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

Chapter 10: Meetings and Leads

Annabeth's POV:
When I got to the Cave, almost everyone was there. Only the Stolls and Eric were left. Knowing Travis and Connor, they were probably setting up a prank before coming. Eric was probably looking for a chance to sneak out.

I hadn't seen Eric much after we had arrived at the castle. I sometimes saw him around the castle on guard duty, but I never really got the chance to talk to him since there was always another guard with him. Justified, I suppose, since he was supposed to be a new guard. Still, it was an inconvience.

The secret door swung open and Connor and Travis entered, grinning manically.

"Hey, guys! Sorry we're a bit late," Connor said.

"It's alright, we're still waiting for Eric," Jason said distractedly.

Just then, the secret door opened and Eric came in.

"Sorry it took me so long, everyone," he apologized. "I had to try to find a good time to sneak out."

"It's alright," I assured him. "At least you managed to escape."

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the others smirking. I made a mental note to get them back for that. "Alright," I said, "now that everyone is here, let's start this meeting."

"Okay," Piper said. "We'll start with the attack today. Everyone tell your stories about what happened during the attack. Describe the rebels as best as you can. There's a chance we might recognize some of them if they are spies in the castle."

So, one by one, we all explained what we had been doing and what the rebels had looked like in the attack. It turned out that Eric had been fighting off the rebels in another of the palace where there was apparently another wave of them trying to sneak in. By the time he was done, the rest of us had already taken care of the attack on the ballroom and the Royal Guard had taken over.

We all compared descriptions on the rebels we had been fighting. It was hard, though. The rebels had been wearing hoods and masks so we couldn't see any of their facial features. We only managed to discern their body structure. Most of them were big, buff guys with deep voices. It wasn't much of a help. The only proper lead we had was when Jason explained how he had managed to move one the rebel's mask slightly so he could see one his eyes. Apparently, the guy had ice blue eyes. Many people had blue eyes though, so it wasn't much of a lead. I'd take all I could, though. It was more I had gotten, after all.

"Good job, Jason," I said once he had described the rebel. "I got something, too."

Remember when I let a certain rebel escape from my clutches? I disarmed him and he ran away. I said I would explain why I let him escape later. Well, I'm about to explain right now.

I pulled out a device from the pocket of my jeans. The others just looked at me questioningly.

"I managed to slip a tracker on one of the rebels," I explained, grinning. "This device here will show us exactly where that rebel is. We might be able to figure out who he is, or at the very least find out where the rebel headquarters are."

"Then we can tell Thalia and Frank and they send the word on to Alexander and the principal," Leo said, catching on. "They'll send a team to infiltrate the rebel headquarters and get information, like who our spy is. Mission accomplished!"

"It's perfect!" Travis exclaimed.

"Wow, Annabeth." Eric looked impressed. "You're a genius!"

"Thanks," I said, blushing. "I'll tell Thalia and Frank tomorrow in the morning. We can all meet up here and I'll tell them and we can see their reply."

"After breakfast?" Connor suggested. We all agreed. Tomorrow directly after breakfast we would meet up here and tell Thalia and Frank through our earpieces. With any luck, our mission would be over as fast as it started.

"Alright then," Eric said. "I guess this meeting's over. We should still keep an eye out for suspects. I'll keep an eye out from my end. People won't suspect me of looking for a spy here since I'm a newbie guard, so hopefully the spy won't think much of me. He might slip up in front of me."

I nodded at him. "We'll all keep a sharp eye on our surroundings. If anyone sees anything remotely suspicious, tell us at our meetings. Meeting over."

I turned around and left through the secret tunnel with the others following behind me.

***

The next morning, I woke up early and got ready in a simple grey blouse and ripped skinny jeans. I did my hair up in messy ponytail with a few curls framing my face and went downstairs to have breakfast.

I had a peaceful breakfast of pancakes with whipped cream. Everyone else, including the Royals, had the same thing. Well, mostly the same thing. Percy's pancakes were blue, for reasons I could not understand. After breakfast, I excused myself and headed towards the stairs. The others, getting the message, quickly finished their pancakes and followed me. We all went to the Cave together.

When we got there, we had to wait for Eric. He came after a minute or two.

"So," Eric said, rubbing his hands together. "Let's get started, then." I nodded.

Leo was bouncing in his seat out of excitement, although his ADHD probably also contributed to that. The others were also leaning forwards in anticipation.

And yes, Leo has ADHD. Dyslexia, too. All of us did, including Thalia. Frank was the only one of us who didn't have ADHD or dyslexia. And while the rest of us had it too, Leo had the worst ADHD. He could barely sit still. It was really annoying at times, although I suppose I can't really blame him for it.

I tapped my earpiece to turn it on. "Thalia? Frank? Can you hear me?" I asked.

"Hi, Annie!" Thalia replied cheerfully.

"What she means is yes, we can hear you," Frank corrected.

"Great," I said. "Listen, guys, I have a really good lead on these rebels. You know that they attacked us yesterday during the ball, right?"

"Yup," Thalia confirmed. "Queen Sally told us what happened. Surprisingly, word hasn't leaked to the public yet. Why? What's the lead?"

"Two leads, actually. When Jason was fighting one of the rebels, he managed to tilt his mask a little so he could see his eyes. They were an icy blue, apparently."

"Good job, Jace," Thalia praised him.

"Thanks, Thals," Jason replied, beaming.

"And when I was fighting one of the rebels, I managed to get a tracker on him. I then let him escape, so he could lead us to the rebel headquarters. I thought you could tell Alexander and the principal and they could send a team to break into the headquarters and get information, so we might be able to figure out who the spy is."

"Annabeth, that's amazing!" Frank praised me.

"Way to go, Annie!" Thalia said. "I'll go tell Alexander and the principal right away. I'll let you know what they say. It might take a while to figure things out, though. I'm talking about a couple of days here."

"That's alright, we'll wait," I replied. "I have to go now, before people notice we're not in our rooms. Can we talk to you at 12 o'clock every night? You can update us about everything then."

"Sure," Thalia agreed.

"Bye!" Frank added.

I turned my earpiece off and looked at the others. They were all beaming. Everything seemed so simple now!

Little did I know, this mission would not be as simple as it seemed.