Legal in All Countries, 21

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Annabeth had a brilliant idea to get us into the back of a Vegas taxi to drive of to LA. Because apparently, we have enough money to make the 300 mile trip.

"Los Angeles, please," she said once we were in the back of the cab.

The cabbie chewed on his cigar skeptically, and I couldn't blame him. "That's three hundred miles. For hat, you gotta pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked, pulling out her LotusCash card.

The cabbie shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

She handed him the card, which he looked at, the skepticism radiating from him in waves.

"Swipe it," Annabeth said, gesturing at the card.

He signed and swipe it through his machine. The meter immediately started flashing, lights flashed, and it rattled for a bit before an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign. I leaned back in my seat, getting comfy for the journey as the cigar fell from the cabbie's mouth, his wide eyes turned back to look at us.

"Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"

"The Santa Monica Pier," said Annabeth, straightening up smugly from the title. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

She probably shouldn't have said that, seeing as the speedometer was never lower than ninety-five through the Mojave Desert. Personally, I was terrified.

We had a lot of time to talk on the road, and Percy started to tell us all about this dream that he had while we were on the truck with the animals. He looked like he was really struggling to remember what the details were but it sounded something like this:

It started out with him wearing a straight jacket and taking a test, which would have been horrific enough, then he was beside a puck-looking girl who was also wearing a straight jacket. Then he was in this, pit, he said, and there was a voice coming from the pit and another voice that he recognized but couldn't place. The second voice, not coming from the pit, was calling the thing in the pit 'my lord', like he was the servant. The thing in the pit had mentioned two items, one obviously the master bolt, but what was the other item? It wasn't mentioned in the dream. There was another name though, that he couldn't remember.

Then they recognized his presence, got mad, then the dream changed again and he was in a chamber with a throne made of human bones that were all fused together. His mother was standing at the base it it, frozen, and he tried to take a step to her but couldn't move. Skeletons attacked him, and his dream faded.

I recognized the throne room immediately as my grandfathers, I had never seen it but who else would have a throne made entirely of bones? The rest of it, that was a total mystery to me.

"The Silent One?" Annabeth mused, turning the discussion to the forgotten title, "The Rich One? Both of those are nickname's for Hades."

"Maybe..." Percy was lost, trying to remember.

"That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said.

I nodded. "That's how it's usually described," I said tightly. I refused to believe that my own grandfather was the one who started this whole thing. But I had to play it cool, none of them knew about that. I saw Annabeth glance at me, noticing my tone, but quickly dismissed whatever thought came to her head.

"Something's wrong," Percy said, shaking his head. "The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream, And that voice from the pit... I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

That reminded me of my dream, when we were on the train. A voice that was more than a gods. I couldn't bring that up though, not without the long and grueling explanation.

Tiffany Hanson, A Percy Jackson Fan FictionWhere stories live. Discover now