I suddenly woke up with a start. I didn't have a bad dream or anything like that. I just woke up. However, right when I did, I stared in horror at Annabeth's face. I wasn't trying to be mean. It just shocked me that she was this close. But that wasn't what scared me. It was the fact that it was morning and I was in her room.
"Oh my gods!" I yell, soft enough so that anyone pass the door couldn't hear. Annabeth stirred and her eyes widened as she got up from the ground. Her hair was rustled and her cheek was stained with a few tears.
"W-what..." she began to say, but I shushed her.
"Don't say anything." I listened to see if anyone was outdoors. There were little to no footsteps.
"Percy what are you still doing here?" she asked. Then, she remembered last night and jumped up. "Oh my gods, Percy you have to get back before they find you gone! This is bad."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Just my luck.
Annabeth pointed towards her closet and looked at me urgently.
"Annabeth?" a woman's voice rang into the room. It must be another maid. "Annabeth are you in there?"
"Yeah, I'll be there in just a second," she called back. She looked at me once more and pushed me into her closet. I crashed into the wall when she shoved me in.
"Annabeth, are you okay? I heard a pound."
"Yeah, everything's fine. I'm coming." She glanced at me once more and sent a silent message. 'Be quiet for die.' I didn't say anything and just nodded with my eyes wide in fear. Annabeth nodded understandingly. Then, she closed the closet door and most of my surrounding went black.
I could hear Annabeth's footsteps go up to the door and the creak the door made when it opened. I could hear their voices loud and clear.
"Why, hello madam. What brings you here?" Annabeth asked kindly. It wasn't like her, sounding this sweet and kind. I rolled my eyes at her fake flattery.
"I just wanted to check up on you. Make sure that the boy isn't here." My eyes shot open when she mentioned a boy. 'Gods,' I thought, 'Santos already knows!'
Annabeth chuckled nervously. "What boy?" The madam cleared her throat.
"That boy, Percy Jackson, I believe. They found him missing from his bed this morning. I just wanted to know if he's in here." I could mentally see Annabeth shaking her head.
"Nope, he was never in there. I would never bring a uptight boy like him in here." Uptight? Uptight! She thinks I'm uptight? Well, I'll show her uptight!
I looked around her closet, trying to find her something I could use against her while she was talking to the madam. They began to talk about her duties for that day and I lost interest in listening and found interest in snooping around her closet. It was actually pretty big. I could see most of the stuff through cracks in her door.
Her clothes were neatly hung up with hangers and there were blueprints stacked on top of one another. Typical Annabeth. There was a dagger lying around and I wondered where she got it from. It was bronze, celestial bronze, like the ones kings, princes, and knights used. Maybe this could be useful.
Without any hesitation, I stuffed it into my shirt and kept snooping.
There was a book laying on the ground and I slowly picked up without making a sound. The madam was going on and on about her day and I was actually glad that she was talking. The book I found had a blue cover and there were gold lettering. I wasn't able to recognize the letters, but there was an 'A', a 'C', and an 'E'. That was all I could distinguish.
I was about to throw the book back onto the ground when something about it caught my attention. There was a slip of paper in between two of the pages. My eyes squinted. There wasn't enough light for me to see the whole thing. I needed to open the page.
I slowly flip to the page. I couldn't see it, but I could tell that it was a drawing of some sort. It's like the ones the artists drew in the royal castle. It was peculiar. There was something odd about it once I touched the picture. Something disturbing. A chill was sent down my spine, descending down the back. My mind froze for a few seconds.
Suddenly, Annabeth opened up the closet door and her eyes were furious as it landed on the piece of paper that was in my hand. She snatched it away from me in an instant, but I was able to catch a glance. My eyes widen in shock. It makes sense now.
"What are you doing, Jackson!" She yelled. It wasn't loud, just in case there were people outside, but she pushed me against the wall outside of the closet and grabbed my shirt. "Do you really think you can sneak around and look at all the things you want to? This is my personal stuff, okay!"
It was the first time she called me Jackson and I could feel the anger rise up in my throat.
"Well, if you haven't taken so long talking to that woman, I wouldn't have to sneak around! It was so boring!"
"That doesn't give you the right to look around!"
"Well we made a deal! You would tell me about your past as long as I tell you about mine!"
"And have you kept your promise?" she spat. The anger suddenly subsided. She was right. I hadn't been keeping it. I was trying to avoid it. I didn't say anything. "I knew it."
"If you haven't been crying last night, we could've prevented this whole thing!"
"Oh, so you think it's my fault?"
"Yeah! You kept crying about Luke, and Thalia, and Grover-"
"Shut up."
"-about your idiotic adventures together-"
"Shut up, Jackson."
"-and your little stupid crush on Luke and how Thalia ended up dying-"
"PERCY, SHUT UP!"
Immediately, I could hear murmuring outside. There was a knock on the door once again, but Annabeth didn't answer it. Instead, she looked at me, tears stinging in her eyes. Then, she let go and looked on the ground as the droplets streamed down her face.
