POTTER FILES : THE LIGHTNING THIEF
Chapter 11 : We travel by the Zoo Express
X-X-X-X-X
Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.
Note : The timeline of the HP universe has been changed to fit PJO universe. Some slight changes have been made to HP canon to fit girl Harry. So, Iris (fem!Harry) Potter was born on 31 July 1993 and COS happened in 2005-2006.
This chapter will be in Percy's Pov unless stated otherwise.
X-X-X-X-X
We were waiting in the diner parking lot when Ares suddenly appeared with Iris.
"See that truck over there?"
He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner.
"That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."
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.
I said, "You're kidding."
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched.
"Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining."
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. 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.
"You owe me one more thing.", I told Ares, trying to keep my voice level, "You promised me information about my mother."
"You sure you can handle the news?"
He kick started his motorcycle.
"She's not dead."
The ground seemed to spin beneath me.
"What do you mean?"
"If she was killed, her mutilated corpse would have been sent to you or your father as a message. As neither have happened yet, it means she is being kept alive.", Ares replied.
"Kept. Why?"
"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."
"Nobody's controlling me."
He laughed.
"Oh yeah? See you around, kid."
He then revved his Harley and roared off down Delancy Street.
"Guys", Annabeth said pointing towards 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", Iris said, "we need to hurry."
I didn't like it, but we had no better option. Besides, I'd seen enough of Denver.
We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us.
The trailer was dark inside until I uncapped Anaklusmos. I almost took a step back on seeing the dark expression on her face until I realised that it was not aimed at me.
The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. 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!
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, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.
"This is kindness?", Iris screeched, "Humane zoo transport?"
She probably would've gone right back outside to torture the truckers and I would have gladly helped her, but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down.
Iris took out her wand and switched the foods around with her magic. She cleaned up the zebra and cut off the balloon from the antelope's horn. While I was filling their bowls with water, Iris dried up the soiled blanket and blew a gentle wind at them using a Chinese hand fan I never knew she had.
"I am sorry guys. That is the most I can do now. When the truck stops at Vegas, the scumbags who put you here will face the wrath of the Wild. That's my word.", Iris said.
Iris sat on a turnip sack in some kind of meditation pose; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuff 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.
On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me. I had a feeling my quest was being watched. I was a source of amusement for the gods. Ares, atleast, was honest about it.
"Percy, Annie, what tasks did you get?", Iris asked.
"I had to fight 3 Ares kids back to back at noon time in the middle of a desert with the spear Ares gave me. It wasn't that bad, I guess. The kids were not that advanced and the spear Ares gave me was a good match for me. I guess, being the War God, he had a way of knowing things like that. The guy who was supervising it was quite nice and helpful for an Ares kid. He gave me a basic course and said that as my father's symbol of power is a three pronged spear, I will master it very quickly.", I replied.
"Yes, Ares kids are the best at finding a suitable weapon for someone but they are not exactly the helpful kind. Anyway, I had to navigate a maze and take the prize placed at the center avoiding all the spiders in the maze.", she said shuddering, "There were a lot of spiders, some of them were small mechanical spiders while the others were giant spiders of various sizes. Ares said they were Acromantulas brought from your magical society, Iris. It was a good thing you told me to put on Luke's flying shoes. I would never have succeeded without it. The prize was the bag which contained the help he was giving us. He told me that as I had never done much fighting in the quest, he gave me a more crucial role."
"What? You all got easy tasks while he set me up with a Titaness. The woman was a nutjob but a very tough nutjob. I barely survived. What's Ares playing at?", Iris spoke.
"You beat a Titaness? Wow! Who was it?", Annabeth asked shocked.
I guess I was too. I knew she was tough. She defeated monsters like Python, Chimera and many others. But, a Titaness was on an entirely different level.
"Aura, the goddess of Breeze and my mother's cousin."
"I don't remember reading about her."
"I don't think anyone considered it important enough to put it in a book. Artemis had never had a child before. Basically, she was a former maiden hunter who questioned my mother's virtue. Artemis naturally complained about it to Nemesis who decided that someone with such disrespect towards maiden hood should not remain one. Long story short. She was drugged and raped by our Mr. D. She had twins one of which she succeeded in killing and the other was saved by my mother. She blamed my mother for everything and wanted revenge. Aura was a nutcase anyway. She could have killed me easily but she wasted time boasting and learned the hard way that Chimera fire could fry a Titaness too.", Iris said.
"Arrgghh! Why do you both always get all the spoils of war?", Annabeth asked.
"We will let you deal with the next monster and sit back to enjoy the show if that's what you want.", I replied.
