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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BOOM
Loud ruckus from above her had woken Maisie from her slumber. She paused for a moment before hearing another crash, prompting her to scramble out of her bed and rush up deck.
In her way out of her room, she passed Hazel in the hallway, who looked like she was going to be sick. Probably seasickness.
She emerged onto the top deck to find utter chaos. The ship was rocking unsteadily as hundreds of nymphs attacked the sides of the ship. Percy was flinging water at anything that moved, Festus was breathing fire everywhere, and hedge was screaming at the lake like it would help anything.
Maisie wondered how they even managed to make it this far.
The ship was shoved roughly to the left, making Maisie stumble unsteadily, but eventually regain her footing. She noticed a few nymphs attempting to climb up the side of the ship. Swiping her axe at them, she managed to knock a few down, but some were more stubborn than others.
Maisie looked around for something to use and came across an old fishing net, that probably wasn't going to be used anytime room, and chucked it at the girls.
They went down in a tumbling heap and made a large splash in the water. Maisie readied another net for attack when the Argo II began to slowly rise into the air.
The rocking and shaking had stopped. The ship was mostly quiet except for the creaking and groaning of machinery.
Leo emerged from the hallway, and Maisie had to take a minute to take in this new look.
His T-shirt had looked like it had been caught in an escalator and chewed to shreds. On his chest sat the words "AM LEO," which was weird to Maisie, but she decided not to ask. The words "bad boy" and "Hot stuff" were etched onto his arms in black marker, along with other silly drawings and phrases to give him full sleeve tattoos. His hair was a tattered mess and he was cakes in a mix of sweat, lime, dust, and tar. Although one thing in particular stuck out to her.
The kiss mark on his cheek.
Maisie chose to ignore it. She shouldn't let stuff like that bother her, but she couldn't help the unfamiliar bubbling feeling in her gut. The feeling that made her fists clench and her throat feel like sandpaper.
She decided to shake off the feeling when Leo had begun to walk towards her, grinning like a madman.
"Meeting in the mess hall in an hour," he announced to the crew on the deck. "Crazy day, huh?"
Maisie couldn't agree more.
AFTER AN HOUR, THE DEMIGODS MET.
Coach Hedge had been given the helm, which seemed like a dumb idea to Maisie, so they could start their first meeting. This was the first time all eight of the prophecy members were able to meet, without any being unconscious.
