Chapter 6

Percy and Jason saw the Lotus Casino Tower in the distance upon their arrival. It was a glowing beacon on the Las Vegas Strip, and that prevented what Percy thought might be their most difficult problem in locating such a place in a town full of some of the largest casinos in the world. It turned out that most of the boy's problems came from Pluto's request, and the dissent it caused between the two. Jason was furious that Pluto had tossed him out of the Underworld like he was nothing, and felt extremely unwanted that the Lord of the Underworld hadn't even explained their task face to face with him. Thankfully the trust he had in Percy eventually weighed down on him, and knew that his best friend would not put him in any unnecessary danger. It helped that Pluto had made a photo of Bianca Di Angelo appear in Percy's pocket, and he was able to show the son of Jupiter exactly who they were looking for when they began their trek into town.

The journey through Vegas was more exciting for two twelve years old than it should have been. There were many things the two had never seen before. Boobs was one of them, the billboards had them, and the little handout cards on the ground everywhere had made both boys blush more than either would've admitted. The casinos, the lights, the people, Percy and Jason had never seen anything like it, and it was an incredible experience for the two.

It occurred to Percy that they were now in the middle of the desert, and there would be no way to contact his father, Triton, or Camp to let them know how things were going. For the first time since Percy was a boy he was alone with nothing but Jason and his wits to guide him.

Jason and Percy had theorized the mist was manipulating the mortals and what they could possibly be seeing, because when they strolled into the Lotus Casino no one seemed to question what two twelve year olds could possibly be doing in a 21 and up environment. Entering the Casino Percy had noticed the ominous words "You Will Never Want To Leave" on the front doors, and he pondered just what kind of trap this could possibly be as Lord Pluto's warning echoed through his mind.

The Lotus Casino was not a particular beauty on the outside and in comparison to some of the other places Jason and Percy had taken notice of on their way into town it fell a little short, but when they entered the place it appeared shockingly brand new. The machines all appeared to be in pristine condition, and some could have easily been dated back to the 1950's. That wasn't the only thing that seemed wrong about the place though because almost immediately Percy noticed that all the patrons seemed to have a far off look in their eyes.

Jason elbowed him in the side, "Something is definitely not right here."

The music was popping, and people seemed to be having a great time, but the sons of the gods could tell that there was just something not right about the place, and something was screaming in his mind about the danger they were in. Before they could contemplate or discuss further a beautiful blonde haired woman in a short cocktail dress came over to them, "Can I interest you in a lotus flower?"

A small pastry sat on the tray, and Jason and Percy eyed the food hungrily grabbing one a piece and thanking the woman. Shortly after another man came over offering them cards with a room number, and this time Percy realized something was up, "No thanks, but can you tell me if you've seen this girl?"

The man stared at the picture, and no emotion went through his eyes at all as he turned and departed the area they were standing in without a word. Jason stared after the man glancing back and forth at the retreating figure, and the flower he had just been handed, "This seems familiar. I think I know of this place, or a place like it. I can't remember though. It's right on the edge of my brain. I don't think we should eat the flower or take anything out of this casino. It may be a part of the trap Lord Pluto spoke of."

Before Jason could ponder further Percy shook his head, "The girl was in one of the rooms, but there could be hundreds of those in this tower we have to figure out how to narrow it down."

"Jason Grace."

A voice came from behind the two causing both young men to draw their weapons. A tall familiar older man with a sharp light blue suit was standing before them with a sword on his shoulder, "A little birdie told me you would be coming here. I haven't had a son of Jupiter in any of my previous establishments before. It's a pleasure...of sorts."

Jason recoiled at this, and seemed to be at a loss for words while Percy stared at the man, and his eyes hardened as he realized this was the person who had stolen Bianca Di Angelo in his dream, "Where is the girl? The daughter of Pluto? What have you done with her?"

This tall thin man didn't look like much of a swordsman but Percy knew that appearances could be deceiving. The man had dark blue circles under his eyes, dirt so deep under his fingernails it appeared infected, and his short grey hair was in a terrible looking haircut. The man scratched his throat with his long nails, "I was not speaking to YOU sea spawn. The important people are talking right now, and you will not speak unless spoken too. I was a king you see, and I was so great and worshipped by my people I was offered a seat for dinner at the Olympian Table."

