Chapter 14

We followed a series of darkened, empty hallways and then we came to an elevator.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"We don't know, he parked his chariot on the top of some roof. We didn't see much from the sun." Annabeth said. I pressed the down button and we waited.
It was coming from the ground floor... first floor...second floor...third floor...
"Oh my gods, what floor are we on?" Grover asked.
"Considering theres no up button.. A high one." I replied. fourty third floor... fourty fourth floor...fourty fitfth floor...DING! Finally.. We got in and as soon as we did, it shot us down to the ground level.
"That was .. fast.."Annabeth stated. We stepped out into an empty, half finished lobby. It was proabably the size of two football fields. It had plastered walls and plastic that was half ripped off, unfinished marble tiles and crumbling posts that sat on the side of each door.
"What is this dump?" I asked.
"It looks like this thing has been evacuated for some serious construction issues.." Annabeth said. I prayed we didn't have to listen to her go on and on about the architectural structure of this building. Like always, I was wrong.
"Why would you even bother to place decayed collumns near an entrance way? That is very dangerous. What if someone was walking in and then all of a sudden, they found themselves under a bunch of debris?" and she continued..
"They might have wanted to make the ceiling a little more attractive, just because they put baby cupids on the ceiling doesn't mean it's old fashioned." I mentally sighed because if I did out loud, she'd probably turn around and smack me. I could sense Grover was wary, probably because of our empathy link and just because usually when people hang around Annabeth for more then 30 minutes when she's talking about architecture, you tend to get wary and restless. Finally we came to the end of the never ending lobby. There was a double wooden door with mosaic tiles filling the middle and top. They could proabably fit as the gates to Camp Half-Blood right next to Thalia's pine tree. Surprisingly, they were very light.

We stepped out into the daylight. Considering I`ve been sleeping most the day and in a dark room, the light felt like it could be burning my eyes. It reminded me of my trip in the River of Styx, the burning of the telekhines setting me on fire and the blows I`ve recieved from Kronos himself. Once my eyes adjusted, I checked to my right and left just to make sure Annabeth and Grover were still there. I couldn`t believe what I saw. I was starring at three shirtless men... Oh, never mind, they were on a truck passing by. I took a step forward and fell. To my luck, it was probably a sewar. There were rats and bugs, which I am no fan of, and it smelt worse then Smelly Gabe. Did either of them notice I was gone yet? I looked up and saw a bright little circle. Thankfully, there was a ladder I could climb to get up.

Once I got up, Annabeth and Grover were leaning over a balcony and looking left and right and up and down like a bunch of tourists. Thanks for noticing I left guys? I went to join them and started gawking as well.
"Gosh, Percy, you smell terrible." Annabeth said. Well, isn't that great?
"Mmm, yeah." I mumbled. "Like cinnamon and flowers.."
"No Pers, more like sweage and decayed animals." Grover wrinkled his nose.
"Let's get past my smell.. Where are we?" I tried to switch topics.
"You should really take a dip in the water.. It's distracting." Grover was now plugging his nose.
"Well it's not my fault you have an extra sense of smell." I grumbled.
"Isn't it obvious?" Annabeth said, "What else has Planet Hollywood and the Eiffel tower right next door?"
"Um.. a map?" I guessed. Then I recieved one of her stop-trying-to-be-funny-Percy looks.
"Las Vegas baby!" Grover yelled.

We went down to the street and realized we were on Las Vegas Boulevard.
We passed tons of tourists and we all grew with anticipation, we knew we were close to California. We pulled into the Hard Rock Cafe and got a bite to eat. I ordered a roast beef sandwich with a ceasar salad and a side of cole slaw with fries, I am a guy, so I am aloud to eat like one. Grover ordered an asian flavoured quinoa salad and cole slaw, and Annabeth had a hamburger with fries. We sat there and enjoyed our monster free time while we could. Then, I jinxed it.