chapter VIII

🌷 Daphne awoke from her dream with a start, her mind racing with more questions than she'd had before. She winced at the heat of the truck, feeling her hair making her back sweat. Then, she noticed something - the plait in her hair that Aphrodite had done had stayed in tact. Somehow, she was wearing one of the ribbons that the goddess had in her own hair.

Grover was shaking her shoulder, leaving no time to ponder the love goddess' gift. "The truck's stopped," he whispered. We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Are we there yet?" Daphne asked groggily, pushing herself up. Her back and legs were killing her - the lumpy turnips weren't as comfortable as she thought.

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed. Easy for her to say. She just slipped on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover, Percy and Daphne had to dive behind feed sacks and hope they looked enough like turnips. The trailer doors creaked open and sunlight and heat poured in.

"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.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man rolled his dirty eyes.

Next to her under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous. Percy looked at him and Daphne in a new sense of fear; he'd never seen her so angry. Suddenly he could picture her taking on the pack of hellhounds, something which seemed unimaginable before.

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!"

There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.

The trucker inside with them yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?" Daphne was starting to get really uncomfortable under the weight of the turnips.

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.

A second later, Annabeth appeared next to them. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. "This transport business can't be legal." she breathed.

"No kidding," Grover grimaced. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers."

"We've got to free them." Daphne begged. "We can't just - just let this happen."

They looked to Percy, waiting for his lead. He blinked at the sudden attention, like he didn't expect them to turn to him for the answers over Annabeth. But she was looking at him too. Daphnes eyes were imploring him to think of something, and soon.

Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but they knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. Quickly, Percy grabbed his sword which had produced the small light last night and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.

The zebra burst out and did something she didn't expect. It turned to Percy and bowed.

Daphne blinked. Oh, okay then. Percy is supreme lord of the zebras. Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing.

Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him
and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. They rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. Luckily for them, the disgusting animal traffickers hadn't noticed them in the truck.

Great. We've just released a zebra in Las Vegas, Daphne thought. She could just imagine the cover of tomorrows newspaper:

TEENAGE GANG STRIKES AGAIN!
This time, they attack the brilliant streets of Vegas. Somehow, famed vigilante and gang leader Percy Jackson has spread his mind control abilities to a new level: animals. As well as recruiting his fellow teenagers into his gang, he has released zoo animals from a cage, endangering the entire city! These criminals MUST be stopped. Here are their pictures now:

Daphne imagined a picture of herself covered in Zebra poo and dirt plastered on the front cover of the magazine and shuddered.

Maurice and Eddie ran after the zebra, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"

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

"The other animals first," Grover insisted. Percy followed his lead instantly, cutting the locks with his sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.

"Good luck," Percy told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets, and Daphne beamed brighter than she had in a while. She wouldn't be upset if the lion took a bite out of Maurice or Eddie.

Some of the 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?" Percy asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all-"

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

"A whatty?" Daphne frowned.

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he explained. "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?" Percy frowned.

"It only works on wild animals."

"Oh. So it would only affect Percy?" Annabeth reasoned.

"Hey!" he protested.

"She's just kidding," Daphne grinned. "You should've seen her on the streets. More rabid than you'd expect. Come on, let's get out of this filthy truck."

They stumbled out into the desert afternoon, Annabeth mumbling something about not being rabid. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and they must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay them too much attention. The image of the newspaper poofed away in Daphne's mind.

They walked the streets, passing apparently famous places like the Monte Carlo and the MGM. They passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica but still made Percy stare longingly at it like he was homesick.

Daphne wasn't sure what they 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.

To the entrance of the underworld, her mind reminded her. Where your soul will probably be reclaimed by Hades - you know, because you weren't supposed to live.

Shut up, she told her mind. Let me enjoy living for a few more days, okay?

The heat was messing with their minds, especially Daphnes. She felt like she was drooping like a dandelion in the humidity. At some point they must have taken a wrong turn, because they found themselves staring up at a dead end, standing in front of a place called '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, she recognised immediately. Even without the sign, she would've known the scent of the flower, but she didn't know why.

The doorman smiled down at them. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

"We'd love to." Percy blurted out. Daphne looked at him with apprehension, but followed behind him when he started walking through the doors. She didn't know a lot about Vegas, but letting four twelve year old kids into a casino didn't seem legal.

"Are you sure about this?" she whispered to him as they were led in.

"Trust me," he whispered back, which didn't convince her at all.

Inside, they all took one look around and it was enough to convince Daphne to forget all about her previous fear.

"Woah," Grover whispered, taking in the lobby.

The whole lobby was a giant game room, but nothing like Daphne had ever seen. There were no slot-machines or Pac-Man games. 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. Some of the trays were littered with miniature edible lotus flowers, and her mouth watered at the scent they carried.

"Hey!" a bellhop grinned brightly at them. At least, Daphne guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. They sort of reminded her of the clothes sold at the Waterpark "Welcome to the Lotus Casino! Here's your room key."

