CHAPTER 9

Reyna sat in her chair in her office.

With reluctance, she finally mustered the courage to dial a number she knew in her heart but didn't keep in her contact list.

"Hello, Reyna." A voice picked up at the other end, "It's been a while, has it not? How's your brother doing?"

She could almost imagine him with his sly, off-putting smirk on his face.

"Enough with the subtleties, Luke. I need a favor. Come to my office as soon as possible."

-line break-

When Reyna ended her phone call, someone barged into through her door.

It was Percy Jackson.

Her secretary also came in, "I'm sorry, madam, but he insisted."

Reyna waved her off, "It's fine, you can close the door behind you."

The secretary left as Percy stormed over to Reyna's desk and slammed his hands on her desk.

"I don't mind being the bad guy. But, to Annabeth, you're one too. So don't get any ideas and stay the hell away from her! She had nothing to do with this. And it's both our faults that she got involved. Got it?"

Reyna looked at him in utter shock.

"Why are you so worked up Percy? Have you finally fallen for the girl?"

"My feelings don't matter. Just don't you dare hurt Annabeth. You and I. We've done enough."

Reyna kept her gaze on his green eyes, before he broke the gaze and stormed back out of the room.

You can't tell me what to do…

A sandy blonde haired man walked up to Reyna in her office and slumped in the chair in front of her, crossing his arms. His signature smirk playing on his lips.

Reyna tried to avert her eyes away from the scar across one of his pale blue eyes.

"Hello, Reyna."

Reyna handed over a case filled with money to him. He gratefully took it.

"So, who are these two people I need to take care of?" he asked with a grin.

"Percy Jackson."

Luke's smile became even bigger, "Hah. Percy, huh? What happened with you two?"

Reyna gave him a glare as if to tell him not to ask anything.

The man smirked wider, "Whose the other?"

Reyna handed him a photo. He took it and his eyes immediately sparkled with malicious delight.

"My, my, my. Isn't this your precious step-daughter?"

"Yes. Just make them both disappear. You're good at that, right?" Reyna said with her eyes hard set on the man.

Luke's eyes were glued to the picture of the gorgeous blonde, "This is quite a special gift, Reyna. You sure you want to give it to me?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"She's…exquisite." he said with a twinkle in his eye, "I'm sure I can make good use of her.." he said with a wide grin.

"Just get the job done, Luke. And don't come back here again."

Luke smirked at her and leaned forward so that his face was inches from hers, "You can't order me around, Reyna. After all—we're more than just acquaintances." he gave her one last smirk before walking back out of her office.

Reyna sat there with her hands in her lap trying to keep them from shaking.

It's okay, she worked too hard to be stopped by anybody.

She was going to take down anybody and everything in her way towards a better future for her and Aaron—no matter what.

-line break-

Annabeth sat in a coffee shop. The sad acoustic strums of a song by William Fitzsimmons was playing in the background. The sky was as grey as her eyes-eyes that were now sad and brooding. She couldn't help a tear which escaped down her cheek. She sipped more of her hazelnut coffee then let out a soft sigh.

She finished it then walked out of the joint, looking up at the sky and watched as the clouds moved ever so slightly with the wind. Stuffing her hands in the pockets of her jacket, she finally started walking down the street.

There was someone else who was looking up- under those same clouds. A pair of sea green eyes flitted up to the free vastness that was the sky one last time before pain again shot through his abdomen.

He wheezed and breathed hard as he was sure his ribs were broken.

Another man kicked him again and again in the stomach.

Percy crumbled to the cement of the alleyway he was in. His vision was blurred, but through all the red he saw a blonde haired man walk up to him.

The man gestured to the other men and Percy was picked up from the floor and arm locked from behind. His head hung low. Cool metal touched his chin and forced his head to rise.

It was a knife.

His green eyes met blue. A scar dragged across one eye.

Percy spit out blood. "Luke…"

The blonde man smiled at him, "I would say that I'm just doing this for the money, but I was already intending to get rid of you, Jackson."

Percy's eyes glistened wide with fury.

"After all, it's you who gave me this scar. And all to save your precious Reyna from getting sold as the whore she was and is." Luke grinned, "Well, who would have thought it would be Reyna who paid me to make you disappear."

Luke chuckled with that unnervingly handsome smile of his, "You and that gorgeous blonde."

