I do not own Percy Jackson & the Olympians or The Selection. All rights belong to their respective owners.


Chapter Two: ANNABETH

I was the first one to the airport and I was beyond terrified. The somewhat giddy excitement that had followed the crowds was long gone and I now realized exactly how scared I was of flying. I'd never been on an airplane before.

My aide, who'd assist me after the Selection, Amphitrite led me to a small table set for four at the airport café. She kindly ordered me a cinnamon bun and some thousand calorie coffee drink before she went off to load my luggage onto the plane. I was left to wait for the others alone and with nothing to do. I wished I had brought a book or something to keep me occupied.

I looked over my uniform that had been delivered earlier this week. All the girls would be wearing the same shirts, pants, and shoes as me, but we'd been able to customize them as we saw fit. I'd gone simpler with only a pair of owl earrings.

I couldn't believe I'd let my family talk me into signing up. When I'd agreed, I knew there was a miniscule chance of me being chosen – I had no idea that I would be drawn. Don't get me wrong, this was an amazing opportunity, but I wasn't sure I wanted to compete against thirty-four other girls to marry the Prince. I wasn't sure if being Royalty was worth the possibility of not loving my husband.

Sure, I didn't know I wouldn't love him, but it'd be difficult to try and win his attention against all the other girls – most of whom were Fours or better. I was confident that I was one of three in the Fifth caste.

Our castes were defined by jobs. Ones were pretty much royalty and Eights were the criminals or homeless. I was a Five, an educator. Technically speaking, I was only three steps up from dirt, but I was determined to prove I was worth a Two – just like my older brother Malcolm.

My thoughts were interrupted when two girls in white shirts and black pants just like mine walked up, their own aides leaving with their bags. I wasn't sure how this whole competition would work, but I'd like some people I could consider as friends while I was here.

"Hi," I said brightly, "I'm Annabeth."

"I know." said the girl on the left. She was a brunette with electric blue eyes. She had on dark eyeliner, but not tons, and lots of eye shadow that actually looked cute with her black hair. "I'm Thalia. Thalia Grace." She introduced herself. Her shoes were like mine, but the tops were higher than mine and came up to her ankles.

She wore a necklace with two gold lightning bolts on it and a gold ring with black stones also making up a lightning bolt. I thought back to my limited Geography lessons my mother taught me. She must have been from Long Island; their symbol was lightning, but I'd never learned why. I'd have to ask her later.

She shook my hand and smiled, before stepping back and introducing the other girl. "This is Miranda."

Miranda had light blonde hair and light green eyes. She wore a necklace with a bunch of purple and pink beads, and a pink beret. She gave a neat little wave and smiled, but that was it. I wasn't sure if she was shy or just trying to figure us out yet.

We sat down at the table to wait for the fourth girl who'd go with us, and Thalia dug into my untouched cinnamon bun. Personally, I found her kind of intimidating, but she seemed nice. She talked nonstop since she sat down, explaining that when she got nervous she couldn't stop talking. So we settled into an easy conversation. Thalia loved movies, and so did I, though I rarely got to see them. She also liked running and archery, though her mother disapproved.

Miranda would giggle or give her input every once in a while but never more than that. If she was asked a direct question, she would give a brief answer and go back to her pretty guarded smile. I learned she had barely turned sixteen, though she looked a lot younger, and was a Three from Dakota. Her family owned a vineyard and worked with another family who owned a winery. Her necklace was meant to look like grapes.

Though we had introduced ourselves almost an hour ago, the time flew by and we wouldn't have stopped talking except for the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat.

There tapping her foot, was a brunette with sunglasses on. Unlike Thalia and Miranda, she didn't smile. She wore pearl earrings and a pearl necklace. She smelled of Moonlace, an extremely rare flower only found on Ogygia – an island of the coast of Long Island.

She removed her sunglasses to reveal chocolate brown eyes and put them in her small white clutch. She looked us up and down before handing the bag to her aide. When her back was turned, I heard Miranda breathe an "Oh, no".

