Nina's Destiny

The Lotus Hotel and Casino

We climbed into the van just as it started moving. the sudden motion threw us back into a pile of turnips at the sharp turn leading out of the gas station. I groaned and sat up. It was pitch black. I flexed my wrist to get my wand out of its holster and whispered, "Lumos Maxima," whilst swinging my wand towards the ceiling. A ball of light flew from the tip and hovered a few inches from the ceiling, illuminating us all. I looked around at everyone in the eerie light.

It smelt awful in the van, like a pile of dead, rotting trolls. Yeah, absolutely disgusting. Sitting in a row, were three cages. On the outside of the van, it said Kindness International. That was a lie. In the first cage, there was an antelope. It had a balloon wrapped around its horn. In the next cage was an albino lion. No one had wanted to get close enough to mess with him, but he was pacing his way of small cage on soiled blankets. The creature in the third cage was the most pitiful. It was a zebra. There was chewing gum in its mane and it was limping. I was so mad. How could someone be so cruel as to do all of this. The lion had two bags of turnips and the zebra and antelope each had a tray of raw hamburger meat. Needless to say, I was seeing red.

Annabeth took her knife and used it to chop the ribbon off the antelope's antler. She went to the zebra and cut its mane so that the gum was all out.

I put my wand back in my holster. There had to be something else we could do for the animals. A thought occurred to me. But would it really work? I had yet to try out the gift Apollo had gotten me. Should I call him lord? My fingers found the charm shaped like a pizza. Images of a bleeding steak and two gourmet salads filled my mind. I thanked Apollo and Artemis when the three meals appeared before me. I picked the steak up and tossed it to the lion. The salads I tossed to the antelope and the zebra.

"How did you do that?" asked Annabeth, shock written across her face.

"Oh," I said guiltily. "A Christmas present from g friend. Its d charm bracelet. Each charm summons different things. I have one that stores weapons, and one that summons food."

"And you didn't think to mention that before? Percy asked sarcastically.

"I honestly forgot about it," I said sheepishly.

Percy scowled at me, and Annabeth and Grover looked at me in astonishment.

Thank you, my lady.

I jumped. Percy turned to me with wide eyes. "Did you hear that?" I asked. Percy nodded to me. I turned to the zebra. He was staring at me with large brown eyes.

"You're welcome," I said. The zebra nodded its head before turning and curling up in a corner. I turned back to Percy. "I guess we understand horse?" It came out more as a question than I meant it.

"I guess," Percy said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the floor with him. C'mon. There's nothing we can do. Let's go to sleep."

"Night," I mumbled, curling up against Percy's side. I felt him wrap an arm around my shoulder and Percy kissing the top of my head as I drifted off.

Grover shook me and my brother awake the next morning. "The truck's stopped. We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide," Annabeth hissed at us. She put on her magic Yankees cap. I dived behind the turnip sacks with Percy and Grover just as the truckers walked in.

I heard Annabeth sneak out of the truck. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! I grinned, smart plan. The guy in the truck walked out. Percy and Grover jumped forward. Percy pulled out Riptide and broke the locks. The animals burst from their prisons and raced through the streets of Las Vegas. I made myself reappear and hugged the boys. The animals were safe.

We jumped out and met Annabeth. We all started running. We ran for a while before stopping at a hotel and casino. It was called the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The doorman smiled at us and welcomed him in. There was air-conditioning so I wasn't complaining.

A bell-hop walked up to us and took us to room 4001. He said it was already paid for. More of Ares' gift, perhaps. Oh well, I was just glad to be able to take a shower. The soap smelled like lotus blossoms, go figure. After that, we all went to sleep. I slept in a conjoining room with Annabeth.

As soon as the darkness fell over me, I was transported to a cold dark hall.

I was walking through the halls of what appeared to be a prison. I heard so many screams and the room felt cold. As I walked, I passed this creature covered in dark robes. It was leaning over a woman and sucking this white stuff out. I shivered and looked away. It was disturbing. I couldn't bear to watch. I sped up faster. I passed an insane looking woman who was muttering in her sleep. She was whispering about some dark lord and the Longbottoms. Was she talking about Neville's parents? I gulped and ran faster. When I reached the edge of the corridor, I saw one last cell. There was a man in there. His hair was long, dark, and matted. He appeared to be meditating. His eyes snapped open and his lips twisted into a smirk. "The daughter of Poseidon has joined our world," he whispered, his voice hoarse and scratchy from lack of use. I gasped, who was that man?

I woke up in a cold sweat.

The next day we played lots of games. My favorite was a karaoke game. I met this girl named Bianca Di Angelo while I was playing karaoke. She was really good and introduced me to her brother Nico. They were really nice. There was everything here. Eventually, Percy realized something was up. Percy quickly rushed us out of there. I wanted to grab Bianca and Nico, but wasn't enough time. When we got out, there were only one day left till the summer solstice.