Eventually, they had calmed down the antelope and had cut out the bubblegum from the Lion's mane.
Percy and Annabeth sat around Grover and Holly as they tried to get some sleep, Holly was off snoring as the two chatted. Eventually, they treaded on the topic of Thalia Grace. Daughter of Zeus.
When Holly woke up a few hours later, she found Percy looking at her oddly and there was a shift in the air. A cloud of sorrow, a thick blanket of sadness.
"What happened?" Holly asks, sitting up as Grover shifted on the space beside her. She pulled the cap from his head before it fell, "Did someone die?"
"Not yet," Percy said jokingly, and then he glanced at Holly who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I was just...thinking about you."
"Oh?" Holly asks, steam rising up her face and she rolls the shoulder of the arm she broke just to cover the blush on her face, but she's surprised at the lightness she felt.
Percy blushes as he realises what he said, he was thankful for the dim light or Holly would've for sure seen his blush. The thought made him even more embarrassed.
"I didn't- Well- What I meant- Annabeth told me what happened to Thalia, and..."
Holly freezes, glancing at Percy who had his knees tucked into his chest. He peaked at her, watching as she faces away and he thought he'd made a mistake by bringing it up and Holly wouldn't want to talk to him anymore until Holly spoke up;
"Did Annabeth tell you I was only seven when we came to camp? Same age as she did." Percy nodded. Holly sinks further into the bag of feeds, trying to find a semi comfortable position to rest her arm. "I was six when I ran away from home, the summer before my Aunt and Uncle were supposed to give me up to my grandmother- May she rest in pain."
"You don't...like her very much, do you?" Percy inferred, Holly nodded and shrugged.
"She was a terrible woman, a prejudiced one too. Thank the gods I left, or she would've brainwashed me like she did to my father. Anyway, my mother came to me in a dream. The first time ever, and she told me it was time to chase my destiny. She gave me instructions, told me to get on a boat to America. I was alone for months and I wanted to go back home so badly but I didn't know how, and then Luke and Thalia found me, after that...I met Annabeth. She'd just turned seven around that time, and it's been a while since I've been with someone my age so we became best friends instantly."
"Were you the youngest to ever arrive at camp?" Percy asks curiously.
Holly fumbles the beads of her necklace, "We were."
"Have you been home since?"
"Oh, plenty of times. After we arrived at camp, Chiron contacted my guardians to tell them I was there. They came to get me, but...I only agreed to go home if they swore they wouldn't leave me with my wretched grandmother. She died a year later, so she wasn't quite mad with the arrangements."
"Oh," Percy blinked, unsure what to say next as Holly shrugged. "I um...I heard you go to a boarding school now?"
"I do- wait, has Grover been gossiping about me?"
Percy smiled sheepishly, "I asked."
Holly shook her head, but her heart made a small jump before it quickened into a sprint. "Well, you go to boarding schools too, don't you?"
"I went," he corrected her. "A different one each year."
"I just started at my boarding school last year, it's quite fun isn't it, to be away from home for a while."
"You bet it is," Percy glanced at her arm which she's been picking on since she woke up. "Does it hurt?"
"Surprisingly, the pain is gone." Holly says, debating whether to take off the sling or not. "Whatever Ares gave me must've been magic."
"That's good," Percy hums, and then he rests his head against the door of the truck and closes his eyes.
"You can rest, I can keep watch." Holly says, reaching for her bag and organising the clutter inside.
"It's okay, I wasn't sleepy anyways. It's difficult sometimes, to fall asleep."
"Because of the nightmares?" Holly asks. "You mentioned them to Luke, but...you never mentioned it to us."
She knew of course, but they never spoke about it once he woke up.
"Mostly because of the nightmares," he says, and then he pats the patch they were sitting on. "Also because of the bed."
He was true of course; they've slept on the forest floor, on a railway train, now in a zoo truck.
Holly stretches her arm, nodding in agreement. "I would kill for a proper bed."
"Hopefully we'll get to soon," Percy hums as he lays back as Holly begins to hum. "But first..."
He didn't get to finish his sentence, he was already asleep as Holly continued humming a song.
***
Holly was sharpening her rapier when the truck stopped, she immediately retracted her rapier back into a quill before shaking Annabeth awake.
"The truck's stopped," Holly said as Annabeth stirred awake. "I think we're here."
Grover stirred awake next to Annabeth, and eventually all four were awake.
"We think they're coming to check on the animals," Grover explained to Percy as he sat up.
"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.
She had it easy. She just put on her yankees cap and disappeared. Grover, Holly and Percy had to dive behind feed sacks and hope 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.
