She moved one the final thing on the table, the mice. She peered into the cage and saw little mice inside, squeaking and scurrying around in the shredded paper. She shuddered. No thanks. She quickly stood up straight and walked back to the bow and arrow. She picked it up and presented it to Jake. "This one." She said.
"You sure that this is your pick?" He asked.
"Yep." She replied. I'm ready. What do I do next?"
"Ok, now you are going to attempt to shoot it. We will take you to the shooting range. Have you ever done this before?" Jake asked.
"Nope!" Sarah replied with fake enthusiasm.
"Ok, here is an arm guard. Keep it on." Jake handed Sarah one and helped her put it on. He also handed her a glove that only went over her three middle fingers, leaving her thumb and pinky exposed. She slid them on with Jake's help and they walked into yet another room that they had not been inside of yet.
"Hey Jake, how did we fit a shooting range inside of this room?" She asked.
"Well, it is created by the divine beings. Anyone who has divine essence inside of them can make a room appear as small or as big as they want it to become. So, this particular room was supported by Eros, because he specializes in archery, he can change how the size of the shooting range is or looks. It's a complicated process and is quite expensive too. But, we got quite a few of them for free because Iris donated a bunch of things." He explained.
"Iris? I thought you said that Eros made it."
"Well, he did. But they were up for sale via Iris cards, Iris just decided to donate things. They purchase them from the seller and then do whatever they want with those items if they feel like it. Plus people often just give her what she wants because she is a very influential goddess."
They walked inside of the room and they stood on fake grass. Targets sat at intervals of 10 yards, starting at 20 yards and ending at 100.
"So, you can stand at the red line. Aim and shoot for the closest target. That would be a 20 yard shot. You have three arrows sitting in the quiver on the grass, leaving you with 4 chances. Do the best you can, it's alright if you don't do well because this is only your first time. You may begin whenever you are ready." Jake directed her over to the red line.
She stood, feet apart and ready for action. She loaded an arrow, she heard a faint click as the plastic part of the arrow clipped lightly onto the string. She brought it eye level and took aim. Lining the white feather up with the center of the target. When she was little, about 7, her mother had taken her to a festival. She remembered a few things but not much at all. When she had shot, the arrow ended up being upside down, the bow itself was upside down and when she shot it, she missed the target by nearly twenty feet. So, when Jake asked her if she had any past experience, she decided to not mention that day.
She began to pull the string of the bow back, touching her thumb to part of her cheek. When she had it where she wanted it, her arm was nearly about to start shaking from staying in the draw position for more than a few seconds. She let go of the string, the arrow soared through the air and then it… kept going. Going about 5 feet too far to the right.
She sighed and looked over at Jake. He kept his face a mask of no emotion and did not react at all when she had missed.
She grabbed another arrow and repeated the process. Load, raise, line up, aim, pull, release. It soared through the air, this time, it was two feet too far to the left.
She tried again, deciding to aim a little bit more to the right. She shot, this time, it would have at least made it onto the target except for the fact that she went a few inches over the top of the target.
She looked down, one arrow left. She sighed and picked it up. She went through the process. Load, raise, line up, aim, pull, release. The arrow soared through the air. This time, it did hit the target and landed on the outer ring. She smiled, at least it hit the target this time.
Jake nodded thoughtfully. "Well," he began, "You are no child of Eros or Apollo. If you were you would have hit the target by at least the second arrow, if not the first. Although I do think that you have taken in this area, just not because of any divine abilities." Jake summed up.
"Unless…" Terrance said as he stepped forward.
"Right. Unless…" Jake nodded, again lost in thoughts.
Sarah looked between them both with a confused expression of her face. "Unless. Unless what? WILL SOMEBODY TELL ME SOMETHING?"
Jake laughed and looked over at Terrace. "Yep. I think you're right. That right there only proved it."
Terrance and Jake both walked out of the room and Sarah stared at their backs as they went. She turned to Max saying, "Do you understand a single word that they just said?"
Max merely shook his head. "Ok, then i'm not going crazy."
Together, they walked out of the shooting range and up to the table where Jake and Terrance were waiting for them. They seemed to be talking about something. Sarah walked up to them and noticed that Jake was pointing to something on the table.
"A… dagger?" She asked curiously.
Jake just gave her a smile and held it over Sarah's head by the hilt. "Take it." He said simply.
"Huh?" She asked, confused.
"Get the knife from my hands."