I got a review to average my chapters like the Chapter 11. Well, here it goes.
Chapter 12
Nico was awake but had his eyes closed. He had decided to play asleep to eavesdrop on some conversation. He wasn't disappointed. "We could use the drug or we could use the physiologist. Either way, it'll ensure that they will never leave." "Yes, even that girl will lose eventually." "How long do you think it will last before they surrender?" "Not too long. The boy will succumb pretty early, however, my concerns are the girl." "Don't worry, one of my men was sent to knock her unconscious. He'll bring her here and we'll make sure she enjoys herself." With that said, they exited the room.
These guys are either extremists in pleasure or just plain crazy, thought Nico. I gotta get out of here. Knowing that any quick movement might cause him extreme pain, he slowly got up. A sharp pain shot up his stomach but other than that, there was no other pain. He looked around for his sword but couldn't find it. The longing for a sword like Percy's came back with renewed fury. Why did it seem that everything was against him? He stopped his search and looked at his surroundings. What he saw made him jump back in fright. He was in a cell adjacent to another cell, holding the manticore! Fortunately, the monster was asleep and apparently had not noticed Nico.
Not yet, Nico thought with a shiver. He crawled slowly toward the corner of the cell farthest away from the manticore. Nico wasn't sure what to do but he knew one thing. If that manticore found out that he was right next to him, then things would become ugly. He had a hard time believing that anyone could save him now. "How could anything get any worse?" he asked himself. Suddenly, the manticore snorted and opened its eyes. The first thought that came to mind when it saw Nico, lunch.
The elevator ride took about a minute but it was enough for a brief chat. "Sam, how come you aren't brainwashed or game-crazy?" Rachel asked. Sam raised an eyebrow replying, "I could ask you the same question." Each of them had a staring contest seeing who would back down first. Sam did. "All right, I'll tell you. Hypnos' children like me are pretty good with dreams and of course, sleep. Since the Lotus Casino, puts most of its guest in a dream-like trance I'm not affected." "How did you get here?" asked Rachel curiously.
Sam looked embarrassed and said, "My mom and I lived here in Las Vegas. We were poor but she was always an optimist. When I was a little kid, my mom told me that I slept too much and I guess she was right. I argued with her for a while and then decided to run away. It was the worst mistake I made in my whole life. After running for a while, I wanted to go back but found myself lost. No one would help me until I met a boy named Roger." Sam stopped momentarily but then continued. "He was a demigod like me and he told me all about how the Greek gods were real and about a place named Camp Half Blood where he had come from. He treated me like a brother."
Rachel nodded wanting to hear more about his story. "One day, a monster chased us and we managed to hide in this hotel. But then, Roger got dazzled by the entertainments and food. It made him forget everything, even me." Sam sighed heavily. "He's still here but whenever I try to talk to him, he acts like I don't exist." "Why haven't you tried to escape?" Sam looked at her with a sad look. "I've tried but I can't do it. You saw what they did to that monster. They aren't afraid to do it again." "Then why are you helping us?" "What I meant is that I can't do it alone." "What makes you think we will all of a sudden help you?" "My dreams," Sam replied as the elevator doors opened.
Nico dodged another spike thrown at him. He had already felt what a spike could do to him, and he was not in the mood to feel another one. The manticore found it rather amusing that his prey was set right in front of him. "I'm impressed spawn of Hades. You are the first to survive my poison but don't worry. I'll make sure that you'll have enough poison in your body to kill ten men." In that instant, the manticore slung another spike. Nico dodged it but could feel his strength lessening. The pain in his stomach had spread to his lungs and every breath hurt. With his sword, he might have had a chance but here, he was just target practice. And one hit meant game over.
Sam followed by Rachel slowly crept towards a door with the words 'Detention Center' printed on it. A man in the Lotus Casino green uniform was guarding it. In his hands, he held a strange looking gun. Rachel was about to proceed forward until Sam stopped her. "Watch it, that gun he's carrying shoots out volts of electricity." Rachel looked at him with a funny face. "Seriously, it does. I got shot by it once." Rachel nodded and asked, "How do we get past then?" Sam grinned. "Leave it to me." With a flourish, he expertly acted like a boy lost in a hotel.
