Chapter 17 - Being Homeless has its Perks
We weren't that far away from the strip. Two miles, tops. The walk to forever though.
The four of us just walked in silence, not wanting to talk about what happened in that concrete trailer park. A guy is all torn up, and it's pretty likely we were seen, either by the other guy or a camera. Grover would be fine to get in trouble, but us three demigods... if the mortal police caught us, most of our lives would be over.
I sigh and look up from the ground. It's pretty late in the day, so the lights are starting to get turned on, and casinos have started to brighten up the darkness brought by the falling sun.
Not gonna lie, it's pretty cool.
I had never been to Vegas (in this life or the last), and I can just say that it looks a whole lot different than it does in the movies.
Sure you got the huge neon signs, the mini Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower, but the heat radiating off of the ground gives everything a "shimmery" sort of look to it. Almost like all of those lights are just illusions trying to tempt you to go over to them... which I guess they are, but that's beside the point.
Seeing a huge sign for the Luxor, I'm reminded of why we decided to walk over to the strip. Breaking the silence that has been hanging over us, I ask, "So where are we going to stop? I assume we aren't going to try the Bellagio..."
Annabeth responds saying, "Let's just try and find someplace cheap and easy to get a room."
Grover then mutters, "We probably should have gone to a motel then..."
"Whaddya mean! We're in Vegas now, we shouldn't stay in some dingy shithole," I say.
Annabeth snaps back, "In case you can't remember, Alex, you have just killed somebody. A mortal. I don't think you're in the best position to decide where we go." Hmm. The Las Vegas sidewalk is looking really good right now.
Under his breath, just barely audible, I hear Perce mumble, "Gods I hope Ares isn't right..."
"What did you say, Perce?" I ask, wondering what he means by that.
"Ah, oh no-nothing. Yeah. Just thinking out loud... ya know? Yeah..."
"Okay then."
Perce has to get better at lying. He's just as bad as Grover right now.
Nobody says anything else, as our silent march has continued. I'm getting some weird looks from other people on the sidewalk, likely wondering what I'm doing walking around town with a yellow hoodie covered in blood. I don't have much to say about that, but I can only hope nobody calls the cops. I mean, I'm only a 12-year-old. If I was my original age of 24 things would be different, but nobody suspects a kid whose voice hasn't even dropped.
Walking down the strip, I'm starting to get hungry. Thinking back, I realize I haven't eaten since the train to Denver, and who knows how long I've been passed out. I'm not tired, but I can feel my body starting to break down. I'm hungry. The food all around this area just smells way too good. I'm so hungry. Gods I wished I could use that Krater blessing to get a nice hamburger or something...
"Oh wait, guys. Do you smell that?" Asks Perce, all of a sudden perking up, seemingly responding to my thoughts.
Grover puts his nose in the air and takes a big sniff. "No man, what is it? There are too many smells here for me to pick anything out in particular."
"It smells like my mom's cooking. You smell that too Alex, right?"
I start to sniff the air, and I realize it too. It smells exactly like Sally's cooking. I can even smell the blue food die that she puts into everything.
Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense. How can I smell food dye?
"Yeah, I smell it Perce, but something's off. We shouldn't be smelling that here..."
Annabeth pipes up, "I can't smell any home cooking, but I'm smelling some really good burgers right now..." (IDK what her favorite food is, just work with me here)
"Ya'll wanna get dinner before we find a hotel?" Perce asks, getting an aggressive nod from Annabeth.
I just stand around, wondering what is happening, while Grover looks confused and says, "I really can't smell anything like that guys, no burgers, and no home cooking for sure..."
Perce laughs and pats Grover on the back and says, "Well of course you can't single out one smell. There are crazy smells all around us. Come on, I smell it down that way" Perce then points down one of the less-traveled off roads, so we start to walk down it.
Something's off with this, but until I figure it out, let's just go with the flow. Maybe nothing'll be up, and we can have a nice dinner.
Eventually, the road gets less and less busy as we make our way down it, and soon it's just us and some old couple ranting about the billiards game they played. Must be nice to only worry about bar games, instead of crazy lightning gods trying to kill you.
We soon arrive in front of a large casino, with a revolving door in front, and a doorman in a green jacket. "This has gotta be the place," says Perce, and I nod to look up at the sign.
Shit.
A neon pink lotus flower with the words, "Lotus Hotel and Casino" printed in large neon green lettering underneath. The one place I wanted to avoid.
Catching our eyes, the doorman said, "Hey kids. Wanna come inside and rest for a bit, you look tired."
Perce, Annabeth, and Grover nod and start to walk towards the door, while I stay back.
I'm frozen. I don't know what to say. We can absolutely not go in there, or we'll lose days of our journey.
"Uh, guys... I don't trust this place," I say, as the three of them stop and turn around.
"Well, we didn't ask you. It's your fault we're in this mess right now, and frankly, I would like some time to rest that isn't in the container with zoo animals," says Annabeth, giving me her almost trademark glare.
"I'm just saying that this place is suspicious... a casino that lets a bunch of 12-year-olds in... something isn't right..."
