The Demigod Trials Prologue

PROLOGUE

Annabeth looked at her best friend and wondered what it would be like to forget him. It seemed impossible, though she'd now seen the Hera implant her special powers in dozens of boys before Percy. Dark black hair, mischevious green eyes and a constant look of trouble- how could this demigod ever be unfamiliar to her? How could they be in the same room and not joke about some smell or make fun of some clueless idiot nearby? How could she ever stand in front of him and not leap at the change to communicate telepathically?

Impossible.

And yet, only a day away.

For her. For Percy, it was a matter of minutes until he forgot everything. He lay on the operating table, his eyes closed, chest rising and falling with soft, even breaths, his hands balled up at his sides. Already dressed in requisite shorts-and-T-shirt uniform of the Glade, he looked like a snapshot of the past- some ordinary boy taking an ordinary nap after a long day at an ordinary school, before the power of the gods was accidentally set loose and made the world anything but ordinary. Before death and destruction made it necessary to steal demigods-along with their memories- and send them to a place as terrifying as the maze to find the fittest.

Hera stood ready, and commanded her servents who had been prepping Percy to lower a mask onto his face, gods knows why. Annabeth willed herself to stay still, every instinct in her told her to leap forward and tell them to stop. As much as she hated Hera, this plan had to work. Annabeth watched as Hera held up her hands and closed her eyes, clearly concentrating. But Annabeth's eyes were on Percy. His hands twitched, almost like he could feel the pain, but the goddess of the heavens had promised he would feel nothing. Hera began her work, plucking images from Percy's memory. Erasing his mom Sally and his own father Poseidon, erasing his entire life with ease. Erasing ''her. ''

Some small part of her knew it should make her angry, make her scream and yell and refuse to help for one more second. But it was for the greater good, to save whatever was left of their world, and bring the gods back onto their feet. Yes, the greater part within her was entrenched in certainty so deeply that she knew she'd feel it even after tomorrow, when her memories were erased as well. She and Percy were proving their conviction by submitting to what had been asked of the other demigods. If they died, so be it. Dying for a greater purpose, bringing the gods back into power, meant something to Annabeth.

Percy sucked in a hitching breath, then made a little moaning sound, shifted his body. Annabeth thought for a horrifying second that he might wake up, hysterical from the agony- Hera was inside his head doing who knew what to his brain.

They'd said their official goodbyes, and the words See you tomorrow Wise Girl still rang in her head. For some reason that had really struck her when Percy said it, made what he was about do to all the more surreal and sad.