"A grandparent is a little bit parent, little bit teacher and little bit a best friend."
-Unknown.
Annabeth did nothing productive on Monday. She still wasn't talking to Frederick (who kept knocking on her door till he was convinced she wasn't inside) or Athena (which wasn't a problem, considering the councilwoman made no attempt to cross paths with her 'daughter'). She wasn't sure which hurt more: Her father trying so much after a long time and she not being in a position to receive it or seeing her mentor, with whom she used to talk to everyday, not making a move to show... well, anything.
She spent the day in training and in Miss Willow's class. For the first time since Selection started, she was truly grateful for having a friend like Piper by her side. Still, whenever she found a hair's breadth of time in her schedule, she found her mind spinning a life of its own and repeatedly going back to the same thing: Percy.
Like, she would find herself eating more of the food he likes and wonder why she did it when she doesn't like it much. Or, she would be sparing with Daedalus in camp and her mind would suddenly remember a joke Percy must have told her months back, when they were sparing together, and smile subconsciously (till Daedalus said "concentrate".)
She didn't miss him.
She just wished he was here.
On Tuesday, Annabeth woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She sprained her neck from the position she was sleeping in and her heel hurt from yesterday (where she stepped a little too hard on it during practice.)
Why was everything going wrong today?
She put on her sports dress and went down to the diner. Without Sally and Percy, the dynamics in the table had completely shifted. It was still in a first-come-first-serve basis except now, the ones who came first sat in the back instead of the front. When Annabeth came in and sat closest to the King, everyone stared at her like: How do you even have the nerves to...?
I've done this a thousand times bro. (Probably even more!)
She gave the royals a small smile. Paul turned around from his conversation with Edward (Paul's mom's brother) for the first time, to look at the table, and frowned. He looked at Annabeth and mouthed: Is there something on the chairs?
She shook her head.
When Piper came inside, she looked everywhere but at the front for Annabeth and even sat on another chair before Annabeth beckoned her over.
"Can I know why you're sitting here when everyone else is sitting there?" She asked.
Annabeth teased. "Isn't that what we do?"
Piper gave her a straight smile.
Paul addressed the girls with a mic. "Good morning everyone." They all went quiet. "Today is June 7th. You all have already finished 9 days of training at the camp. Chiron has notified me that all the basic training elements have been introduced in the first five days... which means I'm giving this information later than planned so apologies on my side. From today, you'll be given exactly 21 days at camp for everyday analysis and improvement charts. You'll have compulsory 6-hour attendance per day and like Sally mentioned before, you could take extra time in camp when the arena is free but those scores will not reflect on your charts. For this period of time, there will be no classes with Miss. Willow-"
Finally! Thank you, gods!
Annabeth sighed happily at that and Paul looked at her for a split second.
"-except the one before the report this Thursday-"
Yeah, I thought too soon.
"Your final tests, the tournament, will happen on July 2nd and 3rd. So, you'll be having 4 days buffer between camp and the tournament. Next eliminations will be announced on July 5th. Good luck everyone."
He kept the mic down and jerked like he remembered something else. "Also, I believe you have been grouped 5 per team, right? Almost all tests would be score related but sword fights can't be done so. So, you'll be fighting among each other for that. We'll be having a winner's trophy or medal too. And..." And he gestured for someone to come in. "Meet Councilwoman Aphrodite. From today, she will be working alongside Miss. Willow."
What now?
Aphrodite, who will not differentiate between a love tragedy and a love story, working with Miss. Willow as the girls' mentor?
This was going to be interesting.
For Aphrodite, that is. Not Annabeth.
Well, at least, Aphrodite... what do they call it?... 'shipped' Percy and Annabeth.
I hope her idea of 'shipped' doesn't mean a tragedy. (Annabeth thought.)
...
After breakfast, Annabeth went around the castle aimlessly.
What was happening to her?
She saw Paul, Edward and Miranda (Paul's mother) talking in the halls a little away from the girls' common hall.
"-a bad idea. It would just stress them." Said Miranda. "And create bad blood. We should tell them that it won't mat -"
Edward tapped his sister's shoulder and looked at Annabeth.
She immediately smiled. "Hello Wise Girl, how are you doing?"
