AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy families in the last chapter. But will it last for long…? Nah, probably not. I'm not nice enough for that :-P

A big thanks to VickyT36, Kasagai-chan and Maestronel for reviewing the last chapter!

This chapter is dedicated to YukaAkemi and wizardofimagination724.

Hope you all enjoy! Please review!

DISCLAIMER: Rise of the Guardians is owned by Dreamworks. I own Annabeth, Jo, Darren, Sebastian and all my other OCs.

Chapter 20 - Friendship

The days after the party went pretty well. My father and I were closer than we'd ever been since before my mother died, and Jo, Darren and Sebastian seemed to be enjoying helping me plan stuff for my 16th birthday ball. It turned out that the reason Jo hadn't been allowed to come to the ball at the palace with me was because Beatrix was teaching her to bake; she had apparently volunteered to bake the cake for my birthday. Jo was great at cooking in general but she had never baked a cake before.

The cake, decorations and my dress were all planned and ready to go. The guest list however was proving slightly more difficult. The polite thing to do for parties and such was to give guests two weeks' notice, and it my birthday was two weeks tomorrow. We had already sent the customary invite off to the palace – much to my despair – and to various families whose sons and daughters I knew from various other balls and parties I'd been to (and by 'been to' I mean 'forced to go to'), but there were still a few places to fill. Parties like this were considered to not have been very successful if less than thirty people showed up and so far we had twenty five. If the prince showed up (and I was still praying that he wouldn't) he would probably have two servants with him which would take us up to twenty eight.

With that in mind I had thought of an idea which I brought up with Jo and Darren while we were in the stables grooming the horses.

"Hey, do you two want to come to my party?" I asked them as I ran a comb through Isla's mane.

Jo peaked over Tucker's back and frowned. "Of course we'll be at your party. We'll be serving the food and stuff."

I waiting until Darren was back from throwing a large bundle of hay into Isla's stable before continuing. "No, I mean as guests."

Jo's eyes widened and Darren scoffed. "Annabeth, there's no way your father would allow us to go as guests. We're not nobility for one, and we're expected to help at your party."

"Sebastian and Beatrix can handle the serving, and they can get help from the other servants if they have to," I argued. "Look, you two are my best friends. I really want you to be there."

Darren and Jo looked at each other and Jo sighed. "Darren's right Anna. Master isn't going to let us. We'd both love to come, obviously, but we won't be allowed."

I grumbled under my breath before throwing the comb back into the box it had come from and heading back into the house.

"Where're you going?" Jo called after me.

"To ask my father if you can come," I replied. "We'll never know for certain if nobody asks!"

I heard Darren and Jo running after me but I was in the house before they could reach me. I quickly dashed over to my father's study and knocked on the door just before Jo grabbed my shoulder.

"You can't!" she hissed. "You might get in trouble!"

"Come in," my father called through the door.

I winked at Jo once before letting myself into the study, leaving Jo standing outside.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything Father," I said as I walked up to where he was sitting behind his desk.

Father had been writing something but when I came in he put down his pen and smiled. "Nothing important. What do you need?"

"Well…I was wondering if I could invited my best friends to my birthday," I said timidly.

My father frowned. "Why wouldn't you be allowed to invite your best friends?"

I nervously played with the hem of my dress. I was so confident a few seconds ago but despite the fact that my father and I had been getting along really well lately I was still scared of making him angry.

"Because…my best friends are Josephine and Darren," I admitted.

My father sighed and sat back in his chair. "Annabeth, you know that wouldn't be proper. I understand that you are close to Josephine and Darren, especially Josephine, but it wouldn't be taken very well by some of the other guests if lower class children were invited."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "But father, who cares what they think? Let's be honest, the king isn't a huge fan of you anyway. Have Jo and Darren at my party isn't going to change anything!"

My father's face started to darken and I stepped back slightly, aware that I had let my tongue run away with me again. Before either of us could say anything the telephone on his desk started to ring. He sighed and ran his hand down his face.

"They are not coming Annabeth," he said sharply. "End of discussion."

Before I could argue back he picked up the telephone and he held his hand up towards me so I would be silent. I grumbled under my breath but made sure to stay quiet so whoever was on the other end of the telephone wouldn't hear me.

"Hello?" my father said as he answered. "Yes, this is him." Suddenly his eyes narrowed and he sighed slightly, which caught my attention. "…I see. No, no, I understand. Thank you. Goodbye."

As he hung up the telephone I stepped closer to his desk again. "Is…everything okay?"

He sighed before looking up at me. "That was the palace."

As soon as he said that I felt my stomach drop.

"The prince has accepted our invitation. Annabeth I'm so sorry, but you know there's nothing I can do to stop him."

