Chapter 22

Percy POV

The past two weeks have been some of the best of my life. I've spent every day with Annabeth, whether it's with a big group of friends or just the two of us, I feel like I get to know her a hundred times better every hour we spend together.

When Annabeth laughs, I genuinely feel like my heart stops. I could live off of her laughter, the way a plant lives off of sunlight.

Because Annabeth is sunlight. She is the sun and the moon and the stars, and every brilliant effulgence this universe has to offer.

And now she's my girlfriend. And I couldn't be happier.

It's about four o'clock when Annabeth knocks on the door to my room.

She's been with her mom for most of the day, working on boring internship stuff, and I've missed her like crazy. I hate to be the kind of guy who totally needs to be with his girlfriend every second of the day, but I can't help it. When I'm with her, I feel a sense of completeness I've never felt around anyone else before.

When I open the door, Annabeth stands there, grinning like crazy. She wears casual jeans and a loose, dark tank top, her hair pulled back in a high ponytail.

She looks gorgeous.

"What are you so happy about?" I tease as she steps through the doorway into my room. I suddenly feel self conscious about the messiness around me, but hey, it comes with the package. Annabeth doesn't seem to mind, though.

"I've got news," she says, plopping down on my couch and crossing her legs.

I sit down next to her. "Good news or bad news?"

Annabeth's face scrunches up. "Definitely a mixture of both, though I'm choosing to look at it through an optimistic lens."

"That's my girl."

"Oh shut up," she says swatting my arm playfully. "Anyway, today while I was working, I overheard that the resort board is going to be having a development meeting today."

"So?" I ask, even though I totally know where this is going.

"So…" Annabeth draws out the word, "It's going to be exclusive. Just the top dogs, which means-"

"That they're bound to discuss the stuff you uncovered in the confidential files," I finish.

Annabeth nods her head.

"And let me guess," I say. "You want to listen in on it somehow and see if we can find out anything."

Annabeth nods again. "You know me so well," she teases. I smile at that, but I'm definitely skeptical of the situation.

"I don't know Annabeth," I say. "There's some really serious stuff at play here. Are you sure it's a good idea to be getting ourselves involved with this?"

She grabs my hand and looks into my eyes. "I have to. If something's going on that involves my mom, I have to know." Her tone is serious, and suddenly, I realize just how much investigating this whole scandal means to her. Not only does she have a personal connection, but it's one that could be potentially damning to a family member of hers. And not just any family member. Her mother.

I squeeze her hand. "If this is something you need to do, I'm with you all the way."

Annabeth's face is overcome with an expression of gratefulness I've never seen directed towards me before, and I've got to say, while it feels good to know that there is someone out there who relies so heavily on me, it's also incredibly scary. I have to do right by her.

"Just promise me you won't do anything that puts yourself in danger," I say.

Annabeth looks at me then, almost taken aback, as if she's surprised at my concern for her well being. After a moment, she seems to register how sincere I'm being, how deeply I care for her safety, and she tightens her expression seriously.

"I promise," she says, and squeezes my hand. I quickly lean forward and kiss the top of her head to lighten the mood.

"Then let's do this," I say as I pull back. "What time is the meeting?"

Annabeth's expression brightens. "At the Colosseum in an hour."

I whistle. "We're going to need one hell of a plan."

"Man, it's like you don't even know me at all," Annabeth jokes.

I cock an eyebrow at her. "You mean to tell me you already have a plan?" She smirks at me, her blond ponytail falling forward as she tilts her head.

"Oh, I always have a plan."

The next fifteen minutes go by pretty smoothly. Annabeth tells me the plan, and I've got to say, it's smart. Before we leave, I quickly change into darker clothes and give Annabeth a professional, dark green sweater of mine to wear. As soon as she puts it on, the sight of her in my clothes tugs as my heartstrings, and I have to try really hard not to smile.

"You ready?" I ask.

Annabeth grins. "Absolutely. Let's go."

As soon as we step out of the door, I nearly jump out of my shoes when off to my left, Thalia pops her head through the window of her room and shouts, "Annabeth, if you keep wearing Percy's clothes, you'll get rabies!"

I just roll my eyes as Annabeth laughs, saying, "Bye Thalia."

"Come on," I say, setting my skateboard down on the pavement. Annabeth follows my lead, and the next thing you know, we're off. Annabeth holds my hand as we ride, which totally makes the ordeal more difficult, but it's definitely worth it to have the reassurance of her fingers interlaced with mine.

