A/N: Hello there! This is just a Zarter one-shot that I got an idea for, then decided to write for the Zarter contest. Carter and Zia are both 14 years old in this.

Warning: This is post-Throne of Fire and therefore contains spoilers. If you haven't read ToF, read at your own risk.

Disclaimer: I'm saving up to buy The Kane Chronicles from Rick Riordan, who currently owns the series and characters. So, I don't own it, but I will soon! MWAHAHAHA

The morning of that day, I was making waffles. A lot of waffles. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many syrupy breakfast meals twelve magician trainees can eat in one sitting.

As we sat down to our plates, I found myself looking at Zia. Her jet black hair was tangled up from a night of sleep and her eyes still looked sleepy, but I couldn't help but feel something glowing whenever she looked my way. She was wearing her nightgown that was a little see through, and when she bent down to her plate, I could- No, that was not helpful. The gods knew just what Zia would do to me if she knew about that. Besides, I still had something I had been waiting to ask her, something that I wouldn't get to say if she used her angry magic on me.

Suddenly Sadie cried out, "Penguin on the loose!" I looked up and saw what appeared to be a deranged penguin trying to rip off Walt's necklace and eat it for breakfast.

Walt was looking really frightened. "When I said these were lucky charms, I didn't mean they were cereal!" he kept saying.

"Felix!" I cried out and rushed over to them. Good thing I'd had plenty of practice sending Felix's penguins away. The black and white bird squawked in protest, but I was able to get it away from Walt without causing any harm.

Walt rubbed his necklace and looked at me gratefully, then ran as far away as he could from Felix.

"They aren't mean penguins, Walt," he called after him from the table. "They just don't like you, that's all."

Soon, all the waffles were gone and everyone began to leave. Zia stood up to go, but I gently put a hand on her shoulder, making her turn to face me. Her dark eyes met mine and my heart skipped about seventeen beats (no exaggeration). Everything I had wanted to say about our growing friendship and life together flew out the window, and what came out of my mouth was "Um-hi-Zia-do-you-want-to-go-on-a-date-with-me?"

Zia narrowed her eyes. "Say that in English, Carter?"

Deep breaths. No time to get nervous, I told myself. Wait a minute, I already had gotten nervous. So much for that plan.

"What I said was, I want to go on a date with you. At the mall. We could get hamburgers, watch a movie-"

She sighed. "Sadie warned me you might do this," she said.

Sadie what? "What do you mean?"

"Make advances on me. Flirt and raise the question of dating. She said you'd been head over heels for me since my shabti saved your butt at the museum. I'm not all that familiar with American idioms, but I can infer that 'head over heels' means you have feelings for me."

I stood there in surprise for just a moment. Of course Sadie knew how I felt about Zia, but I had no idea she would tell anyone, much less Zia herself.

"Well, um, could we go as friends?" I said. "It's called a 'not-date'. We do the same things that we would do on a real date, but with nothing romantic happening."

Zia smiled and replied, "Okay, Carter Kane. I will go on a not-date with you at the mall. If it makes you happy, of course."

Believe me, it did. However, I could still see Zia's face the day I rescued her from the Red Sands, telling me that she didn't know me. I could only hope that this date- sorry, not-date- would change that.

I let Zia pick the movie. Luckily for me, she's not the kind of girl who watches chick flicks. Admittedly, I probably would have watched Dora the Explorer standing on my head if that's what she chose, but I was glad when she picked an adventure movie instead.

We sat down with our popcorn, donned our 3D glasses, and waited as the movie started. It was some movie where a group of hikers in the Amazon have to survive in the wild after their guide gets eaten, and both of us were enjoying it. I had to fight the urge to wrap my arm around her every time something jumped out at us, but I knew I couldn't. This was a not-date, after all.

The characters were trapped in a downpour, trying to find shelter under a giant leaf. A huge gust of wind blew the leaf away and made the raindrops come flying out towards us. Suddenly, I realized that it wasn't just the 3D. There were actual droplets coming at us, splashing in our faces. They came at us harder and harder until it was like a wave hitting us, then they suddenly stopped. Some guy in the back yelled out, "Dude, these 3D effects are totally epic!"

I opened my eyes to see someone standing in front of us. The figure was human from the neck down, lean but muscular. The head was the unusual part- a lioness with pointed ears.

"Greetings," she said with just a trace of a sneer it her voice. Wait, can lions sneer? I'm not sure. "I am Tefnut, goddess of moisture and rain."

"Um, did you say Tough-nuts?" I said. Smart, Carter.

The ears leaned back like an angry cat's. Zia whispered to me, "It's Tefnut, genius. Daughter of Ra. Ringing a bell?"

