Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a young prince named Percy...

"Percy! King Poseidon wishes to speak with you." My best friend, Grover, said, poking his head through my door.

I put my darts down, sighed, and followed him to the throne room. My father, Poseidon, and step-mother, Amphitrite, were there sitting on their thrones. Amphitrite didn't like me very much because I was the offspring of my father and another woman. My mother was the best person in the world but my father's wife hated her because my father cheated on her with my mom.

Long story short, my mother is a foreigner who didn't know who my dad was and next thing you know, little Percy was born! My father insisted that I live with them in the palace, which makes Amphitrite and my half-brother, Triton, really mad. I have one more half-sibling, Tyson, who loves me. I love him, too; he's one of the best brothers anybody could have.

I walked up to their thrones and knelt. "Rise, son." I did and when I got up, Amphitrite was glaring at me.

"You wished to see me, Father?" He nodded and took the queen's hand in his.

"We feel that it is time for you to get married. We are holding a ball and inviting all of the princesses that we could find. It's tomorrow night."

"But I'm only sixteen!" I exclaimed, indignantly.

"Yes. I was fifteen when I married Amphitrite. You will thank us for this someday. Dismissed."

I walked out of the throne room, dazed. I was to find my wife tomorrow. I wasn't sure if I could do it. My huge, black dog, Mrs. O' Leary, bounded up and tackled me to the ground and licked my face with her huge tongue.

"Mrs. O' Leary! Down, girl! Sit! Heal!" I shouted, trying to get her off of me.

"Mrs. O' Leary, down!" Mrs. O' Leary finally got off and I looked up to see my cousin, Nico, smirking above me. "Need a little help?"

"Thanks, Nico. I owe you one."

"Since when have you not owed me one?" He held out his hand and helped me up.

"I really don't know. Did you hear about the ball that my dad is holding?"

"Uh huh. My dad is forcing me to try and find a wife there too. Not really looking forward to it." I grimaced as our friend Beckendorf joined us.

"Hey, guys! Heard you talking about the ball. I'm being forced to go too. As are all the sons and daughters of this court. None of us are looking forward to it."

You see, me, Beckendorf, Nico, and Grover are all sons of the court. My dad is the king and their dads are lords. Then we have a friend named Thalia, whose dad is also a lord. And that's pretty much the whole court.

"Yeah. It's going to be awful. The sooner I find a wife, the sooner I have to be crowned king. Do you know how much I don't want to be king?" I exclaimed, shaking Nico's shoulders.

"Yes, we know! You would rather have your body dipped in a vat of boiling acid, have your name carved into your back with a sword, and have all of your organs ripped out of your body through your throat." Beckendorf recited.

"Wow, I'm really descriptive!"

"Yeah, you are! Come on, Dionysus is planning the party and we need to be there." Nico started to drag me and Beckendorf to the Grand Hall.

Annabeth POV

"Annabeth, I need to speak with you." My mother, Athena, spoke, walking into my bedchamber.

"Okay. What can I do for you?" I asked when she sat down on my large bed, which was covered with blueprints.

"Tomorrow, we are going to a ball. It's going to take us about four or five hours, but when we get there, you're going to be looking for a husband."

"A what?" I screeched.

"No need to yell, dear. A husband. Our kingdom needs to expand and the only way we can think to do it peacefully is through marriage. I hope you understand." She took my hand gently.

"But I'm sixteen!"

"Yes, you are. I was sixteen when I married your father. We were very happy for a long time. And then we had you and everything was perfect." She had told me this story so many times, I had memorized it.

"Yeah and then you got divorced because he met someone else, blah, blah, blah. I've heard this story before. I don't think that I want to find the same happiness right now. Maybe later, but not right now."

"Once you find that special person, it'll be all right. You'll know and you'll be happy with him. You're going to thank me for this. Just remember that I love you and I'm only looking out for your best interest. Amy is packing your bag, so I suggest that you go and help her." She kissed my forehead and walked out of the room.

I got up and walked to my cavernous closet. My lady-in-waiting, Amy, was in there and she was looking through my various dresses. Every now and then, she would look at a dress, nod, and set it on my bag. Right now, there were a variety of colors: blue, purple, black, green, gray. All of my favorite colors.

"Hi, Amy. Are you coming with us tomorrow?" She looked up, startled.

"Yes, m' lady. Are you looking forward to it?"

"Not really. Exactly how long are we staying?"

"About seven days. I'm looking forward to it." She was smiling dreamily.

"Maybe you'll meet your Prince Charming." She was smiling in anticipation now.

Amy had never caught the eye of many people. She was really pretty, with her long, black hair, and dark-blue eyes, but not many people wanted anything to do with a servant.

"Do you really think so?" She started to fold my dresses and set them in the bag when an idea hit me.

"You're coming to the ball with me. I'm going to let you borrow some of my dresses and you're coming to the ball. Then, you can find your very own Prince Charming."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed, ran up to me, and tackled me in a hug.

"Amy... can't... breathe." Seriously, it felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my head.

"Sorry, Princess. But thank you so much!" I nodded and she went back to packing.

"Pick whichever dresses and jewelry you want." She finished packing my bag and went to pack her own.

I feel good, knowing that Amy was happy. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We had dinner, the servants bustled about, and then we went to bed.

"Annabeth, are you ready?" My mother asked, as Amy and I came down to where the carriage was waiting.

"As I'll ever be. Amy is going to come to the ball as well." Amy started blushing as red as a tomato.

"Okay. That's fine with me. Come on. If we don't leave soon we won't make it in time." We nodded, set our bags in the back, and climbed in.

About five minutes into the ride, I fell asleep. Awhile later, I awoke to my mother shaking me and telling me that we were there. We were welcomed into the castle by a rather old butler.

"Right this way, madams. I will show you to your chambers." He led us up a few flights of stairs and into a room.

It had one bedroom in the middle and two doors on the sides. We opened them up and they revealed two more bedrooms. We agreed that my mother got the middle one and me and Amy got the side bedrooms.

As soon as we finished unpacking, we started getting ready for the ball.

A/N: I hope you liked it! Review, favorite, alert and all that good stuff! PEACE!