Reading About The Child Of Artemis

Shopping for Waterbeds

"What? Not really the time to be shopping." Jason frowned.

"We weren't actually shopping." Ariadne muttered. 

It was Annabeth's idea. 

"Shopping was Annabeth's idea?" Thalia asked.

"No. definitely not." Annabeth pulled a face.

"This was actually a good idea." Grover spoke up.

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?" Annabeth asked. He shrugged. 

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

"I can't believe they accept those." Connor said wistfully.

"Didn't they say those cards were unlimited?" Travis asked. "Oh man we need to get one."

"No." Hermes and Chiron said together.

"Aww, dad." Connor complained.

"Why not, Chiron?" Travis asked.

"Because I do not want you two getting stuck in that Casino for decades." Hermes stated.

"And I don't even want to think what you two would dream up with a card of unlimited money." Chiron said. They both pouted.

 Annabeth handed him the green LotusCash card. He looked at it skeptically. 

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited. 

He did. 

His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign. 

The Stolls and Leo all whimpered at the very idea.

"It's worth losing a few days to get one of those." Connor whispered to his brother.

"And what if you lose decades? You could get out and find everyone you care about has died." Nico stated firmly, indicated Connor hadn't been as quiet as he had thought. The Stolls paused at that idea. It would really suck to feel like you've been gone a month and everyone you knew is dead. Maybe the cards weren't worth it. Hermes nodded appreciatively at the son of Hades for convincing his kids to leave it alone.

The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. 

He looked back at us, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?" 

"Your Highness? Annie will like that." Thalia laughed.

"Don't call me Annie." Annabeth grumbled.

"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. I could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing. 

The room erupted into muffled laughter.

"Get us there fast, and you can keep the change." Maybe he shouldn't have told him that. 

The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert. 

"Now that's how you drive." Ares grinned happily.

"Yes but a crash wouldn't kill you, you're immortal." Apollo pointed out. 

On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. I told Annabeth and Grover about my latest dream, but the details got sketchier the more I tried to remember them. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited my memory. I couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, though I was sure it was somebody I knew. The servant had called the monster in the pit something other than "my lord"... some special name or title....