A/N: Hey guys, I back! I know I said that I would update once every two weeks and it's now been 3 weeks. To Be honest I forgot about updating and lost a bit of motivation. Because of that I've been looking at other reading the Percy Jackson book series to get some inspiration. So now I have a rough outline of what I want to do for the books after The Lightning Thief. The hardest part will be writing about the gods and demigods that are reading the books. But I WILL try my best. I do not know when I will next update, but it will be between 2 to 3 weeks. Anyways Enjoy.
XVI. Not as good as it sounds
The twin sons of Ares were still out cold while the others sitting outside were waiting for the Queen of Heavens to continue with her reading, when no sound was heard after the title, they guessed that those inside started talking about something.
"To bad that we can't hear their conversations, well beside the extremely loud screams on occasions that is." Poros told the others.
"It would be really nice to know what the options of those on the inside are." Iris agreed when from the corner of her eyes she spotted something gray moving. "Morpheus, what are you doing?" she asked the dream god as that kneeled down between the still out cold brothers.
"Nothing, only a little pay-back for a small incident not long ago, don't worry it will be nothing harmful." he told her with a grin as he took out a small ball of dark blue light, he received from Epiales and placed it on Phobos's forehead where it dissolved, then the second ball with a tinge of crimson in the blue light given to him by Icelos was placed on Deimos. The gods watched curiously as the twins faces started frowning.
"You babysitted him too much." Nemesis whispered to Eris who beamed at her nephew who was slowly making his way over to them.
"As did you, I'm so proud." Eris replied beaming as the reading finally started again.
The war god was waiting for us in the diner parking lot.
"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."
"Way to start the obvious dad." Adrestia said while rolling her eyes before she turned over to her sister Harmonia who was sitting beside her. "Nia, stop looking so worried those two will be fine." she told the other.
"Are you sure about that?" she asked while her gaze flickered back to her two brothers who slowly started sweating, and it took much to make a god sweet.
"Yep, those two need to be on occasions put into their place, as the one who represents harmony you should also know that sis." Adrestia said as the other nodded her head in understanding before proceeding to hug her sister who let out a little laugh at that, she still wondered how her father managed to have her with their mother Aphrodite, but she did not complain, she would keep her safe from herm or sadness.
"You knew it was a trap," I said.
The listeners could not help themselves, of course he would know that his brother would eventually figure out their new dating place and set up traps. The usual question tends to be what kind of trap?
Ares gave me a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled black smith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids.
"Of course would he be surprised, usually the two of you go to places where the mortals don't or only rarely." Pothos said while sneaking a glance at Phobos who seemed to be having a nightmare of some sorts, he was not sure, but he thought that he had heard his name a few seconds ago spoken by him. It was probably his imagination.
You looked good on TV."
"Well, they probably did." whispered Horme to Hedone who needed to agree, this was one of the situations which sound bad when they happen, but later on become a funny tale to tell.
I shoved his shield at him. "You're a jerk."
"I don't think that it is healthy for him to do that" Soteria said in a worried tone, then added "even thought he has that one correct."
"He will be fine." Soter told her reassuringly, being ones opposite-gender counterpart tends to make you feel the others feelings if you want it or not.
Annabeth and Grover caught their breath.
Many nodded their heads in understanding at the reactions from the young demigod and satyr, most people don't comment such tings to a war god if they are not a more high ranked god.
"Please let me help him." Tyche mumbled a small prayer at which the Litae sisters raised their eyebrows at her before shaking their heads, what was it today with the others praying at their own names; the spirits of prayer did really not understand.
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.
"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride.
Everyone stared blinking at the palace, mostly the children of the war god when there was a new yell from the palace.
"Sounds as if Ares got again tackled by Apollo and Athena." Enyo laughed in amusement as she imagined her brother's expression when both other their siblings threw themselves at him, maybe in a way he would not mind Athena, but Apollo would be to much for him.
Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."
"Hopefully they will get it soon that it was not our father who stole the Master Bolt." Melinoe said with a nod, she hated it when her father was blamed for things he did not do, really only because he kidnapped his later wife did not mean that he was a bad person!
She hated that he was banned from Olymphos, the way others had even looked at her and her siblings when they were little and their mother had them with her, Macaria could get away after a while and their brother preferred the Underworld, but her being the oldest child she suffered the most. Due to her two coloured body and other features, the powers over ghosts, she noted the looks of distaste and fear, it happened often that she asked her mother to let her go back to her father and she would just sit in his lap as he worked for long hours, his cold hand in her hair as he consoled her. She loved him, she really did and it both hurt and infuriated her how he gets treated by others, she was feeling agreement with her future half-brother Hitler for stepping up against those who had treated their father wrongly. He did not deserve to be scorned, to be seen as a villain! She did not know how long she will hold out with the unjust, how long she will be able to watch him suffer in silence, if nothing happens, nothing changes then she would set her foot down in favour of her father to finally make him act, to claim what should justly be his!
"Uhm…though I'm worried about the other option." Zagreus mumbled, he did not want to anger his sister, he also wanted for people to see that their father was not a bad person, but the other option would be their grandfather and that was not good at all.
The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.
The nature spirits and those responsible for nature frowned at this, they had heard by this time a few things about these horseless chariots and they didn't sound like something in which they want to place a wild animal.
I said, "You're kidding."
"Not exactly, his jokes sound different and are usually terrible." Eros said, his father was terrible at telling those. "Pothos, are you alright?" he suddenly asked his brother who was looking at Phobos with a sight frown on his face and…was Deimos whimpering their mother's name?
"Nothing…I just thought that Phobos was saying my name." he answered to his brother while looking at the now shaking God of Fear.
"It may be your imagination." Eros told him.
"Could be, I mean why would he say my name when having a nightmare." Pothos replied back grinning brightly and turned back to the palace.
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."
Some of the divinities narrowed their eyes, remembering what the messenger sent by Lord Poseidon had said about not trusting the gifts.
He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to me.
The frowns deepened while the conscious children of the War God, what did their father do this time?
"There might be more to his actions then we are currently seeing." Hecate spoke up which relaxed them somewhat.
"I need to agree, the fact that he is there and not getting his weapons ready when a Divine War is approaching is more then strange and highly unusual from him and not something I could see him do consciously." Kratos spoke up who finally found it safe to let go of Nesoi who much to his relief did not move from beside him or made any attempts to storm into the palace, she always took it as a great insult if an island gets destroyed, well with her being an elemental premodial was it understandable, leaving alone that she split her own essence up and placed them to each guard an island so she felt their los even stronger when the part returned to her.