Perce also seems exasperated, as he says to the doorman, "You aren't gonna kidnap and kill us right?"
The doorman gives a slightly sickening grin as he responds, "Of course not." He then looks at me and says, "The only problem is that you might not want to leave..."
Ah, the balls of this dude.
"See, nothing's wrong Alex," says Perce, as the three of them continue on to the revolving door. I'm running out of time. I have gotta say something quick, or days'll just fly away from us.
"Grover, you sure nothing smells off," I ask, almost pleading for a good excuse.
"I can't really smell much of anything except for the smells I had from the strip, so it should be fine," he responds after sniffing for a bit.
Annabeth reaches the edge of the door and says, "Well if you don't want to come in, you don't have to. You can stay right outside and wait for us to come back out."
I then realize what I'm going to have to do and to set it up, I say, "Okay, that sounds good. Can I get some money though, I'll eat someplace else."
Annabeth seems furious, as she stomps over to me, takes out the wallet that we all of a sudden have (Ares probably gave it to us when I was out, but it's kind of weird waking up and having money all of a sudden), and hands me two twenties. "Don't spend it all in one place... and get your hoodie washed. You look like shit." She then spins around and practically runs to the inside of the casino. One person.
"We'll leave this place in like, two hours. Meet us back here," says Grover as he follows Annabeth inside. Two people.
Perce turns to looks at me, looking pretty sad, and says, "You sure you don't wanna come in..." I just shake my head, and Perce sighs. "Okay then, have fun I guess... be careful." He then turns around and follows the others past the revolving door. Three people.
I look to the doorman and say, "Now that they're gone, how long is an hour in there?"
His face shows surprise for a split second before it goes back to a smile, and he says, "I don't know what you mean, sir. An hour in there is an hour out here."
I sigh and say, "Fine, have it your way. I'll be back in a real-world hour, and then somehow get the three of them out." I then turn around and start to walk away before stopping. I gotta mess with this guy a little more. "Oh, and I've always wanted to know. What was Odysseus like?"
"He was an obnoxious little bas... wait. Never mind. Who are you talking about?" I can't see his face, but I can assume it's probably bright red.
"Ah, nothing much. I just think an island is a little better than some casino," I say, and continue walking away, barely holding in a chuckle. Sure, my friends are in immediate danger, but as long as I stay out here, I can keep time straight from the people within the hotel.
Time to find someplace to wash my hoodie, and figure out how to beat time.
I couldn't find a laundromat anywhere nearby, and no phones mean no maps. That sucks.
So I went to a gas station and used the car cleaning soap and water to at least rinse out my hoodie. Surprisingly enough, I did not get a bunch of stares from people, only a little girl pointing at me and says, "Mommy, why is that boy homeless?"
As I watch the mother quickly drag the girl away, I can only laugh to myself. I guess I do look pretty homeless. My camp shorts are torn up, my hoodie is covered in blood and puke, and my hair is probably worse than it was post-Medusa.
I finish my washing, and just in time too, as one of the station's employees walked over to me, probably getting ready to either ask what the hell I was doing, or ask for me to leave. Probably both.
With my thoroughly soaked, and only somewhat clean hoodie in my hands, I start to just walk around, not really knowing where I'm going. Sure, I have to save my friends, but I gotta figure out how first. If I run in there with no plan, that could easily equal a day or two, lost to time. Of course, the three of them did finish the quest with the loss of time, but I would rather not have that happen. The more time we have, the better.
As I seem to always do I put my hands in my pockets and search for something I could use.
My hand touches Makeleio first, and I can only wonder if the lotus-eaters were people or monsters in The Odyssey. It's been forever since I read the book, but if they were monsters, I could threaten the doorman to get him to retrieve my friends and we can escape that way. If they are human though, the knife won't do much of anything to him.
Okay, so the knife is a definite possibility.
Continuing on, my hand touches the two twenties I have. I can't bribe the guy, they probably already have enough money and probably don't even care about those material things. If I remember correctly, they just wanted to party with Odysseus and his crew, not rob them or anything.
Next in my pocket is the drachma I've had for a while. If they won't care for mortal money, I doubt they would want immortal money, so that's off the table.
I continue to fish around, and the only other thing I have is a comb. Yeah, that won't be useful at all.
Letting out a sigh, I start to walk towards the strip, hoping for some inspiration. It's already night by now, and so everything is entirely lit up, and it's bright. My orange camp shirt is now exposed without a hoodie, and it's honestly pretty cold. Deserts are weird. Scorching hot during the day, a chill 50 degrees (F) during the night.
I just walk for a while, until I find myself stopped in front of the Bellagio fountains with a roaring stomach. Damn, I'm hungry.
Looking across the street, I see some restaurant with a patio out front, and before I know it, I'm in line and looking at a whole bunch of French food that I can't name.
I sit down outside and just think. I got three friends trapped in a time-controlling building, and the hard part is, they probably won't want to leave. In the books, I wanna say that Perce finally found out after talking to some 70s guy, but by then, they had already spent five days in there.
How can I beat a hotel that controls time...
"Hey, where are your parent?"
I look up, and a really pretty girl in a waiter's outfit is staring at me.
