Chatter filled Annabeth's ears as she read quietly. By each passing minute, it seemed like it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. She wanted to calm down, not this! She read the same line in her book for the fourth time. The words flowed through her mind but she didn't seem to comprehend a sentence of it. Her legs bounced up and down in irritation.

No one was near her, but that didn't help the issue at hand. She took a hasty sip of her black coffee that left a trail of smoke from the heat. Because she didn't relalize how hot it would be, it scorched tounge a little. She let out a stangled gasp and let go of the cup. She shouldn't have ordered a hot drink. Water was much better. She frowned at the pain, still lingering a stinging sensation.

"Annabeth?"

The girl swished her head around, scanning for the voice who said her name. Oddly, it almost sounded... familliar. Annabeth relalized why when she spotted him. One of her oldest friends.

Luke Castellan.

His smilling face was un-changing as ever, and the scar the long scar on his face seemed more noticeable by now. He seemed different though. The shock made Annabeth's face go slack.

"Luke?" Annabeth said, taken aback. How long has it been since she saw him? A year- or maybe more. What in the world...?

"Yep," He grinned at her. "In the flesh."

Annabeth went stood up abruptly, pushing the wooden chair back a bit doing so. She walked up to him. An un-readable look was plastered on her face. Annabeth hugged him as hard as she could muster, and Luke froze for a moment before enjoying back the hug.

"W-where have you been!?" She said, only half angry. The other half of her was relived after not seeing him for such a long time. It was reliving that he was safe. "Why'd you change your phone number? And without a trace? Do you even know how worried me and Thalia were?"

Luke pulled away, putting a finger on his lips in a attempt to make Annabeth lower her volume. From afar, people were giving dissaproving stares. He had the boldness to look remorseful.

"I am so, so, so sorry. I really am. Its a mess, honestly; a lot of things came up unexpectedly. I knew I could find you here." He said, lowering his head in appology.

Annabeth already knew things were rough for him as it was already. He worked as a archeologist, travelling the world for digging up artifacts. He barely had a break from all the work. Still, why didn't he keep in contact with Annabeth? She thought he had left her for good. That made Annabeth develop a bit of seperation anxiety, after not only her mother left her, but one her best friends too. Thank the gods that wasn't the case.

"I'm glad you came back. But that gives you no reason to have completely abandon me!" Annabeth lightly hit Luke on the arm. "I missed you! A-and so does Thalia!"

Tears welled up in her eyes, but Annabeth wiped them away. Luke looked at her. He brought up Annabeth's hands, clutching them firmly. His eyes glazed over, making his light blue eyes glisten in the lights.

"I missed you too. And... I ran into Thalia on the way here," He said. "I gave her a massive apology as well. She was still pretty mad about it too." He laughed and pointed to bruise that was sure to leave a mark on his head. Annabeth winced, thinking just how mad Thalia was. She was pretty unpredictable at times.

Well, Annabeth didn't blame her. In fact, Annabeth fought the urge to leave a bruise as well. What was stopping her, actually?

'Dignity. Your dignity, Annabeth.'

For a while they talked about Lukes travels and what he had been doing for the last couple of years. Some of the artifacts he discovered were at the Royal Museum, near the Palace. He came here to talk about his studies at a prestigious corporation. And after he heard about Annabeth entering the selection, he just had to come. Luke admited he wanted to visit a lot of times before, but his work was unforgiving.

The two exchanged numbers, making sure they never losed contact again. If that happened, Annabeth would never forgive herself or him.

"I know its rather rude, but I need to go check some things out. I'll stay in the kingdom though. I'm staying for a couple of weeks at Olympus Hotel, and its only a couple of blocks away, so come visit, hm?" He said and let go of her hands.

"Of course I will." Annabeth sniffed. "Be safe, alright?"

"Y-yeah, I will. Stay safe too." He gave a happy look on his face as he exited the store. Annabeth looked at the time; it was now a couple of hours since she had arrived. Luke and her still had a lot to talk about.

Standing up, Annabeth put the books back in their respectful places and sighed. Everything was so sudden- with Luke and her, so she let out a bitter laugh. That was all she could manage from the events. Hopefully the maids finally calmed down. Annabeth sure did. She took the longest route back possible, going through a shortcut through the forest, a neighborhood, and a marketplace. She saw Tyson, Percy's brother, at the blacksmith.

"Hello Annabeth!" His loud, cheerful voice boomed. "How are you?" Tyson wiped some black substance from his face.

Annabeth smiled. "I'm great, thanks. You?"

"Amazing! Making swords are fun, and especially using them! I like my club better, though." For show, he swung out his long wooden club. It's handle was covered in bronze and had blunt spikes on the sides.

"That sounds interesti-!"

"TYSON!" A loud voice yelled from farther inside the building. "You might be royalty, but that doesn't mean you get to slack off! You're not finished yet!"

