Artemis

THREE

Dagger gave a non-committal shrug. "A girl's gotta have her fun."  

A rustling sound interrupted Ari before she could reply. They both paused instinctively, weapons clutched in their hands as they sought out the origin of the noise. Ari's ears perked up, and when a figure emerged out of the shadows she wasted no time in reaching back for an arrow and reloading her bow. It was only when she saw that it was a young girl—possibly around seventeen years old, just barely five feet, and looking as if she was on the verge of tears—that Ari relaxed. 

The girl gasped when she saw them, but Ari lowered her bow. The girl hesitated, her eyes lingering on Dagger's face, her scar. Then looked away quickly and took a step towards them. "Please," she started. "I—I need your help. A man, he got away with my purse." 

Dagger scrunched up her eyebrows. "Where did he go?"

The girl's eyes darted to Dagger's scar again. She looked as though she wanted to say something about it, but seemed to think better, pointing instead in the direction she had come from. "Back that way. I—can you help me? That purse is very important—please."  

Ari exchanged a look with Dagger. A mutual agreement passed between them, and Ari nodded. "Wait here," she said to the girl, who looked immensely relieved.

"Let's go. He can't have gotten far. I'll take the roofs," she said, turning to Dagger, who grinned. 

"It's on," Dagger said, and before she could reply she had already disappeared, the sound of her heels getting quieter and quieter.

Ari grinned and launched herself off the side of a wall, landing on the rooftop of a building. Ari saw the girl look up to watch her go. Her hair whipped behind her as she ran, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, bow in her hand. She caught up with Dagger, and her heart jumped when she saw a figure running a few feet ahead of Dagger, a large purse in his hand. With a devilish smile, Ari picked up her pace, running and vaulting herself over the rooftops until she was ahead of the thief. She aimed her loaded bow, waiting until he got just within range of her arrow, and fired.

With a cry of pain that to Ari's ears sounded like a sweet melody, the man stumbled and fell. Content, Ari perched herself on the ledge of the rooftop she was on, legs crossed, and watched as Dagger reached the thief. She watched in amusement as Dagger held up her knife to the man's throat, saying something to him that twisted his features into that of absolute fear. It was a shame, really, that Ari couldn't hear what she was saying from here. 

Dagger finally let the man go, and he scrambled away as if his life depended on it—which it did, in fact. Personally, Ari wouldn't have let him go so easily—might not have let him go at all, just for the fun of it. He was lucky. Ari wasn't feeling particularly forgiving.

Dagger held up the purse the man had left behind. Ari grinned. 

*

"I think we make a good team," Dagger said to her as they walked along the street, their path lit up by the moonlight. 

Ari looked at Dagger, startled by her use of words. She frowned."I don't know," Ari said flippantly. "It felt more like a one time thing to me. I think I prefer working alone."  

The other girl's eyebrows furrowed. She looked like she was unsure what to say. After a momentary silence, she said, "Speaking of, where's your partner? Finn, his name was?"  

Ari's frown deepened. "I don't know. And Finn's not my partner." 

Dagger looked confused. "Huh. Didn't seem that way to me. Did you two fight?"

Ari sighed. They walked by a man passed out on the sidewalk, discarded beer bottles surrounding him. She looked away. "It's complicated," she replied shortly, hoping Dagger wouldn't press the issue. 

There was a pause. "Is it because of Omega's offer?" Dagger guessed easily, contradicting Ari's statement. 

Ari felt like doing what she usually did when someone thought it was okay to pry—dismiss the question, change the subject, stay silent. But she only sighed again. "It's not that I'm mad at him," she said. "It's just that I don't understand how he could even think about going back. Now that he knows about . . . everything."

"Maybe Finn has a really good reason. Maybe it makes it all worth it."   

Ari paused thoughtfully, considering her words, then shook her head. "You said it yourself, Dagger. You wouldn't go back there for anything. It doesn't matter how good the reason is."  

They walked on in contemplative silence. Ari's head hurt. She felt tired—the earlier buzz in her veins had been drained, and now all she wanted to do was find a place to sleep for the night. As if sensing her line of thought, Dagger yawned. "I should probably head home," she said. 

Ari nodded. "Yeah. Me too," she said. She didn't bother mentioning that she didn't exactly have a home. 

"I'll see you around then," Dagger said. 

Ari nodded and waved goodbye to her, watching her go until she disappeared from sight. Then she turned and headed in the opposite direction, running through a list of possible places she could crash for the night. The abandoned warehouses seemed like a good option, but they were on the other side of the city, and by the time she got there the sun would've already started to rise. She sighed. It really didn't matter where she slept as long as it wasn't in the slums. Not that she couldn't protect herself, it was just that she'd rather sleep knowing she wouldn't be robbed of everything but the clothes on her back when she woke up in the morning. 

Deciding she'd figure it out when she got into the main parts of the city, out of the slums, Ari continued to make her way down the street. The night was strangely eerie, and when Ari looked up at the sky she saw that the moon had disappeared from sight, concealed by the clouds. It troubled her slightly. 

It was only a few seconds later, when the silence had begun to get deafening that the hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She had the strangest feeling that she was being watched. She tried feigning nonchalance, but Ari knew better. Her gut instincts were usually right. Stopping, she looked around. 

"Show yourself," she said into the silence. Her voice echoed back at her. She nocked an arrow and raised her bow, though she knew it was pointless. Without knowing where her target was, it offered no protection. 

She opened her mouth to speak again, pausing when she felt a sharp pain at the side of her neck. She swayed on the spot, the ground tilting before her eyes. The last thing she heard was a loud scuffle and a grunt, and then a wave of blackness engulfed her.