Percy's shadowed green eyes widened in shock at Luke's words.

"But, you know what, Percy?" Luke gestured to the men behind him and they gagged his mouth. Percy suddenly felt an excruciating shot burst from his lower right abdomen.

Luke was slowly pushing the knife into his stomach.

"I think I'll keep the blonde for myself instead of simply getting selling her off. She would be such a waste."

Percy's muffled pained shouts went silent as he slowly looked the man straight in the eye. His silent lividity shooting from his eyes.

Luke Castellan: Friend of Reyna's brother. Reyna's brother, being a gang member, wanted to sell Reyna as a sex slave to Luke. But Percy had saved her…then made a decision which overtook a major part of his teenage years.

Black dots formed around Percys' vision and as much as he struggled,

darkness got the better of him

and he fell into it.

-line break-

The blonde got into a taxi.

"Where would you like to go miss?" the driver asked.

"The Beauregard Hotel, please."

They were driving and Annabeth was caught up in her thoughts, when something felt off to her.

The drivers hands. They were tattooed and his fingertips were blood crusted.

Annabeth looked at the road.

This was not the way to the Beauregard… It was her friend, Silena's hotel. And she was sure this wasn't the way.

She thought quick- snapped silent photos with her phone then took out a pen from her purse. She suddenly placed it at the pulse of the driver's neck, making him flinch.

"Who are you? And where are you taking me?"

The driver's eyes widened from shock, but he suddenly recovered and brought up a cloth to muffle her mouth. She dug the pen into his neck, making him yell out in pain, but soon the anesthetic effect of the cloth subdued her and she descended into subconsciousness.

Voices… Men's voices.

That's right, she had been abducted..

Her body screamed to run away, but something was tying her down.

Her vision soon cleared and Annabeth saw that she was sitting on a metal table that police used for interrogations, with her hands locked in the handcuffs that extended from the middle of the sturdy table.

There were about five men in the room with her. The taxi driver who she had stabbed with the pen, was holding a bandage over his neck and talking to a man whose face was in the shadows.

"...She figured me out pretty quickly and ended up stabbing me in the neck with a pen. Fortunately I was able to drug her in time." the driver was saying.

The man came out of the shadows and Annabeth soon saw that he had sandy blonde hair and a scar over one pale blue eye. The man smiled over at her and chuckled.

"Of course, I told you not to underestimate her. She's considered a genius— Frederick Chases' daughter."

The man walked up closer to her and placed his hands on either side of her on the table, so that his face was closer to hers.

His unsettling grin never left his face. He was handsome, yes. But Annabeth hated that grin that never seemed to disappear from his face.

"You're much more beautiful to look at up close and in person, Miss Annabeth Chase."

"Who are you?" She said with strong malice. Her grey silvery eyes shot holes in every man standing in the room.

He let out a chuckle, "You really are something. A normal girl would be screaming and hollering her lungs out for help, but you.. " He ran a finger down her cheek, "I'm going to keep you after all."

"You didn't answer my question."

The man smiled, "I'm Luke Castellan. I sell whores for a living." he said casually.

Annabeth's grey eyes narrowed on him.

"Actually, you could say it's more of a hobby, of such." he added.

"Why am I here?"

His smile became wider and he motioned for his men to leave the room.

When the door was shut, he turned back to the blonde beauty cuffed to the table.

"Someone paid me to make you….", he leaned over so that his lips were near her ear, "disappear."

Her face remained the same as if the news didn't disturb her at all.

Luke smirked at her unyielding stare, "But, I've decided to use you for something else."

"So you're going to sell me."

He pulled away from her, "Oh no, that would be a waste, Annabeth." He lifted his hand and brushed away a few golden strands of her hair away from her face, "I'm going to use you for my own needs."

Annabeth's grey eyes widened, hearing that.

He let out a chuckle.

"But first, my men will get you settled in. I want you to feel welcomed here."

"Hard chance of that."

His smile grew wider at that as he walked away from her. At the doorway, he turned to her again and smiled again, "Don't think about escaping or calling for help, Miss Chase, because it's useless. The only person who could save you really is Percy Jackson, but..."

His grin became impossibly wider, "He's dead."

Author's Note:

Oooohhhhhhhh myyyy gawwwwddd. What's going to happen next?
Well, you just have to follow this story to find out. :DD

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