This girl I recognized; Calypso Atlas, a Two. Thalia muttered a hello under her breath, trying not to show the intimidation was obviously getting to her. Calypso merely looked at her and sighed. "When do we leave?" She asked. It was obvious she was trying to scare us. She was in this to win, and pushing us to our breaking points was a great way to get ahead.

"We don't know," I snapped without a trace of fear. "You've been holding up the show."

She gave me a once-over and she wasn't impressed. "Sorry, quite a few people wanted to see me off and I couldn't help it." She smiled wide, showing she was meant to be worshipped and expected to be so. I really hoped I wouldn't be surrounded by girls like this.

Before any of us could say anything else, a man stepped through a door to our left. "I hear all four of our Selected girls are here?"

I had a flutter of hope he wouldn't like Calypso, but it apparently wasn't meant to be so.

"We sure are," She replied sweetly. He sort of melted a little; you could see it in his eyes. He paused a moment, before continuing. "My name's Paul. If you'll just follow me, we'll get you ladies on the plane and on your way to your new home."


I discovered flying wasn't bad at all, despite what Thalia had said. We were offered food and movies, but all I wanted to do was look out the window. I watched the huge country from above as we headed east.

Calypso chose to sleep throughout the flight, which was a small mercy. Miranda had a foldout desk and was already writing letters about her adventure. It was a good idea and smart of her to pack paper. I wish I'd thought of it.

"From the minute we met, she's been nothing but proper. She'll be tough competition," Thalia observed, gesturing to Miranda. The two of us were sitting across from each other in the big plush seats at the front of the plane.

"You can't think of it that way. Yes, you're trying to make it to the end, but not by beating everyone else. Just be you. Who knows? Maybe Perseus would prefer someone more outgoing?"

Thalia thought that over and chuckled. "Outgoing…I was hoping for rebellious. But I guess it's a good point. It's hard not to like her, she's pretty nice. And so beautiful," I nodded in agreement as Thalia look around and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Calypso on the other hand…"

I rolled my eyes. "I know. It's only be an hour, and I'm already looking forward to her leaving."

Thalia looked sort of nervous, which looked weird for someone like her, so I continued. "Besides, girls like that will take themselves out of the competition."

"I hope so. Sometimes I wish…sometimes I wish the Twos would know what it feels like to be treated the way they treat us." She was a Four. I didn't answer, but nodded. It'd never happen.

"Thanks for talking to me, Annie. I was worried that everyone would just be out for themselves, but you and Miranda have been awesome. Maybe this will be kind of fun."

"Thanks, you've been cool too. But don't call me Annie."

She laughed and got up, heading in the direction of the snack bar.


When we landed, the terminal was full of people jumping and cheering with cameras and signs. Luckily, Calypso was in front, beginning to smile and wave. I did the same and followed the group to the car.

I wound up as the unlucky one who had to be stuck next to Calypso in the car, with Thalia and Miranda together in front of us. As we drove, crowds lined the sidewalks with signs. Thalia beamed as she stared out the windows and it was obvious why. Her name was on several of the signs and it was impossible to count how many admirers she had.

Miranda's name was sprinkled in there, too, almost as much as Calypso's and far more than mine. Miranda didn't seem to mind, but I could tell Calypso was irritated.

"Do you think she bribed someone?" She whispered to me, as the other two spoke and pointed at things out the window. She meant Thalia.

"She's a Four, Calypso. She doesn't have the means to bribe someone."

Calypso sneered. "Please. A girl has more than one way to pay for what she wants." She turned back to the window, signaling our conversation was over. It took me a minute to understand what she meant. Thalia may want to win, but she'd never sleep with someone to get it. It was against the law, and punishable by death – it wouldn't do her any good.

As we got closer to the palace, I didn't have a clear view. But I could see the walls clearly enough. They were a pale white stucco and very, very high. Guards were placed on top at either side of the wide gate that swung open as we got closer. Inside we were greeted with a long gravel drive that circled a fountain and led to the front doors, where officials waited to welcome us.