Percy noticed that men were beginning to discreetly surround them, and that the guests were being herded in different directions, and some being forced out of the games they were playing, "I was honored of course that the king of the gods would offer me such a boon, and I presumed that he was going to offer me a gift as my people had been such fond worshippers of the Gods, so you see I had heard of Nectar and Ambrosia being able to heal our brethren since it was the food of the heavens, so I respectfully requested some for my people to help treat the sick and dying...and he REFUSED ME!"

The man was growling, and his face looked red hot with rage, while Percy could tell that Jason was gripping his sword in a straight up death grip. Percy was then hit with a sudden realization, "Your Tantalus aren't you? You escaped punishment?"

The man ignored Percy however as he continued speaking at Jason, "Naturally I was angry, and for months I planned how I would get my revenge and-"

"And instead of being humbled by the fact you dined with the Olympians you invited them into your own home, and fed them your dead children. The gods were horrified, and condemned you to eternal punishment." Percy finished the story for the man quickly searching for a way to fight these humanoid creatures that were closing in on him.

Jason looked sick. Percy couldn't blame him. In some versions of the myths Tantalus was his brother and he was one of the lowest creeps in the Greek and Roman world put together, and the fact that he had escaped his eternal punishment did not go missed by either of the young demigods. Tanatulus shrugged his shoulders now with a wicked smile, "The son of Neptune is correct. I am Tantalus the God King of Tanatalis. I was released from the Underworld, and now I serve a new master with one purpose. To hunt down and capture children of the big three. With you two in my collection I will already hold one child from each of the oldest sons of Kronos."

This seemed to make Jason find his voice, "You will never take us alive Tantalus. In fact if you wish to survive this day you will turn over the daughter of Pluto to us now, and we might just let this whole thing go, and forget you were here."

Jason spat the name as if it were a poison on his tongue, and Percy spun his trident once again positioning himself at Jason's back already having a plan going through his head. Tanatulus however growled, "If you won't surrender yourself peacefully then I will have you killed. LOTUS EATERS- SEIZE THEM."

The men each let out a hiss and charged at the boys. As they charged Percy realized they seemed to take on a different appearance, and saw that their eyes were like slits, and their tongues which were now coming out of their mouths appeared inhumanly long and almost reptile-like. Percy however was ready for an attack and summoned water straight from a fountain nearby and blasted the fastest two out of the way, and raised his trident to deflect a sword strike that was aimed at his face. He quickly parried the strike and cut through one humanoid creature, and smacked another hard enough with the butt end of his trident that it caused it to crumble. Jason had forced his hands out causing a blast of air to send two of the creatures flying backwards, and he surged forward Tantalus. The plan quickly became for Percy to dispose of the Lotus Eaters, and for Jason to take on his brother. It became a battle of immense speed between the two, and Percy realized that this old man was clearly no one trick pony. The son of Neptune however attempted to stay focused on his fight, and didn't even realize the humidity in the room was rising rapidly as he cut his way through enemies. One finally managed to get its tongue around Percy's neck as if he were a fly in a toads trap. This tongue slammed him to the floor, and the other monsters attempted to jump on him but he screamed in anger causing the ground and room to shake around him as they all stumbled Percy twirled his body around summoning his trident and cutting the tongue clean off his neck, and then impaling the monster that had taken him down with ease. He looked over to see Tantalus and Jason finding their feet trying to take each other's heads off when Percy charged over, kicking the man in the shoulder forcing him back. Jason twirled his sword around and Percy took a deep defensive stance, "Don't make us kill you. Just give us the girl."

The man spat blood on the floor at the two, "You think you can best me. I was the greatest swordsman in my kingdom."

This made the man launch a whirlwind-like strike at Jason, but Percy hit the man with a face full of water, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. Jason lowered his sword to the man's throat and Percy followed up quickly placing his trident just above it well and truly trapping the man commenting, "Best in the Kingdom huh? Welcome to America."

