She was playing with her brother, Helenus, when He appeared. All dressed in strange armor different from the one her father would wear. He approached the small child with a smile and she ran to Him, smiling back. Helenus came after her and He lead them to Apollo’s temple, leaving them there to sleep. As they did, two small snakes came from his fingers and licked their ears clean, giving the small children the ability to see the future. “Soon...” He whispered stroking the girl’s hair.

Ten years had passed and Kassandra and Helenus were now 15. And He came again. Leading her to Apollo’s temple still wearing the Greek armour. Again, stroking her hair as she slept. But then it went wrong.

She woke up to see someone sitting on the altar, Apollo’s altar. He smiled at her, and she felt compelled to come towards him. He took her in his arms and she knew who He was. It was Apollo himself, holding her. She couldn’t help but feel safe in His arms but He wanted something else, something she wouldn’t give him and soon the feeling of safety was replaced by fear. She pulled out of His arms and ran, feeling something burn on her shoulder.

Only when she was safe inside the castle walls, she dared to look. There, burned into her, a black jagged sun with strange markings inside it, was on her shoulder. His mark, the mark of the ones he cursed. She felt something inside her snap and a green glow covered her eyes. A hiss came from around her as she opened her mouth to scream. Then everything went black...

I felt bumps erupt on my skin as the thunder sounded like a cannon and looked for the nearest place to get out of the rain & cold. A blue-neon light flashed OPEN two doors down and I ran to it, shutting the door behind me. The scent of fish wafted to my nose and I nearly gagged; the smell was so strong that part of me wanted to run back to the bus stop I just left despite it was raining worse than I ever saw.

"Customer!" A warbling voice shouted, as a bimbo-looking blonde rushed towards me, smiling like she just won the lottery. "Hi, my name's Amphitrite and I'll be your server today." The ditz lead me to a small booth right underneath a giant trident; a fisherman's net hanging from it & dangling in front of my face. "I'll be right back with a menu of today's specials and a plate of free fish bites." She gave that stupid smile again & I looked for an escape.

But, the clatter of thunder that shook the restaurant erased the thought from my mind as the reek of fish burned my nostrils again as a shadow covered the only light in the fish-smelling pit. This day was just getting better and better, wasn’t it.

I rolled my eyes preparing a withering retort for the twittering waitress, but that thought and every other one fled my mind as I saw the cause of the shadow. It was a man, about his early forties, and hot for a guy his age. Like Mark Ruffalo but without the benefit of turning into the Hulk. I hoped. "Sounds like Zeus is pretty mad." He said to me, jerking his thumb towards the ceiling.

Geez, who invited you to talk to me? I thought bitterly to myself, making sure I gave off the surly demeanor that made everyone run off in the opposite direction.

Yeap, there was my reflection in one of those stupid mirrors that idiot restaurant owners put on every top-half of every wall they own. Who wants to look at themselves when they eat? It’s disgusting. Besides, when you scowl as much as me, it turns people off when they see it. What is their obsession with mirrors? I felt my scowl turn to a smirk. Maybe they wanted to catch vampires.

“Shame it’s raining. Makes business slow. Maybe you could talk to Zeus for me? He and I don’t get along as brothers. Or as rulers either.” The man’s voice jerked me back into reality, or was it reality? His form flickered, half between beach shorts and surf top, other times he looked like he was wearing some sort of wreath in his black hair and one of those half-toga, half-grecian gowns.

“Huh?” I cringed at hearing my voice sound weak. God, was there some sort of gas in the air? “Sorry, but I have to go. My dad’s probably freaking out now.” I caught my reflection again and nearly dropped the dessert menu I grabbed from the table. It wasn’t me in the mirror. It was someone else.

But, she wore the same clothes as me. She had the same necklace and birthmark as me.The three apostrophe shapes insides a jagged sun.

But, I didn’t have red hair or blue eyes or snow-colored skin. My hair was raven-black, my eyes a dull grey and I was fairly tan for a person that never left Wisconsin. Who was this person? I blinked, and the person vanished to be replaced with my reflection. Okay, that was weird...

The man nodded and took the menu as I handed it out to him. “Go to the capitol building. He’ll be there.” He whispered as I walked out the door, pulling my jacket over my head as I ran to the safety of the bus stop shelter.

I ducked under the shelter, pulling my jacket back down before pulling out my phone and dialing my mom. She answered on the first ring. “Sweetie, what’s taking you so long? Your father and I have been worried sick!”

Her voice was high pitched and I could suddenly see her standing in front of me. She was wearing the ugly green turtleneck dad bought her and the mom jeans she insists on buying. For some reason she looked distressed and started wringing her hands, holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder.

I blinked, and like the girl in the mirror, the image of my mother disappeared. “Mom?” I asked into the phone, my voice came out quiet and scared. “I’m on my way. It’s still pouring, so the buses are running late. I’ll be there soon, okay?” I checked for the bus again but the road stayed empty. There was a clatter on the phone before it went dead. “Mom?” I asked into it but there was nothing there.

The bus came just as I started to redial. “She probably just hit the wrong button.” I murmured to myself. It was something she did a lot with her new Iphone. But I couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. The shriek of the bus’s brakes brought me out of the feeling of dread and I boarded it.

“That’ll be two dollars.” The driver said as I got up the steps of the bus. I fished the two singles out of my wallet and handed them to him.

“He-” My voice left me as I looked at the driver and nearly dropped the money.

