The taxi kept driving us through the neon-lighted casino's and hotels in Las Vegas, a creepy smile on his face caused by Aeneas' charmspeak ability. Bryan was still in his deep sleep, courtesy of Morpheus, the god of dreams, and his dreamsword. Gustavo was looking at the left window with his calm expression, his elbow pressed against the glass and his hand on his forehead. On the other hand, Destiny was on the right side, Aeneas' gladius propped on her side and helping me hold Bryan still. Aeneas sat on the front with the driver, which no one seemed to care even though he was an eleven year old. His right arm still had my first aids bandage wrapped around it, as he got injuried while fighting the god of dreams. And finally, I sat between the Hypnos twins, with the asleep son of Hades in my lap, my black hair covering my worried expression. Nobody said a word during the trip.
To be honest, I was very worried about this Alpha and Omega hotel we were heading to. Morpheus had warned us that a danger worse than himself awaited us there, and we didn't have any fighters. Aeneas couldn't fight with his sword arm broken, and I couldn't protect the twins while holding off a horde of monsters worse than a god at the same time. And I had to protect Bryan too. At times like this, I wish he could be awake. I mean, for a son of Hades he wasn't the gloomy, depressing emo kid everyone expected him to be. And I bet we all needed a dose of his usual sarcasm that made this horrible quest not be horrible.
-"Alpha and Omega hotel, my Lord." the driver said cheerfully.
-"My Lord?" I asked Aeneas with a light smile.
-"Um..it's a side-effect. I swear." he replied while getting off. He took out some mortal money to pay the driver.
-"Yeah, sure." The twins got off, both helping me carry Bryan out the cab. My eyes widened as I admired the massive, black glass tower that stood upright in front of us. This was the famous Alpha and Omega hotel Morpheus spoke about. Two rows of greek olive trees formed a wide path towards the main entrance. The alpha and omega symbols were the only letters in the hotel's "Welcome" sign, made out of flickering, red and blue neon lights. I had to blink a few times to see it properly. The tower was blurring, Mist weaving in and out of it.
-"Mortals can't get in. There's Mist protecting the hotel." Gustavo commented, fixing his messy blond hair that covered his lavender eyes.
-"I have a bad feeling about this." Aeneas said.
-"Same. But we need to go in-" I said, but was interrupted by Aeneas.
-"Yes, and find Fortuna, we already know, Erin." he said cheerfully. I nodded, and with help of the twins, carried Bryan through the path. I noticed it was made out of the same glittering silver material Eurus' palace had. The black tower remained there peacefully, as if there wasn't a single soul inside. We arrived to a double, black glass door with Imperial Gold handles. Aeneas opened it, and we all went in.
-"It's dark here!" Destiny shouted. And she was right, the lobby was as dark as the Oneiroi. I quickly prepared for the worst, ready to shoot anything that came near us with my bow, but right then..
-"Welcome! Welcome all to the Alpha and Omega Hotel! Envied by the god Hephaestus himself!" said a young red-haired lady, with the body of a supermodel and glowing, obsidian nails. Her eyes were a deep green, like the sea itself. "Our motto is check-in today, checkout never!" she added with an ear-to-ear smile. We all exchanged looks. The lobby floor was black like Bryan's sword, the walls glittering silver and the lobby counter pure Imperial Gold. The alpha and omega letters were sculpted in the walls, flickering like the ones outside the hotel. Potted olive trees adorned the waiting area, a few cushioned sofas and chairs with small, coffee tables on both sides. The room wasn't really huge though.
-"Um..hello?" I said doubtfully. "We're looking for the goddess Fortuna.." and I was interrupted yet again.
-"Fortuna? Oh..you must be Erin Artist, daughter of Apollo!" she said pointing at me. Then she turned to Aeneas. "And Aeneas Kahale, son of Venus.." and finally pointed to the twins. "And the Strauss twins, sired by Hypnos." she twisted her mouth while she said this.
-"And you are?" I said, glaring at the strange lady.
-"Me? Oh..I am the wonderful.." The lady closed her eyes and smiled again. The room turned to black, a spotlight that seemed to come out of nowhere pointed at her. Then a drumroll that also seemed to come out of nowhere. "The marvelous.." the drumroll intensified. "Doris. Nymph daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, the bounty of the sea!" and the drumroll stopped. The spotlight disappeared as the lights turned on again.
-"Oh..kay.." I said, my sight wandering off the nymph.
-"Oh, wonderful and marvelous Doris," Aeneas began, a smile on his face, "Where can we find the goddess Fortuna, in this wonder of art, Alpha and Omega hotel?"
-"You're going to need to check-in first!" she said, motioning to the Imperial Gold counter.
I looked at Aeneas. -"I'll check-in, help the twins hold Bryan." and he came over, holding the son of Hades while I walked up to the counter. I faced Doris, who was still smiling.
-"We're checking in for a single night. Two rooms please." I said determined.
-"Two rooms? At once, daughter of Apollo." she bowed, then waved her hand, a papyrus scroll and a quill materializing out of thin air. "Sign here, please." she pointed to a small line. The scroll was filled with millions of greek letters that made my head spin, but I signed with my name nonetheless.
"Very well, just wait a few minutes right there." she said, and picked up a strange-looking antique phone. I walked back to the other demigods, who had placed Bryan in one of the couches.
-"I got us two rooms. One for the boys, and the other for us."
-"Sounds good. But the Feast ends tonight, Erin." Aeneas pointed out, "We need to find Fortuna, get the cure for Bryan and the inverted vase in just a few hours!"
-"It's alright.." I rolled my eyes towards Doris, who was now looking at our direction with her silly fake smile. "As long as we play their game, we'll find her on time."
