Sorry for the wait got busy. Getting ready to back to school again and it's been tough. Third year in collage in Automation major, got to be ready for anything. Also we passed 2k reads thank you for the continued support! Much love everyone!
The war god was waiting for us 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" He said looking at me and Annabeth
I took the shield from Grover's hands and tossed it at the gods chest. "You're a real jerk" He caught the shield still holding that stupid grin.
Ares spun it 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 to Vegas."
The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I 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.
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 at Percy
Inside were fresh clothes for all of us(Shirts I don't need but new jeans are a goldmine right about now), twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag full of cream filled chocolate cookies.
"I don't-" Before Percy could say anything else I put my hand up in front of him
"Thank you, lord Ares," Grover said giving us a warning look
Percy gritted his teeth, but reluctantly he slung the backpack over his shoulder. He was fuming in anger, no doubt this was Ares's presence. I too want to just run at him and punch him right in the face.
Inside the diner were a handful of customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt us. I dared him to try and hurt my friends, so help me I would use all my current power and tear him apart. (Yeah his ability to make people angry was really kicking in)
The waitress dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, and held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.
That isn't good, but I right now I can't do anything about it. Sooner or later we'd all end up on the papers, and I didn't dare imagine the headline.
"You owe me one more thing," Percy said behind his gritted teeth. "You promised me information about my mother"
"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle.
"Just give him the information already, we are running on a schedule here." I said getting very impatient with this god
He grinned "She's not dead."
Grover caught his best friend from tipping over as though his legs had turned to jello "What do you mean?" Percy struggled
"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?"
"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
"Nobody's controlling me."
He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid"
Percy balled up my fist "You're pretty smug. Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues." I smiled at Percy
Behind Ares sunglasses, fire glowed. I felt a hot wind in my 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. Before he could get a distance away, I picked up a rock and through it bonking his head. He turned around I expected he was coming back. Instead he pointed two fingers at his eyes then pointed at me, bringing his thumb across his neck
My guess he said "I'm watching you next time you're dead" who cares I'm not scared off him. . .
Annabeth said, "That wasn't smart the both of you"
"I don't care." We said in unison
"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."
"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupted, but. . ."
He pointed towards 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 one the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck
"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."
I didn't like it, but we had no better option, not like I could carry the three their too heavy for me. Besides I think we all had enough of Denver.
We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us
The first thing that hit us was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of what did Annabeth say it was called Kitty litter?
The trailer was dark inside until Percy uncapped Anaklusmos. I followed his example I summon Parádeisos in it's spear form. The blades glow light up over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most unkept zoo animals I'd ever seen: A zebra, a male albino lion, some weird antelope thing I didn'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 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!
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?"
He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and we would've helped him, but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down more like it.
We 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. Of course he also said something along the lines of the lion wanting a taste of us instead of the turnips.
Percy found a water jug and tried his best to fill their bowls, but he was a little put off getting close. I finally had enough of their torture. I stood up using my spear as a way from toppling over.
First I delt with their mismatched food, The lion just looked pained and scared when I got close. Instead of looking like an apex predator, he looked more like a house cat. Then I realized why, my weapon was in full view it was scaring the poor thing. I returned Parádeisos in bracelet form, but he still backed away as much as he could in that tight little space.
"Its okay, look." I said taking off my bracelet and turning around to the closet person. Which was Annabeth, "Annabeth can you bring out your hat?" she looked at me confused but did so. I tossed my bracelet in her hat as soon as I turned back around I heard Percy yelp. I looked back at them and he was sucking on his finger.
"Oops, Yeah nobody physically touch it, it well burn you." I said
"You could have said so, It felt hot but cold at the same time weird." he said. I shook my head and continued with what I was doing
I gave the lion the hamburger meat which he immediately began to devour. First I gave the zebra a giant fill of turnips, next was the Antelope, While I gave the turnips to the stressed animal. Annabeth had quickly cut the balloon off his horn. Grover was bleating a promise to help the animals more in the morning.
I finished off by filling their bowls with water which they all drink quickly. I sat down beside Grover who was curled up on a turnip sack. Annabeth opened our bag of Double stuffed Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly.
Then I remember my Parádeisos was not on me anymore. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the small pure gold bracelet of mine inside of Annabeth's hat. My arm recoiled from the speed it flew right back onto. They all looked at me shocked on how I did that.
"What, I just thought about the whole restroom incident back at camp"
Percy went quiet for while and the look on his face told me he was contemplating on the quest. Most importantly what Ares had said possibly, that he was being used.
"Hey," Annabeth said getting my attention, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park."
"Hey it's alright"
"It's just. . ." She shuddered. "Spiders."
"From your crash course back at camp, it because of the Arachne story" I remembered "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."
