Disclaimer: The world of Percy Jackson, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of Rick Riordan and his publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.
Waking up after being asleep for nearly 16 hours should be nice, but apparently my body didn't get that memo.
My head was pounding, my throat was dry, and there were spots flying around like flies in my vision. I groaned, but the movement only aggravated my sore muscles, then I wanted to cry. Motherfucker- this is worse than the time I broke my knee then had an allergic reaction to the painkillers the hospital gave me.
"Hey, Ophelia, shh." Luke entered my vision, slowly helping me sit up. "There we go, don't move, let me get you some nectar."
I nodded, tears dripping out of my eyes at the movement.
A straw entered my mouth and I greedily gulped it down, welcoming the sweet taste of Mãe's chocolate chip cookies. I finished it quickly enough. I had practically inhaled it, and my entire body was no longer screaming in pain with every breath I took.
"Thank you," I breathed out.
"No problem." Luke smiled.
"No problem?" Annabeth butted in. "You nearly killed us! That's a problem!"
I winced at her sharp tone. "Right. I've got to explain."
"You think?" Her tone is biting.
Luke eyed us both.
"First of all, please stop calling me Percy, Annabeth, you can call me Ophelia. I nearly killed you, I think you deserve it."
Annabeth did not look impressed.
"Second of all, as I explained to Luke just before, I know the future."
"Wha- ?" Her nonplussed expression said it all.
I held up a hand to stop her. "I know, it's weird, I'll explain."
"You better," she grumbled, wide-eyed.
"Right, so, the Fates allowed me to see a future- but the problem is, it's not this future. I mean, it's pretty close, a lot of things have been pretty much identical, but at other times it all goes off the rails." I anxiously started scratching at a patch of my neck. "The future I saw was from another world, and while I know all about that world, this one is different. Different things are going to happen- above all, I'm definitely going to act differently. That's how I knew about Medusa and why I'm so insistent we go to Las Vegas. Some things have to happen, while I try to avoid other things."
"Why do you know the future? What's going to happen?" she said, shrewdly.
"I don't know why I was chosen. Maybe it's because of the Great Prophecy? I don't know. And the future... trust me when I say you don't want to know." There's blood under my nails. I hope it's mine.
Annabeth frowned. "How does Luke know this?"
It was Luke's turn to look anxious. "She showed up in my dream to explain."
"What?"
"My soul has been detached from my body for the past couple of hours because I 'let loose' in that waterpark. I just wandered around in the in-between of Life and Death until I finally managed to find Luke's dream. I'm not sure what I'm doing either."
That made both Luke and Annabeth gape at me.
"And I'm really sorry about the waterpark," I begged. "I didn't want to hurt anyone. There's just so much pressure to not get everybody killed, and everything just built up and I couldn't just push it all away anymore."
Luke just sighed and let his head drop to his hands.
Annabeth's frown became even deeper, but it was her eyes that pinned me in place. "Ophelia, what the fuck?"
I gave her a sheepish grin. "Exactly."
"Do you even know what you're doing?" Annabeth asked.
"I've got a plan!" I protested. "It might get me killed, but you'll be fine!"
"That's not a plan!" Luke immediately vetoed.
I rolled my eyes. "What else am I going to do? Tell the gods the future and let them smite all three of us? I know what cards are on the table, I can cheat."
"And what are the cards?" Annabeth growled, looking frustrated.
"Kronos is rising, the gods are going to deny it until the last possible minute, and there's a bunch of campers turning traitors because the gods are, admittedly, assholes," I deadpanned.
Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "Anything else?"
"Luke was the one who stole the master bolt!"
"Hey!" he yelled, not happy to be thrown under the bus.
"Luke!" Annabeth shouted, horrified. "You did what?"
"I'm not working for Kronos anymore!" he defended himself. "He wanted me to kill you two!"
"You stopped working with Kronos because he wanted you to murder us?" Annabeth yelled. "And not because he wanted, oh yes, THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF OUR PARENTS?"
"Annabeth, please, our parents are assholes," I interrupted.
"No. Ophelia, stay out of this," she hissed with barely concealed venom.
I swiftly put my arms up in surrender, only to immediately regret it because I think I just pulled a dozen of my muscles.
While I was busy trying to see how much I could move without straining myself, it was very amusing to see Annabeth chew out Luke. She screamed at him for nearly an hour.
