Mystic Island

☼☼17☼☼

Raine

At the pace we ran, we reached the beach in perhaps less than a minute. Though it had taken at least five to find the wolf and the male demigods, time bent around our movement. The trees were blurs next to me, and in a second that I had to spare, I glanced down. My feet were clothed in silver light. But that was hard to see, for they were moving so quick that, like the trees, they blurred. I opened my gold eyes wide, a smile of pleasure spreading across my windblown face. I turned my head to the she-wolf. The gray wolf goddess was only loping casually, hardly breaking a sweat. Her yellow eyes were unfocused; like she didn’t even care where she was running or that there were a lot of trees in her path. Bu the wolf nimbly leaped onto stones, over tiny streams, through bushes. The wolf even leaped into one of the sparse silver birch’s branches, one forepaw pawing the bark distastefully.
Her lips shrank back into a wolfish snarl. Her voice rang in my head. Yuck. Hellhound scent. They have scoured your campsite. If you had remained behind any longer, they would have found you. And I can only imagine what would have happened.
The wolf dropped to my level and I watched her carefully. The wolf’s face was now entirely focused, and she looked at me. Ready to run? I nodded as the wolf’s slim body coiled back, ready to spring. When she did, I had trouble keeping up with her. Her wolf tail vanished into waxy fronds, and when I myself ran past the dark green plants, the scene was empty. It looked so different than it had before, when we’d first settled by there. The ship, oh the ship, was ravaged. Large holes were gouged into the once sleek hall. Claw marks were sliced into the wood, dirty pawprints were smeared on the sides, and just about everything on the actual deck was destroyed. The crow’s nest had fallen. The masts were broken into splintery wood pieces. And I’d bet that there were holes everywhere up there as well. At the campfire, where the fire had roared the night before, well, I couldn’t exactly tell where it had been. The rocks that encircled it were scattered, and if I squinted, I could see remnants of empousae venom. I envisioned a cluster of the vampires spitting their venom to dissolve the stones that held the fire from growing wild. Their faint footsteps were evident on the sinking sands.
I couldn’t bear to stand staring at the damage, knowing that if we’d stayed behind, even for a minute, we would have been lying their broken as well, under the rubbish of the wood and the charcoal and the stones and the sand.
My voice cracking a little, I called, “Artemis?” I stared around the lonely beach, but the silver wolf nor the human-like goddess were anywhere to be seen. I whipped my head back and forth, trying to see if there was any sign of her. But the immortal had disappeared. I backed away into the bushes, feeling fear growing in me. What if Hecate had captured her when she sped ahead of me? What if she was dead? Was I next? A faint shadow flew over me and then disappeared once more. I shivered, staring up at the trees. There was an eerie silence, but what if that had been an empousa? Or a shinytongue? But there was nothing in the trees, as far as I could see, and I scanned the beach again. Suddenly, I was thrown to the sand…
Claws scraping my back, my face forced into the cool sand, I could not move. Whatever had leaped on me had unbelievable strength, and a paw was placed on my neck. A hot breath was an inch from the nape of my neck, and I figured so were razor-sharp teeth. I tried to move my hand to grab my sword, but another paw was placed on my arm, and the term ‘placed’ was used lightly. The paw slammed my arm to the ground, claws digging into me. I hissed with anger.
I could feel teeth closing in around my neck, gently, but faintly fangs touched my skin. Thank the gods I wasn’t dead yet, but I so wished I could see what the creature was planning to do. As if the words had spat out of the attacker’s growls, I understood perfectly what it said. This is exactly why I’m going to teach you! You must always be vigilant! Always! Because if you aren’t, someone could kill you.
I rolled my eyes, and hissed in my head. Get the hell away from me and let me slice you in half! I really meant it, but the wolf leaped away, laughing in her wolfish way.
Who’s afraid of the wolf?
I whipped out my sword, and flipped it around in my hand. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”
The wolf’s form warped and Artemis stood about ten feet away. “What isn’t?”
“Swordplay,” I said simply. “It takes a lot of skill.”
Artemis raised one eyebrow. “I’m aware.”
“Are you?” I asked. “You’re an archer. What would you know about swords?”
“Please,” Artemis sighed sarcastically. “I believe I know a lot more than you do. I deflected your attack earlier.”
“Yeah, but that’s one of the first things you learn about swords. How to defend yourself,” I retorted. “I have more skills than I’ve ever seen you do. Can you twist? Can you disarm?”
Artemis’ yellow eyes were cool and careful. “Can you?”
“Yes I can.”
A whisper of wind flew past me, and the goddess spoke over my shoulder. “You just know everything, don’t you?”
I shivered. How did she move so fast? “I know a lot.”
“You choose to rely on what you’ve learned,” the soft voice said coolly. “But perhaps it is good to focus on what you’ve always known?”
