16. WE TAKE A ZEBRA TO VEGAS

Ares was waiting for us in the diner parking lot.

"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."

"You knew it was a trap," I said.

Ares gave me a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You looked good on TV."

I handed him the shield "Please don't get us involved in your antics again"

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. 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, "Better than nothing I guess…"

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."

He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to me.

Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuffed Oreos.

I said, "You know what? The Oreos even us out" I said with a grin.

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, who held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.

Great, I thought. Time to become famous again.

Oh well.

"You owe me one more thing," I told Ares, serious now. "You promised me information about my mother."

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead."

…I was like 70% sure of that already.

"See you around, kid."

He revved his Harley, then roared off down the Street.

"Hey, guys," Grover said.

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.

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 Riptide. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the zoo animals : a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing.

Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a 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?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

Oi we're in a truck you know. Keep it down.

He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes but the trucks engine roared to life and we had to sit down.

We huddled in the corner on some sacks and Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favour of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but I pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving.

I found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used a water hook 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.

Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn while I used a tiny water blade to get rid of the gum in the Zebra's mane

Grover promised 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 Oreos and nibbled on one while I feasted on them (One good thing about this world, the sweet food)..

"Hey," Annabeth said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."

"It's fine, we all got outta there alright"

"It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders."

"Arachne?"

Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."

"We're a team, remember?" I said.

She pulled apart an Oreo, handed me half. "In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?"

I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer.. "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

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."

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus."

He nodded glumly.

"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?"

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 travelled 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. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by 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 ..."

"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."

"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" I said.

"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."

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."

"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."

"Yeah," I said. "It's not luck man, 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."

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 sleep.

"How the heck?"

"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."

"Honesty is the best policy after all"

"I'm gonna turn in too" I muttered, closing my eyes.

Percy Jackson, a dark voice said. Yes, the exchange went well, I see.

Ah come on, can't I dream about like, unicorns or something?

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 recognized, answered at my shoulder. Nothing, my lord. He is as ignorant as the rest.

'THAT VOICE BELONGS TO LUKE

I remembered what the oracle had said : You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.

The hellhound- it must have been him too.

The Flying shoes are probably a trap too.

Well, let's not jump to conclusions, there's a (very slim) chance that he's being manipulated or controlled or something.'

Deception upon deception, the thing in the pit mused aloud. Excellent.

Truly, my lord, said the Luke's 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. 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.

'Of course he knows I'm here. Of course he does. Why wouldn't he know that.'

"Uh…hi?" I said, but apparently they didn't hear me.

What? Luke said, tense. You summoned him, my lord?

No. Blast his father's blood—he is too changeable, too unpredictable. The boy brought himself hither.

Impossible! Luke cried.

"Clearly not blondie."

For a weakling such as you, perhaps, the voice snarled. Then its cold power turned on me. So ... you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige.

"YOU REALLY DON'T NEED TO"

And then the scene dissolved into darkness.

I was standing in a vast throne room with black walls and bronze floors. The empty throne was made from human bones fused together. Standing at the foot of the dais was my mother, frozen in shimmering golden light, 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.

WHAT THE HECK

Ah wait, must be whatever goes for a Genjutsu in this world.

I shut my eyes and focused my chakra before flaring it.

I opened my eyes to see a figure shrouded in shadows sitting on the throne.

"Not bad" it muttered " But not good enough" he said, and I could tell that he was grinning.

I woke with a start.

Grover was shaking my shoulder. "The truck's stopped," he said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.

Easier said than done. She could just put on that cap and disappear, but Grover and I had to dive behind feed sacks.

The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.

"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving a hand in front of his 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.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said.

I was totally ready to shove Riptide up where the sun don't shine, but managed to contain myself

The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doing', 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!"

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.

SINCE WHEN CAN ANIMALS TALK TO ME?

Ignoring the fact that I was technically ripping off , I thought words to the zebra, similar to how I used to talk to Kurama when not in the mindscape.

'Can you understand me?'

'Yes my lord'

'Alright, If we're gonna get you outta here, you're going to have to wait for us to deal with these two. Until then, stay docile.'

The zebra made a gesture like a nod, before neighing softly to the other two.

There was a loud 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?"

Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.'

I quickly used Riptide to slash through the locks, but had them stay inside still.

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!"

'Indeed' the zebra's voice said in my mind.

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.