He walked toward the man who instantly aimed it at Sam. Rachel thought that any minute now, Sam would end up being electrocuted. "Uh, sir, could you please tell me where the I-Max Theater is?" Sam asked innocently. After hearing the question, the guard lowered the gun and smiled. He didn't notice the metal staff hidden behind the boy. The man started to say, "Right over th-." But he was cut short by Sam's hand as it smashed into the guard's arm causing him to drop his gun. While the man was still registering the pain, Sam expertly slammed his staff onto the guard's head. The man's body went limp and started to fall to the floor. The son of Hypnos swiftly caught the guard and gently laid him on the floor. "Sorry, dude," he apologized quietly.
Rachel asked, "How'd you know there was an I-Max Theater on the 999th floor. Sam shrugged. "When you try to escape, you tend to look everywhere." He was about to suggest that they keep moving but was intervened by Rachel's question. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Sam pressed a button and the door to the 'Detention Center' came open. "My dreams," he simply replied.
Nico was at the brink of falling down in exhaustion. The pain had spread to all over the body causing every movement to feel like fire burning inside of him. The manticore was getting pretty irritated and had started throwing multiple spikes at a time. "You can't dodge forever, son of Hades," it hissed. Nico knew, of course that it was right. At this rate, he might die of exhaustion rather than the poison. He wondered how much longer he could keep this up. Of course, he knew the answer, not very long.
Sam was considering which of the numerous amounts of hallways led to the cell Nico was in. It would take forever to open every door and look inside for Nico and who knew what was in each room, he thought grimly. Rachel was fiddling with the computer on a desk ignoring the fact that Sam had mentioned that there was a password. He was about to suggest that they start searching a hallway when all of a sudden, Rachel shouted, "Sam, get over here. I got into the folder telling where each prisoner is located."
"Great, but how'd you get past the password?" "It was pretty simple. Actually, all you have to do is just type anything that relates to this hotel. People usually do that so that it can be easy to remember." "Great, so what was it?" Rachel grinned and said, "Guess." Sam pondered for a moment before asking, "Lotus?" "Nope." "Flower?" The Oracle shook her head. "Fun?" Sam asked hopefully. Rachel let out a big sigh. "Now I wonder if all male demigods are thoughtless.
Don't you notice anything about the hotel and staff? Anything similar?" Sam looked at the computer, floor, and walls. Suddenly, it struck him. Green. "Is it green?" Rachel nodded as she scrolled through the files searching for Nico's label. "Well, that's dumb," Sam mumbled. Rachel looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Dumb, how can it be dumb? All a staff member has to do to remember the password is look at the walls, floor, ceiling, or even themselves." Sam was about to retort back until he heard a scream from one of the corridors.
The recipient was talking with one of the staff members until their conversation was interrupted by one of the gaurds bursting into the room. "Sir, we just found out that the boy was placed in a cell next to the monster." The recipient grabbed the shirt of the guard and ordered, "Get him out there!" After being dropped back down, the guard sped off. The man the recipient was talking to asked, "Who put him there?" The recipient shook his head and said, "That's the wrong question. The right question is 'Who moved him there?"
Nico knew it was over. When he saw one of the men in green come in, he thought he might be saved. Unfortunately, a spike into the heart ended the man's rescue. The manticore, Nico could see, was also getting tired, however in comparison with Nico, he looked like he was in top shape. Nico's vision was blurry and the pain was draining his strength and will to dodge. "Yes, son of Hades, surrender to death. It will be a permanent rest for you." Nico felt himself blinking out. He dropped to his knees and hands and started to gasp for air. The manticore smiled. "Now you die," he said as he raised his tail.
For Rachel and Sam, there was good news and bad news. The good news was that they found out where Nico was being held. The bad news was that they hadn't made a plan to get him out. Sam asked as he tried to form an idea in his head, "What do we do?" "Shhhh!" quieted Rachel and motioned toward the room. The door was partly open giving them a view of what was going on. It wasn't pretty. Nico looked like a corpse brought back to life. He was desperately dodging the spikes thrown by the manticore. Rachel studied the room looking for anything they could use. Looking at the ceiling, she found it.
