Artemis the Brave Read Online Free PDF Page A

forgotten, did you?” asked Aphrodite.
    “No,” said Artemis, “but I almost did. And I sure didn’t expect all this. Thanks, you guys.” She gave her three best friends a hug. They all hugged Apollo, too. Then his godboy friends came over to tease him about it. Eyeing the snacks, Artemis scooted toward the table. Her dogs were already there, sniffing around for any tasty crumbs that might have fallen on the floor.
    Set on a long marble table were terra-cotta bowls of ambrosia, cups of nectar punch, and hero sandwiches. But what caught her eye was the large round cake. It was decorated like a target, with concentric circles of white, black, blue, red, and yellow frosting. Stuck tip-first in the yellow bull’s-eye at its center were thirteen arrows. As she and Apollo approached, the end of each arrow suddenly blazed with light. They were candles, she realized. She was the first of her friends to turn thirteen.
    “We made your cake in Ms. ThreeGraces’ class this morning,” said Aphrodite.
    “It looks really great,” said Apollo, obviously impressed.
    After they’d blown out the candles, Artemis hovered over the cake, trying not to drool. “So when do we cut it?”
    Persephone laughed. Everyone knew Artemis had a sweet tooth. “How about now?”
    At her words, each of the arrows slid outward from the middle of the cake, neatly cutting it into slices. “Let’s eat!” said Artemis, first in line to pile up her plate. Every time a slice of cake was taken, another magically appeared in its place to complete the cake again.
    Her hounds had a sweet tooth too, and so, apparently, did Orion’s dog. When a couple of partygoers left their cake unattended, the dogs quickly helped themselves, smearing frosting on their muzzles and leaving crumbs all over the floor, which they quickly slurped up. “Oops, I forgot you guys,” Artemis said, scurrying over to find healthier snacks for them.
    After everyone had eaten, Athena brought out two identical boxes. Both were long and slender. She handed the one tied with a gold ribbon to Apollo, and the box with the silver ribbon to Artemis. “We figured with the archery competition coming up, you two could use these,” said Aphrodite.
    Artemis opened her box excitedly. Inside, she found three shiny arrows. “Silver arrows!” she breathed reverently. Glancing over at her brother, she saw that he’d gotten three golden ones.
    “They’re aerodynamically perfect,” said Athena. “I designed the specifications for them, and Hephaestus helped Aphrodite make them in MOA’s blacksmith shop.”
    Hearing his name, Aphrodite’s friend came over. “The first one is named Opsis,” Hephaestus said, leaning on his cane. “That means ‘aim’; the second is Loxos, or ‘trajectory’; and the third is Hekaergos, which means ‘distancing.’”
    “They’ll smell good too,” said Persephone. “I added perfume, so each one has a natural floral scent when it flies.”
    “Wow,” said Artemis, stroking them lovingly.
    Apollo glanced at Persephone in alarm. “No perfume on mine, I hope.”
    She laughed. “No, yours are designed to play the songs your band performs. Dionysus helped with that.” Apollo’s band was called Heavens Above, and it played at all the school dances.
    Artemis was so overwhelmed she almost started to cry. Instead she held one arrow up and sighted down it. “It’s straight and true. And the best gift I’ve ever gotten. Oh! Thank you so much.” Jumping up, she gave her friends another round of hugs. As if worried they might be missing out on something, the four dogs leaped around the girls and tried to squeeze between them. Artemis laughed and hugged them, too.
    “So—what are you going to do this weekend?” Athena asked Artemis and Apollo when things settled down. “Something fun for your birthday? Maybe go to Poseidon’s water park down on Earth?”
    “Or maybe to the Olympic footraces,” Apollo mused. “What do you think, Artemis?”
    “Well .