The Strip, Las Vegas: Percy, Thalia, Nico and Clarisse
"You had to take us here?" I asked Nico.
"No…I guess it's just the only place I remembered from Vegas so I subconsciously brought us here…" he said.
"Wait, you guys have been here?" Clarisse asked.
I nodded. "On my first quest six years ago, Annabeth, Grover, and I got held up here. If you enter the casino, you won't ever want to leave and time accelerates faster."
"So we're not going in there to freshen up?" asked Thalia, sounding disappointed.
"Oh, we're getting as far away from here as we can!" said Nico already walking away from the hotel. "I had been trapped here for seventy years before I got back out again."
"Yeah, guys it's really not a great idea to stay here. That hotel over there looks very Greekish, Caesar's Palace. We'll go there, freshen up, and think of a plan to get to Los Angeles by tonight. It's only a four hour drive." I said.
We all started walking towards Caesar's Palace when I heard Nico and Thalia gasp behind me. Clarisse and I whirled around to see Nico and Thalia in headlocks with two people pointing guns at their heads.
"Hands up, pea brains. You draw your swords and a bullet goes through each of their heads" said the guy who had a gun pointed at Thalia.
"You heard my brother. Come towards us slowly" said the other shooter.
One of the boys looked like a member of a biker gang. He had on a pair of worn out jeans, a black shirt and leather jacket. He had a bandana on his head and a knife strapped in with his belt. His eyes were like fire and they made me want to scream with fear and horror. I quickly looked away from him because I knew who he was. Clarisse and I had stumbled upon him and his brother a few years ago. His brother looked the same except he was more buff and aggressive looking. He had scars on his face.
"Phobos and Deimos!" said Clarisse angrily.
"Hello sister. Now get over here before I shoot" said Phobos.
"You too, Jackson!" said Deimos.
Clarisse and I slowly walked over to them. I was trying to think of a plan to get out of this. I knew that they sucked at swordplay, which was probably the reason that they decided to use guns. They had obviously gotten smarter.
"What are two minor gods doing here? Dirty work for daddy?" I asked teasingly.
"Minor gods?! Well these minor gods have you caught! Not walk into the hotel. Now!" screamed Deimos. He shoved Nico and Phobos shoved Thalia towards the entrance of the hotel.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Weapons please" said Phobos with his hands out. I reached in my pocket with a sigh and took out Riptide and Clarisse handed over her electric spear. I smiled a little and Clarisse knew what I was thinking. I had a plan.
Ω
The Lotus Hotel and Casino looked exactly like it had the days I had been here. Probably because barely anytime had passed in here. As we walked through the casino, I noticed that there were more people than before, more victims of the Lotus-Eaters, and that they didn't notice us at all. They were busy playing the arcade games and the slots with the lemons thing. Ahead was a water slide and amusement park rides. People were screaming with joy and vomiting from all the drinks they had. It was paradise, but not a paradise I wanted to spend eternity in.
Phobos and Deimos put their guns in their jackets but still shoved us towards the bar. Phobos grabbed a tray of something from a passing waiter.
"Sit" said Deimos. The four of us picked a stool and sat on it. Phobos took the platter and dropped it on the bar counter.
"Eat it" said Phobos. The tray was piled with lotuses. I remembered them from my last visit. The Lotus-Eaters would pass them out for "free" and the lotuses would make you want to stay here forever. Before I could stop them, Thalia and Nico grabbed a lotus and ate them. I stared at them with my jaw dropped. When the gorgons had offered the wieners, they knew not to eat them, but when these guys offered them a freaking flower, they don't hesitate.
"Hey, Percy, I kinda like it here. We should stay for a while" said Thalia. She was talking like she high on something and Nico started nodding like a bobble-head.
"Yeah, forgot about Hazel and Annabeth and the others. Let's stay here" he said.
I took a lotus and put it in my mouth. But instead of swallowing it, I spit it out onto Deimos's face.
He grew angry and the fire in his eyes grew brighter. "Idiot demigod! Why challenge us when you knew you can't beat two gods unarmed."
"Or can we?" I asked.
There was a silence and then Deimos spoke up. "Okay, now what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Clarisse slid off of her stool and started walking around her brothers.
"Well first of all, you two are stupid. Obviously our father didn't teach you anything. Even I am more prepared than you are. And I'm just a stupid demigod. Second, you took Percy's sword. No one can take Percy's pen."
Phobos chuckled and reached into his jacket. "What? You mean this pen!" Then he frowned. He reached into his jacket some more.
I reached into my pocket and took out Riptide. I clicked its top and it grew into my sword.
