Chapter Text
Cassandra would never consider herself spontaneous. In fact, she was one of those people who had a whole ten year plan for herself with backup plans amongst backup plans within it. She found safety of this she could control and account for. Yet here she was at a pub with a friend she only knew for a couple months back in undergrad.
So it was a bit surprising when she got a text from an old friend from UC Berkeley demanding that they celebrate her return to the UK. They only hung out a couple of times, such the way people who only met due to being friends of friends yet they did click. Her ongoing personality was easy to get along with and Cassandra was a good listener.
It was only when she got the text did she remember informing her that she was going to be living in London. While Aisha had practically informed her that they will be hanging out to make up for the year she spent away studying in Italy when Cassandra had been at UCL, she had thought those were empty plans. Niceties you give and end up forgetting.
So that was how she found herself awkwardly sitting alone at a crowded sports bar, her thoughts getting drowned out whenever the crowd of people started screaming at the soccer, well football here, coverage.
She was hit by a wave of as it had been years since they last spoke and while they were on good terms, people changed. She changed. What if that connection and the ease of conversation was gone leaving them in an awkward mess?
Cassandra disliked several things, she loathed awkward silence and wooden conversations. She already had a hard time reading people, spending hours with someone she couldn't gauge at all would be a nightmare.
Or worse, what if she didn't come at all and she found herself alone in a bar with an ever growing headache from the loud energy radiating from the majority of people here.
As the pit of anxiety grew, she took another sip of her Tom Collins. She glanced at one of the many TVs just in time to see one of the soccer players miss the shot to the goal earning a wave of groans from the patrons before returning to her phone. She swiped through Twitter, quickly reading the multiple anti-Avengers meme threads that she usually found herself pursuing.
It was only when she felt two hands on her shoulders did she jolt upwards.
Apparently she misjudged Aisha as she was there looking down at her with a large smile, a smile that only seemed to brighten the room. Her long dark brown hair cascaded down her shoulders in loose waves, the corners of her smokey eyes were crinkled as she smiled.
"Jesus Christ you scared the shit out of me," Cassandra said lightly with a smile as she got up to hug the shorter woman.
"Sorry," she laughed, "You were just so concentrated on your phone."
Cassandra merely shrugged in agreement, clicking her phone off as she returned to her seat.
Despite the years apart, Aisha didn't seem to change much. She still radiated confidence and her sense of style, given by the slick dress that hugged her curves perfectly, was still on point.
"Bloody hell," she muttered as she took the seat across from her, "So bloody packed in here, feels like I'm at the zoo."
Cassandra nodded her head slightly to the TV. Aisha followed her gestured and made a sigh of acknowledgement. "Yeah that would explain it. Bloody madhouse whenever football comes on." She turned her attention back to Cassandra, "I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you were at UCL. Was kicking myself for a bit."
"It's fine," she waved off her apology, "Besides I was too busy in the program to do much. How was Italy?"
"Beautiful," she replied with a smile, "Beautiful weather, food, people, landscapes. You would've loved it."
Cassandra found herself agreeing with her, "Maybe I will visit when I have time."
Aisha nodded her head vigorously, snapping her fingers toward her. "We'll make a trip out of it yeah? I was stuck mostly in Rome so we should just travel the whole bloody boot."
Cassandra laughed and nodded her head, "And how was the school?" She raised her eyebrows.
She shrugged, "It was fine. The experience always makes it worth it." She glanced around before clicking the roof of her mouth and shifting her eyes back to Cassandra, "How about you? Catch me up with everything girlie. You can't just make a move from across the pond and leave me hanging on what went down."
It was a relief to Cassandra that their rhythm of their friendship had not disappeared over the past several years. Time felt like it barely passed as they exchanged stories.
"And I swear we spent two hours trying to break into our car. I was like bloody hell I don't even have my passport if we get caught I'm fucked."
"Did you guys eventually get the door unlocked?"
She nodded, "Yeah, someone went to their dorm and gave Jen one of those metal clothing hangers," she leaned back in her chair, "I think some of the other students were filming us from their rooms."
