Penny Ranger and the Lightning Thief

Chapter XXIX: I develop a Videogame Addiction

Annabeth must have gotten seriously turned around, because she had led us to a large casino. The building was impressive even by Las Vegas standards. It was so tall I imagined it could rival the Chrysler Building. The entrance had a bright display of lights as well as a giant neon lotus flower. Grover told us the lettering on the entrance read "The Lotus Hotel and Casino".

However, despite the appearance of the place, there wasn't anybody coming in or out like you would normally expect. When I glanced inside, I noticed that the interior looked completely deserted. This made a few alarm sirens go off in my head.

"Hey kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?" the doorman asked, giving us a bright smile as he did.

Annabeth and I narrowed our eyes at him, expecting him to turn into some sort of monster and attack us. But apart from his smile getting wider, nothing happened. He seemed to be a completely normal mortal.

"We'd love to come in." Percy said as he led the rest of us inside.

Any suspicious thoughts I might have had vanished as soon as I set eyes on the inside of the casino. Everywhere you looked you could see, video game arcades, indoor recreations of extreme activities, waitresses walking around with trays filled with snacks. There was everything you could think of and more. If someone asked me what Elysium looked like, I would probably tell them to look at this place.

"Woah." Grover said.

I could only nod silently, the shock preventing me from doing anything else. The others were in a similar state too, Annabeth completely paralyzed and Percy looking like his jaw was going to hit the floor.

Another man walked up to us and broke us out of our trance. He was dressed in a ridiculous yellow and white shirt with lotus designs that looked like it had come out of Mr. D's wardrobe.

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

"Um, but..." Percy began before the man cut him off.

"No, no. 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 told us.

He then proceeded to hand us a plastic card each. I wondered if this was some kind of prank. Mainly because no one would have ever mistaken us for clients. Certainly not in a place like this.

"How much is on here?" Percy asked the man.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"

The man laughed.

"Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay." he said before walking away.

We all looked at each other and shrugged. We didn't really know what else to do, so we went up to our room. It was breathtaking. The suite consisted of one main room with four adjacent bedrooms. Each bedroom had its own bathroom with a toilet, a shower and a hot tub. The main room was equipped with several large couches and a large television set up. Looking out the balcony I could see a shotgun, a skeet shooter and a couple of clay pigeons.

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

"Sweet. Absolutely sweet." Grover said, completing Annabeth's statement.

"No kidding." I agreed.

We all went to our bedrooms. My immediate action was to take a shower. I made an effort to try and rinse out all the gathered dirt and grime. I came out feeling like I had just been shoved into an automatic car wash at maximum power. But I was clean.