The war god was waiting for the group in the diner parking lot.
“Well, well,” he said. “You didn’t get yourself killed.”
“You knew it was a trap,” Percy said.
Ares gave him a wicked grin. “Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV.”
Percy shoved his shield at him. “You’re a jerk.”
Annabeth and Grover caught their breath. Phaedra mentally applauded him.
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.
“See that truck over there?” He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. “That’s your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas.”
The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which Phaedra could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.
What part of this would be humane?
Percy said, “You’re kidding.”
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. “Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here’s a little something for doing the job.”
He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to Percy.
Inside were fresh clothes for all of them, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.
Percy said, “I don’t want your lousy—”
“Thank you, Lord Ares,” Grover interrupted, giving Percy his best red-alert warning look.
“Thanks a lot.” Percy gritted his teeth. Reluctantly, he slung the backpack over his shoulder.
Phaedra looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who’d served them dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt them.
She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of them.
Damn, can yall stop taking pictures of us? I know we're attractive, but you don't need to advertise it.
“You owe me one more thing,” Percy told Ares, trying to keep my voice level.
“You promised me information about my mother.”
“You sure you can handle the news?” He kick-started his motorcycle. “She’s not dead.”
The ground seemed to spin beneath Percy. “What do you mean?”
“I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That’s metamorphosis. Not death. She’s being kept.”
“Kept. Why?”
Obviously to control you. The easiest way to control somebody is to take hostage of something or someone they love. Get them to do your bidding.
“You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else.”
"Called it." Phaedra said quietly to herself.
"Not the time, Phaedra." Annabeth told her. Phaedra crossed her arms across her chest and looked away.
“Nobody’s controlling me.”
He laughed. “Oh yeah? See you around, kid.”
Percy balled up his fists. “You’re pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues.” Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. Pheadra felt a hot wind in her hair.
“We’ll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you’re in a fight, watch your back.”
He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street.
Annabeth said, “That was not smart, Percy.”
“I don’t care.”
"You better start caring. Dude might just kill you like he did to other sons of Poseidon." Phaedra told him, giving him a look. "I'm not going to protect you with that because you decided to piss off a god. I'm not taking that chance with you."
“You don’t want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god.” Annabeth said.
“Hey, guys,” Grover said. “I hate to interrupt, but...” He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.
“If we’re taking the zoo express,” Grover said, “we need to hurry.”
Phaedra didn't like it, but they had no better option. Besides, she'd seen enough of Denver.
They ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind them.
The first thing that hit Phaedra was the smell. It was like the world’s biggest pan of kitty litter.
The trailer was dark inside until Percy uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals she’d ever beheld: a zebra, a male
albino lion, and some weird antelope thing Phaedra didn't ’t know the name for.
Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn’t want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra’s mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!
Nasty beasts decided to treat these animals horribly. They should get beaten up.
Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess
with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer.
He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.
“This is kindness?” Grover yelled. “Humane zoo transport?”
"These people need to get their asses kicked." Phaedra said to Grover, who nodded in agreement.
He probably would’ve gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and Phaedra would’ve helped him, but just then the truck’s engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and they were forced to sit down or fall down.
They huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly.
Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but Percy pointed out it wouldn’t do much good until the truck stopped moving.
Besides, Phaedra had a feeling they
might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips.
Percy found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used Anaklusmos to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. He gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.
Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. Phaedra wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra’s mane, too, but they decided that would be too risky with the truck bumping around.
They told Grover to promise the animals they’d help them more in the morning, then they settled in for night.
Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuf Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly.
“Hey,” Annabeth said, “I’m sorry for freaking out back at the water park,
Percy.”
“That’s okay.”
“It’s just...” She shuddered. “Spiders.”
“Because of the Arachne story,” Percy guessed. “She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?”
Annabeth nodded. “Arachne’s children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there’s a spider within a mile of me, it’ll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you.”
“We’re a team, remember?” Percy said. “Besides, Grover did the fancy flying.”
Phaedra thought he was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, “I was pretty amazing, wasn’t I?” Annabeth, Percy and Phaedra laughed.
"So what's your excuse, Phaedra?" Percy asked her.
"Excuse for what?" She replied.
"Excuse for being scared of spiders."
"I've have many scary encounters with spiders, so I'm scared of them. Simple as that." He nodded.
Annabeth pulled apart an Oreo, handed Percy half. “In the Iris message...did Luke really say nothing?”
“Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn’t fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree.”