Immediately, she was reminded of Percy. Percy was the one who gave her the nickname but her granny (step-granny?) also latched on to it.
She smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. "Yeah. I'm good. What's going on?"
"Well I was just telling Paul here that-"
Paul stopped her. "She's Selected too. Sorry Annabeth, this concerns you too."
"Shouldn't I know things that concerns me?"
Edward, who was the eldest royal, put one hand on her shoulder. He smiled sourly. "Not this one kid. Trust us."
She nodded. Paul took papers from his guard's hands and started walking away. Annabeth frowned.
Why was he suddenly so distant?
Miranda turned to her. "Let's walk, yeah? Don't worry about him. He is stressed because of the guest invitations. Lot of old scars opening up."
"What guest invitations?" Annabeth asked.
"You'll know soon enough. I hear they got plans for the Selected too. It happens in... August, I think?" Said Edward.
She sighed. "Right. If I stay that long."
Edward frowned. "Now, why are you doubting that?" He started walking.
Miranda nudged her and Annabeth followed them. Thankfully, they didn't have guards around them. Miranda and Edward were royals of course but they not involved in anything that concerned the royals directly (since they were from Paul's side of the family). They didn't have hectic schedules like Paul, Sally or Percy and just served as advisors.
But, indirectly, they practically ruled the kingdom since they were Paul's personal advice box.
Edward asked her. "Is everything okay, cupcake?"
The nickname made her want to smile genuinely.
Cupcake was what all the elder royals called her when she was little. Back then, it felt awesome to have someone give her a name like that (especially when her own family didn't) but now it was slightly embarrassing.
Annabeth still liked it though.
She looked away. "To be honest, not really."
Miranda looked concerned. "Why? What is wrong?"
"Am I a bad person if I say Selection?"
Edward chuckled. "No. You are a normal person. Did you two fight? What did he do this time? Kiss someone else?"
"Or is it the girls?" Miranda shook her head slightly. "Are they demeaning you? Talking behind your back?"
Annabeth stared at the two of them, stunned. "Yes, and yes. All of the above. How did you even-"
"We've already seen Selections." Said Miranda.
Oh gods, yes. They must have heard everything from Paul, right?
Isn't it different for men? That too, at his age?
Selection is still Selection, her mind reasoned.
Edward said. "Besides, this is Percy we're talking about."
Miranda hit him. "This is boys we're talking about. Not just Percy. You were worse at his age!"
"No, I wasn't! I lost my-"
"For our family and status, you were." Said Miranda.
Annabeth felt a strange sense of amusement as she saw the two bickering. It had been a while since she had talked to them outside the diner hall.
Gosh, she really missed this.
Edward pointed at Annabeth. "It gets better okay? We understand things as we grow older. Ask me anything!"
Miranda whispered. "Yeah... only like 10 years later... but, sure" She looked back at him. "I'll give you a question of this generation. What is girl talk?"
"When you talk about boys." He said, without a beat.
Miranda looked at him like she was disappointed. "Not wrong. Not exactly right. What else?"
"Eh... Um... Okay see, I know this. I know yes and no doesn't mean what they mean." He looked like he was thinking. "They mean opposites. Sometimes they mean what they mean and sometimes maybe is used for both. Maybe is yes or no. Yes is maybe. No is no but no is do it and we'll see!"
Annabeth laughed her first real laugh since she heard that Athena was her mother. These two reminded her of the Stoll brothers. (Except, they were the Blofis siblings.)
Edward and Miranda smiled warmly.
Annabeth got this weird feeling like maybe they were doing this for her. To see her laugh.
It warmed her heart.
"Anyway." Edward turned to Annabeth. "Give it time, okay? Everything will be alright."
"Yes!" Miranda exclaimed. "And trust in yourself!" She gave a strong slap to Annabeth's back.
Annabeth flinched. "Thank you. I needed that."
Miranda seemed to be thinking. "Come on." She walked off to her right. Annabeth raised her eyebrows and looked at Edward.
He shrugged. "Girls." He mimicked his sister's tone poorly. "How are we supposed to know?" He smiled cunningly like he knew, though.
Miranda walked to the east wing of the palace and stood next to the stairs. "Go to the fourth floor and get my red handbag, dear."
