The first memory she had of him was still too clear. It was false what they said about time. Time was just a tool to make you suffer from the pain you had endured, and that was exactly what she felt then.
Looking at the crushed paper in her palm, she closed her eyes and imagined a world with no pain, but no him either. But did that matter anymore?
When everyone asked where she was going, she hid away her saddened eyes and shook her head.
"A chore." She said.
"Something I have to handle."
"A little task for Lady Artemis."
But of course, she was lying.
Would she regret it? Probably.
Would she be happy afterward? No.
But why did she want it anyway?
Well.
She wanted to erase the Luke Castellan from her memory. Forever.
Three days later, she found herself on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere. (She was pretty sure the magic around here had hid her from the monsters and also her friends who had been trying to contact her.) It was a gloomy and cloudy morning, so she could only see the two lines of trees, luckily, not pine trees. She had had enough with the smell of pines anyway. She looked in her pocket and took out her worn and old, scratched photo of Luke, Annabeth and herself, three of them arm in arm and laughing. It was of course, one day before the incident.
She encouraged herself.
"I'll be stronger."
"I'll be able to focus."
"I won't regret it."
And she threw the picture away.
Just like that, the thoughts drifted her away from time, and before she knew it, the witch appeared.
The lady was dressed in a red robe with a white mask. (Tacky, she thought). Beside the lady was a snake, golden and sneaky with its red hungry eyes.
Thalia was not afraid, but the appearance threw her off balance.
"Young lady." The lady had a weird Latin accent that Thalia couldn't distinct.
"I'm sure you know who I am, and what I'm doing here."
The woman's expression was hard to tell underneath her mask, but she could feel a mocking attitude toward her.
"Thalia Grace. Daughter of Zeus and under aged. You're not supposed to be here, your father hated me."
"My father has nothing to do with it. I'm here for a favor." She crossed her arms.
"On the contrary, Thalia of Zeus. Your father is the reason why you're here. You are just too blinded and naive to see the solution."
"I'm here for the solution. I need you to erase a part of my memory."
The woman's laughter shook the ground.
"You, trying to be the good daughter you always are. And now the price had been paid."
Thalia wanted to shut the woman up.
"Zeus hid me for a reason, Thalia Grace. He was afraid of my power." Aura was known for her unpredictable power. Her existence was erased from the Greek Mythology because of her past. Her father knew it, and she figured it out too.
"Name your price, I don't came here to listen to you."
"A simple task, why would you risk the danger to find me?" The witch reached for the snake, and the thing crawled inside her sleeves.
"I wanted to be sure." She exhaled, didn't notice how the air around her was getting thicker.
"For Zeus's daughter, I'm obliged to help." Thalia could feel the woman's smile behind her mask. "This is something you would regret. I warned you."
"I know." She realized how hard it was to breath. She could control the air, but seemed like her power was useless there.
"As you wish." The woman shrugged, as it was unexpected for Thalia. The witch snapped her finger, and she felt her legs soften, and the next thing she knew, the world went black.
The witch stood still on the mountain, her eyes searched around and went back to where the daughter of Zeus was lying. She took off her mask and whispered to the snake.
"Stay awake, there'll be an interesting show to see."