Cassandra let out a snort and finished of her Tom Collins. "It is a miracle no one called the cops on you two morons. I gotta say, my time at UCL was not nearly as eventful"
She snorted, taking a sip of her water before snapping her fingers, "Shit, did you see what happened to the sky? With the stars moving and all that."
Cassandra nodded, how could she forget. She remembered texting some of Hecate's children asking them if they knew why the mist wasn't working. She never got an answer to that.
"Honestly, weirder things have happened."
Aisha nodded, "Touché," she agreed, the unspoken topic of the Blip in the air causing a tension between them. Aisha took another bite of her fries, wincing slightly while Cassandra just turned her attention to the TV. Her eyes barely focused on the screen as she tried to calm her breathing. She was still here, she reminded herself, here and whole.
The Blip was always a sore talking spot, that was the one fact that never changed. Cassandra knew that she should go to therapy, but she felt pushing herself in her research and study was fine enough. And it was, anything to keep her thoughts from straying back to-
Aisha cleared her throat, ripping Cassandra from her thoughts. "You mentioned getting a job, where exactly?"
"Oh, at the British Museum. Probably helped that I spent a good time there during my masters?"
Aisha's eyes widened, "Holy shit congratulations! Gotta say that is like…my second favorite Museum."
"Natural History?" She guessed, smiling when Aisha nodded her head. "They weren't hiring."
"So how does this fit in your life plan?"
Cassandra took a sip of her strawberry daiquiri that she ordered. "Make money, get experience, apply for either the Masters of Archaeological Science at Oxford and Cambridge, maybe apply for the DPhil in Biological Anthropology at Cambridge if I'm feeling it."
Aisha let out a whistle, "Jesus. You know I wonder how much better my life would be if I planned as much as you."
Cassandra snorted, "Just give yourself anxiety my friend."
Aisha laughed before sobering up, "And…you are doing okay right?"
She scrunched her nose, "Do I radiate the vibe of feeling like shit? You're the second person to ask me that."
Aisha gave her a pointed look, "That's not answering the question."
"I'm doing fine," she avoided her stare, "As fine as I always am," she amended.
Aisha sighed, "I know we weren't the closest back in California. But…" she trailed off, pausing for a moment, "but if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here."
"Thank you."
"I mean it Andy," Aisha grabbed her hand, "Especially since you switched countries. Which is ballsy as hell by the way, I don't even think I could do that."
Cassandra raised her eyebrows, "You literally stayed in multiple countries for months on end."
"Yeah, but that is different from permanent relocation. I don't know if I could leave my family behind."
Cassandra let out a sharp exhale, not one of anger but at sardonic amusement. She bit her tongue before she could make any comment on how it is easy to do so when your family is dead.
It seemed that Aisha figured out where her train of thought went as she put her face in her hand. "I'm sorry," she muttered.
Cassandra let out an actual laugh this time, "It's fine," she saw the skeptical look on her friend's face, "Really it's fine. At least I don't have to worry about texting my parents everyday to remind them I'm not dead or something."
"Andy," Aisha groaned.
"Unless…is praying like dead people texting?"
Aisha let out a small laugh before groaning again. "Stop it," her words came out weak.
Cassandra shook her head but relented anyway.
"Fine, fine. Are you getting closer to graduating? Or are you procrastinating going to law school?"
Aisha snorted, "I'll have you know I have one more semester. Not everyone finishes early like some people," she gave her a playful glare, "Some people like taking their time."
"I don't blame you, law school sounds like a migraine ready to happen."
"Fucking right? I can already feel my soul crippling and wasting away at the thought."
"Gotta make that money somehow, that is capitalism baby."
"Cheers to that," she raised her glass of water as Cassandra picked up her near empty glass of her strawberry daiquiri.
"Okay, enough about school shit, I refused to be stressed on my night out," she leaned forward her eyes turning suggestively making Cassandra frown. "Any hot dating stories you haven't shared?" She wiggled her brow.
Cassandra snorted and shook her head, "It is as existent as your law degree."