"Um, but..." Percy was so busy observing the hotel, he hadn't expected how they'd pay to be allowed to breathe inside of it.

"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 LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed them each a green plastic credit card, and Daphne took hers hungrily.

A bath? her heart soared. Washing her hair with actual soap sounded heavenly right now.

Daphne knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought they were some millionaire's kids, even though they looked more like street rats from Oliver Twist. "How much is on here?" Percy wondered.

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."

Annabeth frowned. "That's...weird."

"Oh, who cares?" Daphne grinned, staring at her card like it was worth millions in cash. "Let's go check out our room."

They took the elevator upstairs, the sensation of floating enough to make Daphne giddy. Their room was a suite with four 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.

Daphne wrinkled her nose at it. She couldn't tell how it was legal, let alone moral. But the view made her catch her breath and forget that she was ever disgusted. It was beautiful, though she doubted any of them would ever find time to look at the view what with the lobby downstairs.

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

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

"I'm in love." Daphne giggled, throwing her arms up. "Absolutely in love! Gods, let's never leave."

The first thing she did was shower. She ran into the bathroom and locked the door, letting the water droplets fall over her face as though she was singing into the rain. It soothed away all of the dirt, the grime, the gold monster dust and blood. Somehow, the shower had all the perfect products to deal with her curly hair. It was impossible to brush or untangle, but some strawberry scented conditioner did it perfectly. Aphrodite's plait with the little ribbon had stayed tied up, but cooperated with her hair as it did. She left the shower feeling exfoliated and finally clean. Somehow the clothes on the racks were the prettiest she'd seen and fit her perfectly. It was weird for a few moments before she pushed it to the back of her mind - why would that matter?

She drank about two gallons of fresh water and ate three bags of chips. They were followed by a slice of Victorian sponge cake and a lovely bowl of strawberries. Something nagged at the back of her mind as she replenished herself after years on the streets. She'd had a dream or something ... she needed to talk to her friends. But she was sure it could wait.

She came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Percy came out of his own room once Daphne had settled herself to lay on the floor, stretching out like a cat. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.

"All those stations," Percy told her, marvelling as he came out of his room holding a large coke, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"It's interesting." Annabeth defended herself.

"To grandmas, maybe." Daphne snorted, popping another strawberry in her mouth.

"I feel good," Grover sighed in content. "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.

"So what now?" Annabeth asked, her grey eyes almost reaching the colour of snow, glowing with possibilities. "Do we sleep?"

Grover and Percy looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards.
"Play time," Percy grinned.

Daphne beamed. She didn't want to sleep in case the nightmares followed her here and ruined her time...but what nightmares? She couldn't really remember. It was just a nagging feeling at the back of her mind right now. All she could see were the plastic cash cards.

When they reached the lobby again, it was like she'd arrived alone. Daphne bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide (but didn't really enjoy it because it reminded her of Waterland), avoided the artificial ski slope though she couldn't remember why.

She saw Percy playing virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter and Grover going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing-where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. Every once in a while, she caught glimpses of 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. Daphne tried it once but got too bored, so she just left Annabeth to it.

Every time she promised herself to go and get some sleep, she found more games to indulge in. For some reason, they had life sized fruit picking simulators and a game called 'Cooking Mama'. Daphne had never tried baking before, but according to this game, she had a real knack for it. The only thing which could've possibly drawn her away from it would've been -

- a roller skating rink. Daphne didn't remember when she'd put the skates on, but soon enough she was slipping over on the rink and clinging to the side like it was a lifeline. She couldn't count the amount of times her knees had hit the ground, but they didn't feel bruised at all.

Soon enough, it had to get boring. After a few hundred go-karting games and another couple of goes on the bungee jumping, Daphne was idly wandering around in a happy dizzy daze, looking for what to do next. She passed her friends a couple of times but didn't think to speak to them at all. What would they even talk about? Daphne had no clue.

And then she saw it.

It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Tall, regal, full to the brim with cute little plushies.

A claw machine.

Which one would she try first? There was a whole wall of them with different cute animals and little plastic pieces of tat stuffed inside. It had been one of her biggest dreams to win something in one of the machines. She started making her way over, giggling about the possible stuff she would wi-

Someone rammed straight into her middle. Daphne staggered back, though it was hard to keep her place because she was still on her skates. Oops.

"Hey!" she frowned, the lotus spell broken for a second for her to feel annoyance at the person who interrupted her bliss. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry!" squeaked a little boy. He had Italian features and dark circles beneath his eyes, scrambling to stand up. "I'm sorry! I just - well, I was going to the Mythomagic stand an-"

Daphne brushed past him, heading straight for the claw machines. What did she care about a little scrawny kid? It wasn't like she'd ever see him again.

She caught herself. That wasn't how she usually acted. Ever. Daphne was ... kind. She wasn't mean and abrasive. She wasn't cold and pushy, especially to people who were already knocked down.