"Aw..." Tyson looked back at Annabeth, a few brown strands of hair brushing against his face. "Sorry about that."

She laughed. "It's fine, you seem pretty busy anyways. Say hi to Sally and Paul for me!" Annabeth waved back at a giddy Tyson. She continued the walk to her place and now stood hesitantly outside the door. She heard voices inside, and Annabeth just hoped it wasn't a certain sea-green eyed dork.

"Hey, Annabeth!" Elizabeth said. "You feeling relaxed yet?"

Annabeth simply nodded in response. She took off her shoes and waltzed in the grand kitchen. The three girls just muttered a couple of words before heading back to what they were doing before. She grabbed a apple and munched on it as she watched the news.

"As of last month, countless reports say there has been multiple robberies and assaults in the kingdom. These people have been targetingthe more wealthier neighborhoods. Money, material- Everything of value." The reporter backed away from the camera as he showed the place before him. "Many suspect the Palace is a new target. If you see have any suspicions, please contact local authorities. And please, stay safe."

Annabeth blinked once, then twice. The Palace? Target? The selection had been going on for two weeks now. It would be complete failure to even attempt to rob the Palace. Everything was heavily guarded.

'I'm hoping what I just saw wasn't true,' Annabeth thought internally. 'It can't be. Right.'

But Annabeth still had the thought on her mind. At the meeting, Piper seemed to notice this.

"You're making a weird face," She pointed out. "Are you fine?"

Annabeth left her daze, looking back at Piper gratefully. "Yep. Hey.. On the news today, did you hear something about robberies? And that Palace being a target?"

Piper thought for a while. "I mean, yeah. I'm sure its nothing to worry about. This kingdom especially is run by some amazing people, so I honestly couldn't think of something that bad happening." Her kaleidioscope eyes looked at Ms. Usoro, who was giving a lecture on sneaking out, safety, and other boring things.

"I could imagine that happening actually." Piper gave Annabeth a shocked stare. "I- Not not that! What I mean is there will always be some rebellions, right?"

"I guess. You're not wrong,"

"Miss Chase! Miss Mclean! Are you two girls going to stop chatting anytime soon?" Ms. Usoro shook her head in dissaproval.

"Loudmouths." A girl snickered at them.

"Kimberly Jhonson! You too!" Ms. Usoro said before looking back at her clipboard in hand. The long, uneventful lecture continued on for a while after that, making Annabeth almost forget about the topic before.

After Ms. Usoro dismissed everyone, Annabeth bolted out. She didn't bother looking back at Calypso or Piper, even though she wanted to. She didn't speak a word, not even when she got back, and not even when she was back in her large bed. Annabeth flopped down and looked at the golden clock on the wall.

11:08 AM

"Ngh. Its already so late.." The groaned and hopped out of bed. Julia, Elizabeth and Dana were now gone, after working for many hours before. Annabeth slipped on her slippers and creaked her door open, which led into the hallway. Honestly, she didn't even know where she was going. She desperately need sleep; and if that meant going for a late night walk, the she would gladly do so.

The thought of what Ms. Usoro said about sneaking out slipped her mind. As if this would even count as that.

There was a open window at the end of the long hallway. It was one of the ones with a seat underneath, so Ananbeth plopped on. Moonlight streamed into the building, making everything glow with a white-ish tint. It was calm. Oh, how Annabeth wished it would last longer. The silence was broken when she heard hushed voices.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. I don't care about the risks, as long as I get my hands on it."

Annabeth looked down below, where two people were talking. It was late at night, so it was king of surprising that people were chatting at a loud volume. Did they not care about everyone sleeping, or were they simply inconsiderate?

She brought her face to the window, getting a glimpse of two men in dark clothes. Did one of them have a... Gun?

Nope! Just a knife.

'As if thats any better!' Her grey eyes widdened in fear. 'Oh, gods... what do they plan to do? Is this the robbery thing that I was so worried about?' She continued to listen, Annabeth's heart beating too fast for her to handle.

"No! We nearly got caught once. The boss will kill us if we don't manage to do this sucsessfuly. So, another day. Got that?"

The man snarled. "Fine." He spat. "But we are going to continue this. You managed to get a rat, right?"

"Of course." He scoffed. "I'm always prepared. I'm a rat myself in a way too, you know. Anyways. I need to head back. Leave through the west from here."

They left, and also left Annabeth with many questions. A rat. robberies. A boss. It all added up, and she knew what was going on immediately. A gasped escaped Annabeth's lips and her arms dangled beside her body. A rat meant someone who was some sort of spy. A impostor, getting information. This had to be caught on camera. it had too! All Annabeth needed was proof of this even happening. Then, the two men and their 'boss' would be sent to jail, with no chance of payroll.

Her nerves calmed down a bit after laying out everything in her mind. She would pay a important visit to security tomorow. Why?

Because the Palace was officialy a target to some very dangerous people.

lol

Annabeth: *internal screaming*