"Are we there yet?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Momma, are we there yet?"
"No Kade, for the tenth time, we are not there yet." I repeated to the two of them. They had been asking the same question in stereo after less than an hour after we had taken off. The flight takes nine hours. I could hear the two pilots chuckling to themselves, they've flown me before and they know I'm not very good in the patience department.
"How far is it?" He whined, sliding down in his chair so his chin was level with the waist safety belt.
I unbuckled him, sat him up straight, rebuckled him and sent him a sharp look to say not to do it again. Though I did ask the pilot how much time there was left before we landed, curious myself. "Half an hour Kade, just hold out a little longer."
Somehow he managed to do just that because he didn't ask again until we started our descent.
Percy
Work was so much more boring without Annabeth here, and everyone knew it. Nico seemed less cheery, Chiron talked even less than normal, and I had no one to annoy in the free time when we didn't have a case.
I mindlessly scrolled through facebook, slumped over my keyboard with my cheek resting on my hand. Randomly, I groaned out loud to alert my teammates of my boredom. "Ughh."
"You can say that again." Nico commented, rubbing his eyes from looking at the computer too long.
"Ughh." I repeated, this time letting my head fall to the desk with a thunk.
"Come now boys," Chiron chuckled lightly, amused with our actions.
"But Chiron, its so boring!" Nico defended our boredom.
"I'm sorry you feel that way boys, and expressing it through groans and comments won't make it any better." He scolded logically.
I grumbled but didn't say anything since the argument would have been pointless, despite the time it would have killed. The sharp ring of my desk phone almost popped my eardrums. "Jackson," I answered it, slightly annoyed both at the ringing in my ear and having to talk to someone that wasn't my blond partner.
"Percy," I sat up straighter in my chair at the sound of my boss's voice. Nico noticed and sent me an inquiring look, I held my finger up as I listened. "Where is Annabeth, she hasn't punched in for several days."
"Oh, she took Madison and Kade to Israel for a vacation." I sank back in my chair when I realized her reason for calling wasn't dire, Nico slumped back as well, depressed it wasn't anything important.
"Annabeth didn't have any vacation hours." Joy informed me, her tone changing.
My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "But, she told me she had two weeks."
"Percy, something is up, why would she lie and suddenly leave?"
I shook my head. "I don't have a clue ma'am."
There was a pause on the other line, like she was thinking, before I was hit with a job. "Go to the condo she's renting, check it out, you know; go through the steps."
I nodded, then vocally confirmed considering she couldn't hear me nod. "Report straight to me." I nodded again, moving to hang up, but Joy spoke again. "And there's no need to involve the rest of your team." I set the phone down on it's dock and stood up, grabbing my jacket and holstering my gun. "What's up?" Nico questioned, hope flickered on his features, looking for a distraction.
"Nothing, just running an errand for Joy." Chiron sent me a look. "Er, I mean the Director." He nodded in approval. "I'll be back soon."
I arrived at the familiar condominium a few minutes later. I made my way towards the main office where you rent condos and where the manager was. He looked up from the paperwork on his desk when I walked in. "What can I do for you young man?" The old man asked politely, folding his hands in front of him.
Pulling my badge from my wallet and showed it to him. "I just have a few questions." He nodded, straightening up in his chair. "Tell me about a tendent of yours by the name of Annabeth Chase."
A smile broke out on his wrinkled features. "Nice girl, always has two cute kids with her. I think she adopted them, such a kind heart that one has."
I nodded even though I knew all that already. "What about payment, these condos don't look cheap."
He immediately shook his head. "They aren't, I keep them well kept with the newest styles and technology." The old man nodded proudly. "But she never had problems with rent."
"How did she pay?"
The white haired man scratched above his eyebrow, he seemed hesitant. "For the first few months it was charged to a strange account, but after that she started paying it all in cash. Never missed a due date, so I didn't mind counting it all out."
I nodded again, that's what I assumed since she said her father's credit card would pay for everything she needed. The assassin card. "Did she pay this month's?" I asked, it nearing the end of November.
Again the man looked confused. "No, she hasn't, and she normally does by now."
"Thank you sir," I stood up and he mirrored me. "That's all the questions I have."
"Do you mind me asking what trouble she's gotten herself in?"
I tried for my best sincere smile. "No need to worry Mr...Vandup." With that, I took my leave. As soon as I got in my car I called up Joy.
Annabeth
"You called me abba?" I closed the door behind me as I entered my father's private office.
"Ken." He motioned to a chair in front of him without even so much as looking up. I sighed, slipping into the one farthest from him to wait; half the time he asked to see me in his office he would do paperwork for hours with me just sitting in the chair.
Surprisingly soon, my father set down his pen, moving folders around until he found the one he was looking for and tossed it on my lap. I picked it up. "What is this?"
Papa looked at me over the rim of his glasses. "Your next assignment, I would hurry if I were you, Celev is leaving soon." The thought of seeing my old partner overclouded my doubt about taking a mission.
I all but sprinted out of his office down to the loading dock for helicopters. I opened the folder to find which station we were departing from; number seven just to my right. "Took you long enough." He laughed. I turned and smiled at my brown haired friend. His hair had gotten longer and sat as a mop on his head.
I ruffled his hair. "I like when you grow your hair out," I told him, pulling his muscled arm towards the small flying machine. "Let's get going."
Percy
I stalked back and forth in front of the director's desk, trying to calm myself. "What do you mean missing?" I finally stopped, my pacing not helping like I'd hoped.
Joy sighed, running her hands over her face and into her hair as she stared at the screen. "I never said missing, Jackson." She snapped, one of her hands falling to use the mouse. "They've been duplicated."
"How could you tell, and how do you know it was her?" I made my way around her to watch her switch from screen to screen.
"Well Mr. Twenty Questions, I know because all these little '2's after the file name which means someone took the original and saved the file again. I know it was Annabeth because," She pulled up another box that showed her pitch black office, the only light coming from her computer screen. I expected to see her, considering it was her computer, but instead I saw the blond girl that's been the center of our current issues.
"What is she doing?"
Joy zoomed in just as Annabeth inserted something into the computer. "That was a flash drive." She narrated. "She moves all the files onto it and then saves them back to the computer so no one will notice they're gone."
"Except for the 2 thing."
Joy nodded. "Exactly."
I shook my head, unable to believe it, but there it was on tape. "She betrayed us." I muttered. She betrayed me.
Well first off, sorry for not updating in like forever. I've been like sick as hell the last two weeks, and if that wasn't bad enough, two days ago was my 16th birthday (November 1st).
I got to spend my 'Sweet 16' in bed with a mass of used tissues littering my floor and being ripped apart by coughing every couple seconds.
Sounds fun don't it? No.
I also appologize it switches POV so many times, I just couldn't think of anything else to say in each case. It's also kinda short, but like I said, I couldn't think of anything else so I figured I'd just end it like I did.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Always yours,
~Arty
