"Now ladies, you are summoned here for a very important reason." Victoria's voice echoed through the Women's Room. "Your Royal Etiquettes classes will start next week, on the day after...the first elimination."

A few people gasped and started to murmur.

"The first elimination?!" Piper whisper yelled from beside Annabeth. "Isn't it a little too soon?"

Annabeth nodded, trying to act surprised. Percy had already told her this yesterday, but she wasn't supposed to know. He'd even told her who he was going to eliminate.

"Hush, hush girls! Don't act so surprised," Miss Victoria said. "The Prince would have had to eliminate someone sooner or later. You should be grateful you are going to stay for a week. During his Selection, King Gabe eliminated ten girls on the first day alone!"

The girls grumbled a bit more but quieted down eventually.

"Now," Victoria continued. "In your classes you will learn the royal history, manners, greetings, dances and much more. You will also be given assignments and tasks and will have Practicals every two weeks.

"Your reports will go to the Royals and a few of the eliminations will take place on the basis of that. Also, your communication skills will be tested. The way you speak to people, which people you talk to, how much you talk, etcetera.

"You will also me marked on how much you apply your lessons in your day to day life. Then there is also the Prince's personal preference and how much eligible you are to become the Princess, and later on, the Queen."

"A bit harsh, don't you think?" Piper whispered to her. Before Annabeth could say something, she was interrupted.

"Do you have something to say, Miss McLean?" Victoria looked at the girls with cold eyes.

Drew turned back to them to smirk triumphantly and Piper clenched her jaw.

"No, miss," she mumbles quietly.

"Good," Victoria nodded. Then turning her attention to the room, "You're dismissed."

After Victoria's speech, the Selected were dismissed to the Dinning hall, where the Royals were already seated. They all curtseyed and took their assigned seats on the giant dinning table.

Percy hadn't even glanced up from his white tablet, on which he was writing something away. Grover was standing behind him in a dark green suit, conversing with Percy occasionally. He caught Annabeth's eye once and smiled at her, a smile she returned.

Grover was Percy's long term assistant and advisor. When Percy turned 16, he got to choose his own board of advisors. It included Reyna, Artemis, Nico and Grover and Annabeth was the unofficial member.

Percy saw Grover looking the other way and followed his gaze. When he saw Annabeth, he grinned, the cloud of exhaustion in his eyes moving away ever so slightly to reveal the usual light in them.

Annabeth nodded at him, still smiling. They had a silent conversation for a moment before he went to his work (which was about a murder of a whole family in Bonita, apparently) and Annabeth went back to her meal.

Finishing quickly, she excused herself, sending one last smile to Percy before exiting. She was just going out of the hall when there was a yank on her arm. She looked up startled, to find the familiar face with a scar running down from below the right eye smiling down at her.

Luke Castellan.

"Luke! You're back!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Luke chuckled and pulled her into a little friendly hug.

"So it would look like. How are you doing?"

Annabeth shrugged and pulled back. She opened her mouth to answer when he cut her off.

"Wait, don't answer that," He said putting out a hand to stop her. "I know how you are doing. I leave you for a year and then come back to see you getting married."

Annabeth blushed furiously. "I am not getting married!"

Luke rolled his clear blue eyes. "Oh please. We all know he's gonna choose you."

Annabeth frowned through her blush. There was something off with his tone. She properly looked at him for the first time. Luke Castellan had barely changed from the last time Annabeth saw him. His blonde hair was closely cropped as usual, eyes clear icy blue, and the long, narrow scar running down his right cheek.

"No. He is not," she said after a beat. "I am a six, remember?"

Luke gave a small smile and said, "We'll see." He rubbed his hands together, a nervous gesture. "Do you want me to walk you to... Wherever you were going?"

Annabeth smiled and looped her hand through his arm. It was well muscled, a result of years of training. She tried not to blush.

"Women's Room."

Yes she had had a big crush on Percy since they were 12, but Luke was her long time crush too. She had had a little crush on her since he saved her from getting raped by another guard when she was 10. He was 17, recently recruited, but somehow managed to pry the big man off of her and summon a few well trained guards to their rescue. Ever since then, he'd been her hero, her savior.

But her crush never got the time to develop, as Luke was always travelling around the country, getting posted in various places. The few time he is posted in the castle, he and Annabeth always spend as much as they can together. Percy sometimes joined them, when he wasn't that busy, but since him and Luke didn't go well together, those times were rare.

