Artemis

Our king suddenly declared war against us magicians nine years ago. We figure he’d gotten false information from who-knows-where about a revolt we were supposedly organizing. Thyme was apparently leading us. None of that is true, obviously, since Thyme lived decades ago, and disappeared after the last time she tried to take over the country.

At the time I was only seven, and my sister, Angela, was only five. Our mother had died giving birth to my baby sister, and my father was very close to us. But for a reason I have yet to figure out, he decided to fight in this pointless war. He gave us directions to the Have, a haven cave for magicians unable or unwilling to fight, trusting me with Angela’s life. Though my father never told us, there’d have been a huge chance of us getting caught on the way, but I knew it even then. I was a smart kid. I knew what was going on.

I don’t remember the journey, but it wasn’t a long one. Just dangerous. I do, however, remember getting to the Have.

My sister and I were walking through the woods, along the river, like our father said to. I held her hand in mine, determined not to let her get scared by a thing. We saw the waterfall from a distance, and quickened our pace. In our haste, we stumbled, but helped each other as we walked. It seemed an hour later that we were there at the waterfall. I tried to remember what Papa had told us.

“Look for the white stone.” I looked, and found it not too high up, beside the falls. “Use the magic I taught you to activate it.” So I did. I reached inside me, and found the familiar inkling of magic that was usually hidden. I pulled it out, and sent it to the white rock. “You must stand in the right spot for it to transport you and Angela to the other side, James. There will be a patch of dead brown grass. That’s where you stand.” Suddenly remembering that part, I searched for the brown spot before the magic reached the rock. Seeing it near the base of the small mountain, I pulled Angela by the arm, and we made it just in time. As I felt the white magic surrounding me, a tingling feeling pricking at my skin, I thought of the last part we were told. “You only get one chance. This place is very secure. If you don’t get it the first time, you can’t try again or else you might get hurt.”

We had been welcomed very warmly by the magicians. As we’ve grown up here in the Have, we’ve become very accustomed to the traditions and culture that seemed to form on their own. For example, children were schooled until fifteen, you’re only allowed to marry if you and your fiancé are over seventeen, and so on and so forth.

I’m sixteen, having finished school for mages last year. Angela’s fourteen, now, and has grown to be a beautiful girl. I have a tough time keeping worthless guys away from her, though she seems to like them. God knows why. As for me, I haven’t yet found a girl. But I will soon.

Someone’s knocking on the door of my room, now. We all live in apartments in the Have. Men on one side, and women on the other.

“Door’s open,” I call, unlocking the door from my spot on the bed, with magic. Our beds are only a mattress on the floor with sheets and a pillow. I’ve been reading, and I look up to see one of my friends, looking as if he’s just run a ways. He looks at me with a big grin on his face.

“We’ve got a new arrival,” he grins wider.

“So?” I’m uninterested. Most new arrivals are only parents and their toddlers, or just older couples.

“She’s a girl. An actual girl. Not a little girl. A real girl.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She looks like she’s our age, James! One of us could get her!”

I roll my eyes. I don’t like when men talk about a girl being something to own. I do have a sister, after all. But inside, I’m excited. I want to meet her.

I get up, “Where is she? We might as well welcome her.”

His grin got, if possible, even wider. He took me by the shoulder and led me out the door. We walk through the hallway of my section of the magician’s apartments. The floors and walls are made of compact and sturdy dirt; though the floor is carpeted and tended to every one in a while to be sure they don’t get infested by some sort of cloth-eating bug. The walls are lined with a special type of fire that heat, but don’t burn. So if one fell, the carpet wouldn’t catch fire, and there wouldn’t be wreaking havoc.

We leave the apartments, and go outside, which really isn’t an outside, at all. It’s just a lot more airier out here, and roof’s higher. If man tried to build an arched roof like this, it would collapse on them, but magicians are able to accomplish the impossible with our magic. We could help man, with these type of things and more, if there wasn’t a war between us going on.

We walk along the carpeted floor, and between the pots of bigger fire set in the middle of the wide floors here. Halfway to the women’s apartments, which men are allowed into only before dinner time and vice versa, I see Angela right before she turns her head and sees me.

