Lady of the Hunt

7/

7/

Adara and Orion had decided to act like Calista's birthday never happened. They hung out a lot, since all of her friends had welcomed him into the group happily, so she really had no choice, and they still went on runs every morning.

Neither had ever mentioned or spoke about the fact that they weren't going to talk about it, it had just sort of happened. They continued to tease and insult each other per usual, but no one dared to mention home.

Calista ran into the library with wide eyes. Adara was sitting on a couch, idly strumming on a lyre she'd found lying around, while Cadmus sat on a chair, playing on his phone, and Orion sat in the corner of the room, reading a book on weapons.

Adara stopped playing as she ran in, wide eyed and frantic, and the guys looked up from what they were doing. She glanced around the room hurriedly. "Calista, what's wrong?" Adara asked, already putting down the lyre and standing up to calm her down.

Calista shook her off. "Is anyone else in here?" she asked, dead serious.

"No," Orion answered, standing up and walking closer too. "What's up?"

She glanced around one more time. "There's a god here," she hissed. Everyone stared blankly at her for a second.

"You not serious," Orion said, and she nodded furiously.

"I needed to talk to Leonidas, so I went downstairs, and Alice wouldn't let me into his office because he had a 'special guest' arriving any minute, and I was annoyed so I sarcastically asked if it was a god, and then she got super nervous and weird like Alice always does when she's lying or telling a secret and I—"

"Woah, calm down," Adara said gently, putting another hand on her shoulder.

"Do you know who it is?" Cadmus asked, leaning forward.

"No, but that's what I came down here to tell you guys. I know how we can listen into their conversation," Calista half-whispered, nearly bouncing.

Orion and Cadmus immediately stood up. "Lead the way," Orion said to her.

She wanted to run all the way there, but Calista let everyone follow her as they made their way into the stairwell. They continued down the stairs until they reached the bottom floor the staircase went to, the second floor.

The door to the training room was closed and locked for the day, since Zephyr was out. No one was going to come down here and interrupt them.

Calista grinned at everyone. "When I was younger, I learned that you can pull up ones of the boards on the stairs here. Leonidas' office is right underneath so you can hear everything."

She leaned down to the bottom step, carefully sliding on board out of place. Once it was completely out, she handed it to Cadmus, who leaned it against the wall. Everyone crouched down next to the now-open hole, which opened up to about a foot of empty space before a thin layer of the ceiling.

No one dared to breathe as they heard a door below them open and the sound of footsteps entering. "—I must admit, I was surprised when I received your letter," Leonidas was saying, and he shut the door behind him and the other person. "Coffee?"

"No, thank you," a smooth, deep male voice said, and Adara looked up to meet Calista's wide eyes. "I'm sorry to bother you like this."

"It wasn't a problem at all," Leonidas said charmingly, using his polite charm he used on guests and visitors. "What brings you here, Hades? You hinted to something important in your letter."