Young Writers Society

Artemis certainly wasn't used to job opportunities. More often than not, she was left to fend for herself dangerously underfunded. Turning down this offer, however vague it was, was not an option. She pocketed the flyer and hoped there weren't too many candidates on the other side.

Once she made it to the house, a million little things were telling her something was wrong. The air was still full of shadow scents of people, clay, ink, and metal.
"Still better than sleeping outside again."
She opened the door, closing it quietly behind her. To her utmost dismay, the room she entered already had its fair share of people.
"Oh. Youŕe all here for the hunter position, aren't you?"

"This is getting old," Ophelia said, after yet another person came in wondering whether the others in the room had their profession.

Artemis ignored her. “I’m Artemis. You all are...?”

Pratik looked at the newcomer. Under less trying circumstances he’d try to make friends. As it was, “What’s on your ad?”

Artemis held it out to him. “Hunter.”

Pratik took it and looked it over. It was just the same as the rest. He read it as an ad for a mercenary. He flipped it over and couldn’t see the map. He growled in frustration and thrust it back at Artemis. “Draw the map on the back.” He gestured. Then realized he was letting his anger turn him into a jerk. So he belatedly added, “please.”

"It's nice to meet you, Artemis! Of course, it would have been better under different circumstances. I'm Tithorea." She offered her hand. "Not to break your bubble or anything, but you can't leave the cottage for some reason."

Artemis caught the flyer with ease, straightening it out. "Charmed." She shook Tithorea's hand. "Could someone hand me a pen? I don't tend to carry one on me." She checked a simple wristwatch she was wearing and frowned.

Jay had been focused on recreating the fraction of the map he saw on the back of his flyer while more people came in and bantered and bickered. After ignoring them long enough to finish tracing everything, he walked over the table, slapped his piece of the map down where it looked like it connected to a corner piece, and he handed the piece of charcoal he'd used over to Artemis.

"Here," he said brusquely.

"Thank you." She went over to a windowsill and started tracing over the piece of her map. Her lines were smooth, despite her holding the piece of charcoal in a very awkward way.

Nikolai decided to clear things up for the newcomer.

“My name’s Nikolai, but we’re not hunters, actually,” he said, watching as she drew. “The ads are magical or something— they all say something that we are. So, mine would look like a hunter’s to you, but to me it says it’s for an artist. There are maps on the back that can only be seen by the person who grabbed the ad. So we’re drawing them so that we can all see.”

Artemis hummed in response. “Fascinating. I’ve seen magic before, but never like this.” She finished her drawing and added it to the myriad of other maps.
“There. Like a puzzle piece.”

As Artemis filled in the last remaining piece, Jay pushed up beside her to get a full look at the map on the table. It looked like the map was meant to lead them to their actual client. Or a trap. Or something else entirely.

But clearly, whoever had put together the fliers was making this very elaborate, and it was unclear for what purpose. Apparently, they were stuck in this together -- at least, until the doors opened.

"Okay. So the map's just of the town near here," Jay muttered. "And we need to find someone or something in this building," he said, pointing to the x.

"And who knows what we'll be expected to do after. Maybe now the doors will open, now that the map's complete."