I held my sword and prepared to swing it around at the goddess, but before I did, she was gone. She stood upon the flat stone the other demigods had been sitting on earlier. “Really? A sneak attack? Like I’ve never seen that before.”
“There aren’t too many things you haven’t seen when you’re three thousand!” I hissed.
“Three thousand and thirteen,” she corrected.
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. You can escape attacks, just like I can, but can you really fight?” I held my sword evenly in a ready but relaxed position.
Artemis hissed, and darted past me. But I’d seen that before. I lashed out Lightning Strike and the immortal fell to the sand. I felt a glimmer of satisfaction, but something was wrong. Something was completely wrong about my attack. She’d moved swiftly with blurring speed, but I had only felt air hit the blade of my sword. She’d fallen before I’d tripped her.
I looked down upon the motionless figure that laid perfectly still in the lightly blowing sand. Her eyes were closed. I felt a flicker of alarm. Had the goddess been injured before now? Had Hecate already found her prior to her finding me? I lowered my sword and turned my head suddenly. There was a startling splash in the waters. If I truly focused on the water, I could faintly see a shadow, but it was too murky to make out. And it was gone before I could figure it out. And…in seconds, I was flat on the sand.
My own sword was swiped out of my hand, twisted around, and its point was at the tip of my throat. The young goddess smiled slightly with amusement that she tried not to show. Her pale gold eyes were, however, gleaming with laughter.
“Yes, Raine, I do believe I can twist and I can disarm a sword,” Artemis remarked. I growled.
“Give me back my sword,” I said slowly and dangerously.
The young immortal was not frightened in any sense though. She gazed at me calmly. “And if I don’t?”
I couldn’t think of a smart remark to that. But she whisked the tip of the blade away from my throat, which was when I sprang to my feet and grabbed for my weapon. But I missed, for Artemis watched me fall when she dropped the sword from her hand. I was once again on the sand, but this time it had been completely my fault.
“And it wasn’t before?” Artemis inquired, hearing my thoughts. “I told you to be completely vigilant, no matter what. If you lose focus like that, what am I to do? Wait?”
I tilted my head. “I thought you were injured.”
She merely snorted, leaning over to pick up my sword.
“But you were lying on the ground…you weren’t moving,” I said confusedly.
“Please, you fell for the oldest trick there is,” she laughed. “And I would know about old!”
I held out my hand, and she passed me my sword. “That wasn’t very fair,” I hissed.
Her yellow eyes melted into an eerie darkness. She bared her teeth. “Hecate will not spare you in any sense. Did you think she would, just because you are a child?” Her face clouded. “When we are truly engaged in battle, no one, none of those creatures or any enemy will think twice about killing you. You will be a prize that will only become a reward if the witch wins.”
The silver goddess did look worried for me. Her face had fallen, appearing sad, but when she noticed me staring, her gaze fired up. “And I am only taking it easy. I have power you cannot imagine, nor ever hope to defeat or even match. Why have I not shown you my true power? Because I do not want to hurt you, daughter of Zeus.”
“I can---”
She broke me off. “…take care of yourself? Yes, so you’ve said. Very well, Raine.” She stood motionless, facing me, but when I stared, finding myself losing focus, she noticed it. The gray blur spun around me, and I hissed in pain. There was a long tear in my jacket, but she had hardly wounded me. A glancing image of her glowing ocher eyes let me know that she was still aware of her limit that she was setting to what power she would allow herself, but that was hardly enough. She had a bow in her hands, firing arrows past me, but intentionally, lingering in the air until they dissolved into nothing.
I had to defend myself with my sword only, not having the time to even swing, but only to turn to wherever the wind incarnation would fly. Something pierced my elbow, and I turned for a moment only, to witness a gray wooden arrow stuck fast. I yanked it out, but in the short-as-breath time that I had to help myself, another arrow stuck in the toe of my left shoe. I cut it off with Lightning Strike, hearing the pain that I wanted to let out. With another still glimpse of the archer, I threw her a pained glare. She passed the look, but I thought desperately, this is only training! Why is she trying to practically kill me!
When another arrow zipped only a hair past my ear, I yelled, “Stop!” and swung my sword at her. It missed at first, but I tried to focus on where the blur was the most definable. When I saw the middle of yellow, I cut down at that point in the ever moving gray. I had almost missed her, but my sword struck onto something solid, and I heard a scream. The bow fell to the ground, and Artemis was a blur no more. She staggered to her right, ducking down in pain, and my heart clenched. The young goddess gripped her shoulder, which was dripping golden ichor, blood of gods, and she stared at me with wide eyes the same color as her blood.
She hissed, “Ow!” and her hand’s grip tightened. I drifted towards her, seeing her in true pain, and I began to say, “Oh, Artemis, I’m sor…” A glimmering sword was pressed against my lips, and I could not speak anymore. I felt the sharp edge barely touching me, the flat blade pressing me, and I prayed it would not turn. I looked upon the bleeding goddess, but she was gazing upon me with little pain. The wound was bleeding less, and she herself was the one to hold another sword against me. I took Lightning Strike and moved the blade away from me, but the immortal saw this as a cue. Her entire body spun, and she was now closer to me than before, her sword clanging against mine.
