The war god was waiting for them in the diner parking lot.

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

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

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

"Why thank you." Sophie said sarcastically "Although next time I think we need to go over the script a bit more."

Percy shoved his shield at him. "You're a jerk."

Annabeth and Grover caught their breath.

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 read: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

Percy said, "You're kidding."

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 Percy. Inside were fresh clothes, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Sour patch kids.

Percy said, "I don't want your lousy—"

"Yes we do Percy." Sophie said glaring at the sour patch kids "We really do."

"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving his friend his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."

Ares went to turn around.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sophie said, ignoring Annabeth who slapped her arm, warning her to shut up.

"Am I?" Ares said, smirking.

"You promised me information about my mother," Percy said, trying to keep his voice leveled.

"You sure you can handle the news?" He kick-started his motorcycle. "She's not dead. She was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."

"Kept. Why?"

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."

"Nobody's controlling me."

He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

Percy balled up his fists. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."

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

Annabeth said, "That was not smart, Percy."

"Don't care."

"Hey, guys," Grover said, pointing towards 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."

The four ran across the street and climbed into the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind them.

The trailer was dark inside until Percy uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the saddest zoo animals Sophie had ever seen: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some antelope thing.

Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam 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?"

He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, but just then, the truck's engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and the four were forced to sit down or fall down.

They huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth and Sophie were in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but Percy pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving.

Percy found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used Anaklusmos to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. He gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.

Sophie reached in to caress the zebra's snout, gently picking out a piece of gum from his fur.

Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. Grover promised the animals they'd help them more in the morning, then the questers settled in for night.

Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened the bag of Sour Patch Kids and nibbled on one half-heartedly.

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

"Its fine." Sophie hummed taking a sour patch kid and throwing it into her mouth.

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

"Because of the Arachne story," Percy guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"

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 guys."

"We're a team, remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Sophie did the fancy flying."

"I was really amazing, wasn't I?" Sophie said.

The other three laughed.

Annabeth pulled out an Oreo for Percy and Sophie. "In the Iris message...did Luke really say nothing?"

Percy munched on his cookie and said, "Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

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," Percy guessed.

He nodded glumly.

"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp..." Percy looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"

She put down her Sour Patch Kid, uneaten.

"Like you said, 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 traveled 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, 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."

"Yeah, and Annabeth wouldn't be here now without you." Sophie smiled gently.

"Sophie'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."

She kicked Percy in the shin.

"Yeah," Percy said, which he would've done even without the kick. "It's not luck that you found Thalia and me Grover. 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."

They heard a deep, satisfied sigh and waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring, they realized he'd fallen sleep.

"How does he do that?" Percy marveled.

"Dunno but I want to be able to."

Annabeth said, "That was really a nice thing you guys told him."

"We meant it," Percy said.

They rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip and the lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips.

Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.

"That pine-tree bead," Percy said, pointing to the bead on her necklace. "Is that from your first year?"

"Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—now that was a weird summer..."

Sophie wanted to ask about it, but Percy had a more personal question. "And the college ring is your father's?"

"Percy!" Sophie kicked him in the shin.

"That's none of your—" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Sorry," Percy said. "You don't have to talk about it."

Annabeth looked to Maisie for a second, then back at them both and said, "No...it's okay. My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her...That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Percy said.

"Yeah, well...the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."

"You think you'd ever try living with your dad again?" Sophie asked.

"Would you?" Annabeth said.

"Nope." Sophie said eating a sour patch kid as slowly as possible.

"Well I'm not into self-inflicted pain," Annabeth told her.

"You shouldn't give up," Percy told her. "You should write him a letter or something."

"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."

"But if you sent him a letter—"

Annabeth gave Percy a hard stare, and he stopped talking, getting the hint.

"Anyways," Annabeth said. "What's your tragic backstory. I already know Sophie's."

"You do?" Percy asked, looking between the two girls. He tried not to feel a certain way about that information, but even he hardly knew about Sophie's home life.

"My mom married some really awful guy," Percy said. "Grover said she did it to protect me."

"Your mom sounds cool," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, she is," Percy said, looking down.

They passed another few miles of silence. Eventually, Annabeth turned over and fell asleep.

