Luna was running for her life. Her light brown hair flapped through the wind, it only long enough to reach her shoulder. Her long, slender legs tried to accelerate speed as those...things continued to be in pursuit of her. For the first time in fifteen years, she had left her home, The Lotus Casino, because it had been under raid by monsters. Her Uncle Ashton had owned the hotel since she was really little and after her mom ditched and her dad died, her uncle took her to live there. He was often on business, so she basically was raised by the employees of the Lotus. Her uncle occasionally visited, even giving her a charm bracelet when she one, which now banged against her wrist as she ran, the charms jingling through the night. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight, as if she were what the moon came out for, if she was who the moon bowed down to on her command.
Sadly, her glowing effect drew the creatures to her as she ran into the woods, each step making her seem as if it would be her last.
"Katie!" A voice called to Luna in the distance. "Katie wait!"
Luna didn't stop at the voice that seemed to be fighting off the creatures, with the grunts that followed the plea for the one named Katie. Luna just wanted sanctuary. Protection. Safety. And she would refuse to stop until she found it. The voice called out in desperation, begging for assistance.
Don't turn back Lucine Yue. What ever you do, you are never to look back. It is for your own protection.
Luna closed her eyes tight. It was that voice again, the one that appeared in her head every now and again. It was cold and powerful, sounding like knives scraping against metal. It had haunted her dreams for months, telling her what to do, and always referring to her by her real name. Luna always obeyed for some odd reason, but now she couldn't help herself. Luna turned to see a tall boy with short brown hair trying to fight off one of the creatures. The creature knocked the boys sword out of his hands and pinned him to the ground. Luna knew she had to do something to save him. Before Luna even realized what she was doing, she ran towards the boy, grabbing his sword off the ground and shoving it right into the creature's chest. It incinerated into a black dust and Luna dropped the sword onto the ground. She slowly backed away from the boy as he got up.
"Katie, it's okay." The boy said
"I'm not Katie." Luna said.
The boy squinted his eyes to get a better look at Luna. The glow on her dimmed a bit as the moon began to go down, so Luna's face was more visible. "I'm sorry, you just looked like someone I'm searching for."
"Katie?" Luna guessed.
"That would be the one. I'm Galen." He held his hand out for her to shake.
"Luna." She gave Galen a warm smile as she shook his hand.
"Pretty name. So....you saw those things?" Galen asked, and she nodded. Galen stared at her closely, as if he were trying to see into her soul. "Are you a demigod?"
"A demi-what?"
"Yep." He answered his own question and looked around. "Where's your protector?"
"My what?"
"Oh gods here we go." Galen took hold of Luna's arm and began to drag her along. "You need to come with me."
"Get off me!" Luna was beginning to think that this guy was crazy.
"Trust me, you'll be safer where I'm taking you."
"Trust you? I met you five minutes ago!" Even though the sound of safety was tempting, Luna didn't know this boy well enough to rest her life in his hands.
"Please? It is very important that I get you to camp, or else Annabeth will kill me ." Galen went on.
"Camp? Annabeth?" Yep, this kid was 2.0 WACKO!
"Luna, I'll explain everything on the way, but please come with me. I can get you to a place where monsters can never get to you." Galen begged.
Galen smiled and Luna heard a twig snap.
"Galen?" A voice called from the woods. A sweet looking girl with long black hair came out into the the glow of the light that radiated off Luna.
"Katie!" Galen cried as be began running over to her. He wrapped his arms around the girl's waist and spun her around in circles.
"Thank the gods, I thought they got you." The girl, Katie said as she allowed her eyes to drift to Luna, "Who is this?"
"This is Luna, Luna this is Katie." Galen said.
"It's nice to meet you." Katie said with a smile. Luna gave a weak smile and she looked down at her shaking hands.
"Hey, are you okay?" Katie asked, which earned her a nod from Luna. Once satisfied with Luna's answer, Katie turned her beautiful but delicate face back to Galen, who was fiddling with a pipe cleaner from his pocket. "So, what's our next move?"
Galen smiled at both girls with vast enthusiasm. "I say we bring our new friend to Camp Half-Blood."
End of Prologue
