| The beautiful music of Malika Ashman's violin could be heard everywhere in the small town known as Glenwillow, in Ohio,from the middle of the town square. Malika, born in Europe and raised in America, was enhanced by the music of the violin. Growing interested to master the enchanting instrument after grandparents, Gertrude and James, had brought her to an orchestra of violins when she was a just a girl of 8. Through the next 15 years of her life, Malika has learnt to master the violin,and finally mastered the instrument at the age of 22.
As Malika played the violin, she caught the attention of many locals,also a handsome man known as Manuel, who was actually Apollo in disguise. When Malika finished playing, the crowds of locals erupted into a cheer, and Manuel, fell for Malika since then. For a long time,Manuel has been trying to win Malika's heart, but Malika had declined everytime. Finally,Manuel couldn't take it anymore. He went up to her one day and invited her to the local pub, insisting that they were only going as "friends". Malika believed him and went with him there after that. They reached the pub in an hour's time. As they were talking, Manuel insisted Malika on having a few more drinks, until she became thoroughly drunk enough for him to take advantage of her. He took her back to her house,and,well, Manuel called it "exploring". Malika woke up to find a note next to her, and a small, golden box, saying:
I'm sorry, I really am. You are going to have a baby girl in a few months time. When the child turns 13, give her this bracelet to remind her of me.Do not worry about me, I promise I won't bother your life anymore.
Manuel
Malika re-read the letter a few more times, and opened the small box.Underneath the soft, yellow tissue was a single chain with pendants of different musical instruments, the violin in particular. Malika felt all mixed up inside,she didn't know what to do, but she stayed alive for her child. A few months later, as Manuel had predicted, the child was born, a beautiful and healthy baby girl with soft honey brown eyes. Malika named her baby Maia, whom grew up to be the Maia we all know to this day. She grew up in a restricted life with her mother, only doing whatever her mother approves of. Maia soon followed the footsteps of Malika, and learnt to play the violin as well as her mother could.
When Maia's 13th birthday arrived, Malika had given her the necklace Manuel had left for her 13 years ago, after which Maia erupted with a thousand questions about her father, but Malika kept silent. Frustrated with not being answered, Maia went out for a walk. As Maia was walking, she got lost in her thoughts, causing her to take a miss turn into an abandoned street in the middle of nowhere. Maia snapped out of her thoughts and tried to find a way out of the town, and eventually got lost.
Knowing that there's probably no way she could find her way out, Maia explores the abandoned street instead. For a few minutes,nothing really seemed to interest her, until she found a quaint little house at the corner of the street.Her eyes shining with a hint of adventure, she walks into the house.The house was quite old, around the 1930s, maybe.The walls were peeling,they had a yellowish-brown colour,the remaining household items were very dusty.But, Maia found something that wasn't dusty. Next to an old closet, there was a dagger, with a 15-inch long blade made of what looked like silver. Maia's eyes studied the dagger with awe, as she had never seen such an item like this.
As Maia was looking with much interest at her new found, she didn't hear the soft thuds coming behind her. Then she heard a low growl. Maia whirled around, feeling wary and slightly afraid at the same time.She looked around, and saw nothing. Reluctantly, she went back into studying her dagger. Another growl, much louder than the first, rang into her ears. Maia turned around again, this time with fear. She held the dagger instinctively in front of her, as if waiting for an attack. Then she saw it, a shadow looming on the other side of the room.
The shadow grew larger,and closer, Maia was already shivering. There was a loud roar, making everything else tremble. And Maia saw it, a huge hellhound with its eyes staring at her. Maia froze, and the hellhound charged. She unfroze fast enough and hesitantly raised the dagger. She closed her eyes shut, waiting for impact. A few seconds later she opened her eyes. A pile of dust was all she could see infront of her. Breathing hard, Maia stumbled out of the little house with the dagger. She didn't look back while running.
Maia finally managed to find a way back to her house. It was almost midnight. Maia put the dagger inside her jacket so that Malika would not notice, because she knew what Malika could do. Malika was very relieved to see her daughter in one piece, and gave her a good scolding and made her go to sleep, telling her to never take long walks again without her coming along. Maia was happy enough just to sleep, but she didn't until after midnight, as she was to disturbed by what she saw. She kept her dagger under her pillow.
