Hello! This is just a short story I wrote while listening to the song Hotel California by the Eagles. I highly recommend listening to it after reading this- it will make a lot more sense. I hope that you enjoy it!
(::) I am not Rick Riordan, so I do not own his amazing characters. :(
The crackle of electricity. A blinding flash of light. Fire. Screams. Smoke everywhere. "Mamma! MAMMA!" a child's voice rings out. A lower, painful cry rings above the chaos, filled with all of the sadness of the world; melancholy and deep. "MARIA! Oh, Maria, no, no, no... stay with me, Maria. For Bianca and Nico. No, no, no, no, please stay with me... NOOO! MARIA!" His voice cracks as tears begin to run down his face. "Maria," he whispers hoarsely.
"Mamma?" a small boy asks the man sobbing over a woman's limp body. "What happened to my mamma?" The man turns to him with dark eyes rimmed with red. He gently places the woman on the floor and places a kiss on her brow. Slowly, he stands up and reaches to hug the boy, silent tears dripping down his face. "I'll keep you safe," he whispers a quiet oath. "I swear it on the River Styx." Thunder rumbles in the distance.
A boy bounces on top of a large hotel bed, his dark hair flopping around wildly. "Bianca," he whines. "I'm bored. Can we do something fun? I want chocolate. Chocolate is yummy. So are those flowery thingys. But I'm still bored." He drops onto his stomach and hangs his head off of the bed, swinging his feet in the air. "Aren't you done yet?" he says, his face scrunching up in dissatisfaction at his finding of absolutely nothing under the bed. "What did we say about patience, Nico! I'm done, though, so you don't have to worry," the girl named Bianca says, poking her head around the doorway to the bathroom. "Nico!" she exclaims, running over to the little boy. "Don't hang upside down! It's bad for you."
"It's fun, though," Nico pouts, his hair falling back into his eyes as he sits up.
Bianca shakes her head, and tuts disapprovingly."It's my job as your big sister to keep you from doing stuff like that," she smiles, seeing his expression.
Nico's nose crinkles as he whines, "You're not that much older than me..." Bianca laughs, and her joyous mood seems to infect little Nico, who tries to keep a straight face, and fails. They both flop back on the bed, gasping for air. After a few minutes of silence, Nico pokes his sister. "Bianca?" he asks.
"Hm?" is her only reply.
"What's that noise?" He sits up slowly, cocking his head towards the wall to hear better.
Bianca looks at him with a slightly concerned face."What noise, Nic?" He doesn't respond, but only gestures to the wall. They both lean towards it, listening intently. Nico has an intense look of concentration written across his face, scrunching his eyebrows together. I hear it now, Bianca mouths.
They both sit silently, and listen as the strains of a haunting guitar melody starts to get louder through the wall, until they can both hear it clearly. Bianca glances at Nico, then back to the wall, her brow knitted together in obvious concern. After a minute, a man starts to sing softly.
~ On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair,
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night.
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be Heaven, or this could be Hell."
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here
Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes Benz
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget
So I called up the Captain,
"Please bring me my wine."
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine."
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis
Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast.
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax," said the night man,
"We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave!" ~
Nico moves closer to Bianca, wrapping his arms around her in fright as the ghostly chorus of voices seemingly surrounds the room, and the guitar strums it's final chords. Once silence finally falls on the room, the siblings turn to face each other, their faces mirror expressions of horror and terror. "B-b-bianca? Nico stutters, his eyes wide. "What was that? Were they talking about here? The scary lawyer told us that this hotel was known by many names. Is it known as the Hotel California? And what do they mean, 'you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave'?"
Bianca takes a shuddering breath before answering him. "I think that it's a warning. Go to sleep, Nico. I'm going to try to call that lawyer again. For lack of better words, we've have to find the passage back to the place we were before," she says solemnly, an ominous sense of foreboding shadowing the words. Nico simply nods, and hugs her closer. She wraps her arms around him as his eyes droop. "I will keep you safe," the man's voice softly whispers, unbeknownst to them. "I swear it on the River Styx." Thunder rumbles quietly.
~ Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here...~
Sorry that this was so short! But I have had a bit of trouble finding time to write. I promise that I have multiple stories that I will post in a few days or so! Thank you so much for being so patient!
As always, comments and criticisms are appreciated!
The Blood of Olympus is coming out on October 7th! YAY! Hang in there in true demigodishness! I love you all!