[LOGAN'S POV]

Percy and Annabeth caught me and Grover up on what happened at the water park. Apparently Heather has discovered a new power and they almost died. Well, that is...shocking.

"Ares probably thought if we died then he'd be doing the gods a huge favor," Percy scoffed. "I hate him so much."

I looked around inside the truck we were in and noticed a lion, a Zebra, and an Antelope all caged and looking like they haven't seen daylight in years. I feel bad for them.

Annabeth dug into the bag (apparently he put a fresh pack of clothes, some drachmas, and a few hundred dollars in there as well as two packs of double-stuffed Oreos.) and grabbed the Oreos and opened one of the packs and gave one to me for Grover and me to share. She then broke apart another one for her and Percy. I picked apart the chocolate parts of the Oreo and only ate the filing inside of it, giving the chocolate parts to Grover.

"Heather will get her own when she wakes up," Annabeth told us as she sat up against the truck and grabbed a crystal from the floor.

I looked down at my sister, who was still laying in my lap unconscious. What was it that caused her to pass out like this? A bunch of questions ran through my head but I snapped out of it as I watched Grover move next to Annabeth holding a drachma.

"Gonna call camp?" I asked. Annabeth nodded.

"But we can't use a phone," Percy reminded us "how are we gonna..."

"There are other ways to get in touch with the camp, Perce," I told him. "Such as IMing."

"Instant messaging?"

"No, Iris Messaging. Iris, goddess of rainbows, uses her powers to send messages to and from the Olympians, and if we ask, we can send messages to and from camp and anywhere else."

Percy nodded as Annabeth twisted the crystal around until she got a proper rainbow. She nodded to Grover and he quickly tossed the drachma into the rainbow, the drachma disappearing in seconds.

"O' goddess, accept our offering," Grover prayed. I looked to see the rainbow was waving. "Show us Half-blood hill."

It took a second until the rainbow opened to show the familiar plains of the camp. I moved over to sit beside Annabeth to watch as the message showed us a certain black-haired boy.

"Luke?" Annabeth asked.

Luke turned around to see the Iris message. Once he saw us he smiled. "Annabeth, Percy, Logan, hey," he said. "Are you okay? Where's Grover and Heather?"

Grover came into view. "Right here!" he waved.

I lifted Heather up a bit. "And Heather's right here," I said, putting her hand up and wiggling it."

Luke looked confused. "Why is she asleep?"

"Unconscious," I corrected. "And long story."

Luke nodded. "Okay," he said, putting his hands in his pocket. "Why did you call?"

Annabeth shrugged. "We just wanted to check up on camp and talk about how things are going," she said. "Where's Chiron?"

"He's in the armory," Luke told us. "What's going on?"

"Well, we're close," I told Luke. "about five, six days left. We're in a truck heading to L.A. right now."

"That's great," Luke said. "Anything interesting happened?"

I shook my head. "Despite the fact that Percy and I almost died falling from the St. Louis Arch, and that my sister is now unconscious for I don't know how long, nothing much happened these past few days."

"Ah," Luke muttered.

The Zebra made a noise which made Grover look at us with a worried expression. "They're coming," he said.

Annabeth looked back at the iris message. "Uh, well, nice to talk to you Luke, but we have to go," she said before dissolving the Iris message and turning to me and Percy. "Hide."

Annabeth put on her cap and Percy, Grover, and I hid behind the large box in the truck. One of the two men hopped into the back of the truck and started bullying the lion, who looked at him helplessly. I heard Grover mutter something under his breath about teaching the men a lesson once they get out. Why did I forget he is an eco-activist? These men are gonna get some bad karma in their future.

It was another moment until I heard someone knocking on the side of the truck. I knew it was Annabeth when the man started calling to the other one, trying to see what they wanted, but didn't get any answers. Then the man just groaned annoyed as he got up and walked out of the back to get back up front. Then I felt Annabeth brush up against me before she took her cap off and the truck started again.

We all got up from our hiding spots and I felt Heather stirring next to me. I helped her sit up as she groaned from the sudden movement. Annabeth gave me an Oreo, which I gave to Heather as she started blinking her eyes for a few seconds.

She groaned again. "Where are we?"

"In a truck," Percy answered. "Making a pit stop to Vegas before we reach L.A."

"Hmm," Heather hummed. "Okay."

She then looked at the Oreo for a moment before placing it on her lap. She still looked tired so it's understandable.

Grover looked at the animals for a moment before looking at us. "We have to get these animals out."

Percy, Annabeth, and I looked at the three animals for a moment before looking back at Grover.