The Casino floor was a mess. The Earthquake Percy had caused had thrown many of the machines around. Golden dust littered the floor from where the son of Neptune had destroyed all the Lotus eaters, and in front of the boys gambling tables had been thrown from the blast of air Jason had thrown at the attackers, and sheer devastation was all that was left. Jason growled, "I can promise you that you won't get a fair judgment in the Underworld for kidnapping our Uncle's daughter. Now tell us where she is, and we may not return you to your eternal punishment."

The man smiled and many of his teeth had been knocked out during the duration of the fighting, making it quite a toothless look, "You'll never find the girl in time. This place is a maze with hundreds of rooms above us. You send me back to the Underworld and I'll be welcomed back as a hero."

A dark look flashed across Jason's face as he drove the sword home, "Then enjoy the ride, and see how merciful Lord Pluto really is.."

The man's life quickly flashed from his eyes, and Percy withdrew his trident, and looked at Jason in worry. Taking a human's life was certainly different from killing a monster. Though when the son of Neptune thought he realized that while Tanatulus may have been human he was most certainly a monster at heart. Instead of asking Jason if he was okay Percy asked, "What do we do now? He's right, it could take us an entire day to find her."

Jason thought for a moment then swore, "I knew I recognized this story from somewhere. The 'You'll never want to leave' should have been a give away. Odysseus ran into some monsters like this. He had to drag his men away from the whole ordeal. I think we got the raw end of the deal in this particular story. Do we think the whole staff is Lotus Eaters?"

Percy looked around and realized that no emergency responders had arrived, and the party was clearly still in full swing around the corner, "They must be. Some of them must have moved the guest away from the fighting to ensure we wouldn't break their trances."

Jason then stared ahead with a grin forming on his face, "I have an idea."

Jason's idea was crazy. Basically Percy was sent to stand by a fire pull station, and Jason pointed out to the Lotus Eaters that they had already killed Tantalus and many of their brethren, and if they didn't hand over the daughter of Pluto they would pull the fire alarm and send the whole building into evacuation. This would cause massive problems for the casino, and a quick call upstairs allowed them to discover that Bianca was on the top floor in a personal suite being guarded by an empousa. This allowed a simple elevator ride to take place with the worst elevator music in the world. Staying Alive felt almost like an omen at this point, and the elevator was dreadfully slow as Jason and Percy wiped the dirt, grime, and sweat off their faces and prepared for what was likely going to be more combat.

When they got out of the elevator Percy and Jason dropped the two guards like they were nothing. Jason tossed his Lance and Percy his trident taking down both shape shifters right outside the door. At this point, Jason and Percy stood outside the door knocking. Percy called out, "Bianca Di Angelo? We were sent by your father. Can you hear us? Are you okay?"

No response came, and Jason said, "We should kick the door in. She could be hurt, knocked out, chained up, who knows."

Percy shrugged, "The door is thick. There is no way we can just kick it in."

Jason looked at the boy for a moment and then picked up his lance, "Stand back."

Percy quickly backed away realizing what would happen next and Jason roared out as a lightning bolt blasted through the ceiling and vaporized the door in front of them. Percy was the first through the door and suddenly a body collided hard with his and he hit the ground in a painful fashion. A girl with silky dark hair, and piercing black eyes was suddenly on top of him. The first fist hit him in the face pretty good, but the next the son of Neptune was ready for as he put his elbow up to his head and deflected the first strike, and bucked his hips hard enough to make the girl hit the wall pretty hard. The girl was tough however as she rolled back up to her feet and grabbed a sharp piece of glass clearly intending on gutting Percy. She screamed out and the room went dark as the lights above dimmed, and warriors made purely from the shadows of the room rose with shadow swords in their hands. Percy wasn't sure if they could actually harm him, but Jason then stepped forward, "WOW WOW WOW! We are here to help. We are the good guys."

Bianca spat, "That's exactly what the other guy said. That bastard Luke said he would help us get out, and keep us safe, but he lied. He brought Tantalus straight to us and they took my brother from me. You think I am going to trust you?"

