10. Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain.

Ares was waiting for us at the diner car park, leaning against his bike like he didn't care about anything in the world.
"Well, well," He said. "You didn't get yourself killed."
"You knew it was a trap." Percy stated.
Ares gave him an 'I know' grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."
Percy shoved the shield roughly at him. "You're a jerk."
Grover and I caught our breath.
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it on his pinky finger, like a basketball. It morphed into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.
"See the truck over there?" he pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked on the opposite side of the street. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."
the eighteen-wheeler had a large print on the back; luckily, it was reverse-printed white on black, excellent for ADHD people: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE ANIMALS.

Did he think we were animals? It'll stink like bad manure in their!
Percy said, "You're kidding."
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the van 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 handle bars and tossed it to Percy.
Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash pouch full of golden Drachmas and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.
My favourite biscuits.
 Percy said, "I don't want your lousy-"
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving Percy the 'warning' look. "Thanks a lot."
It was a perilous offence to reject a gift from a god. I knew all of our anger was caused by the War god. But it seemed to be affecting Percy pretty bad. Why couldn't he just shut up?
I got the feeling someone was watching me, so I turned back to face the diner. The waitress who had served us dinner was studying tensely from the window, like she was frightened Ares might harm us. She hauled the cook from out of the kitchen to look. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a petite disposable camera and snapped an image of us.
Just what we need, I thought, another round of newspaper articles with our faces on the front page.
"You owe me one more thing," Percy said, "You promised me information about my mother."
"You sure you can handle he news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."
The ground started to grumble. "What do you mean?"
"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was tuned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."
"Kept. Why?"
"You need to study war punk," He needs to study a lot of things, I thought. "Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
"Nobody's controlling me."
He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."
Percy balled up his fists. "Your pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."
Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I thought he was going to punch the seaweed out of Percy's thick head. How thick could you get? A hot wind blew across the air. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."
He revved his Harley and speeded down Delancy Street and out of sight.
I said, "That was not smart, Percy."
"I don't care." You will, when the time comes.
"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."
"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but…"
He pointed towards the diner. At the cash register, the last two customers were paying their bill, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the truck that we were taking to go west.
"If we're taking zoo express," Grover said. "we need to hurry."
I didn't like the transportation vehicle, but it was our only option.
We ran across the avenue and scrambled into the back of the van, locking the doors behind us.

