"There is no doubt in my mind the princess will send an army to this forest soon. Thomas was there and he'll vouch for what she saw. You put yourself on the map Artemis. You should've let me handle that," Alexander scolded the Goddess.
"Technically, your king had plans to invade my home so I was always on the map but I see your point," she replied.
"Can't you just accept when you're wrong? Do you always need to have a comeback?" Everything he said, Artemis always had something against it.
"Of course," she replied to irritate him. It was a force of habit for her to correct humans.
"Ugh, can you two have your little argument another time? What is it you need me to do Alexander?" Leon saw a hint of attraction between the two people and found it to be odd but Alexander had always been an odd person.
"My father will be reaching the palace at any moment. I need you to stop him from entering the palace and bring him here to me. Take this," Alexander always carried his family seal on him just like his father did. If anyone besides them were seen with it, the father or son would know the other was in trouble. "Artemis, please let him get out of the forest without getting hurt."
Artemis looked out the water at the tree in the center of everything. "You heard him."
"Is she talking to a tree? You know what, don't answer that." Leon turned to walk away to do what Alexander asked of him. Today had been a weird day and he wasn't going to question anything.
"He caught on pretty quickly to ignore the things that happen here. Are you certain you can trust him to bring your father here? He might run back to the palace and plead his innocence." Artemis trusted Alexander but it didn't mean she trusted other humans. Not all of them would keep their word like Alexander. That was what she…
"Why are you blushing Artemis?" Alexander suddenly asked. It was rare for him to see her blushing and it must be the same for her because she pushed him to hide it. The problem with her push was how strong she was. She pushed him right into the water with the sirens.
There was no need for panic because the sirens helped push him back onto land while some tried to offer him gifts. Alexander was expecting them to drag him under the water because he was like them and they might want their kind living with them. What he didn't know was they were honoring his mother's wish to not bring her child into this world where he could be hunted.
"Thank you," he told the sirens. He accepted the gifts from them which consisted of colorful rocks and shells. Alexander placed them in his pocket to treasure them since it might mean a lot to the sirens for them to keep giving them. "You didn't even look to see if I was alright," he told Artemis.
"You and the water are best friends. You would be fine," she said without looking at him. She failed to believe she actually liked him. They hadn't known each other for that long and all she did was talk about her hatred for humans.
Her being alone had to be the reason for this new feeling. 'You can't just like the first person you talked to in years,' she scolded herself.
"I can tell you are thinking about me, Artemis."
"I am going to push you into the water again if you don't stop talking," she warned him. Having feelings for a human should be the last thing on her mind.
"While Leon is out finding my father we should try to figure out how to get you out of this forest. Don't you have any idea what is keeping you here?" He stood up, taking off his shirt that was too wet and his shoes.
Artemis avoided looking at Alexander as she looked around the forest. "I have searched high and low for the answer but I have found nothing. The only thing I have not done is burn down that tree. Should I do that today?" She grinned. There were many times she wanted to burn down the tree and today was the day.
"Slow down. There has to be a reason why you held yourself back from burning it down right? It is not an ordinary tree from the looks of it." There were many things Alexander found in his lifetime that look out of this world and instead of destroying them, he left them be.
You never know what disasters could arise from troubling them.
"It's the only thing left. Let's burn it. Oh, shut up," she told the tree when it started to disagree with her idea. "We're going to destroy you one way or the other."
"No we aren't," Alexander smacked himself in the face after the words left his mouth. He had joined Artemis in talking to the tree.
"Ashamed of yourself for talking to the tree? Trust me, it seems less weird the longer you live with it. What?" Artemis said when the tree told her something intriguing
"What happened?"
"It said not to burn it, look under it where its roots are. I can't believe you had something hidden away under you and you never told me," Artemis argued with the tree as she walked over the water towards it.