"You talked to Annabeth," Percy said, not framing his words as a question.

"A lil'" Sophie hummed quietly.

"What'd you tell her?" Percy asked.

"Just about my dad and Leila and stuff." Sophie said "You already know that."

"Thats all I know." Percy sighed, a little grumpily.

"That's all there is to know."

Percy let out another sigh and turned his back to her looking towards Grover instead.

Sophie sighed too scooting a bit away from him before closing her eyes and allowing sleep to take her over.

Percy woke with a start.

Sophie was sitting in front of him roughly shaking him.

"Get your ass up. The truck's stopped," she said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."

"Hide!" Annabeth hissed.

She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover, Percy and Sophie had to dive behind feed sacks and hope they looked like turnips.

"Hey!" Percy said scowling at her. "could you have woke me up any nicer-"

"Shh!" Sophie hissed at him to be quiet. "Here they come."

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 said.

Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous.

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!"

The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at Percy.

There was no sound, but as clear as day, Percy heard it say: 'Free me, lord. Please.'

Percy was too stunned to react.

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

The trucker inside with them 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.

A second later, Annabeth appeared next to the other three. "This transport business can't be legal."

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

'That's right', the zebra's voice said in Percy's mind. 'Open my cage, lord. Please. I'll be fine after that.'

Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other. Percy grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.

The zebra burst out. It turned to Percy and bowed. 'Thank you, lord.'

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. The four kids 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.

Maurice and Eddie ran after it, 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.

"The other animals first," Grover said.

Percy cut the antelopes lock with his sword while Sophie opened the lion's cage with her dagger. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra.

The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.

Some 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?" Sophie asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all—"

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

"Meaning?"

"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?" Percy asked.

"It only works on wild animals."

"So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned.

Sophie started laughing harder than she had in the last few days.

"Hey!" Percy protested as the two girls high-fived.

They stumbled out into the desert. A mile or two later, they must have taken a wrong turn, because they were at a dead end, standing in front of 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, maybe.

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

Percy nodded and said they'd love to come in. Inside, they took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."

The whole lobby was a giant game room. 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. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.

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

Percy stammered, "Um, but..."

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

He handed them each a green plastic credit card.

Percy took the card and asked, "How much is on here?"

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."

They took the elevator upstairs and checked out their room. It 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.

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

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

Percy threw Ares's backpack in the trash can.

"My Sour Patch Kids!" Sophie cried fishing the packet out the bin.

Sophie raced to the shower first. There were fresh clothes in the closet that fit her perfectly. She thought that was a little strange, but wouldn't say no to free clean clothes.

They weren't really her style though.

Blue ripped jeans with a slight green yellowish tint. A tight white t-shirt which made her really uncomeatable she considered just wearing the red smiley face hoodie.

Sophie came out a few minutes later. She went to her room and found that her blue sweatshirt had been freshly washed, and was folded on the chair next to her window. Weird.

She jumped onto the white duvet covered bed. Percy was right earlier, she hadn't slept a wink of sleep the previous night. She curled up against her headboard and closed her eyes, not really sleeping, just resting her tired eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, Annabeth came into the bedroom and jumped onto the bed next to her. Sophie heard the TV turn on and she groaned.

"There's a TV in the living room you know."

"I know," Annabeth said. "I wanna watch in here."

The daughter of Athena tossed Sophie a Coke and the two shared a party sized bag of chips.

Grover then peeked his head through the bedroom door, wondering if he could join. Sophie waved him over. Grover used his winged shoes to fly over and sat crisscrossed applesauce on the end of the bed.

A few minutes later, they heard Percy's voice call, "Hello?"

"In here!" Grover yelled back.

Percy tentatively stuck his head through the doorway. He raised an eyebrow at the three who were all sitting on the oversized bed, looking like they were at a slumber party.

But he shrugged, and hopped onto the bed as-well, stealing the chip bag from Sophie and downing another Coke.

"All these stations," Percy said to Annabeth "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

"We thought it shark week," Sophie said. "We turned it on for you."

Annabeth snorted.

"Enough with the fish jokes," Percy said.

Sophie munched on a handful of potato chips and said, "Never."

