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"Fate will come looking for you. Don't bother hiding."
― Lauren Bjorkman

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Hey you! Note the time change. Percy's POV from Tuesday:

After that little disagreement (or was that a fight?) Percy changed his cloths to something that could blend in with the crowd.

Ever been the chief guest of an event and tried to blend in?

Don't let Percy convince you otherwise. It is impossible.

So, what did Percy do?

He put on baggy pants that was totally not his style, an XXXL full sleeve shirt that was probably as long as Rachel's frock with so much space that three Percys could fit in and completed it with black glasses, black masks and all. To touch up, he practically fit his entire head inside his hood.

The problem with this look was: No one wears masks, glasses and gloves unless you really don't want someone to recognise you. So, that either made Percy the I'm-your-neighbourhood-famous-person or I'm-the-criminal-these-guards-are-looking-for.

Now, they looked like three criminals in an overcrowded event - which wasted all their effort in dressing up as it gave them way more attention than they wanted.

The funniest thing was Connor and Travis had to do it too because Jason was out trying to find Leo.

Connor dragged Percy to a small tent. "You've been to literally every popular event today."

Travis finished for him. "But you forgot the most popular one!"

"Lottery." They said together.

Percy approached the counter and paid the ticket money. The guy on the other side looked skeptically at him. "Put your hand in and take one card, lad."

Connor snatched the card as soon as Percy took it out. He showed the number to Travis and they burst out laughing - not the 'emoji on whatsapp laughing' where you hardly actually laugh. No, these two were clutching their stomach, bending their knees, hands on each other's shoulders and laughing - hard. Every now and then one would look at the other like he wanted to comment but won't be able to because of all that laughter.

Percy couldn't help the smile on his face. "What?"

They looked at each other, back at Percy and laughed even harder.

Travis said in between his laughs. "Right... number... for the... right man."

Jason found this exact moment the best time to join them. From a distance, he looked at the two brothers like they lost a few nuts and bolts. Percy found it hard to argue with that. Now, one was holding his knees and laughing; while the other was practically half on top of his brother, laughing.

Connor's eyes were sparkling and he wiped them, "Okay, hey, Percy." He laughed. "Guess the number."

"Yeah." Travis showed all his teeth. "Oh gods. My stomach hurts." He laughed some more. "It is a six-digit number but actually..." He laughed. "Just guess the last three digits."

Percy was clueless. "My birthday?" He asked.

They shook their heads. Their laugher died a little but they were still having teasing smiles on.

"Annabeth's birthday?"

Connor widened his eyes and sucked in his lips in as if surprised.

Travis smirked. "Something to do with her, sure." He looked back at his brother. "No... don't make me laugh." But Connor cracked up at that and Travis couldn't stop it either. "My... stomach..."

Jason stepped next to Connor who smiled widely as he showed the ticket to him.

He smiled too and looked at Percy. "Wait, you took this out?"

Travis pointed at the ticket like he was trying to make Jason see something else. Jason laughed.

Percy was starting to lose interest. He looked around at the place and something from his side vision stood out. On his left, where the garden met with the highway, there was an old-fashioned tent selling fruits. The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers.

Just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting socks.

All the three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. Percy approached them.

Jason came beside him. "We need to go find Leo. I talked to the bar's manager and he says Leo never approached him. Something is wrong."

Travis grinned. "What do we have here?"

The one in the middle pointed to a board on the side. It said: Free fortune cookie samples.

Connor grabbed one of the cookies from the basket. "Hey, it is free!" Travis grabbed one too.

Travis split out the cookie and put it in his mouth before reading. "Your true love is closer than you think." He chuckled. "Typical. I should have got like 10 of these by now."

Connor frowned at his cookie. "That's not fair!"

"Why?" Percy asked.

He held out the slip. "It says Oops, wrong cookie!" They all laughed. "Nevermind. I'll just take another."

When he reached out to the basket, the old lady on the right hit his hand. She held up one finger as if to say only one chance and looked at Jason.

Jason shrugged and picked one up. "Your best friend is like your family." He rolled his eyes at the paper and abandoned the cookie. "How will I know? I don't have a family. Guys, we should head back."

Connor said. "No. Wait. This one's luck is running wild today. Let us see what he picks."

The old lady in the middle looked at the basket and back at Percy. When Percy pulled out one cookie, she smiled wickedly like she knew what was inside.

Percy got the weirdest feeling that he had picked up the exact cookie that she was looking at before.

"Best friends are better than life partners and you are lucky if she is."

"If she is what?" Connor asked.