"It's enchanted you moron." I said. Then I lunged at Phobos who yelled with pain as a struck his shoulder. Phobos dropped Clarisse's electric spear and she darted towards it with incredible speed. She took the spear and hurled it towards a surprised Deimos. It impaled his shoulder and electrocuted him with electricity given to her from Zeus himself.
Both of their shoulders dripped with golden ichor, the blood of the gods, and were incapacitated for the moment. I remembered that the only thing that snapped Annabeth out of the lotus enchantment: her fear. I had screamed the word 'spider' and the enchantment had been broken. I sprinted towards Thalia who had a big smile on her face.
"Hey, Percy, you want to eat a lotus?" she had a bright pink flower in her outstretched hand.
"Thalia, you're flying." I said.
"I'm what?" she said, confused.
"You're flying really high. The clouds are beneath you." I said more forcefully.
"Percy…I'm flying! Help me I'm falling!" Thalia started screaming and then she stopped and blinked. The lotus dropped from her hand. She reached to her quiver and took out a silver arrow and shot it with her bow behind me. I turned around to see Deimos with an arrow in his hand.
"Puny daughter of Zeus! An arrow can't stop me!" he yelled in rage.
"Wait for it…" Thalia said. There was a silence and then the arrow exploded in Deimos's hand with a deafening BOOM.
"AGGGH!" he screamed.
Clarisse was slashing at Phobos with her spear and he had his own sword out. They fought for a while, her spear and his sword clashing. The she took the butt of her spear and hit him in the face. Phobos's hands went up to his forehead and Clarisse kicked him towards Nico. She picked him up by his neck and screamed, "Look at him!"
Phobos looked at Nico and Nico stared into his fiery eyes. Phobos was the god of fear and horror and if anyone looked at him directly, their mind would start filling up with fearful thoughts. I had learned the hard way. Nico started screaming and then punched Phobos in the face.
"Who? What? Where? When? Why?" he screamed.
"Us. Caught. Lotus Hotel. Leaving. Now!" said Thalia, already sprinting towards the exit.
As we reached the doors of the hotel, I could see that in the twenty minutes we had been in here, it was already evening. We burst out of the doors and looked at the strip.
"Where do we go?!" Clarisse asked.
I scanned the Strip. There was a street a few blocks away from us, near the end of the Strip. A building stuck out to me. It had the word amazon, LAS VEGAS on it in huge black letters.
"I think I have a plan to get us to Los Angeles quickly. Let's go." I ran towards the amazon building with the three of them close behind me. It was time to ask a favor from the Queen of the Amazons.
Tartarus: Zeus, Hades, Athena, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Luke, Silena, Bianca, and Charles
"What are you doing here!?" asked Zeus angrily.
"Hello? I was sent to Tartarus for my sins against Olympus. Even though I was never really in control of my body since the first year I met Percy Jackson" said Luke very casually like he didn't mind being asked such a hurtful question.
"Silena!" squealed Aphrodite. She rushed over to her daughter and gave her a tight hug.
"Hi mother. I hear you're on a quest. That armor I so cute" said Silena. She still had on the same shirt and pants she had worn the day she had died during the Battle of the Drakon.
"Charles," Hephaestus said as he ruffled his son's hair, "I thought you were going to try for rebirth?"
"I was, until I saw that Silena had died. We were in love, and if I tried rebirth, I might've never seen her again" Beckendorf said.
"Hi dad" said Bianca quietly. Hades walked over to her.
"Hello, Bianca. How are you?" he asked.
"Dead… but that's alright. Nico turned out to be a great warrior. I'm very proud that he was my brother" she said. Hades nodded.
"So, since your prophecy says that we are supposed to help you, tell us more about what we're up against" Luke asked.
"Ares has kidnapped Annabeth along with five demigods you don't know. Jason Grace, the Roman brother of Thalia, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque. He has already harmed Annabeth." Athena said quietly.
Luke looked surprised. "Oh my…Annabeth is going to kill me. Even though I'm already dead…Thalia has a brother? And he's Roman?"
"A lot has transpired since you died, son of Hermes," said Zeus, "but now we need to save these demigods. We have reason to believe that they are in the Brass Fortress. You will assist us in breaking them free."
Luke, Beckendorf, Silena, and Bianca nodded.
Bianca pointed at the River Cocytus. "It is the next river you must cross. It is also known as the River of Lamentation. You must be careful not to touch the water, or you will be drowned in sorrow. The river also has a mind of its own and may attack you."
"She is correct. And we must hurry" said Hades.