Snagging a bag of Doritos, I watched as this tiny angry preteen girl screamed her lungs out at this pale, terrified, adult man. Her Greek was better than most movie scripts and not to mention...
I glanced around to see blank-eyed mortals.
Yup. The Mist was probably working overtime to cover up the details of what Annabeth was screaming about, but it was no doubt working. If it wasn't, I'd bet someone would have called security on us already.
All in all, man, this is better than watching Stranger Things!
"How could you!" she screeched one last time.
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to protect our family," Luke repeated for the millionth time.
Apparently that was the straw that broke the camel's back because Annabeth launched herself into his arms.
"Never do that again!" she sobbed, burying herself until all I could see were blond locks.
"It's okay, I won't, I swear," he promised, holding her tight.
Great. Now I'm the one feeling awkward.
I shuffled over to them and put a hand on Annabeth's back.
"If he does, I'll help you kick his ass," I promised. "Not that you'll need the help, of course. I call dibs on the entrails though."
She weakly chuckled, "Damn straight."
Nobody paid heed to Luke's mumble of, "Traitors, the both of you."
We all grinned; we're alright. No more secrets.
-
We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too busy or drunk to pay us much attention.
We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick.
Out of the three of us, I knew what we were looking for, but I was still slightly terrified of finding it.
We took a turn, and ended up on a dead-end street, 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. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.
Well, here goes nothing.
"You two are staying out here, I'm going in by myself," I ordered, marching forwards.
"What? No way, seaweed brain, we're going in too!" Annabeth protested.
"No, you're not," I insisted. "Don't you know what that is? That's the lair of the Lotus Eaters! If you go in and be their guest, they will curse you to want to stay in there forever!"
"What!" Luke yelped. "And what in Olympus' name makes you think that going in there is a good idea, then?"
"Don't yell at me!" I quickly tried to placate them. "But my dark, shadowy and death-y cousins are in there and they've been stuck in there since before the Big Three took their oath!"
Annabeth looked like she wanted to throttle me. Or just gut me and be done with it. Even odds, really, considering her steely expression. "And you want to get them out? Are you insane?"
"I just told you not to yell at me!" I cried. "And they're really nice! I just need to get them out first!"
"And," Luke said, rubbing his temples, "why can't we go in with you?"
"Because you'll get caught in the trap! Look. I'll go in, if I'm not out in 24 hours, you go back to Olympus and give back the symbols of power! Then, once World War 3 is averted, you can come back to get me out!"
"Ophelia, you're insane." Annabeth deadpanned. Luke's glower wasn't much better.
"And it's the best plan we can feasibly do. Now, please, go break into the Marriott across the street. I should be back within the day; you know what to do if I'm not."
I turned to go inside the casino, but Luke grabbed my arm.
"Ophelia?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't die."
I grinned. "As if death could keep me down."
-
The whole lobby was a giant game room, and I'm not talking about 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, you 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.
This was even better than the casino scene in that horrible 'The Lightning Thief' movie.
"Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bell-hop. 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."
Knowing full well what that thing was, I had to hold myself back from slapping it out of his hand.
"Thanks!" I said, my smile fixed.
"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 is your LotusCash card. It works in restaurants and on all the games and rides."
"Oh!" I smiled sheepishly. "Do you mind giving me extras? I manage to lose such things so easily!"
"Of course, here you go!" He handed me three more cards. "Enjoy your stay!"
"I will!" I called over my shoulder.
And the Oscar for the Best Actress goes to... me!
Now... to find the Di Angelo siblings. Where would they be?
Wait. I'm a fucking idiot.
I approached a nearby bellhop, a sweet smile on my face.
"Excuse me, sir?"
"Yes, young lady?"
"I seem to have become separated from my cousins; we entered together but I just can't seem to find them anywhere! They're younger than me, so I'm quite worried about them." Perfect shining, fearful, eyes: Activated.
"Oh, of course, young miss. What're their names? I can help you find them." He smiled, looking far too happy to be a normal human.
"Nico and Bianca Di Angelo."
His smile gets impossibly wider, and I swear I can see teeth on his tongue like he's some sort of goose.
"Follow me," he said.
I kept my hand on Riptide the ring, fiddling with it as I followed him to a darker area of the Casino.
"They should be here." He grinned, the smile stretching just slightly into uncanny valley territory. "Good luck!"
I had to hold myself back from stabbing him, right here and now, because when he turned to walk away, his hair flickered from a flaxen blond to a bundle of thorny vines, back to normal human hair- except now brown. These motherfucking Lotus Eaters are going to make me go insane.
