The Demigod Trials 1

CHAPTER ONE

He began his new life, pressed to the floor, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.

Metal ground against metal; a lurching shudder and he fell backwards, slamming his head into the side of whatever he was trapped in. His back struck metal wall; he slid along it until he hit the corner of the room. He rubbed his head, and pulled his legs tight towards his body; praying to the gods that his eyes would soon adjust to the darkness.

With another quick jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft.

Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine.

He felt disoriented, almost felt like crying as he sat alone in the dark, being transported to some unknown place.

''My name is Percy. I am the son of a god. ''After that, he knew nothing else. He didn't know what he looked like, which god was his father or how old he was. It was as if his memories had decided they were done with his mess of a brain and picked themselves up and walked away. And the most important thing- he didn't know why he was in this square room that was moving.

He didn't understand how he couldn't remember anything else. His mind functioned quickly, trying to take in his predicament. He remembered basic things, things anyone would know about. He pictured the beach, water crashing on sifting sand, the roar of the tide. He remembered eating a steak, the sun when it sank, and people rushing about a large city.

And yet he didn't know where he came from, or how he'd gotten inside the dark lift, or who his parents were exactly. He didn't even know his last name. Images of people flashed across his mind, but there was no recognition, their faces replaced with haunted smears of color, like they'd been blotted out. He couldn't recall one person he knew or his last conversation.

The room continued to climb upwards, on the screeching chains that rattled as they pulled him up. A long time passed. Minutes stretched into hours, although it was impossible to know for sure because every second seemed an eternity. No, that couldn't be right. He'd only been moving for so long...roughly half an hour.

Strangely enough, he felt his fear being washed away, as if the sea's currents had come and swept it along, leaving him with only an intense curiosity. He wanted to know where he was and what was happening.