it's the way it took me a month to write this, but yeah this is super short cause I didn't feel like writing a lot but yeah. also, percy's latino because I said so 3

All characters belong to Rick Riordan

Annabeth sunk down onto the cool wooden surface of the chair, the break room was empty save for herself and Katie Gardner. She fiddled with the wrapper of her yogurt as she waited for her break to end. Annabeth was so used to always being busy that when she actually got time for herself, she didn't know what to do with it.

The clock on the back wall was loud, it's ticking broke the awkward silence. Tick, tock, tick, tock it drove Annabeth crazy.

The break room doors swung open and Annabeth looked up, her eyes widened in recognition. Ethan Nakamura. He walked in, his hands in his pockets. Muttering a 'hi' to Katie he opened the fridge, turning to look over his shoulder at Annabeth, he shot her a small nod towards her before taking out a milk carton from the fridge.

So this was the infamous Ethan Nakamura? If she was being honest, she didn't think he had it in him to be a part of the Circle. It wasn't that he was overly nice, no, he had barely acknowledged her and Percy since they arrived, but he didn't seem like he would join an illegal group that did god knows what. He was just indifferent.

Ethan sat on the seat in front of Annabeth, paying no heed to her.

"Genevieve, you get Mayfield tomorrow." Katie took a bite out of her apple as she sat down, shooting a sympathetic look to Annabeth.

Out of her peripheral vision, Annabeth saw Ethan wince, his gaze pitiful as it turned to her.

"What's Mayfield?" Annabeth leaned forward. Could Katie also have ties with the Circle? Maybe she and Ethan were undercover together and Mayfield was a code name for something.

"It's this private school, all the kids there are monsters." Okay, maybe Katie wasn't part of the Circle. "Last time they ransacked the break room."

A thin smile ghosted Ethan's lips as Katie recalled the memory. Her chatter filled the previous silence, drowning out the steady ticking of the clock.

"I have a tour, I'll catch you guys later." Katie threw the apple core into the trash can as she left, the heavy white door still swinging as her footsteps became distant.

Annabeth stared at the smooth marble counter as she tapped her nail against the surface. The door opened again, but this time Percy stood behind it, the sheen of sweat on his brown skin glistened in the glaring tube lights above him.

He panted out a greeting before sitting next to Annabeth if he acknowledged Ethan, he showed no sign of it as he leaned into his chair, his chest rose and fell as Annabeth took in the weariness painted over his face.

Ethan rose out of his chair, the chair legs screeched again, as an uncomfortable look took over his pale face.

"Uh, I'll just leave you two here." He walked out, the door swung again as it had many, many times before that.

"So that's Ethan, huh?" Percy stared at the swinging white door.

"Mhmm, what happened to you?"

"Not important." Percy waved his hand, he turned in his seat to face her, his face considerate as he rested his chin in his palm.

"He doesn't look like he could be part of the Circle."

"Well, you don't look like you could be a spy." Annabeth copied his position as she retorted, she didn't mention that she thought the exact same thing.

"Okay, good point. But how are we supposed to get any leads? The only two hints we have is a piece of paper and a dead lady." Percy groaned into his hands, his forehead rested against the table.

Annabeth's eyes widen as an idea formed in her head, Percy turned his head to face her, his cheek pressed against the surface.

"You have an idea, don't you? You have that idea face." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What if we had the kids from Mayfield ransack Ethan's office?" Annabeth grinned at him.

"Okay, there are two things wrong with that plan. One," Percy puts up his pointer finger. "I have no idea what Mayfield is, and two," he holds up his middle finger to join the first one. "We already went through Nakamura's room."

"Well, yeah, but there might be some more stuff in there."

"So you're saying we didn't check properly?"

Annabeth scowled. "No, we checked properly, how could we not if I was there? But there might be more things in there that he got after we left."

"You didn't answer my first question though, what's Mayfield?"

"Katie told me it's a private school, they give the staff hell every time they come in for a field trip. If we can bribe them to ransack Ethan's office, we can go in under the premise of cleaning, that way we have an excuse in case we're caught." Annabeth explained.

A loose grin spread across Percy's lips.

::

"No, Bobby, we aren't going to pay you." Annabeth was going to rip her hair out… then Bobby's.

Bobby scowled at the ground. "Damn it."

"You're all rich, you don't need the money, now go. It's the fifth door on the right, it says Nakamura on the front, and don't rat us out." Percy nodded towards the hallway.

The students exchanged smirks and ran down the hall, Annabeth had a sudden change of heart.

"You know what? Maybe this isn't a good idea."

"You think? We have no idea what they'll do. They might tell someone, but it's the best chance. You were right, he might've done something after the time we went through his office."

Annabeth grinned at the admittance of her being right, the familiar swelling feeling in her chest. Percy shot her a look.

"Forget I said that."

"Hmmm, no. You said it, and I'm going to remember it." Annabeth grinned at him, taking great pleasure in the way Percy's face fell.

Loud bangs sounded from Ethan's office, laughter emitted from the room as well, the sounds boomed around the aquarium as everyone turned to the source of the disturbance.

Percy and Annabeth grinned at each other before running towards the office where the kids stood, papers cluttered the ground, pen ink was splashed against the walls, the cabinets and desk were flipped over. Annabeth stared at the room, how did they manage to wreck it that fast?

"That's enough! Kids, out!" They turned to find Phorcys, his arms crossed above his stomach and eyes narrowed.

The students laughed and giggled amongst themselves before running out.

Phorcys turned to Percy and Annabeth. "You two, clean this up while I get Nakamura." He turned and left, his loud footsteps became quieter as the clock on the back wall ticked.

"Ok, find anything that has any mention of the Bolt, got it." Annabeth turned to look at Percy who just raised his eyebrow at her.

"We went over the plan like, 20 times, I know."

Annabeth tolled her eyes as she crouched down and picked up a paper, disappointment filled her as she realized it was just some paperwork.

"You do know there's more than one paper, right? You shouldn't be disappointed, there are way more pieces of evidence in here." Percy gestured around the room.

Annabeth just scowled at him before grabbing papers and arranging them into a pile before sifting through it.

"You two! Who are you?" It wasn't Ethan or Phorcys. Percy and Annabeth shared identical looks of confusion and apprehension.

It was Nemesis.

and end scene, ok this was more of a filler chapter so it's not that interesting tbh, and I didn't read through this so if you saw errors, no you didn't 3

-Tharini