CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - WE TAKE THE ULTIMATE VEGAS VACATION

Las Vegas was weird.

Movies always depicted the city as full of light and color and fun. But when we were walking through the streets, passing casinos and hotels and monumental replicates, the only word I could come up with, was underwhelming.

The air was hot and humid, which didn't bother me. Growing up in Southern California, and then Arizona, I welcomed the heat. The sun beat down on the four of us with merciless continuity. After five minutes, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were drenched in sweat.

Percy looked at me in disbelief. "How are you not cooking?"

I looked down at my body. I hadn't even noticed that I wasn't sweating. In fact, the sun felt wonderful, like I was being wrapped in a warm blanket.

"It must be an Apollo thing," I mumbled. "The sun doesn't affect me like it does you guys. Remember in Denver? I was cold. I guess I can handle extreme heat. Maybe that's why I love the desert so much."

"It's a possibility," Annabeth chimed in. "In the summer, even with the climate control around the camp, everyone complains about the heat except for your half-siblings. It's like they embrace the sun."

"Wonderful, so when winter comes, we'll all be hibernating," I joked. Grover laughed along with me, but Percy and Annabeth just looked at me with disapproving expressions adorning their faces.

"Of all the people in the world, you had to be my best friend," Percy said, shaking his head. But he was smiling as he said it.

I bumped his shoulder with my own. "You didn't have much of a choice there, Jackson. Face it, you're stuck with me."

He just shrugged.

"Well, Av, as much as you like the heat, the rest of us need to find someplace with air conditioning."

*

As we walked, we passed the monuments that most people think of when Vegas comes to mind. Pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, to name a few. Percy looked at the copper lady with a sad expression on his face.

He would've stood there all day, wallowing in his homesickness, but I gently grabbed his elbow and pulled him along, the two of us falling in line behind Annabeth and Grover.

After another forty-five minutes of stumbling around, avoiding people whenever we could (which is not very easy in a city as densely populated as Vegas), we ended up at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. This was a problem. The Lotus Casino wasn't a friendly place. Why? I had no idea. I just knew that something was off. But the doors were open and spilling out blasts of flowery air-conditioning, and the doorman was smiling down at the four of us.

"Hey, kids," the doorman said. "You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

Percy hesitated. He looked at the three of us in turn, trying to gage our reactions. When he turned to me, I shrugged, letting him know that I couldn't remember everything, but then I shook my head, telling him that I didn't trust the situation.

He nodded, signaling that he understood, and then turned back to the doorman and said, "We'd love to come in, thank you."

As soon as we stepped inside, Grover said, "Whoa."

Whoa, indeed. The entire lobby was a game room. And not like a movie theater game room. I mean, there was an indoor waterslide, a rock-climbing wall (no lava included), and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality games with laser guns. Every video game you could imagine, each the size of a widescreen TV.

With a setup like that, I expected there to be thousands of kids running around. But I could only see a few. That caused my internal danger-radar to spike. Why wouldn't there be a line out the door for a place like this?

"Hey!" A voice said. A bellhop ran up to us and handed Percy a golden key. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

Percy looked flabbergasted. "Um, but..." He stammered.

"No, no," the bellhop 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 LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed each of us a green piece of plastic the size of a credit card. It had LOTUSCASH written on the front of it in gold.

I turned it over in my hand as Percy asked, "How much is on here?"

The bellhop frowned, like he didn't understand the question. "What do you mean?"

"When does it run out of cash? What's the limit?" I explained.

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

I shared a confused look with Annabeth, but Grover and Percy were already making their way to the elevator, leaving us little choice but to follow them.

The suite was amazing. It had four separate bedrooms, each with a king-sized water bed and en-suite bathroom. There was a front living space, full chef's kitchen, and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and all sorts of goodies. A big-screen television with its own satellite faced four giant, squashy armchairs, big enough to curl up in and still have room left-over. The balcony had a hot tub with turbo-jets, and a shooting range, with clay pigeons and a shotgun.

The view from the balcony was breathtaking. The desert stretched out for miles in every direction, and you could see the rest of the Strip to the south. The sun was setting, changing the clouds to vibrant shades of pink, purple, and gold. I had forgotten how much I missed the desert sunsets.

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth breathed out. "This place is..."

"Phenomenal," I said.

"Sweet," Grover chimed in. "Absolutely sweet."

We all went into our respective rooms. I fished through the closet. There were clothes in there, which were both my size and style. I put my magic purse inside my backpack that Naomi gave me, and then flung it onto my bed and walked into the bathroom, which had one of those five-nozzle showers.

Cranking the hot water up as far as I could without it giving me burns, I scrubbed a week's worth of grime off of my body, and lathered my thick, brown hair up with the best smelling coconut shampoo I had ever used. The hot water loosened all of the knots in my shoulders that had accumulated over the past few days.

After the shower, I changed clothes, braided my hair, and walked out of my room. Annabeth and Grover were already out in the living space, engulfed in the armchairs.

I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a Dr. Pepper and a bag of pita chips. Grover was eating potato chips like pinochle cards, and Annabeth was channel surfing on the TV.

"Try the science channel," I said. "Or maybe there's a baseball game on."

"How about National Geographic?" She countered. I shrugged, which she took as a yes, and settled back in her chair, turning the volume up on a program about Ancient Greek civilizations. Go figure.

Percy came out of his room, his hair still wet from his shower. He, too, had changed clothes, and there was a bright, content smile on his face.

The smile faltered a bit when he saw what was playing on the television. "All those channels," he said to Annabeth, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

She shrugged. "It's interesting."

"C'mon, Percy," I teased. "Pull up a chair. You might learn something."