When we finally arrive at the Colosseum, the sun is just starting to set, and dozens of people wrapped in towels are walking through the front doors, finally turning in after a long day of enjoying the pool. Annabeth and I leave out boards by the bike rack and make our way up the steps.

A couple of seconds after we're inside, I turn to her. "You sure you have everything you need?"

Annabeth holds up her small backpack reassuringly. "Yep."

Basically, the plan is to have me wait, hidden and keeping watch from the balcony above the conference room, while Annabeth uses her intern credentials to pose as an assistant taking notes for the meeting. She told me that lot's of people do this, so it should be pretty easy for her to blend in. We'll keep an open phone line between us so that I can hear her if she happens to be out of my line of sight, and Annabeth even brought a tape recorder to record the whole ordeal since our phones will be in use. She's literally thought of a million backup plans for any case scenario, so I have a ton of faith that we'll be able to pull this off.

That doesn't make me any less scared though.

"Let's do this," I say.

Annabeth and I make our way to the elevator, and as soon as the doors close behind us, she leans her head on my shoulder.

"Worried?" I ask.

Annabeth thinks for a moment before responding. That's one of the things I love about her, the fact that she doesn't just blurt things out, that she always thinks carefully about what she wants to say so that she can say just the right thing.

"Yes," Annabeth responds to my question. "But less so about the action, and more so about the outcome."

Slowly, I bring my hand up to her face, using my finger to tilt her chin up so that she looks me straight in the eyes. I immediately get lost in the stormy grey of them, in the hurricane of intelligence and spirit that lies behind her retinas.

"Everything will be alright," I tell her with as much reassurance as I can muster.

Annabeth chuckles, returning her head to its place on my shoulder. "Let's hope you're right."

Just then, the elevator doors chime open, and I take a deep breath before squeezing Annabeth's hand and stepping out into the business hallway.

The hallway is absolutely enormous, rows upon rows of modern looking doorways and windows that lead into offices and mini conference rooms. Fake potted plants line the walls, and there's even a receptionist's desk, thank gods no one sits there though, since it's after normal working hours.

"This way," Annabeth says, and we make our way down the hall, taking a sharp left into one of the many sub-hallways.

When we reach a dark, hidden balcony that overlooks a humongous conference room, Annabeth stops. "This is where we split off," she says. "Just stay here, and stay hidden." She gives me a quick peck on the cheek, and with that, she's off, making her way down a large spiral staircase that leads to a huddle of people, all waiting to be let into the conference room.

Annabeth is out of my line of sight for a while, and I've just started to get a little panicked when all of a sudden, my phone rings. A photo of me kissing the top of Annabeth's head, the one of the two of us in front of the sunset at the Angel's Flight Railway, pops onto my screen, indicating that it's her calling me. When I see the photo, a warm feeling floods through me. I immediately answer the call, though I know better than to say anything.

I hear distinct chatter on the other end of the line, and I'm glad to know that at least this portion of our plan seems to be working out.

Only a million more parts left to go now.

It's a few moments before Annabeth finally re-enters my line of vision. Though it may be irrational to be getting this worked up over it, I can't help it when a flood of relief washes over me at the sight of her.

Annabeth stands tall and official-looking. Her credentials hang around her neck, and she completely blends in with everyone else around her. I suddenly get a flash vision of what Annabeth will look like in the future: beautiful and professional and hard-working. It's as easy to picture as the scene in front of me.

As the people in front of her get admitted one by one, I can tell that she's getting a little bit nervous. Because of her stoic expression, no outsider would be able to tell, but because I know Annabeth so well, little things like the way she rubs her shoulder distractedly, give her nerves away to me.

I want to hold her hand or whisper in her ear or even say something over the phone line to comfort her, to let her know that I'm there, but I know I can't. Anything like that would give her away, and I have a feeling that these people aren't messing around. I don't want to do anything that could put her in danger.

When it's Annabeth's turn, she steps up to the man handling admission, and I feel my stomach clench up in apprehension.

"Name?" I hear the man say over the phone line. He stands with his head down, looking at his iPad as he scrolls through a spreadsheet of names.

"I won't be in the system," Annabeth says with such ease, you'd have no trouble believing her. She flashes him her credentials. "I'm a late entry, an assistant of Athena Chase."

The man's hand freezes on his iPad, and he looks up slowly, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Associates of Ms. Chase don't have authorization to be here."

Just then, my stomach tightens and my breathing speeds up.

Oh my gods.

But Annabeth, brilliant, sharp, ingenious Annabeth Chase, doesn't miss a beat.

She rolls her eyes at him, as if him questioning her has been the most inconvenient part of her day, and she reaches into her bag, pulling from it an official looking file. When she opens the file, she only has to look through it for a moment before pulling out a single piece of paper and holding it up for the man to see.