"So you mean that someone may be manipulating our father without his knowledge?" Harmonia asked worriedly.
"Could be for I can't see him doing such trips when his father's Symbol of Power was stolen, I would sooner see him still hunting after the thief then doing this." Nemesis added in her own option which made some of the others exchange nervous glances.
"It seems that a great trouble is ahead of those in the future." Hemara noted sighing, her mother had often stated that she felt a lingering darkness slowly crawling in the air which never disappeared since her elder sister Gaea had committed her sins which are each generation repeated in a way by her children.
Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos.
"I'm certainly agreeing with your suspicions." Angelia she did not like it just like the others, to get an influence on a god is not easy.
I said, "I don't want your lousy—"
"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving me his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."
"He has no self-preservation like his half-brother Bellerophon… though that is not combined with pride." Soter said as he shook his head.
"At least there is that, the boy needs to control his fatal flaw or it will cost him his life one day." Eunomia pointed out.
I gritted my teeth. It was probably a deadly insult to refuse something from a god, but I didn't want anything that Ares had touched.
There were a good deal of snorts about that comment.
"Meaning that he will never fall for any of Aphrodite's flirting attempts in his life like some of the other demigods on occasions." Pistis said with a small laugh, there were not many who could say 'no' to the Goddess of Love.
Reluctantly, I slung the backpack over my shoulder. I knew my anger was being caused by the war god's presence, but I was still itching to punch him in the nose.
"As tempting as that sounds, please don't endanger your health." Aceso pleaded, she knew that it would mean a good deal of wounds which would need healing and they had noting to do that with.
He reminded me of every bully I'd ever faced:
No one commented seeing that this was part of the god's aura, it was a natural thing.
Nancy Bobofit, Clarisse, Smelly Gabe, sarcastic teachers—every jerk who'd called me stupid in school or laughed at me when I'd gotten expelled. I looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt us.
There were a few smiles at this that the woman seemed to care.
She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.
Great, I thought. We'll make the papers again tomorrow.
I imagined the headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAW BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER.
"I don't think that the mist will be active if he departs normally." Cleta told the others while her sister Celleis was wowing small pearls into her hair with golden threads.
"You owe me one more thing," I told Ares, trying to keep my voice level. "You promised me information about my mother."
Everyone leaned ahead in their sitting spots curious if he really had some information or if that had been only a bluff from his side, well beside the twins Fear and Terror who were tossing around in their nightmares, though no one paid to much attention to them.
"You sure you can handle the news?" He kickstarted his motorcycle. "She's not dead."
"Well at least now Percy also knows." Triteia said with a smile, she was kind of starting to like her new uncle, he in some ways reminded her on her father Triton, mostly in the sarcastic department.
The ground seemed to spin beneath me. "What do you mean?"
"This must have certainly shocked the poor boy." Iris noted softly.
"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die.
"Thank Lord Hades for that, for whatever his reasons in the end will be, she is through him still alive." Selene said happily as others gave sound of agreement while the three siblings of the Underworld exchanged small smiles, hoping that soon more of the others will see that their father is a good person.
She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."
Everyone who was familiar with that term nodded their heads in agreement when suddenly their eyes flew to the side where the twins had finally come to be and jumped up from where they had lain on the ground, faces ashen and sweaty.
"Are you alright?" Eros asked his younger brothers though Deimos was only mumbling something about the colour pink and their mother before making a mad run in the direction of his temple while Phobos was staring wide eyed at Pothos.
"YOU STAY OUT OF MY CLOSET!" he yelled suddenly in panic and run after his twin leaving back a small cloud of dust.
"What was that about?" Pothos asked in bewilderment before his face turned green. "Those closets are dreadfully dirty and disgusting according to mother, I would sooner become the deity of chastity then go even near them." he said in a disturbed tone while a bit farther Eris was laughing and hugging her smirking nephew while Nemesis shook her head, just what type of nightmares did her two brothers conjure up and given to their nephew? She decided that she didn't need to know.
"Kept. Why?"
"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
"Though in that case there is also a message or ransom note in such cases." Enyo pointed out as the other deities associated with war nodded their heads in agreement.
"Meaning that again there is more to the case then meets the eye." Dolos said in interest, he wondered if this last suggestion may have been a trick, well no one can blame him that was one of his properties.
"Nobody's controlling me."
"It is hard to decide an answer for this so let's settle for yes and no." Arete said while looking over at Ariadne.
"I think that this would be the best answer, he is being led due to a prophecy and for the gods, but he is also going because of his own reasons." she elaborated.
"That is true." Arete agreed with her friend.
He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."
I balled up my fists. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."
A few of the deities and sprits groaned at this while a few others snickered at the bold comment from the young demigod while inside the palace were the others laughing more openly that apparently Ares would flee from statues showing his own son.
Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I felt a hot wind in my hair. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."
"I for my best will can't decide if this was now a threat or an advice." Caerus said and noted how others had the same trouble.
He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street.
Annabeth said, "That was not smart, Percy."
"I don't care."
"We certainly believe him that." Alala said with a smirk, after that package action a few chapters ago they were not surprised that easily by that demigod, poor Lord Poseidon.
"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."
"Why do I have the unwelcome feeling that he won't care." Iris muttered to herself worriedly.
"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but ..."
He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.
"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."
I didn't like it, but we had no better option. Besides, I'd seen enough of Denver.
There were some snickers at this, they could imagine that after that water park trip he would have enough from the city for a while.
We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us.
The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter.
Everyone looked confused at this, they had no clue what a 'kitty litter' was, but it could not be to good if one states that a smell hit them.
The trailer was dark inside until I uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene.
The confusion was replaced with frowns.
Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing I didn't know the name for.
Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!
And slipped immediately into anger followed by many outraged sounds, the loudest coming from the palace as Lady Artemis screamed death threats together with Dionysus and Pan. It had been not easy to calm everyone down seeing that those who tried were also offended on behalf of those animals till Hemera stood up and let a stream of light trail around everyone, this got everyone's attention and made them look at her in confusion.
"Calm down, I don't think that these two demigods and young satyr would let these animals stay there, the zebra was even mentioned in the chapter title as well as this 'vegas' so it will be fine." she told them and sat back down with a sigh.