With little more than a hello, two women grabbed my arms and ushered me inside. "Sorry to rush, Miss, but your group is running late," one of them said, casting Calypso a look. At least not everyone bought her sweet girl act.

We went into a room full of bustling people. A swarm of them parted, and I could see rows of mirrors with people doing girls' hair and nails. Clothes hung on racks and people were shouting things like, "I found the dye!" and "That makes her look pudgy."

"Here they are!" A beautiful woman with blonde hair walked over in a pink gown, which was nicer than anything I'd ever owned. "I'm Aphrodite; I'm in charge of your appearances while you're staying with us. Now, first things first: we need before pictures…"

She led us over to a corner with various backgrounds where they took pictures quickly and efficiently before informing us about the special they'd be doing about our makeovers. Sure enough, as I looked around the room, teams of cameras were wandering around the room, zooming in on girls' shoes and nails, and interviewing them. As soon they had all our pictures, Aphrodite began shouting orders.

"Take Lady Calypso to station seven, Lady Miranda to eight…and it looks like they're done at two. Take Lady Thalia up there, and Lady Annabeth to four."

I was ushered away to a station where a dark haired man named Mitchel started talking. "So here's the thing. We need to talk about your image."

"My image?"

"How do we want to make you look? With your tan and blonde girls, we can make you the blonde preppy girl, but if you don't want to go that route, since you were a five, we could go with the chic-nerdy route, too." He said matter-of-factly.

"I'm not changing everything about me for some guy I don't even know."

"Oh, my. Do we have an individual here?" He sang, smiling. "I like it. Leave everything to me. We won't change your image, we'll enhance it. You're aversion to all things fake will be your greatest asset here, darling. Don't lose it."

The next few hours were spent "polishing" as Mitchel referred to it. I had women scrub my body because apparently I couldn't be trusted to do it myself, before every bit of exposed skin was covered with lotions and oils that made me smell like the ocean – which the prince apparently loved more than the vanilla scent the other girls were using, according to Mitchel.

Next they did my nails, which were trimmed and buffed. I asked them not to paint my nails, but they were so disappointed I let them do my toes. The girl picked a deep royal blue that actually looked nice. Once they finished, I heaved a sigh as I waited for the team who'd do my hair to come over.

The girl next to me was shaking and had a cape draped around her body.

"You okay?" I asked her.

She gave me a nervous smile, "They want to dye my hair black. They think it'll look better with my skin tone. I'm just nervous, I guess."

"Black will be pretty. You're Zoë, right?"

"Yeah, and you're Annabeth." She smiled. "You came in with that Calypso girl. She's awful!"

I rolled my eyes. Since we got here, the entire room could hear her yell at some poor maid to bring her something or to get out of her way.

"You have no idea." I muttered. Before we could say anything else, teams of people came to work on us.

My hair was washed, conditioned, hydrated and smoothed. The guy doing it said it would make my curls softer and less frizzy. They cut it so my hair looked prettier and the curls looked more like ringlets than a big frizzy mess, and they assured me it would stay that way as long as I used the shampoo they would have supplied in my room.

A pretty-looking girl did my make-up, but lightly. Lots of the other girls looked a little older or younger or just nicer after the make-up, but I still looked like me. Of course, so did Calypso, piling it on.

I'd gone through most of this process in a robe so I was led to a rack of clothes, where three young women stood. Mitchel introduced us. "Annabeth; this is Mellie, Hebe, and Nancy. They'll be your maids during your stay," The three curtsied as he continued. "They've been in charge of making your entire wardrobe. I'll let you ladies get acquainted; it was nice meeting you Annabeth!"

The girl in charge, Mellie, led me over to a changing room. "We had to give you a look, and luckily you chose to stay a lot like you were, so it should work. Your day dresses are going to be cute, but with a style similar to your caste," She gestured to the rack which had just been brought in.