From where I sit, hiding in the darkness of the balcony, I somehow happen to be sitting in a place where I can just make out the piece of paper Annabeth holds up. It's the same one we've been talking about for weeks, the paper from the confidential file Annabeth found. On it is the symbol of the upside down omega; the logo for the company that made the forgeries of the resort's environmental test results.

The man's eyes go wide. "Jesus," he says, with a slight stutter. "I- I'm so sorry miss, I didn't mean to-"

"No worries," Annabeth cuts him off. She wears an expression that says, you just inconvenienced me in a huge way, but I'll let it slide because I'm nice.

It's terrifying and incredibly hot at the same time.

The man begins to open the door for her, "I'll just-" he says, nearly tripping over himself. Annabeth gives him a curt nod as she walks through the door.

I quickly stand up and move down the balcony so that I can see inside the conference room. It's this ginormous space with big, open windows and about fifty people all lumbering about, talking to each other or looking busy working on their devices. Down the length of the room runs the longest conference table I have ever seen, though only a few people sit in chairs. The rest all huddle around the table, holding clipboards and pens like the ones Annabeth has materialized from her bag.

Because the room is so big, it's not difficult for her to quickly duck behind a column, hidden away from everyone else in the room.

"Percy," I hear her voice say into the phone.

"Annabeth you're a genius," I say without even thinking about it. "A fucking genius."

"Tell me something I don't know," Annabeth responds, but the corner of her lip twitches up in amusement, so I can tell she's pleased. "Anyway," she says, "Did you hear what he said? My mom has no part in this!" Her eyes light up as she says it, as though a massive weight has been lifted from her shoulders.

"So you're good?" I ask. "Now that you know? I bet you can get out of there before the meeting starts-"

She cuts me off. "Percy, I need to see this through."

I sigh, shaking my head. "Why did I know you were going to say that?"

"What other chance are we going to get to investigate this?" Annabeth says, her voice quiet but urgent. "You saw how exclusive they were at security. I think this is bigger than either of us originally thought. We'd be crazy to waste this opportunity."

I place my hand on my temple. I know she's right, my head tells me she's right, but my heart, well that's a different story. My heart is telling me I need to get Annabeth out of that conference room as soon as possible.

Before I get a chance to say anything, though, I hear a voice through the phone, "Everyone gather, the meeting is about to commence."

"Percy, I've got to go," Annabeth whispers into the phone, and before I know it, she's stepping out from behind the pillar, making her way into the crowded conference room.

Through the windows, I see that it's completely dark outside now, and I feel as though a shadow has been cast over the entire room.

I crouch down lower behind the rail.

Annabeth takes her spot between two other people in business casual attire, both of whom have their clipboards at the ready.

Annabeth blends in perfectly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you all know why you're here tonight," says a voice from the head of the table, and I do a double take when I see who it is. How did I not recognize him before?

At the head of the table sits my uncle Zeus. He looks like he always does, a plastic smile painted on under his stern gaze. His wife, Hera, sits at his side, wearing the exact same expression.

"Let's just get right into it," Zeus says.

He immediately launches into a long overview of the resort's expansion plans, exactly where, when, and how each phase of the operation will be pulled off. He reads from a screen in front of him, spitting out this legal jargon, and has as a powerpoint presentation flipping through slides being him. I don't understand any of it, but just from looking at Annabeth, I can tell that the gears of her mind are functioning on overdrive right now, working furiously to process every word that comes out of Zeus's mouth.

My legs begin to cramp up like crazy about a half and hour into it, and I have to change my position several times. I have a pang of sympathy for Annabeth and the other people around the table who have been standing the entire time, though none of them seem to really care. They're all enthralled in their note taking, working furiously to capture every word out of Zeus's mouth.

When the session finally concludes, the members around the table who happen to be sitting engage in a brief discussion. About half of them wear suits and business attire, and are the ones answering most of the questions. The ones asking the questions sit on the other half of the table, all of them dressed in very expensive clothing, their skin pale and their posture perfect. I assume that these people are the resort's donors. I even recognize a few of them from the event the other night.

When the discussion dies down, Zeus opens the meeting up to questions, and the people standing around the table immediately shoot their hands up, all eager to please.

I watch Annabeth as she analyzes the room. It's like watching someone try to figure out a puzzle. Her eyes shift from person to person, trying to see where each one of them fits into the situation.

I'm surprised to see that a couple of times, a question will be asked and Zeus will pause for a moment, needing to lean down so that one of his associates can whisper something in his ear before he delivers his answer.

