The Lightning Thief - My Way

Going to Vegas!

Ares was standing in the parking lot outside the diner with his arms crossed. Percy was angry next to me and Annabeth was to my right while Grover was on Percy's left. Percy had the shield strapped to his arm. Ares got his shield back, Percy got a backpack with fresh clothes and other stuff and Percy was making a mess of everything. Ares gave us the information of our mothers. He said they're being used and alive. I understood that a person is taking our mothers to lure us to them because I know war when I see it. But Percy was refusing to be called as used. When Ares showed us our transportation I was going to die. It was an animal truck. With an albino lion, a zebra and an antelope like animal that I couldn't place the name of. The lion had turnips while the zebra and antelope had trays full of meat. They looked abused and tired. We got inside. Annabeth asked again if Luke didn't say anything. That led to Grover and Annabeth spilling the story of Thalia. Grover was the one to get Thalia back and only Thalia. But he ran into Luke and Annabeth too. He said he couldn't leave them so he thought that he could bring back all three. After that was when I fell asleep without eating the Oreos from Percy's backpack. When I woke up the two guys in this truck were coming to check on the animals. Let's just say they were driving me mad. They abused them so much that I couldn't take it. I had to bite on my fist to keep from yelling at those two. Then the zebra talked. It made sense. The zebra was a horse so since Poseidon made horses I as well as Percy could talk to horses. When we freed the zebra and Grover put a blessing on it it ran out of the truck jumping over the two guys. I looked out and saw neon signs: MGM Grand, Ceasers Palace and Mandalay Bay. We were in Las Vegas. One of my hometowns. We freed the other animals and walked into the Las Vegas heat. (oh I know a thing or two about Las Vegas.... hello I live there!) It was hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit at the least. Last time I was here was when I just turned five. My mother wanted us to move to New York which meant for us to be closer to camp. I took in our surroundings and named each casino by heart. The other three were impressed on how I was this kind of a person and know Las Vegas especially Grover.

"That's just a stereotype. How you choose to live here makes you who you are. If you choose a good life and opportunity here then you're a good person. If you choose you know the gambling and drugs just look to Percy's step father as an example of how you'll be," I said.

"You sound like a philosopher," Percy commented. I smiled. We walked around looking for a good spot to eat. I wanted to get out of the Strip and go to In n Out Burger. But my direction wasn't as good as I remembered. We walked past the Luxor, New York New York, Treasure Island. We took some wrong turns and ended up facing the Lotus Casino. We went inside and I was sure I hadn't seen this casino before. My mom took me to every casino in Vegas. So this one was either not built when we were here or we never came here. It was an indoor paradise for kids. Indoor waterslide and game systems everywhere. I couldn't stop smiling. I was a little of a gamer girl. A bellhop said that we had a room and he gave us LotusCards for playing. I knew I should've been more alert but honestly I was tired, hungry and in great need of a shower. We reached our room. There was a snack bar, four separate showers along with bedrooms. I took a shower and changed into a red Aéropostale shirt that hugged my body, flares and I cleaned my converse. I know that I should just get rid of those shoes but these are claimed to be a gift from my dad. I don't want to part with them. When I walked out the others were relaxing. The boys wanted to go down and game and I agreed. I just went from game to game to game to game beating them every time. Then Percy ran up to me. I was just paying attention to killing zambies in Walking Dead. Percy cringed for a little then shook the sense back into me. We went to find Grover and Annbeth. We went to leave and the bellhop looked genuinely sad. But I pulled the other three along. We burst into a different weather scene. Lightning was flashing. We got a cab and Annbeth told the driver to take us to LA. She made them swipe her LotusCard and the register just showed an infinity sign which made the driver very reckless when he was driving. We talked. Percy told us about a recent dream. He said that the voice in the pit talked to him again. Then there was this servant and he said that the voice sounded familiar. I was suspecting a certain blonde, scarred son of Hermes but I didn't push it. Then we reached LA. The cab dropped us off at Santa Monica. Percy started to walk in the heavily polluted water. I followed him cautiously. When he submerged I shrugged to the other two and dove in. I looked around for Percy. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to Percy. I rolled my eyes and breathed in the water. I looked around at the polluted water. I looked up and saw my long hair float in front of my face. Percy asked about a hairtie. I refused to put my hair up. I only put it up when necessary. Then I felt a nudge on my leg. I looked down and saw a mako shark. It rubbed my leg with its head like a dog would. I pet its head while Percy rubbed its dorsal fin. It bucked a little and offered a hand-er-fin to me. I put my hand over it and Percy held on to its dorsal fin. The shark shot through the water. Then we stopped at the edge of the continental shelf. I almost had to cling to Percy in case I fall into the abyss. Then a light appeared in the middle of the darkness. It was far. But then it started to come closer.