Jason shoved the cookie to Percy's mouth. "It is another stupid quote. Can we get going? Leo, remember?"

Percy nodded. When they were near the bar where Leo had got 'lost', something else caught his attention.

There was a young boy in a small tent selling all kinds of dollars, pendants and stone jewelry. Percy noticed that he was scratching something on a small oval shaped piece of rock hooked on one side to make a pendant.

"You make these?" Percy asked. An idea came to his mind.

"Yes." The boy replied.

"How long does it take?"

"Depends on what you want me to make."

Percy nodded. "Where do I make my design?"

After he was little satisfied with his horrible drawing, he handed it over to the boy and checked if he could get it done by the next day. He stepped out of the tent. Someone grabbed his shoulders and he jumped.

When he turned, he found the old lady who sat at the middle of the three ladies with the basket in her hand. "You dropped this." She held out the lottery ticket and Percy took it from her to see the number.

He didn't get why the Stolls laughed so hard.

"Choose, your highness." She said, holding out the basket.

How she found him in the middle of nowhere? Percy had no idea.

Why she was asking him to choose again? He had no idea.

How she recognized him? Okay that is obvious.

He reached out to pick one but the lady held his wrist in a death grip.

"Choose wisely. You cannot open it yourself. Someone else must. You will be choosing someone else's fate."

Percy gawked at her. He nodded and thought about which cookie stood out for him - which felt completely stupid since they were all identical - At last, he picked up one from deep inside the basket.

The old lady's face was unreadable. "Interesting choice, Perceus."

Jason waved at him from a distance and gave a face like: Get here, you idiot. I'm waiting for you.

Percy had no chance to ask how the old lady knew his real name. When he turned back to look at her, she had vanished.

Besides, he reasoned, it isn't a secret. Everybody knows. Just, no one uses it.

When he approached Jason, he was holding a glass with some sort of drink in it.

Jason asked, "What were you doing there for so long?!"

Percy dodged the question. "What happened?"

Jason started walking inside the bar. "I don't know. Connor just gave me this drink and rushed back in."

Percy asked, "And Travis?"

"Gave me an empty glass after drinking from it." Jason sighed.

Percy chuckled. "What is it, anyway?" He took the glass from Jason. It looked too innocent to be alcohol and too carbonated to be fruit juice.

Jason said. "Orange juice, apparently. I don't believe it."

Percy was craving for some liquid so he took a sip and laughed. "Fanta, man. Want it?"

Jason cringed. "Not my favorite."

Percy shrugged and drowned the rest of the drink.

..............................

Jason was 99.99% sure he was going to get fired.

Sally had asked him (through his Bluetooth) why they weren't getting going yet. He explained by saying how Leo had got lost in a stripper's bar.

Usually, Jason was only Percy's personal guard but in the royals' absence, especially outside the castle, he was supposed to play a parent role too.

Why? Because it was Percy. He needed more babysitting and scolding than he needed protection.

So, ever had the incredible opportunity to tell your boss (who also happens to be the Queen of the Kingdom) that you brought her eldest child (who also happens to have a Selection in process) to a strippers' bar?

Ever had an opportunity see the reaction of a Selected when she heard the news?

Oh no, don't misunderstand. That wasn't why Jason was about to get fired.

The problem was that him and Percy had decided to check for Leo in the right and left side of the ground floor respectively and then meet in the middle.

Only, Percy didn't.

Jason, the Prince's personal security guard had lost Percy, the Prince.

Yeah. 99.99% sure.

Have you ever really needed your staples, lost it and searched your entire house for it? Of course, it would magically reappear after you give up and painstakingly use gum on every page. The next day, you wake up and look at them and surprisingly, they are there but then you suddenly want to hear songs and your earphone goes missing...?

That is sort of what Jason felt.

Minutes after losing Percy, Travis had told him through the intercom that he had found Leo passed out in some couch in the basement and had poured an entire bottle of whatever drink he found first, on Leo, to wake him up.

Jason didn't complain. Leo deserved what he got.

What was he even doing in this place for so long?

No. I didn't want an answer to that.

The guards were all around the ground floor by now, throwing out everyone who wasn't Percy. Although the ground floor was practically empty now, he could hear the party still going on around him, in the first floor.

Connor opened the door to a few rooms and closed it just as soon. Jason did the same.

Connor shouted - "No fish yet!"- to the guards on the other side of floor. He turned to Jason. "I hope we don't find him like that."

Jason nodded. It was one thing finding Percy in a compromised position in this late teenage. It was another when reporters were on their toes, waiting outside for something as scandalous as this during The Selection.

