Chapter Text
It took a long time before anyone even moved. After a few tense minutes, cheers rang throughout the hall, mostly from the gods and demigods, though a few Wixen were clapping as well. Everyone else was either disappointed that people were cheering over the death of Annabeth, or saddened by the fact that someone died like that.
“Excuse me? I don’t mean to interrupt, but I need to ask. I don’t even know why no one hasn’t brought this up before, but how did Andi end up with Sally Jackson? We know that Andi was taken from the Potter’s some time after Halloween of 1981, but when exactly was Andi taken from their care? How long did it take before whoever it was that took her, took her?” Amelia Bones asked, breaking through the cheers and clapping.
All the Wixen had thoughtful looks on their faces, all wondering the same thing. Though, Dumbledore and James were wondering how someone was able to take the girl without anyone noticing.
Before anyone could open their mouths, a screen appeared in front of the head table.
On the screen, it showed Lily, James and Dumbledore all talking in the sitting room of Potter Manor. Lily was holding young Jamie in her arms while leaning into James Potter.
The date was August 18th 1982.
Albus Dumbledore had just arrived at Potter Manor, he had sent a letter ahead of him, letting the Potter’s know that he needed to speak with them, and that it was urgent.
“What can we help you with, Professor?” James asked.
“I believe that young Jamie isn’t safe. After Jamie defeated Voldemort, I noticed that his magical core was severely depleted. I have reason to believe that some of Lord Voldemort’s followers will try and come after him. I believe the only way to keep him safe is to do a ritual that will transfer all of young Andromeda’s magic into Jamie will be the best thing for him. I think that that would be the ‘Power he knows not’ part of the prophecy.”
James and Lily sat, Lily didn’t want to do that, Andi was her little girl. But James, he fully supported Dumbledore, if this was the best thing for their son, then they should absolutely do it.
“But what about Andi? What will happen to her? Won’t this hurt her?” Lily asked, a little concerned.
“I am certain the girl won’t feel a thing. And once the ritual is complete I am afraid that young Andromeda will no longer be safe here, you will have to send her away, perhaps with your sister, Petunia.”
“Why can’t we keep her? We are already taking her magic, why can’t we keep and raise her?”
“Lily pad, I know you want to keep her, but Jamie is more important, Jamie is the boy-who-lived. We need to focus on him. I think Dumbledore is right. We should send her to your sister. Andi would get jealous of her brother, she doesn’t need to be here.”
Dumbledore nodded, agreeing with James.
“Alright, if you think that this is what is best.”
Little did they know that someone a lot more powerful was listening in, and he didn’t like what he was hearing. Without making a sound, the being that was now known as Poseidon went into Andi’s room. The girl was asleep, but as soon as Poseidon entered her room she woke up, as if she could feel her fathers presence.
“Hello, little SeaStar,” Poseidon said, while picking up Andi. “I am going to take you somewhere where you will be safe. Where you will be loved and wanted. Away from the people that wish to do you harm. At least for a little while. I wish I could protect you from all that wish to harm you, but because you are my child, there are a lot of beings and monsters that wish to harm you. But don’t worry, someone very important to you will keep you safe.” With that he flashed away.
Appearing on the doorstep of a cabin on a beach. A woman was sitting in a chair on the deck, she looked up when she heard footsteps. This woman was Sally Jackson.
“Lord Poseidon, what can I help you with?”
“Sally, I need to ask you for a favor. I need you to look after my daughter. I know you have always wanted a child, I need you to look after her as if you had given birth to her yourself.” Poseidon said, while placing the child into Sally’s arms.
Sally looked down at the girl, she had the most beautiful green eyes, that looked like they had waves in them. “Of course I will look after her. What is her name?”
“Her name is Andromeda. Thank you for doing this, you are the only mortal I trust with this, I can’t take her down to Atlantis, the Fates told me that Andi has to be raised in the mortal world.” Poseidon looked down, he very much wished to keep his daughter with him, but he knew that he couldn’t.
“I understand, and you don’t need to worry, I’ll ask Hecate for some enchantments later just to make sure she is safe.”
And with that, the screen went black and disappeared.
Everyone sat stunned, none of them knew how to react. Before long, they all turned towards Dumbledore with glares on their faces, it was a little unnerving to see so many heads turn in one direction at once.
Dumbledore didn’t seem to be bothered by the looks he was given. He felt that what he did was for the greater good, what he didn’t tell the Potter’s though, was that the ritual wasn’t to give Jamie Andi’s power, it was to give him both of their power. After all, he was Albus Dumbledore. Order of Merlin First Class. Defeater of Grindelwald. Only he should have the power to defeat dark lords.
Dumbledore completely ignored all the yelling that was going on around him. Fully believing that he had done no wrong.
Dumbledore wasn’t the only one being yelled at, only Lily was ashamed of her decision. James sat at a table and just like Dumbledore, ignored everyone yelling at him, and that he and Dumbledore had done the right thing.
“What enchantments did you have Lady Hecate place on Andi?” Andromeda Tonks asked, interrupting all the yelling.
“In order to protect Andi, I gave up my magic in exchange for two charms. One, that would block Andi’s magic and all her memories of said magic. I did this because Andi’s magic was too chaotic and lashed out at everything and everyone. The second charm . . .” Sally paused, not sure how to explain that the charm would make sure that the only line Gabe would never cross was sexual assault. She knew about all the abuse that he put Andi through, but she couldn’t do more than what she already did. As much as she wanted to get rid of Gabe herself, she couldn’t, he was keeping the monsters away from Andi. “I don’t want to spoil it.” Sally finished, not wanting to see the gods’ reactions.