"You did really well." Aether told her as he kissed his sister/wife on the head.
"I'm starting to see how much work we had caused mom." she told him, even though they were the oldest two children act around each other more different then they would with an adult and with her constantly switching places with her mother in the upper world was she often rarely in the presence of her younger siblings in their most active times.
Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets,
The frowns returned to their faces.
in a space way too small for him,
Many fingers dug into the earth.
panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.
Growls filled the air as everyone tried to control their anger towards the treatment of those animals.
"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"
"We agree!" chorused everyone in full agreement, there was noting humane about that!
He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes,
There were some snickers at this, mostly from the satyrs who imagined doing just that to those people.
and I would've helped him,
Many nodded their heads approvingly at the young demigod's idea.
but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down. We huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies.
Many wrinkled their noses at this, it must have not been easy for the trio.
Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot,
"Good girl." Iris mumbled under her breath, she was both angry and annoyed at those humans that they torture those poor animals like that.
but I pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling we might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips.
"Well, it is a carnivore and not a herbivore animal so that was a good idea." Helios agreed, by the sounds of it was the poor animal starved for a long time and would jump at the chance to get some flesh.
"Surprising that it had been Lord Poseidon's child who noted this and not Athena's." Pandia pointed out while glancing over at her mother Selene who gave her a small smile.
"Well, we know that it is only her who thinks grandfather dumb." Triteia pointed out to her cousin.
I found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used Anaklusmos to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. I gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.
Many smiled at this in gratefulness, that had been a good thing to do in their option, at least now the animals would have food they could eat.
Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. She wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra's mane, too, but we decided that would be too risky with the truck bumping around.
Cue nods of approval, using a sharp object to remove something from a living thing is in itself risky if it happens close to a place where it would easily cause damage, leave alone if the surface under you is moving around.
We told Grover to promise the animals we'd help them more in the morning, then we settled in for night.
Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuf Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly;
I tried to cheer myself up by concentrating on the fact that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to our destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this last comment." Sophrosyne said shaking his head while looking over at Hecate and Nemesis whom both nodded their heads, the others also shifted in uneasiness, preparing themselves for the new trouble that will come towards the trio on their quest.
On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it—he'd put up cameras and advertised me as entertainment.
There were some small smiles at this, but the gods mostly felt uncomfortable. It was true that they tended to play around with the mortals, but that was not always the case sometimes were their intentions with them honest, but did not know how to fully express them. A great drawback of the fact if one is immortal, they change and adapt rather slowly.
But even when the cameras weren't rolling, I had a feeling my quest was being watched. I was a source of amusement for the gods.
"Uhm…that is only makeable with the help of looking waters and they have a time limit and also you need to know whom you wish to see and where they are at that time." Hecate pointed out before going rigid. "Only a few divinities can gaze down into the mortal world without them…" she said carefully at which the others also tensed in nervousness, things were really pointing towards only one suspect.
"Hey," Annabeth said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."
"That's okay."
"It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders."
"I wonder why Phobos gave her such a strong fear from those, I know that Athena does not like them much, but this is a bit extreme, that poor girl was literally frozen down from fear." Tyche said with a frown on her face, if this would happen in a few years sure she would guess that this was revenge, but in so many millennia? She did not know what to think about this and hoped that they would get an answer.
"Because of the Arachne story," I guessed.
"Huh?" asked everyone in confusion.
"Isn't she the weaver Athena had tasked with a quest to make a tapestry about the currently ruling gods with their mysteries, but she must only wave the truth?" asked a Ponos as he looked over at the others who were all nodding their heads at this.
"Why do I have a strange feeling that Athena did something she should have not." Enyo said, her sister was intelligent yes, but she was also too prideful sometimes and if she decided on punishment she failed to see the end results in a long run, as if her pride and war goddess side would make a cloud which stops all of her logic. Medusa was a nice example not only from their time, but also in the future as they had heard.
She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"
"Athena, what did you do again!" Enyo groaned as she covered her face with one of her hands.
Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since.
Now had the others also covered their faces and groaned, really what had gone wrong with that tapestry thing that Athena would create a monster which not only felt hate for Athena just like Medusa, but would have children which are more normal and not monsters, going after her children.
If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me.
Hecate shook her head and added a new point to her list with the feather on her list to make sure that someone goes with Athena when that tapestry is done if they don't find out what her problem with it had been, her children really should not deserve to be tormented all their lives.
I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."
"We're a team, remember?" I said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."
"He certainly did." one of he satyrs said grinning as his kinsmen had small smiles on their faces.
I thought he was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"
"He sure was." another satyr agreed.
Annabeth and I laughed.
She pulled apart an Oreo, handed me half. "In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?"
"You don't want to know child." Eleos said, those things mostly at the end were not nice things to say about people one considers a friend.
I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered me all evening.
"Because it was bothersome." one of the dryads pointed out, implying one of your close friends you call a sister and ten mention a tragic incident which probably still saddens those who had witnessed it.
"Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."
Many faces darkened at the memory of that last line, that would certainly rip open old wounds.
In the dim bronze light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions.
Grover let out a mournful bray.
"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."
"He should not feel like a failure, if he would be then he would have not faced Medusa." Iris pointed out.
"Also looking at the fact what all had been after them and in the story about the happenings on the hill was it told clearly that she had decided to sacrifice herself for them. It had been her decision and not that of her protector to take the two other demigods to safety." Ariadne added in at which everyone nodded, this was true so the young satyr should not feel this guilty about that.
"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus."
He nodded glumly.
"He managed to save two demigods out of three, one of them only seven when a hoard of hellhounds and Alecto and her sisters were after them and probably even more monsters because of the broken oath, he should be happy that any of them made it." Helios said who beside ruling over he sun was also the guardian of oaths and knew that breaking one which was made on the Styx held terrible consequences and because it was made on not having anymore demigods for a ground about which they are still not informed then it would from the divinity immediately transfer over to the ground of the breaking, meaning the demigod child in this case. Of course this also meant that…now he got it.
"Helios?" Selene asked when she saw a strange expression on the other's face.
"I just figured out why Percy has it so hard." he exclaimed at which everyone turned to him.
"Why is it?" Tyche demanded, she wanted to know it was because of her or not.