Slowly, behind the turnip sacks, Holly untied the knot on her sling and flexed her arm. It didn't hurt anymore, she definitely felt lighter. She pulled out her quill, it flourished into a rapier in her hand.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.
Next to Percy, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous. Holly kept a cautiously close hand on Grover, prepared to pull him back in case he did anything he wasn't supposed to.
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. He stiffened, Holly glanced at him worriedly and nudges his arm in question.
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?"
Another Knock, knock, knock and Holly smiled widely.
Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"
Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.
A second later, Annabeth appeared next to them. 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. He and Annabeth both looked at Percy, waiting for his lead.
Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but Percy knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute.
Percy glanced at Holly who was keeping an eye on the door, she had her rapier in hand, ready in case she needed to fight.
And then he turned to the animals, they looked at him desperately and the zebra spoke in his mind once more, begging to be set free.
With his decision finally made, he grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.
The zebra burst out. It turned to Percy and gave a sort of bow.
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. The four 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. Percy had 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 cuts the antelope's lock with his sword, Holly slashes the one on the Lion's cage with her rapier. 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," Annabeth reasoned.
"Hey!" he protested.
"Kidding," she said. "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 the four much attention.
They passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM, pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made them homesick.
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.
The doorman smiled at the four. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"
At this point, they were all weary and tired so no one protested when Percy nodded and said they'd love to come in.
Inside, they took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."
The whole lobby was a giant game room. And not the 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.
"Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I 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 each of them a green plastic credit card.
Percy 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."
Annabeth pulled him away before the bellhop could come to his senses and take their cards back, then they took the elevator upstairs and checked out their new room. It was a suite with four 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 you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, and best of all, the bed sheets were silk.
"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is..."
"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."
Holly made a beeline for one of the beds, throwing her bag on it before jumping in and sinking deeply into the soft duvet. She muttered something, but it was muffled by the blankets.
Percy threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. They wouldn't need that anymore.
Percy left to take a shower, Holly fell asleep on the bed, Grover ordered room service while Annabeth went out into the balcony to admire the tall architecture around them.
When Holly woke up, all three of her companions had already showered and changed. "Why did no one wake me?" She huffs, pulling herself from the bed and heading for her closet to pick out some clothes. She settled on a pair of soft grey shirt and shorts, after showering, she washed her camp t-shirt and the shorts she had before and wrung them out to dry.
By the time she got back, Percy and Grover were arm deep in bags of chips and room service while Annabeth had cranked up the Nation Geographic Channel on the TV.
"So what now?" Annabeth asked once they were all gathered. "Sleep?"
Grover and Percy looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards.
"Play time," Percy said.
Holly turned on her heel, patting her hair dry. "I'm gonna go back to bed, you three have fun."
If she didn't turn as quickly as she did, she would've seen Percy's face fall before Grover bumped his shoulder and he had to put up a smile.
The three left, leaving Holly alone in their suite. She didn't sleep as she had told the others, she was too busy packing up supplies they might need in her bead bag.
Halfway along, there were three loud knocks on her door. She wandered to the entrance, thinking it must've been the three who left their room key inside.
She opened the door, only to be surprised at the sight of a small fair skinned boy with shaggy black hair. He looked up, eyes the biggest brown as he peered at Holly.
"Oh," He muttered, eyes going wide in surprise. "I'm sorry, I thought this was our room."
Holly kneeled down, so she was eye to eye with the boy. "That's fine, do you need help finding your room?"
"I lost my sister earlier," the boy admits. "She was playing in the arcade, and I thought she'd gone back to our room so I went back up but..." he scratched the back of his neck, similar to how Percy does it. "All the doors look the same."
"What's your room number?" Holly asks, inviting the boy inside as she grabs her things from the bed and the room key before they go back out into the hall.
"I don't know." the boy mutters. "I can't...I'm not very good with numbers, but Bianca-my sister, she's very smart!"
"I bet she is," Holly says, looking down either side of the hall. "How about we go look for your sister first..."
"Nico," the boy says with a toothy grin. "Nico Di Angelo."
Holly and Nico took the elevator down to the first floor, she turned to Nico just before they stepped off. "What does your sister look like?"
"Well, she's almost as tall as you," he says, stepping off the lift and striding onto the carpeted floor of the arcade. "And she wears this blue dress, it's her favourite."
"How about we ask the bellhop?"
They drift towards a man carrying a tray of what appeared to be drinks in tall plastic glasses, and after several back and forth relaying of information and many hand gestures later. Holly, Nico and one of the security guards wade through the arcade in search of Nico's sister.