This caught Percy flat footed. Pluto had never said anything about a son nor about anyone named Luke. Jason however spoke reason, "We just killed Tantalus downstairs. He will never hurt you again, but we have to get you out of here. We were sent by your father, please put the glass down, we just want to talk!"

This seemed to make the girl pause. The shadows seemed to blend back into the walls and she spoke again much softer, "My father...That was how they tricked Nico. They said they were friends of our father. So Nico told them we were children of Hades by default, and they gave my brother this little figurine of our father. It was the last one he was missing in his Olympian Collection of this stupid game he played...Nico was so happy he trusted them and told them everything about us. How long we had been here...Why our father left us here...They tricked us. We thought they were going to get us out. Instead we gave up our own safety...The Lotus Eaters had always been kind to us. We never expected them to turn so quickly."

Percy asked quietly, "How long have you been here?"

Bianca looked thoughtful, "I don't know time works differently here. I know it has been at least fifty years, though it doesn't feel like it...My father put us in here in 1945 before the world went to peace. Luke said it was 2007 so if that's true, it's been over sixty."

Percy took in the dark haired girl. She was wearing dark black shorts, and a black hoodie with a pink hunting logo on it. Her hair was curly at the bottom, and once again he was drawn to her dark black eyes, "Well you look great for your age, but we really need to get out of here. Who knows what kind of monster attention three children of the Eldest Gods will bring."

Bianca recoiled, "You are going to help me leave? Just like that?"

Jason snorted, "There has been nothing just like that about this whole quest. We killed a lot of Lotus Eaters and a complete psychotic lunatic. Now if you are ready to join the world of the aging and see civilization again, we really need to get out of here."

Bianca looked at the two bewildered, but then her eyes came back to reality, "What about my brother? Luke took him."

"Any idea who this Luke guy is?" Percy asked.

"Some son of Hermes. That's all I ever really learned about him. He was an older guy, maybe sixteen or seventeen." The girl said with that red tint coming back to her cheeks.

Percy and Jason exchanged looks. The whole thing was odd. This girl kept referring to the gods by their Greek aspects, and apparently so did this Luke...so did Tantalus. Many speculated at Camp that there was still an oddball or two who would run away from the Roman way of life every now and then and worship the old empire, but this seemed to bring some credence to the theory, and it made both boys uneasy.

Jason spoke, "I will explain everything I can on the way, but we really need to get out of here. I promise if your brother is out there we will help you find him, but right now we need to be anywhere but here. You're sure your brother isn't here right?"

Bianca got a faraway look in her for a moment, then shook her head, "No I can always sense him when he is nearby."

Jason nodded, "Alright. Then let's go and I will explain on the way."

As a Centurion of the legion it was Jason's job to explain this kind of thing to demigods who would be new to this world, and when they took her down the elevator, and through the casino he did his best. He explained that Percy and Jason were best friends, and a part of the legion at Camp Jupiter. He explained briefly that Camp Jupiter was a safe place for people like them, and that they had been sent on a quest by the very camp to find his father's master bolt. They also briefly touched on Percy being accused of originally stealing it, and how they came to learn about her from her father. When they reached the doors Bianca grabbed each of their hands staring at the exit, "The Lotus Eaters never let us leave. We had no weapons, and no way out, and now we are just going to stroll out the front doors unopposed."

The boys just stopped and stared at her for a moment giving her time to process what was about to happen. Tears welled up in her eyes, "My brother is out there all alone in a world he doesn't know or understand. I owe you two my life for getting me out of this place. Percy I am sorry I tried to kill you upstairs. I hope when we all walk out this door we walk towards friendship, and family. Together I think we can find Nico and bring him back to us, and I will do everything in my power to help you both return the Master Bolt on the condition that you will help me find my brother."

Jason and Percy both nodded at the girl, and Jason smiled, "Always good to have more family in the world."

He let go of her hand leaving her with Percy as he strode to the door and opened it for her giving her the light of the day for the first time in many years then saying, "After you Ms. Di Angelo."

The girl took on a grin and let go of Percy's hand and bolted out the door.

(A/N) Ladies and gentleman...Bianca Di Angelo :)

Please review and tell me what you think! See you next Friday.

-Orion

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