I got up chuckling and sat beside her. "You don't owe me anything we're a team right" I said "Besides, I want to protect my friends, of course I expect the same from them" I continued bumping her shoulder with mine.
Annabeth and I laughed
She pulled apart an Oreo, handed me half and the other to the distracted Percy "In the Iris message . . . did Luke really say nothing?"
In the dim light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions
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 two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp . . ." He looked at Annabeth "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?" how forward of him
She put down her own Oreo, uneaten "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me towards help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. 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," Grover 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 and Annabeth by themselves. I thought . . . I thought I could lead all three of the 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," Annabeth said "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."
"Percy's right Grover, These Cloven Elders are being unfair, If anything what Thalia did was noble and well to remember. She Protected you by giving you more time to run away. She was a child of Zeus and last I remember they're all strong in their own right." I said holding my head as I get flashes of the same blonde and blue eyes from back at Medusa's diner
"I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says." she said still looking at me like was going crazy again.
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 his shin which made a chuckle escape my lips
"Yeah," he said looking at Annabeth annoyed "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 seacher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."
"He's right Grover. I kill to have had you find me when I was out on my own. You have any idea, how much running I had to do from Giant Cats, and Cyclopes. Not a grand time I tell you" I said leaning back on my backpack
Grover and Annabeth looked uneasy when I said Cyclopes don't know why I wanted to be honest with our goat-boy friend
I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring. I realized he'd fallen sleep
"How does he do that?" Percy asked
"I don't know" Annabeth said "But that was really a nice thing you both said."
"I meant it." Percy side and I nodded in agreement.
We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip while staring at me. When I turned to it, it would look towards Percy, strange I thought. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully. I shook my head while shrugging my shoulders which made it look sad again.
I looked back at Annabeth who was rubbing her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.
"That pine-tree bead," I 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. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—now that was a weird summer. . . ."
"And the ring? Was it your father's?" that was a wrong question to ask because she got angry
"That's none of your—" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
"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."
She really has gone through a lot
"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"
She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Please Lucky. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."
"You shouldn't give up" I 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."
We passed another few miles of silence.
"So if the gods fight" Percy called "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?" He asked.
I stood up when he said Trojan war, my head keeps giving me weird images and they weren't very nice images and the pain that came with it are getting worse. I decided to sit closer to the sleeping lion. I petted him without worry.
Percy and Annabeth looked Y/n with worry, they had also noticed how he would hold his head in pain. They knew something was going on with their friend, but in the name of the gods they had no clue what it could be.
Annabeth put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"
Percy leaned back unable to answer
"Hey Percy Annabeth's right, if their is a war among the gods. I'll also fight by your side" I said
Percy had noticed a croak when Y/n talked like he was trying his best to hold in a cry, but he wasn't sure what it was may be hiccups? He looked at the teen sitting by the lion who was enjoying the pats. Soon enough Percy fell asleep as well
Annabeth had acted falling asleep she peeked at Y/n and noticed little droplets fall from his cheek. He was holding his head in pain again, she didn't know what to do, but she decided it was best for her friend to let it out. She closed her eyes and fell asleep soon enough
It had gone quite for a while now and I had finally controlled the pain. I will admit tears had escaped my eyes. I don't know what they mean, or what I'm supposed to do with the information I'm getting from the images. Since Percy had brought up the Trojan war I keep getting flashes of a people in side a dark space with only little looking holes for a light source. A man with a long locks of hair and a beard again.
I decided it's best to ignore those images I can't decipher them on my own. Maybe when we finish this quest I could ask my mothers for help. I doubt they can help since gods aren't really good at interacting with their children. Then again they have been helping me throughout this quest, I really hope I wasn't asking for too much.
The headache had kept me up all night and didn't catch a wink of sleep. The bus had stopped, I quickly tapped Grover awake
He bleated awake "Huh? What? Y/n?"
"Hurry Wake Percy, I'll get Annabeth the bus has stopped quickly before they catch us." He jumps to his hooves and quickly patted Percy awake
I shook Annabeth's shoulders, she stirred awake looking confused "Y/n? Is it morning?"
"Get up hurry. Bus stopped, don't want to be spotted by truckers." I said helping her to her feet.
"Hide" she hissed
She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover, Percy and I had to dive behind the sacks and hope we 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 on the lion's face.
The lion roared in indignation
If it wasn't for Percy holding me and Grover back we would have badly hurt that mortal jerk!
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The man said
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, wide-eyed in fear, looking straight at Percy, his eyes widen in shock looking around he looked back at the zebra
There was a loud Knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.
The trucker inside with us yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"
A voice outside—it must've been Eddie's—shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"
"what are banging for?"
Knock, knock, knock
Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"
Our guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.
A second later, Annabeth appeared next to us. 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!"
Again Percy looked at the zebra confused
"We've got to free them!" Grover said.
