Royally Screwed

Chapter 6

~Percy~

We rode over the village, Blackjack's wings nearly invisible against the night sky. One of the perks of having a black pegasus.

We swooped over the roof of a building, and Annabeth's arms tightened around my middle, making my stomach feel like it was erupting in butterflies. I ignored it.

I bet Annabeth never expected to get kidnapped tonight, much less by her ex-best friend. Believe me, I didn't really expect it either.

One thing I for sure never expected was the way I froze when I saw her. She was always cute, and I hadn't seen her in like ten years, but now she's like seriously beautiful. Her hair fell around her shoulders and down her back in messy blonde ringlets that looked like they were floating in the wind. Her stormy gray eyes were dark, like they used to be when she got mad.

I shook my head, clearing those thoughts away. Fortunately and unfortunately, there's a problem I still need to think of a solution to. At least it'll get my mind off of the princess holding on to me from behind.

When Annabeth and I make it to base, or—in this case—our cave, where are we going to keep her? It's not like we can freaking chain her to a rock.

"The guards will find you, you know." I heard Annabeth mutter from behind me.

I turned my head to look at her, raising my eyebrow. "Nah. We're hidden well."

"But what if they do? What will you do then?" She smirked at me, like she knew that I was facing her even though she has a blindfold on.

"I'll kick their asses." I stated.

She let out a frustrated breath. "Are you always this cocky?"

I smirked. "Only on Tuesday." (If anyone can tell me what movie that's from, you'll get a shoutout. And SarahDiAngelo623, you are not allowed to answer this)

I could imagine her rolling her eyes. "Look, Jackson, I'm really not in the mood for any of your cocky ass remarks. I just got kidnapped. You're lucky I'm not kicking your ass right now."

She sucked in a breath as Blackjack dived toward the ground. I don't blame the pegasus; just flying around gets kind of boring after a while.

"So, why aren't you saying anything about your 'handsome prince' coming to rescue you?" I mocked, emphasizing the 'handsome prince' part.

She scrunched her nose up in a cute way— wait, what? Why did I just...did I just think that?

"Luke? Gross, no." The princess made a face like she had just eaten something really sour.

I didn't have time to ask about it, though, because we were nearing the hideout. Blackjack circled around a tall tree and then flew straight to the ground, wings pumping through the air. We pulled out of the dive and Blackjack gracefully galloped through the forest for about a hundred feet.

"Hey Kelp Head! Did you get the princess?"

I rolled my eyes at Thalia. I scooped the princess off of Blackjack and set her down, placing both my hands on her shoulders to guide her so she wouldn't hit a tree or something.

Thalia stepped out of the cave and grinned when she saw Annabeth. "Wow. You actually did something right for once." Nico commented as he appeared beside Thalia. I rolled my eyes and steered Annabeth into the cave.

Once we were all inside, I untied Annabeth's blindfold and she ripped it off. She wore a defiant look on her face, which is admirable since there's six other armed kids in the cave. Her arms were crossed and her normally silver eyes turned a dark stormy color.