Maya didn't think it could get any worse. "What now?" She screamed at the sky. Things were just going downhill ever since the fire.
Maya Benysh was walking home from the mall one day, with her beloved cousin Nina Benysh. The two girls were as close as it gets! They were practically twins, except they weren't identical. They also had their best friend Traydon, with them. Traydon was the kind of guy that having a serious conversation was impossible to do. He could always make you smile, no matter.

Maya was very athletic, always adventuring and curious. She ran cross country, track, played soccer, volleyball, basketball, swimming, and golf. She would alternate throughout the years. Nina was very talkative, and manipulative. She had this way of making sure nothing was out of place, and that you will do what she wants. You wouldn't notice you were doing what she wanted though, so it was kind of scary. Nina could get herself out of any situation. Traydon was the kind of guy who would make things fun. Like the one time where they robbed the candy store. He picked the lock, and stole what he needed, Maya was with him, disarming the security system. Nina went off on her own to distract the store owner. They were the ultimate crew.

They came home from the mall to Maya's house, to see a very large crowd.

"Um...excuse me, what's going on?" Nina asked.
"The house burnt down, don't you have eyes?" Some stranger said.
Maya pushed through the crowd to see that her house was in fact burnt down to the ground. All of it was a pile of ashes on the ground. She saw one body bag, her brother. Her brother looked after her all these years. Her dog was there too. She broke down, sobbing, on the ground. She tried to push past the security guard. "That's my house! That's my family!" She screeched. He finally let her through. She stormed through all the chaos to see if one thing was still there, and it was.
A stuffed dog was lying on the ground, right next to her dog. Her dog had saved the one thing that could burn. He probably risked his life to get it. "Thank you." She whispered to him, just before they took him away.
Maya trudged back to her friends, and Nina bear hugged her. "I'm so sorry." She said.
"It's not your fault." Maya replied./p
"Hey, at least you got the dog!" Traydon said./p
"Wow, thanks!" Maya said, sarcastically. She tore open the temporary stitches the went down the back of the dog. "I guess I can open this now." Her mother had put that in there for her, she said that Maya could open it when she turned twelve. Maya turned twelve today.
"Well, this is a pretty sucky birthday gift, huh?" Traydon

Maya finally finished tearing the stitches, and pulled out a small note. The note said:
"Dearest Maya,
Take this to Camp Halfblood. I am so sad that I couldn't be there for this. Take this to Camp Halfblood, and they will know what it means. Take this ticket to the train station, and head to Long Island Sound. They will meet you there. Bring Traydon and Nina. Sincerely, Mom

The note was on the back of one train ticket, and she had three. Maya had never met her mom, though the way the note was written, it was as if she was right there with her.

"Guys, we're going to Long Island sound." Maya announced.

"Alright, let's get the supplies!" Traydon sounded a bit too excited.
"Are you sure you can?" Nina asked.
"I'll survive." Maya replied. Nina and Traydon's parents had already told them about this, so Maya was the last one. They headed to the mall, and stole backpacks, a clue of knives, clothes for all weather, spacefood, and some duck tape and rope. They walked to the train station, and boarded the train. "Goodbye life." They all said in unison. And with that, they were off!

The children boarded the train, and rode with no problems. Though they did have some strange dreams about monsters and things. The three disregarded them as if they were nothing. Yet little did they know how important those were...