A Pirate's Life For Me

Team Up, Annabeth's Side

"I'm so stupid!" Annabeth whispered once her father had left her quarters. "The West Wing, how could I forget about that?"

Every room in the West Wing had a specially designed door. Unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know they were there, holes on the outside of each door tripped the locking mechanisms inside and forced them to stay locked, even if a key was used to undo them.

The entire wing had been designed to capture threats to the king, Annabeth had watched the installation of some of the devices. She should have remembered that.

Frantically, she hiked up the layers of her clothing, revealing the second outfit that she had strapped to her legs. Untying the fabric thongs, she tossed her regular clothing onto the bed and began to change.

Leaving the formal robes behind, Annabeth ran into the attached bathroom to find something she could tie her hair up with.

She growled in irritation when she didn't find anything and drew her knife from the sheathe just below her knee, walking back to the bed and cutting a strip of cloth off of the dress she'd been wearing and using it to pull her hair back, away from her face.

It didn't stay.

Without a second thought, Annabeth grabbed a handful of her hair and dragged her knife through it, slicing it short.

It ended up around her chin, which was much more manageable. Annabeth grunted in satisfaction and pushed out of the door, heading down the hall.

There were guards at the end of the hallway. They jumped to attention, drawing their weapons, but Annabeth was faster. She ducked under one's swing, disarmed the other, then kicked the first hard into the wall and knocked them both out. She kept walking, keeping her knife drawn.

For the most part after those two guards though, she saw no one. Annabeth began to feel a pit of nervousness as she moved farther and farther from her room.

There should be people out here-

"Hello, sweet Princess."

She gritted her teeth, shifting her grip on her knife as she turned around.

"Ladan. How did you know it was me?"

Ladan grinned at her, offering a sarcastic bow. "It's been quite a while since I last saw you, but I would recognize that stance anywhere. How do you do, your highness?"

"I'd be doing a lot better if I knew why my rescuers are being held hostage." Annabeth watched him warily. Might as well try to keep up the pretense for as long as possible, see what comes from it.

"You mean the filthy demigod pirates who we locked up in the West Wing rooms?" Ladan chuckled, slowly drawing his sword. He hadn't blinked yet, which was quite unnerving. "I think you'll find, Princess, that they're much better off staying there until the Queen has figured out what to do with them."

"What do you mean, what to do with them? They deserve honors, they saved my life!"

"Did they, Princess? I find that very hard to believe."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "And why is that?"

She'd always hated this man. His very existence in the castle had been painfully irritating all the time, and he was always trying to talk to her when she didn't want to have any kind of conversation.

"Every single person in that room is a demigod." Ladan sneered. "You think I wouldn't notice? I smelled it on them a mile out, even over the stench of the ocean. If you thought I would let them move around this castle freely, you truly are brainless."

"I was hoping one of them would carve your heart out so I didn't have to." Annabeth snapped, fed up. She lunged at Reyna's quarry, slashing at him with her dagger.

He jumped backwards, a horrible grin slowly stretching across his face. "So that is how we're going to play this, little girl? You think you can outfight me?"

"I don't have to outfight you." Annabeth sidestepped hurriedly as his sword came down, intent on cleaving her in two. "I have to outsmart you."

"It's highly amusing that you think you could do that either." Ladan sneered.

"I'm a daughter of Athena, we have our ways. And I've trained under the most ruthless pirate in the world." She spun sideways and stabbed at his side. He backpedaled, but she scored a shallow cut across his abdomen, through the ridiculous white shirt he was wearing.

"And I'm a god. You don't stand a chance."