Both Percy and Sveta were exhausted from the torture they'd gone through. Percy, more so than Sveta. So, as soon as Annabeth and Grover had told them their suspicions about Clarisse La Rue being the lightning thief, Percy and Sveta immediately took their places on the cleanest spot of the floor. Sveta took out a blanket from their pack and covered Percy's body with it to make him feel a bit more comfortable. 

While Sveta felt tired, she wasn't nearly as exhausted as Percy was. She felt horrible for him. He's been through hell and back for the past couple of days. First being tracked down by the Furies. Almost turned to stone by Medusa. Almost killed by a chimera at the Arch. And lastly, he'd almost been suffocated to death by being encased in a golden throne.

Sveta found herself leaning against the wall of the truck, which shuddered behind her back. It came to no surprise that Percy was out within seconds. He had his head resting on Sveta's  lap, one arm around her leg, and curled up in a slight ball. Sveta found herself running her fingers through the boy's messy blonde curls. He looked so innocent while he slept. Not a look of worry at all on his face. In the meanwhile, Sveta told Annabeth everything that had happened at the amusement park.

"But why would Ares do that, though?" Annabeth asked, confused.

Sveta looked away, though she still kept running her fingers through the sleeping boy's hair. "Because he knows that losing Percy is my weakness. Losing him would definitely be the death of me."

"You like him, don't you?" Annabeth finally asked.

Sveta stared at her, alarmed. But it did get her to thinking. Sure, they've bickered with each other. Sure, they've had their disagreements. But, they've both sacrificed themselves for each other, and more than once. Well, Percy, more so than Sveta.

"I guess," she finally answered. "But you won't tell him, won't you? I don't want him finding out just yet."

Annabeth nodded, her eyes flickering over towards the sleeping boy again. He shifted slightly in his sleep, but didn't wake up. When he woke up from a nightmare, Sveta was immediately the first person he saw. He felt relaxed when he saw her familiar face. He managed to smile.

"Nightmare?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. A bad one, this time." He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"An hour or two. Not for a long time."

"Guys? Should we call the camp to give them updates?" Annabeth suggested.

"I thought you said that we don't call camp," Sveta teased.

Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "Only to give them an update on where we are and what we know."

"Roger that. I guess that it's different than calling for help."

Annabeth shot the daughter of Apollo a nasty look. If looks could kill, that look on Annabeth's face would certainly kill you.

They turned to sit down on the haystack. Sveta noticed that Grover was not with them. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Where's Grover?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "He's checking to see how far away we are from the casino. And talking to the animals."

Sveta handed a groggy-looking Percy a gold drachma. Percy stared at it in, confused.

"Toss it, Seaweed Brain," she demanded, gently nudging him in the side. Percy did as he was told, trying to ignore the blush that had crept up his cheeks as the girl gently nudged him in the ribs.

"This will never stop being weird," Percy mumbled to himself.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering," said Annabeth. At once, a faint glow of the rainbow shone on the walls. "Okay. Show me Camp Half-Blood, Chiron's office." The goddess did as she was told and showed them the camp. But, instead of Chiron standing there, it was —

"Luke?" Sveta asked, her voice full of disbelief.

"Sveta? Annabeth? Percy? Hey, guys. Are you okay?"

"Where's Chiron?" Sveta asked, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.

"He's trying to hold up the camp with his own two hands," Luke answered, sighing heavily. "Unfortunately, the news about a possible war came out, and now, the cabins are picking sides. Please tell me that you guys are getting close. Or, do you at least know who stole the bolt?"

The three of them glanced at each other.

"Yeah, we know who did it," Percy answered.

"Yeah. It's Clarisse," Annabeth added without hesitation. She was sure that it was Ares' favorite child who stole the bolt. She wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

"Wait, how do you guys know?" Luke asked, sounding curious.

"We ran into Ares along the way," Sveta answered, her tone bitter. She was still furious with what Ares had done. She almost lost Percy because of that stupid set-up he had planned for them. "Annabeth and Grover think that they managed to get it out of him."

"And who wouldn't ask, other than his favorite daughter?" Annabeth put in.

"Clarisse is the lightning thief?" said Luke in wonderment.

"Well, Chiron needs to arrest and question her," Sveta demanded. "Because we have a feeling that something bigger is coming up. And it's not just about the lightning bolt."

