The Hidden Pillar of Olympus (PJO Male Reader Insert)

So About That 30% Off

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So Annabeth had an idea. 

She loaded us into the back of a Vegas taxi as if we actually had money, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."

The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized us up, "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?," I asked.

He shrugged, "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

Annabeth handed him her green Lotus Cash card. 

He looked at it skeptically. 

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.

He did. His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. And finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign. 

The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth.

He looked back at us, his eyes wide, looking at Annabeth and I, "Where to in Los Angeles... uh Your highnesses.. and friends?"

I tilt my head at that.

"The Santa Monica Pier," Annabeth sat up a little straighter. I could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing, "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change." 

She definitely shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

I look over at Annabeth and whisper, "Does he think we're together? Why do people keep thinking that?"

Grover and Percy were laughing their asses off.

I told them, "Oh shut it. You guys were literally referred to as 'and friends'. You aren't even Royal material."

On the road, we had plenty of time to talk.

Percy told us about his latest dream, but the details got sketchier the more he tried to remember them. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited his memory.

He said a servant had called the monster in the pit something other than 'my lord'.

The pit?

I hope to the gods that's not Tartarus...

"The Silent One?," Annabeth suggested, "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

"Maybe...." Percy said, though he didn't seem like he thought so.

"That throne room sounds like Hades'," Grover said, "That's the way it's usually described." 

Percy shook his head, "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit.. I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

A titan's voice..

Annabeth's eyes widened.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Oh.. nothing. I was just.... No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-"

"Like what?" 

"I-I don't know," she said, She looked pale, "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."