Warriors Heir

Chapter 1

"School," Katja Reid, also known as Cat, decided, as she walked through the forest, kicking a soccer ball in front of her, "is the worst." She had gotten a B on her math quiz, and her parents were disappointed. She was in 8th grade, and did 10th grade math, for heaven's sake! Most kids her age would be relieved to have not failed. Most kids her age had parents who would just be happy that their kids tried! No, it had to be absolute perfection. "You're not trying, Cat. You're capable of doing much better than this. You and your sister." Scratch that, parents are the worst. 

As Cat rounded a tree, and walked into a clearing, she tripped. Muttering a curse, she righted herself, brushing off her pants. She looked back, expecting a normal forest-y artifact such as a log, or rock, but it wasn't a log or really a rock either. Nor was it normal. Not even close. It was...an oval shaped object, that looked like a rock, but it couldn't possibly be one. It wasn't like any rock that Cat had ever seen. Cat approached it cautiously, and picked it up, brushing dirt off the surface. She could see that it was white and a beautiful pale blue with a golden shine if you looked at it the right way. There were streaks of brown all over it. It was about the size of an ostrich egg. It was smooth and glittered like quartz. It was beautiful. It was a bit heavier than her soccer ball, which lay forgotten at the edge of the clearing. She turned it around, admiring it in the sunlight, momentarily forgetting about her disappointed parents, school, and everything. Cat ran home as fast as she could, dodging trees, and jumping over creeks. She had to find out what type of rock it was.

When Cat got home, she saw her older sister, Thalia Reid, in the front lawn of her house, raking the leaves. It was the middle of Autumn, and almost Cat's birthday, which was October 5th. The trees had sprouted colors of scarlet, fierce orange, and yellow-gold. Thalia and Cat didn't look much alike. You could tell they were sisters, but they

Cat snickered as she passed by. "How're you doing?" She asked. Thalia wiped the sweat off her brow, blew a strand of her straight raven black hair out of her face, and leaned against the rake. "It's cold out here, and I would really rather be doing anything else. So, not very well." 

Cat rolled her eyes. 

"Anyway," Thalia said, as she started to rake again. "I suggest you go and show mom and dad that big rock. It must be important if you lugged it all the way back here." Cat started, having almost forgotten about her non forest-y artifact. "How did you know that I wanted to show it to them?" Thalia gave her a wry smile. "Kitten, If I had a rock like that, I would have already shown it to everyone I knew, which, granted, isn't a lot. And you know I'm not a people person. Cat nodded, turning to leave. "Wait!" Thalia shouted, as Cat made to rush into the house, or, she would've, if she hadn't tripped over her shoelaces and face-planted onto the driveway. "Your shoelaces are untied!" Thalia called, with a small smirk on her face. "Gee, thanks." Cat grumbled, as she got to her feet. "How do I look?" she asked. "Is that your face, or did a possum puke all over you?" Thalia asked, her eyes widening in mock horror, as Cat groaned. " Ha, ha.Funny. I meant, is there any blood?" Thalia shook her head. "You're all clear. Now leave me to my raking."

Cat's parents. Tanya and Varian Reid. They ruled over their household with an iron fist. Cat never let any friends come over. Her parents were strict, but kind. They were incredibly smart and athletic, and expected their children to be too. Cat took soccer, chess, and karate. Her dad taught her how to draw, and their mom taught recently had started teaching them to shoot a bow and arrow, and use a sword. Suffice to say Tanya and Varian Reid were not normal parents. Thalia took the same classes, and was just as good at them, if not better. Not that Cat would ever tell her that. Cat and Thalia knew that their parents loved them, but they made it hard to see sometimes. Cat's dad was a veterinarian, and her mom was a teacher. They were both incredibly smart and strong, not to mention as cool as parents could be, and had many other job options, with much better pay, but they had chosen the jobs that they loved. At the moment, they were both home. "Mom, Dad!" she called to the adults, who were sitting at the dining table, drinking coffee. "Look what I found!".

