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 NEVER RECOMMENDS SLEEPING ON THE FLOOR OF THE LOWER DECK
As the door behind her clicked open, she shot awake. Her back throbbed in pain from the position she had slept in and her head throbbed from the amount of crying she had done. She turned, almost expecting to find Leo at the door, but instead she found Jason.
His eyes widened at her current state, sunken eyes, tear stains, disheveled clothes, she must've looked pretty insane to literally stop Jason in his tracks.
"Maisie," he tentatively called out. "Are you okay?"
Maisie was quick to rid her face of any tears with a wipe of her hand. "Peachy," she croaked.
Jason's eyes twinged with sympathy as he opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Maisie had beat him to it.
"Don't ask," she sighed, stuffing her face back into her knees. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh— okay," Jason's head surveyed the dark room for a second before looking back to something at the end of the hallway behind him. "Everybody else had already left on their own missions so me, you, and Piper are alone with Coach."
They already left? And they hadn't cared to say goodbye?
"Well— me and Piper were going to have a picnic, but if you want, we can come into here—"
"Absolutely not," Maisie shook her head. "Don't let me ruin your date."
"You're not ruining it, I promise," Jason said. "We would like to hang out with you! C'mon, me, you, and Piper—"
"Jason I think I would rather be alone for a little bit," she sadly smiled. "I appreciate it, really, but it would be nice to be alone. And I'm sure Piper would like to finally have some alone time with you."
Jason nodded at her words. "Okay, we're probably just going to the park, but if you need anything, we'll come straight back."
Maisie gave him a dismissive wave, "Don't worry about me," she mustered the best smile she could. "Go have fun."
Jason nodded and said his goodbyes, and Maisie felt a twinge of guilt for lying. She really didn't want to be alone right now, but she refused to allow herself to dampen their mood.
Maisie hand managed to drag herself to her room, ignoring Coach Hedge's rendition of "Old MacDonald" but with weapons instead of animals.
Maisie reached for a record, ending up settling on Everything I Am, with the name Vivienne Arthur imprinted on the top right corner.
Maisie was beginning to walk over to the record player to play it, when she slightly tripped and jammed her foot into the side of her desk.
She turned to scream some not-so-friendly-words to the piece of furniture when she noticed a small bag on the ground.