Phaedra looked down at her lap. Grover let out a mournful bray.
“I should’ve told you the truth from the beginning.” His voice trembled.
“I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn’t want me along.”
“You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus.”
He nodded glumly.
“And the other three half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp...” he looked at the two girls. “That was you guys and Luke, wasn’t it?”
Annabeth put down her Oreo, uneaten. “Like you said, Percy, two seven-year-old half-bloods wouldn’t have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They’d both run away from home, like me. Phaedra was seven. She hadn't run away, her mom left, they took me in. They were happy to take me with them. They were...amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us.”
“I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp,” he said, sniffling. “Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don’t do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn’t just leave Luke, Annabeth and Phaedra by themselves. I thought...I thought I could lead all four of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I’d just been a little quicker...”
“Stop it,” Phaedra said, speaking up for the first time since Thalia was mentioned. “No one blames you. Thalia didn’t blame you
either.”
“She sacrificed herself to save us,” he said miserably. “Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so.”
“Because you wouldn’t leave two other half-bloods behind?” Percy said.
“That’s not fair.”
"Fuck the council. They just hate you because you're better than them in every single way Grover. They're jealous." Phaedra told the satyr.
“Percy’s right,” Annabeth said. “Phaedra and I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don’t care what the council says.”
Grover kept sniffling in the dark. “It’s just my luck. I’m the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy.”
“You’re not lame,” Annabeth insisted. “You’ve got more courage than any satyr I’ve ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you’re here right now.” She kicked Percy in the shin.
“Yeah,” Percy said, which Phaedra thought he would’ve done even without the kick. “It’s not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You’ve got the biggest heart of
any satyr ever. You’re a natural searcher. That’s why you’ll be the one who finds Pan.”
Phaedra heard a deep, satisfied sigh. She waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring, she realized he’d fallen sleep.
“How does he do that?” Percy marveled.
“I don’t know. I want to learn how to do that,” Phaedra said. “But that was really a nice thing you told him.”
“I meant it.”
They rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully.
Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.
“That pine-tree bead,” Percy said. “Is that from your first year?” She looked. She hadn’t realized what she was doing.
“Yeah,” she said. “Every August, the counselors pick the most important
event of the summer, and they paint it on that year’s beads. Phaedra and I have got Thalia’s pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—now that was a
weird summer....”
“And the college ring is your father’s?”
“That’s none of your—” She stopped herself. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.”
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“No...it’s okay.” She took a shaky breath. “My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn’t have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her....That’s a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it.
He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Yeah, well...the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn’t want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn’t even make it through winter break. I called
Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood.”
“You think you’ll ever try living with your dad again?” She wouldn’t meet Percy's eyes. “Please. I’m not into self-inflicted pain.”
At least your parent tried. I haven't seen my mom since that night when I was seven.
“You shouldn’t give up,” Percy told her. “You should write him a letter or
something.”
“Thanks for the advice,” she said coldly, “but my father’s made his choice about who he wants to live with.”
They passed another few miles of silence.
“So if the gods fight,” Percy said, “will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon? Would Apollo fight alongside Poseidon?”
Annabeth put her head against the backpack Ares had given them, and closed her eyes. “I don’t know what my mom will do. I just know I’ll fight next to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?”
"Would you fight next to me, Phaedra?" Percy asked the girl who seemed to be in her thoughts, while also listening to the conversation.
"Of course. You two are my friends. I would always fight by your side, no matter what. Except for in a horror movie. I would leave you both to fend for yourselves because I need to live." Phaedra said with a smile. Percy chuckled to himself quietly.
Annabeth fell asleep.
Phaedra became bored because she couldn't sleep. She decided to mess with the lion by conjuring a light on the floor of the lion's cage. Said lion had snapped its sight to the ball of light on the floor. She moved it a little.
The lion moved to catch the light. The split second the lion "landed" on the light, she moved it to another part of the cage. She laughed quietly to herself about the lion not noticing the boy with sea green eyes staring at her.
She kept messing with the lion, now noticing the boy moving closer to her.
"You're good with animals." Percy said, speaking up once he got close enough to her.
She was startled by his voice. She glanced at him, making eye contact with his sea green eyes and said "thank you."
Percy replied, "no problem."
She asks him "so you came over here just to say I'm great with animals and look at me?"
"Well, kinda." He simply replied.
She felt her face heat up and she rolled her eyes playfully and looked away from the boy.