"Percy Jackson," a woman's voice that sounded quite like his mom rang loud and clear. Then the light came so close to us. It faded surrounding a woman in a green silk dress. She was beautiful. She was also riding a sea horse. Percy said she was the woman that he met back in St. Louis. She said she was a Nereid. They serve in Poseidon's court. She gave us four milky white pearls that would transport us anywhere in a time of need. Then she told us to follow our hearts. To listen to them. She then rode away. We shared a look in the dark. We knew that we had so little time. I kicked up hard with him. My clothes and hair came out dry. Grover and Annabeth were waiting. We told them everything and showed them the pearls.

"Gifts don't come without a price," she said immediately after. I nodded. We went on a bus and had a close call with the driver finding out who Percy was. Percy says we need to find a place called DOA. That was where the entrance to the Underworld was. Then we had to hide twice from police cars. When we were passing a TV store Smelly Gabe was being interviewed. He was saying that Percy was a delinquent. Grover and Annabeth had to drag us from the window before either of us could punch a good hole into the window. We passed the entrance to an alley. Being the barnacle brain he was Percy stopped when a voice said, 'Hey you'. We were suddenly surrounded. By six kids that looked like rich brats. I smiled and crossed my arms in front of one guy looking all pretty. And for some reason Percy uncapped Riptide. But the dude in front of me was definitely not paying attention to anything except me. I got a little closer. Then without warning smacked the fudge outta him.

"Run!" I shoved the guy aside and bolted past the alley. I turned and was relieved to see the other three behind me. We found a place called CRUSTY'S WATER BED PALACE. We ran in there and ducked behind a bed. We waited for the guys' footsteps to pass. When they did we met Crusty. He told us to try out water beds. When Annabeth and Grover went on a water bed Crusty snapped his fingers and said, 'Ergo!' Ropes appeared and tied down both of them down to the beds. Then Crusty started to stretch them out because his real name was Procrustes: the stretcher. That was when I got an idea.

"You know Crusty these beds look amazing just saying," I said. His eyes lit up.

"Really?" I nodded.

"And the workmanship? Fabulous!" Percy seemed to catch on. We kept softening him up with Annabeth asking what we were doing when Percy did the whole point of the conversation. He tricked Crusty to try out a water bed. I snapped my fingers.

"Ergo," and smiled. He started to panic a lot. He was hanging off the bed. "Center him just right. Now just chop off whatever's hanging brother," I said.

"With pleasure sis," he smiled and took out Riptide. He brought his sword down and Crusty stopped making offers. I cut off the ropes on Annabeth. Percy did Grover.

"Come over here you two," I motioned for the two mumbling curses. They winced over to me. I placed a hand on one shoulder and muttered a simple phrase in Ancient Greek. I heard both of them sigh. I left them to Percy. I high tenned him. "You know for a barnacle brain you were pretty smart catching on," I smiled. He smiled back. He looked behind the desk. He found the DOA address.

"Come on. I'm ready for the Underworld,"