Every time Luke is around, her little crush peek out, and Annabeth tries to pull it all the way up, to push the crush for Percy aside, out of her system. Because with Luke, she may have a chance, but Percy would always be a hopeless case.

But then she sees Percy again, his sea green eyes, hiss messed up hair, his crooked smile and the little dimple on his left cheek, and she forgets that Luke even exists.

They were about to reach the Women's Room but Luke pauses at the corner, where the guards couldn't see them.

"What?" Annabeth asked, confused.

Luke hesitated for a moment before leaning in and kissing her cheek.

"I missed you," he whispered into her ear. "So much." He didn't pull back, just stayed like that for a while. Annabeth's heart was beating painfully fast, and she had her eyes softly closed. Luke drew in a breath, like he was about to say something. But a very familiar voice made jump apart.

"Annabeth?!" Percy's voice was filled with shock, mortification and something else that Annabeth quite put her finger on.

"Percy!" She breathed, trying to calm her heart down.

Luke let go of her hand and bowed down. "Your Highness."

"Luke." The other boy's voice was tight and low. "I didn't know you were back."

Luke bowed deeper. "I came back late last night, Your Highness."

Percy nodded, looking at Annabeth intently. His eyes were almost accusing, betrayal written on them.

She was confused. Percy knew about her crush on Luke, it wasn't like she hadn't told him. So why was he so upset, when he should be happy that she's finally getting closed to her crush? (Now, that would hurt, but Percy did not need to know that.)

"What were you doing?" He asked surprising both the Lady and the guard.

"I– We– Luke was escorting me to the Women's Room," Annabeth said slowly.

Percy's frown deepened and so did Annabeth's.

"As far as I know, you are perfectly capable of walking to the WM on your own." He said coldly, not even bothering to look at the still bowing Luke.

Annabeth scowled. She did not understand why Percy was suddenly acting like this, but it was ticking her off.

She turned to the guard, who was now just bowing his head.

"Thanks Luke," she said before going on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek and stalked off towards the WM, ignoring Percy completely.

In the Women's Room, she mingled with a few people, none of whom seemed to be rebel material. But she couldn't be sure because her attention was mostly on Percy and his strange behavior, but after a few minutes, she managed to stash him at the back of get mind (a place she'd named Percy Corner, which took up quiet a lot of space).

Brynn Jones was a bit suspicious. She was a 5 from Kent. She acted kind of secretive and distant. Or maybe that was just her personality and Annabeth was just being paranoid. Janell Stanton from Likely acted kind of aggressive and defensive.

Surprisingly, Annabeth had a little fun with Piper and Katie. That is, until Drew walked in with Helena Lee and Reeli Tanner, flaunting about a date Percy had asked her on. The mood was slightly glum after that.

Annabeth stayed there until Lunch, after which she was going to her room but was stopped by Piper and Katie and they talked in the corridor, when Lucy found them and invited them to her room. They chatted for about half an hour before Annabeth went to her room.

When she finally opened the door the her room, Hazel informed her that the King had ordered her to his office. So she went there where Gabe asked her about Drew. Annabeth was tempted to say that she was a bitch. But she said what she had collected on Drew. That there were no connection to the Rebels in her family and that she was not likely to be one too because she was happy and content with her life.

Gabe seemed satisfied and fortunately dismissed her soon.

When she finally, finally went back to her room, a surprise awaited her. Percy was lying on her bed, head propped on his arms. He nervously smiled at Annabeth and sat up.

"Your maids let me in and left." He said as Annabeth came towards him.

"I bet they did. Why are you here?" She still was angry at him for being a jerk to Luke.

"What? I can't come to see you now?" Percy put his hands over his heart, mocking pain.

She gave him a look and he sighed in defeat.

"Look I'm sorry," he said, slumping down slightly. "I just- you two caught me by surprise, okay? I wasn't expecting to be in that position."

There was a certain bitterness in his voice that Annabeth had rarely heard. Could it be...? She looked closely at his face, eyes and the thin line of his mouth.

No way.

"Percy," Annabeth gently said. "Are you… jealous?"

Percy's eyes went wide as he blushed and looked down, answering her question.

She stared at him, his slumping form, crippled button down shirt and head full of untamable black hair.

Suddenly overcome by a bout of laughter and affection. She let out a rare giggle (yes, giggle), which caused Percy to look up, eyebrows raised.