Holly learned that Nico was ten years old, and his sister, Bianca was twelve. When Holly asked about their parents, Nico fell silent, blinking in confusion as if he'd forgotten he had parents.
Holly didn't get to prod him more on the topic, because the next, a young girl was running up to them. She held her brown hat on top of her head, sprinting for her brother and calling his name.
"I thought I lost you," the girl said, planting her hands on both of Nico's shoulders. "Why did you disappear like that?"
"I lost you in the crowd," Nico muttered. "I thought you went back to our room."
Holly didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation, because next there was a hand wrapped around her upper arm and was pulling her away from the two.
"Holly," a voice said, and before Holly even turned, she knew it was Percy. He smelt of algae and salt water, and it was otherwise intoxicating, like she stood next to the ocean. "We're in trouble."
His words snapped her back to reality, and suddenly she's hyper aware of the worry etched on his face.
"Why? What's wrong, is there a monster?" She inched her fingers closer to the quill tucked in her pocket, looking around the bustling arcade.
"It's- it's the arcade, the hotel. There are people here who say they're from nineteen seventy-seven." His eyes were wild, and if he'd said that to other people, they would've been glad to put another delinquent adolescent in an asylum.
"Percy, are you hearing yourself?" Holly asks, shoulders slumping at the ridiculousness of his words.
"I'm serious, it's like they're frozen in time here. They don't even realise how much time has passed- do you- do you remember? Camp, Chiron, the underworld, the lightning bolt?"
"Of course I do- calm down, Percy."
"We have to find Annabeth and Grover, we have to get out of here."
And just to calm his nerves, they did just that. They separated to cover more ground, not wanting to spend another second in the hotel which was already making Percy's skin crawl. He found Annabeth with some sort of tower building game, she was building her city and it was going pretty well.
She took more convincing that Holly did, so enamoured by her game that she almost fought them for it. But one word from Percy about spiders, and she was snapped back to reality.
Holly was still in the middle of convincing Grover to let go of his Virtual Deer Hunter game when Percy and Annabeth caught up with them.
"He wouldn't budge," Holly said, cradling her wrist. "He almost broke my wrist when I tried to pry him from the guns."
Percy and Annabeth shared a look and then took Grover by the arms and dragged him away, his flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to the four. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"We're leaving," Percy told him.
"Such a shame," he said, and there was a distinct 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, Grover reached for one , but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."
They walked toward the door, and as we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting.
But before they got reeled back into the hotel, the four burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk.
Holly looked up at the skyscraper of a hotel, somewhere over those clouds were their hotel room. It was surreal to think that she'd only slept in those silk sheets a few hours ago, basked in the warm water of the shower, and ate room service like their lives weren't in danger.
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 he was sure he had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001, but at the moment he had other problems to worry about.
Percy left and ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Same year it had been when they went in, then he noticed the date: June twentieth.
They had been in the Lotus Casino for five days. And now, they had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete their quest.
***
It was Annabeth's idea to hail a taxi, she loaded the four of them into the back as if they had actual 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."
"Do 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 sceptically.
"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.
He did and his metre 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 the four kis, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"
"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter and Holly rolled her eyes, that's for sure going straight to Annabeth's head and only made it bigger. "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 way, Percy had plenty of time to finally talk about his dreams or nightmares or whatever he calls them. The details got sketchier the more he tried to remember, like the Lotus Casino had short-circuited his memory. He couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, though there was the distinct feeling that it was somebody he knew. 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'," 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."
Annabeth's eyes widened.
"What?" Percy asked.
"Oh ... nothing. I was just- No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-"
"Like what?"
"I-I don't know," she said. "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."
"You have to stop doing that Annabeth," Holly huffs. "We're supposed to be a team, shouldn't we know if there's another entity after us?"
Annabeth refused to answer, she shook her head and did her best to shrug it off like nothing was the matter but she looked pale.
"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said, "why would I be travelling to the Underworld?"
"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."
Percy whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."
"Why, thank you."
"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Percy continued. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"
Grover shook his head, clearly mystified.
Annabeth was looking at him as if she knew his next question, and was silently willing him not to ask it.
"You have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you?" Percy asked her. "I mean, if it isn't Hades?"
"Percy ... let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades ... No. It has to be Hades."
Wasteland rolled by. They passed a sign that said CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.
