The moment Chaos was done talking, his presence disappeared from my head and I was once again myself. Right away without wasting a moment I started towards the closest hotel, before realizing that there wasn't a hotel in sight.
"Just great," I thought "now how in the world am I going to find a hotel? I don't even know where I am!" Just then I saw a couple of guys walking and decided to go and ask them.
"Excuse me," I said walking up to them "would you happen to know where I could find a hotel to spend the night?"
Both of them looked at me in surprise, and something that looked like shock. I had no clue why until they asked me: "um where did you come from? I was positive we were the only ones here a couple of seconds ago."
That's when I realized that I had just walked up to them completely silent like Chaos had coached me for the past 5 earthly years.
"Guess I'd better watch out how I act. Don't want to attract any more attention than needed." "Sorry 'bout that. Just something I picked up from when I was a...cub scout." Completely believable right? They seemed to think not.
"Come on man, don't joke with us. We are seniors in the cub scouts and we never picked up something like that at all. So where'd you learn it?" One of them said.
"Look for the last time it was just something my instructor taught me. Now I'm really tired, and just want to find a hotel. If you're not going to tell me, then that's fine by me." I said a bit for firmly.
One of them opened his mouth, probably to ask again, but his partner quickly slapped him on the back of his head, preventing him from asking the question.
"Ya sorry about that, just curious about... never mind. Anyways a hotel should be over there, just follow the street, left at the first lights, then take a right two lights after that, and you'll see it there."
"Thanks," I said "You two have been a big help." Then I started walking towards the hotel. After following the man's instructions for a short time I finally made it to the hotel. After I saw it something didn't feel right, but I was too tired to care. I made my way into the hotel and booked a room close to an exit. After reaching my room and entering, I was simply too tired to care about anything. But the training that Chaos had given me had been drilled into me and therefore I couldn't get to sleep without checking the room once at least, even though I was so tired I might have put up a competition against Hypnos. Thank Chaos I had been taught never to forget to do this, because it would save my life the next morning.
For some reason the next morning I woke up really early. You know that gut feeling you get if something is wrong in the middle of the night and your body responds to it by waking you up? Guess what? Just had that a second ago. I looked around the room to try and figure out what was causing that weird feeling. Looking around at the room I saw that it had been partially ransacked. Everything on the left side of the room had been completely torn apart. Now what could be there that monsters would want? I had my pen in my pocket and nothing else on me. Di immortals unless they weren't monster attacks, but mortal robberies. That would explain the lack of pressure in the back of my pocket where I kept the money I got from Chaos… and why I can still hear some voices in my bathroom.
I quietly got out of bed without making a single sound, crept over, and peered into the bathroom. Of course the two robbers, who out of all the people here just had to be the two people from yesterday, were still in there discussing how to split the money. It's quite easy to tell that these two were such amateurs, such as the obvious fact that they were 1) arguing very, very loud, 2) They still that the bathroom door open, and 3) they were still here. I pulled out riptide and two seconds later the whole problem was solved. At least that was what I thought. With my luck nothing goes right,
"Ace, urgent news!" Chaos suddenly said into my head
"Oh, hey Chaos. What is it?" I asked
"Ace there's no time! Monsters have started to sense two powerful demigod auras and have started heading in the direction of the Lotus Casino!" Chaos nearly yelled
"Ok, I'll get going as soon as possible. Don't worry Chaos I'll save those two." I tried to reassure him
Fortunately it seemed to work a bit.
"Good, you get to the Casino as fast as you can; which means no getting side tracked at all, got it? Chaos asked sternly
"Yes Chaos, got it, bye" I said and teleported out of the state. When I opened my eyes again (I close them on habit now) I was in another ally.
"I'm going to get sick of alleyways soon if this goes on," I thought to myself "now to find out where I am"
And just to spare you guys the boredom of listening to me rant on about each state I traveled to, I'm going to stop here. But I must include one thing. I know that Chaos said no getting sidetracked, but come on, cut me some slack. I'm Percy Jackson; my fatal flaw is loyalty to my friends, and other demigods. Plus I'm also ADHD. Do you really think that not getting side tracked was possible for me?
Anyway I went from Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Kentucky to Missouri to Nebraska to Wyoming to Utah until I finally reached the Lotus Casino. Finally after a week's traveling across the country, I finally stood outside of the Lotus Casino; only one problem now. The Lotus Casino had an alluring effect that drew you into it... and never let you come out. The last time I was here I didn't know about it; so I couldn't defend against it. But this time even if I knew about it and could prepare for it, would it even make a difference?
"Sure it will," Said Chaos from out of nowhere "remember all that time I spent preparing you to try and focus your mind on one thing? Use that now."
And then he disappeared.
"Well then," I thought "that was...fast. Anyway here goes."
And suddenly all of the funny bits and pieces about me vanished. Any part of me that would have joked around, or taken the situation lightly was gone. This was what happened when I focused on one thing and one thing only. I took a deep breath and walked into the Casino.
Guess what happened? Right away an employee came up to me, stood in front of me and asked "Hellosirdoyouhavearoomwouldyouliketobookonewouldy oulikealimitedtimeofferplatinumcardthatallowsacces stoallofthecasinoanditsallfree."
I took one look at him, put my foot on him, and shoved him back. Now you may be thinking, 'that wasn't nice at all', and 'what kind of journal is this, Percy/Ace doesn't act like this at all'. But you have to remember that this was a side effect of the training that Chaos gave me. Sometimes concentration on one thing wasn't always the best way to get things done. Anyway the poor guy sailed through three gambling tables before finally crashing into the wall and leaving a man sized dent. Just then I realized that I could use this guy to help me find the two demigods. After understanding that I quickly crossed the length he had traveled in 4 long strides. Looking at his slumping form, I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up high.
"Pleasesirwhatdoyouwant?pleasedonthurtme,I'lltelly ouanything!" the poor employee pleaded
"Really?" I said "then tell me where the two most powerful demigods here are." I told him very slowly and firmly
Instantly I could see his face turn into a sour milky colour. I guess it must be top secret.
"umsirIdontknowwhatyourtalkingabout,wehavenokidsli kethathereareyousure-" was a far as he got before I pulled him down to my face and yelled in it "NOW!" very loudly
It seems that I made my point clear because he immediately nodded and motioned to be set down. Of course I released him and once he was on the floor, motioned for him to start moving. The employee took me past many twists and turns that I could have never remembered on my own. Finally we came upon two kids sitting on a couch together laughing at what was probably some really funny joke. I was sorry to ruin their life, but they had to know. As we approached they seemed to notice us, so I stopped the employee and told him he could leave. Then I went up to them and got a huge surprise. Apparently the fates think that my life doesn't have enough already.
"Hey you're Percy, right? Said one with a golden aura
"No remember he changed his name to ace right? Said the second one who gave off a silver aura
"Um wait what-" I said now really confused
"Hello Ace, Son of Poseidon, leader of the Chaos Musketeers." They both said in union.
I blame the Fates for this.