Jason opened the door to a room and his jaw dropped.

There is good news and bad news. As a (hopefully) good author, I prefer to say the good things first.

He found Percy.

The bad thing? He found Percy sitting on a wooden chair with his hood off, mask off and glasses off.

What is so bad, right?

Well, how about the fact that he had a blond model running one of her exposed legs over his torso from behind him?

The girl had a gold two-piece lingerie which (thank gods) wasn't a see through. It was already revealing enough on its own.

And, thank Elysium, the Queen hadn't entered the bar.

Unfortunately, Rachel had.

Percy grinned at Jason. "Hey Superman!"

Rachel didn't say a word. She just stared at Percy; shell shocked.

Jason didn't have time for her drama. He called out. "CONNOR!" He rushed to Percy's side and glared at the stripper.

"What?" She said as she took off her legs from over Percy and reached for her golden robe. "This isn't illegal."

Jason was angry. There was no way she didn't recognize Percy. He was the Kingdom's heartthrob, after all. But instead of showing the anger to her, he slapped Percy.

Hard.

And... Percy giggled.

What the Hades?

Jason turned to the girl and snarled. "Did you give him something?"

"No. Your dude was high." She rolled her eyes.

Jason grit his teeth. "Why didn't you tell the guards then? You knew he was the Prince-"

The girl gave a look of complete surprise (which lasted too long and convinced Jason that it was nothing surprising for her). "Oh my gosh, seriously, I didn't eve-"

"Save it. "

She rolled her eyes. "Uh-duh."

Connor came in just then. "I jinxed it, didn't I?" He looked at Rachel. "I told you to follow me!"

Rachel was already walking towards Percy and Jason was surprised she wasn't running out after what she had seen. The only other person who has seen Percy like this was Annabeth and she would just march right in and knock him out so he won't talk.

Yeah. It was Jason's responsibility to make sure no one knocks the Prince out but he was kind of hoping Rachel will do that.

As Jason tried to get Percy up, he clung to him like a sloth to a tree. He then pointed at Rachel and said. "Do I know you? You look familiar." Percy squinted his eyes. "Oh, hey Hazel! When did you come here?"

Rachel opened her mouth to say something but she failed. The girl in the golden robe chuckled at her. "Selected, huh?" She shook her head and chucked. "He is just playing you, girl. You're not too different from us." She looked down at Rachel's dress. "We just have shiny dresses."

Rachel shook her head. "Get off of me."

Connor frowned. "What did you give him?" He asked the girl.

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing. He was already on something. Does being the Prince give him access to crazy stuff? Because that's just amazing."

Percy put one of his hand on Jason's hair and started caressing it. "Maybe you're riggghttt... I may have a thing for blonds." He giggled. "You're blond and I love you, my bro!" He hugged Jason sideways.

Jason cringed. Okay, it was nice to know Percy cared about him although he really doesn't have to but this wasn't any time or place for their bromance.

Connor chuckled. "Well, at least this time he isn't running. Man, what did you drink?"

Weirdest thing was: Jason couldn't smell anything on him. He definitely looked drunk out of his mind but he didn't smell like it. He smelled like soap, if anything.

Percy held out his middle finger and thumb finger curved in a way to show a shot. "Or-orange juice."

Jason frowned. "A margarita? How did that get you like this?"

"Yeah dude, you're pissed off your mind." Connor added.

"No. I'm not! Look... I can stand on my feet." He struggled to focus again and stood on his own feet for about five seconds before leaning heavily against Rachel. Jason and Connor made him lean back on them again.

Percy made a sound between a whimper and a whine. He looked straight at Rachel. "You know... I never noticed, you have dreamy eyes."

The stripper girl lifted her eyebrows. "You know, you're not too bad yourself." She smiled up at Jason.

Jason tried to give his best displeased look. "Not interested. Now get lost if you don't want a punishment."

She smiled and turned back but before she went out, she said, "I don't think I'll mind one from you."

When Jason looked back, Connor was gawking at him. "No. Don't even start-"

"What? A totally hot girl hits on you and you say no? How many times am I gonna see this in my life?"

"Why? Which is part is-"

Travis came in. "You're forgetting the job idiots."

Connor nodded and dragged Percy towards the door. "By the way, where is the drink I gave you? We need to give it to Leo."

The Stoll brothers shared a mischievous look.

"Uh, Percy drank it." Jason said.

Even as he said it, he could see the Stolls going pale.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE DRANK-"

"WHY'D YOU GIVE IT TO HIM??"

Orange Juice.

Jason shouted. "What did you do??!"