"Way ahead of you" I didn't give the other two a vote to the situation. I summoned my dagger and slashed the chains of the lions cage, Percy followed by cutting the locks of the zebra and the antelope
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in a goat talk, like a blessing.
The zebra looked at Percy and then nodded his head towards me. Which made Percy look at me confused
"You've met his distant cousins Y/n" Percy asked
"What are talking about?" I asked
"The zebra says you smell like their distant cousins, horses named Phos and Lux? Who are they?" I looked at him confused
"Now is really not the time Percy" I said
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. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in the time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. I looked up at one of the sign to see where we we're. We'd released a zebra in Las Vegas.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a policeman 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
He gave them the same blessing he gave the zebra. They both left their cages, the lion came up to me rubbing himself against me. I petted him once more "Good luck and be careful both of you" I said looking the antelope
Some tourist screamed. Most 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?" I asked
"I believe that's because it only works on wild animals." I said
"So it would only affect you two" Annabeth said pointing at me and Percy
"Hey!" Percy protested
"Maybe later we can test it ay Grover"
"I was only kidding Lucky" she said "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."
We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and: Percy, Annabeth, and Grover looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everyone was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention. The heat didn't bother me, I guess I'm just special
I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe a place we could get some food, some sandwiches and nice cool glass of lemonade that sounds great.
We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves 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. Those always smelled good
The doorman smiled at us "Hey kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"
I'm all about being careful, but my body wasn't screaming run or my bracelet vibrating with warning. Percy looked at checking for the same signs, great I'm now the teams Danger sense.
He nodded and said we'd love to come in. Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said "whoa"
The whole lobby was a giant game room. It sort of reminded me of the boardwalk back were I was fishing once. There was an amusement park with tons of games to play, but this place took it to the next level. At least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of the building, an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There was laser tag? Hundreds of video games each one the size of widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. Then what really caught my eyes was all the snack bars! Every kind of food you can imagine was here!
I hadn't realized I was drooling from the smell (Can you blame me we haven't had breakfast.) I was so distracted Annabeth had pulled from the arm taking me away from the delicious smell.
We took the elevator up and checked out our room. It was suite with three separate bedrooms. I would have to sleep either with one of the other guys or sleep on recliner chair. La-Z-boy it was! This room had everything you could ever need as well, even the balcony had a hot tub. There was even a skeet-shooting machine and a SHOTGUN. While the others were getting themselves comfortable, I picked up the gun and it had some weight to it.
"It can't harder than shooting my bow" I thought to myself
I pushed the on button and a disk flew into the air. I aimed the gun and fired. The kick and recoil of the gun sent me on my backside, I was not prepared for the force.
Grover let out a scared goat bleat, Percy had dropped to the floor and Annabeth had her ears covered.
"Y/n what are you doing?" she yelled out
"I wasn't, now that I am. I think I wanna stick with my bow, these mortal weapons are insanely crazy. . . ." I said standing up putting back the thing right back where I found it.
Percy checked the closet and found something odd, the clothes inside where some of my favorite styles of clothing. Not only that they were all our perfect sizes. That was a little on the dot for me to the point Percy and I agreed was strange
Percy threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. I put mine on the couch. We all took turns showering, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. It felt amazing to feel clean, when I got out with towel over my head. I didn't realize I was going to be rooming with a bunch of pigs. . . . there was bags of chips and cans of soda every where I looked.
Never mind our express Vacuum Grover Underwood was munching on the trash and recyclables.
Percy gave the greenlight and we all went down to the giant playground downstairs. Mind you I didn't want to play games I wanted to go straight to the food court. The green card that Percy gave me is said to cover everything for me, and I can't wait to eat as much I can.
Pizza, burgers, pasta, dessert and even salad! Got to get your greens in too y'know. I ate just about everything I could contain. If the waitress hadn't been taking my plates as soon as I started my next meal. I would have had the table filled with clean, no crumbs, nothing of stacked plates.
Walking around the casino was overwhelming. There was something new every turn, I always thought casinos were for adults and their gambling habits. This casino had plenty of people ages ranging from eight-year-olds to even a sixty-year-old. I think? The old guy I found was destroying Donkey Kong levels like he has been playing the game for thousands of years.
While I was walking around I had accidently bump into someone, before they could fall onto the ground I caught their arm. I pulled the person up so they were standing straight up again. "So sorry I wasn't looking where I was going" I apologized
"No it's fine I wasn't looking either" she said
The girl looked like my age, she had dark brown hair like mine, yet hers was little darker. She had olive skin and black eyes that matched the darkness of her hair. She had a worried look on her face
"Is something wrong?" I asked
Looking around frantically she turns to again "Huh? Oh no it's just my younger brother, I lost him again. He likes to run around a lot, but keeping an on him at all times is hard." she said
she could use the help so I decided to her help her
"I-I-I can help you" I stammered for the first time in my small life. What the heck was that about. That was so embarrassing I had to look away from her
When I did look back at her she nodded her smiling
"Please, I could really use it in this place."
