Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson

Chapter 15: We Rescue Two Children


Christina split off from the others, heading farther into the Lotus Hotel. She couldn't believe that such a place like this existed, it was absolutely perfect and had everything you could ever want. Looking back on it, she should have known that that should cause some warning bells, but sue her, she was an eleven year old in the most magical hotel ever.

Rounding the corner, she nearly bumped into a smaller boy. He was about ten years old, only a year younger than her, with olive skin, dark, nearly black, eyes, and messy black hair.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized, stepping back from the boy. "I didn't see you there."

The boy looked up at her, his dark eyes bright. "It's okay! Do you want to play a game with me? My sister was here, but I don't know where she went."

"Why sure." Christina agreed, smiling down at the younger boy. "How about we find your sister first, and then we can play. I'm Christina, what's your name?"

The boy grinned at her. "Sure. I'm Nico, it's nice to meet you."

"What does your sister look like?" Christina asked, as they walked through the hotel.

Nico frowned. "She's twelve, and she has long, black hair and black eyes like me. She's wearing a green hat right now. Her name's Bianca."

Christina looked among the crowd, which was slightly difficult, considering she wasn't very tall, before spotting a girl that fit Nico's description against the far wall.

"Nico, is that your sister?" She asked, pointing to the girl she had spotted.

Nico looked up at where she was pointing, before nodding vigorously. "Yeah, that's her."

As Christina led him through the crowd towards Bianca, he began to rattle on about his game.

"It's called Mythomagic and it's the best game ever! It's a card game with characters from Greek mythology. Each card has different attack points and powers. I have almost all of the figurines, except one. I've told Bianca that the characters are real, and I've seen them, but she doesn't believe me." Nico finished eagerly.

Christina stopped, frozen. "Did you say that the characters are real?"

"Yeah." Nico said, nodding. "Last summer, there was a bus driver with ram's horns. I told Bianca, but she didn't believe me."

Christina frowned, turning to the younger boy. "Nico, where are your parents?"

"Bianca says they're dead." Nico said, shrugging. "But I don't remember them at all. It's just been Bianca and I for as long as I can remember."

Christina turned back, towards where they had spotted Bianca. "Let's go find your sister, and then I think you should come with me."

"Why?" Nico asked, hurrying after her. "I like it here."

Christina sighed. "I can't explain right now, but I promise you'll be safe with me. I know how to find your parents."

By the wall, Bianca looked up, sighing in relief. "Nico! There you are." She exclaimed, running towards her brother, and pulling him into a hug. "You can't just go running off like that. Thank you for bringing my brother back." She said, turning to Christina.

"It was nothing." Christina said, shrugging. "But I think you two should come with me."

Bianca narrowed her eyes, pushing Nico behind her. "Why? What do you want with us?"

"I can't explain right now, but you're not safe here. And I know what happened to your parents. If you come with me, my friends and I can explain." She told the other girl.

Bianca sighed. "Fine, but if you put my brother into any danger, you will regret it."

"Noted." Christina said, nodding. "Now follow me, I need to find my friends."

The three of them weaved through the crowds in the casino, back the way that Christina had come, and down to the first floor where all the games were. They weaved through the crowds, spotting many people dressed in clothes from different decades, but not Grover, Percy, or Annabeth.

Finally, near the back of the game room, Christina spotted Annabeth, engrossed in some sort of architectural game. Grover was near her, playing a shooting game except the roles were reversed and the deer were shooting the hunters.

"Come on Annabeth, we've got to go." She said, tugging on her sleeve. "Something about this place isn't right."

But Annabeth just shrugged her off, turning back to her game. "It's fine Christina, we're safe here."

Frustrated she turned to Grover, receiving nearly the same answer from him. Leaving her best friends, she searched the game room, finally spotting Percy running to them.

"Percy! What's going on with them?" She asked, running up to her brother.

Percy shrugged her off, going instead to Annabeth. "There's something wrong with this place, Tina. Something about it is causing people to get stuck here for decades. We have to go, now."

He waved a hand in front of Annabeth's face, but the other girl seemed to not see him at all. Behind them, Nico and Bianca glanced hesitantly back and forth between the four of them, not sure what to make of the situation. Finally, Percy punched Annabeth in the shoulder startling her.

"Come on Wise Girl," he hissed. "We have to go. Don't you want to finally prove that you're capable of completing a quest?"

That finally snapped Annabeth out of whatever stupor the hotel had put her in, and she turned to Grover, grabbing his sleeve and dragging him back with her.

"Let's go, Goat Boy. We have some gods to meet." She said, dragging him farther and farther away from the game as he waved his hands in its' general direction.

Once they were a considerable ways away from the games, Grover snapped out of it as well, blinking at them.

"Now that we're free of whatever that was." Percy said as they walked towards the entrance. "Who are they?" He asked, gesturing to Nico and Bianca who had been following them the whole way.

Christina sighed. "That's Nico and Bianca Di Angelo. They're demigods that were trapped here as well. I figured they could come back to Camp Half-Blood with us."

"What's a demigod?" Bianca asked, cocking her head.

Nico bounced up and down, excited. "Oh, I know, I know! They're the children of gods and mortals. I know all about them from my Mythomagic game."

"And you expect us to believe that one of our parents was a god?" Bianca asked, crossing her arms.

Christina nodded. "Nico told me he's been able to see unexplainable things, things no one else has been able to, and that your parents are gone. So you're either demigods or clear-sighted mortals, and either way we'll find out when we get to camp."

"Let's go." Percy said, looking around them. "This place is giving me the creeps."

The six of them continued across the game floor towards the main doors. They had almost made it out when they were stopped by the same bouncer who had invited them into the hotel in the first place, a smile on his face.

"Where are you going?" He asked, reaching a hand out to stop them. "There are so many more games to play."

Christina shoved his arm off. "We're done here, actually. But thanks for the stay."

"Will you stay longer if we offer you our platinum cards?" He asked, holding six cards out to them. "They unlock a whole new floor of games for you to play."

Percy could see Annabeth, Grover, and Nico's eyes begin to glaze over at the mention of the platinum cards, and he knocked them out of the bouncer's hands. "Sorry, but we really have to go."

Together, the two Poseidon kids managed to get the other four out of the hotel and into the bright, Las Vegas sun. Around them, people bustled around, most of their eyes completely glazing over the Lotus Hotel and Casino. As they managed to make it farther and farther away, the hotel eventually vanished from view.

"Why does it feel like we were in there for days?" Grover asked, rubbing his head.

Christina frowned, picking up a newspaper from a nearby stand. "Because we were. It's June 17th, it was June 15th when we went in. We lost two days."

"That means we only have four more days before the summer solstice." Percy pointed out, alarmed. "We need to get to the Underworld, now."

Bianca glanced between the four of them, confused. "What do you mean the Underworld? What is going on?"

"We'll tell you on the way to Los Angeles." Christina said, sticking her hand up to hail a taxi. "Right now, we need to get going."

Nico glanced up at her. "What's in Los Angeles?"

"A lot's in Los Angeles." Christina told him as the taxi arrived. "But most importantly, the one thing that will clear my brother's name."


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