Chapter 1

The place you wouldn't expect to see something out of the ordinary is middle of nowhere California. But nothing is technically 'ordinary' either. So I wasn't really surprised when I was walking in Red Wood national park when I came across a group of girls wearing silver adidas style jackets, looking sort of lost, which I couldn't blame them; I was kinda lost myself. I just HAD to walk away from my family, didn't I? Of course! Even though I was just here for vacation, I went over to give my help anyways.

"Hey guys, need some help?" I asked, approaching the group of girls. One with light blonde hair and brown eyes stepped forward; she looked to be about thirteen, so about a year and a half younger then myself.

"Yes. Have you seen a girl walking around? She's my uh, little sister and we've lost her somewhere," she said to me. She may have looked thirteen, but the way she addressed me made me feel like she was a million years older then I.

"I'm sorry, I haven't. But if I see her, I'll let her know you're looking for her," I tell them and they thank me as I walk away in the direction I think the parking lot is.

As I walk, I let my mind wander to a touchy subject; Ben. Ben, in his own way is unlike any other boy I've met. He's really shy and quiet, but when you break through that barrier, he's the funniest person you've ever met, and I think i like him. Like, really like him. Others would call it being in love, but I can't be sure. What I mean is, we kinda have a thing, but we're not sure what to call it. He'll take me to the movies and hold my hand, put his arm around my shoulders and kiss me on the cheek, but at school he barely even talks to me. See, with his always naturally messy curly dark brown hair, tan-ish skin, and light brown -almost hazel- eyes, and general good looks, he's popular. But when it gets down to who he wants to hang out with on Friday nights, it'll always be me and my group of crazy, wacko, insane friends. I guess it's just like that, but whenever he passes me in the hallway he gives me a smile, and turns in the other direction. After that is usually when I get a text asking me if I want to go out for dinner and a movie or something like that. I almost always say yes because when else do I get to be with him? The real him, anyway. But I guess I just don't know what to do about this anymore.

I'd not really been paying attention when I walked into a girl no older then twelve wearing one of those silver jackets the other girls had been wearing. I immediately apologized for my clumsiness as I looked the girl over. She had long auburn hair and big dark blue eyes like the colour of the sky at midnight. I had not doubt that this was the girl the others were looking for.

"Hey, sorry again, but I ran into a group of girls about fifteen minutes ago that were looking for you. I think I can walk you back to where they were," I tell the girl. She looks a little taken back, but she shakes her head no,

"No, it is fine. I can find them myself. But thank you for informing me," she says to me. I nod and give her a small smile before starting to walk the way I was going, head down and hands In my pocket when I hear her voice again,

"Wait!" she calls. I turn to face her and see that she's jogging towards me. "You look like you have something on your mind. What is wrong?" she asks, gesturing towards a fallen red wood tree and takes a seat, waiting for me to do the same, so I do. The moment I sit down beside her, a motherly feeling eases through my body as she puts a hand on my shoulder, waiting for me to speak.

"Well, I normally wouldn't tell complete strangers about my personal life, but I guess I should tell someone," I admitted to the girl. She nodded, silently prodding me. "It's just that there's this guy, and we kinda have a thing, but only when we're by ourselves or with my friends. At school he ignores me almost completely, but when we're alone it's like I'm his entire world," I find myself telling the girl, who seems too old for her age.

She thinks a minute before responding,

"I don't really know what to say, but I think you should take this pamphlet and read through it. If you ever want to talk to me, just knock on your bedroom window 3 times at midnight, and I'll try and get there," she said as she got up and walked away, leaving me wondering what on earth she meant.

I opened up the pamphlet and was completely shocked. Inside there were pictures of the same group of girls, except this time they had their hair tied back, they were wearing silver parkas and matching pant like tights, wielding bows and quivers on their backs. Some pictures showed the girls shooting at something, but I couldn't really tell what it was because it was blurry. There were words too, but I think they were in like, Greek or something so I skipped those. Some of the paragraphs were also translated to English, though. I read through one, and decided that the girl had made this up as a way to fool people, because in this paragraph it explained how the Greek gods were real. I didn't believe one word, but I decided to tuck the pamphlet away inside my sweater and keep looking for my parents. Without realizing it, when I stood up from the log I was just inside the trail, which confused me because I surely hadn't been there before I sat down. I looked around and saw a note on the log beside me.

You're not lost, Hailie. Just misguided.

-Artemis

It read. The only thing that could come to my mind at the moment was wondering how she knew my name. I looked around quickly and I could've sworn I saw a flash of silver in amongst the trees, but it could've been anything. At least, I think.

Driving back to the hotel I started to notice things that had seemed invisible before, like things I've never seen running through the trees. It kind of freaked me out for a while when I remembered what the pamphlet 'Artemis' gave me, and what it said about the Greek gods being alive.