"The broken oath, the punishment was automatically transferred to the demigods children of both Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon seeing that they are immortal and the fact that they were the ones initiating it only worsened the punishment." he explained to the others who looked at him with darkened faces.
"Meaning that they had literally damned their children to suffer." Iris said distastefully, she did not find this fair.
"For their father's sins the children shall pay." Momus spoke up from beside his sisters the Keres.
"Unfortunately." many mumbled darkly.
"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp ..." I looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"
No one commented, they had already figured this out.
She put down her Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were ... amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."
"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue.
"But that would have meant that the other two might have not survived for to long." someone pointed out.
We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves.
Soteria smiled at this, no matter how it ended one of them was a seven years old child it would have been cruel to leave them behind to fend for themselves.
I thought ... I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker …"
"As said, with the situation they were in and the greater risk he took to take the other two also with him is it already a great achievement that there were survivors." Arete spoke up as many gave loud to their agreement, the loudest being the satyrs.
"Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."
"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably, "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."
"Ignore them." Eris said, she had once had work on such a council meeting, nothing but a bunch of lazy, overweight satyrs who can't get anything done, she found it even a wonder that they could even stand up from their seats.
"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" I said. "That's not fair."
A good deal of nature spirits nodded vehemently, the satyr was young and had taken up a dangerous and frightening task and only because he showed care for others also in need was he punished? That was pathetic in their option seeing how easily they can be overpowered by monsters and such.
Percy's right," Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says."
Cue more nods.
Grover kept sniffling in the dark. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."
"He should not feel like that and also he just boosted Lord Zeus's and Lord Poseidon's ego regards their kids," Aisa said with a shake of the head.
"You're not lame," Annabeth insisted. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."
She kicked me in the shin.
"I don't think that was necessary." Eris snickered together with some of the others.
"Yeah," I said, which I would've done even without the kick.
This caused even more of the listeners to snicker, the poor kid.
"It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."
All nature spirits smiled hopefully at this, yes it may be right that this satyr will be the one who finds Pan and brings him back home.
I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring, I realized he'd fallen asleep.
There were some smiles at this.
"How does he do that?" I marveled.
"Mental and physical exhaustion help my father in his work," Morpheus replied with a shrug, his present aunts and uncles nodding in agreement.
"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."
"I meant it."
We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully.
Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.
"Her mother's daughter." many chorused.
"That pine-tree bead," I said. "Is that from your first year?"
She looked. She hadn't realized what she was doing.
"Must be an unconscious habit then." Dike said, this was not unusual even by the gods.
"Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—
"A WHAT!" yelled many in confusion, they had not clue what a 'prom' was, but they surely knew what a dress was and with the only Centaur in camp being Chiron that meant…
now that was a weird summer..."
Everyone agreed with that sentiment, just what had happened on that summer? Well inside the palace were some still laughing at a bet red Chiron, mostly Lupa was amused.
"And the college ring is your father's?"
"That's none of your—" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"You don't have to tell me."
"No ... it's okay." She took a shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her... That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."
"Which must have been a short lived thing." some of the deities mumbled seeing what the girl had said some chapters ago and the fact that she spent all year at camp.
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him.
Not many liked the sound of this.
I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak.
Everyone looked warily at the growling children of Night, some even scooted farther away from them for safety measures, they knew how much family meant for them so it was safer to not be close by if they get angered.
Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."
"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"
She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."
"You shouldn't give up," I told her. "You should write him a letter or something."
"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."
"The situation is complicated." Aporia noted with a sigh.
We passed another few miles of silence.
"So if the gods fight," I said, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"
She put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."
There was a shocked surprise which had fallen over everyone, they had not expected this comment and were sure that those inside were just as shocked with them, the silence was enough indication for that. They would not have expected that Athena's daughter would in the case of war stand beside Lord Poseidon's son and not by her mother.
It took ten more minutes for everyone to snap out of their stupor, just like when the reading started again.
"Why?"
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"
There were a few snickers at this, but they were still a bit shocked about Annabeth's comment.
I couldn't think of an answer for that. Fortunately I didn't have to. Annabeth was asleep.
I had trouble following her example, with Grover snoring and an albino lion staring hungrily at me, but eventually I closed my eyes.
My nightmare
"Great, a new demigod dream." Alke groaned together with some of the others.
started out as something I'd dreamed a million times before: I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket.
"Er…" not one understood what some of those terms meant.
All the other kids were going out to recess, and the teacher kept saying, Come on, Percy. You're not stupid, are you? Pick up your pencil.
Then the dream strayed from the usual.
I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket. She was my age, with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy green eyes, and freckles across her nose.
As Hera read on noted a good deal of people how Annabeth grew paler with each word while Jay had a frown on his face, those who knew him were sure that he was thinking about something.
"Annabeth, what is wrong?" Malcolm asked his sister, but did not receive an answer when suddenly Hera gasped.
"I think I know what is wrong." she said and continued reading the two remaining sentences of the paragraph.
Somehow, I knew who she was. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
"What!" many gasped in shock while Jay bowed his head, he could hardly remember his sister, only fragments due to both of them having been little so hearing about her...
"Ho…how is that possible, beside the eye colour he got Thalia's looks perfectly right." Annabeth finally gasped as she turned around to look at the legacies. "How did he…" she was about to ask.
"Know how she looked?" Sally asked her mother with a small smile, Annabeth nodded her head, behind her the gods still looked shocked. "Dad, you could say possesses a special bond to his cousins from his uncle's side, no matter if he saw them or not, we still don't know how that is possible, he just has this bond with them." she told them, her dad had tried figuring out seeing that first he had demigod dreams with their aunt Thalia and then later uncle Nico, he was still looking for an explanation.
"This is really something peculiar." Odysseus said in a stunned tone, he had never heard about something like that and by the looks on the faces of the others was it sure that they hadn't either.
"As said, we don't have an answer for that." Luke said before looking at Hera who continued with reading.
She struggled against the straitjacket, glared at me in frustration, and snapped, Well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here.
Annabeth felt as if someone would have purred icy water over her, that girl even sounded like Thalia would, she did not know how this was possible, but decided to not dwell on it anymore.
She's right, my dream-self thought. I'm going back to that cavern. I'm going to give Hades a piece of my mind.
"Percy" Theseus whined as Orpheus groaned.
"Son, the please think about a throne room if you want to talk with your uncle and not the place we keep your grandfather." Poseidon groaned while the others tensed.