Aisha gaped at her, kicking her under the table causing Cassandra to snicker. "Oh come on, it was a perfect opportunity."
She rolled her eyes and pouted, "But seriously though, nothing?"
"You know I don't date or do relationships in general." She left out the part that there wasn't really a point in dating when one's life expectancy was rarely expected to make it past thirty. While being a legacy probably made passing twenty less impressive, she wasn't holding her breath on making it to thirty or even twenty nine.
Besides she just got over the constant feeling of guilt and paranoia that came with opening herself up to friendships with people outside of either Camps. Not completely, but enough for her to consider friendship with them. Enough to lock away the thoughts of her existence putting them in harm's way to the back of her mind for a while at least.
"Well…it doesn't have to be a relationship," Aisha said slyly. Cassandra couldn't hide her impulsive reaction of disgust, but at least it brought out a laugh.
"Okay, next time we are going out clubbing, yeah. See if we can find any cute men, maybe even some women."
Cassandra pinched the bridge of her nose but decided not to say anything. Instead she ordered two tequila shots.
"You do know I don't drink," Aisha pointed out.
"Yeah, they're for me as a reward for putting up with this conversation."
Aisha merely smirked, "Your hangover tomorrow."
Cassandra merely raised the shot glass.
The hangover the next morning wasn't awful. The hit that paying for all her drinks did to her wallet hurt the most.
She really did not want to leave her apartment. In fact she really just wanted to stay in her pajamas and watch some youtube video essays while wasting away. However, she knew if she didn't turn in those employment papers she would keep putting it off.
The cold water against her face woke her up slightly. Glancing into the washroom mirror to see Devin watching her silently, now that woke her up completely.
"Fucking hell," she stalked out of the bathroom as she shook her studs soaked hands from the repeated handwashing, "I would say wear a bell but…"
"Ha ha ha," Devin said dryly.
Cassandra walked into her closet, picking out the first pieces of clothing she found, "How was Ireland?"
"Relaxing," they mused. Cassandra hummed as she put on her sweatpants. "I stumbled upon Dagda," they continued. Cassandra paused as she held her simple plain t-shirt in her hands. "Oh?" she winced as she slid the t-shirt on and grabbed two random socks.
Devin hummed, "He wants you to visit, sooner rather than later I would think."
Cassandra closed the closet door behind her, tilting her towards them. "Yeah, something about wishing that one of his descendants would spend more time with him?" Their voice raised slightly, causing her to wince.
She let out a weak and forced laugh as she put on her wristwatch, glasses and rings, "Oh? I didn't tell you? Whoops."
They followed her out of the bedroom, "Yeah whoops," their tone grew angrier, "What the hell?"
"It's not that big of a deal," she grabbed all the filled out work forms, skimming them over to double check that she signed everything.
"The fact that there are Celtic Gods or the fact you are related to one of them?"
Cassandra didn't respond and pursed her lips, she wasn't really sure how to.
Devin spoke her name sharply, causing her to flinch. She slapped her hands on the kitchen table.
"Both, neither, I…" she was at a loss for words. She turned around, leaning on the table as she grasped the papers tightly.
"I only found out during the field school in Ireland," she admitted softly refusing to look up at them, "And honestly if Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods exist. Why not Celtic? I wouldn't be surprised if there were more."
"You didn't think to tell me?"
She didn't have to look up at them to see the hurt that they felt, it was practically oozing from their words.
"I didn't even want to think about it," she admitted, "If I was his kid I would've, but well I wasn't. Just something from the family lineage that doesn't matter, besides I'm not obligated to tell you."
They didn't respond.
"Devin?" She glanced up to see that she was now alone.
"Fuck," she hissed under her breath, the headache she woke up too felt stronger and the guilt that was twisting her stomach made her feel sick.
She didn't want to leave her apartment. She just wanted to crawl in bed and sleep the day away.
She left anyway.
Entering the British Museum only lifted her spirits up slightly, yet each step she took felt like she was moving in quicksand. The only thing keeping her moving was the fact it was going to be a quick visit. Then she could go and sulk back in her apartment.