"Annie, why do you call them the spoils of war anyway? As far as I know, Ares has no power over them. It's Nike's domain. Shouldn't we call them spoils of victory?", Iris asked.
Annabeth looked thoughtful for a moment and sighed.
"Both are used but the former is the more popular term. Now that I think about it, it's kinda disrespectful to the Goddess of Victory."
She pulled apart an Oreo, split it for the three of us.
"In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?", Annabeth asked me.
I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered me all evening.
"Luke said you and he go way back. Both of you were part of Grover's first assignment, weren't you? "
Annabeth 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.
Grover was supposed to escort Thalia to camp. Only Thalia. He had strict orders from
Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. They knew Hades was after her but Grover had always had a big heart. He couldn't just leave Luke and I by ourselves. He believed he could lead all three of us to safety. Things didn't happen as well as we hoped and the Kindly Ones soon caught up with us. Thalia chose to sacrifice her life so that we would have enough time to get to the camp."
Iris gave her a one armed hug and beckoned me closer. I got the message and hugged her from the other side. We shared a three way hug for a moment and then split up.
"Thanks guys. I appreciate it.", Annabeth said.
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.
"That pine-tree bead", I said, "Is that from your first year?"
She looked at it. She hadn't realized what she was doing.
"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—now that was a weird summer..."
"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."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him. 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. Monsters attacked. We argued. 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."
"Annie", Iris said in a soft yet reprimanding tone, "I would not presume to know your family enough to advise you but I will be honest, brutally honest. Perhaps, you should try the middle path. Keep in touch with them but don't stay with them. You have been independent for too long to accept their authority or try to act like a normal family."
"I will consider that.", Annabeth replied.
For some reason, I had the feeling that something important happened and I missed it.
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."
"Why?"
"Friends forever, Seaweed Brain, remember.", Iris replied whacking my head.
"That's a better response than what I had in mind.", Annabeth spoke amusement colouring her tone.
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 Iris telling the antelope something while stroking its fur and the albino lion staring at me hungrily but eventually I closed my eyes.
My nightmare started out as something I'd dreamed a million times before: I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket.
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 grey eyes, and freckles across her nose.
Somehow, I knew who she was. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
She struggled against the straitjacket, glared at me in frustration, and snapped, Well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here.
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.
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.
A wave of dread settled over the room.
Percy Jackson, it said. Yes, the exchange went well, I see.
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.
And he suspects nothing? it asked.
Another voice, one I almost recognized, answered at my shoulder. Nothing, my lord. He is as ignorant as the rest.
I looked over, but no one was there. The speaker was invisible.
Deception upon deception, the thing in the pit mused aloud. Excellent.
Truly, my lord, said the voice next to me, you are well-named the Crooked One.
But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly —
You? the monster said in scorn. You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened.
But, my lord—
Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much. Zeus's anger has grown. His daughter's dirty little secret has been exposed. Poseidon has played his most desperate card. Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands
... but wait. He is here.
What? The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. You summoned him, my lord?
No. The full force of the monsters attention was now pouring over me, freezing me in place.
Blast his father's blood-he is too changeable, too unpredictable. The boy brought himself hither.
Impossible! the servant cried.
For a weakling such as you, perhaps, the voice snarled. Then it's 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.
The empty, horrid throne was made from human bones fused together.
Standing at the foot of the dais was my mother, knocked out, her arms outstretched.
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!
I woke with a start.
Iris was shaking my shoulder.
"The trucks stopped.", she said, "We think they're coming to check on the animals."
"Hide!", Annabeth hissed.
Annabeth put on her hat and disappeared while we hid under the magic Cloak.
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.
We slowly sneaked off to the open door way ready to get out.
"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.
The lion roared in indignation. Iris had balled up her fist resisting the urge to go there and tear him apart with her bare hands.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah.", the man said.
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!"
It was then that it happened. The door of the lion's cage opened on its own startling the trucker. Iris had had enough and wanted to see blood. By the time the trucker turned his head in that direction, the lion had already jumped on top of him thousand pounds weight pinning him down. It tore through the chest and started eating the flesh and internal organs quite eagerly giving us a good view of what was inside. I came out of the Cloak not caring whether the lion would notice me or not and vomited on to the side. I heard retching and knew that I was not the only one. Seeing Iris gleefully watching the spectacle, I knew it was Annabeth.
Then, Iris suddenly told the lion to stay silent and hide in a corner. I soon realised why when I heard the other trucker coming.
Annabeth gave her cap to Iris and said, "We will take the Cloak and move out. You can stand here and watch."