"Okay. I'm on it. I'll be sure to tell Chiron what you guys know. Wait, what was it like meeting Ares?"

Sveta and Percy glanced at each other, suddenly feeling very wary.

"Compared to the chimera on Monday, and Medusa on Sunday, he was nothing," Percy answered.

"Monday? I thought that the Chimera was on Sunday and Medusa was Saturday?" Sveta frowned, glaring at Percy.

"I'm sure that it was Monday," Percy argued.

"Well, think again, you idiot. Because the day we got at least a decent amount of sleep was on Sunday. No monsters attack on Sunday. It's a resting day, remember? And then you literally died in that river on Monday."

"Hold up! Since when have the two of you suddenly begun to argue like an old married couple?" Luke suddenly interrupted.

Sveta halted and suddenly found herself stumbling over her words. She was shocked that Luke could accuse such a thing. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Trust me, Luke. They've been arguing this entire trip."

"Thanks a lot, Annabeth," Percy huffed. His cheeks were dusted in pink with embarrassment. But luckily, it was dim enough for Katie to not notice. "Hey, we're currently heading to Las Vegas to the Lotus Casino to see —"

Annabeth suddenly cut him off by turning the device away from the sun so that they could no longer be in contact with the god of mischief. Percy stared, flabbergasted and confused.

"Why the hell did you —?" He began, but Annabeth cut him off, glaring furiously at the boy in front of her.

"You can't just bring up Hermes like that! He'd tell us to turn back, or worse. And that we're probably better off with the Mother of Monsters instead of him."

"Their issues really go that deep?" Percy asked, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "Do you know what happened between the two of them?"

"Not really my place to tell you his story. He'd probably kill me if I did," Sveta answered, chuckling bitterly. "That's between him and Hermes. He'll tell you the story when he's ready." 

Shortly after, the satyr came back.

"Okay, I've got an idea," he declared. "Once we get to our stop, I think that we should set these animals free."

Sveta frowned, clearly not amused with Grover's idea. The state would probably be furious with them if they knew that they were the ones who set the animals free.

"That's a bad idea," she deadpanned at once.

"Trust me. These drivers are not good drivers. These animals have been abused in their past. We really need to let them loose. I've already given them the Satyr's Blessing."

Sveta did not like that idea, but Grover was right. Animals did not need to be abused. They were just as alive as humans were.

****

They stood on the side of the road, listening to the horns honking furiously in the four-way stops. Animals were roaming about the streets.

"Really, Grover?" said Annabeth bitterly.

Grover just shrugged, looking sheepishly at the ground. "At least they're free, right? And that's a good thing. I know that nothing bad will happen to them because I gave them the Satyr's Blessing to keep them safe."

Percy decided to break the awkward silence.

"So, how are we going to find this place, then?"

Sveta glanced around herself before a lotus-shaped building caught her eye. She tugged at the wrist of Percy's sleeve. 

"Maybe it's that way?"

Percy followed the girl's gaze before grinning, embarrassed with himself.

"How come you're always a second or two ahead of me?"

They walked into the casino. Sveta was amazed by how much bigger the casino looked than it did on the outside. Sveta was very tempted to go and play one of their arcade games. Annabeth warned them to do only one thing: to not eat anything. Anything that they ate could be filled with lotus flowers.

". . . . So what, now?" Sveta asked as they continued staring in awe of how huge the place was.

"We go find Hermes," Annabeth answered in a 'duh' kind of voice.

"Okay, I'll take Percy with me. Are the two of you good going together?" Sveta asked brightly.

"Yeah," Annabeth answered, though she found herself beginning to trail off.

"And we'll meet the two of you back here later?"

"You betcha."

"Okay, Percy. Let's go," said Sveta.

She grabbed onto the boy's hand and they immediately took off, wandering around to find Hermes. Sveta figured that he would be at some poker tables. Finally, after a while of searching, they finally found Hermes. He was standing around near the bar. Of course, the god recognized the two teens at once.

"Demigods," he greeted, nodding in welcome. "Welcome."

"We were sent to find you?" Sveta greeted as they approached the trickster god.

"And you found me," said Hermes with a mischievous smirk.

Sveta took a deep breath. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time left. But we really do need your help. Ares told us that you like to hang out here."

"Let me guess. You need my help to get into the Underworld."

"Surprise," Sveta huffed under her breath.