"Get out," she said quietly. I instantly regretted it.
"Annabeth, I-"
"Percy, get out!" she yelled. I jumped at her sudden outburst. But then, I lowered my head and walked past her. I didn't hesitate about leaving. I could still see the picture that was in her hands. The one I had peered at before.
I walked up to the window, unlatched it like I usually did, and climbed out. Then, I left.
I got back to my room in a few seconds and thank the gods that the two other boys weren't there. My mind isn't on the whole situation anymore, so I wasn't in the mood to make an excuse.
I carefully got in and found myself a little dirty and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, I could hear Daniel's voice outside.
"Percy? Is that you?" I opened the door and the two of them looked relieved.
"Percy, where were you? We were trying to look for you!" Were they missing me? "If Santos finds out that you ran away, than all three of us would be killed!" Never mind.
"Actually, I was in here all this time. Maybe you miscounted?" Trevor sneered.
"I didn't miscount. You don't need to miscount to notice that you were gone. Now, where were you?" I shrugged.
"Did you check the bathroom?" I asked. Instantly, the two boy's faces paled.
"I-I didn't think about that," Daniel admitted. I chuckled halfheartedly.
"Now, if you boys excuse me, I am going down to breakfast." Before I walked away, they called out.
"Percy!" I turned, agitated.
"What?"
"D-don't mention anything of this to Santos, alright?" I sigh.
"Maybe I should. I think that I could get a reward to see you guys suffer..."
"Please, Percy!" Daniel begged. I laughed.
"He's playing with us!" Trevor yelled.
"Don't worry, you guys. I won't." And I walked down the stairs into the dining room.
Down at the dining room, Santos greeted me with a "Morning, Percy." I nodded and sat down in my chair. "How have you been?" I shrugged.
"Okay." I was really thinking about this morning and the disaster I had with Annabeth. The heated argument that rose when I found that picture. What was so wrong with it, though? It isn't like it's going to change her. It's not going to make her into a whole new person.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it could happen. When I saw that picture, it was almost parallel to me. It might not make sense, but I understand how it feels to not want to let anyone know about something. Something big. And it haunts me every day.
There was a small voice in my head that appeared all of a sudden.
'You can't change your past. You can't run from it. It'll always catch up to you.'
I was afraid it was.
After eating, I wanted to skip lessons today.
"Straighten up, boy," Doug cried out. Actually, I wasn't sure if it was Doug or Don. I wasn't sure of anything at this point.
"Yeah, whatever," I muttered. He sent Trevor and I to the arena and practice battling.
Trevor never was the battling type, so I beat him without breaking a sweat. But when it came down to lectures...let's just say that I'm not the listening type.
"Blah, blah, blah, blah," was all I heard come out of the teacher's mouth. I seriously wasn't paying attention and I guessed that she lost the respect since she didn't care if I wasn't listening.
I stared out the window and thought about my parents for the first time.
They're dead. They're dead. And I can't do anything about it.
It was like what the voices said.
'You can't change your past. You can't run from it. It'll always catch up to you.'
I can't change what already happened.
I sighed at how sentimental I became. I'm training to become the prince and I'm just throwing everything away like it doesn't matter. I was so happy when the king told me that I was just like his son. I couldn't stop smiling. But now, I'm not working at all. I'm not even trying.
When we were out in the field, the thoughts hadn't left my head when I was on the horse. I rode him into the sunset until I heard voices calling out my name to return. The wind blew through my hair and I thought about what was beyond the sunset. What was at the other side of the rainbow. What was there waiting for me at the other end of the ocean. But no matter how far I went, rode, or swam, I wouldn't end up in the same place and the past would catch up to me. It was a terrifying thought.
'What am I doing?' I asked myself. 'Pretending to be a prince,' a voice said. Pretending. I like that word. Pretending. I can pretend to be anything I want. Whatever it takes, I can pretend and no one can stop me.
But this horrified me even more. I'm not Percy Jackson anymore, the boy who had the sarcastic attitude, the boy with no friends, the boy who wanted freedom ever since he could remember. Now, Percy Jackson has become a boy so cold, no one could touch his soul. He shuts everyone and everything out and doesn't let them come in. He's so afraid to get in touch with himself that he has even gotten one of his only friends angry.
I've become so different. When I look back, I want to escape from it. I really do. Although, there isn't any other choice.
As the day ended, we all walked in for dinner and had the usual conversation. But Santos brought up something completely different.
"Tomorrow, the Princess of Alvy is going to visit." I almost choked on my drink and the other boys mouth gaped. "She will come when the sun is early, so I expect you boys to be up and early. But there is one thing. She must not know that you boys are pretending to be prince. We will provide you with clothes to blend in with your servants. You must not be noticed. You must not be picked out by your highness or you're dead."
Santos said it with a deadly tone and I was surprise that I wasn't scared.
And then, the empty feeling devoured me once again.
Sorry for short chapter. Enjoy!