To say Percy was shocked would be the understatement of the century. For the past ten years, he'd believed the story that had been fed to him: Queen Athena had destroyed her locket and issued a kill order. The war they were fighting was a testament to this, but suddenly it wasn't true. He was staring at both necklaces side by side, but that wasn't even the most shocking part.
Annabeth was a princess. Annabeth had Queen Athena's necklace. Annabeth was the princess the council had spoken of earlier that morning. She was the one they had been worried about and the one in the rumours. However, she was also the one he couldn't seem to stop staring at despite being the one who had just made his mind spin with a thousand questions.
"Your Highness?" Annabeth asked, looking at him curiously. "I'm not sure you're breathing."
Oh. No, he certainly wasn't. Perhaps that was why his head was spinning.
It was an effort to convince his body to breathe again, but he managed. He coughed and wheezed for a second or two before his lungs reset and his head stopped spinning. When he came to, Annabeth was too standing in front of him, looking both worried and apprehensive.
"At the very least, you should call me Percy now," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "We're both in line for a crown."
Annabeth grimaced. "Not necessarily."
Percy glanced at her to see her biting her lip. He frowned.
"Maybe you should explain," he suggested, "rather than just giving me more earth-shattering news."
Annabeth nodded and together, they moved back into the sitting room. Percy still had her locket clutched in his hand, but Annabeth didn't ask for it back. Instead, she grabbed his mother's and took it out to the sitting room.
The sofas were dusty, but they were still comfortable. While Percy took a seat in the larger one, Annabeth kept her distance and sat on the small stool adjacent. She waited for him to talk first. After several minutes, he finally did.
"You said you weren't in line for the throne," he said, echoing her earlier statement. Annabeth grimaced. "Why is that?"
"Maybe that shouldn't be the opening question," she said hesitantly. Percy didn't take it back though, so she sighed. "A few years before the war, my mother sent me to live with my father in the port. She said it was for my safety, but I don't think I'd ever made her proud and it was an easy way for her to get rid of me."
"So she started a rumour about your death?"
Annabeth nodded. "If I'm dead, there's no one to search for."
It was a simple explanation for something that had been a year in the making. Aside from Annabeth's father, no one had known the truth and Queen Athena had paid to make sure that was the case. Even now, over ten years later, Annabeth still wasn't sure how she had made it work. Her father had never told her and Annabeth had never asked.
Annabeth half expected Percy to ask how Queen Athena had done it, but he didn't.
"Have we ever met before?"
The question shocked her to the point where she nearly recoiled. She hadn't anticipated him remembering their time together as toddlers and children. He'd never shown any sign of recognition before. Perhaps, she thought, he's just curious.
"A few times," she answered honestly. What harm would it do? Percy already knew who she was. She didn't see any harm in him knowing that they had met before.
"Queen Athena brought you here." It wasn't a question, but Annabeth still nodded. "That's why Chiron recognised you. It's why you're familiar with this room."
"I've only been here a couple of times," Annabeth admitted. She couldn't remember much of her time in Atlantis, but she did remember bits and pieces. "You came to Athens more often."
Percy looked surprised to hear that, so Annabeth gave him a moment to think. All things considered, they really hadn't seen each other that much as children. He was the only other royal her age that Annabeth had ever been around, but Queen Athena had been adamant about keeping her out of the public's eye. More often than not, that included the royals too.
Queen Sally—Percy's mother—had been an exception. Annabeth still wasn't sure how, but Queen Sally had won the trust and friendship of her mother. No other royal had been invited into the palace with such a warm welcome and no other royal had personally gotten to know Annabeth.
"My mother," Percy said slowly, looking down at the locket in his hands, "she knew you too, didn't she?"
He glanced up at her and once again, Annabeth nodded. His eyes had watered a bit at the mention of his mother.
"She brought you to my father's bakery once," Annabeth said softly. She still wasn't sure how Queen Sally had found them or what had made her even look, but she was glad that she had.
"You gave me an almond pastry," Percy whispered, his eyes widening as he remembered.
Annabeth smiled at the memory. It was the last time she'd seen Queen Sally. The next time the queen visited Athens, she'd been killed and Queen Athena had been blamed.
"You almost broke one of our bread baskets trying to reach for it," Annabeth told him. Percy blushed and Annabeth grinned.
They laughed together at the memory before Percy brought up another. He still wasn't sure if it was a memory or a hazy dream, but Annabeth grinned and he knew it had been real. Slowly, the memories came back as they talked. He still wasn't confident their adventures had been real, but it explained why Annabeth felt familiar. What it didn't explain, however, was how she had Queen Athena's necklace.
"Ah," Annabeth grimaced, the smile dropping from her face. "She sent it to me."
Percy raised an eyebrow, but Annabeth wasn't looking at him anymore.
"One of the palace guards brought it to my father the day your mother was killed." Annabeth swallowed and her eyes briefly met his before she looked away again. "There was also a letter."
"That said she was innocent?" Percy accused. Annabeth scowled at him. "You believed a letter?"
"You believed your father."
Percy opened his mouth to argue that it was different, but the look that Annabeth gave him warned him against it. Closing his mouth, Percy let her continue.
"It wasn't just the letter that I believed," Annabeth admitted. "Queen Athena was my mother." Although she hadn't been a great one, she had still been Annabeth's mother. "I'd been kept away from the palace for nearly two years and I missed her."
She had snuck into the palace the morning Queen Sally was killed. None of the guards had spotted her and she'd made it as far as the sitting room before anything had gone wrong.
"There had been riots in Athens for quite some time," Annabeth told him quietly. "They were getting out of hand and your mother was caught in the middle."
Queen Sally had been waiting for her mother alone when she'd been attacked. It was a group of rioters who were looking for Queen Athena but had found her instead. They hadn't even hesitated before slitting her throat and Annabeth still had nightmares about it. She'd been found shortly after that and when Queen Athena saw her, she'd sent her straight back to her father without a single word.
"The news spread before Queen Athena could say anything," Annabeth explained. The queen had been preoccupied with sending Annabeth back home and taking care of Queen Sally's body. "Perhaps if she had said something sooner, she wouldn't have been blamed."
Percy was silent. Annabeth waited anxiously for him to call her a liar, but he never did.
He handed her back her mother's locket. In return, she offered up Queen Sally's and Percy stuffed it in his tunic pocket. Still silent, Percy reached for the lantern and stood up.
With a sigh, Annabeth stood as well and followed him back into the passageway. She wasn't surprised that he didn't believe her, but she had still hoped he would. Now that he knew, she was in danger of being discovered. Would he tell anyone what she had told him? How long did she have before someone else heard that she was the Athenian princess?
"If I take you to my father," Percy asked suddenly, "will you tell him what you told me?"
Annabeth's eyes widened and she took a step back. The passageway corridor was cramped though and she couldn't step very far away from him.
"Why would you—"
"He needs to know," Percy interrupted. He gave her a pleading look. "We're fighting the wrong war and he needs to know that. I can't convince him on my own."
Annabeth hesitated. To tell King Poseidon would mean she had to tell the world that she wasn't dead. Even if nothing happened immediately, Queen Athena would hear the news at some point. There was a reason the queen had sent her away and she had not been lying when she said Queen Athena had never been proud of her. Nevertheless...
"If I do," she said slowly, "you have to promise me protection."
Percy nodded without hesitation. "I promise."
"Not just from your father, Percy," she warned. Percy frowned almost imperceptibly, but she saw it. "From everyone. Even Athens if necessary."
Although a little more hesitant, Percy nodded again.
"I promise."