"If you so much as try to leave the castle, Anniebell-" Queen Helena screeched, pulling on the young girl's blonde locks.

"My name is not Anniebell." The girl said through gritted teeth, resisting the urge of punching that woman. But if she did, she would only get into bigger trouble. "My name is Annabeth."

"I dont care what you're name is girl." The queen said pulling Annabeth's face closer to her own.

"If you try to leave the castle again..." The queen took in a deep breath and forced a smile onto her face.

"Remember that fairytale I told you about? About the princess Snow White?"

"How could I forget?" Annabeth muttered under her breath, which earned her a slap.

The Queen's face morphed back into a scowl as she continued. "She was a beautiful girl just like you. The good witch wanted her dead because of all the trouble she caused. When the queen ordered her hunter to kill her in the woods, the coward let the princess free. The princess found the seven dwarves and they became friends. Then there was the handsome young prince that Snow White fell in love with. But fortunately, the good queen found the ugly princess and gave her an apple. She at it. She died. The Queen married the prince who was madly in live with her. Happily Ever Never After for the princess. Boo hoo hoo. How sad. Your end is going to be very similar to that princess if you step so much as stick your pinky out of the castle again." Queen Helena screamed in Annabeth's ear as she pushed her back in her room, slamming the door behind her.

Annabeth heard the key turn around, telling her that the door was locked.

Annabeth flopped onto her bed and spread herself out on the sheets, scowling. She really did hate that woman. Why her father ever married still remained a mystery to her. Although Queen Helena was a misery in itself, at least it would've been bearable had her father never died.

He was a wonderful person and had always cared for her.

She wished to know how her mother was like. How she looked, how she would've treeted her. But then again, she would never know since her mother had died giving birth to her.

Her eyes teared up just thinking about it.

Annabeth sat up in her bed, wiped her eyes on the sleeve of the brown ragged dress she wore and looked around her room, more commonly known as the rustiest attic in the palace. The old wardrobe in the corner held a number of tattered dresses and her other pair of boots. Annabeth hated wearing dresses but they were the only means of clothing given to her by the Queen so she was left with no other choice.

Her bed was small and was placed in the far corner of the room, pressed against a wall. The cabinet next to it was brown and the paint was peeling off. All of its drawers were empty.

There were no windows. The roof was low. The room was cold and dull.

She had never even stepped foot outside of the castle since she was six, when her father had taken her by her hand and led her through the beautiful little town. There were villagers dancing around, the markets were busy, there were children running around everywhere. She wanted to go there again. She wanted to the silver brumby everyone else live their happy lives.

Early this morning, she had tried to sneak out of the castle but before she could even reach for the front doors, she had been caught by the Queen.

And now she was locked in her room.

She fingered her bead neckless that hung around her neck like she always did when she was thinking. It was her most prized object. Her father had given it to her when she was younger. The neckless held some beads, an engagement ring and a coral pendant. One of the beads held a picture of a trident. Another held a picture of what appeared to be a golden mat. The next one was of a person holding up something on their shoulders. The other was of a maze and the next one was a tall building like she had never seen before with names in tiny writing carved around it. They were written in a different language but surprisingly she could read it. When she read each name, an image passed through her mind of what the person looked like.

The last bead held a carved image of seven people. What amazed Annabeth was that one of those people looked just like her. She was smiling in that image and another guy's arm was draped across her shoulder. She knew that guy. She knew his name. Percy Jackson. She knew he had sea green eyes and jet black hair. She knew she loved him. But that was it. The rest was a big blank.

The girl beside the guy in the carving had choppy hair with small braids on either side. The next person in line had his arm around her waist. The next person had a maniac grin on his face and it looked like he was holding fire. The two others had their arms around each other too. One was a buff guy and the other was a girl no older than thirteen.

She fingered the red coral pendant. It was special. She just didn't know why or how.

Another of her possessions that she valued was her dagger. Again, she didn't know why but she treasured it.

(It's her drakon bone dagger given to her by Damesen.)

Annabeth laid back down on her bed and drifted off to sleep, waiting for the queen to come back and to pile her shoulders with chores.

*******

"Get up, girl!" Queen Helena shouted in her ear making Annabeth sit up. Luckily, her bead neckless was tucked under the neckline of her dress so the the queen didn't notice it. Her dagger as always, was strapped to the inside of her boot, safe in its sheath.

"A prince from a faraway land is coming here." The queen said with a smile plastered onto her face. But that smile, of course was not as beautiful as she thought it to be. "I want this whole palace looking beautiful. Start with the throne room, then the dinning, then the private chambers the prince will be staying at, then help the maids with whatever nonsense they'd be doing."

The Queen slammed the door shut and left the room, her long dark purple dress sweeping about the floor in her wake; her black hair flowing around her. She would've looked beautiful if not for the evil inside of her.

The sixteen year old girl got up to her feet, tied her hair back in a messy pony tail, put on a clean apron and went down the stairs to begin what she would do daily. On a regular basis, royal princes would come and go, all of them practically worshipping Queen Helena and sprouting out poems of love and making themselves look like idiots.

All of them would glance at her and walk past her as if she was invisible. Annabeth didn't mind this at all. They were a lot of disrespectful, idiotic men that had no manners or kindness within them.

This one would be no different. The Queen will end up marrying one of them and together they'd manage to make her life even more miserable.

With that thought, Annabeth got to her knees and started scrubbing the floor of the throne room like the queen instructed her to.