, Halliope. We have to go now. It is not safe,” The She-wolf told her.

“Where are you taking me, Lupa? Where’s my mommy?” The girl, Halliope, asked the wolf. Lupa? Clarence thought, The She-wolf? The one who takes demigods to the Roman camp?

Clarence examined the girl. She didn’t look like a demigod and there was something strange with her eyes. They just showed so much fear, sadness and pain. Maybe the girl was something else, but what?

“She’s not a demigod, Clarence,” A voice said beside her. Thankfully, her head was able to move to the side. She glared instantly as soon as she saw the one beside her. The quite pale skin, the black straight hair and blue chiton, plus the shining bow and arrow and also the twelve year old form…..standing right beside her was Artemis herself.

“What are you doing here in my dream?” Clarence asked her.

Artemis turned to face her, “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

Clarence realized the girl and the wolves were already gone and it was only her mother and her in this cold forest, with the moon and stars glittering above them. She wondered why Artemis didn’t talk to her, not that she wanted her to.

“Just say what you want to say to me then you can wake me up,” Clarence said. She just wanted Artemis to leave her in peace.

“This is important, Clarence,” Artemis snapped, “You have to listen to me.”

The girl rolled her eyes, “You think I will? I wouldn’t even call you my mother! You don’t care for me, so if you just came to me to kill me then just do it!”

“I’m not hurting you, Clarence.” Her mother said calmly. Clarence averted her gaze. She just couldn’t look at her straight in the eye.

“Fine, then just go away,” Clarence’s voice was almost cracking.

“Clarence, I just came to warn you. You were lucky, I’m here. Not in the form of the stars, the moon….not anything. I’m here as a goddess and a mother. Listen to me,” she looked at Clarence with her blue eyes. Her form was a child but her voice was for an adult.

“You shouldn’t have pulled out that stunt, Clarence. Ashton and Jedrick don’t need to know,” Artemis continued, “You shouldn’t have tried to steal anything, you shouldn’t have acted like that and you shouldn’t have jumped into the fight! If they know you’re a demigod, then they’ll also know the truth. I don’t trust either of them, especially that son of Ares!”