Rick Riordan owns everything.
Chapter 11: Making Memories
As they neared his office, Annabeth could feel Percy's hand clam up. She had never seen him this nervous. What kind of contractor is this? Does he reap souls as a side job?
As they passed Katie, she beamed at their clasped hands and winked at Percy, "Your appointment is here."
Annabeth knew that something was off and growled at Percy, "What is going on? I don't do well with surprises."
His face paled momentarily then he took a deep breath, opening the door, "Too late!"
The first thing that Annabeth saw, was the mountains of magazines that were piled on top of the faraway couches and she fought to read the titles. The Right Ring. The Perfect Prize. The Left-hand's Jewel. But before she could interpret what they were magazines for, her vision was filled by a two people near her age, a boy and a girl, and older man.
Annabeth could tell that they were all related with their dark coloring and very wealthy, even though the kids tried to downplay their designer clothes. The father was dressed in a tailored suit with ruby cufflinks that Annabeth was pretty sure was real. He scrutinized her as though he was trying to read everything about her. Uncomfortable with his gaze, she turned her focus to the girl who had to have been within a year of her own age. She was dressed in a dark green dress with a studded belt, ripped tights and high heeled boots. If she were asked to bet on it, Annabeth would say that her feather earrings were diamond studded. Something in her mind told her she should know this girl but, she was too concerned with the glaring man to care.
The last person she examined was the boy, probably a new high school graduate. But before she even realized it, her mouth yelled for her, "Nico?"
The kid's head snapped up from his phone, "Annabeth? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same question!"
Percy intervened, baffled, "You two know each other?"
"Wait, don't tell me, you are the fiancé?" Nico joked laughing. When Annabeth shot a look at him, he sobered and Bianca joined in, "No, you can't be! I talked to Thals yesterday and she didn't mention… You haven't told her!"
"Hold on! How do you know Nico, Bianca and Thalia?" Percy exclaimed, clearly frustrated about being out of the loop for the second time that day.
Nico laughed, enjoying his cousin's confusion, "Annabeth is Thalia's roommate and college best friend."
"I thought her name was Annie."
Bianca and Nico grinned at Annabeth and she scowled at the wall, "For the life of me, I can't get her to quit calling me that."
As realization dawned on Percy, Annabeth heard a throat clear from a nearby chair. The group looked over, startled to see that the man had drifted over to sit down without anyone noticing. "Yes, I am still here," he told them dryly. The man walked back over to the group and stuck out his hand to her, "Since you are the only one here that doesn't know me, my name is Hades."
Inwardly, Annabeth gasped. She remembered all of the things that Thalia had told her about her uncle. Hades was the CEO of large diamond mining corporation that owned approximately 79% of the world's precious jewels mines as well as 65% of the diamond ones. He was the riches of the three brothers but was more reserved, preferring to work on his craft of setting the jewels rather than running the business side.
"Nice to meet you," Annabeth replied, trying not to sound too awestruck by this man's power and wealth.
"I assume you know why I'm here." Annabeth shook her head and Hades quirked an eyebrow at his nephew, "What did you do?"
Percy managed to keep his blushing to a minimum as he addressed his uncle, "I wanted it to be a surprise!" He turned to Annabeth, "Hades has agreed to help you design your perfect ring."
Before she could ask questions or he could explain any further, Hades took charge. He sent his children to go get magazines for Annabeth to look at and decide what type of ring she was looking for while he brought her over to look at a collection of jewels and metals to see what her preference was there.
It was only when Percy got close enough that she snatched his hand for reassurance as she was overwhelmed, most likely for the first time in her life. Yes, his plan was going perfectly. The only problem was that she seemed to be more concerned about the price than what she wanted.
Percy put his uncle on hold for a moment to pull Annabeth off to the side, "Stop." She gave him a confused look. "Stop worring about the price, I just want you to have the ring you want!"
"I won't ask you to pay that much money for a ring!"
"Then just accept that I want to," he begged earnestly.
Still seemingly unsure Annabeth gave in, "Fine, but at least give me some kind of price point! Anything to work around."
Shaking his head he laughed, "Nope, you get what you want. I heard somewhere once that an engagement ring should be two months' salary and between you and me, that's quite a bit."
He squeezed her hand and she gave in, kissing him on the cheek before pulling him back over to his relatives in a daze.
After an extensive amount of time, way too long for Percy, they had finished. Annabeth beamed as she looked at the sketch that Bianca had made. The ring was to be antique styled rose gold with accents of silver, studded with small diamonds around a central, 5 carat, sapphire.
His uncle pulled him aside and told him the price and Percy was mostly just impressed that a ring could be so expensive but he wasn't even the slightest bit worried. He had four cars for heaven's sake.
As soon as the research material had been taken away with Hades, who was anxious to start on the ring, the four remaining talked for a while. They filled Percy in on exactly how they all had met and had a genuinely good time.
After they had left Percy felt Annabeth laid her head on his shoulder, "Thank you." And with those two words Percy knew he was a gonner, he was falling in love.
But unfortunately, Rachel had other plans.