We went outside passing by the soon-to-be-deceased guy. We stood there pretending not to hear the sudden scream of terror and the subsequent sounds of flesh being torn apart from the body.
We didn't know how long we just stood there but soon enough we saw Iris approaching us with the lion on her right and zebra and antelope on my left. We did our best not to look at the blood caked on its face and paws.
"Remember what I told you, gentlemen. Go on, children, make me proud."
The animals started leaving but the zebra turned and looked back at me for a moment.
There was no sound, but as clear as day, I heard it say: Farewell, my lord.
The zebra ran away along with the others as if nothing had happened.
Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.
"Will the animals be okay?", I asked Iris, "I mean, the desert and all—"
"Don't worry.", she said, "I gave them a blessing. Meaning they'll reach the wild safely. They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live. Usually, only my mother had the authority to do that and I would have had to pray to her but with my mother disconnected, it is one of the few of her powers I have authority over."
"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?", I asked.
"It only works on wild animals."
"So it would only affect Percy.", Annabeth reasoned.
"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.
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.
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.
The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"
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.
Inside, we took one look around, and Iris said, "Whoa."
The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-Man games 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.
"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 stammered, "Um, but..."
"No, no", he said, laughing, "The bill's taken care of. 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 whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your Lotus Cash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."
He handed us each a green plastic credit card.
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. 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, 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 ..."
"Awesome."
There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange.
I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of having to make do with the magic spell. 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.
I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Iris had also showered and changed clothes.
Iris was eating potato chips to her heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the Star Movies.
"Come on, Annie. I am sure there is something good on Animal Planet or National Geographical Channel.", Iris spoke.
"It wouldn't be that good after the live show you just gave us.", Annabeth replied shuddering.
I shuddered too. On thinking about it, I was glad that she was not my enemy.
"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"
Iris and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic Lotus Cash 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. 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 Iris a few times, going from game to game. She really liked the hunter thing.
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.
I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong.
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.
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?
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.
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."
"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.
Then it occurred to me: how long had I been here? It seemed like only a couple of hours, but was it?
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. Sally. Sally Jackson. I had to find her. I had to stop Hades from causing World War III.
I saw Iris playing some kind of card game with a boy and a girl was sitting nearby watching them. The boy had pale olive skin, dark hair and brown eyes and the girl had similar features to the boy except the slightly longer hair and coal black eyes. I guessed they were siblings.
Iris suddenly slammed her cards on the table and said, "I can't believe this. I lost for the seventh time. How do you win every single time, Nico?"
The other girl smiled fondly and said, "Nico has been playing it for years. It's all he ever talks about."
"Iris, we need to leave.", I said.
Iris stood up and said, " Percy, this is Nico and Bianca di angelo. Guys, this is my friend Percy Jackson."
I noticed that the girl-Bianca on seeing me lowered her head such that her hair covered a good part of her face. I could have sworn that she was blushing.
"Cool", Nico said.
Iris turned to them and put a hand on each of their shoulder.
"Nico, be a good boy. Don't give your sister too much trouble, huh. A little mischief here and there are ok of course.", she said winking at him, "Take good care of your sister."
"Bianca, it's nice of you to take responsibility but don't forget to live yourself."
"It's for you.", Nico said giving her one of his cards.
"Really! Thank you, Nico. Now, come on, guys. A group hug."
She hugged them after pocketing the card.
Iris then turned to me and said, "Let's go, Percy."
"Wait! You actually remember everything?"
She looked at me weirdly as if I had just asked her a stupid question.
"Of course I remember everything. I don't have short term memory loss, Seaweed Brain."
"Oh"
We 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."
"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers—"
"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."
"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?"
"My turn now."
Iris pointed her wand and suddenly there was a spider on top of Annabeth's head. The spider slowly crawled down until it was level with her eyes. The next thing I knew there was a scream so high pitched that I was surprised that the machines in the casino did not break down. I knew my ear drums would have broken down if I had not covered my ears.
The spider was crawling on the ground and Annabeth was staring at it in shock muttering to herself. I hope Iris hadn't ended up breaking her.
Annabeth suddenly looked up at them recognition in her grey eyes.
"Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we—"
"I don't know, but we've got to leave now."
"You know, Percy, when you asked me about remembering, I thought you had hit your head somewhere. Now, I know why you asked me that question.", Iris said.
"How did you remember everything when we struggled to remember?
"I don't know."
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us.
"Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"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. 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.
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. 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 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.
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.
X-X-X-X-X
I apologise for the confusion. It seems italics in my document does not transfer to the posted chapter.