Okay, let’s set things straight. Just because I’m a hunter of Artemis doesn’t mean I don’t think boys are nice from time to time.

Let me backup. Ever hear of Greek gods? If not, go look them up. Anyway, Artemis is one of the Greek gods, but she’s a hunter. She gathers up demigods, like me, and sometimes they join the ‘group,’ I guess you could call it. If you swear to never marry, have children, stuff like that - well, you’re officially in and immortal. Congrats! But lots of girls break the oath, and Artemis is always really mad.

My name is Sadie Barton. And yeah, if you hadn’t already guessed, I’m a hunter of Artemis. My mom is Aphrodite and my dad is Bobby Barton, zoologist. My mom, Aphrodite, was super angry when I joined the hunters of Artemis. Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, so you can see why she would be frustrated when I took an oath never to fall in love. The conversation with her about me joining the hunters was quite rough. Anyway, my story with the hunters is a long one, so I’ll start from the beginning.

Artemis had met me in my dreams and told me to go to her at Olympus. However, I didn’t see Artemis right away. The first person I saw was my mother, Aphrodite.

“Sadie, dear,” she began. “I don’t normally get angry at my children. I think they’re all perfect. And you? The best. But this, wanting to join the hunters? It’s just not right!”

“I want to, mom!” I protested. “I’m sick and tired of always being portrayed as a snobby heartbreaker!”

“Sadie!” Aphrodite hissed. “This is a mistake you cannot take back! And don’t speak to me that way again!”

“I don’t care!” I snapped, then I got down on my knees and bowed. “I’m sorry, Aphrodite.”

She glared down at me before saying, “I understand this is your decision, yes. I can’t stop you from doing what you want to. But I had such a life planned out for you, Sadie! I just found your mortal soulmate, and-,”

“Aphrodite, mom, whatever you want me to call you,” I looked up at her. “I’m sorry. I really am. But this is who I want to be, okay?”

“Alright,” Aphrodite turned around and walked away. “Artemis is waiting for you down that hall on the left. Goodbye now.”

I ran down the hall and stopped in my tracks to bow to Artemis. She was young and beautiful, with an outfit that left her legs free.

“Sadie,” Artemis smiled. “Please join me. I have brought along Brielle, my eldest huntress.” She gracefully walked down the long corridor, myself trailing behind. We made it to a little room with a throne and two gorgeous chairs. Brielle was sitting in one of the chairs. She had shiny black hair pulled into a tight ponytail. She had piercing green eyes with freckles. She motioned for me to sit in the chair next to her.

“My name is Brielle Sampson,” she smiled.

“Sadie,” I replied. “Sadie Barton.”

Artemis sat down in the giant throne and shouted, “Aphrodite! Poseidon!” Her voice was booming. I willed Aphrodite not to walk into the room, but of course she did with Poseidon alongside her. They stood beside each other in the doorway.

“Aphrodite, you have allowed Sadie to join the hunters?” Artemis glanced at me, then Aphrodite, then back at me.

“Yes, Sadie may join the hunt. Also, I brought you this dress, I think it’d look cute on you. Pity, purple isn’t my colour, but you would pull it off.” Aphrodite handed Artemis a gorgeous purple dress with a gold neck collar. I thought it’d look awesome on Aphrodite, personally.

“Thank you, Aphrodite. That’s a lovely dress. And Poseidon? You are letting Brielle continue with the hunters?”

“Of course,” Poseidon rumbled. “She’s my daughter, and I trust her. It’s her decision. I’m her father, not her jailer.”

“Thank you Poseidon. You two may go now,” Artemis turned to me. “Well then, Sadie, are you ready to take the oath?”

“I am,” I took a deep breath.

And I took the oath.

***

My first day with the hunt was awesome. We didn’t have a designated “home,” I guess. We just travelled and made camp where we could. I caught on to the whole “bow and arrow” thing pretty quickly. Brielle didn’t talk to me much, but I immediately vibed with another junior huntress, Zara. She was a daughter of Hephastues, and she had dark skin and curly red hair.

“Oh my goodness! Are you a daughter of Aphrodite? You look awesome!” Zara had said when she first saw me.

“Um, yeah,” I tucked my golden hair behind my ear. Mumbling broke out amongst the other huntresses. One girl stepped forward and told me they’d never had a daughter of Aphrodite with the hunt before.

“You’re so pretty!” One commented.

“Yeah, like a model!” Another one exclaimed.

“Thanks, guys,” I smiled ear to ear. I’d been told I was pretty before. I had golden hair with dark brown eyes and tanned skin. Aphrodite always told me I had more perfect symmetry than any other of her children.

