Hey, guys. So here's a little one-shot I designed about Piper and Jason meeting earlier in their lives, when Piper didn't know she was a demigod and Jason didn't know Greeks existed. Oh, and they're both aged 14.

Every experiment has a test group.

It's a given fact, and even the gods have to abide it. And there's one goddess in particular who has to test out her theory before she can enact her entire master plan.

She isn't evil, although Annabeth Chase likes to claim otherwise. What she is preparing to do will unite seven of the greatest heroes ever.

Hera smiled down at the image of Jason and Piper, or more importantly, a Roman boy and a Greek girl interacting.

…

Piper McLean is rich, and there are many perks to it.

This is one of those moments. She and her dad can finally get some alone time and they decide to spend it on the beach.

California's beaches are infamously beautiful, and Piper can't help but agree just this once. The sun is bright, the waves are perfect, and the ocean is a perfect cerulean blue. Some days, Piper even wondered if there is someone out there keeping the ocean at bay like this…

What a strange thought, she told herself. Where had she gotten that idea?

Piper smoothed out the sand beneath her and spread out her pink flamingo towel. She was wearing a swimsuit, a modest one-piece chosen by her dad. As if she'd be caught dead wearing a bikini in front of her dad.

Her dad, Tristan McLean. The famous actor.

The blue umbrella provided modest shade over her. Piper was never one to be vain about her own body or be self-conscious for that matter. In fact, she tried to avoid wearing designer clothing as much as possible. There just happened to be the odd cases where she tried to please her dad.

Just like this happens to be one of those special moments, this is also one of those odd cases.

Piper didn't care much for the name of the brand at all; she just hoped her dad would notice. In fact, hoping her dad would notice her had been her entire life practically. They never got time together. It actually was a bitter subject between the two of them.

All around her, people were having fun. Girls in bikinis were playing volleyball and guys wearing swim trunks slung low on their hips were gathering up their surfing boards. And far, far in the distance, Piper could see wakeboarders and windsurfers. And just beyond them, Piper could see the silhouettes of cruise-liners.

For a 14-year-old girl, she had surprisingly sharp eyesight.

Perspiration began to percolate off her shoulders in beads; it was a really hot day and Piper had forgotten sunscreen. That was actually why Tristan McLean was nowhere in sight. She'd set down all her stuff, remembered, and told her dad. Tristan had run back to the car, claiming he had some extra.

So, for now, Piper was stuck people-watching.

Within minutes, she'd decided this was boring and that people with ADHD should never have to suffer long hours of intense people-watching. Piper got up, angrily dusting off sand from the underside of her still-dry swimsuit. She set to walking along the boardwalk, her flip-flops flopping on the boards.

She walked along, looking at more things. There was the BMW Car Dealership in the distance, not too far away, and then there were more people. She grunted in disgust. So boring.

One old man even looked straight at her and winked. She glared, dubbing him, 'Santa's Evil Twin.' Something about his beard…

She shook her head and kept walking. She'd gone a couple blocks, only nodding to the occasional stranger and glaring at the ones who seemed to want more friendly smiles. She hated normal people. Normal people were so—

"Uff!" she cried, bumping into really thick wall-like something and falling unflatteringly on her rear. She looked, angry again…into the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen. "Oh!" she said this time. "Oh," she said again.

The boy in front of her blinked, briefly veiling those sky-blue eyes before opening them up to the world again. "Are you okay?" he asked quickly, rushing the words together like he was in a hurry. He held his hand out to her.

Piper blinked, seemingly at a loss for words. "I, um, I…" She ate her words, accepting his hand. Rough and callused, she noted. The hands of a skilled fighter…

"Better?" he said.

She nodded mutely.

He ran a hand through his blond hair. It was so golden, golden like Apollo's lyre. "Listen, I'm sorry I knocked you over like that. I guess I must have a thick skull or at least a bony shoulder to have done that." He laughed, a musical chime against a cacophony.

She found herself smiling. And talking, too. "I must be blind then," she said. She'd found her voice again. Where had it been?

Against all odds, he smiled back. "Hi, I'm Jason Grace."

"Pleased to meet you, Jason." She tested his name on her lips, startled by the jolt of electricity that ran through her body as a result. "I'm Piper." She purposely skipped her last name.

"Piper," he whispered. "An interesting name."

Piper suppressed the shudder her body wanted. "Jason's pretty interesting, too. You named after the Greek hero or something?"

Jason shook his head; his blond hair shifted a little. "Nah, I'm more…Roman."

Piper nodded ambiguously. "So you're Italian?"

He shook his head, a little more adamantly this time. "Most positively…Roman." His voice was a little sharper now.

Piper blinked, nodding. She was surprised at the sudden heat that pooled in her cheeks. There was something about the way he said the word, 'Roman,' that made her think…she had no idea. Maybe it was the way he rolled his 'r's.

She looked down, embarrassed. She tried to look anywhere but his face.

He was wearing a t-shirt and pants, curiously. It was 85° outside, sweltering. Why would anybody be wearing full-length denim jeans?

She tried to look directly at him, but the sun was just behind him and she couldn't look directly at him without hurting her own eyes. She could have sworn his form flickered for a moment there; she thought she saw a purple t-shirt inscribed with something…

Nah, it must have been just the heat. Piper must have been getting dehydrated or something. Besides, if Piper looked at him clearly now, he was wearing a blue t-shirt.

