“What? Why?” Fear ripples through me.
“Because, Artemis, daughter of Zeus and Leto, he wants you to take his place and complete the Trials in place of your brother.”
3
ARTEMIS
I leave Hati in the forest and return to my encampment. I cross the wards and the others wait for me, their differences from males instantly more noticeable. I pass Danielle and nod in appreciation for her covering my back. She’s a solid warrior. Many of the women here are. I know they’ll be okay without me, but the thought of leaving this place, my home, guts me.
Victoria greets me by the fire, her forehead lined with worry. Her voice is much softer, more musical than the man I just left in the woods.
“What did he want?” she asks, following me to my hut. It’s built of straw and mud, the rooftop thatched with heavy branches, once green but now dried and brittle. I was going to replace them before the first snowfall. Now I walk to the small chest that holds my belongings and begin packing quickly.
“My father summoned me.”
“Zeus? He sent that messenger?”
I nod, tucking a tin of salve along with a book Aceso got for me in the village in the front pocket of my hunting bag. I take other things: A pair of leather pants. My one other shirt. The soft moccasins Victoria made for me out of the skin of the eight-point buck I killed last summer.
“You’re leaving now?”
“My brother is dead.” I say in a distant voice. It’s hard for me to process how I feel. Apollo and I hadn’t seen one another face to face in decades, but I dreamed of him often.
“Apollo? He’s dead?”
Even out here in the farthest depths of the unpassable forests, Apollo is a legend. Victoria is one of few that know he’s my twin. I pack the remainder of my things. There aren’t many. We lived a simple life here and I cannot imagine the one I am going to. Academies? Governments? Classes and politics? It seems a fantasy.
“You know, I felt something the night of the eclipse. A great loss. I should have known what it meant.”
“How would you know?” she asks.
Victoria doesn’t know about the dreams I have about my brother. The odd closeness we share even though we’ve grown up so far apart. I sling my bag over my shoulder and clutch my quiver and bow in my hand. Stepping out of the hut, I find the entire group waiting for me. The pain of leaving rattles me, but I don’t show weakness. Never.
“My father summoned me,” I tell them. “And I’ll be leaving with the messenger. He’ll do you no harm and once we leave, the wards will adjust back into place. You’ll be safe.”
“What about you?” Danielle asks. Her dark hair hangs over her shoulder in a braid.
“I’ll be fine,” I reply, hoping I sound convincing. “I intend to only be gone for a short time. Surely they’ll see I’m not made to live in their world.”
Victoria shakes her head and wraps her arm around my shoulder. “I always knew you were bigger than this place—than the women that hide and toil here. Zeus has called you for a reason, it cannot be a mistake. Go, show the world how strong you are, that you are mightier, and more loyal and clever than any woman they have ever encountered.”
I wrap my arms around my friend, my sister, missing her already. A sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me I will not return any time soon. I give her hand one last squeeze and then slip into the night.
The journey from the forest to the Academy takes three days. Two by horse and a final by boat. Hati speaks infrequently, mostly looking at me when he thinks I’m not looking. I’m overwhelmed. I’ve never been far from my friends or my home. Nothing more than two days by foot to hunt. We pass small villages and one larger town that vibrates with voices and music and sounds. Everything is too loud for my sensitive ears, too smelly for my nose.
At first, I’m like a child, seeking the bright colors that catch my attention. With curled and perfectly styled hair, the females are a spectacle. They wear long, colorful skirts, their waists slim, their breasts bound and pushed together for all to see. Jewels hang from their ears and necks. Rings adorn their fingers. It’s all frivolous, but a fear rattles in my bones. Is this what will be expected of me?
But that is just the women. I can’t take my eyes off the men. The rumors are correct, many of the men are awful beasts, but then there are others that attract my curiosity. They seem less beastly, more appealing. It’s in their manners, their clothes and their hair. I judge them on their strength; the way they walk and how I assume they can wield a weapon.
But even that fascination gets to be too much, and I’m grateful when Hati leads me to the harbor and all I hear is the churning of water and the scent of fresh, salty air.
I’ve spent the past two days thinking, mulling over my fate and why my father is calling for me. Apollo’s death cannot be the only reason. We were never close. Finally, I seek out Hati on the upper deck and sit next to him.
“Tell me what you know,” I say to him. His hair glints in the sunlight. His face is pale, as though he doesn’t get much sun.
“About what?”
“Who I am. Where I’ve been. Why Zeus is summoning me.”
He smiles. “That’s a lot of questions.”
“I need a lot of answers.” I look toward the endless water. “It looks like we have time.”
He nods and runs his hands over his black trousers. I try to make out the insignia on his leather cuff but it’s facing the wrong way. “Are you aware of the politics that consume our society, Artemis?”
“What politics?”
“The various roles men and women play, particularly the gods and goddesses of the realms? The levels of power and control, the hierarchy and dynamics between the genders?”
“I come from a place where the person with the sharpest arrow and the truest aim has the most power.” I hold his eye. “Why? Is that not how it works here?”
“No, not at all.” He stands and walks to the railing. “On the eve of yours and your brother’s birth, political unrest disturbed the realms. Your father, Zeus, believed gods and goddesses to be equals, their abilities to be judged evenly on the playing field, in the classroom and in battle.”
“Not everyone agreed?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No. Odin desired a more patriarchal society. The males would be the ultimate rulers. The females of lesser value, lesser power.”
“And Jupiter?”
“He agreed with Odin.” He gives me side glance. “If not worse.”
“So this political unrest, what happened? Obviously, my father was not overthrown.” Which leads to one outcome.
“Zeus conceded defeat to the political views of the majority. Women were dethroned other than as figureheads, to be seen and not heard. Female children were sent away to their own schools, separate from the males. Ruling, positions in the government, and academics were no longer an option for women unless it was a low position.” Hati turns to face me. “Your father sent you away so you could grow up without the oppression of an all-male, oppressive society. He wanted you to grow up free—without judgement, with a voice in your community and without fear.”
“Does any of this have to do with why Apollo was murdered?”
He shrugs, but the set of his jaw conveys he has more to say but is either afraid to or doesn’t think I’m worthy of an answer.
“What is that?” I ask, looking ahead. There’s no mistaking that I’m referring to the roar that is louder than anything I’ve ever heard. More fierce than a bobcat. Deeper than a bear.
“Those are the falls,” Hati replies. He leans over the railing and points ahead. The boat heads straight to the edge of the world. Fear prickles across my skin.
“Why is the boat not turning around?” The air fills with mist and large rocks jut out of the water as we get closer and closer.
“Because that,” he says, casually leaning over, “is the way to the Academy.”