"You seemed kind of upset when you guys were talking about...you know." He told her, scanning her face. She raised an eyebrow at him.
He became quiet. She looked down and asked him "about parents or about Thalia?"
"Both"
She nodded.
"You ok?"
She nodded and said "yup, I'm fine." She tried to hide the fact that she wasn't fine, and Percy probably noticed that.
"No you aren't." Her gaze snapped to him. She tilted her head in confusion.
How did he know that?
"It's bothering you."
"No its not."
"I can see it. It's written all over your face."
"It is?" She asked, in disbelief because she's usually great at hiding her emotions. She dropped her emotional mask. He nodded.
"Fine. It does bother me."
Percy nodded and said "makes sense."
She looked up at him and asked "What do you mean it makes sense?"
"For you to be upset about it."
"Yup. I can't help but be jealous of Annabeth to be honest." She felt guilty for saying that. She hated the fact that she had felt jealous of her friend since she was seven.
"Why?"
She answered "because. She's got a family who cares to keep trying with her. She got a second chance. I haven't seen mom since I was seven."
Percy nodded and said "Yikes, I couldn't imagine not having my mom." He suddenly froze. She gave him a sad look. He looked down and said "oh, right."
"Sorry, Percy. I'm here complaining about my family problems and you have your own. You're here to save your mom…"
"And you're helping me."
She sighed and said "let's be honest Percy. You only need two companions. I shouldn't be here. I'm only on this quest because Annabeth wanted to bring me along in the first quest she's had. You don't need me."
"I kinda do. You're the one with all the answers that isn't mean to me. So I can learn from you without feeling like a total idiot." Percy said honestly.
She smiled and said "nice. Plus I have cool powers."
"So cool." She laughed quietly as so not to wake up the sleeping satyr and demigod.
"I know I told you that my father gave me these powers. I'm pretty sure I didn't tell you why." He shook his head.
"Well, I was seven and it was right after my mom had left me there. In the alleyway. After a long time, I was very cold. A man, which I soon found out was my father, came over to me." He nodded
"Well we talked and he found out what happened and he gave me food. He saw that I was cold, and he gave me this power which made me warmer. It was very nice and cool. But then he knocked me out with his powers and left me in the alleyway. So nice thing to do but it only helped a little."
"Oh, wow.." Percy said, kind of stunned. She nodded
"That's kind of wild."
"It is, Dr. P. By the way, that's your new nickname."
"Really?" He asked her, incredulously.
She smiled brightly and said "yes, really, Dr. P"
He closed his eyes and said "your smile is still so blinding."
She turned her smile into a smirk and said "you just can't stand my beauty."
"Yeah that too." She turned into a tomato because of his words.
Dang I was only joking...smooth Jackson.
He smirked at her. She noticed his facial expression and looked away and put her face in her hands. He chuckled.
She sighed and said "ugh, I'll just go to sleep because I can't afford to keep turning into a tomato anymore."
"Ok, sunshine."
She blushed again and groaned. "Shut up, Jackson." With a very small smile on her face.
Percy looked at her and saw her smile. "Blinding smile is still there," he said.
She groaned and laughed a little, "leave me alone, Percy."
"No, I don't think I will."
She laid down and asked "why not?"
"It's fun to make you blush."
She rolled her eyes. "You are especially bold today."
"Night, sunshine."
"Night, Dr. P" Phaedra finally went to sleep. Peacefully too.
Phaedra woke up to Annabeth Shaking her. "Wake up, I think we're about to stop."
Grover was shaking Percy's shoulder. “The truck’s stopped,” he said. “We think they’re coming to check on the animals.”
“Hide!” Annabeth hissed. She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover, Percy and Phaedra had to dive behind feed sacks and hoped they looked like turnips.
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in. “Man!” one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. “I wish I hauled appliances.” He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals’ dishes.
“You hot, big boy?” he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion’s face. The lion roared in indignation.
I want to throttle these people.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the man said.
Next to Percy, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.
Period, Grover. Can we go beat them up now?
The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. “How ya doin’, Stripes? Least we’ll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You’re gonna love this one. They’re gonna saw you in half!” The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at Percy.
Pheadra tried to get up because she wanted to beat them until they were nothing but black and blue, but Percy pulled her back down.
There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer. The trucker inside with them yelled, “What do you want, Eddie?”
A voice outside—it must’ve been Eddie’s—shouted back, “Maurice? What’d ya say?”
“What are you banging for?”
Knock, knock, knock.
