Chapter 2: I Express-Mail Two Door-to-Door Salesmen (Annabeth's POV)

I couldn't sit still. My three best friends (Luke had been demoted to evil, undead creep a while ago) were arriving today! They would be staying for two weeks.

"Annabeth, honey," my stepmom chided me. "Don't bounce around."

"Sorry, mom. I'll go upstairs to do my homework."

As I headed towards the stairs, my brother Bobby barreled into me, knocking me onto my back.

"Sorry," he said, his foot in my face.

"It's okay," I mumbled, even though I hadn't really cared to know what his sock tasted like.

I was knocked down a second time by Matthew. I managed to avoid a taste test of his sneaker and ran up the stairs before a third mishap could occur.

I reached my room and plunked down on my bed. I surveyed the mess my bedroom had gotten into over the weekend.

Normally, I'm a very neat person (unlike some certain sons of the Sea God I could mention) and my bedroom usually is impeccable. But if a equals excitement, b equals annoying stepbrothers, c equals holiday season stress and y equals the result, I would have to say y ac + b. Yup, I wrote an equation. (It's a linear equation, by the way; my favorite kind.) I need to do stuff like that to organize my thoughts.

I halfheartedly began to stack the books on my shelves neatly.

A few minutes after I had organized my Ancient Greek Architecture books, the doorbell rang.

"Anna, can you get the door, please?" my father called from his workroom across the hall.

I was already down the stairs.

"Hey, guys!" I cried as I opened the door.

It was two door-to-door salesmen from Hesperides Garden Landscape Designers. My face fell. My friend's weren't here yet.

"Anna! Who is it?" my stepmom called from the kitchen.

"Salesmen," I yelled, turning my head back. That was my fatal mistake.

The grayish, skeleton-like monsters held a knife to my throat. "I—what—"

"Tell them to go away," my stepmom called.

"Sure…" I croaked, trying to reach my celestial bronze dagger without being seen. Athena, grant me skill in this fight. Give me wisdom so I may know my enemies' next move. Quick as a flash, I grabbed my dagger and sank it into one of my captors. It made a dent—but the monster was unperturbed. It advanced on me and I backed up till I hit the front door.

Trapped.

Um, Mom, now would be a good time. I slashed and parried as well as I could with my dagger, managing to fend off the blows for a minute.

Suddenly the phrase Find your enemy's weakness and use it against him popped into my head. Thank you, thank you, Athena! I knew what their weakness was—killing and maiming. All I had to do was show them a couple people supposedly to kill and lure them into the truck.

"Hey! Look! More people to kill!" I screamed, pointing towards an ancient pair of grandparents on the sidewalk. "Killing! Maiming! Injuring! Fun!"

The skeletons' heads turned. Slowly, they began to advance towards the two people…and the Hesperides Landscaping truck incidentally was in their path. I pulled the truck doors open and shoved the monsters inside with a sudden burst of strength. For good measure, I stuck them both with my dagger before slamming and locking the doors. I wiped my dagger in the grass and ran inside to grab a Hermes Overnight Express packing slip. Quickly, I wrote a little message to the Lord of the Dead: "Lord Hades, Throne Room, Tartarus, the Underworld. Meaning no disrespect, I just don't know what to do with these monsters. With best wishes, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena." I stuck the slip on the truck and dropped three drachmas on top. The truck disappeared with a pop!

I had just sent two monsters to the Lord of the Dead. That is really going to tick him off.