Hunter was too anxious to sleep. Marina and Kyle had done couple-y things for a little while before falling asleep in each other’s arms. Hunter stood up from his spot against the tree and stretched. He summoned his bow. He still wasn’t used to wielding the enormous bow of Hercules. He drew an arrow and notched it. He walked a ways into the woods. The bow was too powerful to fire pulled all the way back. He found a good spot, pulled halfway back, aimed, and fired. The arrow shot through the air and, instead of exploding the tree, it split the tree in two. “Dang it.” Hunter whispered as he drew another arrow. “I’m going to run out of trees here, soon.” He sighed and notched the arrow. Taking aim, he took a deep breath and imagined the arrow doing nothing but sinking into the tree. Not making it blow up. Not making it split in two. Just sinking in like a regular arrow fired from a regular bow. He pulled back just a little bit and fired. The arrow fell straight to the ground. He picked up and loaded it again. He pulled all the way back and fired. It lodged into the tree without going right through it. He looked at the bow. “It must be connected to my mind.” He said as he loaded and fired again. It landed into a tree again. He now imagined it going right through the tree and lodging into the one behind it. He aimed and fired. It did exactly that. A smile spread across his face as he practiced different degrees of the bow’s strength. He whipped around firing arrows into tree after tree.
“Hunter? I didn’t think that- AAHH!” Hunter had turned around and fired before seeing an iris message disappear as the arrow flew through it.
“Was that…” He said as he dismissed his bow and quiver and stood there, partially waiting to see if it came back. Suddenly it appeared again. Hunter’s eyes widened. “Arabella?”
“Hunter? Oh my gods! Hunter! It DID work!” She screamed making Hunter take a step back.
“How did you know where to send this message? I’m in the middle of the woods of…some state.” Hunter said, realizing that he had no idea where they had ended up. He looked up as Arabella shrugged.
“I was bored and I wanted to talk to you. Well, I didn’t- I was thinking about- You know what I mean!” She said, slightly flustered. “I just tossed a drachma in, said the prayer, and then said ‘Hunter, in the woods, somewhere. I assumed that you would be there. You’re always there.” She said with a giggle. “So, how’s it going?” Hunter stood there with a raised eyebrow. There’s no way Iris just tracks Hunter down in the middle of the woods just for a social call from Arabella.
“Not bad. This has been an uh…interesting day, so far.” He said, fidgeting with his watch. He looked back up at her and realized she wasn’t at camp. She was in Olympus. “Oh my goodness, Arabella. I totally forgot that you’re in Olympus, now. How’s that going?” Hunter said, leaning up against a tree. She giggled and smiled at him. She looked happier than he had ever seen her in camp.
“It is wonderful! My mom is so great. I’m kind of bored because she’s gone somewhere, right now, but ugh…It’s so great!” She said excitedly. “I don’t even know where to start! Okay, so the first day, my mom and I basically just sat and talked. I know what you’re thinking. ‘That’s sounds so boring’ But it wasn’t! It was great!” Hunter smiled as she went off on another tangent. He had seen her around camp and never was she as excited about something as she was now. He remembered back to his first day on Olympus. Artemis, immediately put him to work. He wasn’t shocked, but he had talked to others and their parents had let them have a day off where they had fun and relaxed on their first day. A lot like Aphrodite had done with Arabella. Artemis didn’t have children, but there were a few hunters she saw as her children. Hunter wasn’t one of them. He found a place, and he learned about his family, but he still felt a little lonely. Philippa might be the thing that- “Hunter, are you even listening?!”
“Hmm? Yeah! You were talking about clothes or something. Of course, I’m listening.” He said quietly. Arabella narrowed her eyes at him.
“Something is bothering you. I can tell something is bothering you. Tell me what is bothering you.” She said with a giggle as she seemed to move closer to him. Hunter sighed. He didn’t really want to talk about it. Especially with a known meddler like Arabella, but I guess there’s no harm. Philippa is evil now.
“When I was in Olympus, I became friends with this girl named Philippa. Well, on my last day with Artemis, Philippa…She uh…She kissed me.” He finished quietly. Arabella flailed.
“She kissed you?! Did…what did…how did you…” She stammered. Hunter couldn’t tell what emotion she was expressing at that moment, but whatever it was, it was fairly prevalent. She took a deep breath. “What did you do?” She asked quietly, but Hunter could sense a sort of anxiety in her voice. Hunter shrugged.
“I just stood there. It was my first kiss and it was completely unexpected. I had no idea what to do.” He said quietly. “And now she’s evil or something. Possessed by…something. I don’t know.” Arabella looked at him with sad eyes.
“Is this part of your quest?” She asked with her head tilted. Hunter sighed and nodded. He thought it was going well, but now he wasn’t sure. “Can I help? Where are you in your prophecy?”
“Well,” Hunter started. “The weapon of Zeus' greatest son, that staunch never-loser, will be found with the famed namesake of his bow's second user. The obstacles will be deceiving, and the enemies well-cloaked, but be wary, and be careful, or your chances will be choked. We just did that, I think. So that means that the next part we need to do is: The favor of a god or goddess is the second item for this task, and in battle or in contest, Ares or Nyke you would ask. Ask neither war nor victory for success in your quest, but look to the face, that helped Melanion win his heart's race. I don’t know what that is. Kyle doesn’t know and neither does Marina. We’re a little stuck.” He said with a sigh. Arabella thought for a second.
“Wait. I know this. That’s easy!” She said excitedly. Hunter looked at her with an eyebrow raised.
“How do you know that? You don’t do anything, but tan and talk about boys.” Hunter said slightly teasingly.
“If I could reach you I would hit you.” She said with a slight pout. “When it comes to stuff like this, I know it because it’s personal. I know everything about my mom. You need to talk to her. Aphrodite.”