The more Percy thought about it, the more confused he felt since now there's a conflicting thought that maybe Hades isn't the guy they're looking for. The problem was: we were hurtling toward the Underworld at ninety-five miles an hour, betting that Hades had the master bolt. If they got there and found out they were wrong, they wouldn't have time to correct themselves. The solstice deadline would pass and war would begin.
"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth assured him. "You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing."
She tried to boost their morale by suggesting clever strategies for getting into the Land of the Dead, but Percy's heart wasn't in it. So instead, he turned to Holly who had been awfully quiet since they got into the cab. But now, he's starting to realise that's a recurring habit for her whenever she's focused on the task at hand or hard in thought.
"Who was the kid?" Percy asked suddenly, snapping her out of her thought as she had stared at the speeding plains outside their window.
"Pardon?" Holly blinked.
"The kids you were with at the arcade," he clarified. "Did you know them?"
"Oh, just a lost kid." She shrugged. "He came to our room knocking, apparently lost his sister and I just helped him find her."
"That's nice," he sighed, leaning back into the seat. And then he went silent, staring at the ceiling of the cab.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"I'm just worried," he admitted. "Maybe I'm a bit nervous about going to Santa Monica..."
"First meeting jitters," Holly pats his hand. "It's always nerve wracking when your godly parent summons you, feels like going to the Headmaster's office or something."
Percy chuckles, agreeing and filing the butterflies in his stomach as that.
But as the cab sped west. He can't stop thinking about how every gust of wind through Death Valley sounded like a spirit of the dead. And every time the brakes hissed on an eighteen-wheeler, it reminded him of Echidna's reptilian voice.
At sunset, the taxi dropped them off at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, only it smelled worse. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave.
Grover, Annabeth, Holly and Percy walked down to the edge of the surf.
"What now?" Annabeth asked.
The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Percy stepped into the surf.
"Percy?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"
He kept walking, the water reaching up to his waist, then his chest.
Annabeth called after Percy, "You know how polluted that water is? There's all kinds of toxic-"
Then Percy's head dipped under the water, and Annabeth huffed in frustration, grumbling about how he never listens to anything she says.
They stayed there, pacing the port for a good twenty minutes before Percy re emerged from the water. His clothes dried instantly, and no one even batted an eye at it.
He explained what happened, how he met a Nereid who served his father's court and she gave him four pearls. One for each of them.
Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."
"They were free."
"No." She shook her head. "There is no such thing as a free lunch. That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."
On that happy thought, they turned their backs on the sea. And with some spare change from Ares's backpack, they took the bus into West Hollywood. Percy showed the driver the Underworld address slip he'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he'd never heard of DOA Recording Studios.
"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told Percy. "You a child actor or something?"
"Uh... I'm a stunt double ... for a lot of child actors." At this point, the lies slid from his tongue like they were the truth.
"Oh! That explains it."
They thanked the driver and got off quickly at the next stop. And then they wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book. Twice, they ducked into alleys to avoid cop cars.
Percy froze in front of an appliance-store window because a television was playing an interview with somebody who looked very familiar-his stepdad, Smelly Gabe. He was talking to Barbara Walters as if he were some kind of huge celebrity. She was interviewing him in their apartment, in the middle of a poker game, and there was a young blond lady sitting next to him, patting his hand.
A fake tear glistened on his cheek. He was saying, "Honest, Ms. Walters, if it wasn't for Sugar here, my grief counsellor, I'd be a wreck. My stepson took everything I cared about. My wife... my Camaro ... I-I'm sorry. I have trouble talking about it."
"There you have it, America." Barbara Walters turned to the camera. "A man torn apart. An adolescent boy with serious issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver."
The screen cut to a grainy shot of Percy, Annabeth, Holly and Grover standing outside the Colorado diner, talking to Ares.
"Who are the other children in this photo?" Barbara Walters asked dramatically. "Who is the man with them? Is Percy Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps the brainwashed victim of a frightening new cult? When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned, America."
"C'mon," Grover told me. He hauled Percy away before he could punch a hole in the appliance-store window. "Holly's about to leave."
"Leave? Where?" He asked, and they met the girls at the end of the alley way. "Where is she going?"
"She's going to do a recon," Annabeth explained as Holly tightened the laces of her shoes and tied her hair up in a ponytail.
"I'll look for the studio's address, clear out any monster's on the way while you three try to keep yourselves out of trouble."
"Are you sure? Is it safe to go alone, I mean-" Percy rambled, but was cut off by Holly who got to her feet and straightened her shirt.
"It's safer if I go alone, my scent alone wouldn't attract many monsters but you...You're basically a backyard barbeque for monsters."
"Thanks."
