𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐑, 𝐏𝐉

𝟎𝟏𝟐

She rushed out and met a horrified Annabeth and Percy, alongside a dazed Grover. The Lotus bellhop hurried up to them as they tried to walk out. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?" 

"We're leaving," Percy told him. 

"Such a shame," he said, and Juliet got the feeling that he really meant it, that they'd be breaking his heart if they went. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members." 

He held out the cards, and Juliet wanted one. She knew that if she took one, she'd never leave. she'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, dancing forever, and soon she'd forget her dad, her friends, her siblings and her quest, and maybe even her own name. Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks." 

They walked toward the door, and as they did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. Juliet thought about their room upstairs. They could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once. . . . Then they burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day they'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. 

The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert. Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when they went in. 

Then Juliet noticed the date: June twentieth. They had been in the Lotus Casino for five days. They had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete their quest.

It was Annabeth's idea. She loaded them into the back of a Vegas taxi as if they actually had money, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please." 

The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front." 

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked. 

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

Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card. He looked at it skeptically. 

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited. 

He did. His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign. The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at them, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles. . . uh, Your Highness?" 

"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. Juliet could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change." Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert. 

On the road, they had plenty of time to talk. Percy told Juliet, Annabeth and Grover about his latest dream, but the details got sketchier the more he tried to remember them. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited his memory. "The servant had called the monster in the pit something other than "my lord" . . . some special name or title. . . ."

"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades." 

"Maybe . . ." He said, though neither sounded quite right. 

"That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

Percy shook his head. "Something's wrong. 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."