-Artemis-

"Find your spell yet?"

Artemis walked into the kitchen, intent on grabbing a Dr. Pepper before heading back into the dining room with Orion. They'd been working on math homework most of the afternoon that was assigned to them to do over the weekend. Cassia sat at the kitchen island intently reading the book that laid open on the counter. From the looks of it, she was about halfway through it.

"Not yet." Even two days after her near-death experience, the girl looked tired. Dark circles had only lightened slightly under her eyes. Her color was still gone, way too pale for Apollo's liking, as he frequently voiced. Artemis felt for the girl. She grabbed two Dr. Peppers from the fridge and set one beside the book. Cassia looked up with a timid smile. "Thank you."

Artemis hummed in response before heading back to Orion. He had given her the exact play by play of their mission. It seemed that the girl had worked rather hard to make sure that Orion came back unscathed, which was a miracle seeing as how stubborn he was. That was something Artemis appreciated, but she would probably never voice it. After all, thanking mortals wasn't the proper behavior for a goddess. They should always be thanking her.

"You did it right," Orion pronounced as Artemis took the seat beside him. She'd been working on doing math without magic. Part of her knew it was good for her to remember how to do menial tasks without willing it into existence, that it would keep her level headed. She never let anything best her once she tried to pursue it.

"Of course I did. I am a goddess, after all. That means I win our bet."

"You swear on the Styx that you didn't use magic?"

Artemis put her hand to her chest, a look of disbelief on her features. "Seriously? You doubt my word?"

"I doubt that you like to lose, and I mean no disrespect when I say that we both know you will not allow yourself to fail at anything. Even though you can accomplish anything you put that beautiful mind to, you can be a tad stubborn when it comes to learning something new. So yes, I think there is a possibility that you could have used magic on it."

"Awfully brave of you to challenge my honor."

"I think that you like that I'm not scared of you, my lady." Orion looked up at her with a smile way too knowing for her taste. She narrowed her eyes at him, making them turn a bright shade of silver. Orion's smile vanished.

"I may appreciate it. Just remember that I can incinerate you into nothing but ash with a single thought." Orion nodded his head. He was perfectly right of course. "I actually did it all by myself, no magic at all. You teach well. And do not let that compliment inflate your already oversized head. You are way too smug."

"Noted." Orion went back to his work, finishing the last problem on the page with ease.

"Are you finished?"

"Yes, I'm done. We can go hunting now. But first, there was something I wanted to ask you."

Artemis leaned against the table before hopping on to it. Orion stood, now towering over her. She didn't feel intimidated when he stood over her like that. Even though he had the ego the size of the moon and needed a reminder every once in a while, he knew that Artemis was the one in charge. It could be seen in his reverent gaze, how his head would bow slightly in her presence. She always enjoyed the worship. She enjoyed the attentiveness of her hunters, which she sorely missed. But Orion more than made up for it. He always had the perfect balance of reverence and fearlessness, which she loved about him.

Wait…Loved? Artemis shook her head.

"What do you want to ask me?"

A small blush bloomed on his cheeks, something that Artemis was unaccustomed to. She could hear the way his heartbeat quickened, see how he wiped his hands against his legs. He was nervous for some reason. He opened his mouth once, twice, before sighing and turning away to stare out the window.

"Just spit it out," she ordered before taking a sip of her Dr. Pepper. Orion bit his lip which made Artemis's stomach squirm. Just the other day in the woods, he'd bit her lip while they kissed. The memory made her blush just thinking about it. After all, she had to admit, their make-out sessions in the woods were becoming almost as fun as the hunt itself.

"Will you go to prom with me?"

"Prom?" Artemis stuttered. Of all the things she thought Orion would ask her, she didn't think that this would be one of them. "You want to go to Prom? With me?"

"That's what I said," he retorted before running his hand through his hair. Artemis let out a laugh. "Don't laugh at me."

"Why on earth would you want to go to prom? And isn't it like three months away?"

"Because I've never been to one! And yeah, it is, but I thought I would go ahead and ask you. Cas said-"

"Cassia said what, exactly?"

