DESTINY ↳ WILL SOLACE

17. We Shop for Water Beds

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

We Shop For Water Beds

I don't own Percy Jackson.

It was Will who pried the newspaper out of her hands.

"Come on," he muttered to her frozen form. "We need to get out of here."

But Percy's mind had completely blanked. For the first time in a while, she felt a sudden urge to cry—she wanted to scream at the gods, at the Fates, at whoever was responsible for making their quest so much more difficult than it needed to be. If her father had loved her, if Apollo had loved Will, why did neither of them help? Why did they allow them to be trapped in the casino? Her grip tightened, almost ripping the paper in half.

She blinked back the tears. There was no use in crying about it. Crying only wasted time—time that was more precious than anything anymore. She turned to Will.

"We need to get to Los Angeles," she said, though it seemed obvious.

Will thought about it, before his eyes lit up. "Come on."

He ran for the edge of the street, waving his hand, hailing a Las Vegas taxi while Percy and Grover glanced at each other blankly. They had no money. Will might not have been in the mortal realm for four years, but surely he knew something about the mortal economy?

"Come on," he said when a taxi pulled in front of them.

Percy and Grover reluctantly crawled in, wondering what master plan Will would conjure now.

"Los Angeles, please," Will said to the driver after settling in beside Percy.

The cabbie frowned through his rearview mirror. "That's three hundred miles. You'll have to pay up front for that."

His tone clearly doubted their capacity for more than five dollars, but Will triumphantly held up his green LotusCashcard and handed it to a disbelieving cabbie.

"Try it," Will said.

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 the group, eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"

Will blinked, looking as shocked as Grover and Percy felt at the symbol, but recovered and said, "The Santa Monica pier. Get us there fast, and we'll double the fare."

Maybe he shouldn't have told him that.

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

After requesting the driver put up the divider, Percy whispered the rest of her dream to Will and Grover, but she couldn't remember it anymore. She couldn't remember what the invisible servant's voice sounded like, though she was sure it was someone she knew. They had used some sort of special title too, not just "my lord..."

"Silent One?" Will asked. "Rich One?"

Percy hesitated. "I don't know. Maybe. But they don't sound right."

"Well, the throne room sounds like Hades'," Grover said. "At least, how it's usually described."

"But the throne room was like a background. And the voice from the pit... it didn't feel like Hades'. Not like a god's. More ancient. More powerful."

Will had gone completely still next to her.

Percy frowned at him. "What?"

"No," he whispered, but it was mostly to himself. "That's not possible."