The area he had taken me to was straight out of a Noir movie. There were 1920's flappers walking around and talking to 1940's soldiers. Cigarette smoke wafted from nearly everywhere, making me cough. The lights were those old gas ones that flickered at strange intervals. There was a noticeable lack of electricity, but a few arcade games were scattered around.
I could see everything from a wine bar to a rugby game going on in this area, and my head spun trying to figure out how I'm going to find my cousins.
-
So, turns out I didn't need to worry so much about that.
I was trying to see if I could spot any small dark-haired Italians playing Mytho-Magic, when one of them ran straight into me, bowling me over.
"Oof!" I tumbled to the ground.
I quickly scrambled up and turned to see who the human projectile was.
A small kid, around my height, had run straight into me. He peeked up at me from behind his dark, curly bangs.
"You okay, kiddo?" I asked, apologetic.
"Yes, I'm so sorry!" the boy babbled, accepting my hand up. "My sister's always telling me I should be more careful, but someone said they're betting a Hades figurine in a Mytho-Magic game, and I was really excited."
That made me stop. I think I blue-screened for a second there.
No way. My luck can't be this good.
"Wait a second, are you- "
"Nico!"
Bianca Di Angelo had come running, her hair in a milkmaid braid updo. She grabbed her brother, dusting him off with the practised care of a mother hen- something I'm very familiar with ever since I became friends with Luke- before turning back to me.
"I'm sorry about my brother. He has a tendency to run around. Oh! I'm sorry, I've been rude," she exclaimed. "I'm Bianca Di Angelo, this is my little brother, Nico."
"It's fine!" I smiled back politely. "I've been looking for you two!"
She blinked. "You have?"
"Yep! I'm your cousin, Ophelia, from our father's side!"
"We have a cousin?" Nico exclaimed. "Cool!"
"I'm sorry." Bianca frowned in contrast. "But I don't ever remember you being mentioned before. You look younger than Nico, are your parents here?"
"I'm nearly 13!" I whined. "I'm just short! My Mãe is with your father right now."
Technically not a lie.
"Is our father here?" Bianca asked, her brow furrowed.
"Well, no."
"What's going on then?" she asked. I could see that her grip on Nico's arm had tightened just slightly. More obviously. she had shifted so she was standing in front of him.
Shoot, I've activated the protective older sister instincts.
"Maybe we should sit down? This is hard to explain," I tried to placate.
Her eyes gleamed before she nodded slowly. "Alright."
-
Once we cosied ourselves up in a booth with a cup of water that I was languidly sipping, I placed my cup down before levelling my gaze at the both of them.
"You may be wondering what in the nine hells is going on here. The origin of all your answers can be summarized thus; your dad is a Greek god."
Okay, fine, that was probably not the best way to explain things to two demigods out of time, but whoever said I knew what I was doing?
Bianca shot up, threw my own cup of water at me and tried to run away with her mouth open, arms tightly wound around her brother with the beginning of "Securi-" rising from her throat.
Well, I certainly wasn't going to find her if she really did manage to run away, so I formed a water barrier in the direction she tried to run instead. She turned around, wide-eyed, only to find me not-at-all wet.
"Bianca," I began, and I must've been doing something right because for all her panic she was obviously listening. "I swear on the River Styx that I mean you no harm, that I only want the best for you and her brother, and right now, all I want to do it fill you in on what's really been going on with your life so you are able to make an informed decision without everybody else deciding for you."
Thunder rumbled overhead, sealing the oath.
"Oh dio, donaci forza," she muttered but didn't protest when the water gently nudged her to sit down again.
Nico, on the other hand, had literal stars in his eyes. He kept gaping at my water barrier and mouthing things I resolutely tuned out of my mind. Instead, I kept my focus on Bianca.
A couple more prayers to God in Italian later, I had directed all the water back into my cup and we once again tried to talk.
"So basically, your dad is Hades who's the Greek God of the Underworld, and he stuck you in here to stop you from getting murdered. Think politics where your dad's a big player, and his children are of concern to all the other gods, especially since the Big Prophecy concerns you guys. It's the reason why I, myself, am also of concern to the gods. The children of the Big Three, what we call the three most powerful Olympians, all are. Outside of this place, over 70 years have passed. Before you ask, that's the reason why your dad stuck you in here in the first place; time runs differently in here compared to the outside. And me? I'm your cousin who knows too much that's here to explain things."
