Chapter 7: Tokens

Finding the river wasn't hard but what shocked Artemis was the fact that the scenery outside the circle of hotels looked completely different to how it did a few days before. Their training ground was placed behind the hotel and required them to take the back door of the hotel so Artemis hadn't been out since the day she's had her run and found the token but today, the red-bricked path was nowhere to be seen but instead it had five different paths which lead to different scenarios.

Artemis had gotten into a thick forest which, in the night darkness, seemed ghostly. The wind made the trees dancing demons that were messing with her mind. Almost everything seemed haunted as she walked forward - blind. She could hear no other sounds except the wind rustling the leaves around her. The moonlight helped a bit and her hearing, that was of a higher range after her shift, definitely helped her as she could hear the laps of water coming closer and closer until she glimpsed the silvery moonlight bathing itself in the river. She almost ran out of the trees, stumbling as her claustrophobia disappeared and she felt her breathing come back to normal.

Look for something shiny...

She could only spot the face of the water that was reflecting the moonlight when all of a sudden she noticed a slight shine of light in the depth of the water.

Oh no...

She didn't realize that she'd have to get wet but before she let herself indulge in the cold atmosphere and talk herself out of getting in the water, she took a few steps back before running forward and diving into the water.

The second it hit her body, she felt as if she'd induced herself into a river of ice. Her brain tried to convince her to get out immediately but her stubborn nature made her open her eyes as she swam closer to the object that was still glimmering. Her breath seemed to be running out quicker than normal. By the time the glimmer was only inches away, it felt as if someone had sucked the oxygen from the atmosphere and had stuck a fishing hook in her navel that was pulling her upwards. She gasped and let out a few air bubbles that restricted her oxygen supply even more. She pulled herself a little further forward and grabbed hold of the token before kicking the water furiously and resurfacing at the top.

As soon as her legs were above water, she coughed and coughed until her throat burned and felt raw. She took deep breaths filling her lungs with air, trying to regain her composure before she pulled herself out of the water, completely soaked.

The night air swooped past her wet body and froze in her spot, she probably should've thought this through before she jumped in... or at least taken her trainers off. She rang some of the water out of her hair before she began running back to the hotel, trying to get her body warm. She heard the indistinct chatter of some girls that were probably approaching the river but Artemis' direction must've been out of their path because she never got close enough to decipher a word they were saying; even with her heightened hearing. She realized that in this place, everyone's capabilities were the same because they'd all shifted.

She didn't know whether that made her feel sad or excited. Back home, the only one she knew that still had the capability of shifting was Phoenix and her father, and her sister's mate was the quiet, mind-your-own-business of guy and not the friendly type like Liza was. Artemis still couldn't understand why such an odd pair had been bonded but Artemis saw the way Phoenix cared for her sister even though she knew that Liza was completely oblivious to it.

Her trip to the circle of hotels was short but absolutely freezing. She was happy to see that some of the girls had returned with tokens and even more happy to see that some of them were drenched too. They all gave each other eager smiles when someone rushed forward and gave Artemis a towel.

The doors were firmly closed except when someone entered because they had turned the heater on to benefit the girls who had battled the elements.

Iris returned shortly after Artemis, looking ecstatic holding the token in her hands. Her hair had all sorts of things stuck to it and Artemis decided it'd be better if they didn't divulge into the stories of how they retrieved their tokens. Knowing that she had two with her still made her feel extremely guilty for hiding it from the two.

"Rose or Shy back yet?" she asked as she picked out twigs from her hair.

"Not yet," Artemis shook her head, watching the doors as more girls entered.

Time passed quickly as all the girls acquainted themselves with each other. There were so many varieties of girls with so much ethnicity in this competition that it made Artemis slightly suspicious about how much power the Alpha had to spread the word over such a vast region.

Rose entered looking immaculate with her blonde hair still curled and her face in a slight glaze of sweat. She joined in with Artemis and Iris as she introduced herself to some of the other girls. There were so many types of girls, some were happy to make friends with them, some were a little shyer, some preferred to keep to themselves whilst some cast over glares and one of the girls, Emily, categorized them as 'the sharks'. Apparently, they were out to get anyone and would jeopardize anyone getting a token if that meant they had a better chance of winning and they were more interested in getting to the Alpha than any of the girls. Artemis avoided them throughout the next few hours until a loud bell sound resonated throughout the hotel lobby.

The girls were all silenced including the people who were on guard duty. Artemis looked around for Shy but couldn't spot her anywhere. She had a gut feeling that she hadn't found a token in time and the bell symbolized that all the tokens had been found.

Artemis watched as their lobby flooded with returning girls, some were crying while some wore extremely depressed facial expressions and among those who entered stood Shy with a defeated expression on her face.