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I woke up in a hotel.
Ok, that sentence frightened me. The first thing you learn as a demigod is that your life is dangerous. The second thing is that if you wake up and find yourself in a hotel, run and scream "HELP!" But I didn't do that, of course. I'm not that stupid. Well, maybe jumping into quicksand wasn't my brightest idea. Hey, I was no daughter of Athena.
"Halley, you're up!" A girl's voice squeaked.
I sat up to see Clara, grinning widely.
"Don't you just love this hotel? It's so fancy!" She exclaimed.
I had to admit, it did look pretty good. There was gold lining the walls and windows, which was crafted into beautiful golden suns. The curtains were an ocean green, with seashells embedded on them. The floor was covered in a fur carpet, which was as soft as silk. When, I looked down, I saw I was lying on an extravagant bed, with white silk sheets and golden bedding. The pillows were in perfect shape, like I hadn't slept here at all!
"Wow," I said, my breath taken away.
"Where are we?"
We asked this question a lot now it's kind of getting annoying.
"It's called Το Ξενοδοχείο Ηρακλής," She said.
"The Heracles Hotel," I translated automatically.
I was quite surprised I managed to translate that, but I remembered Percy said in camp that my dyslexia helped me read Ancient Greek. That now seemed like a million years ago.
"Oh yeah, where's Percy?"
I can't believe I forgot about him. I also don't know why I got so angry when Tetra flirted with him…
"Who said my name? Oh Halley, you're up!"
Percy strode into the room, his sea-green eyes twinkling with happiness.
"Don't you just love this place? They've got cheeseburgers! I brought you guys one." He yelled happily.
He gave us our burgers and I have to say, they were delicious! It was much better than mortal food.
I munched on my food and said, "So… how did we get here?"
They cocked their heads thoughtfully.
"Well… it sort of just appeared right in front of us. One minute it was green grass, the next a huge hotel appears out of nowhere. It surprised us at first, and we were suspicious, but the manager was a son of Demeter and said that this hotel was built specifically for demigods to not get eaten by monsters. You passed out for 3 days, by the way. You missed the cotillion."
"The what?"
"The cotillion is a type of formal dance." Clara cut in. "You should have seen Percy dancing. He looked like a frog in a blender!"
We laughed at Percy's discomfort. I haven't felt this light-hearted since that fight at the tent. That wasn't actually that long ago, but it seemed like a millennia to me.
"Hello? Do you want anything?"
I looked at the door to see a little boy, maybe five, clutching a small teddy bear. He was dressed like a waiter, but he seemed to glow with happiness.
"Who are you?" I asked him politely.
"I'm Dean, ma'am. Your half-brother." He replied.
I don't have a half-brother. What was he talking about? Oh, he meant the godly side. Wait, if Apollo was Zeus' son, Zeus' brother is Poseidon. And Poseidon's kids are Percy and Clara. That means… they're my Uncle and Aunt? That's just weird. But in a demigod's perspective, it's normal when you learn that your 2 best friends (1 who's younger than you) are your uncle and aunt on your godly father's side. That's perfectly normal.
"Dean, you work for the hotel?" Clara asked.
"Oh yes, but I am grateful that they have taken me in. I would work for them forever!"
Aw, he's so cute! Oh no, I'm acting like an Aphrodite girl! Apparently, Clara also has 'Aphrodite-is' because she squealed and pinched his cheeks.
"Aw, you're so cute!"
Percy snickered and coughed. Clara and I glared at him and he rolled his eyes, muttering something about evil demonic girls with no sense of humor. Excuse me; I had a lot of humor! One time, I set me friend's pants on fire because he lied! Okay, that makes me sound crazy.
"Well, anyway, Dean, we don't need anything. Though thank you fro checking up on us." I said.
He smiled radiantly and I couldn't resist the urge to smile back. I could see Clara looked confused for a second but then her face cleared.
"You know the Sun Glow?" She asked him.
"Yes," He replied, "my mother had me learn it. It's good for the customers."
He turned and left abruptly. I turned to Clara and said,
"What is the sun glow? Is it like sunscreen?"
She laughed and shook her head.
"No, it's and ability only children of Apollo develop. You have a sunny aura and everyone around you will be happy if you're just in the room. Although his one wasn't quite fully developed, it was good for a 5 year old." She explained.
Well that's a cool power. I could be all like "Cheer up!" And suddenly everyone would be smiling. Yeah, that's helpful… ish. Who cares, powers are cool… Except when they go haywire and hurt someone…
"Halley? Hello, Earth to Halley?" Percy said, interrupting my train of thought.
"Don't use that expression when I'm going to fight the Earth," I grumbled.
They laughed and sooner or later I joined in, and then we were just laughing really loud for no reason.
"Monsieur Percy, dinner is ready." A voice called from the door.
