Lady of the Hunt

5/

Adara was lying on her bed, lazily browsing the internet, when Calista burst into her room. Her friend looked tense and nervous, like it had taken her some courage to show up, and she quickly ran over to Adara and sat down, pushing her legs to the side.

"Can I help you?" Adara asked with a bit of humor.

"Tomorrow's my birthday," Calista said, her words rushed. Adara gave her a weird look.

"Yeah, I know. I made lunch reservations for us," she said, smiling at her friend. She shut her laptop to sit up and look closer at her friend.

"Well—I was thinking, you know—that, maybe it might be a good idea to—well I don't know, I just kind of wanted to—"

"Spit it out, Calista," Adara said, chuckling a little, but also feeling really curious.

"I thought we should go out," Calista blurted. Adara stared at her for a moment.

"Really?" she asked, eyes wide and full of excitement.

She would never tell Calista, but Adara had missed going out to clubs and parties. She didn't want to seem like she hadn't gotten better—she had—but there was something she really had enjoyed about the experience.

But now, Calista was inviting her to one. "Well, yeah, I mean I'm turning seventeen and I just thought it would be a good way to celebrate," she was saying. "I don't hate clubs, you know."

She gave Adara a meaningful look that said the rest of her sentence: I just hated what you were doing with your life. Adara chose to ignore it. "Great! I know—"

"We're not going to one of your clubs, Adara," Calista told her, frowning. "We're going to an underaged club."

Adara blinked, feeling a little disappointed. "You mean like a teen's club?" she asked, not sounding impressed.

"Yes," Calista said firmly, seeming to believe Adara was going to fight her on this.

She wasn't. It was a miracle to get Calista to go out at all, let alone to a club—so Adara wasn't going to ruin it by forcing her to go to some place where she was uncomfortable.

"Well, I do know of one teen half-god club we could go to," Adara said, smiling at her kindly. Calista looked elated that she was agreeing to it.

"Great! Now we've just got to invite all the guys," she said brightly.

Adara sensed something in that, and she gave Calista a warning look. "All the guys?" she echoed.

Calista gave her a sheepish smile. "I was going to invite Orion, yes," she said, and Adara let out a loud groan.

"Please don't invite him," she begged. Calista smiled.

"It's my birthday," she sung, and Adara groaned again, throwing herself back down on the bed. "I've got to run invite people!"

Calista hopped back up, running out the door. Adara was surprised that she was that enthusiastic, but she just shrugged.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Orion walked towards his room, stretching slightly. He'd been practicing his knife throws in the training room, which were still looking good. A shy voice made him turn around. "Hey, Orion?"

He turned around to see Calista standing there, looking hopeful. "Do you think I could talk to you?" she asked

He smiled charmingly. "Sure, why not? I was just headed to my room," he said, gesturing for her to walk with him. Calista was beautiful, but Orion had already noticed he had no chance. She was practically in love with her training partner, Cadmus.