The park was the most boring place EVER.
And NO, she was NOT being impertinent, thank you very much. Annabeth was NEVER impertinent. She was SMART. And AWESOME. And unlike her DAD, she knew that Maddie - not my mom, not calling her Mom -(she was NOT her mom, her mom left her dad, wasn't it such a happy family?) was EVIL. Bobby and Matthew weren't that bad, but they were still ANNOYING.
All they did was whine and cry and yell and they NEVER did anything with her. Also, Maddie HATED her. Annabeth knew it. After all, she was MEAN, and HORRIBLE, and MADDIE was the reason that Annabeth's dad never had time for her anymore.
She kicked at a pebble. It didn't move. "Stupid pebble," she cursed. She kicked it again. This time, it went flying towards a woman with blond hair and sunglasses. It hit her in the leg.
Oops.
The woman turned around and met Annabeth's eyes. Annabeth wondered what she'd do. Would she tell Maddie? Well, whatever. If she told Maddie, Annabeth wouldn't CARE. In fact, she'd just throw MORE pebbles. And anyways, it wasn't like Maddie(or Dad, but never Dad) was here to be told anyways.
The woman nodded her head oddly at her and turned around again.
What.
Was.
That!
Annabeth was tempted to throw another pebble at her, just so SOMEONE would pay attention to her. NO ONE cared. Not Dad, not Bobby, not Matthew, not Maddie(well, she was evil, so it didn't matter ANYWAYS), not even that stupid lady with gray eyes.
Strictly speaking, seven year old girls weren't supposed to be at the park all on their own - Annabeth knew that, at least. Kidnappers and bad guys and giant dogs and spiders were all at the park. Spiders were everywhere.
When Annabeth was scared of something, she read about it. That always helped.
Not with spiders. They crept.
They bit.
They terrified her.
But back to the park.
She threw another pebble.
This one missed its mark, falling a couple inches from the woman's back.
Annabeth looked around the park and saw nothing. She turned to leave.
She felt something small and gritty hit her back. She whirled around and saw the woman with the sunglasses, hand outstretched.
Annabeth opened her mouth. "I-"
The woman lifted her sunglasses, and Annabeth froze. She saw dark grey eyes and stormclouds in them, she saw a brilliant mind and dark thoughts beneath an icy surface.
The woman came closer and closer, until Annabeth was directly in front of her. The woman knelt down and slowly picked up the pebble. She stared into Annabeth's eyes and took her hand. The woman pressed the pebble into her hand and nodded again.
She turned around, and walked away.