Jason shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Piper noticed his right hand kept moving inside the pocket. "What's in the pocket?" she demanded.

He looked up at her, caught off-guard. "Nothing," he said.

Piper shot him an incredulous look. "Oh, come off it. You can show me."

He looked at her for a long, long moment. Piper almost believed he wouldn't show her; after all, he seemed so uptight about everything and the moment Piper crossed the line, he might realize she was crazy and walk away. But finally, finally, he conceded.

He pulled out, of all things, a gold coin, placing it in the palm of her hand.

It was about the size of a half-dollar, but a lot thicker and much more uneven. On one side there was crude drawing of a battle ax and on the other there was an inscription…something she couldn't read, but had the strangest feeling she could with the right practice.

It looked Roman.

Piper shrugged; it didn't seem too special. She figured it was some special token. Dimly, she wondered whether this unbalanced coin would flip evenly in the air or not. With her left hand, she set the coin on the groove between her thumb and her forefinger, ready to flick—

Quick as lightning, Jason snatched the coin and stuffed it back into his pocket. "Don't do that. It's dangerous."

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

He blushed, an oddly cute expression on his face. "Okay, fine, it's not dangerous. But don't flip the coin."

She rolled her eyes playfully. Then a smirk made its way onto her face. She tilted her head to the side, leaning in just a little. "What if," she whispered tantalizingly, "I were to tell you that I am going to steal a car from that dealership in the next month or so?"

He locked his bright blue eyes with her. "My lips would be sealed, if that's what you're asking."

They both knew that wasn't what she was asking. "What if I told you I'm a dangerous girl?" she tried instead.

Jason blinked, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Now that I believe."

Piper stared at him, the stranger she'd just met and just could not help the smile that consumed her face, the one that mirrored him. In fact, just a little closer and they would have been—

"Jason!" cried a girl from the ledge above. Piper's head snapped along with Jason's.

She registered a flying purple cape and a shock of dark hair matched by olive-toned skin. That was all. "I should get going. That's my friend, Reyna. We're on a…grocery quest of sorts…to retrieve a couple items for our family."

"Oh," she said. That was all she said.

"Bye," he said, waving to her as he ran away from her and out of sight.

She waved to his retreating form, only to be saved the public embarrassment of looking like she was dumped by her phone buzzing in her pocket. She picked it up, cursed, and said, "Hey, Dad. How's it going?"

She winced, holding the phone at arm's length. "Okay," she said much later. "I'll start heading back."

And as she began the long, treacherous journey back, her thoughts were filled with nothing but the mysterious boy she'd just met. But what Piper did not know was that every memory of him was being wiped as she walked. By the time she even reached Tristan, her story had changed from meeting another boy just like her to buying sunscreen at one of the local stores.

The only flaw to that magic: there was no sunscreen to prove it.

…

Iris crept up behind Hera, where she stared at an image. "How'd it go?" she asked.

Hera turned, not quite surprised but not quite happy to see Iris there. "Not too bad. The bridging can happen soon. It will happen soon. Who else is in this courtyard, watching us?"

"No one," reassured Iris.

"Then we can talk honestly." Hera was quite into the whole honesty thing, while Iris found it frivolous especially when it came from hypocrites like Hera. It was a longstanding debate they'd never quite resolved.

"Did you wipe her memories?"

"Yes."

"Using Mist?"

"Yes."

"And the boy's memories?"

"His as well. All he remembers is a helpful mortal on the beach pointing him in the right direction."

"She is anything but that," argued Iris.

"That is why," explained Hera sternly.

…

Piper gazed up at the unwelcoming Wilderness School hallways. She just couldn't imagine life here as being happy. It was a boarding school, and she was going to hate every second of it.

She just knew it.

Piper turned the corner, trying to find the dorms when she bumped into someone, flying backwards on her rear. She blinked; there was something familiar about this. She looked up, into beautiful blue eyes she almost wanted to say she'd known before.

But that was ridiculous.

Piper looked at the hand extended, and grasped it with her own, using him to pull herself up. His hand felt solid and real, but she felt as if she were drowning in murky water, fighting to escape something…she did not know what…a dream.

He stared at her and smiled, saying, "Hi. I'm Jason Grace."

She felt as if she were floating, but something…something just wasn't right.

Something just wasn't real.

…

Piper felt like an idiot. She should have known imagining Jason as her boyfriend had only been a dream, nothing else. She felt so manipulated, so betrayed. Because deep down, she'd wanted that chance so bad.

And her she was sitting on this rock in Camp Half-Blood, a place she most desperately did not want to be, crying her heart out because everything…had been just memories that hadn't been hers.

If you wanted to believe in the Mist and this kind of stuff.

"But," she wept, "It felt so real!" The tears burned at her eyes.

Annabeth put a hand on the girl's shoulder; Piper knew she only meant well. "Hera is the one responsible, Piper. You should take her quest, and if you do find her, you might find the answers to your question."

Piper froze. She stood up suddenly, drying her tears. "You're right. I'll take this quest, and when I find Hera, I will find the answers. That, or at least, die trying."

Annabeth cracked a grin. "That's the spirit."

Thanks for reading!