Joshua and the Arrow Realm by Donna Galanti Page B

else’s.”
    â€œThat’s flippin’ right,” Ash said, punching fists to her waist.
    Apollo rubbed the fur of his new coat and stared into the morning light spilling from the window. “Zeus will never let Artemis win. Once he finds out her plan—and he will—he’ll swarm this realm. He’ll have no tolerance either for the Wild Child community.” He turned back to Ash. “Then you’ll all be Goners, for real.”
    â€œWe can hide from Zeus,” Ash said. “We can live in the Perimeter Lands.”
    â€œHe empties them out once a year and tosses people off The Edge. Do you want to float to death in the Great Beyond?”
    â€œWe’ll cross into another realm then; keep moving if we have to. We can hide in the red desert canyons of the Dred Realm or in the Argos Realm where it never snows.” She threw her hands out to Apollo. “We built all this. We can build it again.”
    â€œYou’ll still be living under Zeus’s rules for Nostos wherever you go,” Apollo said. “We all will. And he wants the Oracle as badly as Artemis,” he shot me a look, “and for similar reasons: to control the Oracle. Zeus rules all of Nostos with a heavy hand, but if someone with the power of the original Olympians were to rise, they’d be a threat to him. Some Nostos rulers want Olympian powers and some want things to stay the same.” He lowered his voice. “We are a world divided.”
    â€œZeus didn’t stop Hekate in the Lost Realm when she took over King Apollo,” I said. “Why now?”
    â€œHe doesn’t care about the realms fighting each other,” Apollo said. “But if he finds out the Oracle is here and someone else is after him, he’ll hunt them both down.”
    He let these words hang in the air. I scrunched my shoulders in with them all looking at me as if I was the answer.
    â€œThen Zeus will do what?” I said to Apollo.
    His black eyes fired into mine, his jaw twitching. “Kill them.”
    Ash bent her head, her long hair hiding her face. “My Leaving Day is coming. Someone else will lead the Wild Childs soon.”
    â€œWhy don’t you escape on Leaving Day and head into the Perimeter Lands? Bribe someone to help you get to Earth,” I said. “My grandfather did. My mother did.”
    She crossed her arms. “If we don’t honor our deal, the queen rounds us all up for the hunt. It’s happened once before. No member since has put our people in such danger. One group of Wild Childs tried to escape all at once. Too many died and the survivors returned to their home here.”
    â€œIt’s been the way of the Wild Childs for hundreds of years, Joshua,” Apollo said matter-of-factly. “It’s how our world works.”
    â€œYour world stinks, King-man,” Charlie said.
    Agreed.
    â€œAsh, what about Leandro?” It hurt to say his name.
    â€œHe won’t get grounded.” Ash shook her head. “He knows how to stick the beasts good. Some animals may fear him, and Artemis has a weakness for him too. After all, her daughter was fathered by a Wild Child.”
    â€œWhat happened to them?”
    â€œThe father got grounded on his Leaving Day. The beasts got him before he reached the WC. Artemis found his torn apart body in the woods. Her daughter died years later in a hunting accident.”
    â€œHow do you know all this?” I said.
    She waved a hand. “We see a lot from these treetops … I see a lot. Like Artemis visiting the Black Heart Tree and sharing secrets with that evil tree monster.”
    She shook her head as if tossing those thoughts away. “Enough gossip. You’ve overstayed your welcome.”
    She turned to leave when shouts burst from nearby.
    Artemis and her men were back!

Chapter Eighteen
    â€œS cram and cram!” Ash pulled at me. “We have to get you out of the Wild Lands.” She