"Don't get jealous, Artemis! I talked to her about possibly asking you, and she said she saw us all there but to ask you early, something about getting used to the idea and you being in a good mood. I was going to wait until we went to the woods, but I…" He paused.

"But what?"

"I knew you'd bolt if I made a big deal of it. I just want to go to prom with you. If you want to call it a date, fine."

"You want to take me out on a date?" Artemis couldn't help the giddy feeling that rose in her chest. She wanted the world to know that Orion was the only man she'd ever even consider dating. He meant more to her than any mortal, and to know that he wanted to do something special with her, well, that made her heart skip a beat.

"Yes, I want to take you on a date. It doesn't have to mean anything, not if you don't want it to, but-"

Artemis didn't let him finish. She grabbed his face and pulled it to her own, slamming her lips against his. The kiss started out simple but quickly grew into something heated. They'd never been further than this, but part of Artemis wanted to feel his hands on her skin instead of the table beside her. She pulled away, knowing that making out where her brother could easily walk in on them wasn't the best idea. She didn't feel like getting the various speeches from him, and he would be one to talk. She didn't even want to think about her other half-siblings knowing about it. Athena's speech would be atrocious.

"Yes, I'll go to prom with you." She hopped off the table and stood beside Orion, grinning at the shocked look on his face. "Let's go hunting." She held out her hand and waited for Orion to take it. The minute they did, they both vanished on the spot to the woods.

-Cas-

Cassia was halfway through the page when the vision took hold.

Artemis stood above her with a knife placed against Cassia's throat. The goddess had a look of utter rage on her face, full of hate and anger. In the back of her mind, Cassia could taste the fear, but the overwhelming emotion was that of a calm determination. She had to do it. She had to… It was the right thing for everyone.

"You try to deny me my prey?" Artemis snarled. "You honestly thought you could stop me?"

The blade pressed further into her skin, drawing blood from the pressure. She didn't need to beat Artemis. No, she simply needed time, just a few more seconds and then –

The table and book of Thoth came back into focus. A cold sweat had erupted all over her skin. Her hand rose to her neck where Cas could still feel the sting of the blade. She'd had more and more visions of Artemis hunting her, somewhere she succeeded in killing her, but she'd yet to see what she had done that angered the goddess. It was hard to avoid blowing yourself up when you had no idea where the land mine was. She'd yet to find a way that the dots connected and couldn't call a vision to help her piece the puzzle together. It seemed fate was determined for this to play out on its own, at least for now. Still, she didn't fear Artemis as much as she probably should. All the visions she had simply made her more wary of her actions around the goddess of the hunt.

Orion's voice drifted through the cracked door from the formal dining room. Cas couldn't help but smile. She knew Artemis would say yes as long as Orion asked at the right time. It only took a little assurance from her to pluck up his courage. After all, the worst thing she could say was no, and she told Orion that all the time. It was a relief for Cassia to have one person who wasn't an immortal that now knew of her gift and believed what she had to say, no matter how many hours it was. The visions were leaning more and more to having her curse lifted. For now, she felt hope for the first time in a long time.

Apollo had been overly attentive the past few days as she healed. He was worried about her as she still wasn't feeling like herself. Her body felt like it had the flu. Every inch of her ached, but it was getting better each day. The only think on her mind was finding that spell and getting this mess with the Egyptians over with. She'd be able to rest after that. Part of her feared that it wasn't in the book, but her visions taught her better. They came more frequently around the immortals, almost like her gift wanted to show itself off. Really, the increased number did nothing to help her. Instead, the visions just gave her more to worry about, like her impending quarrel with Artemis.

The sound of Orion knocking into the table drifted into the kitchen. A blush unwillingly blossomed on Cassia's cheeks. She'd seen exactly what Artemis and Orion had been up to on their little hunting trips and were most likely doing in the dining room. In fact, the more they ran off together, the more Cas saw. Most seemed innocent enough, but a few made her downright uncomfortable and were getting clearer every time.