Her mental planning of what she would watch when she got back was derailed when she heard someone call out her name.
She stopped walking, glancing around in the direction of the voice only to find the warm eyes and smiling face of Steven in the gift shop. He was waving at her by the books that he must've been shelving. His wave grew weaker as if he was doubting himself for even speaking.
She took a deep breath and forced a smile on her face as she walked towards him.
"Hey Steven," she tried to keep her tone light but even she could hear the tiredness in her voice.
His brows furrowed, "You alright. You seem…" he trailed off, but she didn't need him to finish. She already knew how she must look.
"Yeah I'm fine." He didn't look convinced and she was wondering if she was giving off some concerning vibes if this question was going to continue to be thrown at her. "Really Steven I am. Just," she waved her hand, "Cousin drama. It will blow over." Hopefully, she added mentally.
Steven nodded his head, softly saying "Ah."
"Yeah."
He stared at her for a moment. It wasn't one that would have usually made her feel uneasy but instead it merely seemed he was in deep thought.
"Your books haven't arrived yet," he blurted out.
Cassandra smiled, "Yeah, I know. I'm just here," she waved the papers in her hand slightly, "Turn in some paperwork before actually starting."
He flushed slightly, "Ah yes that would make sense," he paused for moment and shuffled his feet, "Uh are you…busy or anything today?"
She gave him a curious look and shook her head, "I'm free as a bird."
"Brilliant. I was wondering, now you don't have to but would you want to grab some lunch with me? When I am on break yeah?
She blinked. Now that wasn't something she expected.
Before she could reply he quickly added on, "Not like a date or anything," he winced, "Not that going on a lunch date would be bad or anything but more like so you can try some of the food here. Before you start your first day. Actually maybe-"
She really wasn't hungry.
"That sounds nice," she cut him off, "When's your lunch?"
"Uhh…one thirty."
Cassandra nodded, "Yeah that works. Should I meet you outside the gift shop or…"
Steven nodded his head, "Yeah yeah, that would be aces."
Cassandra finally felt some of the tension leave her and she suddenly remember something, "Oh, you can call me Cassandra if you want."
Steven gave her an odd look.
"It's a nickname I got at camp back home. It's gotten to the point where most people use it instead of my actual name," she explained, playing with a loose curl awkwardly.
His eyes widened in understanding as he nodded his head.
"Cassandra," he tested out the name. It sounded nice with his accent she noted. "Is there a story behind that?"
Cassandra nodded, snorting at the memory, "A story for another day, I kinda have to," she shook the papers again, "turn these papers in."
"Oh right, of course. Later gator."
She smiled, "In a while crocodile." She gave him a small wave as she walked off to Dr. Woodrow's office. Her steps felt slightly later than before.
She glanced at the time on her phone. About an hour and thirty minutes. She probably would be slightly hungry by then.
Dr. Woodrow's office seemed to have gotten more cluttered than the last time she was here. It was actually pretty impressive to see the amount of papers, files, and books a small office could hold and still be useable.
"Sorry for bothering you Dr. Woodrow but," she handed the paperwork to her.
"Ah it is no big deal, I'm glad you turned these in early actually. Makes my life easier."
Cassandra nodded.
"Do you have anything planned today?" Dr. Woodrow continued.
Cassandra felt herself smile at the question.
"Just lunch with a friend in about an hour and a half."
Dr. Woodrow nodded, her long ash blonde hair escaping the messy ponytail. "If you want, Dr. Anthony is here. He can give you a brief tour of the research facility."
Cassandra's eyes widened, "Yes that would be great."
Dr. Woodrow smiled, "Perfect," she stood up and opened the door for her. Cassandra followed her through the building, glancing through the multiple office windows to see offices in varying shades of disorder. At least she was also surrounded by people with bad organization skills.
Eventually they arrived to the lab, Dr. Woodrow unlocked the door and led them inside.
"Dr. Anthony," she greeted, catching the attention of a middle aged man in a lab coat.
"Dr. Woodrow," he said with a smile. He turned towards her, his bright blue eyes glancing at her in confusion before a look of realization crossed his face.
