tHE gIRL wITH tHE iRON fISTS

cHAPTER 12

*casually waits for ship names to roll in*

Hunter Carpenter

My mother relies on me to bring in the food. She isn't sickly, she just hates the cold. Apollo is never around, and I always find it funny that of all places, we decided to settle in Canada. Mother never liked the fact that she couldn't grow her own plants, but I told her she could do it if she had the right equipment.

"They did it in The Martian. We can do it here." I told her.

"This is Canada. That was Mars. Besides, the way the environment is set up and how the sun hits Mars it perfect for the way that man did it. And it's fictional." My mom argued back. "The day that you can grow a tomato in Canada is the day that we go to Hawaii." My mother states.

"All right. I'm going hunting." I called to her.

"Be back before dark. I'm making brownies." She calls to me before I shut the door. I can already feel my lips starting to lose its moisture. I shivered slightly at the sudden cold but came used to it as I began trekking through the woods. I came across a few traps, finding a good amount of food to last us a week. I found a live rabbit in one of the traps.

"You're a tiny one," I commented at the small, dwarf-like white rabbit. He was curled up into a ball, his foot caught in the trap. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this pain." I decided to open the trap. The rabbit tried walking away but collapsed at the effort. "Maybe I can heal your foot." I brought out a small cloth that I had in my backpack and wrapped the tiny rabbit in it. I wrapped his foot in some gauze and gave him a carrot. He snuggled in, and I put him inside my bag, leaving the zipper open.

Then a smell came to my nose. A tangy, coppery smell. Blood. I brought out my infrared goggles and scanned the area. A large... 'thing... was lying near The Cape. This wasn't good. The Cape was a frozen part of a forest that has a huge clump of snow covering the top. It was a cool spot to be in, but it was dangerous because of the frozen lake under it, but it was deadly in avalanches. I heard a large crack coming from the estimated same area. I immediately began to run. I came to the scene to see a huge spot of blood on a large mound of white snow. A larger cracking sound and the lake crumbled. I saw a blob of purple and a hand. I took off the backpack and saw that the rabbit in my bag was intently watching us. Before even thinking about my decision and its consequences, I jumped in after the girl.

***

The first time I discovered my powers and my heritage was when I was in 3rd grade. I was shooting a bow and arrow at a day camp and I made a bullseye. Someone thought it was rigged and the arrow got set on fire. My mother moved us here, in the Canadian wilderness. I found out that my father was Apollo, the god of the sun. While my fire abilities only came at certain times, my shooting skills were always there. I did have a few accidents, but I was all right in the end. I can use heat to make something dry faster, and had a bit of healing knowledge.

I couldn't find the girl at first. Then another blob of purple and I dove underwater again, chasing the girl. She sat at the bottom of the lake, her hair billowing around her. Something shiny was on her hands, but I wasn't able to see what it was. She had something strapped to her back. I wrapped my arms around her, surprised at how light she was, and kicked toward the surface. I gasped for air, the girl still unconscious in my arms. I managed to get her on land and desperately tried looking for a pulse.

"Hunter?" I heard my mom call my name. "Hunter!"

"Ma, I'm all right! I'm near The Cape!" I hollered to her. She came a second later.

"Oh my god. What happened?" Mother appeared from the forest. "Who is she?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I heard a crack and and I saw her in the water." I shivered, realizing how cold I was. I immediately began using the sun to warm myself up. We heard a small cough come from her mouth.

"Oh my goodness, you're both freezing. Come, we have to go home..." Her voice trailed off. "What's on her back?" I glanced at the girl. She had something strapped to her back. Maybe a holder, or something.

My mom walked over to the girl and grabbed the things sticking out of the holder. She pulled out 2 swords. They glinted in the late sun. "Celestial bronze." My mom let out a breath. "She's a demigod."

"We have to get home." I looked at my mother. She nodded.

***

She kept on moaning in her sleep. I tended to her until midnight. I insisted that my mom goes to sleep and she finally stumbled off to bed. I was about to doze off myself when I heard a gasp. My eyes jolted open. The girl had awoken. Her eyes were gold for a minute, then they went back to a brown. Her head swiveled around, displaying different emotions. Then she stopped and looked at me for a moment. I felt as if she were asking a question, but I didn't know what she was asking. For some reason, my voice wouldn't work, but I managed to stammer out the first thing that came to my head.

"I like your hair." She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the ends of her hair. She seemed shocked by the fact that it was purple. "My names Hunter. What's yours?" Whatever it is she was trying to do, she gave up and did something with her hands. "What are you doing?" I asked her. She looked around the room and found a pad of paper and pencil. She wrote something down.

"My name is B. I'm mute." The paper read out. She took it back. "Where are my belongings?"

"You mean the swords?" I looked around the room. "There somewhere around here, I promise."

"You're a demigod too?"

"Yeah," I spoke. "I'm a son of Apollo." She nodded her head. "What about you?"

"Daughter of Bianca, goddess of dust. She's the daughter of Hades."

"Oh." We sat noiselessly.

"Did you see my glasses by any chance?"

"No, I'm sorry. If I find them the next time I'm hunting, I will definitely give them back."

"Wait, what day is it?" B suddenly became very worried.

"Monday." B relaxed. I stifled a yawn and saw B doing the same. "You look tired, you should probably sleep." B nodded. She waved as I walked out the door to my own bed.

I remembered the bunny that I had brought home and noticed that he was fast asleep, a carrot beside him. I chuckled a little bit.

Sorry, it's short. I thought that this was a good place to stop. Toodles!