She stepped to her right to reach the elevators but Miranda hit her hand. "What do you need these for! You should always practice walking and running, you healthy young woman." She pushed Annabeth towards the stairs.
"For your sake! To the fourth floor!" said Edward and stepped next to his sister on the elevator.
Annabeth smiled.
But gosh, this woman did have good arm power for a 65-year old.
She walked up the stairs.
...Only to be held captive in the third floor.
In her excitement, she had completely forgot that the Selected couldn't go above the second floor without a pass - which she didn't have.
"Selected? Do you have a pass?" Asked a guard.
"No but I'm green so does that-"
He shook his head. "Miss, I am sorry but I cannot-"
Miranda's voice spoke from a distance. "SHE IS WITH US OR CAN I NOT GIVE A PASS NOW?"
The guard paled. "Yes ma'am, you can!" He looked at Annabeth. "You could have mentioned that."
When they reached the room. Miranda went in to pull out a phone - an old version - the ones with the buttons instead of touch screen. She passed it to Annabeth. "Percy's number is saved as Agent Green. You can call him."
Annabeth's mind's wheels spun fast. "Percy has a phone?" She looked at them in surprise. "And he actually took it?"
Edward nodded. "A special phone."
She felt a wave of disappointment. "Why didn't he tell me?"
Miranda smiled sympathetically. "He was told not to. By Sally."
Annabeth's mouth formed an O. "Oh..."
"You don't say, we won't say." Edward told.
"Call only from this number, honey." Miranda said. "The call is untraceable. Keeps his location and number safe. Security reasons. That is why he couldn't give you the number."
She nodded. "Wow... since when does he have it?"
"Uh... about 2 days."
Right when Jason got his gun.
What is going on?
Annabeth walked out of the room and they followed her. Suddenly, she remembered something. "But if Miss. Willow finds out-"
Edward challenged. "What can she do? Confiscate it and threaten to tell Sally?" He looked alarmed. "Oh, she can do that..."
Miranda thought about it. "If she takes it, tell us. We'll get it from her. She'll tell Sally that she found your phone but we gave it back to you. Sally won't care much about it. Percy will laugh."
Edward nodded. "This phone is different from the regular. You can't see anyone's numbers. The texts will disappear after 30 minutes of you viewing them or them viewing yours. You can't store any media. The rest is beyond my knowledge. This generation has crazy technology."
Annabeth didn't know what to say. "Thank you... So much..."
Miranda hugged her sideways. "Anything for our Cupcake."
"Give it back to us on Thursday." Edward said.
Annabeth was speechless. Miranda laughed, "Sometimes you just need a push," She pushed her towards the wall, "In the right direction."
Edward laughed and pointed behind Annabeth. Miranda said, "Oh, Well..."
"What?" Annabeth asked and turned around.
She came face to face with a painting of the royal family. The older one. Poseidon, Sally and Percy (as a kid). This must have been done when Percy was 12.
That was the Percy she first had a crush on.
Annabeth blushed.
"Fates don't lie." Said Edward.
Annabeth grinned from ear to ear as she went back to her room.
She really needed this today.
It was weird how grandparents could give advice in the simplest of terms and make you understand what you couldn't see.
Once inside, she took out the phone and searched the contacts for a certain agent...
It rung thrice before the other party picked it up.
"Hey. Whassup, man?"
Annabeth frowned. This was nothing like Percy's voice. Someone with huskier and manly voice spoke. That said, it felt like she had heard this voice before. "Um... Is Percy there?"
"Sorry, I am Peter. Who is Percy?" The voice said.
An awkward silence followed.
The person on the other side sighed. "We talked about this. Read. Code R. File management." The person on the other side shuffled around. "Um... IP number One-five-seven-dot-two-three-nine-dot-seven-five-six-dot-eight-two-four. Action deactivate after 5."
Annabeth blinked. The call immediately got cut and a robotic voice spoke from the phone. "Action activate messenger. Receiving logical instructions. Boolean value... Sorry, null found. Reading message: Good morning, dear customer. We are very happy to announce that you are our 1,000,000th customer and our lucky winner! Please tell the following details for receiving the newest model Samsung phone as your gift! 1) Your real names. 2) Location and time of delivery 3) Why you love the model. Thank you!"