He was drop-dead gorgeous. Like a hundred on a scale of one to ten. Curly gold hair, eyes that matched a cloudless day and a cocky smile that made me blush. I hurriedly gave him the money and started to scurry to a seat. The man grabbed me gently by the wrist and turned me towards him.

"You need to tell me where you need to go." I could feel my face getting redder as his grin became wider.

"Oh, right." I gave him the street road and he let my wrist go so I could go sit down.

"Oh, before I forget," He called back to me as I took a seat towards the back. "What's your name?" His eyes met mine in the mirror and I saw the girl with red hair and blue eyes again. I shook my head to clear the image and it went away when I blinked.

“Kassandra, Kassy for short." I focused on the back of his chair, trying to rid myself of this feeling of nausea. When I glanced up, his eyes flashed darkly at me and he gripped the steering wheel tighter than necessarily.

I watched in silence as his form flickered like the guy from the fish place did. He was in the bus driver uniform, than he was wearing only a olive leaf. This couldn't be happening. I closed my eyes to clear my head but all I saw were visions of a burning building, people running and screaming wearing some type of ancient armor, fighting others and the girl with the red hair and blue eyes standing in the tower of a castle in the middle of the bloodfest. She had her arms out and her head thrown back like she was praying.

Two bodies lay fallen behind her and she was mumbling in some old language I didn't recognize. What was it? Latin? The doors flew open to the room as two men came in, dressed in the weird armor and carrying rope. She didn't see them, her eyes closed.

"Watch out!" I heard myself scream to her. How could she not hear them? They made a great deal of noise, throwing objects that looked like gold into a sack before coming upon her. One grabbed her around the throat and she opened her eyes like she was in a trance.

"You have come as I knew you would. I take it that reasoning with you would have no effect?" Her lips moved, forming different sounds than she was making and I could hear a slight hum of the language she spoke earlier. The man with his hand around her throat put his other hand suggestively lower. When he did that, she yanked his hand off her throat and yelled something, a prayer I think, to Diana? Anger in the man's eyes, he smacked the girl and forced her arms behind her so the other man could bind them with the rope.

"All talk, a prophetess, ha. Not enough fight in her." The second man said. Again, his mouth didn't match his words and I could hear another hum of a different language.

The first man nodded. "Reckon she'll fetch a pretty price, Ajax?"

The man called Ajax laughed and covered the girl's mouth with his. "She'll go back with me, as a spoil of this great war! I doubt Menelaus would object after how well I've fought. Besides, she's a young one and obedient to boot. She'll make a fine addition to my household, don't you think Achilles?"

Achilles threw back his head and let out a bark of a laugh. "I'll let you have the princess this time Ajaxx, but I take the belongings off her person." He answered in the same weird accent as the man addressed as Ajax and reached to remove a golden necklace in the shape of a sun off her.

She lunged her head forward, connecting with Achilles' nose and sending him reeling back. He yelled something and spat on her cheek, grasping her by the hair and glared into her eyes; ignoring the blood that ran down his face. She looked into his eyes and opened her mouth to speak.

"We're here!" The driver called cheerfully, bringing my eyes open and the vision faded. "Thanks." I muttered getting up. As I started up the walk way, I saw the girl with the red hair in the window and ran off the bus, ignoring the man yelling goodbye.

I ran to my house and fumbled with my bag to pull my key out. It came out and fell to the ground with a clatter. I cursed as I knelt to pick it up and shoved it in the lock. "You're not going crazy. You're not going crazy." I muttered to myself as the lock clicked and I walked into the house, feeling something bad had happened. One of my mom's priceless Ming vases was on the floor, now shards of broken clay. "Mom?" I called as I walked through the house. It wasn't like her to not clean a mess up.

She's yelled at me for not using a coaster for a coaster. She's that clean. It's actually kind of crazy. Maybe craziness is heredity. That would explain the hallucinations I was seeing. I spotted my dad's briefcase flung on the living room floor and the feeling of dread increased. He, like my mother, had spots for everything. His briefcase was always put in a slot between the front door and the key table.

“Mom!? Dad!?” I cried as I tore through the house looking for my parents. It was too quiet, even for my family. As I ran past the kitchen, I stopped and peered inside. Someone was screaming, and the blood! There was so much blood everywhere. I could hear the screaming still and it took me a minute to recognize that it was my voice screaming.

My mom and dad were lying on the floor, looking like someone, or something, threw them there. Blood was splattered over the entire kitchen. It pooled around their fallen bodies and I blinked and was back to the girl with red hair in the same place I left.

Her head was cocked at an impossible angle reminding me of the Exorcist and her eyes glowed a bright, evil-looking green. "You dare to steal a priestess of Apollo?"

Her voice came out raspy, like she'd been screaming for days and was losing the ability to speak.

"Some priestess!" Ajaxx shouted, laughing as he yanked the sleeve of the girl's dress off to reveal a mark similar to mine. Three apostrophes with a jagged shaped sun. Except, hers looked it had been branded on, like she was a cow and the mark was a dark red. "Apollo has cursed you!" He laughed again and yanked her hair like Achilles had done. "Why, 'high priestess'" He cried in a mocking tone. "I give you my sincerest apologies."

"Fools!" She cried in the same voice. "Even the cursed of Apollo still have power! Today, you will both die! Remember it! For now, it will come true and you, Achilles, the man who claims to be unkillable, will die at the hands of the man who started this all. As I have foretold it, so it will happen!" She let out a shrieking scream of a laugh and the image faded again.