The Half-Blood (Book One) Prolouge |H| (From the letters in the chapters, it will show who Willow's god parent is)

by Raven & Willow in class, writing fan-fiction and other things when I’m supposed to be paying attention

  I slowly boarded the plane to Pennsylvania.  I was leaving my parents to live with my aunt and cousin because of my stepfather's money problams.  Neither of them could afford to pay for all of the things I needed, but my Aunt Sophie could, so she I was going to live at her house for a while.  Nikki, my little sister, was already with our cousin Carter in Pennsylvania, so it wouldn't be as much pain to not be with my younger sibling.  With one look of yearning at my parents, I found her seat. 

  As the plane took off, I looked down at my necklace my stepfather got in his past job as an archeologist.  It was a golden drachma, the money of the gods.  I really loved Greek mythology, so I was really happy when I got that necklace.  Some kid started kicking the back of my seat.  I sighed and took out my laptop.

  As my plane landed, I had blasted the music on my iPod as loudly as it could get so I wouldn't have to hear the flushing from the bathroom only feet away from me.  That's when I noticed who was sitting next to me.  "Riley?" I asked, surprised.

  Riley, one of my best friends at school, was heading to Pennsylvania, too.  "Willow!  What are you doing here?" Riley asked.

  "Going to Pennsylvania to stay with Aunt Sophie and Carter!  I thought you were moving to Michigan!" I explained.

  "But this IS the plane to Michigan, right?" Riley asked.

  "No, it said clearly on my ticket: Gate 3 to Philidelphia, Pennsylvania!" I protested.

  Riley's green eyes got wide and she started chewing on her fingernails.  She always forgot stuff, sometimes where our classrom was at school.  Now, she was headed to Pennsylvania instead of Michigan.  "Mom is going to KILL me once she finds out where I am!" Riley muttered through her nails.

  "It's fine, Riley, you can come with me.  Aunt Sophie loves kids, and she's glad that at least one other of her sister's kids are coming.  She'll love you!  And she loves cleaning, and you forget stuff a lot so she'll probably find the stuff you lost!" I said.

  As Riley and I boarded the shuttle to Aunt Sophie's house, I noticed a little old lady giving us the evil eye.  Riley took something out of her carry-on bag and held it behind her back.  The old woman stiffened.  Nobody else was on the shuttle except the driver, and he was apparently unaware of someone creeping us out.  Then, things got weird when the little old lady, who looked like she could get pushed over by even a microscopic object, tacked Riley.

  The old woman grew fangs, wings, talons, and her eyes burst into flames.  Riley took out the thingy from behind her back, a bronze dagger, and let it shimmer in the light.  I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep myself from screaming.  The old lady's eyes singed my long black hair and I finally started screaming.

  The driver didn't notice for some reason.  With one very loud scream, something melted in through the floor.  A real-live skeleton attacked that--thing--and it gave Riley just enough time to stab the thing with her dagger.  The old lady-thing then burst into a yellow sulfur-smelling cloud of dust.  I felt like I was hypervenalating, and asked, "WHAT WAS THAT THING!?!?!"

  "A Fury," Riley muttered.  "I should've known that they'd be after me."

  "A what!?  What's a Fury!?  And why did it attack you!?" I asked.

  Riley didn't say anything else until we got to Aunt Sophie's house.  As I rang the doorbell, Riley started shaking like crazy.  It was Carter who answered the door.  Riley stoped shivering then.  I have to admit, lots of girls had crushes on my cousin.

  "Oh, hey Carter!" I said.

  "Hey, Willow.  Isn't that your friend Riley?" Carter said.

  "Yeah.  She was going to catch a plane to Michigan but got on my plane to Pennsylvania and has no place to go.  Do you think Aunt Sophie will let her stay, Carter?" I explained.

  "Sure.  My mom says that any of us can bring any friends over unless they're chainsaw lunatics," Carter said.

  "Cool!  Come on, Riley.  Riley?"

  Riley was already inside.  "Oo-kay then!!!" I said and walked inside.

  "WILLOW!!!" Nikki screamed and tackled me with one of her bear hugs.

  Aunt Sophie came in from the kitchen, stirring a bowl of...something.  "Willow, where do I put my stuff?" Riley yelled from upstairs.

  Carter said to me, then Riley, "I got this.  IT'S THE ROOM TO THE RIGHT OF THE MOOSE HEAD!!!!!!!!!"

  I walked up the stairs, wondering what my aunt was cooking.  My Aunt Sophie is really...eccentric....  She bought a historic house, had done a couple abstract paintings, dyed her hair bright blue, and even got a Doberman-German Shepard mixed-breed dog.  She wasn't exactly crazy, she was just creative and different.  "Okay, make yourself at home!" Sophie called from the kitchen.

  Riley, Nikki, Carter, and I all shared a room.  As I emptied my stuff, I saw Riley looking miserable on the top bunk on the opposite side of the room.  "Riley?  Are you okay?" I asked.

  "Mmph," Riley mumbled.

  I rolled my eyes and brought my other stuff to the other top bunk.  "Ah!  Ares!!!" I yelled when I saw Aunt Sophie's dog sleeping there.

  Ares jumped off of the bed and ran outside.  I sighed and put my bag up on the bed.  "Riley is moping?" Carter asked from the door.

  "Why would she be moaning into a pillow and not talking to anyone if she WEREN'T moping!?"

  Carter laughed a little.  I slid down the ladder.  "I...um...I actually found a little information on my father..." Carter started.

  "Really?  What did you find?" I asked.  I knew that Carter's father died in a car crash when he was three and he wanted to find out more about him.

  "First of all, he worked at a bakery.  He had a girlfriend for a long time since he got the job, and I might have a half brother or sister out there.  Then he met Sophie.  Then, on my third birthday..." Carter didn't finish his story.

  "Yeah, I know.  Penny told me so," I said.  Penny was Carter's aunt, meaning my mom.

  Carter looked down at the floor.  His father's death was a touchy subject for him.  "And, uh, then Sophie dyed her hair and started the whole art thing.  It was driving her insane that he was gone.  Then, she moved from Seattle to Philidelphia.  And I went with her.  It was..."

  I quickly nodded, knowing what he was going to say.  "It's fine, Carter.  I know how it feels," I said.

  Carter muttered something about me being an idiot and walked off.  "Carter!  I didn't mean--" I started.

  With a sigh, I climbed back up the ladder.  I screamed when I saw what else was up there.  A dog, not Ares, with charcoal-colored fur and glowing red eyes crouched on the matress, snarling at me.  Carter ran back in and yelled, "O Zeu kai alloi theoi!!!  Willow, GET OVER HERE!!!"

  I was too stunned to move.  Carter yanked the ladder out from under my feet and I fell.  He took out bronze ninja stars from his pockets and threw one at the dog.  It got stuck in the wall.  Riley stopped moping and took out her dagger.

  I felt a tug in my gut and the floor cracked open, sucking the dog into the ground.  Then, I passed out.