The straitjacket melted off me. I fell through the class room floor. The teacher's voice changed until it was cold and evil, echoing from the depths of a great chasm.
Everyone shuddered or looked worried about Percy being at the entrance of Tartaros again.
Percy Jackson, it said. Yes, the exchange went well, I see.
"Exchange?" Athena mumbled to herself with narrowed eyes, the others were also frowning.
I was back in the dark cavern, spirits of the dead drifting around me. Unseen in the pit, the monstrous thing was speaking, but this time it wasn't addressing me. The numbing power of its voice seemed directed somewhere else.
The frowns deepened, some even looked nervous at this.
And he suspects nothing? it asked.
Another voice, one I almost recognized, answered at my shoulder. Nothing, he is as ignorant as the rest.
"This should prove it that Percy was not the thief." Persephone spoke up while looking over her family. "Though it sadly also proves that the one who did is working for grandfather" she finished in a bitter tone while Malcolm and Mitchell bit back groans.
"Looks as if those two have figured it out." Mich whispered to the other legacies as Luke glared at his lap.
I looked over, but no one was there. The speaker was invisible.
There were some groans at this, it would be good to know the thief's identity in their option, but no such luck.
Deception upon deception, the thing in the pit mused aloud. Excellent.
"It is not!" everyone snapped in anger.
Truly, my lord, said the voice next to me, you are well-named the Crooked One.
"This confirms it then, it is truly him." Hera said in a dark tone, that was their father's nickname, the one on which he was often called no one else had been ever called that.
"Just wonderful." Poseidon grumbled, the fact that his son would live was only in a small part cheerful because he knew how terrible their father could be and he feared what he had done before being defeated, the demigods meanwhile exchanged nervous glances with each other, they will be fighting the Lord of Titans and who know what kind of army serving him.
But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly—
There were many growls all around the interior and exterior of the palace, it they should ever find out who was trying to help that monster raise from his prison and endanger the others so carelessly…
You? the monster said in scorn. You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened.
"Failing sounds really nice." Apollo hissed.
But, my lord—
Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much.
"Six months!" everyone chorused in shock.
"That person is serving that monster since six months!" Demeter gasped, she thought that anyone with a brain would notice it in such a long duration of time that he was not someone you want to serve.
"Hera continue, maybe there is a chance that we get a hint about who this servant is." Zeus told his wife, when he finds out who had started conspirating with his father and taken his Master Bolt would personally feel it on their skin.
Zeus's anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card.
Cue more growls and threats.
Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items
"Both items?" Artemis asked in confusion while by the legacies both En's and Henry's faces darkened.
Persephone heard her and looked thoughtful when she remembered what Alecto and her sisters had said when they had attacked Percy and his friends, she tensed at the conclusion which had occurred to her. If she should be proven right will someone find themselves in a world of pain after she finds out their identity.
are delivered into my hands ... but wait. He is here.
"Not good." Katie said nervously as Theseus let out a whimpering sound while Poseidon mumbled threats under his breath.
"Please let Grover or me wake him." Annabeth mumbled to no one in practicular, she only wanted Percy out from there as fast as it was possible.
What? The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. You summoned him, my lord?
Poseidon looked ready to march into his brother's realm and send a blast with his trident down into Tartaros, preferably right into his father's face.
No. The full force of the monsters attention was now pouring over me, freezing me in place. Blast his father's blood—
"Well, seeing how I was not born due to parthenogenesis means that you have yourself to blame for my existence." Poseidon said with a dark grin on his lips.
he is too changeable, too unpredictable.
"Like the sea." Silena whispered to the others, but one could hear that she was worried just like all of them, even those who knew that this had happened years ago.
The boy brought himself hither.
Cue groans.
"I would appreciate if he would stay out of the cave holding the entrance to Tartaros, mostly from Tartaros." Hades said while massaging his forehead so he missed the flinch flashing over the faces of the legacies who knew that sadly will that not be the case.
Impossible! the servant cried.
Luke had a sardonic smirk on his lips, but he covered it hurriedly.
For a weakling such as you, perhaps, the voice snarled.
"He is such and encouraging person." Hermes said while those who knew the identity of the servant tried not looking in his direction.
Then its cold power turned back on me. So ... you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige.
The scene changed.
I was standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors.
"Thank you father for implying me." Hades said sarcastically while Zeus noticed how Enysswe was looking at him with a look he could not read, but he did not like it.
The empty, horrid throne
"It is not horrid!" snapped Hades, Persephone, Henry, Enysswe and outside the three siblings from the Underworld.
was made from human bones fused together.
Everyone slowly turned to the four with raised eyebrows.
"There is nothing wrong with it." Hades said while looking at his siblings when Poseidon sighed.
"I probably should not comment seeing how my throne back in Atlantis is made out of fused together corals and pearls as decoration." he said while looking at his brother who had a faint smile on his lips which made Poseidon happy.
"Also it fits well with the throne room." Hera said with a nod and started reading before someone makes the wrong comment while Will tried to come to terms with the new information's he just got.
Standing at the foot of the dais was my mother, frozen in shimmering golden light, her arms outstretched.
"I'm starting to hate grandfather even more." Apollo growled as he placed his hand on Artemis's who looked ready to pull out her dagger.
"It will get worse." Lance mumbled, 'Till now you don't know about the children you will loose thanks to him, with two of them being in this room.' he thought bitterly.
I tried to step toward her, but my legs wouldn't move. I reached for her, only to realize that my hands were withering to bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with silk robes, wreathing my head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning into my scalp.
The evil voice began to laugh. Hail, the conquering hero!
No one liked this one bit, it disturbed them and made them feel sick in the stomach. Somehow they had a guess that Kronos was planning to use Percy for his own advantages, but they were not sure to which extent he will be going to set his hands on the young demigod.
I woke with a start.
Many sighed in relief, at least was he now awake.
Grover was shaking my shoulder. "The truck's stopped," he said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."
"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.
She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared.
Annabeth blushed by the smirks she got from the others, but it was easy to tell that they were partly forced due to what they had read a few sentences above this comment. Things sounded really not good and they knew that after this book the titles and probably the stories behind them will only get worse before they become good for a short little time and then go bad again seeing that there will be two wars they will need to go through.
Grover and I had to dive behind feed sacks and hope we looked like turnips.
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.
"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.
