RECLUSE - (n) a person who lives a solitary life and tends to avoid other people.
MAISIE ELLIOT WAS ANGRY.
Angry at the world.
Angry at the Gods.
Angry at the demigods who seemed to move on too fast.
And when forced onto a quest with three stranger...
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MAISIE WAS NUMB
She had felt like that for a while. To be honest she preferred that feeling over constant misery. The woods soothed her; she always felt comfortable surrounded by the woods. Her feet were silent against the ground, careful to not attract any unwanted visitors. She kicked a rock on the ground; hands in the pockets of her crème colored zip up.
After strolling for a while, she began to hear sticks break behind her. Assuming it was just an animal, she continued, but a little faster now. The cracks followed, and she suddenly felt watched. She ran behind the nearest tree. Pulling her hands out of her pocket, she summoned her axe. She waited until whatever was following her stopped. As she looked for her chance to strike.
LEO VALDEZ COULDN'T SLEEP
Finding out he was half god and falling down the Grand Canyon would probably do that to you. He decided he needed time to relax, and a nice nightly stroll seemed like a good idea.
Leaving the Hephaestus cabin was easy. He feared he would wake somebody up and be thrown back into the lake they dragged him out from. Nyssa had definitely scared him the most.
Sneaking around was not Leo's specialty. He had already fallen twice and knocked over multiple things in loud crashes. He was about to give up and return to his cabin when he noticed a girl exiting her cabin. It was the girl from earlier. She looked panicked and scared. She sprinted across the lawn and towards the tree line. He didn't know what compelled him to follow her but he did.
He trailed behind her as she slowly strolled through the dense forest, snacking on what looked to be a Snickers Candy bar.
She had on a crème colored zip up jacket, black checkered pajama pants, and her converse were back in her feet. Her hair was loose and fell down to her lower back. It was a dark chocolate brown, but some strands seemed to be lighter. More of a toffee color. She shined in the moon light. Leo thought she may have been a goddess in disguise.
As Leo stepped on an unbelievably loud stick, he leaped behind a tree next to him, narrowly avoiding her gaze. He would step on a hundred sticks if he could see a glimpse of that beautiful face again.
So he did.
Some were not on purpose, but Leo had made it into a game of stepping in a stick and leaping behind the nearest tree, bush, or rock. After a few turns he sat up to see she disappeared. Confused, he walked forward and turned in a circle. Hoping to spot her.
Suddenly something jumped onto his back, causing Leo to make an embarrassingly girly scream. He wanted to burst into flames, but something inside him told him to wait, and he's glad he did. He was forcefully turned around and pinned to a tree behind him; a terrifyingly large battle axe was held to his throat. Her green eyes were intense, wide with anger, fear, sadness. She had so many emotions swirling in her eyes, he wanted to admire them forever.
"What are you doing here." She barked "Why are you following me?"
Her voice was even better than he imagined. It was deep and gruff but at the same time smooth and sweet like honey. It was addictive. It was like a drug, and he would lavish in that drug every second he could.
"Hello? Are you deaf." She spat, pushing the axe closer to his throat. "Answer me."
"That was really hot." He managed to spit out. Face burning at how close her face was to his. Her face contorted into a look of pure disgust and loathing. She put away her axe and stepped back, hand on her hip.
Leo took this as his chance.
" My name is Leo Valdez, hermosa, and who might you be?" He said as he got down in a knee and took her hand to kiss it.
Appalled, Maisie yanked her hand back with a yelp. Glaring daggers at him. "Why were you following me?" She spat again.
Leo quickly scrambled to stand back up and stumbled over his words. How was he supposed to tell her that he followed her after he saw her running out of camp? Thats creepy. Thankfully, he didn't have to answer. She had already began walking away from him as he scrambled to keep up with her fast strides.
"Hey wait up! You never gave me your name."
"You don't need to know that." She replied.
"Of course I do!" He protested. "I need to know the name of my beautiful princesa."
"I'm not your princess." She frowned. Picking up her pace to try and evade the weird Hephaestus kid.
"Sure you're not princesa."
"Do not call me that." She grumbled out.
"What would you rather me call you? Hermosa? Mi Novia? Cariño? Mi Amor?" He offered.
She huffed and rolled her eyes before she said, "Elliot will do."
"Elliot huh? That seems more like a guys name don't you think?"
"That's because it's my last name Dummerchen."
"Wait what does that mean? Mi amor you better not be trash talking me right now." Leo whined.
"It's German"
"Are you German?"
"No, but my friend was." She stated through gritted teeth. He was getting onto her last nerve.
"Was? What happened to them? Did they move away?" He asked.
"Something like that." She spit out.
He began to open his mouth again, but Maisie beat him to it.
"Stop talking. We're heading back to camp." She snapped.
Feisty, Leo thought. He looked over at her; she was walking ahead of him, not sparing him a second of her time. Not into him. Yeah, sounds just like his type.
When they approached camp, some cleaning harpies flew in out of nowhere. Acting fast, she spun Leo around and shoved him against a cabin wall, hand over his running mouth.
His eyes raised in surprise. He couldn't stop looking into her eyes and feeling butterflies in his stomach. She glanced around to make sure they weren't spotted, and slowly took away her hand. Looking to Leo, who hadn't moved from his spot in shock.
"Move it Valdez. We don't have all night." She snapped.
She roughly grabbed his forearm. Her hands were cold compared to his always warm ones. She dragged him towards the Hephaestus cabin and gestured to go back inside. As she turned to leave Leo called to her.
"Hey thanks Elliot. You saved my skin back there Princesa."
"Don't mention it Reparaturjunge, and I mean seriously. Don't mention this." She growled. She turned on her heel and speed walked towards her cabin.
Leo whistled. Yeah she was definitely his type.
He turned and went back into the Hephaestus cabin. Hoping to get some sleep before the morning.
