❛❛He who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose❜❜

༻ E X T E N D E D  S U M M A R Y ༺

People describe Katie Gardner and Travis Stoll's relationship as complicated. Of the five years, they've known each other, three of them were spent making out nonexclusively and denying any ounce of a feeling sweeter than dislike. No one knows how it happens, but they always end up kissing one day and then bullying each other the next. Complicated shouldn't be used to describe them when complicated is described as them.

Yet just as things are smoothing out, a precocious demigod unintentionally triggers parts of Travis's past, digs up pieces of him he's buried for years and makes him reconsider his choices. Katie is suddenly caught between trying to help fix him and guarding herself the way she has her whole life. Their relationship was complicated before but now it's abruptly spiraling from complicated to unhealthy. Not to mention, a life-threatening quest with this new demigod to a rural community isn't giving them much time to sort out their issues.

Two demigods on two quests. A quest to save a forest, and a quest to save their love for each other. Saving the forest may sound easygoing with a daughter of a plant goddess, and getting together may sound easy when two people are so drawn to each other, but a rich forester might not be the only thing in their way.

Some broken bones.

Some broken souls

But one soul, two souls, or a forest can't be saved after they are destroyed.

You have to save it before it dies.

༻C A S T༺

Barbara Palvin as Katie Gardner
the girl afraid of being broken

Froy Gutierrez as Travis Stoll
the boy afraid of being a breaker

Corey Fogelmanis as Conner Stoll 
the boy who doesn't break

Mackenzie Foy as Peggy Wilson
the girl who fixes the broken

Lamar Johnson as August Cloverleaf
the boy who brings in the broken

༻ P R E F A C E ༺

A while back in 2017, freshly a part of the Wattpad community, young, with the tiniest idea of what real romance was, I joined the Percy Jackson fandom, gaining followers, support, but no real knowledge of how to write a good story. Before It Dies was composed of only ideas, fantasies, popular demand, and a desire to be acknowledged.

When this story was finished with 35 chapters and one epilogue, BID had maybe 15k reads, good, but not of what I deserved. Sure, there were stories worse than mine, but after rereading it years later, the skill of writing developed, the idea of love grown to more than flowers and first kisses, I found myself despising the way I was creating a story with nothing that made me feel anymore.

In the summer of 2019, two years after publishing the first chapter, one year after the last, I decided that I would rewrite this story from the beginning, keeping the main elements but with more complex characters who had flaws. This version has been planned out, thought through, and contains character I myself don't know whether to hate or not.

If you are back as one of the readers who saw potential from the beginning, I promise that this is better, that you will find tremendous improvement from the first drafts. Yet if you are new, I want you to know that this story has a lot of history and means a lot to me. Thanks for giving this a chance.