Hey guys. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had this stupid science experiment for class and I have to plant a seed and see how fast it grows. The problem is that here in Utah we haven't seen the sun since November…yeah, I really hate Utah weather. Two years ago, we had snow in July (and that's pretty strange considering how hot it was) and last year we had no water because there was no snow! Okay, I'm rambling. That's what I do. Eh, well, no one really reads the author note. Enjoy the next chapter!

Annabeth's POV

Annabeth got out of bed quickly and ran to the door, trying to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"A gunshot?!" Katie shrieked. "What if one of the guys got shot?"

That made Annabeth pound on the door harder. If Percy had a Seaweed Brain moment, then he probably would've gotten shot.

"What happened?" Annabeth's voice cried against her will. "That was a gun!"

The house was silent and the girls stopped trying to get out.

"Maybe…it was just a lamp falling or something." Katie said after a while.

Annabeth opened her mouth but another gunshot sounded. "That wasn't a lamp!"

Annabeth ran to the door and before she could try to unlock the door, it swung open.

"Was it you?" Beckendorf asked, his eyes full of fury. "Did you get Kronos mad?"

"No, it just woke us up!" Annabeth exclaimed. "Who got shot?"

"I don't know. I just woke up." Beckendorf said and his eyes trailed down the hall. He squinted in the dark. "Wait a second…" He ran down the hall and opened the door. "It was unlocked!"

"The guys escaped?" Annabeth muttered. "Without us?" Percy wouldn't do that. He's…Percy. He wouldn't do that.

"Get up!" Beckendorf yelled into the room. "Get into the hall!"

Four figures stumbled out of the door and said that the same time, "Yes, sir?"

Beckendorf turned on the hallway light and he was glaring at all of the teenagers. Annabeth noticed something as she examined the room. Something was wrong. But what?

Beckendorf scowled. "First off, don't call me sir. I hate that. Second…" He trailed off, examining the boys. His face looked like he realized something horrible. "There are only four of you. There were five of you when you walked into this room! Who's missing?"

Behind her, Annabeth heard Thalia mutter, "Luke. Where is he?"

"Oh, crap." Beckendorf muttered. "Where is the fifth one?!" His voice was rising to a shout.

"Luke has always been good at picking locks. Even from the inside." Connor said, looking at the ground. "I sort of taught him…"
Beckendorf turned the stairs and started walking towards them quickly. Before he went up the stairs he turned back around and said, "No one follow me."

The hall was quiet when Beckendorf left. The only sound was muffled shouting coming from the floor above them. Annabeth looked over at her best friend and his face was ashen.

Another gunshot.

"That's it." Percy muttered and started going to the stairs.

"Percy!" Annabeth called and caught up with him. "You can't go up there!"

Percy grimaced. "I have to! Luke could be getting hurt. Don't you care?"

"Of course I care, but I care more about you." Annabeth said, holding tightly onto Percy's wrist. "You're not going up there…at least, not without me."

"Fine. Come on." Percy turned back to the stairs and they started walking up quietly. Halfway up the staircase the shouting became clear to Annabeth.

"You think that you can just disobey my rules? Be glad that I haven't killed you yet!" The voice belonged to Kronos.

"Please, just let me explain!" Luke sounded desperate.

Annabeth and Percy made it to the top of the stairs and looked at what was going on, but they stayed hidden.

Luke was behind the couch and looked desperate. Kronos was in the kitchen. In one hand he was waving his gun around and in the other was a bottle of beer. Beckendorf was trying to calm down Kronos, but it wasn't working. He seemed even more drunk than before.

"Listen, Kronos, let the kid explain." Beckendorf told Kronos. "He probably has a good reason."

Kronos glared at Beckendorf and set his beer on the kitchen table. "Oh, really? Well I'm not going to give the kid a chance to explain. Instead, I'm going to show him how good I am at aiming."

Kronos put both hands on the gun and aimed it at Luke's chest.

"Wait!" Luke shouted. "Wait! If you let me explain I…I'll tell you what they're planning."

Kronos lowered his gun a little. "What're you talkin' about?"

"Lower the gun." Luke said slowly. "And I'll tell you the plan."

"No." Annabeth muttered. "He's betraying us?"

Kronos's head jerked up. "I heard something."

Percy and Annabeth made eye contact and agreed on something. Together, they walked quietly back down the stairs.