Annabeth rushed forward and wrapped her hands around Percy, tackling him to the bed, earning a surprised huff from him and kissed his cheek.

"Oh Percy, you complete dork," she whispered into his shoulder. "You big goofy idiot, you have no need to be jealous, okay? No one, no one, can ever take your place. Got it?"

Percy wrapped his arms around her and nodded. They stayed like that for a while, Annabeth lying on top of him, their legs dangling off the edge.

But soon Annabeth blushed and got up.

She cleared her throat and said, "How was your day?"

Percy smiled softly, still blushing before launching into a detailed rant about his day and Annabeth followed suit. Then one thing lead on to another and they were arguing about whether Ravenclaw was better than Hufflepuff.

"Percy, Ravenclaw is the house of wisdom! Hufflepuffs are just spare students." Annabeth said.

Percy opened his mouth to reply but closed it and just shook his head. "I can't believe I'm friends with you."

"And I can't believe we're having this conversation." Annabeth said before laughing.

Percy laughed out too and soon they were in a giggling fit. After they calmed down, there was a comfortable silence.

Annabeth was staring at the ceiling, when she felt Percy's eyes on her.

"What?" She said tuning her head to look at him.

He stared for a moment before saying, "Nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About you."

Annabeth blushed. "What about me?"

"How mesmerizing you are." Percy turned to his side to push a lock of stray hair away from her face. His hand left a trail of soft blush.

"Am I?"

"Yes, yes you are."

They didn't talk for a long time after that, just staring at each other, until Percy had to go to a meeting. He promised to see her after Dinner, kissed her cheek softly, lips lingering for a few seconds before he went out of the door.

Annabeth didn't even try to fight off the smile as she flopped down on her bed, letting her mind drift off to Percy Land.

∆¶¶¶∆

Annabeth's eyes blinked open and she was greeted by darkness. She frowned, confused about why she woke up in the middle of the night. Then she heard it, the soft whisper of her name.

"Annabeth." It was Luke's voice.

She quickly sat up, prepared to grab her robe and rush to one of the safe rooms, away from the Rebels. But a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Hey, hey, calm down. Its okay."

Annabeth could make out his icy eyes and light blonde hair in the darkness. His scar looked slightly scary in the little moonlight that entered through the curtains.

"Luke?" She asked pulling the blankets closer to her body. "What are you doing here?"

Annabeth's eyes were getting adjusted to the darkness and she could see him smiling softly.

"I was stationed outside your room."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...and also, I needed to tell you something." He scratched to back of his head, ruffling up his hair.

"What is it?" Annabeth asked, confused. What could be so important that it couldn't wait till the morning.

Luke took a deep breathe and released it slowly.

"I've been trying to tell to you for a while now," he admitted, not meeting her eyes. "I know you're in the Selection but, we both know Percy is not going to choose you."

Annabeth tries to hide her sting. That hurt. So bad.

"I mean," he continued, not noticing her wince. "You're beautiful and smart and fiery but he's just too blind to see that. But not everyone is."

Annabeth's breathe hitched. Was he...?

"Luke," she said cautiously. "What are you trying to say?"

He finally met her eyes. There was a certain surety and determination in them. Then suddenly, in a second, the look vanished and Luke slumped.

"I was just trying to say that... you shouldn't get your hopes up. Annabeth, even if he could choose you, he wouldn't. He sees you as a sister, not a wife. I know you like him... as more than a friend but, he doesn't. Okay?"

Annabeth blinked once, then twice and then said in an emotionless voice, "Okay."

Luke smiled sadly and took hold of her hands. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

Annabeth nodded and pulled her hands back slowly, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"Listen I have to go now, but I hope you understand what I was trying to tell you."

"I do." And she did.

She knew that Percy saw her as the sister he never had. That all those moments where it would see like he wanted more, were nothing but fragments for her imagination. She knew that no matter how much she tries to look for sings of his love for her, the only affection she would be getting would be platonic ones. That after he gets married to one of the beautiful girls living in this castle right now, she would have to see him shower her with love and lust, things Annabeth craved desperately. That no matter how much make up she puts on or how much care she puts into her wardrobe, Percy would only ever love her as a friend.

After Luke had left, Annabeth silently cried for hours.

I hope you understand what I was trying to tell you.

Yes. She did. He was trying to tell her the truth.