He rolled his eyes at me and stole a pita chip from my bag.

"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."

As if reacting to his emotions, the winged shoes on his hooves activated and lifted him out of his chair.

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

"Oh, I'm all for that idea," I said, raising my hand.

Percy and Grover shared a look, and then grinned at the same time, which was kind of creepy. They held up their LotusCash cards in sync. "Play time."

*

I was no stranger to amusement parks. Having grown up just an hour away from Anaheim, I would go to Disneyland whenever I possibly could. But the Lotus Casino was a whole other level of fun.

When we hit the lobby, the four of us branched out from each other. Grover game-hopped, but he kept going back to the reverse-hunter game—where the deer have the guns. I thought about how my dad would like that game, since he was an avid hunter. I was never a fan of it, but he always managed to settle me somewhat, assuring me that he never hunted for sport, only for fresh food.

Percy was a kid in a candy store. He bounced from ride to ride, bungee-jumping and going down the waterslide. He was soaking up as much fun as he possibly could. When he came down the waterslide, I was alarmed that he hadn't gotten wet. I quickly looked around to see if anyone noticed that a kid was perfectly dry after coming out of an exit pool, but everyone else in the lobby was too caught up in what they were doing to pay attention.

Annabeth was in the brain-games section, which was practically abandoned. She liked this virtual architecture game, where you could build your own city.

I walked around the lobby, just browsing. I didn't really find any games that I really wanted to play. I saw an archery range towards the back, but the targets were too close for my liking. There was no way I was going to do the climbing wall or the bungee-jump.

I mostly people-watched. There were some odd characters in this casino. I thought maybe there was a decade's convention, because I saw people in clothes from all sorts of time-periods. There was a flapper from the 1920's. A man dressed as a 1950's mobster. Hippies from the '70's.

Nothing really bothered me too much, until I saw the boy.

I was walking along the walls of the lobby when a little kid, maybe about eight or nine, raced past me, bumping into my hip. He had black, fluffy hair, and dark olive skin. His eyes were full of excitement, and he was laughing heartily. I almost dismissed it, but then a girl who looked just like the boy, a few years older maybe, ran after the boy, yelling, "Not so fast, Nico!"

I stopped in my tracks. I felt like someone poured ice-water down my shirt. My breathing hitched. Nico, as in Nico?

"Oh, gods," I whispered. Memories flooded back in my brain. I knew where we were. And it wasn't good. "I have to find Percy."

It wasn't easy. The lobby was a big place. But I finally spotted him, talking to a very annoyed middle-aged guy eating a plate of nachos. I ran towards him, and grabbed his elbow, ripping him away from his conversation.

"Avalon!" He said, when he finally figured out it was me. "We're in trouble. This place—"

"Is a trap," I finished for him. "How long have we been here?"

"It felt like hours," he said.

I ran a hand through my hair, untangling my braid in the process. "We need to leave. Where're the others?" I demanded.

Percy grabbed my hand and pulled me through the lobby. We found Annabeth still building her city.

"Come on," Percy told her. "We've got to get out of here."

No response.

I shook her shoulder. "Annabeth, wake up!"

She looked at the two of us, her face scrunched up in annoyance. "What?"

"We need to leave," Percy said.

"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers—"

"This place is a trap, Annabeth!" I hissed.

But I might as well have been shouting at a brick wall. She didn't respond until Percy 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," Percy said. "Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever."

"So?" She asked, her eyes cloudy and droopy. "Can you imagine a better place?"

Percy huffed in exasperation, and yanked her wrist from the game.

"Hey!" Annabeth shouted and moved to smack him, but I reached up and caught her arm before she could, surprising both her and Percy.

I looked her in the eyes, and said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders."

Annabeth's face went slack. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, they were clear. "Oh my gods," she whispered. "How long have we—"

"I don't know," Percy said, "but we've got to find Grover."

We raced through the lobby, searching for our hooved friend. Annabeth was the one to see him first. He was still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.

"Grover!" we all shouted.

"Die, human!" he yelled. "Die, silly polluting nasty person!"

"Grover!"

He turned his plastic rifle on Percy and pulled the trigger, like he was just another image on a screen.

The three of us shared a look, and then tackled Grover. Annabeth and I took his arms, while Percy grabbed his legs. Together, we carried him away from the game. His flying shoes sprouted wings and tried to drag him back to the screen, as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"

The same bellhop from before ran up to us. "Well, now!" He said, that smile still plastered on his face. "Are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We're leaving," Percy said.

The bellhops smile fell. "That's a shame," he said, sadly. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out four silver and blue cards, and I saw Percy falter. His mind was warring with his body.

Grover reached for a card, but I yanked his hand back. "Thanks, but no thanks," I said.

We walked to the doors, Grover still putting up a fight. The closer we got to the exit, the more intoxicating the smells and sounds became.

We burst into the Vegas heat, and the warmth instantly detoxified my body. I took a long, deep breath, reveling in the summer hotness.

My backpack was on my shoulders once again, which I was happy about, since I hadn't even thought about my bow when we were leaving. I would have been very upset if my favorite weapon was lost in that monster hotel. Ares's backpack adorned Percy's shoulders as well, which he was not happy about. At least we were still clean and still wearing the fresh clothes we got from the hotel.

I looked up at the sky. Something was majorly wrong. It looked like monsoon weather, the skies almost black, lighting up every few seconds with bolts of lightning.

Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand and looked at the headlines.

"How long?" I asked, although I already knew the answer to that.

He swallowed, and looked up at the three of us. His voice cracked with fear as he said, "Five days. Tomorrow is the solstice."

We only had one day left to complete our quest.