Apollo walked into the kitchen and casually laid a hand on Cas's shoulder. Her heart stuttered involuntarily at the touch. Something had changed between her and Apollo. The way she looked at her unnerved her but not necessarily in a bad way. When his eyes met hers, she felt like he really saw her – all the imperfections, everything she liked about herself, what she feared and was brave enough to face. She never thought anyone would look at her like that, let alone an immortal. Still, she'd only had that brief vision of them kissing one time. It was probably for the best that it never happen.

"Any luck?"

"Not yet. I am in the spells part now, so I'm hoping I will stumble across it soon enough."

"You need to take a break." He offered her the can of soda which she quickly took a swig of. "You've been reading for hours. You need to rest."

"I'm not doing anything strenuous," Cas countered.

"Maybe not, but we both know that the mind can wear you down just as easily as a fight. Speaking of fighting, we need to start building your endurance back up if you have to face Isis."

Cas groaned. Besides the visions of Artemis, the confrontation with Isis took precedence over all others. She'd seen it go about what felt like a hundred different ways. Thank the gods that most of them were positive. She seemed to live in a good number of them.

"We can do that tomorrow once I've found the spell. I'm really not tired, Apollo."

He grunted in reply before taking a swig of his water. "I'm letting you have this one if you promise to go to bed at a decent hour."

"Only if you promise to not push me too hard tomorrow. Right now, you are going to do more damage than good."

"Fine, we will work our way up," he stated. "I may work on you some more tonight. I still don't like the way your color looks."

Cas offered him a smile. Even if it was slightly annoying, she kind of liked someone taking care of her. It wasn't something she was accustomed to having. "Whatever you say, Doc."

Apollo raised his eyebrows before shaking his head. "I was thinking of ordering Chinese for dinner."

"Sounds good to me. Crab rangoons and General Tso's chicken, please. I would offer to pay you back, but you are an immortal with unlimited riches, which means dinner is always on you."

"You are such a delight," Apollo mused, but Cas could hear the humor in his tone. "I need to ask Artemis what she wants." He headed for the swinging door that led out to the formal dining. Cas's stomach dropped. She knew what would happen if Apollo walked in at the wrong time. She prepared herself for this all day.

"Don't go in there!" Cas vanished out of her seat and reappeared in front of Apollo just in time. Her arms and body barred him from going through the door. He tilted his head, studying her questioningly.

"Why not?"

"Because Artemis will be angry if you interrupt her."

"She's always angry at me. She'll be angrier if I don't get her food." He moved to brush her arm out of the way, but Cas caught his hand. She only needed a few more minutes, if she timed it right. Apollo was right, of course, but she had to play this off the right way.

"That may be, but things are different today. She's about to go hunting with Orion anyways."

Apollo's eyes narrowed. "Different how, exactly?"

Cas faltered. She didn't have a brilliant plan or explanation. She just didn't want the fight to happen if Apollo walked in there right now. She gave his hand a squeeze, hoping that honesty was the best option. "I don't want the two of you to fight."

"And why would we fight about food?"

"It wouldn't be about the food," she replied with a sigh. "Just trust me. Please?" The way his eyes stared into her own…It made a couple of seconds feel like an eternity. His lips tilted to the side, those blue eyes twinkling in delight.

"I would trust you with my existence, Cassia Woodard." He squeezed her hand, just enough pressure to comfort.

"Not every time. There is one time that you don't believe me." It was just one time, the one time that seemed to matter the most, but even to Cas, with her sight, the whole thing just seemed too out there. There was no way it could go that far, that one time could-

"You are still holding my hand." Apollo's voice was filled with glee at her blush. Cas ripped her hand out of his, scowling.

"Always have to ruin the moment, don't you?"

Apollo leaned forward. He was too close, but Cas couldn't find it in her to pull away. His lips were right by her ear with a voice as soft as velvet. "I'd take a million ruined moments than none at all." He pulled away with a smug grin. "I know you tell the truth to me, Cassia. Have faith in that."

She wanted to have faith in it. But sometimes, the truth is hard to accept.