"Where are you all going?" Maisie asked, her tone not at all curious, but low and dangerous. She wanted to ask, 'What the hell is going on here?' but that wouldn't get her a straight answer. She doubted the question she voiced would either.
"Out." Came the short reply from Jared, who was furthest away from the door. He turned to leave again, as Maisie pushed past Paul towards him.
"And if I want to go 'out', too?" She asked, chin held high. They were not going to go kill any wolves on her watch.
"Maisie, let's just stay here and finish dinner with Emily, Sam, and Bella." Paul gave her a nervous smile. She wanted to, at least, a part of her did. The other part wanted to find out what in Zeus' name was going on.
"No." It becomes clear to Maisie why she could never settle into anywhere. She's always pushing to uncover the truth. The truth of it all is that no where she goes will be completely honest.
"Keep her here, Paul." Jared gave Paul a stony look before turning and stalking out of the door, losing his shirt on the way.
Paul tried to turn her towards the table, but Maisie turned sharp, looking him in the eye before saying, "You don't get to keep me anywhere. I'm not a doll."
With that, she turned and tried to follow the line of people out the door, only to find Paul grabbing onto her arm.
"Listen, Maisie, I cant really explain right now, but you really don't want to go-"
He was cut off by the force of Maisie's free fist slamming into his face. Maisie felt his nose crunch under the force of her fingers, which now felt tingly and numb, as if she'd punched a block of granite and not a fleshy human being, which she was sure Paul was. Well, mostly sure, now. Paul's hands came up to his nose, which was bleeding profusely, as Maisie shook out her hand.
"Your face is really hard." She grunted in pain.
Bella rushed over to them, grabbing Maisie's hand delicately by the wrist as Emily gave Paul a paper towel to hold to his nose.
"Is her hand broken?" Sam asked from the table.
Maisie pulled her hand away from Bella, flexing her fingers and popping all her knuckles. "I'm fine. I broke his nose."
She found herself feeling a little bit apologetic about that. Gods knows it hurt to get punched in the face, but Maisie has been kept in the same house all day, and she didn't even get to train. She had broken plenty of noses before and not once felt sorry. Well, mostly because they were healed near immediately thanks to ambrosia and nectar.
"And you didn't break your hand?" Bella sounded surprised. Sam looked at her curiously.
"No, see?" She held up her hand. These people were weirding her out. A pained howl cut through the air, sounding farther away than before. Maisie, now closest to the door, turned heel and headed out, one last look at Sam to say, "Try it and I'll break your nose too."
Lupa had been good to her, and hell if she was going to repay that by letting a wolf be killed. And okay, maybe this was part guilt for leaving the legion, but still, reasons aside, she had to go out there.
She sauntered outside, glancing around at the woods surrounding the small house before heading into the woods behind it. Once she reached the tree line, she reached into her pocket, tracing the edges of her staff with her fingertips. It was silent, and Maisie slowly made her way deeper into the woods.
An imprint of a wolves paw caught her eye, only it was three times bigger than it should've been. She narrowed her eyes, following the trail of broken branches with more conviction. Every noise amplified by her ADHD, she tracked her way deeper, searching for the wolf.
Something fast blew past her, followed by a massive, horse sized, russet wolf. The wolf looked past her, teeth bared in a savage growl. Maisie stepped so she could face the wolf and see what was behind her. Standing five feet away was a small, very pale woman. Her red hair billowed around her like flames, and she was barefoot.
The wolf lept forwards at the same moment the woman grabbed Maisie and held her against her chest in a hostage position. The woman was ice cold, and hard as a rock. She laughed and bent her head to lick a long stripe up Maisie's neck. The wolf growled, fur bristling, but did not leap forwards again.
"What are you?" She asked, almost amused, "You smell unbelievably good."
Maisie was 110% confused on exactly what brand of monster the woman was, and also 110% unwilling to play hostage for her. With a swoop, she flipped the woman onto her back, her hand pulling out her bo staff, which extended with a twirl. She placed one foot on the woman's chest to keep her down. One end of her staff rested under her chin.
"I'm the last face you'll see for a while." Maisie gave the woman a sadistic grin, "Now, exactly what type of monster are you?"
The woman didn't answer. With a twirl, the bo staff cracked across the woman's face. Instead of loosing gold dust, cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact point. Nevertheless, Maisie asked again, "What are you?"
Paul ran into the clearing, face flushed and shirtless.
"Maisie?" He yelped, a betrayed expression crossing his face as he took in the scene.
"Paul?" Maisie looked up, and the woman took the chance to get up. She grabbed Maisie's ankle and tossed her, causing Maisie to go skidding onto the ground. The woman was gone in a flash, the russet wolf following after.
Paul was still staring at her, obviously confused, as Maisie stood, brushing off dirt and rolling her shoulders back. She dragged her hand down her neck, where the lady had licked her, a shiver running up her spine. Her bo staff hung idle in her hand, the gold shining in patches of sunlight.
"Maisie, what's going on?" Paul asked, taking a hesitant step forwards.
"Funny, I was about to ask the same thing." She replied back.
2 lazy 2 log in: TYSM 3 3 thanks so much for the feedback glad to know!
The rest of y'all reading this are cool too but not as cool as 2 lazy 2 log in. Anyways, here's a short chapter.