Travis looked scared. "Well, we may have mixed some stuff up-"

Jason's eyes widened. "YOU ROOFIED THE PRINCE?"

"It was supposed to be for Leo!" Connor argued.

Well, looks like three people will be losing their jobs then.

...........................

Annabeth woke up on Wednesday to a whole lot of chaos. (Haha, yes, pun intended)

On one hand, she wasn't sure what felt towards Frederick, her dad, who actually left halfway across the country without a goodbye. But then, she was the one who refused to meet him so... that was that. And let us not forget Athena. Athena knocked on her door late at night (just when Annabeth was about to sleep) and she tried to talk to her. Annabeth may have lashed out at Athena who managed to let go of enough of her ego to say 'you don't deserve the Selection' to her own daughter.

What can she say?

Families are complicated, right?

Then, there was this half-brother Malcom who kept checking on her, reminding her of small things, making conversation, doing 'brotherly' things like waking her up (His words, not hers.) Sure, it was all sweet and everything but... well, Annabeth wasn't complaining per se... It just felt new to her.

Having a blood related family.

Is that even a thing? Blood-related family?

It was to her though. All the people who acted like family lived under this roof and until now, none of them were her blood.

Oh yeah. Let's not forget Percy here.

Who texted her an 'I love you'?

Yes. Percy texted her an 'I love you'.

That lottery ticket? 143: standard code for 'I love you'.

I know what you are thinking. How does that translate to this? Well, 'I' is 1 because it is one letter. 'Love' is four. 'You' is three.

Annabeth couldn't see what the 127 meant though. Maybe: I am kidding?

She gave herself a break and skipped breakfast the next morning.

So, you can imagine it was bit of a shock for Annabeth to enter the girls' common room to find some girls crying, some frustrated and some looking pretty pitiful.

She was about to sit down with Jade and Valentina when she heard Drew scoff from the table next to hers. Drew took one look at Annabeth and the corner of her mouth quirked up. She smashed the magazine in her hand next to Annabeth.

Annabeth got up. She was fed up of being pushed around like this by Drew. "What do you want?" She snapped.

Drew held out one hand as if to say stop. "Hold your horses, princess. Everyone else knows. You're late." She gestured to the magazine.

It had a full-page image of Percy and Rachel kissing.

Annabeth stared, not knowing what to think of it. From the looks of it, they were kissing right in front of the camera. It was too clear for it to be from a distance.

Since when did Percy show affection publicly?

Oh yeah, her mind offered, since Rachel maybe.

"I told you. I told everyone! Rachel is faking the pain to get close to the Prince. Now!" She looked at Maria, Cassy and Katie - Rachel's gang, "Now do you believe me?"

Drew scoffed. "First kiss and first public kiss." She looked at Katie. "And how many dates have you got, princess?" She turned to Calypso. "Have you been kissed yet?"

Annabeth wasn't sure if Drew noticed or not but Calypso looked shocked.

No. It couldn't be.

"Exactly!" She addressed everyone now. "No one else have got any kisses here. She is manipulating him. Anyone can say the Prince is smitten by her!"

Cassey offered, "Rachel is genuinely nice. She is not like you."

Drew leaned down closer to her face. "Then honey, can you explain why he is on a private tour with one Selected when nineteen others are in the castle working asses off for the competition?"

Cassey couldn't argue with that.

"That is not all, you know?" Drew turned back to Annabeth and started reading from the magazine. "Her majesty and the Prince enjoyed a private breakfast at Nobleman Dare's residence. When asked about it, the Prince said, quote, 'It was great. They had prepared so much that I got full by just looking at everything. But, most importantly, it was really fun.' Sources have confirmed that he smiled at Lady Rachel at that statement. We audience wonder what else the Prince is hiding from us. However, when asked about their relationship, he replied by saying that Ichor has to wait for the next Report. The next Report is due on Thursday and you'll get to hear from -"

Amber, who was sitting in the sofa, going through a common iPad, gasped. "Girls!"

Drew got irritated. "What? Can't you see I'm bu-"

Amber ignored her. "Have any of you seen Celebrity Gossip today?"

Drew gave a what-do-you-think-I'm-doing look.

"No. I mean The Celebrity Gossip. The famous and infamous page where they upload videos and articles from all gossip sites?" She approached Drew and passed the iPad to her.

All colour drained from Drew's face as she read the article. Without a word, she gave it to Katie and looked away.

Annabeth was curious. What was so bad about it that Drew had looked away?

Katie clapped her hands over her mouth. Was it just Annabeth or did she look like she wanted to cry?

Piper entered the common room. "What is going on?"