The goddess met my movements with her own, sensing my next swing of the bronze weapon, meeting my eyes. And every time I felt metal against metal, I lost myself into the fight. The sun fell upon us, upon two nearly identical people, as one would think from far off. Two bronze-colored blades twisting and lunging and beating with equal force, dark hair billowing in the wind that picked up, two calm but at the same time tense faces, two pairs of golden eyes that never left the other.
Though she did not say a word, Artemis was teaching me new skills I had never known. As she met my sword, her technique differentiated, and I had to quickly learn to defend or attack, otherwise I’d be killed. My mind fell to my instincts only, and that was what I used to survive.
The goddess herself had lost herself in the battle as well; this I could sense when the tension within her had melted away. I, myself engorged in the fight too, let my instincts carry me through my sword. I found that the mental blocks that encased her thoughts were softening, and I reached into her mind. Instead of finding what I’d been searching for, perhaps what her next move would be, I saw a young face. The image was constantly wavering, as if someone was moving constantly to try to block the view, as my brother did when I tried to watch TV, and it was hard to make out what was deeply hidden inside of her. But two green eyes looked upon me before the mental shields were raised and I was thrown completely out of her thoughts. Her voice surprised me.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Artemis snapped, whacking Lightning Strike back, also whacking my wrist back.
“Ouch,” I growled, flexing it to make sure the goddess hadn’t really injured it. The peace-ridden focus of the battle had been lost, and now the real world had been thrown back at me.
“I am sorry,” Artemis said with a faintly hard voice. The image of those green eyes, for some reason, remained with me, and the goddess hissed, “Stop thinking about my thoughts.”
“Who was that?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Artemis said. Was it my imagination, or had she been too quick to respond? She shook her head. “I was only remembering other battles.”
I nodded. As soon as I did, I was tossed to the sands once more. The warm grains singed my skin and I stared up at her right against the sun. “Was that necessary?”
“Thrice I’ve theoretically killed you,” Artemis said gleefully. “If this were a real battle, you would be completely mangled.”
“That’s pleasant,” I grumbled.
Artemis shrugged. A gasp sounded behind us, and both of us turned our heads. Another brown-haired head was poking above the surface of the sun kissed blue waters. Two wide eyes faced ours. The sea demigod pulled herself from the sea and dashed over to us, holding a silver-bladed sword. “Get away Hecate!”
“Joy, another idiot,” Artemis hissed under her breath. She merely moved out of the way of the swift-footed demigod, watching the girl pass her, but quickly turn. The demigod used her blade to swipe Artemis’ feet from under her, and she fell. She almost rose until the demigod spoke. I was already to my feet, about to confront the sea-risen girl, but I stopped when Artemis did.
“I knew that she would return here!” the silver-blue-eyed girl shrieked. “She was already backing away into the woods when I saw her! I had to leave the fight because Brooke said you were here, Raine, and now…”
“Stop talking,” Artemis snarled.
I rolled my eyes, and hissed, “That’s not Hecate, Piper, you imbecile. That’s Artemis.”
Piper hissed, “Are you sure, because I saw Hecate…”
“Quite sure,” I said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Artemis growled, raising herself to her feet, baring her teeth angrily at the demigod that had surprised her.
“Hecate’s army found the other demigods,” Piper said, breathless. “I couldn’t see any of the boys; oh, I hope they aren’t already dead!”
“I don’t,” Artemis growled.
“Brooke, Rose, Kayla,” Piper said. “They’re hopelessly outnumbered, and when I was swimming around, I saw Hecate’s monsters coming from another direction. At least they’re not there yet, but there are more demigods already fighting!”
“Other demigods?” I asked.
“Remember?” Piper asked quickly. “Lea, Sierra, the other pirates. There are like twenty of them, and few dead as far as I know!”
I nodded, and said, “We need to go aid the others. Piper, go and find the boys. They are watching out not far from here…”
“The hell with that,” Piper hissed. She pulled out a cellphone and began to dial a number.
“What the hell!” I yelled. “You had a damn cellphone this entire time!”
“You don’t have one,” Piper hissed. “What good would it had done before?”
I hissed once more, and a voice, muffled, came onto the other line. Soon, Piper snapped the phone closed, and she told me, “Conor and the others know where to go. Follow me.” She eyed Artemis, but the young goddess morphed into a hawk and took to the sky, watching us with small yellow eyes at us below. Piper understood, and took to the water. “Follow me along the shore Raine.” The water demigod dove into shallow water, water herself, the immortal bird hovered over the height of the trees, and I was running over land, the sounds of swords clanking and arrows screaming becoming louder.