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prologue ( pre lightning thief )
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MAIA hated running. She always has, and probably always will. Her legs were begging for rest and her lungs felt like two inflated balloons ready to pop. People that she bumped into on the busy street she was running in were murmuring amongst themselves the whereabouts of the girl, trying to call her attention but she looked way too afraid to divert her attention away from whatever she was running from.
Just a bit further, she kept reassuring herself. It was bad enough to have a teeth-blaring monster chasing after you, but what's worse is when no one else could see it but you. Maia turned on a harsh corner in the street she was in and found an easy shortcut to the woods, hoping that it could be a safe place until she gathered enough energy to keep walking.
Maia didn't have a specified destination in mind. She just wanted to get away from her home as quick and far as possible, even if it meant that she wasn't going to be living a life of luxury anymore. She took several steps deeper into the thick woods and found a large tree trunk where she could rest for the meantime, finally letting her small shoulders release all their tension.
Her fingers itched for a specific item inside her glitter backpack, ragged breaths adding to the importance this certain item had to her. Maia left her bag in the grass and brought the item, her inhaler, to her lips. Already knowing the procedure, she took a puff from it and allowed the medine take effect on her. Her lungs didn't feel like they were going to pop anymore, and she could finally relax against the tree trunk and hope that the monster wouldn't come back.
Sometimes her mind brought her back to the guilt of leaving home, but Maia quickly shook those poisoning thoughts away. She was already too far from home — somewhere along West Virginia — and it was too late to turn back now. Maia consistently had to reassure herself that there was nothing to go back to, and that she made the right decision. But, what if she never finds a place to stay?
The sun started to set and the moon was already claiming its territory in the sky, so Maia grabbed a hold of her glitter backpack and used it as a pillow for her to rest in. Hopefully, she could sleep the entire night, unlike the day before, and regain her full energy before leaving. But things didn't exactly go to plan. Maia wasn't sure how much time she'd been asleep before she heard a tree branch snap close to her, but she was certain it wasn't for long.
Jumping in alert and shouldering her backpack, Maia naively raised her balled fists in an attempt to create an intimidating facade. Sure, it hadn't worked the first time she had tried it, but she wanted to do it again. She was too scared to call out into the air, and it was too dark for her to see anything. The only sense she could count on was sound, and she panicked even further when she heard another tree branch snap, this time much closer to her.
"Hi — OW!" A masculine voice had called out, but Maia had been too scared at that point that she threw a punch without looking, which made her hit the boy right in the stomach.
A giggle and an exhasperated sigh were heard amongst the groan of pain from the boy, and instead of giving Maia more fear, it made her confused. This wasn't the sort of reactions she was used to, and surely they couldn't be part of those teeth-blaring monsters Maia was so accostumed to.
"Great job, Luke, you scared the girl," another voice, this time feminine, scolded with a faint amount of amusement in her tone. There were sounds of ruffling from where she was standing, and before she knew it, a flashlight was turned on, finally revealing their appearances.
There were two girls and one boy, all in the same state as she was. Dirty clothes, greased hair, and mud all over their body. The boy, Luke, had blond hair and was taller than Maia, indicating why her punch only hurt him in the stomach. One of the girls had short, ebony black hair and electric blue eyes, also much older. She was the one holding the flashlight and putting her slightly intimidating appearance aside, she seemed friendly. The other girl had blonde hair and grey eyes, but what was curious is that she looked approximately the same age as Maia.
"Are you lost?" the girl with the black hair asked, slowly leaning down to her level.
Maia shook her head. Even if they hadn't attacked her, she didn't trust strangers.
"Did you leave home?" the same girl asked again, but Maia didn't give her a verbal response.
"Hey, it's okay," the boy, Luke, cooed with a gentle tone. He gestured to his friends. "We left home too."
This caught Maia's attention, and her eyes visibly lit up by this. Just the thought of having someone who had certain stuff in common with her was. . .reassuring. "You did?"
All three nodded at the same time, all gentle smiles but different in so many ways. The oldest of the trio shared a look of understanding between themselves, silently drawing to a conclusion with a nod.
"Would you like to come with us?" the blonde girl, who hadn't spoken throughout the whole ordeal, blurted out. A toothy grin was popping in her features, and Maia found herself doing the same thing.
"Are you sure?" Maia found herself asking, self-doubt showing its ugly head into the moment.
"Sure," Luke was the one who responded. "You won't have to be alone anymore."
Maia could only muster a grin of her own in response and a giggle of enthusiasm. Finally, her young mind thought. She will have someone to keep her company after her solitary odyssey. Once the trio realized that she would be joining them, the girls introduced themselves to her as they decided to leave the woods and continue on their long journey. Annabeth, the youngest, seemed to be the most ecstatic since she finally had someone of her own age to keep her company. And Thalia, the second oldest, realized she'd have to figure out a way to conceal her warm look as she saw their newest member happily show off her glimmering backpack.
Maia followed the trio out of the woods and looked up to the shining night sky, to all those constalations she knew the name of, with a toothy smile of her own on her lips as she knew her prayers of having someone to talk to were answered. Her young mind liked to convince itself that someone with a higher power had pushed these new friends of hers into her life, and even years after, she'd still have that thought.
But sure, some would assume that this was the last adventurous encounter Maia would ever have in her life, but just as her at that time, they would be very, very, wrong.
author's note !! omg, hi! it's been a while. don't you think? finally i convinced myself to publish this book after it being in my drafts for so long. i promise this would be the same as the original book, but obviously with a solid plot.
i miss this book and i would do my best to keep updating it, i promise. hope that the people who read the original book find their way back to it lol
