The Sea and The Moon

Chapter 10

Artemis POV:

I was just getting out of bed when I heard a knock on my door. Probably another one of those disgusting, drooling suitors that come to my door every morning. I groaned, got up and changed into my hunting clothes, before stalking to the front door and looking out the peephole. The man I saw standing there surprised me. Perseus was outside the palace with a little girl in his arms.

I immediately swung the door wide open. Perseus looked a little nervous, no doubt thinking that I would kill him for showing up at my palace without notice.

"Hello, Artemis, this is my little sister Ashley. I saved her from her abusive uncle and brought her to my home to care for her. Ashley, say high to Artemis," He coaxed. The girl he had called Ashley

"Hello, Artemis. Percy said that you are a very nice person. He also said that you are not a man," She said giggling lightly. I raised her eyebrow at Perseus and he blushed a deep red.

"Hello Ashley, my name is Artemis and I am indeed not a man,"I said. He put Ashley on the ground and I held out my hand for her. She take my outstretched hand, I lead her into the house.

Before I could make it very far, Perseus called out,"I'm going to need to leave right now. I have to attend some business that needs to be taken care of. Would you please take care of her for a few hours while I am gone?" I nodded. How hard can it be to take care of one little girl. I had 20 before my hunters died. I suddenly remembered my fallen hunters and grew sad at the thought. On the outside, it may seem like I have fully recovered, but it still hurt me every time I thought about them.

I shook of the thoughts and continued to lead Ashley into the kitchen. We continued walking down an adjoining hallway and into my training room. I planned to teach her archery as it was a fundamental skill if you are little girl like Ashley.

"Ok Ashley, do you know what a bow is?" I asked.

"She nodded," Yeah. Percy has one that he carries around with him sometimes. He told me that you gave it to him after you finished your training with him."

I pulled out a small practice bow from one of the closets and asked," Try this and tell me if it's too hard or too easy to draw back." She tested it before grinning and giving a thumbs up.

"I guess that means it's alright. Ok, first I'm going to teach you the correct for to draw the string back," I said," Watch me." I demonstrated pulling the string back without the arrow. When I gestured for her to copy me, I was stunned at how perfectly she executed the drawback.

"Wow, that's excellent. You're much better than your brother was when he started learning." She beamed at the complement, showing her perfect white teeth.

"Now we're going to work on actually shooting the arrow." Artemis proceeded to teach Ashley how to shoot the arrow and when it was time that she released, Artemis stepped back. She had already learned from experience, that when you are teaching a child of Poseidon archery, it's best to stand as far back as possible. It's not a matter of will it fly towards you, it's a matter of will you have enough time to dodge it before it pierces your jugular. You can imagine my surprise when the arrow didn't fly in my direction, but towards the target.

I watched it sail and it was almost as if it was in slow motion. The arrow flew straight on her first shot and landed right in the center of the bulls-eye. I gaped in awe at how good this little girl was. Hmmm... It might have been luck. I have never known a single child of Poseidon that was able to even fire the arrow straight on their first shot.

"That was amazing! But can you do it again?" I challenged. She looked at me with determination in her eyes and nocked another arrow onto the string. I stepped back again just to be safe, but it turned out I didn't need it. The arrow flew true again and struck the center of the target yet again. This time my eyes almost bugged out of my head. This girl was so great at archery. The first two shots of her life and she had already hit two bulls-eyes.