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

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

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

"You guys go," Sophie said, rolling over. "I'll be here." Then she closed her eyes again

"Not happening," Percy said. He walked over and poked her forehead.

She covered her face with her hands hoping he'd get the hint.

He didn't.

Percy crushed up a handful of chips and sprinkled it into her hair.

"Gah! Would you stop!" She yelled at him while the other two laughed.

"C'mon," Percy said, "There's games, and laser tag, and bungee jumping..."

That sold her. The Lazer tagg. Not the bungee jumping. She didn't like heights.

So Sophie sat up slowly and shook the crumbs out of her hair. "Get me another Coke," she said, knowing she would need the sugar and caffeine to function.

Percy dragged her and managed to convince her to do bungee jumping in the lobby 3 times. She even got to push Percy off once, and laughed while he screamed and cursed at her on his fall down. She absolutely destroyed him and Grover at laser tag. Although Annabeth beet her at bowling.

Then Sophie went off to try and find some game she'd never played. She ended up spending ages at a claw machine with some young Italian boy with black hair. He'd first spoken to her in Italian, and since she knew the bare minimum of the language she was able to understand him a bit.

"You've been trying to get that octopus for ages." He said in Italian.

Sophie responded, although she knew she said something like "It cute. Don't care."

Percy and Sophie met up with Annabeth and Grover by the video games. Annabeth was playing some brainiac thing, while Grover was loving this reverse hunter game—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks.

"We should probably go soon." Sophie yawned gently feeling tiredness already catch up to her.

"You're right," Percy agreed.

Annabeth and Grover sighed sorrowfully but nodded.

However, the three didn't make it 4 steps before they were stopped by a waitress.

"Lotus Flower?" she asked sweetly, holding out a tray arranged with pink flower cookie things.

Sophie squinted her eyes at them. They did look delicious, but if she was a traveler offered one she wouldn't eat it. She remembered the line in epic the musical where Odysseus told Polities what lotus flowers did... wait... she was a traveler...

The design was flawed honestly, the lotus casino, nice. Lotus flowers to eat, bit sketchy.

But Annabeth, Percy and Grover clearly didn't share her concerns as the three of them picked up one- Percy taking one for Sophie as well. And taking a huge bite.

"These are amazing," Grover said, his voice full of awe.

Annabeth nodded in agreement.

Sophie had taken one bite and was eyeing the treat suspiciously, it tasted funny. Maybe she got a rotten one.

Percy's eyes were wide.

He was looking around in woe, as if seeing this place for the first time.

"Wow," Annabeth said.

Then, Percy giggled...Giggled! Like a school girl!

"Why don't we stay here for a while," Annabeth said, smiling more than Maisie had ever seen her.

"Huh? No—Annabeth we—"

"That sounds like an amazing idea!" Percy said.

"Percy?" Sophie said, completely baffled. "We can't. We have to—"

Grover started bleating.

"Wait," Annabeth said. "I know what we're supposed to do."

Sophie blinked at her waiting for the girl to continue.

"Have fun!" Annabeth yelled gleefully.

"No-"

"Ok!" Percy grinned happily "Let's never leave."

Poker Face by Lady Gaga started playing over the loudspeakers.

"What? Ok this place is cool but we have a deadline remember?"

But the three of them were already sprinting off in different directions.

She spun her head around. Looking back and forth between all three of her friends who had darted away, trying to decide who to follow. She settled on Percy who was sprinting towards the waterslide.

Of course he went to the waterslide.

When she caught up to him he had another lotus flower in his hand. He was bringing it up to his mouth. Sophie ripped it from his hand and chucked it as far as she could.

"Hey!" He complained acting like he was high "I was going to eat that!" His voice was slightly slurred.

"Percy there's something wrong with here." Sophie was sure now, these flowers were lotus flowers. Except the lotus eaters weren't as cute as in Epic animatics.

"We need to go," She said pulling his hand.

"Ok!" Percy said, grabbing her hand and yanking her onto the waterslide line.

"Percy!" Sophie groaned annoyed, she tried tugging him towards the direction Annabeth had ran in, but he pried his hand free and ran towards the bungee jumping.

Sophie immediately started racing after him again, but she wasn't watching where she was going and crashed into some kid falling to the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" She said as the two untangled themselves and she extended a hand.