The smell was just what I had expected. It was like the world's biggest pile of cow manure.
It was dark inside, until I notice a glint from my right Percy was standing with riptide, using the glow as a light. At the back of the van, were the three most uninteresting animals that ever seen: a zebra, a male albino lion, and an antelope.
I felt sorry for the animals; someone had thrown the lion a bag of turnips, which he observably didn't want to eat because lions are carnivores (meat eaters). The antelope and the zebra had each got a polystyrene tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was entangled with chewing gum. The antelope had a stupid silvery birthday helium balloon tied to one of its horns that read: OVER THE HILL!
Obviously, no one had dared to mess with the lion's appearance, but the underprivileged thing was pacing around in a cage that was way too little for him, panting from the unventilated heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his eyes and his ribs showed through his pale fur.
"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"
He would probably have gone out there and beat up those driver for cruelty to animals, I would've helped him, but then the truck's engines roared to life, the trailer started quivering, and we were forced to sit down otherwise we would just fall down.
We huddled in a corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to pay no attention to the smell, heat and flies. Grover was talking to the animals in goat- language but they just stared at him miserably.
"Why don't we just break the cages and free them on the spot?" I asked.
"Yeah," Percy said sarcastically, "That's a great idea, Wisegirl."
"What?"
"It wouldn't do much good until the van stops moving; Besides, I think we look a lot better to the lion than those turnips."
"Did not think of that." I mumbled.
Percy got up. I said, "I thought you just said not to free them, now!"
"I'm not freeing them," He protested. He found a jug of water and refilled their bowls, then used his sword to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. He gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and antelope.
"Oh," I said. I decided to help by cutting the balloon off of the antelope's ears, using my knife. Grover calmed the antelope down while I cut it off. I wanted to cut the gum off of the zebra's hair, too, but we decided it would be too risky with the truck bumping around. We told Grover to promise the animals we'd help them more in the morning. Then we settled in for the night.
Grover curled up on a turnip sack; I opened up a packet of Oreos and nibbled on one half-heartedly. I tried to think about the positive side of our quest. We were half-way to Los Angeles. Halfway to our intention. I was only June the fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time.
I felt bad for not being a wimp at the park. Spiders. Ewww.
I wanted to apologise to Percy for being un-useful at the park.
"Hey," I said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."
"That's okay."
"It's just…" I shuddered at the thought. "Spiders."
He probably won't understand about my fear of spiders.
"Because Of the Arachne's story," Wow, guess not. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest right?"
I nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."
"We're a team remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."
"I thought he was asleep, but he surprised me by saying, "I as pretty amazing, wasn't I?"
Percy and I laughed.
I pulled apart an Oreo, and handed Percy half. I was ready to ask he question that had been buzzing around in my head all day. "In the Iris message…did Luke really say nothing?"
He munched his cookie. I thought he wasn't going to say anything until, "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said that Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."
That sentence brought back sad memories of us four-Thalia, Luke, Grover and I – all trying to get to camp safely.
Grover let out a mournful bray.
"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew I what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."
"You were the satyr that tried to rescue Thalia, daughter of Zeus."
He nodded glumly.
"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp." He looked at me. "That was you and Luke wasn't it?"
He catches on quick. I put down my 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. Hey were happy to take me with them. They were… amazing monster fighters, even without training. We travelled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending of monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us." Grover led on from here.
"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 them 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," I said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."
"She sacrificed herself to save us." He said wretchedly. "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." Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the Council says."I tried my best to make Grover feel better.
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," I insisted. "You've got more courage than any other satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare o go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."
I kicked Percy in the shin, making sure he agreed.
"Yeah," Percy said. "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 searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."
How does he do that? Just pop out with really nice things to say, without realizing it? I heard a deep satisfied sigh. Grover's breathing got heavier and heavier. When it turned to snoring, I realized he'd fallen asleep.
"How does he do that?" Percy marvelled.
"I don't know," I said. "But that was a really nice thing you told him."
"I meant it."
I guess, I was starting to accept Percy. Just because Poseidon and Athena argued, didn't mean Percy and I would. Percy was actually different; like no one I had ever seen before. He was one of a kind.
After a few minutes Percy spoke up. "That pine-tree bead," He said. "Was that from your first year?"
I looked at my necklace. My hand had been rubbing the beads; I hadn't even realized.
"Yeah," I said. "Every August, the counsellors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pin-tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress- now that was a weird summer…"
"And the college ring is your fathers?"
"That's none of your-" I stopped myself. He was my friend now, I could tell him. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"You don't have to tell me."
"No…its okay." I took a deep breath that turned out shaky. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keep-safe from Athena. He wouldn't have got through his doctoral programmes at Harvard without her…That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologised 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 step-mom 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."
"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"
I looked anywhere but Percy gaze. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."
"You shouldn't give up." Percy told me. "You should write him a letter or something."
"Thanks for the advice." I said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."
We passed another few minutes of silence.
"So if he gods fight." Percy finally said. "will things line u the way they did in the Trojan War? Will it be Athena verses Poseidon?"

I put my head up against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed my eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."
"Why?"
"Because I'm your friend Seaweed Brain. Anymore stupid questions?"
I didn't wait for him to answer.
I tried to fall asleep as easily as Grover did. And you would think it would be hard for me to fall asleep knowing there was a hungry lion staring at me, but I as actually quiet fine. I know that Percy and Grover would never let anything happen to me. I felt safe. And to be absolutely honest, that's something I've never felt before. Not even once with Luke or Thalia by my side. Maybe a camp, but then there is the chance of monsters being summoned inside the protective borders.
And after that moment, after admitting that I saw Percy as a friend and not an acquaintance who shouldn't be liked- just because our parents were rivals, for the first time in my life... I felt safe. I felt like I could depend.
I then fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

***Next Morning***

I to find Grover staring at the doors at the back of the van. Then I realized that we weren't bumping up and down.
The truck had stopped moving. I pointed to the animals. Grover nodded.

