Author's Note: Okay, I'm trying to update more often, but it's not working out as well as I'd hoped. I know a lot of you were concerned about how the last chapter ended, so I'll start with that first.
Chapter 9:
If there was one thing all assassins agreed on, it was this: cops were morons. They often made missions way harder than they needed to be. After Annabeth had tied Percy up, the cops came swarming to the inn like flies.
Annabeth swore vehemently; she'd been in such a hurry that she hadn't planned on dealing with this. Quickly, she dragged Percy out through the window and hid in the bushes behind the motel. She held her breath as the cops overhead passed right by the door of Percy's room and went right on to the next one. She exhaled in relief. They'd somehow managed to miss the giant hole in the window and had gone on to the next door.
She watched as they broke down the door of the room across from theirs. It must have been empty, so they broke down the next one.
For once, Annabeth didn't have a plan. She looked down at Percy, who was still lying unconscious at her feet. She could easily just slit his throat and make a run for it. But then again, the cops were right there. Despite the fact that they were idiots, only the most foolish (or the most reckless) would consider killing someone a mere few yards away from them. Annabeth looked at Percy again. If not for the large bruise forming on his forehead, he looked like he could be asleep. He was even drooling a bit.
Part of her wanted to just leave him there, go back to New York, and hope that she'd never see him again. Maybe he would just stay here in Vegas. All right, even in her head that sounded stupid.
So there was only one option. Just take the knife and finish the job. That was it. She'd just do that, and then go back to living her life the way she did four years ago. Okay. Now she just had to take the knife.
With shaking hands, she picked up her knife. Her hands wrapped themselves around the familiar hilt, as they had done so many times before. She clenched her teeth and raised the knife. Something wet was running down her cheeks. She held the knife over his chest, trying to ignore the strange, choking noise that couldn't possibly be coming from her.
Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed her arms from behind. "You're under arrest, ma'am," growled a voice. "Hey! Get some handcuffs on this one!"
She would have fought, but then a group of cops came running to the back of the motel. Even Annabeth couldn't have taken them all alone.
Of course, Percy chose then to wake up. "Wha-what's going on?" he murmured, pushing himself into a sitting position and squinting up at them. Another cop knelt down so he was at eye level with him.
"You're under arrest, too. Now both of you, be good and get in the car."
..~0~..
Skyward
The Next Day
10:00AM
"Seriously? They tried to use a tracking device?" asked Leo. "Let me take a look at it."
"We destroyed it," explained Katie, for the third time.
"Why? I could have taken it apart and figured out stuff about their weapons!" he protested.
"We were a bit busy making sure they weren't going to shoot at us," replied Malcolm, exasperated.
"Okay, guys, relax," said Jason. He, Leo, Katie, Malcolm, Piper, Luke, Clarisse, and his sister Thalia were all in his office,discussing what had been on everyone's minds lately: Annabeth's disappearance and the conflict with their rivals. "First off, Leo, get off my desk. And can you please put the knife away, Clarisse?"
Both his scrawny best friend and his belligerent co-worker ignored him. Jason looked pleadingly at Thalia, who obligingly shoved Leo off the desk and wrested the knife away from Clarisse. "Okay, so let's get down to business. From what Katie and Malcolm told me, it sounds like the two assassins that Katie and Malcolm ran into didn't know where Percy was, so they were checking out the house to find him. That sounds like they weren't involved in taking Annabeth."
"So it was just Percy who was involved?" asked Thalia.
"Maybe not," said Luke, frowning as he considered the question. "Maybe the two you guys ran into were just out of the loop."
"I don't think so," said Thalia. "If they went to check the house, they were probably friends with Percy, so I think he may have told them about it."
Luke shrugged, but didn't say anything else. Jason noticed Piper glancing back and forth between the two. Jason thought he knew what she was thinking about. A few years ago, Thalia and Luke used to date, but Thalia suddenly broke it off for no apparent reason. Piper had always wondered about this, and although Jason had told her that it was probably nothing, he was a bit curious himself.
"So basically, no one knows what's going on," summed up Clarisse. "I recommend we get more information."
Jason raised his eyebrows at that. "That's actually a good idea, Clarisse."
She nodded. "Yeah. I was thinking that we could track them down, and then torture them into spilling their secrets. See, I saw this show a few days ago, where they used fruit paring knives to cut off a guy's toe, and then forced him to eat it-"
"All right, we get the idea," said Leo. "No need to go into detail."
"I think we can accomplish that without the torture," said Piper. "But I also think we should get some more people involved."
Jason nodded. "So we all agree on that? More investigating? Good. Does anyone have any suggestions on who else to get in on this?"
End of Chapter
Author's Note: Okay, I realize that may not have been very eventful. But I'd like to know: does anyone have any suggestions about who else to bring in? I have ideas, but I'd like to hear some opinions.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.