"One, two, three. Retire up. Passé back. Plié. Finish." The music stops after Madame finishes giving her orders. She walks over to a small, sickly seeming, girl. "Louise!" She scolds. "Plié as if you were moving through cotton." She demonstrates perfectly.

The girl attempts to copy the teacher's perfect lines. "Better. Try again." She walks away and the accompanist starts the music back up. "One, two, three- No. Stop everything! That's all we have time for today. Louise, if you do not get this right, you will be kicked out of the company."

Louise nods and walks out, after thanking our devil of a teacher. I'm the last to leave. "Thank you Madame." I curtsy. "I will be a little late tomorrow. I have a doctors appointment. They're speaking of future chemotherapy now." She looks at me with distaste. "More hair loss." She scoffs. "Very well."

The next day my mom squeezes my hand as we step out of the elevator. "Squirmy nervous?" She whispers. "Squirmy is." I answer. Squirmy has been a thing me and mom talk about at appointments. "Squirmy will be fine." She promised.

The doctor walks in the room in about five minutes after we got in. "Hello Lilly!" He chimes in. "Hi Dr. Brewer." I say. "I'm sorry to start out with this, but I have some bad news." My mom grasps my hand. "You have lived an incredible life, and you've fought an impossible battle." He starts. Tears fill my eyes, I know what's coming next. "I am so, so, very sorry." He doesn't meet my eyes. "You only have two more days to live."

My heart sinks to the floor. My mother squeezes my hand so hard, I have to beg her to let go. "I am so so-" "Its fine. Thank you. I have to go to ballet now. It's been nice knowing you." I take my mother's hand again, and pull her up, and I drag her out of the room.

My mind races. I've only been diagnosed with cancer for three months. What kind of battle have I fought? I've only experienced pains from chemotherapy. This couldn't be happening. No, I tell myself, I have to be strong and go dance.

After class, Madame asks to speak with me. She closes the door, which sorta alarms me. "I am so sorry Lilly." She says, her French accent really making its appearance. "You will be missed dearly." I thank her. "No need. I am sorry to see you die tonight." Something alarms me about this. It wasn't just what se said, but how she said it. I noticed her accent wasn't there. "I'm sorry? I still have two days ma'am." I correct her.

"I thought I would help you out with that." She says as talons replace her finger nails, and her face turns an awful shade of red. "Lilian Godfrey, daughter of Aphrodite, prepare to meet your death early."

My memories seems to come back to me in large chunks. The earliest one starting when I was four.

"Little warrior, I have chosen a temporary home for you." A young woman, probably in her thirties, told me. "I wish you luck, young warrior, I will visit you in the next few years. Stay strong. You have a great many gifts." She turned her back on me. Her blonde hair bounced as the sound of her heels hit the floor, and she was gone.

My memories shift. "Lilly!" My best friend runs toward me. Cathy and I, were around the age of eight I was living in the Mathews home, my second foster home. "Hi Cat!" I reply. She embraced me with her welcoming arms. She released and her smile went slack. "Lilly, are you okay?" I honestly had felt fine. But I hadn't looked at myself in three weeks. "Come inside." She said. We walked into her house and she got a mirror as I sipped on my juice box.

She hands me the mirror. "Gosh." I gasp. My hair was in tangles and my face had scars and bruises plastered on it. "You haven't seen the worst part." She shows me my stomach. It was pouched out from hunger and dehydration. "Lilly. Do you need help? Is everything okay?" "No." I tell her about how I had spent the last few days battling these things that looked liked monsters. "Nobody has beloved me." I burry my head. "Do you?" She thinks this over. "I'm not sure. But I am sure that you need help. Lets go talk to my mom."

It shifts again. My "Forever Mom" is signing the adoption papers. "Ma'am, I have to warn you," "Yes?" "I'm kind of dangerous." She laughs her short laugh, that she'd give only so often. "My precious child, whatever happens now, we are going through it together."

"Lilian. I am sorry to tell you this but, you have been diagnosed with lung cancer."

I return to the present and see my devil teacher staring down at me. "Foolish demigod!" She swipes her talons at my throat. Blood flows down my neck and into my leotard. "No! I don't know what you're talking about! Please let me go!" I plead. She chuckles. "As if I would take pity on a daughter of Aphrodite! All you children of her, are little spoiled, pretty, ditsy, brats!" I shake my head. "Wait. I might not know who my mother is, but I know for a fact that she is NOT the goddess of love."

She laughs again. "Never mind that. You are only merely postponing your death." She lunges and her teeth almost glow yellow. My legs can barley move, my whole body shakes madly. Think, think, think! I tell myself. Madame is sensing that I'm afraid, I can tell. But I mean, wouldn't you be afraid if you're ballet teacher started attacking you? I hear a small ding. On the floor is a small whistle. I pick it up quickly and do something really stupid. I blow it.

Now when I say I blew it, I don't mean it gave a little tweet. No, it gave a shrill, ear drum bursting, sharp whistle. Madame's hands went to her ears. "Make it stop!" She screamed. Her face was turning redder. "No. Not until you promise to leave me alone." I demand. She laughs. "Never." I blow the whistle again. This time, it giving a piercing, even worse noise. "Fine." She says. "Just one last thing." She slashes my chest in just the right spot. Then a dagger appears in her hand, and she cuts a major artery in my forearm. "Farewell young demigod!" She says, right before she turns into a golden dust.

My vision starts to go black but I force myself to stay conscious. I try to remember all I can about Greek mythology. I remember Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades are the three main gods. I remember one of the goddesses, Artemis. I had read in a mythology book one time that Artemis had no children, but she had hunters. They were her maidens. They were immortal. "Maybe I can try..." I mumble to myself.

I recite the pledge. "I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis." Then I finish the pledge and wait. I didn't know if the goddess of the hunt was supposed to pop up herself or if I was going to be vaporized or if nothing was going to happen. In that case, I was going to die either from my huge gash in my arm or when the cancer would spread to my lungs.

Then all of the sudden, a arrow shoots through the window to the left of me. A group of young girls in silver step around the broken glass. The eldest steps before me. She wears a silver headband across her forehead that looks like a tiara. Her electric blue eyes sparkle.

"Sorry we're a little late." She gestures toward a younger girl with auburn hair. "Lady Artemis, wanted to meet you herself." The young auburn haired girl nods. "Hello young demigod. I am very pleased to have you as one of my huntresses. You made a very wise decision." I gulp. "You... You're Lady Artemis? Like the goddess of the hunt?"

Serythinghe points to the girl with the electric blue eyes. "Thalia here," She gestures back to the other girl. "Can explain everything"