"What—" her mom turned around. Her gaze landed on the rock Cat was holding and her face went slack. A moment later, she recovered as if she'd never reacted at all. "What a pretty rock! Where'd you find it?" Cat dismissed her mom's momentary lapse in control, and while Cat walked over to her laptop to research the rock she explained, "I found it in the woods. I walked into a grassy patch and tripped over it. I'm not sure it even is a rock." Her mom's smile seemed to slip a little, but then it was back in place, leaving Cat thinking she imagined it. "Of course it's a rock, sweetheart. What else could it be? It sure is an interesting looking rock though. Do you want to go put it with your trophies while I make dinner?" Cat nodded, glancing at her dad, who hadn't looked up from his phone. She would show it to him during dinner. She walked up the stairs, and into the room she shared with Thalia. 

The house had 3 floors. The basement, the next floor, and the floor after that. They had 3 bathrooms, and technically 4 bedrooms. One was a guest room, and the other was the room where Cat and Thalia put all their old toys, so they called it the play-room. It was also known as the projector room, by only their parents, because of the projector screen inside. This left 2 rooms. One belonged to their parents, so Cat and Thalia had to share the other room. It wasn't so bad. They had a bunk bed. Cat had the top. On the right side of the room, there was a bookshelf, filled with fantasy books, and trophies, ordered by size. They had trophies for dance, soccer, and chess. Mostly chess. They also had medals, but those weren't important. The trophies belonged to both of the Reid siblings. There were so many, they didn't bother to care which belonged to who.

Cat's mom had said to put the rock with the trophies, but there was no way that was happening. The rock was hers, and hers alone. Cat set it in the spare space on her cluttered desk that she never bothered to clean. She neatened it, but never cleaned it. It wasn't like Thalia cleaned her desk, which was on the opposite side of the room from her desk, which was located next to the door and the bookshelf. Cat had always wanted to paint the room, which was a boring shade of peachish white, like it couldn't decide what color it wanted to be. Not to mention peach was an awful color. She wouldn't have minded a quiet peaceful blue, or plain beautiful white. Other than that, Cat liked the room. It was simple, but nice. Other than the walls. 

Cat sat down at her desk, and started to flip through the book she was currently reading. It was called The Empty Grave. She had already read it some time ago, but it was a really good book. It was by an author named Jonathan Stroud. Thalia hadn't read because she was scared, in Cat's opinion. The book series was called Lockwood & Co. It was a ghost story. A really good one. Jonathan Stroud also had another series called The Bartimaeus trilogy. Cat loved both of them. Cat's favorite book series was called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan. Cat and Thalia both loved practically every book Rick Riordan had ever written about mythology. And every Rick Riordan presents(books presented by Rick Riordan). Heroes of Olympus, Trials of Apollo, Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase, Aru Shah, Stormrunner, etc. Cat just loved fantasy. She would read the book, and feel like she was in it. She was there, running by Percy as the skeletons chased them in Hoover Dam. She was there as Aru galloped through the Night Bazaar, after Mini. There was no school, no parents, no pressure. Just her and the book. Her parents sadly did not feel the same way. They didn't like that she or Thalia would read the same fantasy books over and over again, till they could quote them line for line. They wanted Cat and Thalia to learn about the world, and history, and everything. She could understand them wanting Thalia to know about all of this, seeing as she was 17, almost 18, and would be heading off to college soon. But Cat was 12, (almost 13), and wanted to enjoy her short time till she had to make choices and decisions like an adult.

She had just finished the chapter she was on, when Thalia opened the door. She had leaves stuck in her hair. Her face was as red as their skin could get, her cheeks were blown out, and her light hazel eyes, flecked with gold, were wide and kind of red. Cat glanced outside, and saw the wind had started to blow. Hard. No wonder Thalia had been let back in. Thalia stomped into the room. Cat caught a whiff of her as she passed, and wrinkled her nose. She smelled like sweat and leaves. "You've got leaves in your hair." Cat said, as Thalia slumped onto her bottom bunk. Thalia groaned in response. Cat turned back to her book. She plucked her phone from the charger beneath her desk, and plugged her earbuds in. She scrolled through her playlist and picked one of her favorite songs, turned the volume all the way up, then settled back to listen.