-"If you say so.." he said. Destiny had been staring at him the whole time, and Gustavo sat silently in his bubble of thoughts.
Doris clapped, and the elevator that wasn't there minutes ago opened. Another thing to write down in the "weird things that happened in this quest" list, because the Minotaur (THE minotaur) came out of it, with a blue, alpha and omega hotel cap that luggage guys have in hotels and weird-looking red shoes.
-"This is Derek. He will take you to your room." Doris said, and the Minotaur motioned to the elevator. We quickly picked up Bryan, and walked in the elevator nonchalantly.
-"I'll help you with this." Derek the minotaur grunted, and picked up Bryan with a single hand. Nobody said anything about that. "Your rooms are number 3000, and 3001."
The fancy elevator was very large, enough to hold the minotaur and five demigods and still have space for more. It had Imperial Gold in the walls and floor, and only had five buttons, so I had no idea how it could have 3000 rooms and probably more. Derek pressed a single button, that said "Room" in ancient greek. And the elevator didn't seem to move at all. The only thing breaking the awkward silence was the weird elevator music that must've been from The Ventures. I had a good ear for music from working with my mom in a music shop when I was little.
-"We're here." Derek grunted, and the doors opened. We emerged in a large hallway, with an alpha and omega, blue and red rug on the floor to each of the rooms. It ended in another path to the left, a golden bridge to the other side of the hotel. This place was larger than the Labyrinth itself. And of course, it was a million times larger on the inside than it was on the outside. Derek scorted us through a few rooms, slightly before the golden bridge. "Room 3000. Aeneas Kahale, Bryan Rodriguez and Gustavo Strauss."
-"That's ours." Aeneas said, and with a single finger, Derek opened the door. I didn't look at the inside though. Aeneas, Gustavo and Derek, who was still carrying Bryan with a single hand, all went in. Then Derek came out and closed the door.
-"Room 3001." Derek said, and we went to the other room. This place was more a suite than a regular room though. It had an indoor, pristine water pool, two canopy beds, a kitchen with pretty much anything you could imagine, two bathrooms, a flatscreen and a see-through black glass of the entire city. -"Doris says you have an hour to get ready before the event begins."
-"Event?" I asked right away.
-"The Feast of Fortuna. I can't say anything else." Derek said stoically, and went out. I looked at Destiny. She seriously needed a change of clothes and fixing her hair before this mysterious Feast of Fortuna. And so did I.
-"Well, let's get ready then." I told the daughter of Hypnos. She faced me with her lavender eyes.
-"Say..Erin.." she began, "what can you tell me about Aeneas?"
-"What do you mean?"
-"Well.." her sight wandered off to the roof, "he's..um.." she sounded nervous. "Well I think he's.." and she blushed. I think I knew what was coming. "I think he's cute, okay? Please don't tell my brother or he will tease me forever."
I seriously had to laugh. -"Aeneas? Well, he's a nice kid. Do you want me to set you guys up?"
-"No, just..um.." her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. "Well yes, you can set us up later.."
-"Haha, I sure will." I replied. "We need to get ready." Destiny nodded. I quickly went to the bathroom. The toilet was Imperial Gold, the jacuzzi Celestial Bronze and the shower glittering silver. I showered, which felt incredibly relaxing. I felt completely refreshed, like I hadn't in so many days, since the quest began. All of my previous cuts and bruises seemed to close up, as if the water had a healing property of sorts. The towels were probably enchanted, because they were extremely soft and never got wet. I went to the closet, surprised of what I found there. It was a dress, which I suppose I had to wear for the event. It was a bright yellow high neck dress with sunflowers at the bottom and short sleeves. I didn't really like the dress, but there was no denying how beautiful it was. There was also some makeup which I didn't touch and black heels. Okay, no one was going to make me wear those heels. I hated heels with all my soul, since I couldn't walk with them without falling once.
-"Erin, come out!" Destiny called. I got worried and came out quickly. Apparently she had no trouble putting her dress and heels on, which made he little girl nearly as tall as I was. Her high neck, short sleeved magenta dress made her look like a princess without a tiara. She had straightened her blond hair somehow, and her newborn baby face made her look even more beautiful.
-"It's Gustavo. He says Bryan woke up."
My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "Then..there's no cure?" I asked.
-"We don't know. I'll go out and check them, okay?" she said with her sweet, little girl voice.
-"Alright." I smiled as she walked out. I put on the bane of my soul, (the heels) and opened the door, walking out. I had left my backpack with the nectar and ambrosia back in the room, though I didn't know I had made a terrible mistake by doing so.
-"Erin!" Aeneas called. He looked like a stylish gentle-kid with his black tuxedo and shoes. His short, chocolate hair was perfect and his arm seemed to be fine thanks to the healing water. I could see Destiny stealing glances every few seconds.
Gustavo followed him, who also had a black tuxedo, though his blond hair was still a mess. And finally, the son of Hades.
-"I thought I'd never see you wear something like that." I chuckled as I saw him. He had fixed his messy black hair and his face looked completely refreshed. Destiny stood by her twin's side. Bryan spoke up.
-"I had a weird dream..what happened?"
We all laughed. But my face turned serious soon after. -"Tell us about it later, Death Boy," he glared at the nickname, "we're going to the "event" now."
The twins, the son of Venus, the son of Hades and I all nodded. We all walked to the elevator and I fell thanks to my heels.
-"Don't mind me, just keep walking!" I shouted, and I could hear Aeneas chuckle. Destiny called for the elevator, which soon after opened revealing Derek the minotaur.
-"The feast begins in fifteen minutes. Are you ready for this?" he said with his stoic face.
-"We are." I finally said, and we all walked in. I fell again by the way.