Three years passed, and what Maia has been doing those years was mostly fighting any monster that could sense her, going and coming back from school, spending time alone in the park, or even outside her house. She doesn't know how to go back to the old abandoned street anymore, but didn't meant she forgot about it.At 16 years of age, Maia was a talented young girl, who could fight monsters as well as she could play the violin. If it wasn't for her dagger though, Maia would've gone to the underworld, not that she knew of. She grew experienced by fighting most of the time, and playing the violin. As for Malika, well, she was obliviously about her daughter's daily activities. She was only focusing on how well her daughter was doing at school. And school was not exactly Maia's favourite. Her grades, Maia's teacher recalls, weren't the best in class, as she was dyslexic. Malika was dissappointed about this, actually, she's even more dissappointed with Maia nowadays. Looking at her poor results on school, she doesn't know how Maia would be able to survive. But that problem was like a small potato compared to what Maia had to face most of her time.
One day as Maia was walking in the park with her friend,Sabrina. As they were walking, a sphinx suddenly jumped out of no where, surprising Maia and terrifying Sabrina. Sabrina screamed and ran away. Maia just looked at the sphinx in a tiredly challenging way. She took out her dagger.
The sphinx grinned and asked her three riddles.
"Which came first, the chicken, or the egg?" The first question.
Maia thought for awhile then answered, "A circle has no beginning."
The sphinx gave a low growl, "Very well, Where do vanished objects go?"
Maia thought again, longer and harder this time, "Uh.... Into non-being, which is to say, uh... everything."
The sphinx let out an angry roar, furious that a 16 year old girl could answer his riddles, "Aren't you a smart one, eh, demigod?"
For your information, Maia had learned to answer these kind of questions because of Sabrina, the girl from just a few minutes ago, she was a real smart one, and even tutored Maia for awhile.
"Demigod.." Maia muttered under her breath, Is that what I'm supposed to be?, she thought. She turned her attention back to the sphinx.
"It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it?" It was the sphinx's last riddle.
Maia wasn't really scared, but she was already very tired, all she wanted was just a normal, happy life, having friends and getting good grades at school, making her mother proud. Playing her violin.. having a good time. She was sick of having to fight monsters every single day.
"Ugh... why.. I give up, already!" Maia exclaimed.
The sphinx grinned in triumph and attacked. Maia put her dagger in front and closed her eyes, bracing for attack, like she did three years ago. Before that she heard a cry, Maia opened her eyes. She saw a javelin soar through the air before landing promptly on the sphinx. The sphinx disintegrated. In a few moments Maia saw a girl with dark skin and even darker hair, standing in front of her.Their conversation went like this:
"Are you okay?" The girl asked.
"I'm fine," Maia replied, her eyes narrowing.
"Who are you?"
"Kelli, and you're a demigod. How have you evaded them for so long?"
"Evaded who?"
The girl looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes. "Monsters, Oh, come on! You gotta be like..15?"
"16, and yeah, I've kinda learned by myself to fight the last few years,"
"Holy Zeus.. three years of evasion.. she wouldn't have survived.." Kelli muttered as she picked up her dagger and brushed on the side of her pants.
"Hey, I'm right here, am I invisible?"
"We need to get you to camp, there's no time."
"Camp? Where?"
"No time to explain."
"Then let me go get my things first!" Maia puts her hands to her hips.
"Aren't you infuriating."
"I've been told."
"I should think so, let's not waste more time."
And Kelli followed Maia back to her house, Malika was there. Maia had to explain everything to her, and told she was going to a camp for people like her. It took a long time before Kelli and Maia could finally convince Malika. When they did Maia ran to her room, brought out a duffel bag, threw all her stuff in it, the clothes and all that. Including her violin. Before going down, Maia found Manuel's necklace. She looked at it wordlessly, then put on. She also strapped her dagger to her belt.
Maia hugged Malika for a long time before going out with Kelli. She promised Malika she would visit someday, and left with Kelli. It took them like, a long time before they reached camp. Maia got claimed by Apollo as soon as she went through the borders
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