The girl had olive skin, long black hair and a floppy green hat.

"It's fine." She smiled, the girl had a thick Italian accent like the boy she'd talked to earlier.

Speaking of the kid "Bianca!" He called running over to her with a toy in his hand. The black octopus from the claw machine.

Oh, so he managed to get one but Sophie didn't.

The boy stopped short when he saw her and then smiled "Oh, it's you again." He then turned to Bianca and not so quietly whispered. "Her Italians shit."

"Nico!" Bianca hissed quietly. She turned to Sophie an apologetic smile on her face "Sorry about him. Are you okay though? You look rather stressed."

"Yeah." Sophie nodded looking anxiously behind her "I'm just trying to find my friends." Then an Idea struck her mind.. She just had to confirm something "Hey Bianca, what's the date."

Bianca looked at her a little puzzled but smiled answering none the less "Why its jul 15." Sophie let out a sigh of relief. "1942."

Horror filled her stomach as poker face finished and levitating came on. Really not the right music for the occasion.

"I have to get going." She said a bit shakily before running off before Bianca or Nico could respond.

The two kids watched her go confused.

"There's something wrong with her." Nico said blankly, Bianca punching his shoulder gently.

Sophie had found Percy and Annabeth and was dragging the latter by the wrist. The lotus flowers had worn off on Percy so he was now thinking clearly. Annabeth however was still acting like she was high.

She'd been refusing lotus flowers for a while, but when she started getting suspicious looks from security she started accepting them then putting them in th nearest bin. Accpet this time a staff member noticed her.

"Is there a problem here?" The security/ bellhop man said.

"No." Sophie grinned pushing Annabeth slightly behind her "Everything's fine, im just feeling a bit full."

She tried to move but the man gripped her other shoulder and tried to feed her a lotus flower.

Sophie recoiled. Trying to bend her head backwards to avoid the flower.

"Hey!" Percy said, smacking the pink treat out of the bellhop's hand.

Sophie seized this moment, lifted her leg and stomped on the bellhop's foot as hard as she could.

The man cursed and released her. She darted forward and, without stopping, grabbed Percy's hand and continued sprinting away. Annabeth right behind them,

They ran to the center of the lotus casino and found Grover walking towards the Laser tagg again.

"Grover!" Percy said, "C'mon we need to go."

Grover ignored him and continued to dance to levitating.

As a lady walked by, Percy stole any empty glass from her and tossed the leftover ice in Grover's face. "Wake up!" He yelled waving his hands. "This is a trance. It makes you not want to leave!"

Grover seemed to be waking up from his drugged state.

"What's up with you guys?" Annabeth asked appearing next to them. "Why are you doing this?"

Sophie stared her in the eye "Annabeth! There's a spider on your shoulder."

"What!" The girl cried swatting her hand at her shoulder and freaking out. "Get it off get it off!"

"Annabeth's back." Sophie said putting a hand on her shoulder "There's no spider."

Annabeth looked startled. "How long have we—"

"I don't know," Percy said. "But we gotta go. Now." He nudged Sophie, telling her to look over to his left. A few security guards were pointing at them.

They ran for it. Percy in front, darting and shoving through people to clear a path. A bellhop was in their way, but facing the wrong direction, so Percy rammed his shoulder into the man and he stumbled forward.

Percy pushed through them and headed for the front door. Sophie turned around to see Annabeth and Grover following right behind.

The four of them burst through the doors of the Lotus Hotel 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.

Ares's backpack was slung over Percy's shoulder, which was odd, because Sophie was sure he had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001.

They 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. Then they noticed the date: June twentieth.

"We were in their for five days..." Percy said.

They had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete their quest. 

I got you, moonlight, you're my starlight
I need you all night, come on, dance with me
I'm levitating
You, moonlight, you're my starlight (you're the moonlight)
I need you all night, come on, dance with me
I'm levitating (whoo)

💃💃💃

 took me so long, i think the schedule is gonna become something like update every week 😅

Also i just watched httyd again, love that show. Its fricking amazing, it made up my entire childhood.

Whats your childhood movie/show

Also thanks for all the comments on the last chapter, i love reading them.

Blake 🫡