"Cool," Nico gaped.
"No! Not cool, Nico!" Bianca protested. "This is insane!"
"Yeah, I know that." I shrugged. "But can't it be both?"
"It's both." Nico nodded.
Oh goodness, this boy is so precious, I want to adopt him!
"And what now?" Bianca asked, looking scared. "You're going to get us out and take us to be trained in that- that death camp?"
"Uh? No? Who told you that Camp Half-Blood's a death camp?"
"Our Mamma did," Nico piped up. "She said something about, uh-" His face screwed up adorably. "Child soldiers? And prison?"
"No!" I gaped, shaking my head vigorously. "The existence of Camp Half-Blood, first and foremost, is to provide a place specifically tailored towards creating a society of Greek demi-gods. It teaches us to fight, because if we don't, how else are we supposed to stand a chance against the monsters that come after us simply for existing?"
Bianca scoffed. "And what about the quests, hm?" she snarled. "What about the so-called gods sending demi-gods to their deaths, again and again, and again?"
Okay. This is going to go precisely nowhere; she's too tense, and mistrusting, and combined with the maturity of a teenager as well as legitimate grievances in the form of her dead mother, she's not going to actually listen and ponder what I'm going to be saying. I have to show that I'm on her side, or at least prove that I'm a neutral party who knows the world better than she does.
"Look, the gods? They aren't perfect. Hells, if you asked me I'll tell you straight up that most of them are raging jackasses with egos a size that's only second to their libidos! They're assholes, man-children and in some cases, morons! But-" I pulled out Riptide, the blade pointedly facing away from them. "Can you honestly tell me that demi-gods as a whole would survive to see adulthood if not for Camp, if not for the instructors, nymphs, satyrs, the free lodgings and food that they give us? Without the weapons, and bear in mind that only specific metals can actually do anything against monsters, that they provide us? Admittedly, the system isn't perfect, but also admittedly, it's better than nothing."
I leaned forwards, willing my gaze to drill holes into her head.
"The gods don't give us everything," I state, quietly, firmly. "But still, they give us things that we mortals would never be able to get and maintain ourselves, so what's the problem? Our main goal is survival, and as long as beings that can cause natural disasters as easily as toddlers throw temper tantrums are willing to help us in whatever capacity they're willing, why wouldn't we take advantage? Unless..."
I sit back and shake my head morosely, letting them see the disappointment that must be all but etched into my face.
"Unless you don't want to be with the rest of your kin? You don't want to see your biggest allies and friends, never give yourself the chance to meet your comrades? Unless you believe you can survive on your own, all alone, never trusting anyone to watch your back? To be isolated and never let yourself live, only just survive? Or maybe it's not about the company of other demi-gods at all." I studied her face, drinking in the dark features that marked her a Daughter of the Lord of the Dead.
"Maybe you simply don't want what the gods are willing to give? You're willing to stake out on your own, here with your brother, content to live in this death-trap of sweet-temptation and empty promises, simply because of your scorn for the gods? You're willing to give up the world, a life beyond the nice, but ultimately fake dream you live here, because of pride? Arrogance, even?"
"No!" Bianca snapped, fists pounding the table as she loomed over me with a glare filled with death and promises. "Do you think we wanted this? This, this life, cut off from everything we've ever known? No! We didn't! But right now, here is the only place where we're safe!"
"I know!" I roared right back, getting up and shoving my face against hers. "I know! Why do you think I'm here, talking to you guys anyway! 'A child of the eldest gods, Will reach sixteen against all odds!' That's a line of the prophecy, and entities more powerful than you and I have killed and murdered and slaughtered for reasons less sane than that! Somebody's destined to either save or kill and the Olympians, and the gods don't like that! Hells, they hate it! So if you would sit down and let me explain the whole fucking story, we can get on to arguing without misinformation GETTING IN THE FUCKING WAY!"
Notably, throughout the whole exchange, the cup of water in front of me didn't so much shudder.
So there we were, two teenagers, butting heads about topics that philosophers and atheists wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, when Nico spoke up.
"Um, Bianca?"
"Yes?" She immediately turned to her brother who had been strangely silent up until now.
"I don't think she's lying." He earnestly gazed up at her with his adorably dark eyes and ohmygodIcan'teven.
"She swore on the River Styx," he continued. "Mamma and papá always said that people who swore on the River Styx can't break their promise or bad things would happen. Nothing bad has happened, so I don't think she's lying."