We looked around all over the place, from the climbing wall on the side of the building. To even the hall ways of about 10 floors. Nothing, eventually we went back to the game main lobby. As we looked one last time she suddenly yelled after someone by a game titled mytho-somthing online.
"Nico! There you are!" She said running to her brother side.
I followed them getting closer to the boy who looked a few years younger than me. He had a black shirt with a skull design, they really looked alike same olive skin, although he had messy black and the same black eyes.
"Bianca! Look what game I found its so cool! They just added it and I really wanted to play, but you were sleeping. I didn't want to bother you." He said looking up at his sister. He looked behind her seeing me tilting his head "Who's he?"
She turned around so fast I had to step back "Oh my gosh, I never told you my name. I'm Bianca Di Angelo and this is my younger brother Nico di Angelo."
"N-nice to meet you both I'm Y/n Felix" I said again with the stutter. I took a deep breath "Well Mission accomplished, I got to go find my friends. Lucky for me I think I saw one of them by the bungee jumping ride thing. See guys around" I said beginning to walk away
"Thanks for the help Y/n" Bianca said waving
I waved back and started looking for Percy. Why one might ask? Well, while helping Bianca find her lost brother I saw people. People that were wearing clothes that seem to have gone out of style in this modern time. Something about this place was finally giving me the creeps. I believed we've been here long enough, besides we still have to find the missing lightening bolt. This place was also reminding of something that I can't get my thoughts around. This pounding headache was not helping me.
I was looking for Percy, but instead I bumped into Annabeth. She was in playing a game that let's her build cities. She had a whole empire of beautiful towers, sky scrappers. She really was aiming to be an architect and from this game I could tell she was going to be great at it.
"Hey Annabeth, we should really be leaving now."
"What? Y/n we just got here remember? Besides what good will leaving be this place is amazing." she said
Okay that right there wasn't the Annabeth I have traveling with. Did she hit her head? She wouldn't say that? Either she was to into her game or something about this place was clouding her.
"What do you mean by what good? Annabeth, we have a quest to finish remember?" I said
"That can wait I need to build my other helping cities!"
Okay I was getting a little frustrated as can be seen by me tapping my foot on the ground. Or maybe that was my ADHD kicking in. I thought of something that would probably get me hurt by her.
"Annabeth! There's a spider crawling on your foot!" I yelled
She jumped away from the game shaking her foot like a crazy person. Once she calmed down. She looked at me with worry
"I'm sorry I don't know what came over me, let's go find Percy and Grover" she said
"No need. They're coming are way." I said seeing the two coming towards us
Percy briefed us on his discovery and I was glad I wasn't the only one who caught on with our surroundings. Just around the corner of my eye I saw The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us.
"Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"We're leaving" Percy told him
"Such a shame," the bellhop said, something about it sounded like he meant it. Almost like we were breaking his heart by leaving. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."
He held the cards waving it front of us, as if we were dogs and he just got us a new chew toy. Grover was already reaching for it but Percy grabbed his arm "No, thanks."
We walked towards the door, and we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. Lucky for me I didn't have an interest in the games and I had my fell of food. I was ready to leave this place.
We burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of the day we'd gone into the casino, but something was very wrong. The weather was awful, it was stormy, with heat lightening flashing out in the desert.
On my back my yellow backpack, and slung over his shoulder Percy had Ares's backpack. That was odd I thought I would have lost thing forever with the way we rushed out of the place.
Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand, we followed over his shoulder I read the date. My heart sank. . . June twentieth.
We had been in the Casino for five days. . .
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete the quest.
Then I thought back inside the two people I met. I wonder how long they've been stuck in there? But we didn't have time to go back in and help them. We had a quest to finish.
BACK INSIDE THE CASINO
Bianca di Angelo was sitting by her brother who was obsessed with the game in front of him. He suddenly stopped and turned towards her.
"I'm not alone on this right? You did notice those wings on his back?" Her brother asked
"Yeah I did notice them. Maybe he likes to dress up in costumes?" She said
"No, I saw them move and flutter" He said. Bianca gave him the really look "I swear I did Bianca!"
She burrows her brow in confusion
"Alright let's go find him" she said getting up and Nico followed her
Anyways, about two or three more chapters to go and Y/n closer to figuring out his headaches. What could they be? Also how does he smell like a Zebra's distant cousin? That's odd as heck. I'd say Y/n loves food! The poor guy only eating what he could scrounge up back in New Jersey. Getting closer to his friends, petting lions. Meeting new people. Hmm I wonder if he will ever meet those two again in the future! :3
Time to look for some beds and then why not travel to the underworld. . . . Alive of course.