"The new assistant curator?" He guessed.
Cassandra smiled politely and nodded her head as she introduced herself with her full name. "Though," she added, "You can call me Cassandra. Everyone does really."
He nodded his head, "Cassandra it is," he looked at Dr. Woodrow, "I'm going on a limb to assume you want me to give her a tour."
Dr. Woodrow nodded, "If you have time."
He smiled, brushing his fingers through his dirty blonde hair. "I can spare an hour."
Dr. Woodrow nodded, "Brilliant," she turned to Cassandra, "Do have a great day Cassandra."
"You as well Dr. Woodrow."
Cassandra followed Drm Anthony through multiple research rooms. From collection care to the department of scientific research to the human remains room. They spent around ten to fifteen minutes in each room, Cassandra listening intently as he explained the processes and work that goes into each area.
As they left the human remains research room he turned his head slightly to her, "I must say, you joined at a great time."
Cassandra glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "Really?"
He nodded, opening the door for her. "Mmhmm, we have a new shipment to analyze coming from Cairo. From what I recall, they contain artifacts and remains from the Ptolemaic period."
She hummed, her eyes brightening slightly. "They aren't going to do the analysis in Cairo? The Cairo Museum?"
He lowered his voice, "Word is that it is due to a safety issue. I'm not completely sure what exactly happened at the field site other than that the Scarlet Scarab got involved. Prevented a lot of bloodshed and theft. Guess they thought shipping it here would keep everything safer."
Cassandra frowned at his words, an unease settling within her. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the growing dread. "Is the Scarlet Scarab a new superhero?"
This time he blinked at her in shock. "You haven't heard about her?"
Cassandra shook her head, "I try to avoid World News. Tends to get depressing."
Dr. Anthony nodded his head in agreement, "Understandable. She showed up around a year ago. A great help preventing relics from getting stolen or being sold on the black market."
Cassandra merely hummed. "When is the shipment coming?"
He glanced upwards for a couple seconds, "In a couple months. Around early to mid October?"
Cassandra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "Why the wait?"
Dr. Anthony also frowned and shrugged, "I'm not completely sure to be honest. I think they are waiting for one more excavation?"
Cassandra nodded, remaining quiet as they continued their tour through the research labs.
She was five minutes late to the gift shop, and that was with speed walking.
"Sorry I'm late," she said quickly when she spotted Steven who was glancing around, "I got pulled into a tour of the facility."
Steven's antsy posture relaxed significantly, "It's alright. How was it?"
"It was interesting. Nice to see where exactly I will be working."
He smiled, "Sounds wicked. Always wondered what goes on back there yeah."
Cassandra shifted the pressure of her legs, her feet starting to grow sore. "So Steven with a V, where shall we eat?"
Steven flushed red again. Cassandra smiled at the sight. Was it rude of her to make him flustered all the time? Probably. Was it fun? A tiny bit.
"Okay," he clapped his hands, "there are several places here that you can eat at. There is the Court Café," he gestured to the other side of the building, "The Pizzeria," he pointed left of the main entrance, "And lastly the Great Court Cafe but uh we would've needed to make a booking."
"...There's a pizzeria?"
Steven nodded, "It is pretty bloody good if I may add."
"Would you be okay going there?"
"If that's where you want to go, of course."
Cassandra nodded, "Lead the way."
She followed him through the crowds, grasping his wrist to prevent herself from getting separated.
"Sorry," she apologized when she felt him stiffen slightly. She went to release his wrist but he turned to her and gave her a reassuring smile.
"It's okay, bloody lot of people here innit?"
She snorted, "Reminds me of the Smithsonian."
"You've been? I always wanted to go see them."
She nodded, "Aerospace and Natural History are tied as my favorite."
He hummed, “When I ever get the chance to go, I’ll make a note of those two.”
It was a short walk to the Pizzeria, which was a quaint sight with probably around twenty to thirty people there. They were seated rather quickly and given a simple menu. Cassandra couldn’t help but smirk at the alcohol section. Of course that was a thing here, might as well be.
