ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇʟᴠᴇ : ᴡʜᴇɴ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴛᴜʀɴ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀɴ ᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴀʀʀɪᴇᴅ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇ?

Wow, this truck is smellier than I thought.

Percy, Grover and I are on our way to Las Vegas to meet Hermes. I'm sitting next to Percy on a bench. Grover opens a window to get some light in. I'm about to try to summon camp.

"Did that help?" Grover yells.

"Guess we're about to find out," I reply. "Can you see where we are?" Grover peaks his head out of the small window on the top of the vehicle. He looks around and pokes his head back inside the truck.

"We're almost there." I look down at the object in my hand as Percy gets up from the floor, sitting right next to me on the bench. I try to align the shimmering light with the truck wall to get a signal. It works.

"There. I've got a signal. Toss it, blondie," I order. He tosses the drachma into the light.

"Okay, this will never stop being weird," Percy mumbles, looking down at his thumbs.

"Well, you want the gods' attention, you gotta pay for it. Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering," I chant, looking at the reflected light. The goddess accepts my offer, thankfully. "Okay, show me Camp Half-Blood. Chiron's office." The light switches to a vision of a camper turned around. He turns around.

"Luke?" I express, looking extremely confused.

"Serena? Percy? Are you okay?" Luke questions.

"Yeah, we're fine. Where's Chiron?" I lie. We're not fine. We were nearly turned into statues, made a monster's lunch, threatened by Ares, and now we're traveling with a smelly group of zebras? I hate my life.

"Chiron's holding camp together with both hands. Everyone thinks we're going to war, so the cabins are taking sides," Luke responds. I space out and picture Izzy and Savanna choosing which cabins to hate. It feels stressful, especially since everyone is counting on Percy to stop this war. Even I am counting and trusting him. I snap back into reality when I hear my best friend's name escaping Luke's mouth.

"His favorite daughter. Clarisse is the lightning thief." I snap my head to Luke and glare at him. I won't say anything, but he knows what I would say and do. If he was in the room right now, I would definitely beat him up.

Clarisse took me in when the Aphrodite kids wouldn't accept me. She invited me to the cabin and forced her half-siblings to leave me alone. She is my wonderful best friend. She can't be the lightning thief. No, she can't be. Right?

"Well, compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse," Percy states.

"Medusa was Saturday," I mutter, still bothered by the previous conversation.

"I thought Sunday."

"No monsters on Sunday. Monday you basically died in the river," I explain.

"Right. So Medusa on Saturday."

"Guys, what is this?" Luke expresses, looking at us with a tiny smirk on his face.

"Huh?" I grumble.

"When did you two turn into an old married couple?" Luke remarks. I freeze. Oh! Yeah, no thanks.

"Not to change the subject, but I'm gonna..." Percy mutters. "We could use your advice on something. We're headed to Las Vegas to find you dad-" I quickly shift the pieces, the signal disconnecting and Luke disappearing.

"What was that about?" Percy asks, folding his arms.

"Uh, apparently you can't ask Luke about his dad or something. I heard Clarisse say it once," I respond, thinking about how Clarisse is the thief.

"Well, now I certainly can't," Percy groans. I roll my eyes as he smiles at me.

"If you tell him we're gonna see Hermes, he's gonna try to talk us out of it, you know?" I explain.

"They don't get along?" Percy wonders.

"Nope. Not at all." Grover steps toward us.

"Okay, got some updates. The men driving this truck are not nice people," Grover updates. "Traffickers."

"Uh, listen, we can try out best to get these zebras and lions and cows and chickens or whatever outta here," I reply, picking at the ring on my finger.

"Oh, no no no. They've already got a plan to get themselves out. And us, too. I mean, some of these guys, so smart. They were really only missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked," Grover says, grinning.

"What's that?" Percy questions.

"Thumbs," Grover answers. "But we're here now. So...all good."

"And once those cages are opened, they got a plan from there?" I wonder.

"Yeah, really elegant. I mean, these guys, they're like artists."

~

I peer at the group of wild animals running around Las Vegas. Cars are honking at the animals. Some people take videos of them.

"This seems dangerous," Percy remarks.

"Oh. They'll be totally fine. I gave them a Satyr's blessing so they'll be able to reach the wilderness safely," Grover replies, smiling innocently at the animals.

