Ehno glanced over at the woman sitting alone. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of him since he approached her for her order. It wasn’t unusual for people to come to the cafe on their lunch break and order only a coffee. Usually, they reviewed emails, documents, or stared at their phone while they enjoyed a moment to themselves. But she had her elbow on the table, her chin in her palm, and she was staring at him with a smirk.

He couldn’t be sure if she was flirting with him. He was never very good at picking up on those sorts of things. He supposed she was cute. Her hair was a bright red, and it fell in big waves around her shoulders. Her facial features were sharp, and she almost reminded him of a mermaid. If he were interested in women, he probably would have asked her out.

Despite that, he did feel some sort of… connection to her. He couldn’t be sure what it was. Not attraction. Familiarity, perhaps. A comforting feeling, even, as if he were seeing a sister or a good friend he hadn’t seen in a long time. He racked his brain in case they had met at one point, but no memory came to mind. 

He returned to her table with her coffee. She watched as he set it down in front of her, speaking before he had a chance to leave.

“Ehno, right?”

“Yeah.” He hesitated. “Do we know each other?”

She smiled. “Not yet. I’m Cancer.”

He blinked at her for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Uh. My grandmother had that.”

She laughed. “No, I don’t have cancer. My name is Cancer.” She winked at him.

His brows furrowed. “Your name is Cancer?”

“Yup!”

“Oh.”

“You know, like the crab?”

“Crab?”

“The Zodiac sign?”

“Oh.” His lips pursed. “I’m a Cancer, too.”

“I know.” She paused to sip at her drink. “I’m your Cancer.” She laughed. “That sounds so ominous, right?”

Ehno hesitated. “I… do you need anything else?”

“Oh, come on, Ehno, lighten up! Artemis told ya I was coming, yeah?”

“Artemis?”

“Yeah, that voice in your dreams.” She wiggled her fingers at him. “You’re not crazy. That’s why I’m here now. Tracked ya down and now we can get to work.”

“How do you…”

“I know everything. I’m your Ouranos! We got that bond, right? You’ll see. We’re gonna be best friends. I’m here to protect you and make sure we get out of all this alive. I won’t let ya down!”

“Protect me?”

“You know, from the war with the Gigantes.” She rolled her eyes. “Artemis already told ya all this! We gotta go find the other eleven if this is gonna work.” Her voice lowered slightly, speaking mostly to herself. “I wonder if they had any better luck than I’m having? Should I have stayed like a crab?” She glanced at him. “Would you prefer it if I looked like a crab? I can do that. I don’t like to be. This body is much more fun.”

Ehno said nothing, inspecting the woman carefully.

Cancer stood, taking her coffee with her. “I’ll let you get back to work. But I’ll be around. We can discuss it more later.” Without another word, she waved a hand over her shoulder and left the cafe. 

His gaze lingered on the door for a moment before he turned to tend to the other patrons. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he should have known who she was. That she was once an important person to him, like a very close friend. Never mind the fact that she had known about the strange dream he had had several nights okay. He never told anyone about it.

He spent his break with his nose buried in his phone, searching the internet for Artemis, the Olympians, and the Gigantes. Each webpage confirmed most of what he had been told; information that he had no knowledge of prior to the dream and Cancer’s arrival. But it was all just ancient myths, wasn’t it?

It was late in the afternoon when his shift was over, but he hadn’t forgotten about the strange redheaded woman’s appearance earlier that day. He slid his arms into his hoodie, zipping it loosely before stepping outside. As she promised, Cancer was waiting, and Ehno jumped when he saw her. 

“Oddio!” he barked in surprise. When he regained himself, he rolled his eyes and started walking down the street.

Cancer jogged to catch up with him. “Did you forget about me?”

“I was trying to,” he muttered.

“Like you were trying to forget about what Artemis said?”

Ehno sighed. “Yes.”

Cancer poked at his arm. “It sounds like you’re a believer.”

“I’m not.”

“Then how can I convince you?” she started, then grinned as an idea came to her. “Want to see me as a crab?”

“A what?”

Cancer grabbed his arm and pulled him into a dim alleyway, taking cover in the shadow. For the moment, they were unseen.

When she let him go, Ehno opened his mouth to argue with her, but his eyes widened as he watched her morph into a crab. The crab snapped its claws at him, then scuttled over to him. Ehno yelped and jumped backward until he was pressed against a wall. The crab turned back into the redheaded woman, just inches from his face, and she leaned in and grinned at him.

“You know,” Cancer started. “You can do some nifty stuff like that, too. I’ll show ya how! But you can only do it when I’m around, see. It’s part of our… partnership!”

Ehno slipped under her arm and walked briskly toward the street with Cancer on his heels.

“You can’t hide from me, either,” she said. “I always have a pretty good idea of where you are. It’s part of that bond, yanno? I’m basically a part of you. So you might as well accept this all because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Well,” Ehno started. “I’m going home, and you’re not coming with me.”

“Fine,” Cancer said. “I’ll go be a crab somewhere for the night. See ya tomorrow!”