"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.
Cue more growls while Artemis was muttering something about men which made Apollo nod with a dark grin on his lips.
The lion roared in indignation.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.
Pan also started muttering about things which made his father smile in pride at this son's creativity.
Next to me, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.
"Perfectly understandable." come the sounds of agreement.
The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"
"What magic show is that? Hecate certainly does not do such things." Artemis snapped in outrage while outside said goddess looked also both angry and perplexed.
"Something mortals come up with, but those are only tricks and no real magic." Sally said frowning as she added. "That was a cruel thing to say seeing that some of those trick look more then real to those not part of the trade." the others nodded still frowning.
The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at me.
There was no sound, but as clear as day, I heard it say: Free me, lord. Please.
"Uh…did someone inform him that he can talk with both sea creatures and horses?" Poseidon asked the legacies.
"Not exactly." Luke told his grandfather who nodded reluctantly before he turned to Chiron.
"When he gets to camp, please do so in time so that he does not think that he went mad." he told his half-brother.
"I will do so Lord Poseidon." Chiron reassured the Sea God, so now he had another thing he forgot to teach to Percy, the list was growing rather steadily.
I was too stunned to react.
There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.
The trucker inside with us yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"
A voice outside—it must've been Eddie's—shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"
"What are you banging for?"
Knock, knock, knock.
Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"
Everyone who did not know what was going on looked confused at this.
"You guys are doing something." Lee said, it would make sense. "The title was 'We take a zebra to Vegas' the first stop is in Vegas so this means that you will do something." he explained while the others nodded, now they understood what he was talking about.
Our guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.
"It takes one to know the other." Reyna said as the others grinned at her comment.
A second later, Annabeth appeared next to me. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. She said, "This transport business can't be legal."
"No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!"
This caused even more sounds of outrage from everyone, mostly the nature bound divinities and it took a few minutes for everyone to calm down so that they could continue reading again, but at least was this book over in six more chapters after this so that meant that there was a chance to start the second book before the day gets over.
That's right, the zebra's voice said in my mind.
"We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at me, waiting for my lead.
I'd heard the zebra talk, but not the lion. Why? Maybe it was another learning disability ... I could only under stand zebras?
Even though they were still angry there were a few snorts at this.
"Yes, understanding zebras is a learning disability." Connor snickered.
"Well and your learning disability includes tortoises, rams and hawks." Hermes told his sons grinning as they looked at him with wide eyes.
"Cool." they said in union while the others looked curiously at their own parents.
"In my case are it the owls and to a small degree also snakes." Athena told her children who nodded, they had already known about the owls, but not about the snakes.
"In my case are it also the snakes and pigs." Demeter told Katie who nodded her head while hitting the Stolls over the head for snickering at the last animal.
"My sacred animals are the dove as you know and also the sparrow so you should be able to understand and talk to them." Aphrodite told her children.
"Enyo's sacred animal is the swan." Artemis informed Reyna who nodded her head in thanks, she had always wondered why she had liked those birds when she had been little, now she knew the ground.
"Mine are vultures, venomous snakes, dogs, and boars." Ares said with a shrug.
"In my case you can talk to donkeys, guard dogs and the cranes." Hephaestus told his children who with the others noted that both him and Ares share one type of sacred animal and more gods had also snakes in their lists, but didn't interrupt.
"Eagle and bull." Zeus told his sons whom nodded, ignoring the sound Theseus let out, they guessed that he had just developed a phobia regards bulls.
"Mine are dolphins" the legacies tried not to snicker as they suddenly remembered that some dolphins have a deadly fear from diet coke "serpents, tigers, and donkeys." Finished Dionysus with his list and looked over at Apollo.
"In my case you kids can talk to roe deers, swans, cicadas, hawks, ravens, crows, foxes, mice, and snakes." Apollo told his children.
"Brother you should also tell them your sacred animal." Hestia informed Hades who nodded his head seeing how he had two of his grandchildren present.
"My sacred animal is the screech owl." he said before turning over to Amphitrite who let out an amused sound.
"What is it dear?" Poseidon asked his wife.
"Not much, I only now noticed how much you all seem to have in common if one looks at your sacred animals, you share a good number of them." she informed her husband, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews who looked back at her blinking, their cheeks painted red.
"Well noted." Hera said in amusement, she was certainly seeing some more family like bindings here due to the books and was not sure that they could manage if they continue.
Then I thought: horses.
"Seems he figured it out." Orion said to Bellerophon who nodded his head, it was an useful ability to have.
What had Annabeth said about Poseidon creating horses? Was a zebra close enough to a horse?
"Seems like it." Chris said.
Was that why I could understand it?
The zebra said, Open my cage, lord. Please. I'll be fine after that.
Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but I knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. I grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.
The zebra burst out. It turned to me and bowed. Thank you, lord.
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing.
Pan nodded his head in approval.
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. We'd just released a zebra in Las Vegas.
"And here is the title." Trickster said grinning as he imagined the scene.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"
"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said.
"The other animals first," Grover said.
I cut the locks with my sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.
"Good luck," I told the animals.
"Good, they are free now." Pan said, animals should never be locked in and held under such deplorable conditions.
The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.
Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.
There was a number of shaking heads at the last coment, but it didn't matter as long as no one gets hurt.
"Will the animals be okay?" I asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all—"
"Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."
"Excellent." Pan said proudly, that had been a more then good idea from the young satyr.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."
"That is really good." Gwen said in a relieved tone, she loved animals.
"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked.
"It only works on wild animals."
By the next line could Hara not help herself, but allow a small smile of amusement to come to her lips, she valued good marriages and this one had really an interesting and long start.
"So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned.
This made a good number of people laugh in amusement at Annabeth's comment.
"Hey!" I protested.
"Kidding," she said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."
We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention.
"Which is certainly good at this point." Travis said while Henry braced himself to keep his cousin calm, the Lotus would come up soon.
We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick. I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west.
We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.
A deep growl made everyone turn into Enysswe's direction and Henry placed his hands on her shoulders while Odysseus frowned at the mentioning of the lotus.
"What is wrong?" Hades asked his granddaughter worriedly.
"The third book will explain." Sally told him while the god frowned, was there not a mentioning that his son was in the books from that one on?
The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.
"I hate that damned place." Enysswe muttered, unfortunately was she informed that no one was allowed to demolish it, the building would only reform itself.