After a moment of deliberating, she decided to play it safe and order the Margherita while Steven ordered the Zucchini.
“Vegan?” she asked.
He nodded his head rather sheepishly, “Yes. I hope you don’t mind.”
She gave him an odd look, “Why would I care? Are you going to force me into veganism?”
He looked at her with wide eyes, “What no, I would never.”
“Then why would I mind?”
Steven paused, before shrugging, “Some people aren’t a big fan,” he replied weakly. She glanced at him with a small frown.
“Sounds like you met some assholes.”
He let out a small chuckle and nodded, “Yeah I guess so.”
He went to say something else, but the waiter came back with two pizzas.
“Thank you,” Cassandra said as he placed the pizza in front of her, Steven doing the same.
She glanced around, her eyes landing on an automatic hand sanitizer machine. She held up a finger before walking over to it before making her way back.
"Sorry," she apologized, mostly out of habit, before taking a bite.
Steven shook his head, “It’s aces. Whatcha think?”
Cassandra looked up at him with a smile and nodded her head, “Not bad. Good choice.”
“Thank you,” he chirped, taking a bite of his own. "What brings you all over here? Not that it's a bad thing or anything."
She hummed before responding. "I got my master's here at UCL and I decided I enjoyed the change of scenery. Plus, better health care." Not the complete truth, not a total lie.
Steven nodded his head, "Understandable. Your family was okay with it?"
She took a bite of her pizza, buying her time to figure out how to exactly respond to his question. Wasn't like she could just come out and say that her parents died when she was six. Well, she could but that would be rather blunt.
"Well," she hesitated, "They are always looking down at me."
Steven raised his eyebrows, his ever expressive eyes showing confusion as his face turned into one of puzzlement. Never had she met someone as open and expressive as him, it was refreshing.
She closed her eyes for a moment, before letting out a small amused snort. "Cuz," she pointed upwards and twirled a finger. When the confused and bewildered look on his face stayed she decided to go the blunt route, "They died when I was like six."
Cassandra bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing as she watched how his face turned from one of confusion to one of horror.
"I am so sorry," he whispered, gaping at her, "Oh I gone and mucked this all up. I'm so so sorry, I shouldn't have assumed and-"
"You apologize a lot for things that aren't your fault you know," she said quickly to cut him off from his well intention rambling. "And it's okay, really. Besides, you couldn't have possibly known." She gave him a reassuring smile, his face slowly losing the horrified and guilt-stricken expression.
"I was nervous on the flight," she shifted the topic, "Not a fan of flying though."
"Oh why?"
Because a tempermental god rules the sky and can shoot you down with a lightning bolt.
Cassandra merely shrugged, "Sometimes I am as anxious as a chihuahua I guess."
He let out a laugh, and Cassandra admitted to herself that it was a very nice laugh. Soothing in a way. Perhaps she was just glad he no longer looked like he was the monster that set her childhood home on fire.
The conversation eased into discussing her master thesis on dealing with the evolution of tool use in non-human primates. She liked the way he looked at her, as if she was talking about the most interesting thing had ever heard. Never once did he interrupt her or even seemed bored of the conversation.
He briefly talked about his time working in the National Art Gallery, however she could, he was uncomfortable discussing it, as if thinking about it left a bad taste in his mouth. So she didn't push it, it seemed to her that it was a boundary. Even if he didn't state it outright.
In the lull of their conversation, she saw Steven's eyes drift to her wrist. His eyes widened slightly. "Oh, is that a tattoo?"
Cassandra froze slightly, glancing at her wrist to notice that her wristwatch had lowered enough to reveal the Camp Jupiter marking. Perhaps she should've used the mist to hide it.
Slowly she nodded her head, "Yeah. I got it in honor of the Camp I spent most of my childhood at. It was basically my home."
"Oh," he glanced at it with curiosity, "SPQR," he muttered under his breath so quietly she barely heard it, "What does it stand for?"
Her smile dropped a bit, "Uh it's Latin. Stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus, which translates to 'The Senate and People of Rome'. It was the official logo of the Roman Government."