"I'll be fine, Jackson." Holly assures him, patting his shoulder. "This isn't my first rodeo."
"She can handle herself, seaweed brain." Annabeth rolls her eyes, and then they soften as she turns to Holly. Holly wraps her arms around Annabeth only because she wouldn't be the first to budge, "I'll see you in two hours."
"See you in two," Holly mutters, and then she was off. She walked into the streets and immediately melded into the locals, drifting through the crowd like a dancer on ice.
For the next half hour, Holly wandered around Los Angeles aimlessly until an old woman bumped into her. She was carrying an arms full of groceries, and they all went spilling on the sidewalk.
"Oh, dear I am so sorry!" The lady said, but Holly countered it with her own apologies as she picked up the items off the floor.
"I am so sorry, madam." Holly repeated, over and over again. And when she was handing back the groceries, she noticed an odd ink on the woman's wrinkled wrist.
Holly only got a glimpse of it, but it looked like a big tattoo of Hermes' caduceus with the letters SPQR underneath.
"You have to forgive these noodle limbs," the woman said, flattening the sleeves of her dress. She was wearing a baby blue long sleeved house dress, her hair was close cropped and stark white. "They're not as strong as they used to be."
"Let me help you, miss." Holly offered, taking off some weight from the old ladies arms. "Where are you headed?"
She knows it's not practical, especially since she's on a time limit but there'sno better place to start than a well acquainted local. And besides, there was something odd about this woman that just drew her in.
"Just to my bakery, down the street." She led the way, leading them through the crowd at an oddly fast pace for a woman her age.
Eventually, they ended up at a corner side bakery. It was beautiful, as all Holly could describe. The design was meant to look old, like a yellow-retro themed and the lady fitted right into the whole diner themed bakery.
"Silly me, I haven't even introduced myself." The lady suddenly remembered as they were unloading the groceries onto the counter in the kitchen, she stuck her hand out. "The name's Agnes, and ya are, sweet pea?"
"Holly," she shook Agnes' hand. "It's very nice to meet you."
"Will you stick around for a sticky bun? Please, my way of saying thanks."
"Oh, it's really no trouble-"
"I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Okay then," Holly pursed her lips as Agnes disappeared into the kitchen. She took that time to look around, only to keep herself preoccupied.
"Are you alone, love?" Agnes' voice filtered out from behind the rows of pans and counters.
"Oh no, ma'am. I'm supposed to meet my friends," Holly says as her eyes drifted over to the cluttered office table tucked at the corner of her room. "We were supposed to meet at this studio- DOA Recording Studios, perhaps you've heard of them?"
Agnes rounded the counter carrying a plate of steaming sticky buns, "DOA? Odd place for a bunch of kids." Her eyebrows were furrowed, taking in Holly's attire and persona. And then slowly, she smirked. "What are the odds?"
"Pardon?"
"I just got the thing for you love, but first, try some sticky buns." She placed the plate on the table, ushered Holly into a seat and disappeared from her peripheral vision.
When Holly bit into the pastry, she could swear to every god that that was how clouds taste like. The strings of the dough melted into her tongue, and taste burst onto her taste buds. Something sweet, something dry, something magical.
Holly forgot where she was, why she was there, who she was with because the bread was all that mattered. And then Agnes reappeared.
"Here," she handed over a flyer. "I hope that helps."
Holly wiped her hand on a towel, and then accepted the flyer. It was bright orange with the words DOA Recording Studios stamped on the top, offering commissions for heroes' souls. 'We are always looking for new talent!' DOA's address was right underneath with a map.
Holly turned to Agnes and found her closely eyeing Holly for any reaction on the odd paper, but Holly was too glad she found it to care. "Umm...do you think I can bring the sticky buns back to my friends?"
After Agnes wrapped up the leftovers in a small box, Holly went on her way. First she went to the address on the flyer, it was a one story building in Valencia Boulevard the words DOA RECORDING STUDIOS were etched in the black marble and painted in gold.
Floor to ceiling windows made up the whole front of the building, clearly showcasing a lobby full of people. There was a security desk on a raised podium in the middle, a packed sitting area on either side and a lone elevator to the right of the desk. From afar, it looked like a normal packed hotel lobby, but when Holly sneaked up closer and peered at the customers inside. She saw not customers but a bunch of transparent figures waltzing about, pale and luminescent like ghosts with hollow emotionless faces.
It made a chill creep up her arm. She had found the entrance to the underworld.
authors note: sorry but I just couldn't help myself, I had to include my cute little Italian bean before his official debut because who doesn't love Nico Di Angelo?