Outside, Eddie yelled, “What banging?”
Their guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.
A second later, Annabeth appeared next to Percy. She must’ve done the
banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. She said, “This transport business can’t be legal.”
“No kidding,” Grover said. He paused, as if listening. “The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!”
“We’ve got to free them!” Grover said. Grover, Annabeth and Phaedra looked at Percy. waiting for his lead.
Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but Phaedra knew they’d be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute.
"Well, leader? Are you gonna lead us or what?" Phaedra asked him.
Percy grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra’s cage. The zebra burst out. It turned to Percy and bowed.
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing.
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise,the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. They rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. They’d just released a zebra in Las Vegas.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them,
shouting, “Hey! You need a permit for that!”
“Now would be a good time to leave,” Annabeth said.
“The other animals first,” Grover said.
Percy cut the locks with his sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he’d used for the zebra.
“Good luck,” Percy told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.
Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.
“Will the animals be okay?” Percy asked Grover. “I mean, the desert and all
—”
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I placed a satyr’s sanctuary on them.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning they’ll reach the wild safely,” he said. “They’ll find water,
food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live.”
“Why can’t you place a blessing like that on us?” Percy asked.
“It only works on wild animals.”
“So it would only affect Percy,” Phaedra reasoned.
“Hey!” he protested.
“Kidding,” she said with a laugh. She patted his shoulder “Come on. Let’s get out of this filthy truck.”
They stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten
degrees, easy, and they must’ve looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay them much attention.
They passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. They passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica.
They must have taken a wrong turn, because they found themselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking.
No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossom, maybe. Phaedra had never smelled one, so she wasn’t sure.
The doorman smiled at them. “Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?”
Phaedra had learned to be suspicious the last week or so. She figured anybody might be a monster or a god. Sometimes they just couldn’t tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and she could see. Besides, she was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that she nodded and said we’d love to come in.
This might have been a stupid choice but I did it anyway.
Inside, they took one look around, and Grover said, “Whoa.”
The whole lobby was a giant game room. And its not cheesy old Pac-Man games or slot machines. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors.
There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.
“Hey!” a bellhop said. At least Phaedra guessed he was a bellhop.
He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. “Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here’s your room key.”
Percy stammered, “Um, but...”
“No, no,” he said, laughing. “The bill’s taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides.”
He handed them each a green plastic credit card. She knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought they were some millionaire’s kids. But she took the card and said, “How much is on here?”
His eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, when does it run out of cash?”
He laughed. “Oh, you’re making a joke. Hey, that’s cool. Enjoy your stay.”
That's suspicious. That's weird.
They took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite
with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips.
A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows.
A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so people could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with the gun. Phaedra didn’t see how that could be legal, but she thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though she doubted they’d ever find time to look at the view with a
room like this.
“Oh, goodness,” Annabeth said. “This place is...”
“Sweet,” Grover said. “Absolutely sweet.”
There were clothes in the closet, and they fit her. She frowned, thinking that this was a little strange.
"How the hell do they have our exact sizes?" Phaedra asked.
"I don't know, just go with it." Annabeth told her. Phaedra shrugged and just let it go.
Percy threw Ares’s backpack in the trash can.
Phaedra took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. She changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than she had in a long time.
In the back of her mind, some small problem kept nagging her. But she decided to ignore it.
Pheadra came out of the bedroom and found that everyone else had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart’s content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.
“All those stations,” Percy told her, “and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?”
“It’s interesting.”
"You are such a stereotype." Phaedra told her. Annabeth rolled her eyes.
“I feel good,” Grover said. “I love this place.”
Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again. Phaedra laughed. It made him look like he was in bliss.
“So what now?” Annabeth asked. “Sleep?”
Grover and Percy looked at each other and grinned. They both held up our green plastic LotusCash cards.
“Play time,” Percy said.
Phaedra walked around and looked at everything. It seemed so perfect. Too perfect. She wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings when she bumped into something. The force sent both her and the thing she bumped into, to the floor.
"Ow! Hey, watch where you're going!" Phaedra looked up to see a little boy looking at her. He seemed to be at least 9 or 10 years old. He had shaggy, messy dark hair. He had an olive complexion, with dark brown eyes.
"I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." She stood up and helped the little boy onto his feet. She helped him pick up his cards that had also fallen during the collision. She handed him the cards.