I guess I should tell you more about Aphrodite. Almost all demigod children stay with their mortal parent, but not me. After Aphrodite had given birth to me in California, she took one look at me and whisked me away to Olympus. Aphrodite always told me I was her favourite child. She wanted me all for her own. Zeus always questioned whether or not demigods should be allowed on Olympus, but Aphrodite would shut him up fast. That’s another thing about Aphrodite. She can charmspeak, so she can basically get away with anything.

Anyway, when I was about three, Aphrodite started to get very protective. Apollo started to try to get Aphrodite to marry him, but she wouldn’t let that happen. Aphrodite would always say “my daughter is more important than ten of you, Apollo. I cannot marry you. You will force a child upon me and I will lose focus of Sadie. Be gone.”

Then when I was thirteen, (one year ago), the gods started debating if I should be a goddess or not. They admired my beauty and wanted to marry me. Aphrodite was disgusted.

“My daughter will not be made a goddess just to be a wife to many! She is not some object! You will only make my daughter a goddess for something she has honourably done, not because you want to marry her!” She screamed at the gods.

“Calm down, Aphrodite,” Hermes said. “This is like how when you rose from the sea, we all wanted to marry you. Sadie just has to pick one of us when she’s like what, twenty-five?”

“Stop it! All of you!” Aphrodite snapped. “Come on, Sadie.” Anyway, I was glad to be away from the gods, at the least. Although I really liked Poseidon. He didn’t try to make me a goddess just for the sake of marriage and children, unlike the other gods. We would hang out and talk with each other for long periods of time. Despite him being so much older than me, we were awesome friends. I was sad about leaving him, at least.

***

I woke up the next morning in our makeshift camp. I had slept beside Zara and Kami, another girl who was a daughter of Apollo. Artemis said we were going to have a day relaxing before moving on again. All the girls sighed and murmured appreciation. I guessed they’d been having really long days and were ready for the break. Artemis said we needed to have a discussion, so everyone sat down. I sat down next to Artemis and everyone gasped. I looked around, confused.

“Girls, please,” Artemis gave them a stern look. “She doesn’t know any better. Sadie, there’s a rule where you can’t sit next to me unless you're invited. I’m sorry, dear.”

“No, it’s okay!” I backed away, embarrassed. “I’ll just sit over here.” I scooched next to Brielle and Zara, who smiled at me and murmured things like, “it’s okay, you didn’t know,” or, “you’re new here! Don’t worry about it.”

“Now. I’m sure you all know we have a new member of the hunt, Sadie Barton,” Artemis said. The huntresses gave a polite clap. “You probably all know by now that she is a daughter of Aphrodite, but that does not mean she is any less capable than the rest of you. Understand?” The girls nodded. “Good. Now Sadie, why don’t you tell us one interesting fact about yourself?”

“Well, I grew up at Mount Olympus,” I explained. Everyone fell silent. “When I was born, Aphrodite took me to Olympus to live there.”

“Why?” One girl, Samantha, asked. She was a daughter of Zeus. “Demigods aren’t supposed to live on Olympus. It’s just not right!”

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to share why Aphrodite brought me up there, but… I didn’t think it was right either. Still, I love Aphrodite, so I stayed with her. Then when I turned thirteen, the gods tried to make me a goddess. They wanted to marry me. But Aphrodite said no, and charmspoke them out of it. I was grateful for that.”

“They tried to make you a goddess? Woah!” Brielle gasped. “Wait, why couldn’t they just marry you without you being a goddess?”

Artemis stepped in. “It’s quite simple, Brielle. If Sadie was a goddess, she’d no longer be in Aphrodite’s possession. Aphrodite couldn’t tell her what to do, what not to do - she would be just as powerful as Aphrodite. If she wasn’t a goddess, Aphrodite could tell the gods not to marry her, even if Sadie wanted to.”

“Oh,” Brielle said. “Anyway, Artemis, we need to close up the tents when we’re not in them. I’ve woken up multiple times and there have been monsters trying to get in.”

“That’s a good idea, Brielle,” Zara commented. “I’ve noticed that too.”

“M-monsters?” I stuttered.

“Is that too scary for you, beauty queen?” Kami smirked. “Yeah, there’s monsters. Loads. You just didn’t see any yesterday.”

“I wasn’t scared!” I defended myself, my cheeks burning. “I just didn’t think we’d see any! I mean, sure, monsters have come to Olympus before to try and kill me, but the gods were always there to protect me!”

“Why’d you join the hunt, then?” Kami snapped. “We don’t kill animals, you know! Gosh!” She snorted and turned away. Everyone started departing, doing their own things. Brielle and Zara told me to wait right where I was and they ran off to go talk to Artemis.