Annabeth snatched the tab from Cassey and started reading. "Prince Percy was last seen in the event yesterday at 8: 38 pm when he kissed Lady Rachel. However, it is rumoured that Queen Sally left the scene only at 10:15. Where was the Prince till then? Of course, many people just tell us that he could have left earlier but then..."

A blurry video was attached below. It looked like someone from inside a bar took it. At first it was just showing a swarm of people but then, it zoomed in to focus on one couple. The girl had a golden robe on and she was pinning a guy to the wall and whispering something to him to which he drunkenly nodded.

WHAT?

She didn't see it at first but the guy looked like Percy.

Wait a minute, it was Percy.

Annabeth felt sick.

It couldn't be.

Piper leaned closer to her and read further. "Several people from the bar report seeing the Prince with a woman. Who is this woman? Is she a Selected? Did he bring someone else to the event?"

More images were attached below, all showing four people moving through a murky lane from different angles. It would be impossible to say for anyone else but Annabeth had known these people her whole life. She recognised Jason almost instantly, given his cloths weren't as shady as the rest. Judging by the height, the other two could be the Stoll brothers but Annabeth couldn't be sure.

Percy though. He looked drunk out of his mind. He was heavily leaning on Jason and Annabeth wondered if she'd be able to tell it was him if it wasn't for the height comparison.

"And then a few minutes later Lady Rachel is escorted by one of the guards to their cars. On-site reporters tell us that the bar has been into some illegal activities because of which it was thoroughly checked, coincidentally, around the same time. But is this just a coincidence? Is it Prince Percy in those images?"

Piper looked at the rest of the Selected, eyes wide. "No. This can't be Percy! Girls, seriously, he isn't like this!" Her voice turned unsure and she looked at Annabeth for help. "He isn't, right?"

Drew scoffed. "Have you kept up with any gossip in your life, Piper? You don't even have a clue about the Prince's past rumours, do you?"

"He is the Prince! Of course, there were rumours! That doesn't mean anything!" Piper defended. "Tell her, Annabeth. You know Percy better than any of us!"

All the Selected turned to her.

For a minute, she didn't know what to say.

Or rather, how much to say.

No.

Percy is a good person.

They need to understand that.

"No. It can't be him. The most he drinks is champagne or wine and he never lets it get out of hand." Annabeth placed the tab down. "These people are connecting random facts and making an irritating theory out of it. Seriously girls, I mean, a public kiss? I doubted he would have done that but this... this is just absurd."

She hoped her tone sounded convincing enough.

Katie frowned. "What about the tattoo then? Nobody believed that was true either."

Annabeth felt like hitting herself. Gosh, she hit it right on point.

When Percy was 17, he had got a tattoo with the letters SPQR on his arm with a trident symbol. The gossip sites had absorbed the news like sponge after photos of him in the store were leaked. It went as far as to the tattoo artist getting hate comments over 'tricking' him into getting the tattoos. Percy had hid it from public for nearly a year. By then, the tide turned and he got way more support for it. It was one of his biggest early gossip.

Annabeth said, "And it was also rumoured that he had a spine tattoo. I can tell you. That isn't true."

Drew narrowed her eyes at her. "How would you know?"

Schist.

Well, I can't exactly tell her that I saw his back.

Didn't that feel hot?

Just a few nights ago.

In Percy's room.

...while playing UNO. Readers, where are your minds going?

Okay, moving on. (Note to self: This is supposed to be rated T.)

Annabeth stared right back at her. "Because I asked him and he said no. Also, we've gone swimming together."

A few girls gasped.

Amber asked. "Did he take you out of the castle too?"

"No. This was like 2 years ago. Look, my point is: Percy is a good guy. He talked to all of you, right? Did he sound like a jerk? Did he look like one?"

The girls shook their heads.

Piper said. "Good then. Let's get ready for practice."

While walking back to her room, Piper stopped her.

"Was it Percy?" She asked.

Annabeth debated in her mind if she should say the truth. "Yes. I think it was."

"Dam. When Jason texted me that something happened... well, I didn't think it was this bad."

"What? Jason texted you?"

Piper blushed. "Long story."

Annabeth sighed. "Percy didn't sound too off when I called him either."

Piper's eyes widened. "What do you mean when you called him?!"

Annabeth smirked. "Long story."

Piper laughed. "Let us share our long stories then."

................

Next Chapter has the next report!! Finally!! Look forward to it!

Happy reading! (And this chapter was just funny, wasn't it?) (I mean, if you look over the fact that Percy nearly cheated on the Selected of course.)