"I meant for the people." I stifle a laugh as I see a camel sticking its head into a car window.

"Oh, them," Grover mumbles. "Well, I mean...I'm sure they'll...yeah I don't know. But the animals are all set."

"Okay, come on before the police catch us," I remind, looking for the hotel and casino we will find Hermes at.

"So, how do we know which hotel is the Lotus?" Percy questions

"Well, it might possibly be the one with the stupidly big lotus blossom on it," I reply, pointing at a building. Percy grunts.

"You were like two seconds ahead of me," Percy starts. "Seriously. Sometimes, it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. Can we agree to just try it, maybe?"

"Nah, I think I'm good," I say. Percy huffs as we approach the hotel.

~

We walk into the extravagant hotel and casino. Bright lights engulf us as we see a glance of people gambling and eating out of bags. Levitating by Dua Lipa plays. My heart practically jumps for joy.

"Oh my gods, is that Dua Lipa?" I exclaim. Honestly, she's not my favorite. I love ENHYPEN, New Jeans, Dua Lipa, and ITZY. There are more, but hearing any music after not hearing them in 4 months feels life-changing. Percy notices my extreme happiness and chuckles.

"I know we're supposed to be saving the world, but would it be unprofessional if we just hung out here for a bit?" Percy wonders aloud.

"Damn, I wish. This shit feels like a fever dream," I mutter. Is this what crack feels like? "Anyway, nah, probably not. We should get inside, find Hermes, and get out with a way to get to the Underworld."

"I was kidding."

"No you weren't."

Grover huffs, muttering something under his breath.

"Wait, hang on," Grover remarks, looking around.

"What?" Percy questions.

"Your mom told you all the stories. Did she read you the Odyssey?" Grover asks, turning to look at the blond boy.

"The graphic novel." I purse my lips.

"Odysseus lands on a beach," Grover explains. "There's these guys who've forgotten where they came from, forgot everything that was important to them, and they got that way because they ate..."

"The lotus flower," Percy finishes. The three of us look up at the trees and flowers, decorating the hotel. Gods, humans can be so oblivious.

"If we go in there and then forget everything, that would be bad on a number of levels," Grover says.

"But if Hermes is in there, though, then what choice do we have? What do you think, Pretty Girl?" Percy expresses, turning to face me. The nickname catches me off guard as my heart stops beating.

"Uh, just don't eat anything," I remark, looking directly at Grover. We start to walk in as the goat boy realizes.

"Wait, why were you looking at me when you said that?" Grover inquires as Percy and I hold in a laugh.

We walk through crowds of people gambling, drinking, and eating what I assume are lotus flowers. People cheer as they win games of poker, while others groan and mumble as they lose to their opponent.

"This place is a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. He could be anywhere," Percy says, looking around curiously.

"Let's split up," I respond. Percy looks at me like I have 5 heads.

"I thought we didn't do that anymore. Also, you guys have seen him before, but I haven't. So I'm not gonna be much help alone," Percy rants. I don't think the dummy knows that I have only seen Hermes's back while talking to Chiron, but he doesn't need to know that! I turn my head to face Grover.

"Grover. Go check that side of the floor," I remark, pointing to a staircase. "I'll take Percy this way. One way or the other, we meet back in the lobby in, like, 20 minutes or so." Grover nods his head.

"What do I say to him if I find him first?" Grover asks, hesitating.

"Uh, I don't know. Do some of that manipulating stuff on him like you did to Ares and bring him down here. See you soon," I reply. I grab Percy's hand and drag him in the opposite direction, our search for the god starting.

𝔄/𝔫 - 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔱𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔩𝔬𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔲𝔭𝔩𝔬𝔞𝔡...! 𝔄𝔫𝔶𝔴𝔞𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔟𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔦𝔰 𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔰𝔬𝔬𝔫, 𝔟𝔲𝔱 ℑ'𝔩𝔩 𝔡𝔬 𝔞𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔟𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔢 ℑ 𝔴𝔞𝔰𝔫𝔱 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔫 𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔞 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔓𝔢𝔯𝔠𝔶 𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬𝔤𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔫𝔬𝔴...𝔡𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔨𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔪𝔢 😻

𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫𝔨𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔦𝔫𝔤 🫶