He tilted his head, "It was a Roman based camp?"
"Yup," she answered truthfully. With a sigh she brought her wrist towards him, allowing him to have a better look.
"What's with the torch and key?"
Shit.
"It was the…section I was part of in the Camp. The tally marks stand for the amount of years I attended."
He hovered over the tattoo, nearly touching it before pulling back. "Did it hurt?"
She scrunched her nose and bit her lip, pulling her hand back to her lap.
"Only a bit." It was ironic that was the boldest lie she told so far.
"Aces," she raised her eyebrows at his exclamation, "Not the pain aspect, but the camp," he quickly recovered, "Must've been a bloody," Cassanda bit the inside of her lower lip to prevent herself from snorting, "fun time yeah? Is that how you got into Roman and Greek Mythology?"
She nodded, taking a bite from her pizza before responding, "Basically."
Steven let out a wistful sigh, "I wish there was one for Egyptian Mythology. I would've loved it as a kid."
Cassandra's mind flashed to the Brooklyn House and the multiple nomes of the House of Life. Steven would've made an excellent magician.
"What brought your interest to Egyptology?"
Steven paused, his eyes glancing at his water glasses for several moments.
"I'm…I'm not sure," he said each word slowly, "It felt like it was always a part of me."
Cassandra hummed, "Yeah, I feel that."
His eyes lit up, "Oh speaking of Egypt," he tapped the table, "I know those books aren't here yet. However, I have at least one book dealing with Egyptian Hieroglyphics. If you want I can give it to you. I have no need for it now. You don't have to though, I just remember seeing it and thought of you. Not in a-"
"That would be great Steven," Cassandra said, "I'd really appreciate it."
"Of course, who am I to prevent someone from the greatness of Ancient Egypt."
She let out a small laugh and leaned back in the chair. "Why do you work at the gift shop?" She couldn't help but ask.
Steven paused, holding his Zucchini pizza piece.
"I mean, why not go for a tour guide position? You have the passion for it."
He sighed, "I was going to," he admitted, "But, I don't have the credentials for it." He avoided her gaze, staring intently at the pizza.
"You should try for the volunteer position. When one opens up."
"You think?"
Cassandra shrugged, "I think you would be great, but how about this. One day, before work or maybe when we have the day off, you give me a tour of the Egyptian areas and I'll give you a tour of the Greco-Roman sections yeah?"
"Really?"
She nodded, "It would be fun yeah? Besides, I like learning new things."
His face lit up and just staring at it made her feel so much lighter. "Yeah, that would be cracking!"
Cassandra glanced down at her watch and frowned. "Uh Steven, when does your lunch end?"
"Two, why?"
She winced, "It's two-ten."
Steven quickly stood up, eyes wide. Yet, he hesitated as if he wasn't sure what to exactly say to her.
"It's all good Steven, I should've paid more attention to the time. Go, run."
He gave her a thankful smile and rushed off.
Cassandra grabbed the plates, clearing the leftover pizza crusts into the trash before making her way back to the main floor.
As she used the automatic hand sanitizer machine, she felt a familiar nauseous feeling grow inside her. The hair on her neck and arms pricked up.
Swiftly she hovered her finger on top of her ring, glancing around the room. Her eyes glanced by dozens of faces until they landed on one, one that nearly made her pressed down on the ring to unleash her gladis.
It was the face of an older woman, her grey brown hair was pushed back into a tight bun. Her skin seemed tight around her face and neck, as if it was stretched painfully over the body. It did not help that her facial features were sharp and angular making it seem like her pale skin was about to tear through the bones.
The woman's eyes turned towards her and Cassandra felt herself freeze in place.
Her brown eyes, unlike Steven's whose eyes were warm and kind, were cold and dull. For a second that reminded her of a doll's eyes with how blank they were.
When a crowd of people cut her eyesight from the off woman, she felt like she could breathe again.
The woman was gone when the crowd left her eyesight. Yet the feeling remained until she left the museum.
Cassandra shook her head, locking away any thoughts of the situation away.
Look down and stay in your line, she reminded herself.
That's all she had to do.