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

Chapter 14: Council Meeting

Annabeth's POV:
We crept into the secret passage, me going last so that I could close it behind us. Then we made our way up the passage. Soon enough, we came to a dead end. Travis, who was at the front, turned to me and asked, "What now?"

I pushed my way to the front and inspected the wall more closely. It looked smooth, but as I ran my fingers across the wall, I could feel small cracks and holes hidden in it. I leaned down towards one of the small holes and out my ear next to it.

"... don't know what to do!" I heard someone say, probably Paul, judging from the voice.

I quickly turned towards the others and exclaimed, "I can hear them! We must be right next to the Council's meeting room. There are a bunch of holes in the wall, just put your ear next to one of them and listen."

I put my ear back to the hole as the others quickly followed suit.

"All right," I heard an unfamiliar voice say—probably one of the Councilors—"Let's consider all the facts. You saw Princess Evelyn at breakfast, yes?"

"Yes, she ate her breakfast normally like the rest of us," Sally replied.

"And no one has seen her after that?" The first voice questioned.

"Not as far as we know." This time it was Paul who answered.

A second councilor spoke up. "And you started searching for her how long ago?"

"Half an hour ago," Sally said.

"But you couldn't find her, and you have concluded that she is missing?" A third Councilor drawled.

"Yes!" Paul exclaimed. "That's what we have been telling you for the past ten minutes! My daughter is missing, and none of you are helping whatsoever!"

"Adopted daughter," Councilor Three corrected.

"And we are helping you," Councilor Two assured them in a sickly sweet tone. "We are simply gathering all the facts first."

"Could she merely have gone out somewhere?" Yet another Councilor spoke.

"No," Sally said in a hushed tone. "Paul and I searched in her room when we found out she was missing. We found this sticking out from under her lamp." There was a crinkling sound as she spoke.

"A note?" Councilor One scoffed. "Well, then what was the point of alerting us—and the entire rest of the castle—if she left you a note and you already know where she is? Your Majesties, I thought you knew better than this." He spoke condescendingly, as if he was speaking to a one-year-old.

"This isn't just a note!" Paul raised his voice in frustration. "Just—read it."

There was another crinkling of paper as I assumed the note was handed to one of the Councilors. "Dear Queen Sally and King Paul," Councilor Four read. "As you must know by now, we have kidnapped your precious adopted daughter Evelyn. She is being kept in a very secure place that no one but us knows about, so don't even think about trying to rescue her. We will return her to you, unharmed, on one condition. You must surrender yourselves to us. If you wish, all your children will be allowed to remain in the castle unharmed and go about their lives as they normally do, but you must hand yourselves over and give your crowns to us. If you agree to our terms, come to the end of Blackburn Lane, alone. We will know if you take anyone else with you, and we will not hesitate to kill your precious Evelyn if so. If you do as we say, however, she will be safely delivered at the castle gates, although if anyone tries to stop us at the gates, we will kill her. If you allow us to go without any hindrance, she will not be harmed. If you do not agree to our terms, she will die. You have 3 days to make your decision. With best wishes, the Titans."

The Titans? I wondered. Who are they? A brief glance at the others confirmed that they had no idea either. I turned back to my hole.

There was a brief silence as everyone in the room digested this new information.

"The Titans?" A fifth voice spoke up, breaking the silence. "Would this be the group dedicated to taking over the castle?"

"Yes," Councilor Three replied grimly. "And we cannot, under any circumstances, give them what they want. The Titans are a cruel, malicious group of people who the last people we want on the throne right now."

"We must inform the Royal Guard," Councilor One said abruptly. "We should also send this note to the Royal Laboratory and see if we can find anything useful, fingerprints for example,  on the note."

"I agree," Councilor Four piped up. There were several murmurs of assent around the room.

No, I thought. If these 'Titans' are really as bad as they are implying, they are probably too professional to leave fingerprints.

"Then it is settled," Councilor Five declared. "We will inform the Royal Guard and Laboratory, and discuss more with them later. Until then, meeting adjourned." There was a racket of chairs screeching against the floor as everyone pushed them back and stood up. I backed away from the hole and turned to the others.

"So she's kidnapped," Piper breathed. "We have to get her back before the Council or the Royal Guard do something stupid and get her killed!"

"We will," I assured her. "I promised Sally that I would do everything in my power to get Evelyn back, and I always keep my promises." I glanced around, before adding, "But we cant discuss this now. Someone might notice that we're missing. We'll discuss everything at the Cave tonight, and we can contact SEA then, too."

"Alright," Jason agreed. "Let's hurry then, before someone misses us."

We all filed quickly out of the secret passage and closed it behind us.

A/N: Hey guys (and gals), so it has come to my attention that there are a lot of plot holes in this story, and so to fix that I will be editing some of my previous chapters. I'm not editing it yet, but I'll let you all know when I do, and please reread those chapters once I edit them so make more sense. But for now, that's all! See y'all in my next update!