One was born to destroy, one was born to build.
Melanie Mavros doesn't know how it came this far. Being thrown in a new world with her best friend Percy, was not on her bucket list. Being send on a dangerous quest with the thought that she can be ki...
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Maybe someone down there has this every second of their life... dead- life?
Melanie did not really enjoy panicked Annabeth. The girl had an amazing idea, she said herself. She loaded them into the back of a Vegas taxi as if they actually had money, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."
The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them 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."
Annabeth handed him her 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 cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at them, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"
"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. Melanie could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."
Melanie didn't want to give that man infinity money.
Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety- five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.
Melanie whistled. "Rich girl, buy me some food next time." She whispered in Annabeth her ear. The other girl her cheeks tinted pink. "Shut up."
"As you wish, your Highness." Melanie taunted. Annabeth stomped her in the side and glared.
On the road, they had plenty of time to talk. Percy told Annabeth and Grover about his vague latest dream, but he didn't seem to remember the details. But it still sounded creepy.
"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."
"Maybe ..." Percy said, but he seemed hestitant.
"That throne room sounds like Hades's," 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."
Annabeth's eyes widened. Melanie wondered how Percy knew it wasn't a god.
"What?" He 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. "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, 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."
