GODS AND MONSTERS , pjo

17 , he is crusty...

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:
HE IS CRUSTY...

      It was Annabeth's 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. At least that's what I hope he was doing

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

      I snorted.

      "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."

      Maybe she shouldn't have told him that.

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

      On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. Percy told about his latest dream, but he seemed to have trouble remembering some details.

      "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..." Percy said.

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

      "Maybe..." Percy said, though he didn't seem sure.

      "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.

      "What?" I 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, 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."

      I wasn't sure what was wrong with her. She looked pale.

      I looked over at Aella, who was sitting on the floor between Annabeths leg's, she was biting her nails as she stared out the window. She seemed to be a silent thinker, unlike the rest of us who just shout out options that don't even make sense.