Chapter 22

Friday was one of Annabeth's least favorite days of the week. Not the absolute worst, that was probably Sundays when her father, and by extension her, had the day off, so she was stuck at her house all day. However, Friday was the day Percy had to go speak with his father, which meant that instead of having an hour to spend time with Percy, she had an hour to kill. It was still nice to have a break, and she really didn't mind spending time by herself, but she would rather spend time with Percy.

Still, she supposed it wasn't that bad. When she was younger and her father didn't have anything for her to do, she had started to explore the castle. As a kid Annabeth had been hoping to find some secret passage that lead to some exciting room or hidden treasure, but even on the very rare occasion she had found something it usually just lead to a cobweb filled hallway or abandoned closet. Now that she was older, she found those just as interesting as if they had lead to somewhere more exciting. The way the castle was laid out, the areas that weren't on any of the plans, the design of it. It fascinated her.

The older she had gotten, the more work her father had given her, and so the less free time she had to explore. Now though, she had an hour a week, during which time her father thought she was helping Percy. Most of that time was spent just wandering around back areas of the castle, peeking behind tapestries and pulling at random doors, almost always just to find a supply closet, or nothing interesting at all.

So, Friday afternoons found her wandering around, jigglin handles and carefully looking behind paintings. She was just peeking inside what appeared to be yet another supply closet, when she heard the distinct clicking of high heels coming down the hall. It couldn't be a servant, they wore soft soles so they could slip in and out of a room without being noticed, and she couldn't think of any reason a noble woman would be down there. Which meant the most likely person was Miss Dodds.

Sighing Annabeth debated if she could slip into the closet and pretend like she wasn't there, not in the mood for a lecture. It wasn't the first time Miss Dodds had caught her, and she always went on a long speech about how this area was out of bounds for her and how she couldn't just go poking around where ever she like, before threatening to tell her father. If the footsteps were close enough to be heard though, it was probably too late to hide.

Taking a deep breath, Annabeth prepared her excuse, before stepping back out of the closet, expecting to see the pinched face of the woman coming down the hall towards her. Instead, she was surprised to see the beautiful face of Princess Piper. For a moment Annabeth just looked at her in surprise, but as quickly as it had come she had shoved away the shock and stepped to the side of the hallway, head bowed. Her brain was spinning with questions, but she just waited for Piper to approach, before curtsying slightly, expecting the other girl to simply walk past her.

However, the footsteps stopped in front of her. There was a moment of silence, before simply "Annabeth? Right?"

That just made Annabeth more confused, but coming out of the curtsy she nodded "Yes my lady-"

Silently she wondered if 'my lady' was correct. She should probably have said 'Your Highness' or something, but she hadn't really thought about it. It felt weird to be calling someone her age by any title at all. The only nobles Annabeth had ever really talked to were a lot older than her, except Percy of course but he didn't count. It wasn't like a lot of kids her age went to visit the court historian. Either way, it was too late to change it now.

"It's alright, you can relax," Piper assured, which prompted Annabeth to look up at her "You're helping Percy with his studies, right? He told me a little about you, which is how I knew your name."

"Yes my lady," Annabeth repeated, head still spinning. Despite answering one question, it opened up a lot more. What had Percy told her? Did she know about before the castle? Why was Piper there?

For a moment Piper just looked over at her, before giving her a small smile "I don't suppose you know how to get back to the main part of the castle? I just intended to stretch my legs a bit, but I'm afraid I've grown rather lost since then."

Annabeth looked over at her for just a moment, before nodding "Yes my lady. I was about to start heading there as well."

Well, she had been pushing off doing so, but really it was about time she did. Her father would start getting annoyed if she didn't get back soon.

Not sure if she should say anything else or not, Annabeth hesitated for just a moment, before stepping forward to start back down the hall. She couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable. She knew Piper was about her age, probably younger. It was one thing to have to call someone older than her 'my lady' and curtsy to them and things like that, but with someone her own age it was a lot harder. It just felt weird.

"What were you doing down here? It's pretty far from your father's study or the library," Piper noted, before giving her a quick smile as she added "You don't have to tell me, and I'm not trying to accuse you of anything or say you're not supposed to be here. I'm just curious, and if I'm being honest a bit starved for conversation at the moment."

For a moment Annabeth wanted to just not answer. It was stupid, and petty, but she didn't want to like Piper. It was easier to hang onto the slight hope this wouldn't go through if she didn't like the other girl. After a second thought though, she sighed and giving into her own curiosity. Conversation was the best way to learn more about the princess after all. "The same as you my lady. I had some free time since Pe- the prince had to meet with his father. Which gives me an hour where I normally help him with nothing to do. So I figured I would go for a walk and explore a little."

Piper smiled, and nodded, waiting for a moment before speaking again "Do you do it often? Wander around empty parts of the castle I mean?"

"I guess- when I have free time I mean. I like to poke around in the back areas, find all the spots that have been long since forgotten," Annabeth shrugged a bit. She also just really liked studying the way buildings were laid out but that was far less exciting to talk about.

"And have you found any?" Piper asked, looking over at her, eyes gleaming slightly with excitement "Lost areas of the castle?"

"A few rooms that seem to be forgotten about," Annabeth thought through the things she had found. There was one real thing that was slightly more exciting, but would it matter if she told Piper? After a moment she decided that thought was stupid though. There was no real reason not to tell her, and even if Piper did know, the information wouldn't be much use if she didn't show her where the passage was.

"Also, I found a passage that seems to lead from a spot near the dungeons and lets out near the stables," Annabeth glanced over to see Piper's full attention on her. Part of her couldn't help but feel slightly smug about that, which combined with her excitement over the design of the passageway caused her to press on with what she'd figured out. "I'm not sure I would call it a secret passage, but it's not on any of the castle plans. I think it was put in so that if the castle was ever overrun and the nobles taken captive they would just have to slip out of the cells to escape. I'm not sure though, maybe the architect just really wanted to put in a secret passage."

By the time she was done explaining, Piper was smiling widely at the idea of it "So there really are secret passages and things?"

"Well, at least one," Annabeth shrugged "There are also a few abandoned servent passages, but those aren't as exciting."

Before she had finished speaking, Piper had started to move towards the door they were about to pass and pulled it open to look inside.

"What are you doing?"

The question came out before Annabeth could really think about it. It was beyond rude to ask anyone, let alone a princess. However, Piper just looked back and shrugged, still smiling "Well had you ever looked behind that door before?"

"No-" Annabeth admitted, looking at her with confusion.

"Well then there could have been some secret hallway in there, right?" Piper shrugged, grinning in a way that almost reminded her of Percy.

Fuck. Annabeth was getting the feeling that she was actually going to end up liking the princess. A lot.