"You're a really good guesser," Percy agreed.

"I exist beyond time, kid. Look, you're not the first people who've asked me how to get to the Underworld. And trust me, you won't be the first to walk away, feeling disappointed."

"We're friends of Luke's," Sveta tried to add, hoping to gain Hermes' trust. If she could succeed with Hephaestus, maybe she could try to persuade Hermes to let them get what they want.

Hermes sighed. He knew that he could not get out of this. He motioned for them to follow him to a quieter booth. They sat down.

"I was told to stay away from my son," said Hermes with a heavy sigh. "It's not easy for us gods and goddesses to stay away from our children. You have to know that, right? And it wasn't just awful for Luke. It was awful for everyone. It's hard for a god to feel so powerless when you can't be there to help your kids. We don't have any choice but to keep hurting each other."

He reached his hand out to Percy and touched the top of the boy's hand. A flashback seemed to come back to Percy. He gasped and yanked his hand away, out of Hermes' reach. He glared at the god in front of him. The mischievous god just smirked. He then turned to Sveta.

"Do I need to remind you, as well?"

Sveta tensed. She did not want to relive the time where she lost Thalia. She felt rage flowing through her body. Hermes tried to reach out for her hand, only for Sveta to quickly pull it away out of Hermes' reach as well. Her nostrils flared.

"I remember perfectly fine, thanks," she seethed. In a quieter tone, she added, "I don't need to be reminded. Are you going to help us, or not?"

"This is just a complete waste of time here, kids."

"And we don't have any time to waste, sir," Sveta snapped. "We have to reach the Underworld before the deadline. Surely, you must know that!"

"I'm sorry, kiddo. I'm afraid that I can't help you," the god sighed, leaning back into his chair.

Sveta looked down, sighing heavily. Without another word, she got to her feet and stalked away. In the distance, she could hear Hermes talking to Percy.

"She has the right to be angry. It's not fair. None of this is."

"Tell me about it," Percy scoffed.

Once Sveta was sure that she was a way away from the god of mischief, she scrunched her nose to make herself invisible before approaching the table Hermes and Percy continued sitting in. Being as cautious as she could, she carefully pick-pocketed Hermes' keys from his pockets before walking away, hoping that Hermes wouldn't notice. She smirked once she knew that she had succeeded.

Luckily, she had made herself appear because, a few seconds later, Percy had approached her, looking frantic.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Wasn't it just daylight not too long ago?" said Percy as he motioned to the windows outside.

"Exactly! It feels like we've already been here for only twenty minutes. But, in reality, it's only been a few days! It's already Thursday! We've already been here for days!"

"I didn't even touch a Lotus flower, Percy! I followed your rules!" Sveta whined.

"Even if you didn't even eat a Lotus flower, they must be pumping it in the air, you idiot," Percy shot back.

Sveta rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushed pink. She crossed her arms over her chest. "It'll explain why I keep forgetting about things. Using my own words against me, I see?"

"You asked for it." He paused. "Grover. We have to find him, and Annabeth," said Percy.

Sveta was even more confused.

"Who the hell is Grover?"

"You call him Goat Boy sometimes if you're really pissed at him," Percy reminded her.

"Oh," said Sveta with a giggle. She almost sounded drunk, which she hated. It reminded her of her mother. "That Goat Boy."

They continued looking around for Grover. They finally found a Satyr, but it wasn't Grover. Sveta frowned.

"How long have we really been here, Percy? And why does Grover suddenly look so old?"

"Hey, you!" said Percy. The old goat man began to run away from them, making Sveta and Percy catch up to them. "Where are Grover and Wise Girl?"

"Wise Girl?" Sveta furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Isn't her real name Annabelle or something like that?"

The Satyr told them where Grover and the girl were. They managed to find the duo playing video games, using headsets and everything. Grover was disappointed when they pulled him out from under the game.

"Grover, we really hate to say it," Percy huffed, "but we really have to go. Now!"

It took Grover some convincing, but they managed to pull him out, dragging him along with them to the garage where all of the cars were kept.

"Great. So where do you think Hermes would keep his bloody car?" Sveta muttered under her breath.

"Well, think about it," said Percy. "What would a god of messengers and tricksters drive to deliver mail?"

Sveta shot him a look. "Really?"

"Geez. I'm just trying to be helpful here," Percy grumbled.