I looked away from him but nodded. "Yes…I know. Please excuse me," I mumbled before letting myself out of his study. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him stand up as if to follow me but I closed the door behind me before he could.

Jo wasn't outside waiting for me like I had thought she might have been. Maybe she went back to the stables or maybe Beatrix called her to do something. Either way I thought I was alone when I started to walk up the stairs to my room.

"Young mistress?"

I looked round slowly to see Sebastian standing there frowning at me. "Are you alright young mistress?"

I swallowed and shook my head. "Not really," I admitted. "The palace just telephoned Father. Prince Callum is coming to my birthday."

Sebastian's face fell. "Oh no…"

I shrugged. "Nothing anybody can do I suppose. Excuse me."

I turned my back on Sebastian and continued up the stairs.

SEBASTIAN'S POV

When Annabeth turned to continue walking to her room I hurried over to the Master's study and knocked on the door.

"Annabeth?" he called.

"No sir, it is Sebastian," I replied. "May I come in?"

"Yes Sebastian, in you come," Master said, sounding rather drained.

I entered his study and bowed slightly. Master was sitting slouched behind his desk, not looking very happy.

"Master, I just ran into the young mistress on the stairs. She informed me that Prince Callum is to be attending her birthday ball."

Master sighed. "Sebastian, I do not wish for him to come but I cannot tell him otherwise. It would cause an outrage. Believe me, the last thing I want is for that scoundrel to lay a finger on my little girl."

I wasn't entirely sure what to say to that as I was slightly taken aback. "I'm glad that you feel that way sir, but if I may say so I'm still not entirely sure that the young mistress is aware of how you feel."

Master glanced once at his telephone before looking back up at me. "Sebastian, I know how much you care about Annabeth. Please go and comfort her. I have a few matters to take care of."

The thought of protesting did cross my mind since I believed it was a father's job to comfort his daughter, but then I saw the spark in Master's eyes. He had a plan.

I bowed once again. "Yes sir," I answered before leaving his study, seeing him pick up the telephone just before I closed the door.

I headed up to Annabeth's room to find Josephine and Darren crouched outside of it.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Both of them jumped when I spoke and turned to look up at me.

"She won't let us in," Jo complained. "She said something about Prince Callum then locked the door."

"We were out grooming the horses then Annabeth said something about asking the Master if we could be guests at her birthday dance. She went into the Master's study and Jo was outside but she came back out to tell me what happened. By the time we came back in you were in the study with the Master and Annabeth was almost in her room," Darren explained.

I sighed before gesturing for them to move out of the way of the door. They complied and I knocked softly.

"Young mistress? It's me," I called quietly.

I didn't hear any noise coming from the other side of the door but I continued anyway.

"Jo, Darren and I are all out here and we're worried about you. We want to help you. I know we can't stop the prince from coming but we can make sure he doesn't hurt you. I promise."

After a few more moments of silence I heard a creak from the other side of the door before the unmistakable sound of a bolt sliding open. The door opened slightly and Annabeth was there, her hair slightly messy, her dress creased and her eyes tinged red like she'd been crying.

"Sorry…" she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

Jo pushed past me and yanked Annabeth into a hug. "Don't apologise you idiot," she smiled as she squeezed Annabeth tightly. "We'll look after you, I promise."

"Indeed we will."

Jo immediately let go of Annabeth and spun around, looking like she was about to have an accident on the carpet. The Master had come up the stairs towards Annabeth's room without any of us having heard him.

"Father!" Annabeth seemed as surprised as the rest of us.

The Master smiled warmly at her before turning to me. "Sebastian, would you be able to do without young Darren and Josephine for the day?"

I frowned slightly, unable to think of what he had planned. "I believe so sir. May I ask why?"

Master smiled at both Darren and Jo before looking back at his daughter. "Well, if they are to attend my daughter's birthday then they will have to be properly dressed! I just got off of the telephone with the tailor in town. He should be ready for us in around fifteen minutes, if Sebastian can get the carriage ready in that time."

Annabeth slowly registered what her father had just said. Her face lit up as she sprung towards him, flinging her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she squealed.

The Master laughed, something I hadn't heard in a long time, before pulling slightly away from her to look at her properly.

"I am truly sorry that I can't stop Prince Callum from coming," he said. "But hopefully having your best friends at the ball with you will distract you enough that maybe you'll forget he's even there."

By this point Jo and Darren were also having to restrain themselves from jumping around in excitement. I smiled at the scene in front of me. Jo was right. No matter who tried to hurt Annabeth, we would all be there to look after her. After all, that's what friends are for.

AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Something that you guys may not have realised… Obviously this is a prequel and in the original story Anna is a spirit. Therefore she must have to have died when she was a human… JUST SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT :-P

Anyhow, please revieeeeew!