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'S STOMACH DROPPED
Wind kissed her face as Festus began to drop, eyes dim and his hide cold.
"Not again!" Leo yelled. "You can't fall again!"
They plummeted towards the city below them; Festus wasn't able to carry that much weight.
"Jason!" Leo shrieked. "Take the girls and get out of here!"
"What?"
"We need to lighten the load! I might be able to reboot him, but he's carrying too much weight!"
"What about you?" Piper cried. "If you can't reboot him—"
"I'll be fine! Follow be to the ground. Go!" Leo yelled.
Jason grabbed Piper and Maisie's waists, trying to pull them off, but Maisie resisted.
"Take Piper," she spoke. "I can help. A friend of mine was a son of Hephaestus!"
Jason hesitated, but nodded and took Piper away without another word.
"Hermosa? What are you doing?" He exclaimed, turning to face her.
"I'm not leaving you!" She insisted.
He paused for a second, and turned back to Festus as Maisie moved forward to be right behind him.
Charles Beckendorf had been a good friend of hers. She wasn't going to let him down.
"It's just you, me, Maisie, and some heavy cages." Leo spoke to Festus. "You can do it, boy!"
The city lights below them were getting closer and closer as Leo tried to light fire into his hand, but the wind kept extinguishing it.
They worked together without words, pulling, moving, and connecting wires around in hope to wake up their dragon.
Eventually, they connected the two wires they both held, and Festus weakly came back to life. His wings spread out and their fall turned into a steep glide.
"Good!" Leo praised. "Come on, big boy. Come on!"
They were still flying in too hot. They needed a place to land— fast.
"There!" Maisie pointed. There was a white mansion with a large snowy lawn inside a tall brick fence— like a rich persons private compound, all blazing in light.
"Good eye, mi amor." Leo spoke, and began to steer Festus towards that area. Everything seemed to be going right.