"I don't think that would work in our favor," Annabeth told him. I nodded in agreement.

Grover then tried to talk to all the animals, who were replying to him. Heather turned her head to look at him.

"There are animals in this truck?" she asked.

"Uh huh," I confirmed.

Heather hummed again before setting the uneaten Oreo in my lap. "Can you get the white part out for me?"

I nodded as I broke apart the Oreo as she started speaking again.

"Shadow travel," she said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"That's what I did," she told me. She tried to reach for the Oreo, but her arm was numb so she just winced and put that down. Instead she opened her mouth while I put the filling in for her.

"And how do you know that?" This time Annabeth asked that question. I was surprised she was even listening.

"A shade," she answered. "He was a former child of Hades. I asked him what this power was and he said Shadow Travel. So I can teleport using the shadows. Though it gets tiring the more you have to carry, and it is more exhausting when you use it for the first time."

"So that's why you passed out?" Percy asked. Heather nodded.

Annabeth sighed. "I read about shadow travel, but I always wondered what the aftermath would be," she looked at Heather. "I guess this was it."

Grover was silent until he suddenly turned to us. "Do you guys trust me?"

Annabeth, Percy, Heather, and I looked at each other.

"Yes."

"Uh huh."

"Obviously."

"Duh."

Grover nodded. "Okay," he muttered as we stopped at a red light, or I guess we did. "We have three minutes."

We all gave him a confused expression. "I have a bad feeling about this." Heather spoke loudly.

"Don't worry," Percy told us. "His plan can't be that bad."

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

Oh how I regret trusting him.

We all watched as the animals ran into the street, stopping oncoming traffic. We were outside on the walkway, watching.

"Well, that was one way to let them out," I half-joked. "Now, how is this gonna help them?"

"I gave them a nature's blessing," Grover explained. "So they can have safe travels back to their homes."

After a long silence, Heather spoke. "Sooo," she dragged. "What now?"

Percy looked around for a moment before his eyes landed on something. "That is a huge lotus blossom."

We all looked to where Percy was pointed and he was right. That was a big lotus blossom. It was on top of a building which seemed to be blaring music really loudly.

"Does this give anyone else a weird feeling of Deja vu?" Heather asked. We all shook our heads. "No one? Well, that's just me."

We all silently agreed to walk into the building, as once we did, Poker Face started blaring in my ears, and as we got in further, we saw a whole lot of people playing casino games and eating food.

I shuddered. "Now that I really think about it," I told my sister. "Yeah, this is giving me some weird deja vu."

"Like we've been here before," Heather added, looking at me as I looked at her.

Suddenly, a woman walked towards us. "Hello, children," she greeted. "Welcome to the Lotus hotel and casino, here are your game cards as well as your room keys."

The woman then gave us all a green cash card that said: LOTUS HOTEL AND CASINO. As well as a room key that said 4001.

"Room keys?" Percy asked. "But-"

"Don't worry, your bill has already been taken care of," she told us. "No charge or extra fees required."

"Thanks," Percy said as he looked at the card. "But how much is on here?"

"Pardon?" the woman asked us.

"How long until it runs out?" Percy specified, looking pretty surprised when the woman laughed.

"Oh you're funny," she said before looking at all of us. "Enjoy your stay."

She then noticed Heather and I. "oh, Heather, Logan, it's nice to meet you again."

Wait, what? We've been here before? Heather and I looked at each other but said nothing as we followed Percy, Grover, and Annabeth to our room.

Once we reached the elevator and made it to our door, we opened it to see that there were two rooms, one holding two beds and the other holding three. There was also a bar with a ton of food and a large bathroom. The closets even had clothes our size, which was weird. I just hopped on one of the beds to wait for the girls to get done.

I then looked at my casino card. Why did the woman say "it's nice to meet you again"? Were we here before? If so then I don't remember it. It seems...distant for some reason.

Heather soon came out of the other room, tying her hair in a ponytail while holding the scrunchie and casino card in her mouth. Annabeth came out soon after and Heather handed her the scrunchie. Annabeth then hopped onto the middle bed and grabbed the remote as I went to the bathroom.

"Really?" I heard Percy say. "All these channels and you turn on National Geographic?"

"It's interesting." Annabeth replied.

I huffed as I walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I heard footsteps as I turned on the shower head, but didn't bother asking who it was.

"Why do you think that lady said 'it was nice to meet you again'? I heard Heather say loudly.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I asked that one myself."

It was quiet for a moment until Heather spoke. "Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are thinking about checking out the casino," she told me.

