"Annabeth," my Father shakes me. "Get up. We... We need to talk." I roll over and stretch.

"Whazza goin' on?" I yawn, rubbing my gray eyes. It's the middle of the night... I look at the clock by my bedside; it's 5:30. Okay, not the middle of the night, though I typically don't get up for another hour and a half. So why is Dad waking me up?

"Come downstairs, your step-mother is waking up Thalia."

I can't help but smirk. Carol deserves to wake the grouchy girl; as much as I loved Thal, she was NOT a morning person and turned into the Wicked Witch of the West. This morning would be particularly bad; I'd hate to be woken by the Bitch Queen stepmother.

I get out of bed and put my robe on over my owl pajamas before trudging down to the living room. I can hear Carol's grumbles as she comes up the basement steps, something about 'the useless maid who should rise early' and how it's 'not her place to wake the help'. I want to punch her- Thalia's like family.

Thal follows the Bitch Queen up the steps and they join me in the living room. Dad comes out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee. "Sit down, Thalia." Thal plops onto the couch beside me. Her blue eyes are bleary and red with drowsiness, and I have to nudge her to keep her awake.

"What is it, Dad?" I ask. If he needs me and Thalia this early, it's got to be important.

He sighs and opens his mouth to speak. "You're going away."

What? "I don't understand..."

Carol spits out what he's saying in a harsh, snarky tone. "You're betrothed to the only son of a very important businessman. You'll be the wife of the future owner of Olympus Enterprises. This is good for you, Annabeth, and good for us. You'll have money, position, and benefits you can't have here. Those benefits will extend to your family, as well."

Gee, thanks for making my future about you. "What do you mean, 'I'm getting married'?"

Carol starts to answer, but my father places a hand on her shoulder. "Let me, darling. You go back to bed." Carol grunts and returns to her room. Dad turns back to me. "I was contacted by Poseidon Jackson a few months back. He needed to find a suitable wife for his son, and your record was perfect. You're marrying Perseus Jackson this fall, Annabeth."

"No!" I shout. I'm awake now, and angry as a hornet. "I'm not marrying some stranger! I'm only seventeen!" And then it hits me- Olympus Enterprises in in New York, across the country. "You've got to be shitting me!"

"Annabeth," he says sternly. "You will do as I say. You'll leave next week for New York, stay the summer, and be married in the fall. Get to know Perseus. Because, like it or not, you're marrying him." Dad clears his throat. "You're lucky."

"How am I lucky?" I spit. "I'm only being sent to marry a stranger across the country. I'm only leaving my life behind."

"You'll have Thalia."

Thal snaps to attention. "Sir?"

"Mr. Jackson has deemed it acceptable for you to have a friend. He has generously paid for Thalia to accompany you. Now," he says, "go back to bed. You start packing tomorrow."

I turn my back and run up the stairs, fighting tears the whole way. Thalia follows me.

Of course I can't go back to sleep after that. Who could?

"Annabeth? I know it isn't fair..."

"Of course it isn't fair. I'm being sent to marry some creep who clearly has issues. The son of one of the most important men in the world? Shouldn't he have girls throwing themselves at him?"

Thalia shrugs. "Maybe he has some horrible speech problem and sounds like the Chipmunks?" Her short black hair sticks up in dozens of directions. "Or he's ugly as a horse's ass?"

I can't help but laugh. "God, I hope it isn't garlic breath. Or hairy toes. Oh god, what if he has hairy toes?" Or orange eyes or he's unbelievably short or has an elbow fetish or talks to his fingernail collection. I can think of so many things that could be wrong with Perseus Jackson, and I burst into sobs again.

Damn him. Damn them all, if they think I'm going through with this.