Maggie was sound asleep, no dreams, just sleep. Suddenly a bump hit the road and she flew a few feet in the air, bumping her head on a metal stall. Stupid bumps, stupid stalls, stupid… Wait… WHAT? Her eyes flew open to find she was in a horse stall, walls rattling and the uneasy feeling of riding in a car without seat belts. Straw cushioned her and little pieces of bread hung from above in a basket. The only window she had was small with bars that kept her from even sticking her hand out. Sun was shining through the window, catching every little grain of dust.
Why am I in a horse trailer? Where is it going? Uh oh! KATEO. "Kateo? KATEO"? A groan came from the stall next to her. Trying to stick her head through the bars was a hard task and she found her hands were tied. Her nemean lion skin was still on, her mask still covering her face. A thin hall separated the stalls and the stalls were blocked by bars.
"Wha-Where are we", Kateo's voice said from his stall. He must've had his mask on too for his voice was a little muffled. "I don't know, where is Jet. GET THIS THING OFF OF ME. Jet's voice roared in Maggie's head. There was a lot of rattling and bumping along with the high jingle of chains. "Where are you, are you ok Jet"? Maggie yelled. No I am not. There is a stupid thing closing my mouth and there is chains on my feet and neck. Whoever did this is going to get a fatal bite in the butt. Growling came from a stall in the back, joining another to make room for the percheron sized wolf in the stall. Maggie could see his black figure struggling and snarling.
Suddenly the truck stopped, throwing Maggie into a bar. Pain flared through her head and she swore she felt blood there. The doors opened letting in a blast of light that almost blinded them. Maggie's stall opened revealing a woman in armor and her two companions. The two grabbed Maggie's bound arm and lifted her up. The third pushed her forward. She was brought into the light where a buch of warriors stood waiting to fetch Kateo and Jet.
Kateo was brought into the light a few minutes later. The women in there had to call for back up with the wolf boy. Maggie could hear him growling and snarling, refusing to do what they told him. They wanted him to go forward he would go to the side. Five women held Kateo and pushed him out, one grabbing his neck in a hold that would numb the connection between his body and his mind. Aunt Hilla once taught Maggie that, but she was never strong enough and… Wait a minute.
"Are you guys Amazons"? Maggie asked the people that had her arms. One of the girls answered, "Yes now keep your mouth shut or I will shut it for you". Maggie was fuming with anger. These were the Amazons? Didn't they know who she was? Oh they would regret saying that when she reveals her heritage.
Jet was finally brought out to. This time ten held him together, most having a grip on the chain around his neck and muzzle while two cracked whips behind him to make him move. The wolf growled and struggled viciously, but he was no match for ten Amazons. "You leave him alone you cowardly humans. Lake scum…ow", Kateo yelped when the Amazon's grip tightened. Maggie could see his knees tremble as they tried to keep the connection with his brain.
Slowly they were lead into the headquarters, first the opening room, then they went downstairs where they kept all of the supplies. Maggie saw a few pegasi, a hell hound, a giant octopus, and the griffin Bernard. That thing had always been in his cage since the time Percy Jackson first took on the former Amazon queen. They were taken between a bunch of huge wooden crates and forced to their knees. Jet was lead off somewhere else, yelping as they whipped him. Kateo roared in fury, earning some more hands on his neck.
"Well well well, look what we have here. Some little bush people. I thought they only live in Alaska, but I could be wrong". The woman who was talking as as tall as Maggie with skinny arms, thin rectangular glasses, and dark red hair. She studied Maggie and Kateo with scorching eyes. "This one, take its mask off", she pointed at Kateo who growled angrily. The Amazons did what she told them to do, forcefully pulling the hood down revealing Kateo's angry face, green eyes sparking with pure hate. The girl looked amused, "A boy, this one is a beaute I wonder what he can do if we keep him alive". At this Kateo growled and strained against his bonds and hands that kept him from moving. "Hmm, needs a little whipping and we can get his attitude into shape".
The girl's hand traveled down to Kateo's chin so she could look at him better and not in the shadows of his dark hair. Then she made the mistake of looking into his eyes, triggering attack mode. Suddenly he opened his mouth and bit down hard on her finger. She screamed bloody murder and tried to pull her hand away, making her situation worse. Kateo bit down harder, drawing blood, but his eyes didn't leave her's. The girl's friends came over to try and help grabbing Kateo, pulling his hair, trying to open his jaw. Nothing worked and he kept a firm grip.
