A blinding light. It was what I saw in my dreams every night. I could tell, because I could feel its warmth.
Alexandros nudged me awake. The sun shone through the maple trees of the forests of Indiana. Alexandros was my dog. Well, he was actually a wolf, but he could easily be mistaken as a huskie. I don't remember who named him. It wasn't my mom or brother. And I never knew my dad.
I was constantly on the run. Monsters have been chasing me ever since...
Today I turn 14. It has officially been 4 years since I became an orphan. Even my brother had gone. He was an orphan now, too. Except I didn't know where he was. He could be dead for all I knew, and it was most likely. Beside my mattress Alex left me a fish. It was his way of saying, "Happy birthday,
Melody," I smiled. And of course, Alex was eating his own fish. At least he gave me the bigger one.
I stretched and put on my black combat boots. Another year survived. I wore a yellow shirt with blue jeans, which complimented my sun-gold wavy hair, which was in a ponytail. My eyes were "as blue as the summer sky" my mom used to say. Today the sun was shining bright, as it always seemed to do on my birthday. A cloudless sky, too.
I looked at the flashlight I sometimes used as a lamp. It turned off, just as I wanted it to.
That's partly why I ran away. No other kid could alter light. Once, I even turned off the sun for a few minutes. I got up.
"Thanks for the fish, Alex," I said, "but it's a little mangled," I pointed at the fish. It had a couple bite marks and its guts were spilling out. Not exactly an appetizing birthday breakfast.
"Would you like to go hunting?" Alex barked in agreement and started towards the woods.
I whistled. "Wait until I get my stuff!" I shouted. I grabbed my bow and arrows and ran off toward the woods.
By the time I actually caught up with Alex, he already caught two birds and a squirrell. I patted his head and looked up. There was a chipmunk just above my head. I aimed, but then I heard a familiar sound. They were back again.
Monsters. I didn't know what species of monsters, but I have heard there are many more. They came every week or so. Usually the same species, but sometimes they would be different. The usual ones were bulls that seemed to be made of bronze. They were easy enough to kill, just shoot one of my arrows through its mouth. The other types of monsters never came back. One of the oddest monsters I've ever faced was a human sized snail. And it was glowing.
I never had proof any of these things existed. They always disinigrated. And no one else could see them, either. But they were very real. Sometimes I thought I was going insane.
I didn't need much time to aim. I just shot. My arrows hit my target every time. And as always, it disinigrated. As the bull crumbled, I heard a male voice behind me say "Whoa," Without thinking, I turned around and shot towards the voice. A pale, black-haired boy around my age fell to the ground, but the arrow only hit his arm. On one side of the boy was a curly-haired half-goat teenager with horns. On the other side of him was a guy with brown hair and blue eyes, and both looked very shocked. "Sorry!" I screamed, "You startled me!" I rushed over to the boy. "Connor, ambrosia, quick!" the goat dude said. I didn't wait for them to take out their medicine. I pulled out the arrow (which came with some screaming) and I touched his leg, which then healed. "uh, yeah, Grover, I think this is her," the guy named Connor said. He turned to me and held out his hand.
"Connor Stoll. The satyr is Grover Underwood. And the guy you just shot is Nico Di Angelo," He paused for a second, "You're Will Solace's sister, right?"
