Marisa Martínez

Not part of Riordanverse The following article/section is from the Paola Santiago continuity under Rick Riordan Presents and not the Riordanverse canon.

Marisa Martínez
Biographical information
Full name	Marisa Martínez
Gender	Female
Affiliation	Niños de la Luz
Residence	Silver Springs, Arizona
Status	Alive
Physical description
Hair	Blonde
Species	Human
Behind the scenes
Appearances	Paola Santiago and the River of Tears Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows

“	I wanted to thank you, for what you did in the Void. And for how you organized things here. El Cucuy's soldiers were everywhere, so I couldn’t get people to the Riverside Palace, but your offer to hold down the fort was generous, and thinking of the most vulnerable among us in a time of crisis was the actions of a leader.	”
–Marisa thanking Pao for her actions in Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows.

Marisa Martínez is the leader of the Niños de la Luz.

History

Early Life

Marisa has always had a reputation as a bully, such as stealing a kindergartner's cookie out of his lunchbox in the second grade and nearly banished a friend from their group for wearing scrunches. In her teen years, she attended Silver Springs Middle School where she bullied those who were seen as unpopular, such as Paola Santiago.

Disappearance and Life with the Niños

One day she went to the Gila River and vanished without a trace. Marisa was believed to have died when in actuality she was stolen and managed to escape before meeting up with the Niños de la Luz and joining them. She developed a crush on Franco, their leader, and would join him in robbing girls of their jewelry to find a key to the rift, leaving them to the Ahogada.

Almost a year after she joined, Franco convinced her and Naomi to go into the rift without the key to find the leader of the malevolent forces and they were attacked by dozens of monsters. Franco told the girls to run and named her as his successor as he sacrificed himself to save them. As per tradition, she ate the flames of the hearth to gain immortality and the memories of her predecessors, and in the process forgetting her life before the Niños.

Paola Santiago series

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears

A year after she disappeared, she is found by Pao wrestling with Ondina as she tries to explain something with the moon in three days. Pao reveals herself to the two girls, however she does not recognize Pao, and she tells her to run. She then stabs Ondina, who vanishes, and Pao, who passes out. Later Naomi brings Pao and Dante Mata to their encampment and she interrogates them and learns they are in possession of powerful artifacts. She tells them the purpose of their group and that they have no new members when they ask about their friend. When the camp is attacked by La Mano Panchona, she orders the residents to defend the camp. When the last of the Manos are taken care off, she calls the Niños to the mess tent to tell them to rest up for a day of rebuilding camp. She has Pao and Dante stay behind as she explains the purpose of the group and the approaching threat. She asks them to join and says their friend is beyond their help. Dante considers it as Pao declines. The next morning Pao asks her about Franco and she tells her about joining the Niños and Franco's theory and sacrifice a few days ago. When she mentions a leader, Pap thinks it is La Llorona until Marisa explains that Franco took care of her years ago and she was not much of a threat to start with. After checking to make sure Marisa doesn’t remember her, Pao agrees to join the Niños for a few days to find Emma and Marisa accepts the offer. The following morning she and Naomi train Pao and Dante, however she is forced to stop after an attack is spotted coming from the east. She tells Dante to go with Naomi and Pao to stay behind with her as she is too much of a distraction for him.

As she and Pao watch the fire with three other Niños, they learn one of their own has been taken and receive an alert that a hoard of aghadas are coming for the fire. They hold them off until Pao uses her flashlight to shield the camp. They realize Pao’s flashlight is the key and they ask her if she knew when she wakes up along with Dante missing in action. They tell her they need it to protect the camp as she demands she has it back so she can save her friends. They reveal it takes a toll on her life force and show her the white streak in her hair. They convince her to rest and, fearing she will leave and take the key with her, tie her to the cot.

After The Rift is destroyed, she embraces Franco when he returns to camp. She and Franco decide to become co-leaders and she shows the three out of the cactus field.

Paola Santiago and the Forest of Nightmares

Despite their agreement to lead as a duo, she lets Franco make the big decisions. Six months after the defeat of La Llorona, Franco picks up strange readings from Oregon and has the niños move north to investigate, however Naomi chooses to stay behind. After they arrive, they are taken prisoner by the Duendecillos.

Some time later, Pao and Naomi are thrown into the same holding cell as them. Franco ignores them as Marisa sarcastically welcomes Naomi. As the newcomers say they have found the anomaly as Pao reveals what it is. Franco finds it hard to believe but she takes Pao seriously. When Franco says there are timed appearances of the anomaly, he suggests using an experimental beam to catch it. But Pao, after learning he never tried it. Suggests something else. After noticing a duendecillos, Franco accuses her of being a spy, but Pao says she is not and goes to speak with her privately. After speaking with her, Pao says they can get out by starting a fire and the niños agree to help. She silently apologizes to Franco for being outvoted. After starting the fire they wait by the door. After several minutes of watching the fire grow to dangerous levels, the door opens and they escape, only to come face to face with the Hitchhiker. They comes at the group and she, Pao and the rest of the niños attack them. They put up a fight but it is a losing battle and she, Pao and the niños are quickly defeated. However the Hitchhiker is expelled from their work after the one who summoned them passes on. She and the other niños are led to Beto's trailer by the duendecillos.

Pao's mom rents a van to take all of them back to Silver Springs. As their camp is not safe for them anymore, the niños set up shop in a warehouse with Beto giving them his trailer.

Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows

After Franco gives her a false claim of a ghost attack, she goes to investigate and returns to find Franco insisting a girl he has tied up is a fake. She berates him for his actions and pins him against the wall. Soon the ground starts to shake. When Dante is revealed to be a copy, El Cucuy threatens to kill Pao's Allie’s after watching their loved ones die. As everyone in the warehouse panics, Pao gets everyone’s attention and reveals that she is the granddaughter of La Llorona. Most of the crowd is shocked as Pao holds out her magnifying glass and says she will fight for them. Naomi, Marisa, Beto, and half those present stand with her while the other half declare their loyalty after Franco does. After the Longs reappear, Jonathan puts something about the fight on social media hoping some people come. After Maria and Emma are tasks with taking the younger kids to safety, she tasks two older Niños with helping them. After fighting breaks out she and Naomi bark orders for the Niños to keep their ranks. Upon learning of Franco, she mourns him as she fights. Soon Pao comes through a portal holding a cube, the source of El Cucuy's power, and she and the others each take on some of the fear as the enemy vanishes when the cube disintegrates.

After the fighting, she and Naomi go over to Pao and Emma. As the girls question what the Niños would do now that the Void is no longer a threat, Pao suggests they go into social justice, much to Emma’s joy. Marisa offers Pao a place in the Niños, but she turns Marisa down, Marisa accepts it as Naomi calls Pao a chicken. Kit requests to join, but her request is rejected and she sulks off to help clean.

Appearance

Marisa is a teenage girl of European Latino descent. She has blond hair and light skin. Before disappearing she would always wear the lasted fashion trends. After disappointing for a year and joined the Niños de la Luz, she wore ragged clothing and her hair became messy and dirty.

Personality

Marisa is a girl who bullies others out of insecurity. However after joining the Niños de la Luz, she becomes more confident and kind, preferring to stop fights rather than starting them.

Abilities

• Enhanced Memory: After becoming the leader of the Niños de la Luz, Marisa gained the memory of all the former leader.
• Immortality: While the other Niños cannot age so long as they stay within the boundaries of their encampment, Marisa is the only one who is truly immortal.