Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Hello, everyone! Here's Wednesday's update! Not much more to say other than that, although I will say that I can't wait to read your reactions to this chapter ;)

So, with that being said, I will see you all on Friday. Sincerely,

~TGWSI/Selene Borealis

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 17: The Lotus Hotel & Casino Pt. 1~

True to Silena's word, the truck was magicked into staying on course for the entire eleven hour drive that it took to get from Denver to Las Vegas – meaning we were unable to stop. Not once. Not even for a bathroom break, which sucked. Majorly. But, admittedly, my bladder did not suck as much as the fact that Katie was left alone in the trailer with the lion, antelope, and zebra, because not even an hour after Silena confessed she was worried about her did I start to feel guilty, too. I mean, apocalyptic rage or not, nobody deserved to be stuck in an eighteen-wheeler trailer all alone for eleven miserable hours.

But Katie and my urge to pee were not my only concerns during the trip, because around the point that we merged from I-70 West onto the I-15, I fell asleep. And, of course, with demigod sleep comes demigod dreams, although this dream was admittedly like no other dream I had ever had before...

...My nightmare started out as something I'd dreamed a million times before, over and over again: I was being forced to take a standardized test – the horror! No, really. That shit's terrifying – while wearing a straightjacket. All of the other kids had been dismissed to lunch, but I was stuck sitting there, and the teacher kept saying, "Come on, Percy. You're not stupid, are you? Pick up the pencil."

Then the dream strayed from the usual.

I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straightjacket. She looked to be around my age, if not a little older, with black, punk-style hair, stormy green eyes with dark eyeliner around them, and a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose. Somehow, without even thinking about it, I knew who she was. She was Thalia Grace, the daughter of Zeus who had gotten turned into a pine tree.

Strangely enough, Thalia wasn't struggling against the straightjacket like I was. Instead, she was staring at me with a somber expression, and her eyes were wide and mournful. "Can you make him happy?" she asked me sadly.

I blinked. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

She just shook her head. "Please," she said. "Make him happy again – like he was with me. Like he was with Alan. Please. Make him happy, Percy. Make him happy."

I opened my mouth to reply to her, but I wasn't able to say anything. Or do anything else, really, except watch her helplessly as the straightjacket melted off of me, causing me to fall through the classroom floor. The teacher's voice changed until it was cold and evil, echoing from the depths of a great chasm. "Percy Jackson," the voice said. "So we meet again."

"Who are you?" I asked in a trembling voice, as spirits of the dead drifted all around me. "What do you want with me? And what did you do to Luke?"

"The son of Hermes got what he deserved for disobeying my orders," the voice replied cryptically. "But he will have no lasting harm from it, I assure you, Percy Jackson. As to what I want to do with you...it is more of what I want to do for you."

"F – for me?"

"Yes," the voice said. "I have been watching you for some time now, Percy Jackson, ever since Zeus and Hades' symbols of power were stolen. I've watched as the two of them, along with most of the other Olympians, have senselessly blamed you and your father for a crime that neither of you committed. I have watched as your father has let them toy with you needlessly, letting his elder brother take your mother and his younger brother almost take your life. And although I did agree to let Luke Castellan to convince you to come to my side by August, I am far too impatient to let you suffer underneath the burdens the gods have given you for much longer."

"What do you mean 'suffer underneath their burdens'?" I asked, while inside I couldn't help but marvel at how – how – how poetic the voice was. How tempting, kind of like the ghost of Hamlet's father. Because even though I didn't really believe his words – or, at least, didn't believe the part about my father willingly not doing anything to help me – I couldn't help but want to hear more of what he was talking about.

"Did you ever wonder the real reason why Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades decided to stop having children, Percy Jackson?" the voice replied. "Because they would not stop having children because of a measly mortal war, I assure you. Because they do not care about mortals. If they did, then they would have interfered in the World Wars long before they made the pact, and they wouldn't have stolen your mother."

At his words, my mouth went dry – which was weird, because I was pretty sure that this was a dream, and I'd never experienced something like a dry mouth in a dream before. Nervously, I wet my lips, before I shouted, "You're – you're lying! They do care! Why else would have Zeus turned his daughter into a pine tree? Why else would have Demeter sent Katie to find me?"

The voice laughed. "Foolish boy," it said. "So naive. But I will let you believe in them. For now. Just remember, Percy Jackson: when you go into the Underworld, do not immediately rush to Hades's palace once you get off Lord Charon's boat. Instead, stay at the banks of the River Styx and ask for the Lady of the River. She will come. And she will tell you everything there is to know about why the eldest gods stopped having children."

The voice laughed again, except this time its laughter echoed from the chasm and off of the walls of the dark cavern that I was in. It roared in my ears, to the point that I anxiously put my hands over them and squeezed my eyes shut tight. So tight, in fact, that in the next moment –

– I woke with a start.

"Percy, are you alright?" Katie asked me.

I blinked. "Katie?" I said. "What are you doing up here? Are we already in Las Vegas?"

