Hi. Here's the next chapter for A Game of Fate. Thank you guys so much for reviewing! Hope you enjoy this chapter. XD
A Game of Fate
Chapter One
It had been two years since the assassination of Pallas, and the event was nothing but a distant memory. After all, life had to continue.
The chirping of birds woke Annabeth up. She sat up on her bed, enjoying the feel of the sunshine on her face as she glanced out the window. The sky was beautifully blue with puffy white clouds drifting around lazily, and the grass on the ground was in a tender shade of green. Tiny white and blue flowers sprouted delicately from the earth, and a pair of robins nested in a nearby tree.
There was a polite knock on her door. Annabeth immediately turned.
"Come in," Annabeth called.
Her maid, Juniper, walked in with a small smile on her face.
"Good morning, Miss Chase," Juniper said pleasantly. "Would you like to get ready now or later?"
"I'd like to get ready now, thank you," Annabeth said politely.
Juniper nodded as she disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes to run her shower before helping Annabeth undress. Annabeth slipped into the warm water as Juniper helped her wash her hair.
Annabeth was now eighteen. She was the pride of the Chase family: beautiful, slender, polite, courteous, clever, witty, and overall the perfect child… or so they thought.
The Chases supported Olympus, a secret government agency that was created to hunt down gangs and terrorist organizations all over England, especially the organization called Titans. Pallas belonged to the Titans. Once in a while, the Chases would get into the action, but most of the time, they preferred to donate money and stay at the sidelines. Evidently, Annabeth did not stay in safety. Her parents knew that she attended many 'meetings', but in reality, she was off training, facilitating, or most frequently assassinating.
Annabeth was one of Olympus's best assassins too. Her self-designed Lightning Pistol made her kills clean and quick, and easy to dispose of. Her quick wits enabled her to get out of tricky situations in less than a second. Even her beauty and charm played a crucial part to her work. At first, she endured a year of brutal, painful training, but once the training was over, she made her first kill. At first, the killing was strange, but after time, Annabeth got used to it, because she was, after all, doing it for the country.
Soon, Annabeth began to scrub herself, and once she was done with her bath, Juniper helped her dress into a thin cream-colored day dress. As usual, Annabeth was nearly gasping as Juniper laced her into her corsets.
"Thank you, Juniper," Annabeth said as she left for the door.
Juniper smiled quickly as she escorted Annabeth down to the Dining Room before leaving to make her bed and tidy her room.
The Dining Room of the Chase Estate was large and extravagant, dominated by one huge mahogany table that was nearly buckling under the weight of the food. Her father, Frederick, was helping himself to a rasher of bacon, while her stepmother sipped daintily on some tea. Her stepbrothers Bobby and Matthew were in delirium, shoving down eggs, ham, and toast.
"Good morning, Father. Good morning, Mother, Bobby, and Matthew," Annabeth said politely, but a little stiffly.
Annabeth knew that she wasn't supposed to exist. Eighteen years ago, her father had a bit of an affair with a serving girl, and their shock, Annabeth was born. Immediately, Annabeth's nameless mother fled Plymouth, leaving her father with a newborn baby girl and a nearly destroyed reputation. Only her father's quick actions saved his reputation, and the world was oblivious about what had happened. Years later, her father married her stepmother, who gave birth to Bobby and Matthew. Bobby and Matthew were really sweet and nice, but her stepmother was cold and distant, which was bearable enough. At least she didn't openly scorn Annabeth or spill her secret.
"Good morning, Annabeth!" Bobby and Matthew chorused, waving their forks and beaming at her.
"Good morning, Annabeth," Frederick said, smiling. All her stepmother did was to give a curt nod.
Annabeth plastered a smile on her face as she sat down, helping herself to some strong Breakfast Tea and some scones.
"Father, may I attend Miss Katie Gardner's garden party this morning?" Annabeth said carefully. In reality, she would be headed to the Olympus Offices for her next assignment.
"Certainly," Frederick said immediately.
Good. Her parents probably wouldn't hunt for her all morning, and maybe even the afternoon.
The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully. Once Bobby and Matthew left for school, her father to work, and her stepmother to a friend's house, Annabeth slipped out of the house and into her carriage, heading to the Offices.
Ten minutes later, Annabeth slipped out of her carriage. The coachman, Malcolm, was also an Olympus agent, and also the one who sent her to her first assassination.
"Thank you Malcolm!" Annabeth called as Malcolm rattled away to the stables. Malcolm waved and left as Annabeth walked into the building.
The Olympus Offices was a large structure in town, simply but sturdily built with a strong iron gate to ward off trespassers. It also had a very complicated security system that could easily whack off your head if you're not careful.
Annabeth entered the building. Everyone recognized her easily. She walked briskly to the receptionist.
"Is there anything important that needs me today?" Annabeth asked.
The receptionist checked a thick book before looking up. "Yes. Mr. Castellan needs to talk to you quite urgently. He's at his office. You do know where his office is, don't you?" the receptionist added with a quick wink.
Immediately, Annabeth flushed. "Yeah, I do," Annabeth said quickly as she slipped into the lift. Around her, the gears, pulleys, and wheels churned as a series of wires and ropes pulled her to the third floor.
Like Annabeth, Luke Castellan was one of Olympus's best agents. He was tall, handsome, and very skilled in assassination. Unlike Annabeth, however, he was also one of the lieutenants of Olympus, the one who gave out assignments.
