Hey guys, Hecate here. First time writer of Greek myth fanfic, but long time reader and admirer as you can probably tell by the username (even before Percy Jackson- Icarus was my favourite).

Anyways, I was going over one myth not long ago and I liked it alot. I thought about the heroine (because this girl was no damsel in distress) in the twenty first century and here you have it folks; Atalanta. The chapter names (all 6 of them) relate to the real event in the myth, the chapter is Lani's version of that event. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: No idea who wrote Greek mythology (I guess Homer could be thanked on this one for recording it) but it wasn't me.

The Oracle

Lani couldn't help herself, she had to giggle.

"This is stupid," she told her friends.

"Nuh-uh!" Berry said straight away. "There are some actual people who can see the future out there!"

"Maybe, but not on the Internet!"

Arty put her hand on Lani's arm and shot her a look. Berry was disturbingly superstitious, and one did not just go around ruining that for her.

"Okay, fine, click on the stupid link." Lani said. You couldn't even watch people falling off rollercoasters anymore without having the advertisement pop up around your YouTube video. Sheesh.

The page turned blue with the caption:

'Welcome to Queen Marie's free psychic services! Do you have a question?'

Berry turned to her friends.

"Do we?"

"Yes. 'How well do you sleep at night knowing you hoax people?'" Lani said. Arty hit her on the elbow, but thankfully Berry didn't let it bother her. She typed in the search bar.

'Are curses real?'

Lani bit her tongue as Berry clicked on the 'ask Queen Marie' button. She loved Berry like a sister, and that was saying something because Lani's family was messed up and in no need of expansion,- but oh god, sometimes the psychics and good-luck charms and gris-gris nonsense got on her nerves. What kind of a question was that? This was a psychic service- of course the computer program or 43 year old guy on the other end would say 'yes'!

They waited for the page to load while watching a cartoon of a guy tripping on a rock over, and over, and over, and over, and… The response came with a 'bloop' noise.

'You should know. The one in blue should know.'

Lani froze and looked down at her chest. She was wearing a t-shirt from the cross-country competition the sleep-over was celebrating. And yeah, it was blue. So were her PJ bottoms, except for the purple dotts.

"How... How did she know Lani was in blue?" Arty asked.

"Because I told you- she's psychic!" Berry said.

"She didn't, she took a wild guess, or the computer program did. Blue isn't a rare colour to wear." Lani said.

"Yeah, but still!" Berry said. She typed into the bar again.

What do you mean, 'she should know'?

Bloop!

Nobody is better to know the pain of childbirth than a mother- nobody is better to know if curses are real than the one who bears one.

"What? I… I'm not bearing a curse!" Lani spat. "That's stupid!"

But Berry was already typing away as fast as she could.

What's her curse?

Bloop!

It appears she does not know yet… But the curse is heavy- except on the ring finger. The one in blue shall never feel love.

Lani pushed the screen down and shut the laptop.

"Hey!" Berry said.

"It's not funny," Lani said. "It's like horoscopes- they say things that'll apply to anyone. 'You wish you were in better shape', well don't we all? 'You shall never marry'- well one girl out there had that after her heart got broken and now she's going to go all hermit."

"No offence Berry, but I think Lani's right." Arty said. "We should just go to sleep- you've got a practise tomorrow right?"

"Yes," Lani said jumping onboard the excuse, and untying her high ponytail. "And if Mom gets mad, then we're never going to be able to do this again and she won't make waffles tomorrow. I don't feel like eating toast."

Lani settled in her bed, Arty on the bunk above, and Berry where she'd set up the camping bed according to Feng shui.

"Goodnight," Lani said in the dark.

"Goodnight."

Of course it wasn't goodnight, because what sleep-over would that be by their standarts? They whispered until midnight after that, but the question kept haunting at least Berry and Arty.

Blue shirt?