Chapter 34

For the third time since starting towards Percy's room, Annabeth went over what she had managed to come up with. It was ridiculous, and probably way to over complicated, and was more than likely going to land all of them in jail. Well it was probably going to land her, Hazel, and Jason in jail. Piper and Percy would likely escape that, but would doubtlessly also end be in trouble.

Yet, it was the only plan that she could come up with, and she knew that the others would likely go along with it. Not because any of them other than Percy had any real reason to trust her, but because they were determined to get Leo out, and as such would likely agree to any plan put in front of them. That determination had been clear when Piper and Hazel had first told them about what had happened, and she was sure the it would still be there when she arrived today.

The pressure of that was both thrilling and terrifying. Either way, she was full of nervous energy, and her hand kept fidgeting with her sleeves, trying to channel the nerves. Giving her hand something to do made it easier for her brain to focus and actually think about what she wanted to be focusing on, not how nervous she was.

Jason wasn't standing outside of Percy's door, but that was to be expected. He rarely did honestly, though Annabeth suspected that now it was because he was already inside the room rather than off doing something more useful than just standing around guarding a door. In fact, she had no doubt that the others were already inside as well. Rethinking the plan over and over had lead to her running rather late.

Taking a deep breath, she reached up and knocked on the door, and a moment later Percy was looking over at her. He gave her a small smile, but didn't immediately let her in the room. Instead he softly asked, so that only she could hear "Are you sure you want to do this? It's okay if you don't."

Annabeth couldn't help but smile a bit at that. He recognized the full extent of what he was asking of her. He was asking her to commit treason, but it was even more than that. He was asking her to make sure the rest of them weren't caught committing treason. All of their fates were on her, and he knew that, and was giving her one last chance to back out of it.

"I'm sure." That was the last thing Annabeth was, but she couldn't let them down. Not when they were all waiting on her.

Percy nodded and stepped aside to let her in. As she had predicted, the others were already there, gathered at the small sitting area at one side of Percy's room. Without really thinking about it, Annabeth curtsied a bit as she approached Piper "My lady-"

Piper smiled at her and nodded. "It is nice to see you again Annabeth. Thank you for doing this. Percy has assured us that if anyone can figure this out, it's you. And given the circumstances I'm pretty sure just Piper will be fine from now on."

"Right," Annabeth nodded, before moving to take one of the empty spots, Percy sitting next to her. After a moment of glancing around she spoke again "So- I have a plan, but there are some holes I'm not sure how to fill just yet, and a lot of moving parts. I tried to give everyone as little to do as possible so it would be harder to trace back to each of you."

"Tell us what you have, Wise Girl," Percy said, giving her a small smile "We'll help figure out the rest."

"Right," Annabeth said again, nodding in agreement and giving him a small smile before beginning to speak. Silently she prayed that this wasn't going to back fired on all of them.

There was a pause as Annabeth finished laying out the plan. As they sat, Annabeth started fidgeting with her sleeve again, brain spinning. It wasn't good. Percy had talked her up to much and now they were all trying to figure out how to tell her how bad the plan was.

"I know someone who works in the stable," Hazel finally said, glancing around "He can make sure the horses are ready when we need them to be."

"Frank," Jason said, and Hazel nodded a bit "He's not exactly Leo's biggest fan."

"I know, but he's a good guy," Hazel assured "Even if he doesn't like Leo all that much, he'll help us, trust me."

"Good," Annabeth nodded, glancing around at them again "Then the only thing that we really need is a way to get you passed the guard at the gate- we can wing it the day of, but I'm not to fond of that idea-"

"I can distract them."

Annabeth had been expecting the response from Percy, but she shook her head "I didn't give you anything to do on purpose. Your father is going to know you were involved after asking him to realise Leo. You have to have an alibi- otherwise-"

"Otherwise I'll be in the same position as everyone else," Percy replied, shaking his head "I'll be taking the same risk everyone else is. I can lure the guard away from the exit long enough for them to get out."

"Percy- if you get caught it won't matter if he can prove you were helping Leo or not. You'll be on lockdown either way." Annabeth's eyes meet his, making sure he understood the full implications of it. The limited freedom he had, sneaking out to see her or his mom or Grover, would be gone. But of course he did, and he was going to do it anyway.

"Which is better than what he'll do if he catches Jason and Leo," Percy replied evenly, meeting Annabeth's eyes. Sighing, Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"Alright. So Percy will lure the guard away," Annabeth let out a breath as she glanced at the others. This was insane. She didn't even know Leo and now here she was plotting treason because of him. But she knew what was happening was wrong, and it was important to Percy. Also Piper and Jason who she also knew a bit. And she knew Percy was going to try something one way or the other, so she had to try to give him the best plan possible.

Also there was part of her that couldn't help but feel a swell of pride that he had come to her, and she couldn't bring herself to turn away from that, no matter how much she was risking to accomplish it.

"Sounds like we have a plan than," Piper replied, giving Annabeth a small smile as she nodded at her "Thank you Annabeth."

Annabeth just nodded. Silently she hoped this wasn't going to end with all of them in even worse trouble then Leo already was.