Here we go! I think that this story is almost done, actually.
We ride hard and make it in about 20 minutes. The gate's closed, and I wave to the guard in the guard tower. He recognizes me and opens the gate, and we canter through.
The horses are taken to the stables, and we walk through the palace, toward the throne room. We pause outside, listening.
"I have agreed to pay the ransom—" Mother sounds tired.
"You will have to wait."
I look at Percy, who nods. It's the same voice of the woman who kidnapped us.
"Why? I've done everything you asked—"
"You can't have them."
"Why?"
I can tell she's angry, probably towering over the woman. I push open the door, striding through, with the rest of my friends spread out behind me.
"You can't have us, Mother, because we got away from her."
We stop, and the woman Mother's talking to turns around.
"Oh, good," Mother sighs. "Guards!"
The woman makes a break for the door, which is extremely stupid on her part because we're all standing there, armed and angry. At the last second she swerves, toward a guard who's chasing her. She grabs his sword, spins to face us, and hisses, "We've started something. You'll never be safe. Watch your backs, children."
Then she takes the sword and drives it through her heart.
We watch, stunned, as she falls to the ground and bleeds all over the floor. The guard from before wordlessly wraps her body in a sheet and carries her out. A maid comes rushing in, mops the floor, and rushes out.
Mother sits down, hard, on her throne.
"I'm retiring."
"Sweet," Malcom says.
"Not yet," She warns him. "You have to have a suitable bride first."
I notice him glancing at Reyna.
"Alright. Annabeth, since you were gone, I took the liberty of finishing your wedding plans. It'll be tomorrow."
She calls a scribe as I stare in shock.
"Write out proclamations inviting everyone in the city to the royal wedding, tomorrow at three. Oh, and Annabeth, I didn't like any of your plans so I changed them all."
I raise an eyebrow. She keeps talking to the scribe, so I bet that she's not going to listen to whatever I say.
"Oh, Mother. We're going out to town and Percy and I will get married how we want and we won't be back until tomorrow morning. Tomorrow can be a fake one, okay?"
"Okay, dear."
I turn on my heel and walk out, making sure I don't start cheering, because she'll notice that and then realize what I said.
They follow me to my rooms, and I collapse on a chair, giggling. Stunned looks are replaced by amused ones.
"She won't realize?" Piper asks. I shake my head.
"We'll be long gone by the time she does. Go to your rooms, get whatever you want, meet back here as soon as possible.
They mutter and walk out, but Percy gets on his knees in front of me.
"Are you sure you want to marry me?"
"Positive," I say, kissing him. "Even if you didn't really propose."
He winks. "What do you think I'm doing?"
I gasp as he takes a ring out of his pocket.
"I know royals don't use rings, but…Annabeth, will you marry me?" He asks, holding a ring up. I nod, too choked up for anything else. He slides the ring onto my finger and hugs me.
"Hey, hey. Don't cry, it won't be that bad."
I laugh.
"You know, I always knew my mother would pick the man I married, but still, ever since I was a little girl, I always dreamed of getting proposed to."
"Did I fulfill your every hope and dream?"
I laugh, nodding. "You did great. Not a big, long sappy spiel."
"I figured that's what you'd want."
I laugh and hug him again.
He grins at me and tells me he's going to go pack a quick bag for our trip.
Quickly, I grab everything and everything that could help me with the wedding and everything else we're doing. Piper comes back first, then everyone trickling after her. Once we're all here, I lead the way out of my window onto the ground.
Nine stolen horses would be too noticeable, so we walk instead, the sun shining. We make it to an inn in good time and request rooms—Percy and I share, and the rest of them get their own.
After we've all put the stuff we don't want on the beds, we go into town.
"Piper, remember the dress shop I told you about a really long time ago?"
She blinks. "Uh. Oh, yeah."
"I'm going there to get a dress. There's an adjoined men's shop, so we can do the clothes shopping at the same time."
"Alright. Then we need someone to marry you. Otherwise we're good. You're having a really fancy wedding tomorrow, so you we might as well do this one simple."
"Okay, then let's go."
We head down and out, and I lead the way to the dress shop. Percy and the boys disappear into the shop connected, and the girls go into the boutique.
"Oh, Annabeth! Hi, hon!"
"Hi, Drew," I greet the owner with fake enthusiasm. She comes around a display of dresses, grinning.
"What brings you? Your mother just picked out a dress a couple days ago! Was it not to your liking?"
"Uh, no it was fine."
"Good." She smirks. "Then what do you need?"
"I need another dress. Much simpler, and dresses for all of these girls," I gesture to Piper, Hazel, and Reyna. Drew claps her hands.
"When do you need them, hon?"
"Today. That won't be a problem?"
She smirks again. "No, hon."
"Good."
Quickly, we pick out plain dresses, more like sun dresses, really, but I don't want to get all fancy two days in a row.
"Okay, you can pick them up in a couple hours!" She ushers us out while giving us the evil eye.
Once out on the street, I roll my eyes.
"What's her problem?" Piper asks.
"She's always like that," I reply. "It's normal."
Percy stumbles out of the shop next door.
"That was great," He mutters, coming up to me. "I got a really nice nothing."
I pat his cheek. "That's okay."
"You're okay."
"Hmm?"
He puts his hands on my waist and pulls me in, kissing me softly.
"Oh, thanks," I say once we separate, smiling at him. He grins back.
"Anytime."
"I hope so."
Piper waves at me, and we follow her this time to a small little chapel on a dead end street. It's tall, pale, and eerie, standing alone.
"Perfect," Percy declares, looking at it.
I cock an eyebrow at him. "Really?"
"Sure. No one will bother us."
I shrug. "Fine. Let's go."
We creep inside the church, on guard. It's large and empty, with a tall ceiling supported by arches.
"Can I help you?"
We look to the front. A man in priest robes stands, holding a book.
"Uh, yeah. We want to get married," I say, gesturing at Percy. "Today."
He shrugs. "Why not? Come back in three hours."
"Thanks."
We leave, hardly believing our luck.
After picking up our dresses, we head back to the inn. We separate, the boys in one room, the girls in the other. Piper does everyone's face colorings to match their dresses, and pretty soon, we're ready.
Reyna makes sure the boys are all gone, then leads me down the roads to the church I wait outside while they walk down the aisle ahead of me. It's kind of comical, because there's no music, but I manage it with a straight face. Percy doesn't—he's waiting at the end, barely containing his giggles. He's still grinning at me when the priest goes through his speech, until it's time for us to exchange rings. Men wear them on their middle fingers, women on their third finger. Tradition says that you are to touch your fingertips together and slide the rings off one finger and onto the other. His is golden, shining and bright, and mine is gold with a sea-green jewel set in the center.
"Will you be, faithfully and always, belonging to each other?"
"We will," We respond in unison. The priest smiles, and then gestures at both of us. Percy cups my face, the ring cold on my cheek.
Then he kisses me.