The five gods and the four dead demigods sprinted across the black sand towards the black river. It had a strong smell of sulfur which they could smell from a distance and blood-red clouds hung over it.
"Ewww…it stinks extremely badly" said Silena with her fingers holding her nose.
"How will we cross it" asked Hephaestus as they approached the river.
"Please. I'm the Lord of the Underworld. I think I can try something" said Hades.
He closed his eyes and then raised his hands. He made a motion with them like he was breaking or ripping through something. The water made a moaning sound and stopped flowing. There was a gap in the river with water on both sides.
"Hurry! I won't be able to hold it much longer!"said Hades through clenched teeth. They all jumped in and sprinted across the mushy bottom of the river. The water on both sides was making noises like it didn't like being stopped. The gods and demigods climbed their way out of the river but Hades was still inside.
"Hurry!" exclaimed Zeus.
"He's faltering!" cried Bianca. She closed her eyes and tried to imitate her father's powers.
Hades started climbing up out of the river when the water started coming closer together. Bianca fell down and Luke went over to help her. The river came crashing in through the gap and started flowing again, with Hades still inside it.
"AGH! It's freezing!" yelled Hades.
Zeus knelt down on the banks and outstretched his hand. "Come on, brother, take my hand!"
"There's no point. We don't even know for sure if they are in the Brass Fortess! Ares wins!" screamed Hades miserably.
"That's the river speaking, father!" yelled Bianca. "You are the Lord of the Dead! You are more powerful here that any of the other gods! You will help find them and be a hero!"
Hades struggled to swim against the flow of the river but then he jumped towards Zeus's hand. Zeus pulled him out with all of his might. They both lay there, exhausted.
"You're getting heavy!" exclaimed Zeus.
"I can be any weight I want! I was just measuring you're strength, brother…Thanks" said Hades with a smile and a sigh.
"All right, that's enough of that mushy stuff," said Luke coming over to the gods. "We need to go save Annabeth and the others."
"The next river is the River Styx…finally, we cannot bathe in it either…unless anyone here wants the curse of Achilles," said Beckendorf.
"Been there, done that…not very fun," said Luke.
"Then we must call Charon," said Hades. He put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. His whistle rang throughout Tartarus. After a few moments, the gods and demigods could see a hooded figure with an oar, rowing towards them. He looked like the ghoul costume one might find at a Party City during Halloween. In his hood though was only a skull.
"What am I doing here, Lord Hades? I'm only the ferryman in the part of the Styx in the Underworld. This is not the Underworld" said Charon, looking annoyed (if skulls could look annoyed).
"What? Charon what do you want from me? I even gave you a raise after that boy Jackson so kindly asked me to."
"I want you to fix this retched boat! Styx water leaking through this thing willy nilly…"
Hades sighed. "Fine. I'll do that. Anything else?"
Charon looked surprised. "Seriously? Anything else?"
"No!" Hades screamed. He pointed to the other gods and the demigods. "Get in."
A depressed Charon rowed them across the Styx. The Brass Fortress was now in clear sight. It shined from the fire pits that surrounded it. Gleaming towers rose on all four of its sides. Charon stopped when they got to the other side and the nine of them got out. Charon rowed furiously back to the Underworld before Hades had another chance to yell at him.
"We're almost there. Just one more river…" said Aphrodite.
"The River Lethe" said Athena.
"It was where Nico and I were dumped to erase our memories after our mom died…" said Bianca.
"Yes, well it was for your own safety. Its effects are temporary though. Nico does remember parts of his past now. But, it you bathe in the Lethe and are reborn, its effects are permanent."
"That's great but we should hurry," said Luke impatiently.
"Agreed," said Hephaestus and they all marched towards the Lethe, the Brass Fortress looming in the distance.
***HI PEOPLE THAT READ MY FANFICTIONS! THE NEXT CHAPTER IS WHEN ALL OF THE GOOD STUFF HAPPENS. THE GODS RAID THE BRASS FORTRESS AND PERCY FINALLY BATTLES ARES. BUT AFTER THAT IS OVER, THE BAD STUFF DOESN'T STOP! I'M PLANNING ON WRITING ANOTHER FANFICTION BOOK INVOLVING THE GODDESS HESTIA AND SOMETHING THAT PERCT GAVE TO HER FOR PROTECTION…IT'LL BE CALLED:
PERCY JACKSON AND THE ONLY HOPE
OR ATLEAST THAT'S WHAT I HAVE SO FAR, I MIGHT CHANGE IT…ANYWAYS, THANKS FOR READING AND REVIEWING. TELL OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT MY BOOKS AND GOODBYE!