A/N: I have to say I am really enjoying writing this story, and thank you all so much for your support. I do not own PJATO, but I do own any OCS and the story. So as always, please review. –Maiden of the Heavens (MOTH)

Chapter 4

The Daughter of Apollo ran a hand through her choppy neck-length hair. It was still damp from the shower, and ended up sticking up like she had just rolled out of bed and hadn't bothered to rinse away the cold and slick sweat that came from her visions and nightmares. A shudder slid down her spine. She could still smell him in her room, the scent of death and soil; she could still see his dark eyes boring into her soul. She shook her head to clear away her thoughts and pulled on her onyx black skinny jeans; they went with her black t-shirt, with a red stop sign on it, which read in black lettering: STOP HATE! Cassandra yanked on her black and blood-red striped beanie and latched her IPod once again on to the belt of her sword sheathe. She easily could have thumbed through the artists for a certain band, but instead picked the playlist called, Run as Fast as You Can.

With Anodyne Sea pumping in her ears by As I Lay Dying, she hopped from one sock covered foot to the other to pull on her sneakers. She had to get this run in before Aella woke up at the crack of dawn to remind everyone in the house that her ballet recital was this afternoon. The soon to be fourth grader was a damn teacup in the ballet production of Beauty and the Beast; she highly doubted her sister would care if she didn't show up.

Cassandra ran down the sidewalk taking her normal path to the library that was still two miles away, it was a rainy day, the clouds blocking the sun from her view. Rain trickled and splattered onto her face, but she didn't care, the rain was bringing back a memory that she still cherished.

She had been in second grade struggling to read the book Charlotte's Web, everyone in the class was already on chapter four, while she was trying to push her way through the second. It just wasn't fair! Why didn't the other kids see letters all jumbled and messed like she did? Cassandra sighed in frustration and set the book on her nightstand; she cupped her face in her hand and stared at the Snoopy poster on her wall. Octavian was at soccer practice; her and her mother would be going to go pick him up soon. She would rather be playing a sport then trying to get through a stupid book.

She twirled the little loose hair at the end of her braid, and waited for her mother to call her downstairs and into the car, the sooner they picked up Octavian the sooner they would be going out for pizza and then to a movie. She could escape the alphabet soup of words that she trying to get through.

"What's wrong my little peach?" He asked while he laid a hand a comforting hand on her shoulder, and pulled her toward him, so her head was resting on her chest.

"I'm not good at reading, Daddy." She whispered sadly in reply.

The God of Sun and Music ran a hand through his sandy brown hair, a nervous habit, he wished he didn't have.

"Well, what are you good at?" Apollo asked, he found it odd that she never questioned how he would just appear wherever she was.

"I'm good at singing and playing the lyre, oh and poetry." Cassandra answered with a little smile while she counted on her fingers.

The driver of the sun chariot placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "Yes, and you will get better at reading, I promise you that."

The second grader didn't find it odd that her father vanished in a burst of sunlight, nor that she met him every Sunday afterwards to work on her reading skills at the town's local library.

Cassandra shook her head, her bangs now slightly clinging to her forehead with sweat. She had run all the way to the library with music blaring in her ears, but now it was nothing but a low hum of white noise. She pulled out the IPod buds and began to coil the cord around the musical device. She let out an almost content sigh, as she leaned back on one of the library steps, and let the rain drop onto her closed eyelids. She wearily lifted her arm to look at her tattoo, a lyre on top to symbolize her godly parent as Apollo, along with the seven bars that marked the seven years she had lived at Camp Jupiter after Lupa had claimed her worthy and sent her on her way. She had been ten when her mother had decided to send her off to the Wolf House, better to be with your kind then to be causing trouble for mortals. And of course middle of both the lyre and lines was SPR.

Gods, it all seemed like a lifetime ago that she had joined the third cohort in Camp Jupiter, while her brother, Octavian decided to put his teddy bear murdering skills to use. But did she really want to go back and face a life of more monsters and war games that could mean her death? Well, she couldn't really see herself abandoning her cohort, or Camp Jupiter. Even though now that she thought about it more, Octavian would probably tell Reyna and Jason, the Camp praetors that she was currently struggling with an addiction to pain killers and had to go into rehab. Then again, no one at Camp Jupiter really seemed to care about addictions all that much.

The Daughter of Apollo hauled herself to her feet and uncoiled the cord to her IPod buds; she pushed them back into her ears and was about to head back toward home when the skin on the back of her neck began to crawl. Without a second thought, she unsheathed her sword as it pressed against the flesh of Nico di Angelo's neck. Nico only raised his hands up in defense, showing that he was not going for his own blade.

"Geez put the damn sword away." He hissed, as a mother and a child passed them with an armful of books each.

Cassandra glared daggers at him, but obliged with his demand. It didn't help that he was whole foot taller than her. "Why have you been stalking me? I thought that you being in my bedroom last night was nothing but a nightmare…but now, I'm not so sure…"

"I was." Nico cleared his throat nervously. "I needed to talk you. In fact, I still do, but you were so loopy and drugged up last night, it was trying to talk to one of the dead."

Cassandra only raised an eyebrow at the Son of Pluto, had he truly figured out her deepest desire? To be dead then rather to suffer through agonizing visions.

The Daughter of Apollo crossed her arms over chest, and waited for him to continue while annoyance creased her pixie-like features. The Son of Neptune fiddled with the strings on his black hoodie and tried to figure out how he was supposed to tell her what he needed too.

"You've been in my dreams too, but you were carrying a lyre…" He really did not feel like mentioning the part where she was singing in a language that he could not understand, or the fact that her voice was most beautiful he heard in a very long time. Nico nearly wanted to mentally kick himself, as he felt the heat rising in his cheeks.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow and blew the frustration she was feeling out through her nose. "I can play the lyre if that's what you're asking."

Nico continued to nervously fiddled with the strings from his hoodie, he might have been fifteen years old, but he still was not good at speaking with girls, the only girl he spoke with now, was his sister, Hazel.

"I think we're supposed to go on a quest together." Nico replied, as he tried to stop his nervous habit.

The Daughter of Apollo wanted to laugh, she really did. The fact that the one of the Daughters of Apollo and the Son of Pluto would actually be going on a quest together really did seem with ridiculous, but with her own visions practically screaming the truth at her, she knew that it had to be true.

"Well, we can't just go on a quest all gun-ho. I would need to discuss it with the praetors, and they probably won't even go for it." She sighed and made her way down the steps, with Nico trailing after her.

She turned around to face the Son of Pluto once they had reached the sidewalk, "Don't go all sparkly vampire on me, and start watching me when I sleep."

Nico's face scrunched up in confusion. "I am not a sparkly vampire."

Cassandra almost giggled at the expression on his face, but bit it back, and instead put her IPod buds back into her ears, leaving one to dangle free, as Linkin Park now pumped through the speakers. When she turned to speak to Nico again, he was gone.