Suddenly his eyes left the woman and caught one someone else who was trying to get him to let go. He rolled over, landing on that person. The person who was talking about Kateo screamed and rolled over to make it less painful, but Maggie heard a snap. There was a jumble of girls now all tackling the poor boy like football players. Suddenly something clattered near Maggie, old fashion keys. They were shiney and labeled with numbers, all attached to a metal ring. Quickly without anyone noticing she picked them up and hid them in a pocket inside her pants. Thank you Kateo.
Finally Kateo let go and the lady rolled backwards in a little ball, clutching her wrist to numb the pain. A group helped her up and took her away. The lady was sobbing words of hate about boys and their behavior. Kateo spit out a bunch of her blood, licking off the rest from his teeth, eyes glittering with pride and warning. A hand planted itself on the back of his neck and it squeezed hard, hard enough to break his neck. Kateo collapsed on the ground with a pitiful yelp of pain. "This one", the woman in armor said, "This one needs to be chained up. Tight, muzzle him, and put him in a heavily built cage. We will judge his companion as soon as we deal with him and Juvia. Lock it up in cell 15, and call queen Hilla". Maggie saw Kateo look back at her and mouth, "get Jet first".
Maggie sat in the corner of the cold room, trying to get warm with her nemean lion coat. It helped, but being in there was like being back in Alaska or a freezer. Again Kateo's clothes became useful in the cold temperature keeping her warm enough to not get goose bumps.
After a while she heard the door open and footsteps on the smooth, concrete floor. "My gods, it is freezing in here. Someone turn on the air conditioning? Thank you", a familiar voice rang around the iron room. The temperature got significantly warmer.
"Hello there Aunt Hilla", Maggie spat out the word Aunt like it was a horrid word. Maggie could see her aunt out of the corner of her eye. She looked thin and well like an ordinary teenager, but her face was wrinkled and her brow now had worry lines to add to the scar. Her hair was now old and course with grey streaks here and there. Her face was contorted in confusion.
Maggie turned around and stood as tall as she could. Had she grown while she was training with Kateo? She felt taller and stronger. Hilla of course didn't recognize her, Maggie now knew why Kateo said "stupid humans" all the time. She slid her mask off to reveal her face, but not the rest of her hair.
"Maggles, my dear", Hilla said spreading her arms out for a hug as if taking her friends didn't matter. With lightning speed Maggie launched at the opposite wall, ricocheted off it and kicked her unsuspecting aunt down to the ground. "Don't call me that", She growled. When Maggie was little she was too shy to say anything about her stupid nicknames, but now she felt like she could attack Mary Anne and win. Hilla was shocked by this, and also out of breath, but mostly shocked. Maggie could see the little black fires dancing in her rage and she let them feed on it growing bigger and scarier, and under more of her control. It blocked the entrance so reinforcements couldn't get in and Hilla couldn't get out. The black flames licked Maggie's leg and flowed through the golden coat. The shadow flame coming to her aid felt wonderful and filled her with energy.
She was always afraid of them, but now she could see they were only trying to help. Hilla's eyes filled with fear at the sight of the paranormal flames, like shadows, not making a sound. "Maggie Timida Arellano? What is this the meaning of this madness"? Her aunt screamed. Maggie crossed her arms maturely and looked Hilla strait in the eye for the first time in her life. "You have kidnapped me and my friends, you have separated us and put Kateo in chains and hurting him. I can't have that now let us go or I will take the throne myself and burn this place to the ground. I can do it and I will if you lay a finger on Kateo or Jet". "Maggie honey I can't do that, he has hurt one of my Amazons and fought against us. As for the wolf we will keep him with the giant white one to see where they come from. We then we will collect the boars in Camp Jupiter". The boars? Then Maggie remembered Imaki from Kateo's stories. Were Okkoto's boars really here? And the giant wolf. Moro? This is bad.
