PROLOGUE: FALLING

Nari was having a terrible day.

For starters, her math teacher, Mr. Green, handed back last week's math tests. She couldn't believe that after how hard she studied, she only got a 63%. It was safe to say that Nari did not like math.

Then, of course, she couldn't focus. She was beyond frustrated with herself. Typically she loved to be present in the moment, and listening to her school lessons as they went on, but for the past month she's just been so out of it. It started off slow, but it was getting progressively worse. She just could not focus.

She felt like she was going mad.

Obviously her school had that stereotypical bully like in the movies-the one that everyone hates but is somehow still popular. Lauren Smith had never been nice to Nari, not once, and today she was being ten times more cruel.

Lauren had judged her, destroyed her art project, made fun of her in front of her friend group for her apparently 'odd clothing' (which wasn't really odd at all), and spilled her lunch tray all over the cafeteria floor.

Nari never had much money to begin with in her family, so to see the lunch that she payed for out of pocket all over the floor infuriated her. But she didn't say anything-she didn't tell any teachers or students what had happened and how she was feeling about it, because she never stood up for herself. No wonder Lauren picked on her.

Nari began her walk to the bus stop after her long day at school, glad for the weekend finally arriving to give her a break from Lauren and bad test scores and early morning wake-ups.

She sat down on the same rusted, metal bench that she sat on every weekday. It was familiar, it was a sign that she was almost home.

Her mother was waiting for her. She loved her mother more than anyone in the world, because Nari didn't have anyone else. Hana Seong was a beautiful woman. A woman who knew who she was and was confident in her own skin. She was so unlike Nari.

Nari dreamed to be more like her mother. She thought her mother was perfect.

The wait for the bus was longer than usual, and the streets were empty. There were no cars or people walking the sidewalks. Nari sat on the bench alone, waiting for a bus that was taking ages to come.

During her boredom, Nari decided to read. She always read, whether it be the Harry Potter books or Percy Jackson books (her personal favourites) or even The Maze Runner. There was always another world more interesting than her own.

She slipped The Titan's Curse out of her backpack, careful to keep it in good condition. Nari liked perfection, and if any of her books were even the slightest bit damaged, she would be upset. Was it dramatic? Yes, but she didn't care. She liked clean, well kept books.

She flipped to the first page, deciding to start over on a whim.

MY RESCUE OPERATION GOES VERY WRONG.

"The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school. We picked up my friends Annabeth..."

Nari paused, frowning as her head began to spin. Her hand reached out to clutch the bench she sat on, the cool metal feeling numb against her already tingling fingers.

Nari looked up, her vision doubling, tripling. The world was turning on its side, or was she falling?

She steadied herself, looking to her beloved book in confusion. "We picked up my friends Annabeth and Thalia on the way..." it read. She couldn't read any further-the letters started warping, moving around the page.

The last thing Nari saw before she collapsed to the ground was three old ladies across the street, watching her as she fell.

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lizzie speaks...

very excited for this fic eheheheh

always wanted to write one / hope you all like Nari so far / don't forget to comment ideas if you have any, i love to use them

also nari is 16 btw. anddddd this is a platonic fic! no love interest for nari xoxo

also updates every sunday <3