Now I remembered. Before all the other gods, Ra created Tefnut by spitting her out of his mouth. So, not only did she have the weirdest name ever, she also had the weirdest birth.

The goddess continued. "You two are the young magicians who woke my father from his sleep, aren't you." It was more of a statement than a question. Not waiting for us to answer, she added, "I can't let you do that, my darlings."

Zia stood up, making the group of teenage guys behind us wave at her to sit down. "In case you haven't noticed, it's a little late to try to stop us. Ra has already taken his place again."

"You don't get it, younglings," Tefnut snapped. "Ra is too old and foolish to do his job anymore. It's time for someone else to step up. Not me, of course, but I have friends in many places."

The part of me that was still connected to Horus screamed, Beat this lady up right here, right now! Apparently, Horus didn't care that she was his grandma. A grandma who could kill me, as well.

"Let me take Ra from his throne. It will be better this way, and you know you wouldn't want to make a goddess angry," Tefnut whispered. "Kane, you are more powerful than any magician I've seen in a long time. Help, or there my be problems for both you and this young lady..."

It was madness, but I couldn't let her hurt Zia. "This sure won't be the first time I've made a goddess angry," I growled. "Bring it on, Tough-nuts."

She roared, then turned into full lion form and pounced at Zia. I grabbed my bag from the Duat, trying not to listen to the screams of terror from the mortals or the cries of "This is the best 3D movie since Avatar!" from that guy in the back. With my wand, I climbed onto the back of my seat and jumped towards them, knocking over Tefnut but also hitting Zia in the process.

"Are you insane, Carter?" Zia hollered.

I yelled back, "If I wasn't, do you think I'd be doing this?" Pointing my wand straight at Tefnut, I cried out a word in Egyptian. A glyph appeared on her chest, and she disappeared in a spray of dew.

Zia saw what had happened. "The glyph for 'vaporize'. Nice move, Carter."

"You're safe now," I told her just as I realized we weren't safe at all. The ushers and their security guard buddies were coming towards us. Zia stood up and pulled me to her side, putting a glamour over us so no one could see us. We ran out of the theater laughing our heads off and didn't stop until we saw the food court.

Over a calorie-laden meal of hamburgers, fries, and Oreo milkshakes, Zia and I chatted like any two just-friends teenagers would after a crazy lion invaded the theater. Zia started to get this faraway look in her eye, like she was wondering about something.

I asked what was on her mind, and she said, "Fighting Tefnut in the movies, I couldn't help but feel like, um...well, I don't really know how to say this. It was like a feeling of deja-vu. It's crazy, of course, because I've never done anything like that before, but-"

She stopped and looked straight at me. "I just now noticed how familiar you look to me."

"You see me every day, Zia," I said to her. Was she remembering something important?

She quietly said, "I'm thinking of something I see from a museum. There are scorpions, and a goddess, and-" She sat bolt upright. "And you! You were there."

I was just now figuring out what was happening. The shabti had been sending memories to her after all, but she was just now remembering them.

"You're being attacked and I know I have to do something, because I can tell that you're important. I also think that you're kind of cute, even if you are a little stupid." Her eyes lit up and she said, "I do know you after all, Carter Kane."

I'd been waiting for this to happen for what seemed like forever. She came over to my side of the table and whispered in my ear, "You know, this doesn't have to be a not-date anymore." Zia put a hand on my shoulder and put her lips to mine. After a few seconds, we pulled apart. The kiss seemed both hours long and much too short.

I didn't know what to say, so I told her, "Your lip gloss tastes good."

She laughed out loud and said, "We should do this more often."

"You mean, get attacked by crazed goddesses?"

"I was talking about the kissing part, but the attack thing works too."

The next day, we sat on the couch watching TV. At first, we were sitting on opposite cushions, but we ended up with our arms around each other's shoulders. She was my girlfriend now, after all.

The doorbell rang, and I went over to unlock the door. Standing there was a teenage boy with black hair and brown eyes wearing a band tee and skinny jeans.

"Do you happen to know where Lady Kane is?" Anubis asked. "I'd like to speak with her for a minute."

I said, "She's in the training room, but I would watch out for her if I were you."

His mouth pursed. "What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying, she's been head over heels for you ever since you talked with her in the Duat last winter. She might try to make advances on you."

Anubis leaned forward, looking curious.

"She might flirt or raise the question of dating, or maybe do something else. The main point is, don't be surprised if you end up going on a not-date with her that ends with you two making out."

The god nodded. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He walked out to the training room.

Ah, revenge was sweet.