"Uh, they said I should eat here while they lose money over there," I say, and point over to the Bellagio.
"Ah, okay... well what do you want?" she asks, giving a perfect 10/10 smile. Damn, sometimes I wish I was still 24...
"Uh, can I have, like, two steaks? Both medium?"
She looks at me in disbelief, then she looks at my clothes, and probably comes to the same conclusion as that little girl. "Oh, of course, is that all?" She says, giving me pity eyes.
Well hey, if she thinks I'm homeless, I can work with this. Sorry in advance. You seemed nice, but I'm hungry. "Oh, can I have a coke... and some tomato soup? My parents might be hungry once they leave..." she just nods sadly and says, "Okay, you got it. You can pay for this right?"
Yeah, but I don't want to. I carefully take out one of the twenties (after mashing it in my hands to make it seem worn out), and say, "Will this be enough miss?" It isn't. One steak alone is around $15, so there's no way one twenty can pay for it.
Her face is even sadder and pitiful and she says, "Of course that will be enough, lemme go get your food now." She smiles at me, which I return, then she hurries away. I watch as she goes inside, and through the window, she talks to another waiter who then looks at me. Looks like I'm getting some attention now. Eh, I don't care. As long as I can get some food, who cares if I practice some acting. It's not the worst thing I've done today...
I sit back down in my chair and resume my planning. Or, more accurately, try to come up with a plan. Staring off into space, I don't even notice when the waiter girl comes back with my coke.
"Here you go," she says and sets it down. "I also had a talk with some of the other waiters, and they said they'll pay for your bill. So you can keep that money!" She then smiles like the sun, believing what she said to be the greatest news she could've given to me. Which it probably would be. If I was actually homeless.
Faking a wide smile, I say, "Oh thank you! That's great. It took me a while to find– actually, for my parents to give me this."
She sadly nods and is about to walk away, until I get another brilliant idea. "Hey miss, wait up. I have a question," she stops and turns around to look at me. "This might sound weird, but if my friends got stuck in a hotel that can control time, how would I get them out?"
Complete silence for a couple of seconds, until she responds, smiling and laughing saying, "No hotel can control time, it's probably just some other problem. Maybe space pirates kidnapped them." She then laughs again and turns around. How old does she think I am? Does she think I'm 6, not 12?
Regardless, she might be on to something. The hotel probably doesn't control time. That's Kronos' domain, and I don't think that the Lord of the Titans would give that power to a bunch of flower eating islanders. So what is it then?
These times, I really wish I had the book in front of me. Everything would be solved if I could just re-read that chapter.
Lemme get the facts.
1) The Lotus Hotel and Casino kept Percy, Annabeth, and Grover inside of it for like 5 or 6 days, but it felt like an instant for those three.
2) There's a bunch of fun things to do in there, that makes it so you won't want to leave.
3) People within the hotel don't seem to age.
Stop. Book three. We had that Nico kid and his sister. They were/are in the hotel. How did they get out?
Pretty sure it was one of Hades' minions, right? Was probably some sort of monster, but any time stuff would have affected them like any other being.
So could I just do that? Walk in, find the three of them, walk out? There's gotta be something stopping me from doing that.
In the original myth, Odysseus shows up on the island, and some of his crew eat the lotus flower. They then lose motivation for completing the journey and stay on the island for the rest of eternity. So it's not time right, it's the magic lotus flower. At least in the myth, but it's probably different in the modern era.
There's probably something that prevents people from either leaving, or wanting to leave, and I need to find out what that is before I go in.
"Your steaks and soup are here."
Snapped back into reality, the waitress is holding the food and plants it on the table. Oh, man does it look good. Bringing up all the cuteness I can muster, I say, "Thank you, miss." And dig in.
Lotus Hotel and Casino.
A little over three hours later and I have returned. Of course, nobody's waiting outside for me, but that's to be expected.
With my stomach filled, I returned here immediately after finishing my food and getting a selfie taken with the waitress. Probably wants to brag about the homeless kid she fed, but I don't really care. She can think whatever she wants, I'm full.
"I take it they're not gonna leave anytime soon?" I ask the doorman.
He smirks and says, "Of course not. Why would you want to leave? You should go in and relax for a bit, it'll be good for you."
"You know what... fine. I'll go in. But I'm getting my friends, and coming right back out," I say, much to the surprise of the doorman. He probably didn't think he could actually convince me to go in. Giving him my own little smirk, I walk over to the revolving door.
"Whelp here goes nothing..." I say, and push through the door, to hopefully retrieve my friends.
AN - I've been waiting for this chapter for a while. Thought it would be cool to do a "rescue" mission. BTW, I didn't even know that the Lotus Eaters didn't have some sort of time control until I reread Lightning Thief. Turns out, the place just makes time not seem to move and nobody ages, and it makes the kids not want to leave cause they're having so much fun, kind of like the saying, "Time flies by when you're having fun". I've been looking around and doing research on greek monsters/myths that Rick didn't already add to his story, and I can only find a few. If ya'll have anything that would be cool to add (like I did with the Satyros Satyrs), I would love to hear about it. Thanks for reading!