She grinned. "Yeah," she replied. "Silena said you fell asleep about halfway through Utah and didn't wake up until now. Not once. You must've needed the sleep."

I winced as my stomach began to churn at the mention of "sleep", because if there was one that I hadn't needed on the drive to Vegas, it was falling asleep and having a dream as weird and fucked up as the one that I just had. Still, I didn't want to weird Katie out, or worse, scare her. So, I said in a careful voice, "Yeah...something like that. Listen, I'm sorry about – "

She rolled her eyes. "Don't apologize for leaving me in the trailer of the truck," she said. "Silena already did that. Twice. Which is nice and all, but unnecessary. Because I wasn't in a good state and I couldn't get myself to calm down, and if I snapped, either you or Silena would've been on the receiving end of my powers. Maybe both. Besides, I was able to help the animals out enough to the point that I think they'll be able to survive until someone finds this truck."

I frowned. "'Finds this truck'?" I quoted. "What do you mean?"

Silena suddenly appeared right next to her. "Apparently, Ares wasn't exactly truthful about the fact that this ride would get us to Los Angeles," she said, in a voice that was way too chipper for the news that she was delivering. "Because – well – it stopped here and it won't start again."

"'Here'?" I asked as I sat up. "Where exactly is 'here'?"

The huge building that was standing just behind them was apparently the answer. THE LOTUS HOTEL & CASINO was displayed in bright green letters at the top of the building, and there was a huge neon flower underneath it, which apparently served as the entrance to the building, its petals constantly lighting up and blinking. I couldn't see anyone going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that, even from where we were at towards the end of the parking lot, smelled like flowers.

Once again, the nagging, itchy feeling returned to my brain – as if to serve as a warning of the sorts. I frowned at the thought. "Why would the truck stop here?" I couldn't help but ask.

Silena shrugged. "Maybe because Ares wanted to give us a break?" she said. "I mean, he did say that the truck only had one stop here – and, let me tell you, I am sick and tired of driving, Percy. I need a break. Besides, we still got what, seven days left until the solstice? That leaves plenty of time for us to take a break, even if it's only for just a day and night."

I really wanted to say no – I didn't have good vibes about this place, and the last time that I hadn't had good vibes, the three of us had almost gotten killed by Medusa. Still, both Katie and Silena looked knackered, and I couldn't help but feel guilty about that, because I'd gotten plenty of sleep on the ride here, even if it wasn't all that restful. So, with a sigh, I said, "Alright. But just for today and tonight, okay?"

"Oh, thank you!" Silena shrieked, before she grabbed me and Katie by the hand and led us towards the hotel entrance.

When we made it to the entrance, we were greeted by a doorman, who gave us a large, friendly smile. "Hey there, kids," he said. "You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

"Uh, yeah," I said. "Of course. Thank you."

Inside, we took a look around, causing Katie, Silena, and I to all exclaimed "Whoa," at once. Because inside, the whole lobby was a giant game room – and I'm not talking about the cheesy, old Pac-Man games or slot machines, either. More like the kind of stuff you see at deluxe, older-kid game places. There was also an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up for at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on one side of the building, an indoor bungee-jumping bridge, and pretty much everything else that you could ever imagine and more.

There were a few other kids playing, but not many. And there was no waiting for any of the games. But there were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you could ever want – cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and what looked to be some sort of fried octopus or calamari.

"Hey!" a bellhop shouted at us – or, at least I guessed he was a bellhop. The white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip flops that he wore made it a little hard to tell for certain. "Has anyone helped you yet?"

Katie, Silena, and I all shared a look with one another. "No," I said nervously after a moment.

The bellhop grinned. "Well," he said. "Then let me be the first person to welcome you to the Lotus Hotel & Casino! Here's your room keys."

He handed each of us a green plastic credit card, then before any of us could say anything, said, "And before you ask: your bill has been taken care of. No extra charges, tips, or anything like that required. Just go on up to the top floor, and find room 4001. 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 and they'll supply you with whatever you need. Oh, and before I forget: your room keys also double as LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides. Any questions?"

Now more than ever, that distinctive itch was back in my brain. I mean, don't get me wrong, all of this was great and all that, but it also seemed inherently wrong, too. After all, I doubted that it was in Ares's nature to hitch us up in a place as grand as this at all, let alone for one night. So, once the bellhop guy finished his speech, I asked, "How much is on here?"

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, when do these cards run out of cash?"

The bellhop laughed. Hard. "Oh," he said once his laughter had subsided. "You're making a joke. That's cool. Enjoy your stay!"

And then he left.

We took the elevator upstairs – even if, once again, I was having serious doubts about this place – and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, soda, and chips. There was also a hotline to room service, a jacuzzi in each of the bedrooms' en-suite bathrooms, and fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. Oh, and that wasn't mentioning the big, flat-screen television with satellite and high-speed internet, or the balcony that had its own hot tub and skeet-shooting machine and shotgun, so that you could launch clay pigeons right over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but it was pretty cool – especially considering the amazing view the balcony had of the Strip and desert skyline.

