Missing Pieces

Prologue

I was running, as fast as I can. I glanced back behind me, to see some monsters running after me.

My name is Valentina Jackson, I am 7 years old and I just ran away from home, and was currently being chased by some monsters.

As I was running, I tripped over something and fell. I turned around to see the monsters coming close and I backed away. They came even closer, and I let out a big scream and then the monsters dissolved into dust. I stared, as a boy and two girls, came into view. The boy came over to me and knelt down in front of me. He had blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked me. I shook my head, feeling shaken after what just happened.

"Hey, it's okay, we're here now," he reassured me. "What's your name?"

"Valentina," I answered him.

"My name is Luke," he introduced himself and then nodded to the girls. "And this is Thalia and Annabeth. Do you mind if we call you Val."

I looked at Thalia and Annabeth. Thalia had short, black hair, and brown eyes. Annabeth, who seemed about my age, had blonde hair, and grey eyes.

Thalia walked over to us and knelt down next to Luke, and looked into my eyes.

"Valentina, would you like to come with us?" she asked me. I nodded.

Luke held out his hand to help me up.

I took his hand and stood up. Thalia pulled out a knife from her pocket and handed it to me.

"You need something to defend yourself," she explained. "In case, Luke, Annabeth and I aren't there to help you. It's not much but this knife will help you." I nodded as I took the knife in my hand.

"Though at the moment it's late and we should probably find a place to sleep," Luke said.

"I agree," Annabeth said. Luke lead us to a spot in the forest and we all sat down.

"I can keep watch," Thalia said.

"No you sleep, I'll keep watch," Luke argued.

"No I will," Thalia said. "I got this, I promised.

"You sure?" Luke asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Thalia said.

"Okay," Luke said as he went to lie down. I lay on his left side, with Annabeth on mine.

I stared up at the sky trying to fall asleep. Have I finally found a family that truly wanted me? I wondered to myself. I spent the first 5 years at the orphanage because my mom left me there, not knowing why she left me, and then when I was 5, I got adopted by a family, and they hated me for some reason. They treated me like I was a freak and often neglected me until last night, I had enough. I felt like they didn't want me, so I ran away and then I ended up getting chased by monsters and now here I am with Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth. I closed my eyes, slowly falling asleep.

Flashback:

It was dinner time, which means it was time to eat.

"Valentina!" My dad barked. "Get over here!"
I walked out of my room, feeling terrified.

"Help out with setting the table," he said. "Or no dinner for you."

I nodded, quickly, as I walked over to the cabinets and took out the plates.

"Valentina!" I felt someone run into me from behind, making me drop the plates. The plates fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. I immediately stiffened.