And Annabeth had a slight crush on him. It was one of her deepest secrets. She had a really, really, really mild crush on him. It was nothing, really, but it still made her embarrassed. The worst thing is that they have been on many assignments together, which only increased her crush-ness on him. It was tragic.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Annabeth walked out of the elevator and down a long hallway before reaching the office at the end. On the plain wooden door was a brass nameplate with his name spelled on it. Unconsciously, Annabeth found herself smiling as she knocked on the door and walked in.
"Hey, Annabeth!" Luke said immediately, a wide grin on his face. "It's been ages since I've seen you!"
Annabeth laughed. "It's only been a week, Luke! Is your memory seriously that bad?"
Neither of them bothered with the standard formalities.
Luke was seated at his desk, looking over papers. Annabeth made herself at home, dragging a chair over and sitting right in front of him. Luke shoved his papers aside and looked at Annabeth seriously.
"Yes, my memory is that bad. A month ago, I hit my head pretty badly while chasing that Titan Agent with the ridiculously big nose, and my memory has been pretty weak ever since…"
Annabeth swatted his arm playfully. "No, you're just making that up. I was with you there! You didn't hit your head at all!"
Luke groaned, and his serious demeanor vanished. "You still remember that?"
"Of course I do!" Annabeth felt her face flushing again. It was the day when they nearly… kissed. When they caught that Agent, the Agent gave Luke a nasty slice on his face before they managed to subdue him, but once it was over, Luke's face was stained with red, and he soon lost consciousness from the lack of blood. Annabeth had panicked, staying beside him while the doctors operated, and when he woke, they had really nearly kissed, only to be interrupted by a nurse. For a while after that incident, everything had been plain awkward, but after a few days, they were back to being good friends. She hoped. The only reminder of that mission was the crooked scar running down Luke's face.
"Never mind," Luke waved a dismissive hand. "So yes, today, I have called you over to give you a very important assignment." Now, Luke looked serious. He wasn't joking anymore.
"I'm all ears," Annabeth confirmed.
"Recently, we've had more trouble with the Titans than usual, and recently, Agent Rodriguez gave us some new information on the attacks. In the end, we concluded that everything was being facilitated by one little troublemaker…"
Luke handed Annabeth an envelope. Annabeth opened the envelope carefully. There were a few sheets of paper describing the whereabouts, habits, and other personal information, along with a hasty sketch of the Titan Agent, colored in messily. Immediately, Annabeth felt herself tensing.
The Agent seemed too… familiar. Annabeth knew that she had seen the same tousled black hair, strong features, and sea green eyes before, but somehow, she just couldn't remember where or when she had seen him…
"Annabeth, are you all right?" Luke asked, looking at her concernedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Annabeth said quickly, looking up. "So… I'm supposed to kill this guy?"
"Yes," Luke confirmed, giving a quick nod.
"Great," Annabeth said. "When should I begin?"
"Now," Luke said.
"Now?" Annabeth asked, surprised.
"Yes," Luke smiled. "You're also going to London for this. Your things have been packed, including your weapons and gadgets and whatever you're working on. We've rented you a place to stay with Miss Piper McLean, one of our Agents living there. All you need to do now is to hop onto your carriage and go."
"But…" Annabeth stuttered. "My parents…"
"Don't worry; we've got that covered too. We told your parents that Miss Katie Gardner was in an accident and has to go to London for medical attention, and you're staying there for a few weeks to accompany her." Luke supplied.
"Good," Annabeth relaxed visibly and smiled. "I'll be downstairs in a moment."
With that, Annabeth gave Luke a quick hug. Luke tensed in surprise, but relaxed. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, and both of them scrambled apart.
"Now, go!" Luke called. Annabeth laughed as she grabbed the envelope and scampered out of the room, nearly knocking a young boy delivering some papers over.
And so she was off to London.
Dummies are surprisingly entertaining. Many recruits claim that dummies hurt and are really annoying, but Percy disagreed. They're entertaining, stress-relieving, and ultimately one of the best inventions in the existence of human beings. Percy had been in the Training Room for more than an hour, busting apart automatons into bits of metal pieces, improving his physical condition and having a great time.
"Percy Jackson!" Chiron called.
"What?" Percy asked, lowering Riptide, his sword as he turned to face his Instructor and Assignment-giver, Chiron.
Chiron was a nice guy, with a neat beard and a kind face. Percy liked him. He was really nice and his lessons were awesome.
"You've got a new mission," Chiron announced, handing Percy a deck of papers. Percy quickly sorted through the papers and a small piece of canvas with his target painted on it. Yes, Percy was an assassin.
"So… I need to go to London to assassinate a very dangerous assassin called Annabeth Chase," Percy said aloud, skimming the information.
"Correct," Chiron smiled. "You will be staying with our fellow Agent Mr. Jason Grace until your task is over. You can begin whenever you want, we've got time. We've also got everything ready for you. All you need to do is to get there and make the kill."
"Yes sir," Percy gave a mock salute. Chiron smiled and left the room.
Once Percy was sure Chiron was gone, he quickly inspected the piece of canvas again. The girl on it seemed so familiar. He especially recognized the grey eyes, but could not place his finger on it.
Shrugging, Percy left the Training Room and started packing his things. And so he was off to London.