"Oh, goodness," Katie said, looking absolutely gobsmacked.

"Amazing," Silena purred. "Absolutely amazing."

Each of us claimed one of the three bedrooms – Silena taking the one with lavender-colored bedding, Katie the one with forest green-colored bedding, and me the one with light blue-colored bedding. In my bedroom, there were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I noticed this with a frown, thinking it was strange, but that thought didn't stay in my head for long – nor did the itch that I had been experiencing, for that matter.

I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can in the main room. We wouldn't need that anymore. In fact, when we left, I could just charge a new one at the hotel store and be done with it.

I took a long, nice bath in the jacuzzi, but only after taking a shower first, so that I could wash off all of the grime that came with days of unhygienic travel. Then, I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time.

In the main room, I found that Silena and Katie had also showered and changed clothes. Both of them were watching an Amanda Bynes that I hadn't seen before, but then again the only Amanda Bynes movie that I had seen was What A Girl Wants. But, that shit was pretty good, I have to admit, so I was willing to bet that this movie was, too. Especially since it seemed to be based off of a Shakespeare play.

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked the two of them as I plopped down on the couch that they were sitting on.

Katie shrugged. "There's just so much to do here, that I don't know where to even begin," she said.

Silena nodded. "Agreed. But we don't have to see it all right now. We could...I don't know, watch the rest of this movie and get room service?" She said the last part with a giant grin.

"Yeah, okay," I said. "That sounds reasonable."

Around two hours later, the movie was over and we were all stuffed with food. My full stomach made me a little sleepy, but then I remembered the game room in the lobby and all of my drowsiness disappeared. With a grin, I fished my room key/LotusCash card out of my pocket, turned to Katie and Silena, and said, "Alright, are you two ready to have some fun?"

Their smiles were the only answer that I needed.

I don't know how much time I spent in the lobby, but it didn't really matter, because I honestly didn't remember the last time that I had had so much fun. I mean, due to my mom's poor income and the combined expenses for my boarding school and Gabe's poker games, we never really had the chance to splurge out on anything – and when we did, it was usually on a night out at Burger King and renting a video, and never on a five-star Vegas hotel.

I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw both Katie and Silena a few times, going from game to game, playing stuff that piqued their interests, but I didn't really talk to them, because I was having so much fun on my own.

...Up until that itch came back into my brain, that is, and I realized that something was seriously wrong.

It all started when I decided to go check out this cool, mythology virtual card game...called Mythomagic Online! or something like that. No one else was really playing it, save for this kid who looked like he couldn't be more than eleven-years-old, if that. His hair was this messy, inky black – so basically, a lot like mine – and he had wide, dark brown eyes and an olive skin tone. But none of that was what surprised me about him.

No, what surprised me was the fact that he was wearing these old, posh clothes that made him look like he was straight out of a World War 2 flick, and the fact that he was alone. I mean, don't get me wrong, all of the kids here seemed to be alone – but, like I said, this kid was only eleven, if that. No way should he have been left alone without adult supervision.

"Hey, kid," I greeted him as I sat down on the seat next to him.

The kid was pretty engrossed in his game, but he did pause to turn to look at me with a wide, friendly smile. "Hi!" he exclaimed. "My name is Nico. Do you like Mythomagic?"

"My name is Percy," I replied, before I admitted, "I've never actually played Mythomagic before, but it looks interesting."

Nico's already-wide eyes widened even more. "What! You've never played Mythomagic before? But – but it's like the coolest game. Ever. Or, at least, I think so. My sister disagrees. She doesn't like it."

"You have a sister?" I asked.

He nodded, before his face scrunched up. "Her name is Bianca," he said. "She's around here somewhere. She doesn't really like the games, I don't think...which is weird, because everyone else likes the games here! Speaking of which, do you want me to show you how to play Mythomagic, since you've never played it before?"

I blinked. Gods, did this kid talk fast. Like, I could barely keep up with what he was saying. Still, I smiled at his question and said, "Yeah, sure. I'm always open to learning new things."

The kid grinned. "Sweet!" he said. "Hold on, let me just start up a new game..."

As Nico launched into an explanation about the various rules and strategies of Mythomagic, I looked around the room, trying to find his sister. I didn't have much luck, but I did wind up seeing various people dressed in outfits that didn't really...fit in 2006, much like Nico's clothing. One kid looked like an Elvis impersonator's son, another like an '80's supermodel, and yet another like a kid straight out of the show Saved By The Bell.

Seeing all of these people sent shivers down my spine. They looked like they were from different time periods – different lifetimes, even – and yet they were only my age, if not a little older or little younger. Something wasn't right – seriously wasn't right.

Nervously, I turned to look at Nico. He was still talking about the Mythomagic game, but when he noticed the expression on my face, he frowned. "Percy?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"What year is it?" I questioned back.

He laughed. "What, are you trying to be dingy or something?" he said, before he added, "It's 1938, duh! What else would the year be?"

Word Count: 3,441

Next Chapter Title: The Lotus Hotel & Casino Pt. 2