"COMING!" Yelled Percy
We laughed as we saw him frantically pulling on his jacket and dashing out the door. We followed him into the dining hall which was just as magnificent as our room. The tables were cluttered with people drinking, eating and chatting, and occasionally someone would show off their skills to someone, and fireworks would explode in the air (Hecate children) arrows whizzing through the air (Apollo children) and plants sprouting out of the ground (Demeter children). We got a table of three and went to the all-you-can-eat buffet. I piled up on waffles, fried rice, bacon (just got to love my bacon), steak and much more. We were all starving, so we revisited the buffet like 10 times. But nobody in the dining hall ate more than Percy I reckon. It was like he was in an eat-all-you-can buffet, wolfing down the dishes. His stomach was like the pit of Tartarus, though not evil. But judging by how he ate, I'm sure that his stomach is Tartarus, to food.
"So," Percy said, his mouth still full of food, "do you like this place?"
"Like it?" I asked incredulously, "I love it! It's has nice décor and fantastic food! Although, we'll have to leave sometime…"
Percy's shoulder slumped and he pouted.
"Can we at least bring the buffet? I'll carry it!" He said pleadingly.
"No, because usually we get chased out of here by monsters. Let's just get out of here while we still have out sanity."
Clara snickered.
"Percy wasn't born with sanity, how can he keep it?"
We laughed at Percy's face, until Clara got creamed by ice cream (the bad puns are back in the house).
"You dare do that, Perseus Jackson?!" Clara snarled, "Take this!"
She threw a piece of T-bone steak at Percy but at the last second he dived behind me, leaving my face the target of the steak. It smacked me hard on the jaw. Clara covered her mouth and I hit her with a burrito.
"FOOD FIGHT!" Percy yelled.
The whole dining hall was in chaos. I got hit in the shoulder by a can of peas (who puts peas in cans) and narrowly dodged a flying missile; also known as the taco. I met Percy fake sobbing on the floor, crying
"I've been shot! Help me!"
I chuckled and helped Percy up, until I got hit in the back by another deadly weapon, more deadly than the taco- the hot dog. I fell, pushing Percy onto the floor, and I landed on top of him like in the underground tunnel.
"Here we are again, huh?" Percy said.
I got up and whacked him on the head.
"Shut up, seaweed brain. Clara says that's your nickname right? Well, it suits you perfectly." I smirked.
"Oh you'll pay for that," He growled.
I laughed as I got chased by Percy all around the room. At some point I crashed into Clara, who joined Percy in chasing me with food. They had an unfair advantage, seeing as they kept directing liquid towards me, but I just kept running blindly ahead. I couldn't use my powers as I hadn't completely mastered them yet. I crashed into the walls at some point, but it wasn't that painful.
"Okay guys, I surrender," I said, dropping to my knees.
I was panting and out of breath when they caught up with me. Percy healed some cuts with water and I felt a bit more refreshed when he caught some food and gave it to me. Soon we were all eating in the middle of the food fight. I leaned back against the wall when I felt someone clamp my hands together. I was just about to tell Clara that I wanted to stay a bit longer when I realized it wasn't her. Instead, it was a fat old man.
"Now, don't struggle. This'll only hurt for a little while." He chuckled.
I felt a blow to the side of my head and I blacked out.
"What should we do with her?"
"Our mistress will deal with that daughter of Apollo. But about Perseus Jackson… He's a dangerous enemy. And his sister is powerful too."
"Where are they kept?"
At this point I was aware of the two voices. At first it was like a bad radio connection, but now it was much clearer. I kept my eyes shut to hear more.
"They're in chamber 11. Locked with the finest locks in all of Gaea."
So Percy and Clara are in chamber 11, wherever that is. I kept that piece of information in the back of my mind.
"Wait. She's awake."
Oh Styx, they discovered me. I tried to keep motionless but then one of them poked a needle into my cheek.
"Ow!" I screamed, and then blushed, because I had practically blown my cover.
The two men hovered over me, and then I realized they only had one eye. Oh great, more Cyclops.
"Do not try to fool us, daughter of Apollo."
His voice was melancholy and low, and it made me a bit sad for these monsters. Maybe they just had to follow Gaea's orders or risk getting killed. I tried to stand up when I realized I was bound to a chair. No wonder my neck was so stiff.
"Come on, I know you don't want to be on Gaea's side! Join the demigods and we swear not to kill another Cyclops unless they attack us!" I persuaded.
The Cyclops seemed to consider this and scratched his head.
"I'm sorry, but we are bound to our Mistress. She wishes to see you now."
He lifted me of the chair and dragged me to Gaea. I kicked and squirmed and faintly remembered doing this with another Cyclops, the first monster I had fought (but didn't kill).
"We are here," The Cyclops announced in a grave voice.
I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe a mud monster, like in my dream. But I did not expect the super evil villain to be an elegant old woman.
"Ah, Halley, you've arrived," she said smoothly.
"What do you want?" I spat.
"Can't an old woman enjoy the pleasures of a conversation?"
You're not an old woman. You're ancient! You're like 10 bazillion years old.
"But we have no time for pleasantries. I am here to discuss business."
"What business?" I asked shrewdly.
"Simple. You die, and I let the world live."is H