"You mean you kidnapped us. Jet didn't do anything and you must have become real dumb while I was at Half Blood". Maggie then laughed hysterically, "Go after Okkoto and his boars, that is crazy dumb. Those things were born fighting. Kateo and Jet makes sure none of the weak survive, they are all vicious killers who will fight anyone who pisses them off so I would recommend not going over there. Me, Jet and Kateo will take care of the problem".
With that Maggie put up a wall of fire around her aunt so she could go out. Taking out the keys she found the one to her door and opened it. The guards outside were waiting for her, spears ready. The black fire spread, making a path for Maggie to where she wanted to go through the army. Locking Hilla's door behind her, she left to go find her friends
The fire first lead her to where Jet was locked up. He was curled in a cage up next to a wolf that was bigger than he was, one the size of an African elephant bull with white fur. Sensing her presence, it raised its head, ears proud and tall like Jet's. Her muzzle was strapped shut with a bunch of leather straps and her eyes were red like an albino creature, but the pupils were black.
Without care, Maggie shoved the right key into the cage and unlocked the door. Instantly Jet jumped out and thanked her.
"We mustn't focus on that right now. What we need to do is get Kateo out of here before they do something to him", Maggie said cutting the wolves' bindings. The big one, who must've been Moro agreed, her voice deep voice growling in her mind, Yes, let us go save my cub. The wolf took off at a faster speed than Maggie, but Jet let her ride on his back.
All of the creatures in their cages screamed and clawed, trying to get free from their cells and get out of there along with the wolves. Maggie felt sorry for them, but she knew they didn't have the time and plus, they were monsters, they would go after her or Kateo and no one really wants to deal with that.
They burst through an iron door to find Kateo entirely covered in chains and the same lady with a bloody whip in her good hand. Kateo was stripped of his coat and shirt, revealing his pale skin and a huge scar spreading along his middle and across his back, the poor boy. A few new whip marks were slashed along that scar and even the clear spots on his shoulders. He had more scars than the Ares kids who always earned them as trophies in fights, Maggie bet it would make them jealous.
YOU DARE HURT MY CUB, the wolf mother roared in fury, YOU SHALL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE. With just a flash of teeth the giant white wolf bit the head off of the woman. The body fell to the ground, blood oozing from the cleanly chopped off head. Usually something like that would make Maggie throw up, but she was too buisy getting Kateo out of there. His jaw was closed shut and she could hear him holding back the whimpers of pain "Its ok, its ok. I am here. We are here. Everything will be alright", Maggie said, holding him as he fell with no chains supporting him. His head rested on her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her middle as if to make sure she wouldn't disappear and leave him to die. Moro, knowing of her cub's weakness tore open the floor and ripped a water pipe apart. The decapitated pipe sprayed water everywhere, soaking the boxes of goods and empty cages in that room. Water pooled all over, trying to sink into the ground, but the iron floor trapped it there.
The wounds on Kateo's back healed and his grip loosened as well as his muscles. Water carried the blood away and it spread through the water till it disappeared. Wherever it went the iron would make way for plants to sprout and feed on the water and a gift from the forest spirit. Some sprouted into small trees while some turned into flowers native to Oregon, even some thought to be extinct, dormant seeds buried deep in the ground.
Moro walked over and picked him up gently in her jaws, he just draped like a wet blanket and let her set him down between her paws and lick him all over. It was so cute like in the lion king where Surabi took Simba over to give him a cat bath, but Kateo didn't struggle. He embraced it, letting his face go soft with relaxation.
Jet walked over to Maggie and sat down beside her watching the reunion. Sometimes I just don't get him. Why does he like that? It messes up your fur and it's embarrassing, Jet said. "It makes him feel loved and love is a good thing to feel. It is what most of us strive for". It is what Maggie strives for. She would fight, train, and endure her step father and brothers just so her mother would love her. No matter how much she tried she would always fail, but meeting Percy had given her hope. Who cares what others think, even your own mother, as long as you have people who love you by your side, you can do anything.
Hopefully this is truth for you, don't live in the dark, it is better to always smile and love out loud. The happiest people and the most inspiring writers know this. I may just be another Percy Jackson fangirl, but I understand a thing or two about life. Never attach your heart to one thing, it will not last forever and you will go down with it, spread your heart around and if one of the things your heart is connected to is lost, you can keep going. Keep dreaming my friends, someday they will come true.