Nico had managed to roll at the last second. A spike embedded itself on the part of the floor he had momentarily just been on. "These days you demigods are weak and stupid but that doesn't bother me. It means that you brats are easier to kill and that means I get to eat more." Nico shivered in fear and had a flashback of what his father had said. But I warn you, the truth will only bring unbelievable pain. If this was just the beginning, then was it really worth finding the truth? Nico's mind and heart shouted back their answers in unison. Yes. Slowly, he got to his feet and looked straight at the manticore's eyes. "I don't care what you do to me. I'm going to find my past even if I die in the process." "Then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed because you will die without knowing your past." Suddenly, the water sprinklers above them were activated.
Rachel jumped in and grabbed Nico and started pulling him out into the hallway. The manticore was distracted for only a moment before roaring in rage and started to throw spikes. Sam with ease deflected them with his pole, in doing so, he covered Nico and Rachel. When Nico was safely out in the hallway, Sam jumped out as well and slammed the door shut. "Come on," he shouted as he saw some men in green running toward them, "we have to go." Rachel replied in hasty voice, "Sam, Nico's too weak. He can't walk." Quick as a flash, he slung Nico onto his back and together with Rachel, they headed toward the elevators.
"Hey, you three stop!" ordered one of the men in front of the group that was chasing Rachel, Nico, and Sam. Not going to happen, thought Sam hurriedly. "Press the elevator button. I'll hold them off," ordered Sam. "But how can you take them all?" asked Rachel in disbelief. "Just do it!" Rachel didn't argue any longer. She pressed the button as she wrung her hands around as she waited impatiently for the elevator. Sam picked up the gun from the guard that had dropped it earlier and pointed it at the group. "Gain way!" shouted one of them and dived for cover. Others followed his example. Unfortunately for two of them, they didn't respond quickly enough. Sam gave each of them a good shock each. They dropped down unconscious. The other men took out their weapons which were identical to the gun that Sam held. This time he was the one who dived for cover. "Get to cover!" yelled Sam.
Rachel yelped and threw Nico behind a couch and dived in right behind him. It wasn't a moment too soon. The area they were in exploded with electricity. When the electricity arcs disappeared, Rachel took a peak of the room they were in. Scorch marks dotted the floor, walls, and ceilings and all electrical appliances except the elevator, were shattered. Sam returned fire forcing the men to stay low. "How much longer?" he asked. "919th floor," she replied. He nodded and pulled the trigger to let out another arc of electricity. Nothing happened. "Oh great," he said with dismay.
"What?" asked Rachel momentarily distracted from looking at the monitor showing the floor the elevator was on, "what is it?" "This thing is dead. How much more until the elevator arrives?" "Thirty more floors." The men in green realized that Sam had stopped shooting and fired their weapons. Sam and Rachel took cover again. "Now?" Sam asked hopefully. "Ten more floors," Rachel replied. The group, realizing that there had no return fire, started to charge toward the three teenagers.
The elevator arrived with a 'ding' and opened. Rachel knew that as long as she lived, she would never forget how comforting that little sound was. She pulled Nico into the elevator and shouted, "Sam, come on!" Sam threw the gun at the group and dove into the elevator. The Oracle pressed the close button as hard as she could. The elevator's entrance started to shut close but was stopped by one of the men's hand. Sam swung his pole smashing the hand back outside. The doors closed completely and the elevator started to descend. Sam and Rachel dropped onto the floor of the elevator, breathing heavily. "Where'd," she said after calming herself, "you learn to do those kinds of things?" Sam was about to reply but was again interrupted by Rachel which he was getting tired of. "Wait, let me guess, your dreams?" The son of Hypnos just nodded.
They stopped on the 517th floor to check the green suitcase. Rachel opened the door and they entered inside. Sam suggested, "I'll go guard the door. If I see anything, I'll whistle." Rachel nodded and walked toward the suitcase and searched for anything interesting. She found a journal by Nico, which held inside a very descriptive life in the Lotus Casino. She put that inside a bag she had got in a gift shop on the 678th floor.
Besides the journal, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the suitcase. She pulled out the locket she had found before and studied it. It was a relatively normal one, but then she tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. She looked for a latch but only found a keyhole. Where's the key, she asked herself in her mind. Suddenly, she heard urgent whistling from the door.
Man, this chapter had a lot of action! Plenty of fighting and suspense but there's also a little mystery about the locket. Please, please, review! I really want to know your opinions about this chapter.