There were lots of formal dresses on the rack, in varying colors, along with lots of skirts and cardigans. I could see what she meant; they were classy, but looked like classic schoolgirl uniform with a princess twist.

"Your evening gowns, though, have to fit standards set by the Queen herself. So, to make you stand out a bit, we went with a simpler look to your dresses." She hesitated, like she was worried I would get angry. When I smiled, they got to work.

They sat me down on a cushioned chair away from the mirror because they wanted to surprise me. Mille and Nancy re-curled and twisted pieces of hair. I soon learned Hebe was the chatter box of the group. She immediately began to gossip about the day's events as she applied my make-up. She insisted she was going light, but she had a pile of products on the counter next to me.

"Apparently, the princes were out and about today. Jason's been in and out looking at the girls, but Percy refused to meet any of them. He's probably going to wait until tomorrow, like he's supposed to, but I overheard Aphrodite talking to Mitchel and apparently that's when he's going to make first cuts!"

The other girls squealed. "This is going to be so exciting! I can't wait to see who he takes a liking to; there has to be at least one,"

"Hopefully it won't be Calypso, that girl is getting on my nerves!" Nancy snapped.

"Nancy!" Mellie scolded. "You know it isn't our place to judge the girls!"

"I know! But let's face it; unless you're a member of the royal family, she acts like an entitled bit-" She cut off, looking at me. "Sorry."

I shrugged to let them know I didn't care. They continued about who they thought was cute, when the prince's family would arrive, and what the other girls would be wearing as they fitted me into a Cream colored gown. It didn't have any sleeves, but two crisscrossing straps and a bow across the back. The bottom had a pretty floral edge.

Hebe grabbed me some gold sandals which she thought would look pretty, but I was just thankful they weren't heels. The sprayed some perfume on me that came out of a blue bottle before stepping back to look at their work.

I turned to the mirror; I looked beautiful – almost like a deity – but I wasn't too done up. You could tell I wasn't a One, just a Five in a nice dress.

Hebe squealed again. "Oh my goodness, Miss, you look like a Two! We didn't want to do too much, because everything will have to come off tonight after the tour or dinner, depending on when you go. It's not necessary to make you overly pretty, because you won't be meeting anybody important tonight. We're certain the others will spend hours getting undressed tonight. But you'll need your sleep for tomorrow since you'll be meeting Percy!"

That was the second time she'd called him that. "Percy?"

"Oh! Sorry, Miss. He's friends with nearly everybody in the palace, and he hates being called Perseus, so he goes by Percy. Maybe he'll tell you all tomorrow…"

I laughed; she made him sound like a normal teenage guy. I had a feeling I was going to get along with these girls.

Mellie led me out of the room back over to the photographer who began snapping after pictures. Two girls sat on one of the couches, staring at me. One I recognized as Lou Ellen, a Three. She had on a long yellow dress that looked radiant with her hair. The other girl I didn't know, but she had brown hair twisted up on top of her head and a black dress.

True to Hebe's word, both wore excess jewelry and make-up. They whispered back and forth, glancing over at me on occasion. I heard the sound of heels approaching us, and I smiled when I recognized it was Thalia.

"Hey!" I greeted her, "Look at you!"

Her hair was several inches shorter, just above her shoulders, and layered. She wore a long sleeved black dress that only came down to her knees, black tights, and high black heels with gold spikes on them. She had gold lightning bolt earrings on and lots of make-up; black eyeliner, mascara, gray and black eye shadow, and deep red lipstick.

"Look at you too! You look good, Annie. I'm not really a clothes kind of girl, but it won't be too bad – there isn't a single pink thing in my wardrobe! It's great!"

I chuckled. "Thanks!"

Thalia looked like she wanted to say something but Aphrodite walked over. "Alright, ladies. Now that our last group has arrived, I can take you four on a tour and show you where your rooms are. Come on now, no time to waste!"

Thalia and I looked at each other, giving each other a nervous smile, before we followed Aphrodite out of the room and into the palace which would temporarily be our new home.