"Thank you. Youre pretty. Hey, do you want to play this game with me? It's called mythomagic." Phaedra looked at him confused because she had never heard of this game before.
"Nico! Are you bothering her?" She heard another voice ask. She looked to see where it came from, only to see an older girl walking towards them. She had long dark hair. She also had an olive complexion with dark brown eyes. She looked like the older girl version of the small child in front of Phaedra.
"No I'm not! I was just asking her if she wanted to play with me. Since you think my game is dumb and you don't want to play with me." the little boy, who she was assuming was the girls little brother, told her.
"It's ok, I bumped into him and he did ask me if I wanted to play. You know what, to make it up to you for making you drop your cards, I will play with you." Phaedra told the little boy.
He cheered and said "See, Bianca. At least someone wants to play with me." The girl, who's name was apparently Bianca, rolled her eyes but ultimately smiled at Phaedra.
"Thank you. Just know that he's very competitive at this game." Bianca told her.
Phaedra nodded and told her "I'm Phaedra. What's your name, little guy." She asked, directing her question to the little kid.
"I'm not a little guy. My name is Nico."
"Alright, Nico. Let's go play mythomagic."
"No! That's not fair!" Nico cried.
"What's not fair, Nico?" Phaedra asked, trying to hide her laughter.
"That you won! You're new to the game. You don't even know the rules." He pouted.
Sore loser.
"Well, I learn quickly. It's your fault for being a good teacher. Plus you won all of the other games. I won this one. It's only fair." That seemed to cheer him up for a bit.
"Phaedra! Where are you?" She heard a voice and she stood up. She saw Percy and Annabeth running towards her.
“Phaedra, Come on,” Percy told her. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
She just looked at him. "You're acting crazy, Percy. We're fine."
He shook her. “Phaedra?” She looked up, annoyed. “What?”
“We need to leave.” He took her hand and tried to pull her away from the siblings, but she yanked her hand away from him.
“Leave? What are you talking about? I’ve just won against this kid and I'm about to win aga—”
“This place is a trap.”
“What? Percy, you're trippin'. This place is fine.”
“Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!”
“Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes.”
“Phaedra, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever.”
“So?” she asked. “Can you imagine a better place? It sounds so awesome.”
He grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the kids.
“Hey!” She screamed and tried to go back, but Percy put both of his hands on the sides of her face and made her look directly in his eyes.
He said, “Snakes. Long, scary, venomous snakes.”
That jarred her. Her vision cleared. “Oh my gods,” she said. “How long have we—”
“I don’t know, but we’ve got to find Grover.”
Phaedra turned to the kids. "I can come back later and we can finish that game nico."
"Ok. Is that your boyfriend?" He asked. Phaedra blushed furiously.
"No! He's not my- bye Nico. Bye Bianca." And she followed Percy.
"Just so you know, if you make me think about snakes again, I will deck you faster than the speed of light. Ironic, considering I can control it." Phaedra told him seriously. He nodded.
They went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.
“Grover!” they all shouted.
He said, “Die, human! Die, silly, polluting nasty person!”
Hurtful. But like, I also understand. I don't like humans that much either.
“Grover!”
He turned the plastic gun on Percy and started clicking, as if he were just another image from the screen. Phaedra laughed and Percy nudged her side.
"Watch the hands, sir." She told him. He rolled his eyes.
Percy looked at Annabeth, and together they took Grover by the arms and dragged him away, while Phaedra Took her sweet time walking behind them.
His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, “No! I just got to a new level! No!”
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to them. “Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?”
“We’re leaving,” Phaedra told him.
“Such a shame,” he said, and she 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 she wanted one. She knew that if she took one, she’d never leave. She’d stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon she'd forget everything.
Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, “No, thanks.”
Wouldn't hurt to try.
Phaedra was still debating, but Percy grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the bellhop.
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. Phaedra could hear her brothers calling her back. She wanted to go back, despite knowing they weren't there.
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.
Ares’s backpack was slung over Percy's shoulder, which was odd, because she was sure he had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001, but at the moment she had other problems to worry about.
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 she noticed the date: June twentieth.
What the fuck?
"Really?! I just missed my birthday! That's not fair!" Phaedra cried out, upset.
"Really? When was your birthday?" Percy asked, curiously.
"June 17th. That's my birthday. Three days ago." She told him
"Well, then. Happy belated birthday, sunshine." He told her with a small smile.
Annabeth and Grover chorused a "happy birthday" to her and they focused back on the date.
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.
Word count: 6270
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