"I also know more about the state of the world than you, and I can prove it by the way, and I'm also willing to fill you guys in on the rather important knowledge that nobody has bothered to tell you until now," I added helpfully.
Bianca stared at me before ordering, "Swear on the River Styx that you're not lying."
"I, Persephone Ophelia Jackson, Daughter of Poseidon and Sally Jackson, solemnly swear on the River Styx that I haven't lied to you once up to now and that I will not lie to either of you for the rest of the duration inside the Lotus Hotel and Casino."
Cue the customary rumble of thunder.
She nodded once, satisfied, before gesturing something that I assumed was to tell me to get on with it.
And get on with it I did.
In the end, all I had to ask was this: "Do you want to see the world now or later? Better yet, does your brother want to see the world now or later?"
The siblings had to excuse themselves for a hell of an argument if the cursing in Italian was anything to go by, but the end result had me sagging in relief.
"Alright, wait here and don't move. I mean it, don't move. I'm going to see if I can find something for you guys to defend yourselves with. No way you guys are stepping outside of this place without being armed."
Navigating the hotel was as easy as asking for directions to the nearest Greek training ground. I mean, indoor water-park; the next step's obviously anything I can think of, right? Giggling as I tracked down where they kept the weapons for rent, I paid with my LotusCash cards and got an entire bag full of selective demi-god grade weapons. Rushing back to the siblings, I let them pick out which weapon they were least likely to stab themselves with as we made a beeline to the exit.
True, I could've gutted that one guy who tried to make us eat one of those lotus cakes a mere five feet from the door, but I just pushed past without a word.
Let us not tangle with Lotus Monsters that even the gods haven't gotten rid of yet, amen.
-
I smirked as I left the Casino and saw a billboard proclaiming the date.
"1:27 AM, JUNE 16, 2005"
Ha! I did it! I went into the casino and got out within 24 hours! In fact, I got in and out within 5 hours. That has to be a record.
Digging out a drachma in front of a curious Nico and wary Bianca, I tossed the coin into the road (it sank through, and it's as creepy and it sounds) before crying out, "Stêthi, Ô hárma diabolês!"
A few seconds later, the Taxi of Smoke and Supreme Creepiness rose up out of the asphalt. I ushered them in, explaining that no matter how unsafe it felt, this was the easiest, most straight-forward and iron-clad method of getting to camp I currently had available, and I wasn't risking them being brainwashed inside the place of Eldritch Abominations by leaving them in there.
I then knocked on the front window which sank down to reveal the Grey Sisters staring at me with their one shared eye. I held up one of my LotusCash cards. Going by the way they tried to snatch it away, they knew what it was.
"You get to keep it," I shook the card for emphasis, "if you all swear on the River Styx to take Nico and Bianca Di Angelo right to the very edge of Camp Half-Blood border, and I mean the metaphysical one, not the property line. You will also swear not to tell anyone, willingly or unwillingly, accidentally or otherwise, that you met them or me today. The vows apply until the end of time immemorial, understood?"
One of the sisters, I'm not sure which, grumbled out, "You'll just threaten us at swordpoint until we do, wouldn't you?"
I smiled as apologetically as I could manage. "Terribly sorry, but paranoia and legitimate worry over people I care about makes one cautious."
They all swore the oaths and zoomed off. If I strained my ears, I think I heard Nico screaming with elation while Bianca shrieked like the ground had fallen out from under her. Remembering what I read from the books, that feeling wasn't far off.
Sending out a minor prayer to whichever god or goddess lords over car sickness, I headed towards the Marriott across the street.
Sneaking in was surprisingly easy, and soon I was wandering the corridors to find which room Luke and Annabeth had broken into.
Luke was apparently thinking further ahead than I because, after 20 minutes, I found a note taped to a door on the fifth-floor proclaiming, 'SISTER, WE ARE IN HERE,' in Greek.
I slammed the door open, startling a half-dressed Luke from where he was drying his hair. A thunk announced Annabeth falling off the bed from where she was watching National Geographic.
"Guess who was successful!" I cheered happily.
"You," Luke deadpanned, but there was a smile sneaking onto his face.
"Yep! And look!" I waved my remaining three green LotusCash cards at them. "I stole us some unlimited credit cards too!"
"Wait, really?" Annabeth said in disbelief.
I threw myself onto the bed and laughed freely. "We're going to Los Angeles in style, baby!"