Demigods and Monsters by Rick Riordan Read Free Book Online Page A

table is that Artemis will grant you eternal youth. Yes, eternal youth; something that people have quested for across the centuries. No need to fear the onslaught of wrinkles or the first strands of gray hair or a general diminishment of vigor and vim (two things that seem truly essential for a productive life even if most of us can’t exactly define “vim” on the spot). You’ll never fall victim to arthritis or memory loss or any of those other aspects of growing old that range from the merely annoying to the downright debilitating.
    Okay, maybe it’s a little too early for you to be worrying about all of that anyway. Your skin is unlined, and as for gray hair, that’s something your mom is always moaning over, not you. But forever-firm skin and shining hair are not the only benefits of this offer. Consider that you’ll also gain freedom from all the responsibilities of daily life. You’ll acquire the ability to run tirelessly and the opportunity to romp with a goddess and your fellow huntresses all over the wild reaches of this world. You’ll become part of a steadfast sisterhood, the ultimate zenith of girl power. You’ll never have worry about your best friend moving away and having no one to sit with at the lunch table in school, or wonder if your friends are true friends. And you’ll never have to go through that “crisis of self-confidence” that everyone is always warning teenage girls about. Plus, no man will ever, ever tell you what to do or say or think, or more precisely what you can’t do or say or think.

    All you have to do is utter the words, “I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis. I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.”
    Yes, you heard that right. Eternal maidenhood and no men. No men at all.
    So therein lies the catch (I did promise one of those). In exchange for always living in the endless summer of your life, with complete freedom from everything, you must foreswear all contact with men. And I really do mean all contact, not just contact of the romantic persuasion. But let’s talk about the romantic-persuasion kind first.
    Forget about first dates. No more should I put my hair up or down, what shoes do I wear, is this outfit okay? No more tiny perfect butterflies in your stomach, and no more agonizing over will he kiss me now, should I kiss him first, oh I really hope he kisses me at all! No need for those long talks on the phone with your best friend about how he actually looked at you in the cafeteria today or touched your hand maybe by accident, but maybe not, and how you think for three seconds he was smiling in your general direction and you know he was smiling at you because you looked behind your shoulder (in a really subtle way of course) and made sure that there was no one behind you that he could possible be smiling at . No need for any of that because when you’re one of Artemis’s maidens you really are just that: a maiden through and through. Forever. Artemis was the goddess of virginity, and while Athena was also a virgin goddess, she was known more for being the goddess of wisdom. Don’t forget, Athena sprang forth fully grown from her father Zeus’ head and is always depicted as a grave woman, while Artemis is always portrayed as an eternally young and carefree girl. Greek mythology tells us that Artemis made the choice to remain a virgin at a very early age (some versions pinpoint it as early as three years old). Artemis made this request, along with one for a silver bow and silver arrows, of her father Zeus, and it was granted.

    Okay, so say that you think so far so good . You’re tired of boys anyway. Who needs them? They never call when they say they will, and when they actually do call they only want to talk about really boring things, and you don’t like any of their meathead friends, and sometimes you’re not sure if you even like them .