The Adventures of Thalia and Reyna: A Hunters of Artemis Tale

Chapter 18

Eve was quicker. She whisked a book from behind her back and slammed her hand onto one of the pages. Just like that, Artemis disappeared with a flash. The huntresses gasped in shock.

"ARTEMIS!" Zoe launched herself at Eve, who simply backed away smugly. "What hast thou done to her?!!"

"Relax, little huntress." Eve shut her book. "It's just a simple teleportation spell. It will repel her for a while, but only for about an hour. She is unharmed, she is a Goddess after all. I told you, I have no quarrel. Just give me the Roman and I will leave in peace."

"You'll have to get through me first!" Thalia's hands jolted with lightning, her bow sparking with electricity. Daria unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Eve's neck.

"Fine," Eve shrugged. "Don't say I didn't try to do this the easy way."

"Mother!" Olive stood up from the ground, her face blotched with tears. "Please. Leave my friends alone!"

"I'm sorry, Olive." Eve said. "But your father must be avenged, surely you understand?"

"No!" Olive cried. "Father spent his life trying to get revenge on Artemis, and look where it got him! Please mother, don't make the same mistakes he did. It's the reason he left us in the first place. Please."

Eve shook her head. "She will pay for what she has done. And you will all pay for protecting her!" Eve thrust her hand out, and the Star Demons attacked.

The huntresses released their arrows, but they shot right through the demons. Of course, only light could defeat them.

Helena cast blasts of light with her hands using bursts of magic. Sara lit up as bright as she could with her Apollo sunlight, charging at the demons. Thalia shot out lighting from her hands as fast as she could. They were only demigods, they couldn't keep this up forever.

"Yes, my creations!" Eve had her hands in the air, controlling the Star demons. Swirls of shadow surrounded her, and the air pulsed with dark magic. "Get her, bring her to me!"

Reyna shot arrow after arrow, but the demons were too many and too strong. Reyna and the other huntresses that could not produce light huddled together, while Helena, Sara, and Thalia stood outside of them, protecting them.

Reyna watched as Thalia shocked one of the demons. When the lightning hit the creature, its shadows dissipated and the demon shrieked in pain. That was it.

"Thalia!" Reyna yelled over the battle noise. "The Oracles paintings! Remember the lightning storm in Rachel's paintings?! If you make a storm big enough, you could destroy all of them at once! Your lightning, its heat and its light, it hurts them!"

Thalia turned around to look at her, Helena covering her back. The huntresses left the huddle to help them, taking out flashlights from their packs, and shining them at the Star Demons.

"I've never made a storm that big!" Thalia cried. "I get worn out just from small strikes, there's no way I'd have the strength to do something like that!"

"Maybe not alone." Reyna said. "But I can give you strength."

"Absolutely not." Thalia stepped up to Reyna and put her hands on her shoulders. "Reyna, you've already lost too much strength, you can't give any more!"

"This won't end until we destroy them!" said Reyna. "Eve will keep on hurting people to get to me, I can't allow that. You have to let me do this. You have to let me end it."

"Daria can give me strength, she has the same powers as you!"

"I will not allow my sister to succumb to the same fate I have. And besides, she is unconscious." Reyna pointed to where Daria had fallen in the clearing. Huntresses surrounded her with flashlights. Eve was pushing the demons to their limits. The dim flashlights were no longer holding them back. Helena was running out of strength to keep up her light magic, and Sara had long since passed out from the energy it took to keep her light this long.