Grover started shaking Percy-who was asleep. "The trucks stopped." Grover said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."
"Hide!" I hissed at them.
I pulled my cap out of my pocket and quickly situated it on my head. Instantly, I turned invisible. Grover and Percy dived behind he feed sacks.
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat washed in, flooding us all in bright light and stuffy air.
"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his nose, wafting away the bad smell. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.
"You hot, big boy?" He questioned the lion, and then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lions face. I could imagine the look of pure hate on Grover's face, right now.
The lion roared in annoyance.
"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, wild-eyed with fear, looked right at the turnip sack, where Percy and Grover were hiding.
I had to get this trucker out of the trailer, so we could free the zebra and the animals.
Always have a plan, I thought. I suddenly had a brilliant scheme.
I quickly, but silently, sprinted out of the van, making sure not to make a noise. The heat was over-whelming me; I tried to take no notice of it. I quickly dashed to the side of the truck, skidding to a stop- a cloud of dust from the earth appearing at my feet.
I knocked loudly, three times on the side of the van. Knock, knock, knock.
The trucker within the truck yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"
The guy, with a toothbrush moustache, bellowed back, from the front of the truck, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"
"What are you banging for?"
I knocked again, three quick raps, knock, knock, knock.

Eddie yelled, "What banging?"
A few seconds later, Maurice came out the van, cursing Eddie for being an idiot. I darted back inside the lorry and landed next to the turnip sacks, where I saw Percy peeking over the top. I took my cap off and 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!"
I looked at Percy, waiting for his opinion on the situation.
Percy stared at the zebra for a few seconds. Then out of the blue, Percy slashed at the zebra's cage lock with riptide.
The zebra burst out of the cage like lightening had struck it. It turned and bowed to Percy. That confused me. Then I understood why: the zebra was a type of horse. Percy's dad was Poseidon so obviously the zebra would be respectful to the son of Poseidon.
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat-language, like a blessing.
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check what the racket was, the zebra soared over him and into the street. There was yelling and ear-piercing screaming and cars beeping their horns. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra careering down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. We'd just let a zebra on the loose in Vegas.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a couple of police men running after them, shouting. "Hey! You need a permit for that!"
"Now would be a good time too leave." I said.
"The other animals first." Grover said.
Percy cut the locks with his sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.
"Good luck," Percy told the animals. The last two animals burst out of their cages and galloped of together into the roads.
The whole commotion sent tourist screaming. Most just backed off and took photographs.
"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. What a Seaweed Brain.
"It only works on wild animals."
"So it would only affect Percy." I reasoned.
"Hey!" Percy protested.
"Kidding," I aid. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."
We stumbled out of the truck. A heat waved washed over our faces. It was forty-eight degrees easy.
We passed many buildings on our long, endless, heat-filled journey. Pyramids, a pirate ship and the statue of liberty- it wasn't as good as the real one- it was just a smaller copy, Monte Carlo and the MGM, we passed all of them.
I wasn't too sure what we were looking for but I really wanted to rest after walking for many exhausting, never-ending hours. I was desperate to get out of the suffering heat, cool down and consider a new plan to travel west. We must've taken a wrong turn because we were now facing a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a gigantic neon flower- a lotus flower to be exact-, the petals lighting up and flashing. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were fully open, spilling out air conditioning that smelled like flowers- lotus blossom, most likely.
