Spies-in-Training: A Royal Problem | Percabeth AU

Chapter 5: Finalizing Details

Annabeth's POV
When we reached Sally's room, I knocked on the door.

"Come in!" She called.

We looked at each other, then opened the door and went in, closing it behind us.

"Oh, hello dears," Sally said as we came in. "I assume you want to discuss your mission?" She lowered her voice as she whispered the last part.

"Yes, Sally," I replied. "We wanted to know if you knew of any room that we could use as a secret meeting place at night to discuss our progress."

"I see," she mused. "Well, I do have a place in mind. It is a secret place accessible by a secret panel which only Paul and I know about. I already told Eric about this place and showed it to him. He agreed that it was a suitable meeting place and if you all agree I will inform him and you can have your meetings there."

"Sounds great!" Jason smiled. "Can we see this place please?"

"Certainly, follow me." Sally ushered us out of her room and went in the direction of the staircase. She turned a corner and stopped. "Here we are," she said.

I looked at her questioningly. We were in a deserted hallway with old, dusty pictures on the walls.

Sally smirked and said, "Watch carefully."

She reached towards a picture of a man wearing a tunic. He had a disgruntled expression on his face and a mole on his left cheek. She rotated it clockwise, and to my surprise, a section of the wall opened up silently, right next to the picture. We all gaped at it in shock.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Sally laughed. "Follow me!"She headed off into the empty space and one by one, we followed.

Inside, I saw that it was a tunnel. The tunnel stretched high enough for me to stand comfortably, and was wide enough for me to walk comfortably as well, though there was only enough space for us to go single file. There was a lever and a switch attached to the wall inside the tunnel. Sally flipped the switch and lights immediately turned on all through the tunnel. She then pulled the lever and the open side of the tunnel that we had just come through, the entrance, closed up.

She then led us through the tunnel. It went straight, with a few twists and turns, but there weren't any other tunnels branching off from it. It was just one long tunnel. After about a minute of walking, we reached a blank wall where the tunnel ended. There was another lever and switch there. Sally pushed the lever and the wall slid upwards silently, revealing an exit. She then flipped the switch to turn the lights off before stepping out of the tunnel, the rest of us following her lead.

As soon as I stepped out and saw the room I was in, I froze. My eyes grew wide and I gaped at the room. It was... amazing. It was a decent size and could fit all of us here comfortably, with plenty of room to spare. The walls were painted a pleasing shade of peach, and there were several chairs scattered around the room. There was a big round table in the middle of the room, surrounded by more plump, comfortable chairs. There was a bookshelf dominating one wall, filled with books about the history of Astére and its royal family. There were detailed maps of the kingdom and other maps of the continent and world racked up to another wall. All in all, this place was perfect.

"Do you like it?" Sally asked. "I thought it might fit your needs, and the desk has a secret compartment where I thought you might want to store your spy equipment."

"Sally, it's... perfect," I breathed, finally having regained my ability to talk. I turned to face her. "Thank you so much, Sally. I couldn't think of a better place."

Sally waved this off, laughing. "It was nothing, dear." Then she glanced at the clock on the wall. It's nearing lunch time. Would you like to walk with me to the dining room?"

"Yes, please. I'm not sure I can remember the way there," Piper put in, grinning.

"Yeah, let's go. Leo McShizzle's hungry!" I'm pretty sure you can guess who that was.

I have expected sally to scold Leo for being rude, but she merely grinned and said, "Follow me, then."

We followed her back into the tunnel and emerged out into the deserted hallway once again. She then led us to the staircase and we all went descended it, following her into the dining room. King Paul was there waiting for us — Gods, it would be weird to call him Paul — and we all greeted him politely as we sat down at the table. I was sitting in between Piper and Hazel, Sally sat next to Paul, and the others sat in the other seats, reserving the ones at the head of the table for the Princes and Princess.

Almost as soon as we settled down, the doors banged open to reveal Percy, Tyson, and Zoë standing there. Percy was laughing at something, while Tyson and Zoë looked ready to kill. Percy quickly ran away from them at sat down at his seat, the other two following suit, gritting their teeth. Only then did they notice that everyone was staring at them, amused.

"What happened this time?" Sally sighed, like she was used to these antics.

"Percy pranked us again! He dumped water on us again!" Zoë whined. "It took an hour for it to dry!"

"No it didn't!" Percy protested. "You're exaggerating!"

"Am not!" She then gave her mother puppy dog eyes. "You'll listen to me, won't you, Mommy?"

Apparently Sally was immune to her pouting though, because she shook her head and said, "Children, stop misbehaving. We have guests over, what kind of first impression do you think you must have made?" She asked reproachfully.

"An awesome one!" Leo and the Stolls exclaimed together.

Connor turned to Percy. "Dude, you have to tell us..."

"... how you manage those pranks!" Travis finished. They high-fived Percy, grinning.

And our lunch continued.

A/N: I just realized that I forgot to include the disclaimer in a couple of chapters, so I will just say this once and for all.

I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON OR HEROES OF OLYMPUS. There. Done.

Okay, now I have to ask your opinion for something.

Should I develop this into a series of 5 books (like PJO)? This is what I originally planned on doing, but I wanted to ask your opinion before I decide.

OR

Should I just write it all in one story?

Please share your opinion, it really matters a lot to me.

Thanks for your time! Have a wonderful day!