"I don't have a good feeling about that place." Lee pointed out, he did not know why thought.
"Good." En told her uncle.
The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"
Many narrowed their eyes at this.
"There are laws against minors entering casinos and considering how you three looked." Reyna said with a frown on her face. "Something is wrong there."
"Great, new trouble and from the way Enysswe is looking it will not be fun." Michael said when Luke let out a bitter laugh, he had hated hearing how his parents and uncle almost ended up like his uncle Nico and aunt Bianca whom he had never met.
"No, this would have been fun, a never-ending fun." he said while the others looked nervous.
I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and I could see. Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in.
Cue groans.
Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."
The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-Man games
The sons of Dionysus looked at their dad who looked undecided if he should react or not seeing that he had never played that game before due for it not being invented in their time.
or slot machines. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.
"Don't let yourselves be fooled by those things." Sally said when she noted that some of the demigods were in danger to start drooling, which would be gross in the current company.
"Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."
"I may not know the laws in the future, but this sounds highly suspicious." Persephone said while some of the others also started frowning, something was not right with that place.
I stammered, "Um, but..."
"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of.
"I also don't like this, are they monsters?" Clarisse asked the legacies who shook their heads.
"Not exactly, but they are part of our world and have adapted themselves according to the changed times." Ace told his mother while Odysseus tried to figure out what this sentence could mean, he was sure that he should know this place, but was not sure why.
No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or what ever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."
He handed us each a green plastic credit card.
"Brilliant." replied all children of Hermes/Mercury and some of the other demigods also looked interested as did Bobby and Mathew.
"Not brilliant idiots, it sounds too good which should tip you up that something is wrong." Clarisse snapped at them.
I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids. But I took the card and said, "How much is on here?"
His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"
He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke.
"En?" Nathan whispered to the girl.
"Dad still has his as well as aunt Bianca's and yes, they are unlimited and work also in the mortal world, not that dad actually needs it because granddad takes care about all of his expenses or lets his use his fortunes." she whispered back before looking at him sternly. "Dare going there and I will make sure that your parents will never have grandchildren if you don't get a sibling in the upcoming years." she threatened while Nathan glumped.
Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."
We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub,
The dreamy looks started returning to some of the demigods while others looked even more suspicious or were stuck between the two feelings.
and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this.
"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."
"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."
En shook her head vehemently while being watched by her grandfather who was thinking about why she may be reacting like this.
There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange.
"This is more then a little strange." Triton noted.
"Yup, that is not Brooklyn House." Misty said darkly while the others turned to her.
"Brooklyn House?" Malcolm asked in confusion.
"Well, you were told that there were other gods and some closer then you think, well if you look at history there was another place where the fire of the Western Civilization burned brightly and that flame attracted the one bound to the Greek gods and united them as well as later the Romans, after that they moved together and now are in America, a part of them in Brooklyn hence the name." Sally said while waiting as she watched the demigods racking their brains which gods and land could be meant, it took five minutes till Lee gasped.
"Uh…you mean the Egyptians?" he asked unsurely, but this was the only place he could remember which could fit, well beside Babylon and Persia that is.
"Correct." Misty said while beside Hades most of the other gods looked confused.
"Really, the Egyptian gods are in Brooklyn?" gasped a shocked Annabeth, but she did not get to start talking about their architecture.
"Yep, well Brooklyn House is actually called the Twenty-First Nome seeing how they have such Nomes all-around the world with Egypt their Ancient Land being the First, you will know about them more though I think you would like to know that you were the one who had designed their camp in Memphis." Sally told her mother before she turned to the others. "We should continue now with the reading, the case with you all meeting up with the Egyptians can at the moment wait for a little while." the others nodded reluctantly at her words.
"You look not surprised uncle by these new at all uncle." Artemis whispered to Hades, not that she needed seeing that no one paid them attention.
"I know most deities of the other Underworlds and have at least a tolerance relationship with them." he told her with a shrug, there was nothing bad in doing so seeing that it helped exchanging experiences and if one had already done a case with which another had trouble to decide how to proceed it, then these experience exchanges could be helpful.
"That does sound beneficial, could you please ask your acquaintances if it would be possible for me to meet some of the deities bound to my properties?" Artemis asked curiously.
"I will try." Hades replied while masking his surprise at the request of his niece, they rarely asked him for favours.
I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. Wouldn't need that anymore.
The legacies carefully averted their gazes.
When we left, I could just charge a new one at the hotel store.
I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. 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 back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me. I'd had a dream or something ... I needed to talk to my friends. But I was sure it could wait.
"No, listen to that voice." Henry said which again made people shift in their seats or to look thoughtful.
I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.
"Really Annabeth," Travis shook his head. "All the fun stuff to do and eat and your watching that." said girl only huffed, she liked that channel.
"All those stations," I told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"
Cue nods from a few demigods, namely the Stolls and Trickster before they were hit over the head, the others who wanted to agree thought better of it.
"It's interesting."
"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."
Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.
"That is not normal for them." Hermes said frowning, something was not right, it was also this statement which got each demigod to accept that the hotel was a bad thing.
"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"
Grover and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic LotusCash cards.
"Play time," I said.
I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video.
"Aunt Rachel could have killed to have such vacations." Luke pointed out, such small vacations were not bad because you spent them with the ones you love and not go to a place where everyone goes to do what they want.
"The girl who will appear first in the third book?" Jake asked Luke who nodded.
A five-star Vegas hotel? Forget it.
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 Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks.
Those who knew Grover only shook their heads at this, but they were starting to get worried, this distraction seemed somehow unnatural.
I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D Sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it.
Annabeth blushed, she certainly would.
"Granddad Poseidon has one in his game room." Sally told her mother.
I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong.
"As long as you realize it and act in time is it not important when you did." Athena said nervously, she was trying to figure out what that place was, but she just could not come up with an answer no matter how familiar some aspects sounded.
Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen, I guess, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night.
"That does sound strange, that look is out of fashion since decades." Silena pointed out frowning.
We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."
Groovy?
"As did that word." Mitchell added in blinking.
Later, while we were talking, I said something was "sick," and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before.
"Erm…it got another meaning in your time?" asked Apollo while outside the gods responsible for health looked bewildered at the palace.
"Yes, it also means 'brilliant' now." Michael told his father who nodded, he did not know how people come to give that word such an additional meaning seeing how no one liked being sick as far as he knew.