“James!” she exclaims, running over here to meet me and Todd. Neither of them ever say anything, but I have a feeling they both are a little sweet on each other. For some reason, I’m okay with it, because I trust them both. But I notice someone else following her, as she scurries over here.

Todd and I stop and watch them make their way to us, and I glance at my friend. His unbelievably wide smile just got even wider. How is that possible? I look back at my sister and the other girl, and it clicks. She must be the new girl.

“She came alone,” he whispers to me, quickly. And I can tell. She looks like a nervous mouse. But cuter.

Angela finally reaches us, and she immediately throws her arms around me. I smile and hug her back, tight. I have to hunch over to do this, though, since I’m a lot taller than her. She breaks free of my grasp and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. She and I are extremely close. I tell her everything. Everything except anything about Papa. I don’t want to see her cry; I have a thought that I’ve kept only to myself for years. I don’t believe he’s alive, anymore.

My sister turns to the new girl and proudly introduces us. “This is my brother, James,” she says, and points to Todd, “And this is our friend, Todd. Guys, this is Artemis. She’s half Greek.”

She doesn’t really look like it. She has light brown hair and hazel eyes, and a face that looks as if a famous sculptor chiseled it out of stone, and a magician brought it to life. She doesn’t look old, though. She looks about fifteen or sixteen. My age, like Todd said.

I see Todd extending his hand, and Artemis taking it, letting him hold it, then kiss it lightly. He’s always been a lady’s man. Todd lets go, and she glances at me, shyly. She looks at me again, and I offer her a smile.

“Where were you going, anyways?” Angela’s voice brings me back to reality.

Todd answers, “Why, to see you fair maidens.” If any other mage had said that, it would sound as cheesy as, well, cheese. But this is Todd. He never sounds cheesy, and I sometimes wonder how we ended up being friends. Of course, there is the fact that there are very few mages our age. That’s why Artemis is so intriguing. Like I said, most arrive either when they’re very old or very young. And few come now, since the war’s been going on so long. Most that are here want to be here. I figure the rest are either dead, hiding elsewhere, or fighting.

Artemis blushes, and avoids eye contact with any of us, choosing instead to look at the ground. Angela nudges me, once again bringing me out of the recesses of my mind. A bit startled, I look at her. But she just gives me this weird smile, as if she knows something that I don’t know. She probably thinks I’m interested in Artemis, and she’ll bug me about it, now, I realize.

A few minutes later, after some words exchanged between Todd and Angela, I find myself trailing after the three. I look up and see that we’re going to the dining hall. It’s almost dinner, anyway, so I guess they thought we might as well start heading there. I refocus my vision to the three in front of me. Rather, more accurately, Artemis.

She really is curious. It’s odd that she’s shown up now, nine years into the war. And her name is unusual. We’re far from Greece, so how could she even be a half-Greek? There are a lot of excuses for that, actually. Her father might’ve been a Greek sailor, and met her mother somewhere near here. But Greece is still far, and somehow, I don’t think that’s it.

Then suddenly, as if she knows I’m thinking about her, she turns and looks at me. I see her eyes go green, and I feel something pushing against my mind. It’s her. She’s trying to read what I’m thinking. Panicked, I do what we were taught to do in a situation such as this, from school. I swiftly slam a barrier against her, and I see her flinch from the mental impact.

Mind reading isn’t fifteen-year old stuff. It’s pretty high level. You have to get special training from a very practiced mage to perfect it, and it takes years to even get the basics. I’ve felt my mind being read before, in school. We’re all tested. One of our professors, who’s very skilled in mind reading, pushes us to our farthest extent, and we have to block her out as much as possible. Whoever can stand up against her the longest gets the better grade. I did pretty well in that, but Artemis’s magic felt older than my professor’s. She could most likely break through my barrier, but she doesn’t try again. Maybe she wasn’t expecting me to sense her.

Both Artemis and I have stopped in the middle of the floor. I see her from a peculiar angle. Two pots of fire are behind her in the distance, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Angela and Todd realize we’re not behind them anymore. They turn around to look at us, expecting us to keep going, but I’m still looking at her. She’s not fifteen. She can’t be.

Who is Artemis?

This was just written as an English assignment, and I liked it so much I decided to put it up here. I'm considering continuing it, and if I were to continue it, I do have a plot in mind, already, but we'll see.

Thank you for reading --Ss.