The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"
I'd learnt to be cautious over every little thing, the last week or so. Anybody could be a monster or a god or just an ordinary mortal. You just couldn't tell, until it sprouted it at you like water out of a hose pipe. Bu this guy seemed normal. I still wasn't convinced though. But Percy insisted that we go in and have a rest in the shade.
When we stepped inside, the place was amazing!
"Whoa." said Grover. I was speechless, and by the looks of it, so was Percy.
The whole lobby was a huge game room. I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-man games or slot machines. There was an indoor water slide winding around the glossy, glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. And hundreds of video games, each the size of a widescreen plasma TV. On the whole, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not a lot, which surprised me. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around- you would never go hungry, serving every kind of food you can imagine.
And believe me, I'm good at imagining.
"Hey!" A voice shouted from behind me. I spun round. It was a bellhop, or he looked one anyhow. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts and flip-flops. "Welcome to 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 up to the top floor, room 4001." Wow! How many rooms did this place have? "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 restaurants and on all the games and ride." He sounded like he had said this a lot of times, before.
He handed us each a green plastic credit cards.
That was a bit weird, getting money for free, without asking or anything.
Despite this fact, Percy said, "How much is on here?"
The man's eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?" Was this guy stupider than Percy?
"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"
He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."
We took the elevator upstairs (I couldn't be bothered walking up the stairs) and checked out our room. It was a suite with three individual bedrooms and a saloon stocked with every different kind of candy, soda and crisps. A hotline to room service. Feathery towels and waterbeds with quill pillows. A big plasma screen television with satellite and high-speed internet. The balcony had its own hot tub and, as he the bellhop promised, there was a skeet-shooting appliance and shotgun, so you could commence clay pigeons right out over Las Vegas skyline and cork them with your handgun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was really awesome. The view over the Strip and the hot desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever have time to look at the view with a room like this.
"Oh, goodness," I said in awe. "This place is…"
"Sweet," Grover finished my sentence. "Absolutely sweet."
I looked into the closet in my assigned bedroom and, sure enough, there were clothes in there. They fitted me perfectly, which I thought was a little weird. Who cares? At least there clean!
I took a refreshing shower; it felt good after being all grimy and dirty for a week's travelling. I changed into the fresh new clothes that were in the closet. I ate two packets of crisps and one can of cherry coke and came out feeling much better than I had in a long time. I kept having the feeling that we shouldn't be here, but I walled the matter at the back of my mind.
I came out of the bedroom and found Grover and Percy, showered with new clothes on.
I sat on the couch and switched the TV on to the National Geographic Channel, while Grover ate crisps to his hearts content.
"All those stations," Percy told me. "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"
"It's interesting." Was my simple explanation.
"I feel good," Grover stated. "I love this place."
Without even noticing it, Grover's shoes sprouted the wings and lifted him a foot into the air and back down again.
"So what now?" I asked. "Sleep?"
Percy and Grover looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their plastic green LotusCash cards.
"Play time." Percy said. Boys.