I was about to answer her, but then I saw too many lotions, shampoo, razors, and other things on the counter. I was not using that.

"Is there anything we should know about this casino?" I asked as I finally hopped in the shower, willing myself to get wet.

Heather was silent again. "I don't know," she admitted. "Though I have heard about the lotus. Mythology says that once you eat a lotus, you are hypnotized, making you stay addicted to it for eternity."

"Isn't that what they say about the flowers?"

"Not the flowers," she groaned. "There was a fruit called a lotus. Though they did come from the flower if I'm not mistaken"

"Ah," I said. It took me twenty minutes to take a shower, but once I got out I noticed Heather sitting on the edge of the bed watching sponge bob. She finally noticed me and gave me an annoyed smile.

"Took you too long," she groaned. "Percy, Annie, and Grover already left."

I raised an eyebrow. "We were waiting for them?"

Heather rolled her eyes, her smile still clear on her face. Then that smile faded. "Do you think we should go after them?"

I shook my head. "No. 100% negative."

Heather chuckled. "I agree, but we should make sure they're okay and aren't hurt or anything."

I nodded as we both walked out of our room to find Annabeth, Grover, and Percy.

How we weren't as 'entranced' as our friends? I don't know actually. But that was the least of our worries at the moment.

⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰

[HEATHER'S POV]

Logan and I were walking through the casino, trying to find our friends. Every step I took was another ounce of Deja vu I would feel. Why do I feel like this? I don't remember being here before, so why is it like this?

I was stuck in my thoughts for a moment until I felt someone bump into me. I looked over to see a pale boy with brown eyes and black hair. He looked at me for a moment before he gave me a smile.

"Hello!" he said as he turned around and walked over to me for some reason. "You're pretty."

I smiled. "Thank you," I said. "You're not too bad yourself,"

The boy gave me a toothy smile that reminded me of Will. "thanks!" he said. "What's your name?"

"Heather," I said. "What's your name?"

"Nico Di Angelo!" he said proudly. I chuckled.

"Well nice to meet you, Nico." I then looked down at his hand and saw a rather familiar card in his hands. "Is that a Mythomagic card?"

Nico looked down at his hand and gasped as he looked at me with wide eyes. "You know Mythomagic?"

I nodded. "I have almost all of the cards and figurines at home."

Nico gasped once again and then grabbed my hand and pull me over to a chair where an older girl was sitting.

"Bianca, Bianca!" he said to the older girl before motioning to me. "She knows Mythomagic!"

The girl, Bianca, looked at me before shaking her head at Nico. "I'm sorry he brought you here," she apologized.

I waved my hand dismissively. "It's okay," I told her. "I wasn't doing anything important anyway."

Nico then giggled as he pulled out all the cards he had as well as the figurines. He then passed some of the cards to me, letting me check them. I had a few of my lucky cards as well as my extra lucky ones; Apollo, Hera, and Demeter. After he set up everything, we finally played.

It was nice to play with someone who knew almost everything about the game as well as I did, even though he was about seven or eight, he was pretty good.

We played, and replayed for about an hour and tied at 2-2. I was about to put down my card, which was Hermes, until someone grabbed my hand.

I turned around to see a black-haired boy staring back at me. I ripped my hand away as a black-haired girl walked beside him.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Can't you see I was this close to winning?" I pinched my fingers close together to prove my point.

The black-haired duo looked at each other for a moment until the black-haired boy pulled my arm again. He looked at the blonde-haired girl.

"What is she afraid of?" the black-haired boy asked.

The blonde pushed the black-haired boy aside and put her hands on my shoulders.

"If you don't come with us, I'm gonna tell Brittany to put orange juice in your hair dye."

Something in me snapped and I jumped out of my seat. "You wouldn't dare."

The black-haired girl, Annabeth, I finally remembered smiled at me. "She's alive."

The black-haired boy, Percy, smiled as well. "Alright, come on, Logan and Grover are waiting for us at the door."

I was about to go until I turned around to see Nico looking at me with sad eyes. I felt bad for leaving him, but I just can't take him to the underworld with me, so I just gave him a goodbye hug. He hugged me back.

"Will I see you again?" he asked me.

I nodded. "Of course," I promised. "We'll meet in the near future, I promise."

Nico smiled and waved at me as I followed Percy and Annabeth to the entrance where Grover and Logan were indeed waiting for us.

Percy walked to a newspaper dispenser once we made it outside and checked the date. Once he did his eyes widened.

"Oh no," he muttered.

We all walked towards him. "What is it?" I asked him.

Percy turned the paper around for all of us to see. "We have one day left until the Summer Solstice."