Annabeth was as clueless as someone hearing Apollo's haiku.
(A/N Phew, that was a big code. Translation for you readers: Read - meant that the phone would read the message out. Code R, File management and the IP are basically where the message is stored temporarily. Deactivate after 5 meant that the IP would be deleted after 5 seconds after reading it out loud. On her side, activate messenger meant that the phone will read it out loud.
This part is IMPORTANT:
Boolean value... Sorry, null found: Here null doesn't mean computer's null. It meant English null which is equivalent to zero. In Boolean logic, zero is equivalent to false. So, Annabeth has to read the message and take the false of it.
Note that all this part is only the phone speaking the real message comes only after the 'Reading message' part.
The message takes the form of a spam advertisement so if anyone (by some way) tracks it down then they would only listen to the spam. The message tells her to 'tell' details and so she needs to take false of that and NOT reveal those details. 1) says real names so she is never supposed to use real names in their conversation 2) (same logic as names) 3) 'Why you love the model' basically meant never give any information about people you love - family and friends.)
Just when she thought that maybe it was best to not screw around with royal secrets, Agent Green called her.
"Hey, Wassup, man?" The guy said.
Annabeth thought about it for a minute. "Did your girlfriend like the tiara and the books I gave you dude?"
Translation: Tiara is Percy. Book is Annabeth. Girlfriend is no one, don't worry, because the rest of the sentence is meaningless.
If it was Percy, he will catch the reference.
"Anna-" He paused. "Yes, she liked it. How did you get your hands on it?"
Translation: How did Annabeth get the phone?
"Gran gave them to me, man. What are you upto?"
"I'm in this party." The voice teased.
And suddenly, a voice in the background said. "Line secure, free speech."
"Wise Girl, what the hell?" Percy said, still in the other voice.
"I just wanted to call. I didn't know this much secrecy was involved!" She defended. "What is going on idiot?"
"This is just for safety. 'Idiot' huh? Well, stick to that. Do you remember the rules you heard?" He asked.
"Yeah, I didn't understand anything."
"Basically, no sensitive information. Not even after the line is secure."
"Okay. So... Wassup?"
"I'm in the event. Rachel is here too."
"Oh." Annabeth said.
"Don't 'oh' me. This was Mr. Dare's idea."
"Oh." Annabeth said.
"What about you?" Percy asked.
"Waiting for it to be 3. I have training."
"Um... it is 3: 30."
She went pale and let out a few curse words and yelled to him. "BYE BYE BYE!"
Percy laughed. "Enjoy the push ups."
Gods, how did she not see the time!
Late for class on the first day of 21 days.
Great.
...
Annabeth didn't think much about Percy after that. She hurried to practice and got her punishment - 40 push ups. She put in an extra hour after everyone else to compensate her loss. After dinner, she started to feel the pain in her muscles from all those push ups. She decided to take a bath (after 10 pm) to soothe her aching muscles because she couldn't sleep.
Tomorrow was going to be painful.
When she hit the bed, it was really late. However, before sleeping, she took out the secret phone to hide it in a better place. Just after she switched it on, a message popped up and it just said: 'Agent Green.'
In a second, Annabeth went from mentally howling in pain to smiling like a madman (well, woman in her case).
She clicked on the 'select' button and read the message.
Immediately, her heart skipped a beat and ran twice as faster the next second.
She stared at the message, not knowing what to say.
The message itself was very simple. It was the picture of a lottery ticket.
A lottery ticket saying '127-143' in the middle, in big bold characters.
Schist.
...
Behind the scenes: The someone who texted Jason to hit Percy is actually Piper (in the last chapter.) You can she why she did it. She playfully blames Percy for getting late to practice.
To all the Percabeth fans, decode that number. Why? Because if you do, you won't be half as disappointed with all the Perchel moments as you are with the last chapter.
Hey, if you thought the story so far was good then you need to read the set of events. Till now, I've basically just pulled in everyday ideas and woven a tale out of my imagination with two basic things: Percabeth and Selection. Which is why I named it Percabeth Selection (haha, very creative I know.)
Happy reading!
Thoughts please!