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

Chapter 13: Sneaking Preparations

Annabeth's POV:
"What?" I gasped, my mind reeling.

Piper nodded. "Come on. Let's go check on Sally and Paul, and see if they know anything."

I nodded quickly and followed her to the throne room. It was beautiful and elegantly structured, with two huge main thrones at the front of the room for the King and Queen. There were two smaller thrones next to the King's throne for the Princes, and one next to the Queen's for the Princess. However, I didn't have to properly admire the throne room, since my attention was drawn towards the people occupying the room.

Sally and Paul were conversing in one corner of the room, looking distressed. Tyson, Paul, and Zoë were huddled in another corner, looking distraught. We walked over to Tyson, Zoë, and Percy first.

"Hey, what happened?" I asked them.

"Evelyn is missing," Percy replied. "I went to her room a while after breakfast to spend some time with her, but I couldn't find her. I asked Sally and Paul where she was, but they didn't know. Eventually, we realized that she was missing."

Before I could say anything else, or try to comfort them, Sally and Paul stood up from their corner and made their way to the center of the room. I looked around and noticed that the rest of the gang had arrived here too while I was talking to Percy. There were many noblemen and members of the Royal Council here too.

Sally cleared her throat and all conversations ceased. "I know you are all confused and worried, but I am afraid that I cannot tell you all the details yet. I would like to call for a council meeting at once to discuss matters. Everyone else, please go back to your regular duties."

Before you ask, yes, there was a Council. The Council was a group of people who could be consulted by the Royal Family if there was any problem. They were meant to help them rule. The Council also controlled the castle treasury, meaning they were in charge of paying all of our servants and giving money from our treasury to the poor people outside the castle. The Council had to meet up so often to discuss things like budgets, or to listen to whatever the Royal Family needed their help in, that we eventually set up a room as their own meeting room. The Council took charge of this room, and the rule was that no one, not even the King or Queen, could enter the meeting room unless they had requested a meeting or unless a council member had invited them. Lousy rule, I know.

Anyway, I could tell everyone was still curious, but, grumbling, they followed their Queen's orders and filed out. Soon enough, the room was empty except for the Royal Family and the gang.

"I'm going to go talk to Sally and Paul," I excused myself.

I walked towards Sally and Paul. "Is there any way we can eavesdrop on the meeting?" I asked.

"Oh, yes," Sally replied. She walked over to a corner of the throne room, in front of a portrait of a man who I assumed was one of her ancestors. It was a horrible picture, and I pitied the man who was in it. His expression looked nauseated or constipated, I couldn't tell. Either he was really, really not pleased to be taking this picture, or he had really bad gas. The poor man had a huge, prominently displayed wart on his nose.

"All you have to do is slide this picture upwards, and a secret passage will open up. Inside the passage, there is a lever next to the door that you must pull to close the entrance. The passage leads directly next to the Council's meeting room, so you can listen to our discussion. The Council doesn't know about this passage, so they won't know you're eavesdropping. And, of course, the passage cancels out any noise you make so no one except those in the secret passage with you can hear you."

"That's brilliant!" I breathed. "Thank you, Sally."

"It's my pleasure, dear. Anything that will me get Evelyn back." Her expression turned sad.

I put my hand on her arm. "We'll do everything we can to get her back," I assured her firmly. "Even if we have to bring a whole army in here."

"Thank you, dear," Sally smiled, with tears in her eyes. I couldn't tell if they were tears of sadness or of gratitude. She wiped her tears away. "I best be going to the meeting before I'm late," she said. She called Paul and they both swept out.

"What now?" Asked Percy, obviously dejected. He slumped against the wall.

"Hey, you know Sally, Paul, and the Council are going to do everything they can to find Evelyn," I comforted him. "We just have to let them take it from here."

"So that's it? There's nothing we can do? Evelyn is gone, and we're just going to sit back and relax and do nothing?" He glared at all of us.

"Hey, we want to get Evelyn back as much as you do," I said sharply. "If there was anything we could do to get her back, you know we would do it in a heartbeat. But as of right now, there is nothing we can do, so it's best to step back and let the Council take over."

"Alright, fine," he sighed. "I guess you're right. There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, I'm just really worried about Evelyn." He stood up abruptly. "I'll be in my room."

He left, and Tyson and Zoë followed soon after, leaving us alone. The gang then turned to me.

"Alright," Connor said determinedly, "how are we going to sneak into that meeting?" Connor was rarely ever serious, and when he was, that was a bad sign that something was very wrong. I told them about the secret passage, and they nodded and headed towards the poor portrait.

Evelyn, we will get you back.

A/N: Horrible chapter name, I know, I just couldn't think of any other name for this chapter, and this is the best I could do. Remember, the whole 'Titans' thing and a lot else is going to be explained in the next chapter, so keep reading!