"How is this going to work?" Sveta muttered under her breath, rubbing at her forehead as she tried to clear her mind to think.

"This quest is exciting so far, isn't it?" said Grover, whose eyes lit up, even though no one else had mentioned the quest since the casino.

Sveta turned to glare at him.

"You, sir, obviously need help. And, besides! The quest would be more on point if we were on time! And clearly, we're not."

Grover suddenly looked very hurt. His excited smile fell.

"This quest is late because of me, isn't it?"

"What? No, no, no! Not because of you. It's because of all of us for being so stupid in that casino!"

"Casino? I wanna go back into the casino!"

He tried to turn back to where they came out of, but Sveta grabbed him by the arm.

"Oh no, you're not, Goat Boy. If you go back there, you'll forget even more important things. Like this quest!"

"Guys? I think that I found the car!" Annabeth called.

"Wait, how did you find that car whenever we've been standing here?" Sveta asked as they approached the girl.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"While the two of you had been bickering, Percy and I were actually being useful. So, you're welcome."

"Wait, how do you know that it's Hermes' car?"

"Because of this, dummy."

Annabeth held up an envelope that read: To the Dumb Kids. PS: Good luck.

Annabeth read aloud the note, which explained where everything was kept.

"I suppose that he knew that he was going to be pick-pocketed one way or another," said Sveta with a smirk.

"Wait, you pick-pocketed the god of thieves?" Percy asked, his voice full of disbelief.

Sveta held up the keys, looking quite proud of herself.

"This is one of the many pros of being a daughter of Apollo. You can turn invisible when you want to and can do more sneaky things like this."

She smiled before going to unlock the car. As she did, Annabeth spoke, sounding nervous.

"Okay. . . . but one of us is gonna have to drive us onto the road."

"It's not going to be safe for me," said Sveta quickly.

Annabeth glared. "It's not going to be safe for anyone, Sveta." 

They turned to face Grover, who was staring nonchalantly into space.

"Oh, not me. I'm still feeling a little bit loopy. Get what I mean?"

"Of course," Sveta muttered under her breath. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I did kill a Minotaur on my first try, didn't I?" Percy finally offered. "How hard can this be?"

****

A little too hard. 

It took quite a few nasty, sharp jerks of the car before carefully going onto the road. Once things had gotten a bit calmer, Percy steered gently before going onto the sharp turn. The ride was smooth, before Percy lost track and kept smiling triumphantly at Sveta. The daughter of Apollo gasped when they ran into the electric posters.

When they got to the driveway and began to pull out, it felt as though they were teleporting to their destination. They soon reached Santa Monica. It was pouring rain and dark by the time they got there. They stared at each other, stunned at what had just happened. Finally, Percy was the first to speak.

"Where are we?"

"It would probably be best if we turned out the lights," Sveta suggested.

Percy did as she suggested and they carefully got out of the car. The waves crashed almost violently against the shore because of the harsh wind that rolled through the air.

Poseidon must be angry, Sveta couldn't help but think to herself.

Within seconds, they were soaked to the skin. Percy, unsurprisingly, was dry. Grover finally spoke up.

"Funny, how I forgot a lot more things than you guys, but. . . . I finally remember you. I remember who you guys are." The three of them waited for Grover to continue. He had the biggest smile on his face. "You're all my best friends!"

Sveta smiled, relieved that Grover had finally remembered who he was.  Percy was silent, staring out into the sea. His stomach curled with butterflies. He was finally going to meet his dad for the first time in years.

"Percy?" Sveta asked, noticing that he wasn't going anywhere. She gently took his hand, and he immediately laced his fingers in hers. He didn't face her, though. He still stared thoughtfully out into the sea.

"What do I say to him?" he finally asked.

Sveta gave his hand a gentle squeeze. He turned to stare into her beautiful blue eyes, which were flecked with gold.

"You'll know when you get there," she reassured him. "I promise. It's always how it works for me when I'm talking to my dad."

Percy turned and smiled at the girl. She squeezed his hand before giving him a hug. He hugged her back this time, and didn't feel as awkward about it as he had been on the Mississippi River's docks.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Be safe, Perce. We'll be waiting for you right here. Don't worry, we won't go anywhere."

Percy smiled. "Don't worry, Sveta. I'm always safe in the sea."

And with that, he turned, and walked straight into the murky waters of the ocean.