"WHY THE HELL DID YOU LEAVE WITHOUT TELLING US YOU WERE LEAVING," yelled her stepfather.

"I WAS GOING TO SCHOOL," She yelled back.

"YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHERE YOU ARE GOING, YOUNG LADY," he yelled, pointing his finger in her face, making her step back.

Naia was just so angry at him. Why did he have to be so mean? She felt her anger turn to fire and felt it radiating off her body. Some of the anger subsided. Then, the ground started to grumble and shake. Paintings and other decorations began falling to the ground. Her stepfather, Koa, or as she referred to him, Baby Face actually fell to the ground and started crying. Crying! She laughed uncontrollably until her mother; Kalei walked in. Her large grin immediately straightened as she saw the look on her mother's face. The minor earthquake came to a stop and Koa stood back up. Naia's mother glared at her and so did her stepfather.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Naia! Laughing at your stepfather like that!" She sighed angrily. "Your just like your father. Selfish and heartless!"

Hearing that made Naia on the verge of tears. She was just a kid. Just twelve. How could her mother talk to her like that? And always talking shit about her father. She looked at them both with pure despise and hatred, "I hate you! Both of you!" She ran straight to her room and slammed the door so hard you could have felt it from across the house. Naia then locked the door and ran to her bed.

"Oh, young lady! Get back here!" Her mother yelled as she walked up the stairs. "You know what?! You're off to boarding school!"

"Ugh! Why won't you leave me alone?!" Naia yelled back.

The next thing she heard was Kalei dialing on the house phone and speaking into it. Naia didn't hear everything, but this is what she did hear, "Yes, I want to send my daughter to boarding school. Her age? She's uh- twelve. Her name is Naia Murphy.... Oh, she's definitely a problematic child. Alright, great. See you in a week," then she made another phone call which Naia hadn't listened to. Kalei knocked on her door. "Pack up, we're leaving in thirty minutes," And she walked back downstairs.

Naia screamed in her pillow and swore repeatedly in Hawaiian. She couldn't believe her mother was actually going through with this. It took her about fifteen minutes to pack because all she had was a few clothes and an old photo of her father she'd found a few years back.

After several hours of driving, they'd come to a stop at the shore near a large boat. Her eyes widened upon realization. That was a cruise ship! A large cruise ship. If she was being so bad, why were they taking a cruise? They all got out of the car and Kalei came up to her with that ordering face she always seemed to have. The kind that a military officer would have. But she had no military background. No one in her family did.

"Now, don't think we're taking the cruise because of you. We're only taking it because we want to show how much your sister is a good kid," she said flatly.

"Stepsister," Naia corrected while rolling her eyes.

"You are so rude, Naia. Show me some respect, I'm your mother,"

"Biologically, yes. You are. But that's as close as you'll ever get to being my mother. Enjoy your other daughter, Kahlua." She gave her mother a glare. She decided to walk away before things got worse than they just did. Okay, maybe she could be a bit rude. Maybe it was just her way of keeping herself sane in that household, or possibly it had something to do with her ADHD.

It took a while before they all got situated on the cruise. But they were all over the place in no time. All except for Naia who'd been grounded to the room they were staying in. She wanted to scream and break stuff, but this was someone else's property. If she broke any of it, her mother and stepfather would have to pay for it.

"Wait a second--" she mumbled to herself before an evil smirk spread across her lips. An amazing idea sprang in her mind. "I can make them pay for a bunch of broken shit."

Naia spent the next hour breaking vases, pictures, and whatever else she could find. Afterwards, she snuck out of the room and decided to give herself a tour of the cruise. It took roughly half an hour before she learned that her family had found the vandalised stuff. She was just by a balcony, looking at the sea because that was just calming to her. It was always where she felt at home. Safe. And other things. She was just thinking about her favorite movie, Moana, (which she would never admit to anyone) until someone grabbed her shoulder tightly. Naia jumped out of her skin and turned around quickly to see Baby Face glaring at her with such anger in his eyes. She knew exactly what this meant. She was in big trouble.

"Oh, hey Koa," she said with an awkward wave and a forced smile. His anger did not seem to go away.

"What the hell were you thinking?! Destroying other peoples' property like that?! What's wrong with you?!" He lashed out. But before Naia could answer, she had been pushed and fell straight over the railing. Landing right in the water.

Now, she did like the ocean, but this wasn't what she'd meant by it. The propellers from the cruise caused her to swirl around as fear crept up inside her. Was this how she was going to die? This couldn't be right. She still had a life to live. But before she could do anything about it, her vision began to blur as she slipped out of consciousness.

Slowly, her eyes began to open. It might've been a hot day out, but her face and neck were abnormally cold for some odd reason. Panic settled inside her until she saw an empty cone of ice cream on the ground. Naia wiped the dark liquid off her face and looked at her surroundings. Then reality hit her like a punch in the gut. Where was she? The world started spinning as her vision began to blur. Then, she heard a loud unpleasant screech. Naia stood up and walked through the woods to see a large animal fighting two kids around her age. Maybe slightly older. The beast had the body of a lion and the head of an eagle, along with claws and wings. She'd heard about these. They were griffins. But griffins were just some old myth and legend. They weren't real. But this sight proved her wrong. Apparently, they were very real. The two kids there obviously needed help, but what was she going to do? Naia had no fighting experience, especially when it came to fighting griffins. Although right now, it didn't matter.

Picking up a large branch but just light enough to carry, Naia ran towards the monster, screaming at the top of her lungs and swinging as hard as possible. It took a while, but she finally managed to get a good hit right on the griffin's side. It let out a screech and came straight at her. She tried to hit it with the stick again but missed badly. The griffin knocked her over, causing the branch to fly out of her hand and her lungs felt as if they'd just collapsed. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two kids staring in shock. Her attention was brought back to the monster when it roared and dug its claws into her side. Naia screamed in pain. She might've just been pushed off a cruise ship, but that was nothing in caparison to this. Even breathing was difficult. In a matter of seconds, one of the kids was at her side. A blond girl with bright blue eyes that you could have gotten lost in. For the hundredth time that day, her vision began to blur until everything went black...