He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen.
I said, "Hey, Darrin?"
"What?"
"What year is it?"
He frowned at me. "In the game?"
"No. In real life."
He had to think about it. "1977."
"WHAT!" the demigods yelled in shock from which the gods guessed that this was not the correct year in which Percy and Annabeth were twelve.
"No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really."
"Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."
After that he totally ignored me.
I started talking to people, and I found it wasn't easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video game, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. They all claimed they hadn't been in here very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn't really know and they didn't care.
"This is starting to sound really messed up." Travis noted when suddenly by the heroes of old Odysseus gasped, he finally got it and turned immediately to the legacies.
"This is what had become form the Lotus-eaters am I right?" he asked them.
"Yes, sadly they went with the time, now they lure their victims in with games and all different luxurious things, when they are inside their sense of reality slips as well as the time passing over them." Sally explained at which Hades also turned to his grandchildren.
"Is this where Nico is?" he asked while everyone turned to him.
"What do you mean brother?" Poseidon asked.
"We were told that I had no more demigod children since eighty years in their time, but it was also mentioned that Nico was only ten when he met Percy and if each book takes place in the summer then Percy would be by the time he meets Nico thirteen. There is only one way how I could not have had anymore demigod children, but there still being one who is still younger then his two cousins, meaning that he was placed somewhere where time does not flow or flows much slower then normal." Hades explained his suspicions to the rest of his family.
"Yes, dad was placed for his own safety into the casino and later taken out from there, the ground for that will be fully explained in the fifth book." Enysswe said while looking at her grandfather who nodded his head and turned to his sister.
"Hera, please continue." he told her while the others exchanged glances with each other, they did not know why Hades needed to hide one of his children in such a place and it seemed that they will have a long wait in front of them till they will find out.
Then it occurred to me: how long had I been here? It seemed like only a couple of hours, but was it?
"This is not good at all." Katie said nervously, the others shared her option, that place had lost all of its appeal to them.
I tried to remember why we were here. We were going to Los Angeles. We were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld. My mother ... for a scary second, I had trouble remembering her name.
"Now is it even more clearer, these are the Lotus-eaters, hopefully are you two not to deep under their magic and can get out, when we had encountered them those of my men who tasted the fruit of the Lotus Tree needed to be tied up and then we dragged them away, the spell had broken when we were farther away from the tree." Odysseus told everyone and Annabeth hoped that she had also realized this and they will leave soon.
Sally. Sally Jackson. I had to find her. I had to stop Hades from causing World War III.
"Well, beside the name of the culprit you got everything alright uncle Percy." Nathan said carefully while both Enysswe and Henry let out a small hiss.
I found Annabeth still building her city.
"Come on," I told her. "We've got to get out of here."
No response.
I shook her. "Annabeth?"
She looked up, annoyed. "What?''
"We need to leave."
"Yes, please do daughter." Athena pleaded, the last thing she wanted was her daughter trapped in that place.
"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers—"
"Not good, you are under the hotel's spell." Frank said nervously, he was really starting to believe his gran that casinos are dangerous places for a demigod to be at.
"This place is a trap."
She didn't respond until I shook her again. "What?"
"Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!"
"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes."
"I would have never thought that I would be this thankful for your unpredictableness." Athena breathed, it seemed that the nature of he sea made it herder for the spell to work, it is a directly stimulating a luring spell unlike the enchantments used by some monsters, that remind her that she will go out after this book and find Medusa and turn her into something less harmful, maybe a turnip?
"I will take that as a compliment, but only after the children are out of there." Poseidon told his niece, also glad that Percy was able to fight the spell.
"Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever."
"So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?"
"Ugh…Percy please get me out of there." Annabeth groaned while burying her face in her hands.
"And don't forget Grover if you are already by picking op people co get out." Pan reminded even thought he was talking to a book about things which had not happened till now in their time while by the legacies they did.
I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.
"Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy.
"This seems to be also a patter when you are under an enchantment." Luke said thoughtfully.
"What!" Annabeth asked worriedly.
"Second book, your fatal flaw kind of gives you some trouble." Luke told his mother who looked just as nervous as the others at hearing this.
I made her look directly in my eyes. I said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders."
"In any other situation I would be angry because of this, but now I'm glad that he will do that." Annabeth said slightly shaking as she tried to not imagine a spider.
That jarred her. Her vision cleared. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we—"
There were a number of relieved sighs at this, now they only needed to get Grover and then get the Hades out of there.
"I don't know, but we've got to find Grover."
We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.
"Grover!" we both shouted.
He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"
"Erm…the game kind of got to him." Lance said while the others stared in bewilderment at the book.
"You don't say." Chris said carefully.
"Grover!"
He turned the plastic gun on me and started clicking, as if I were just another image from the screen.
"The enchantment is worse on some mythical creatures, I think mostly only the gods are fine in there." Misty said carefully.
I looked at Annabeth, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"En?"
"Stop asking me about the damned cards Grace." Enysswe whispered back with a hiss.
"We're leaving," I told him.
"Such a shame," he said, and I got the feeling that he really meant it, that we'd be breaking his heart if we went. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."
He held out the cards, and I wanted one. I knew that if I took one, I'd never leave.
Everyone nodded nervously.
I'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon I'd forget my mom, and my quest, and maybe even my own name. I'd be playing virtual rifleman with groovy Disco Darrin forever.
"Please just get out of there." Gwen pleaded, she knew that they would get out, but she did not know when.
Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."
We walked toward the door, and as we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting.
"You need to fight it." Lupa said, if they don't do it then it would be over.
I thought about our room upstairs. We could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once...
Then we burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day we'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.
"I rally don't like the sound of this and going with uncle Hades's theory from not long ago…" Apollo didn't even need to finish, the others knew what he meant, while inside time stands still it does not in the outside world.
Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was odd, because I was sure I had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001,
The frowns returned and Ares shifted on his throne, he had a strange unwelcome feeling in the pit of his stomach.
but at the moment I had other problems to worry about.
"True, you need to find out the date." Athena said when Hera spoke up.
"The weather is no wonder." she said before continuing with the last lines of the chapter.
I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in. Then I noticed the date: June twentieth.
We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.
Everyone groaned at this, this was really bad.
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.
"Ugh…that will be more then stressful and close." Trickster said while Hera handed the book over to Demeter.
To be continued…