Halfway down the stairs Annabeth heard Kronos say, "Alright, Castellan. Go into the back room and prepare to tell me everything. And when I say everything, I mean every single word that those kids have uttered since they set foot in here. You hear me?"

"Y-yes sir." Luke stammered and Annabeth heard him walking quickly and his footsteps faded.

The two got downstairs and Percy said, "Everyone go into our room." His voice was strained and angry.

The teenagers quickly walked into the guys' room and Travis asked, "What happened?"

"Luke betrayed us." Percy snapped. "He's telling Kronos the plan!"

"The plan to escape?" Katie whispered.

Percy nodded. "Right now, as we speak."

"I think that Luke is hoping to get out of being in danger if he acts like he's helping Kronos." Annabeth added.

"Why didn't we see it coming?" Nico exclaimed. "He's so selfish!"

Annabeth noticed that while everyone was talking, Thalia remained quiet. Annabeth sympathized for her. Thalia must've really liked Luke. But Annabeth felt the same way as Thalia. She had a little crush on Luke too, but after he decided to Benedict Arnold, Annabeth's feelings for Luke disappeared. She couldn't like a guy that would save his life before anyone else's.

"Guys, what do we do now?" Travis muttered. "Luke is telling the guy that's holding us captive our escape plan. Do we make a new one or just wait for the ransom to be paid off?"

"My parents couldn't do that." Katie shook her head. "We barely have any money."

Beckendorf walked into the room. "Really? An escape plan? How stupid could you be?"

Annabeth glared at Beckendorf. Did he just call her stupid?

"You could've gotten her killed!" Beckendorf shouted. "I'm supposed to be supervising you!"

Annabeth got caught off guard. "Wait…her? Who's that?"

Beckendorf was quiet for a minute and finally said, "Did I say that?"

"Yeah. You did." Annabeth crossed her arms. "Who were you talking about?"

Beckendorf sighed and turned on the main room light. "Alright. I guess I owe you an explanation."

"You think?" Thalia muttered. Annabeth elbowed Thalia and gave her a look that said, don't push it. He has a gun.

"Like I said before, Kronos and I went to high school together. We were on the football team and good friends, but not really close. After we graduated, we never kept contact with each other. A month ago, Kronos called me up again and said we should get together."

Annabeth shared a confused look with Percy. Where was this leading to?
"Then," Beckendorf continued. "After a few weeks Kronos told me about this idea. He said that Cortez was already in it together, but they needed muscle. I immediately that I shouldn't do it and said no. Kronos just nodded and said he understood and left."

"Then why are you here?" Thalia asked.

"That's what the next part is about." Beckendorf told her. "When I went home that night, my wife, Silena, wasn't there. I found a note from Kronos, saying that Cortez had her in his basement and if I didn't go through with the plan Cortez would kill Silena. So here I am." Beckendorf shrugged. "You do crazy things for love."

"That's so sweet." Katie whispered.

"And Luke told Kronos our escape plan, so Kronos might kill your wife." Annabeth summed up. "Sorry, Beckendorf, we didn't know."

"Yeah, whatever." Beckendorf waved his hand. "If I were you, I'd do the same thing. But even if you do escape, I'm still going to jail, so I don't care if you break out or not."

"You wouldn't go to jail." Percy pointed out. "Someone's life is in your hands. You might get a small charge, but I highly doubt it unless you kill one of us."

"Yeah, well…" Beckendorf was interrupted by Luke walking into the room.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

Everyone glared at him as he played innocent.

"Luke," Percy stood up. "You told Kronos the plan that we were working on! I thought we were a team!"

"Hey, I don't know what you're talking about." Luke said nervously, which was a dead give away.

Percy punched Luke in the jaw before anyone could react.

"Hey!" Luke exclaimed, holding his jaw. He swung a punch at Percy, but Beckendorf held Luke's arm.

"No fighting." Beckendorf said, his tone deadly. "That's the last thing we need."

"I'm not done with you." Percy glared at Luke. "Traitor."

"Okay, why don't you guys get some sleep?" Beckendorf suggested. "Tomorrow is going to be tough, since Kronos knows that you've been planning to escape."

Without letting the teenagers say another word, Beckendorf pushed the girls out of the door into their room. "I'm going to watch the boys. I have a feeling Luke is going to need a lot of help to make it through the night." He closed the door and Annabeth heard the door lock.

Hoped you liked that chapter. Read and review!