As they turned back in view of the open door, he told the zebra telepathically 'NOW'

It burst out and jumped on the two while the lion broke out and roared.

It turned to me and bowed. Thank you, lord.

Grover held up his hands and said something to the three in goat talk, like a blessing.

"Good luck," I told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.

"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said.

Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures.

"Will the animals be okay?" I asked Grover. "Considering we're in a desert.."

"Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."

"In un-satyr talk?"

"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."

"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.

"Oi!"

"Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."

I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes and grab a bite, 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'. No one was going in or out, but the glittering 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 didn't sense any threats, so I nodded, and we walked inside.

The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was a waterslide around the glass elevator, which went straight up around forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge.

"Hey!" a bellhop said "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

I stammered, "Uh….."

"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, loom 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.

Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids, but I wasn't gonna tell him otherwise, especially if that was coffee I smelled from the game bar (A guy needs his coffee)

We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."

There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me.

Well, that's not suspicious at all.

I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. Wouldn't need that anymore. 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 cold coffees, and came out feeling like amazing.

I was gonna tell the two about Luke but… I'm sure that can wait, we haven't gotten a break like this in a while.

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.

"All those stations," I told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"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.

Ah yeah, gotta deal with those shoes too.

"So, what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"

I held up our green plastic Lotus Cash cards.

"Play time," I said with a grin.

I went on the climbing wall like 10 times, snowboarded on the ski slope and played VR archery stimulators.

I saw Grover a couple of times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. 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, which was pretty impressive. I even joined in and made a little dojo, just for the nostalgia.

I was walking around when I heard a kid talk about mythomagic, a game Michael had told me about, meaning, a demigod game.

'A demigod? Over here?'

I looked around till I found the kid, who was talking with a girl who seemed like his sister.

Definitely demigods, not of one of the weaker ones either if that power stored inside was anything to go off of.

"Heya kid" I said "I heard mythomagic so I came here, you play?" I asked, taking out a couple of cards and figurines I had in my back pocket.

"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically, but his sister grabbed his shoulder and said "Nico, don't trust strangers so easily"

"B-But Bianca-" he started to protest

"No, she's right" I said, "I'm Percy Jackson, and I'm twelve years of age" I said with a smile "Not strangers anymore, eh?"

The girl-Bianca-looked annoyed but allowed us to play, under her supervision obviously.

"HOW DO SO MANY CARDS EVEN EXIST" I yelled, losing my fourth match in a row against Nico.

Bianca chuckled " I tried playing a couple of times, but he's just way too good at this"

"No kidding" I groaned, collapsing on a bed.

I saw a flash of white light for a second, and blinked away the spots.

'That was odd'

I randomly asked a question.

"What year is it?"

Bianca looked at me like I was stupid, but opened her mouth before frowning. "I…..don't remember"

I shrugged and asked another guy "Hey mister, could you tell me the date?"

"17th July 1955" he said, before going on to play a VR shooting game.

'SAY WHAT NOW?'

I reached into myself, onto the blessing of Hestia, and then sensed around for a technique similar to the time abilities I had.

I silently swore as my Sharingan activated.

All around, I could see a layer of time magic ( I don't know if it's magic, but it seems like the best definition) on every surface in sight, including the people.

He said 1955.

Meaning he was here for that long.

'How long have I been here? It felt like only a couple of hours, but was it?'

I started walking off back to the architecture game to find Annabeth but I paused, turning around to see Bianca and Nico looking at me, slightly worried.

"I can't explain, but I gotta go now. We'll meet again, I'm sure of it" I said, vowing to find these two again eventually, but for now, this place would be a safe place against monsters.

Biance nodded, and I walked off.

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."

"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?"

"Underworld. Our quest!"

"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes."

"There's people here from 1955. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever."

"So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?"

I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.

"Hey!" She screamed and hit me.

I looked into her eyes and flared my Sharingan, using my eyes as the channel to put some of my chakra into her brain and showed and image of giant spiders ( I might have also put in a couple of hoola-hooping Mr. Ds. Because why not. )

That jarred her. Her vision cleared. "Oh, my gods," she said. "How long have we—"

"No clue, 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!"

I just grabbed his arms and legs with water whips, not wanting to deal with this, and dragged him behind me.

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?"

"We're leaving," I told him.

"Such a shame," he said "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."

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.

Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was convenient I guess, but at the moment I had other problems to worry about.

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.