The meeting goes on like that for a little longer, but at a certain point, someone shuts down the powerpoint behind Zeus, and I know that they're finally wrapping up.

Zeus stands up from his chair, placing one hand possessively on his wife's shoulder as he does. "Thank you all for being here tonight," he says. "From now on, sessions will be held privately primarily, so I hope that was an informative session for those of you spectating."

And with that, Zeus turns to discuss something with his associates. Everyone else begins to stand up, making their way back to the door.

I watch Annabeth as she moves through the crowd. She waits patiently as people walk through the doorway, one by one. She doesn't look my way once, and I'm grateful for it. The last thing we need is something as simple as a glance giving us away.

It's a couple of minutes before Annabeth makes it through, and as soon as I see her on the other side of the door, I rush off to meet her by the maintenance elevator where we agreed to meet.

I'm waiting there for her for about a minute, my nerves getting the best of my body, making me fidgit like crazy, when all of a sudden, I see a mop of blond hair round the corner, and relief floods through me like a tidal wave.

Annabeth walks up to me at a steady pace, making her way right into my arms. Our embrace is casual, but behind it there is a certain weight, like our pent up emotions are causing the electrons in our bodies to pinball with energy.

"You good?" I ask into Annabeth's hair, letting the scent of her overtake me.

She wraps her arms tighter around my waist. "Yeah. We have a lot to talk about."

Annabeth begins to pull away and leans against the wall. I follow her lead, and together, we slide down until we sit side by side on the floor.

The entire hallway is deserted. The only light comes from the glow of the elevator button and a faint beam of moonlight that streams in through a distant window. There are still some echoes of voices that make their way up to us from downstairs, but they're scattered, and again I can't believe what we just pulled off.

Annabeth sighs, deep in thought and I take her hand.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," I say, "but I didn't catch onto much illegal planning in that meeting. Everything seemed pretty normal."

I can tell Annabeth's mind is working on overdrive by the way the hurricane behind her stormy eyes shifts with every thought.
"No, you're absolutely right," she says, and then pauses, turning to me. "Percy, don't you see what this means? Whatever it is we're investigating, it's a whole lot more secluded than either of us originally thought." She shakes her head in disbelief. "I mean, did you see the way Zeus couldn't answer those questions? The way he read off of that tablet word for word? He had no idea what he was talking about. There's someone else organizing everything. Someone else has to be pulling the strings. And whoever it is, they're the ones behind the forgeries, the coverups… Everything."

I take a moment to let that sink in. "So that group in there, they genuinely were just going over the expansion plans?"

"For the most part," Annabeth says. "I think they know that there's some sketchy stuff going on, but they don't know the extent of it." She turns towards me, energy bright behind her eyes. "Take Zeus for example, there's no way he can be sitting on top like that and be completely oblivious. He probably knows that some of the codes aren't up to date, etcetera, but he probably doesn't know about the degree of it. I mean, forgery is a felony. Whatever's going on here, it must be unbelievably extreme for whoever is pulling the strings to go to such lengths to cover it up."

I squeeze her hand. "So what now?"

Annabeth looks at me sheepishly. "Well, I think I might have a plan."

I laugh, shaking my head. "Of course you do."

She smirks. "The way I see it, we have two leads." I pause, thinking for a moment.

"We investigate Zeus through Thalia and Jason," I conclude, but then pause, confusion taking over me. "What's the other one?"

Annabeth grins, her eyes lighting up. "I was standing behind the Augurs tonight."

"The Augurs…" I say. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"The boy we met the other night," Annabeth fills in. "The one who was sitting across from us at the dinner party, his name is Octavian Augur."

"He's their son?" I ask, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

Annabeth nods enthusiastically. "And you'll never guess who he goes to school with."

"Who?"

"Reyna and Hazel."

I bring my hand to my mouth. "You're kidding me."

"I don't kid," Annabeth says, smirking.

This whole situation has me completely taken aback. We have two solid leads that could point us towards really discovering something of substance.

But then, I think of the extremity of the situation, of the lengths these people have been willing to go to cover up what they've been doing. Did we really want to discover something?

I squeeze Annabeth's hand. "Wise girl, what we found out tonight just means that by pursuing these leads, we'll be putting ourselves in all the more danger."

She looks at me, determination radiating off of her. "Percy, we have to. If not only for your dad or for my mom, then for Thalia and Jason."

I meet her eyes. They're such a stark contrast from my own in color, but in duende, they're identical. A raging sea, whether it be green or grey.

"You're right," I say. "As always."