(A/N: I am going to change the Lotus Casino part to the film, because the film is more interesting than the book at this point- I'm only doing it for the Lotus Casino though)
We raced down the stairs (the elevator was occupied) as fast as we could. I won, of course. Percy came second (only because he fell down most of the way). Grover came last- he would've beaten Percy, though.
Three waitresses- holding a full tray each of lotus flower biscuits-were stood at the bottom of he stairs; they blocked our path as soon as we took one step forward.
"Can I get you something?" Waitress one said. "Try a lotus flower."
"They're so good." Waitress two said.
"It's our signature dish!" Waitress three said.
"Oh!" Grover exclaimed. "It's signature. Is it good?"
I looked at Percy, not sure whether to try one. He nodded at me. We all picked one each.
"Thank you," Percy said as they walked off, smiling at each other.
"Hey! Do we have to pay for this?" Grover shouted at their turned backs.
"Guess we don't." I said. "It's free."
I slowly took a bite out of it. Percy and Grover followed my example. It was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted! It was all my favourite sweets mixed together!
"It's really good!" Percy said.
"Wow! It's the most delicious thing I've ever consumed!" Grover said.
"Yeah!" I agreed.
Gradually, I started to notice hat everything around me had a slight tinge of illumines glow to it. These biscuits had a awesome effect on everything.
We all started laughing at the unusual effect it was having on us.
"Wow," I said. "Guys, why don't we stay here for a while?"
"That sounds like an amazing idea!" Percy agreed.
"Bla-haa-haa." Grover bleated.
"But we're on a time sensitive mission right now," Percy started to say. "Aren't we-"
"I can't remember." Grover interrupted.
"I totally forgot what I was going to say."
"I think I've figured it out." I said. "I think we're here to…have fun!"
"Okay!" Percy shouted, spreading his arms wide. "Let's stay here for ages!"
I couldn't remember the most recent time I'd had so much fun. I came from a camp with no money of my own. My idea of fun was sitting on the beach watching the waves slowly wash up on the shore then gracefully slide back again, I watched that happen again and again and again until the sea and sun became one.
I dashed to the nearest game board I could find, Percy followed. Grover disappeared into a group of giggling girls about two years older than him. Percy and I played on this gambling thing that I didn't know the name of, for a few minutes, with a couple of other random people in the casino. A few minutes later, a Waitress came up to us again and shoved Lotus flower biscuits in our faces. We all took one, gladly eating the scrumptious food.
We switched from game to game to game.
I found Grover having his hooves painted shiny scarlet, by giggly girls with short dresses. I played on trivia Games until Percy came up to me and dragged me to the dance floor and pointed at Grover. He was in the middle of the stage dancing to his hearts content- with no fake pants on. We watched from the bar and drank more coke then I had ever had before. We were all laughing and dancing to the music 'Poker Face' by Lady Ga Ga. Until, a while later, another Waitress came and gave us more flower biscuits. I ate mine as soon as I took it off the plate. Percy stopped and waved at a guy who walked past.
The guy said, "Groovy, man. Groovy."
Percy frowned, looked at his biscuit and laid it on the counter of the bar, then said. "I think I'll go get some air. I'll be right back." I picked it up and held it in my hand while I went to find some one to dance with.

***A Few Hours Later***

I was dancing with a girl called Elizabeth when Percy grabbed my arm and towed me over to a corner. He took one look at the biscuit in my hand and grabbed and threw it on the floor saying, "You don't want."
"What?"
"We have to go now." Percy said.
"Bu we've only just got here!" I protested.
He kept on dragging me around the Casino until he stopped in front of Grover-who was sat in an armchair with a swarm of girls surrounding him, giggling.
"Grover! Grover!" Percy shouted. "Wake up!"
"What? Look, Perce. Your timing is terrible, okay? Dude we're heading to the chapel. We're getting married!"
"Awww. How romantic." I cooed.
"Nooo, no, no." Percy said.
"Wait, which one of you do I propose to?" Grover asked the girls. All of theirs hands shot up at once.
Percy grabbed a jug of water of a nearby table and splashed in the face.
Grover and the girls gasped.
"WAKE U!" Percy shouted waving his hands in front of Grover's face.
"Yo, man." Grover said. "You're such a buzz kill."
"Percy what's wrong with you?" I asked. "Why're you doing this?"
"Look, You need to wake up! Now, look at me! Your in a trance, okay? We're trapped! Listen to me! You eat the flowers- you're never going to want to leave. Okay!" Oh, no! I suddenly understood what mess age he was trying to get across. We'd be stuck here forever!
"Oh!" Grover and I gasped.
Percy started dragging us to the doors. When we reached them, the bellhop guy said, "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"We're leaving," Percy told him.
"Oh, such a shame." He said. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."
He held out the cards, offering them to us.
I saw Grover reach out for one of the cards so I yanked it back and said, "No thanks."
As we walked out the door, the smell of food seemed to get more and more inviting. We ran down the side walk. It felt like the afternoon, bout the same time of day we'd got into the casino. But the weather had completely changed. It was stormy with heat lightening flashing around the desert. Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand and came back telling us- with a look of distraught on his face- it was the twenty-first of June.
We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.