Chapter 12: Letters

Artemis rushed into the elevator at record speed with her heart hammering inside her chest. There she noticed that the light had an odd red blinking light within it. She gulped and looked around the elevator pretending that she hadn't seen it whereas the pace of her heartbeats would show otherwise. She fidgeted with the ends of her jacket while waiting for the elevator to get to the top. She couldn't be predictable and she just had to reach her hotel room. As soon as the elevator bell dinged and doors opened, Artemis exited normally and walked to her hotel room. She didn't know if the hallways contained cameras but she was pretty sure that they did and that they'd be well concealed.

She entered her hotel room and the girls were spread around the living room dressed in shirts and a loose top with excited faces, writing down furiously on pieces of paper. With the sound of Artemis closing the door, they all looked up expectantly and Iris jumped up with an envelope in her hand. Artemis furrowed her brows.

"What's going on?" she asked hesitantly. Iris jumped up from the sofa, her small pixie like face contorted into a blissful smile.

"You'll never guess what happened!" She pulled out an envelope with Artemis Apollo written on the front and Artemis' eyes widened as she recognized the neat writing of her sister Liza. "We got a letter from home!" she exclaimed.

Artemis took the letter from her hands and ran her fingers over the writing. This felt too good to be real. She turned it over and found the letter held closed by a butterfly sticker, just like Liza always closed it with. She felt herself swelled with happiness and she momentarily forgot about warning the girls about the cameras, but her neck snapped up immediately as she remembered.

She scanned the living room as the girls returned to their letters and noticed the odd flower on their dining table. The intricate design bore an eye right in the middle and Artemis noticed the small red glow in the iris.

How ironic...

She looked around some more, the ceiling light contained an unusual design that Artemis also contained a small red glow. She was surprised at how many pieces of furniture had cameras hidden in them when she began looking. She went to her and Shy's shared bedroom and no matter how much she searched, she came away empty. The bedrooms were safe, probably because the girls would change and sleep in there. She hurried outside and called the girls in, they were all slightly confused but didn't question her and entered her bedroom.

"Is something wrong?" Rose asked, trying to read Artemis' eyes.

"There are cameras," she announced.

They all looked extremely confused at her words and watched Artemis fiddle with her letter before she spoke. "Today, when Alpha asked us if we were clear about his instructions, we answered,"

"And?" Iris piped folding her arms.

"He heard us," Artemis pointed out. "He said, 'very well' and there's no way that he could've heard us unless he was in the room or he was watching us,"

She watched as it dawned on the other girls' faces as they realized. Shy blew out a slow whistle.

"Jeez, you're smart," she mentioned with multiple nods to her head.

"Well..." Iris looked around nervously. "Isn't this rigged too?"

Artemis shook her head. "I checked, bedrooms are safe as far as I'm aware."

The girls nodded in appreciation.

"So, what do we do now?" Rosalind asked, taking a seat on Artemis' neatly made bed.

"Well, to be honest, I can't figure out why they would do it, it's not like any of us are addicts or anything, drugs don't work in our system," she flustered. "But what I do know is that we have to be careful,"

"I swear your British accent makes everything sound so much better," Rosalind sighed, falling back on to the bed. "Guys will literally throw themselves at you, but back to business," she propped herself on her elbows. "I feel like they're keeping something from us," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" Artemis asked.

"I've been thinking about that too," Iris said. Rosalind nodded.

"We've been training exceptionally hard and security here is extremely tight and now that you point out the cameras I'm thinking that they're either really worried about our safety which I highly doubt - because come on, we're shape-shifters, nothing can harm us, they're making sure that we don't wander off the threshold and find out whatever they're keeping us from. Or they are making sure something doesn't find us," she let out.

Artemis' eyes widened at Rosalind. That all seemed extremely likely and it made the gears in her head turn. Were they keeping something from them or keeping them from something?

"I don't think Alpha would put us in harm's way, his priority is his pack,"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"How about we talk about this after we read the letters?" Shy suggested looking at hers impatiently. Artemis felt a little sorry for the girl being so young and determined enough to be in this competition. The other girls gave a small nod and they individually went to different rooms.

Artemis picked up her fallen letter and opened it. She smiled at Liza's immaculate cursive writing.

Dear Artemis,

It's been a month, that was the slowest month I've ever experienced without you. I hope you've made friends in that competition, I wish I could be there with you but of course, mated girls aren't allowed.

God, why did I have to be mated? You know, I just realized that I missed out on so many things because of this mate thing. I've never been on a date, had a heartbreak, had my first kiss at a party, I've never drunkenly made out with someone. I feel like such a prude.

Phoenix is still the same. Cold, ignorant and he still hates me. But he's gone right now on a business trip to New York. He's so lucky, I want to go to New York but even though he hates me, there's still always something missing every time he goes, you know? Something just doesn't feel right, like something is missing. It feels like that all the time now that you're gone. At least he'll be back in a week. God knows when you'll be back.

I miss you. X

-Analieze Apollo

P.S: Don't ever say this out loud and if you do then I'll deny it straight away but I think he's getting so much hotter and sometimes there's this feeling that makes me wanna jump him or something and I know it literally sounds impossible but I swear he's getting more fit. Also mum and dad say hi and a bunch of other things but I'm not bothered to write them down.

Artemis smiled reading the letter and allowed herself to giggle at her sister's words. Her eyes threatened to water again, and she felt incredibly homesick. She grabbed a pen and one of her notebooks that she had brought to take sketches of the place around her. She didn't mind using paper on Liza.

Dear Liza,

It's been strange without you too. I didn't notice that it's been a month, it's hard to keep track of time here. I miss you too. I wish I could be back home soon too, I feel homesick. I wish that you'd be here with me too but not anymore. There's something going on here Liza, and I'm not sure that I know what it is. All I know is that something is not quite right.

Also, apparently our English accent is incredibly noticeable here. Everyone keeps pointing it out.

Phoenix will be Phoenix. He doesn't hate you, Liz. Trust me, on that fact, it's quite the opposite. He just doesn't know how to show it because of the age gap. You're 16 he's 22, it's hard for him. Give him time, he'll change. He loves you, trust me. You just have to notice the little things that he does for you.

I don't know how much longer I'll be here.

Artemis stared at the letter for a while before she added little more.

I'll try to get eliminated and come home.

-Artemis Apollo

She quickly folded the paper and placed it inside another envelope that Liza had given her inside the letter. She licked it shut and wrote Analieze Apollo at the front. If Alpha was really her mate, would he let her leave? She felt bad for blatantly lying to Liza about trying to get eliminated but Artemis needed to know if her letter would be read before they sent it out and if he would try and stop her.

Artemis briefly thought about something before taking another plain paper from her stack.

Dear Phoenix,

I see you haven't written to me and I didn't think you would to be honest but I just wanted to let you know about a few things.

Liza has become incredibly curious about boys, not you but other ones. You know, the ones that will pay her some attention and maybe talk to her too. I'm not sure how you feel about it to be honest but I hope you'll reconsider letting my baby sister get close to you. She'd really like it and I think you might surprise yourself by learning you will too. Anyways, something for you to try.

On another topic, you and Liza mated three years ago and although you're still dumb enough to keep yourself closed off, I know you can't stay away from her for long. Why is that?

-Artemis Apollo