A Red Herring - A PJO and HOO Fanfiction

1: Death In The Bedroom

CHAPTER ONE: DEATH IN THE BEDROOM

"Did you know?"

I jolted out of my train of thoughts and nearly dropped my fork. "Hm?"

"You've received a letter from the king of Hesperia. Remember who that is?" my father, King Frederick asked jokingly, smiling warmly.

"Uhh." I gulped back down some of my gyro. "It's King Atlas, isn't it?"

Frederick chuckled. "Yes, indeed."

My father had always liked to ask me random questions over breakfast and dinner, and I had no problem answering. He said it kind of reminded him of someone, though he never told me who that was.

"Anyway," my mother (though I don't look a single bit like her at all), Queen Helen, continued briskly. "You have received a letter from King Atlas, inviting you to join his daughter's engagement ceremony."

I scraped my fork around my plate. "Which daughter?" I looked up.

"Princess Calypso," Frederick answered. "She is going to marry Prince Perseus of Troezen in five days, so all the princesses of Greece are invited to come to the palace and celebrate their engagement tonight."

I nearly choked on my water. "Wait- what?"

Helen gave me a disapproving look, like ladies weren't supposed to choke and they should somehow find a way to fix which lane the water goes when it had already been swallowed. "Yes."

Percy had been my best friend back when we were seven or so, and all I knew was that he just turned 14 yesterday.

"Isn't he a bit too...young?" I decided, pushing my plate of food away from me.

Helen tsked and rose from her chair. "Princes and princesses are eligible to marry at the age of 14, yes? Therefore, he is not too young."

I looked down at my lap as my father rose to join Helen.

"You should get ready. Hesperia isn't far, but it won't take five minutes to get there, so hurry up," Frederick said, striding away.

I got up too and walked past hallways and corridors to my room. Actually, I had three rooms, but I thought they seemed unnecessary, so I gave them to my two maids, Mellie and Margaret (prefers to be called, Meg). The cells for the servants always seemed dingy and cold, so I gave them my two rooms.

I quickly packed all my stuff. It wasn't much. Just about three pieces of jewelry, four outfits and thirty-six books.

I was pretty excited, because I knew my friends Piper and Thalia were going to be there since they were princesses too. Ugh. I hate that word.

Princess.

It makes me feel like a posh and quaint little royalty who prances around wearing dresses and tiaras. Euh, even imagining that made me want to throw up.

But was Percy finally going to be married?

I haven't seen him for so long. Seven years, to be exact. It wasn't my fault or his. It was the Romans's fault.

The Romans.

They attacked a nearby town called Thebes, and had stolen all their cows. That made me angry.

Who did they think they were? They had no right to show up and raid our town and steal all our cows. Cows were priceless!

They also took an interest in our currency: drachmas. I heard they broke into Thrace once and embezzled about 67,000 golden drachmas and 3,000 silver ones.