She turned and opened her mouth as if she was about to apologise, but the little boy was gone. And as she turned back to the claw machines, her memory was wiped from ever seeing his cute little face.

What was she thinking about, again?

Oh, yeah. Claw machine!

She skated over and swiped her plastic green card, the only thing she had been aware of her whole time in the casino. Winning would be a piece of cake, right?

"This thing is rigged!" she shouted, hitting the claw machine until she felt her hands start to bruise. "Rigged piece of -"

She swore loud enough for a couple of people to throw her dirty looks, even through their charmed states. But that didn't stop Daphne - she kept trying and trying and trying and ...

"Almost there..." she whispered, her tongue poked between her lips as she squinted at the claw hand. She was sure her posture was terrible, but she didn't care. "Just a bit...more..."

"Daphne!" Percy was suddenly beside her, making her loose concentration on the game. Her claw dropped the cutest little bunny plushie she'd ever seen and she gaped at the sight, absolutely heartbroken. Percy had his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. "We - were - looking - for -"

"What is wrong with you?!" Daphne screamed at him, poking her finger so hard in his chest that he staggered back. "I almost had it, I was so close! So close!"

"What?" Percy asked in confusion before realising what she was doing. "Oh. Daphne, listen, we need to leave-"

"What?" she frowned at him. "Are you as stupid as you look? Leave? We just got here. Now go away, I'm busy-"

She tried to turn back to the game, but Percy caught her arm. She turned to him with a withering glare, venom practically spitting from her eyes. "Daphne, listen! We're in trouble-"

"You're in trouble if you don't let me get my lambie-"

"The quest!" he yelled. Daphne finally took her eyes off of the claw machine. "Daph, the quest! With the master bolt! Annabeth and Grover are getting stuff from the rooms now, but I've been looking for you for ages."

"The...bolt?" she said, unconvinced. Her head was slowly straying back to the game.

"Yes, the - are you even listening?"

No answer.

"Hey!" Daphne screamed as Percy grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the claw machine. She shouted and hit him, but nobody turned away from their games to care. "Get off me, Bubble Brain-"

He was almost positive she would've unsheathed her knife and stabbed him if he hadn't grabbed hold her face and pulled it towards his. He stared deep into her eyes and said, "Medusa. Horrifying Medusa. Slithery, venomous snakes."

She blinked, the dreamy glaze over her eyes seeping away. Her mouth made a small 'o' of terror, her eyes burning with horror. "Oh my gods. How long-"

"I don't know. But we have to go."

Daphne looked back at the claw machine longingly.

"Daphne?" Percy asked, unconvinced that she wouldn't snap back into her haze.

"Yes?" she turned back to him. "Oh, yes, I'm...I'm coming."

She stood still.

Daphne chewed on her bottom lip. "You might want to grab hold of me."

"Good idea," Percy replied, too panicked to be shy about grabbing onto her hand and pulling her through the casino. It felt like an IKEA showroom the way the pathways were winding and twisting. The games kept flashing, some so alluring that Percy had to yank Daphne away from them one or two times.

After what seemed like an eternity, they found Annabeth and Grover. It seemed like she was pulling him away from the crazy hunter shooting game again.

Grover turned to them with the plastic gun. "Pew pew!"

"I tried pulling him away from it," Annabeth said, desperately trying to grab a hold of Grover again. "But he just unsnapped and ran towards it again - oh, good, you found Daphne - I grabbed the backpack from the room, and - ow!"

"Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!" Grover elbowed Annabeth in the nose when he turned the plastic gun on her and started clicking, as if she was just another image from the screen.

Daphne and Percy exchanged a look and together took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. 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 them. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We're leaving," Percy snapped at him.

"Such a shame," he said, and Daphne got the feeling that he really meant it, that they'd be breaking his
heart if they went. She should stay... "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out the cards, and Daphne wanted one. She longed to take it but knew that if she did, she'd never leave. She'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon forget Luke and Thalia and Grover and Percy and Annabeth and the quest, and maybe even her own name.

Still, Daphne and Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back their arms and said, "No, thanks."

They walked toward the door, and as they did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. Daphne thought about the room upstairs. They could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once... it had been so long since she was comfortable...

Then they burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day they'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. Daphne shuddered, taking a deep breath of fresh air after - how long?

She ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when they went in. Daphne quickly realised that she didn't know what the date had actually been until Annabeth spoke, her bottom lip trembling.

"June twentieth," she whispered in horror. "We went from the fifteenth to the twentieth."

They had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.

They had only one day left until the summer solstice.

One day to complete the quest.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆
🌷🪷🌊

     ʚɞ Daphne really said FUCK THEM KIDS

I think this is one of my favourite chapters so I couldn't WAIT to release it - gonna have to start releasing them slower now but all chapters for this part of the book are finished ;) tell me when u want the next one released !!