“Why did you give up your magic?” Nymphadora ‘Don’t call me Nymphadora’ Tonks asked.
“Magic can attract monsters. So in order to keep Andi safe, for at least a little while, I gave up my magic.”
A lot of the mothers in the room looked down at this, only three of them would do the same.
“Alright, let’s get back to the book, I believe that we only have about eight or so chapters left of this book.” Minerva said, breaking the tension in the room.
WE TAKE A ZEBRA TO VEGAS
Andi and Grover looked at each other, both wondering the same thing. ‘What are the gods’ going to say?’
“The war god was waiting for us in the diner parking lot.
‘Well, well,’ he said. ‘You didn’t get yourself killed.’
‘You knew it was a trap,’ Annabeth said.
What happened to the ‘He’s a god, and you should show respect to gods’ speech from earlier?
Ares gave a wicked grin. ‘Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You look good on TV.’
I shoved his shield at him. ‘You’re a jerk.’
Annabeth and Grover caught their breath.
What? So only Annabeth can act like this? Hypocrite.
Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.
‘See that truck over there?’ He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. ‘That’s your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas.’
The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.
I said. ‘You’re kidding.’
Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. ‘Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here’s a little something for doing the job.’
He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to me.
Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuf Oreos.
“Thanks.’ I said. Too tired to argue with the god.
‘Thank you, Lord Ares.’ Grover said, giving me his best red-alert warning look. ‘Thanks a lot.’
I guess he took that as me being sarcastic.
I gritted my teeth. I was too tired, Ares’ aura was affecting my emotions making me even more tired trying to keep my mental shields in place. Reluctantly, I slung the backpack over my shoulder. Even with my metal shield in place, I still wanted to punch Ares in the nose. He reminded me of every bully I’d ever faced: Nancy Bobofit, Smelly Gabe, sarcastic teachers—every jerk who’d called me stupid in school or laughed at me when I’d gotten expelled.
I looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who’d served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt us. She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us.
Great, I thought. We’ll make the papers again tomorrow.
I imagined the headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAW BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER.”
The gods and demigods all burst out laughing, as if Ares would ever be defenseless. Even Ares gave a chuckle.
“Aren’t you going to ask about your mother?’ Ares asked, confused.
I’m surprised that he even remembered that, I was expecting him to just get on his bike and leave. Maybe I should play along to this.
‘Thank you for reminding me. What information do you have on my mother?’
‘You sure you can handle the news?’ He kicked-started his motorcycle. ‘She’s not dead.’
He says, as if I didn’t already know. I mean come on, my mother disappeared in a golden flash, which can only mean one thing, a god took her and is keeping her safe.
I put a shocked look on my face. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean she was taken from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That’s metamorphosis. Not death. She’s being kept.’
Metamorphosis is a big word, I’m surprised Ares even knew what that word meant let alone how to say it.”
Laughter rang through the hall again.
“Man, you are sassy when you’re tired, fish face. I love it!” Apollo said, laughing with tears in his eyes. Everyone around him nodded along, all agreeing with the Sun god.
“I mean, they don’t call me ‘The Queen of Sass’ for nothing.”
“Kept. Why?’
‘You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else.
Ares was really making it hard to not just shout duh at him. As if I didn’t already know this.
‘Nobody’s controlling me.’
He laughed. ‘Oh yeah? See you around, kid.’
I balled up my fists. ‘You’re pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues.’
Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I felt a hot wind in my hair. ‘We’ll meet again, Andi Jackson. Next time you’re in a fight, watch your back.’
He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancey Street.
Annabeth said, ‘That was not smart, Andi.’
I don’t think I will ever not want to hit this girl. She’s such a hypocrite.
‘I don’t care.’
‘You don’t want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god.’
‘Hey, guys,’ Grover said. ‘I hate to interrupt, but . . .’ He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck.
‘If we’re taking the zoo express,’ Grover said, ‘We need to hurry.’
I don’t like it, and I could tell Grover didn’t either, but we had no better option. Besides, I’d seen enough of Denver.
We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us.
The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was like the world’s biggest pan of kitty litter.
The trailer was dark inside until I cast a small light spell that just barely illuminated over a very sad scene. Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I’d ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing I didn’t know the name of.”
Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn’t want to eat. The zebra and antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra’s mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!
Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets, in a space way too small for him, panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur.”
The gods all looked disgusted at the way the animals were being treated, none of them—other than a few, like Artemis, Hestia and surprisingly Hades—could believe that mortals could be this cruel.
“This is kindness?’ Grover yelled. ‘Humane zoo transport?’
He probably would’ve gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes, and I would’ve helped him, but just then the truck’s engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down.
We huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies. It got so bad that I just cast an air charm around the trailer, I could see everyone sigh in relief now that they had a breeze to cool them off and to clean the smell. Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot, but I pointed out it wouldn’t do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling we might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips.
I found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used a levitation charm to move the mismatched food out of their cages. I gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope.
Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. She wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra’s mane, too, but we decided that would be too risky with the truck bumping around. We told Grover to promise the animals we’d help them more in the morning, then we settled in for the night.”
“Please tell me that the animals made it to safety?” Artemis asked, concerned.
They made it, moonbeam. Grover placed a satyr’s sanctuary on them. They eventually made it to their natural habitats, the Lion and Zebra I found in Africa. And the Antelope is in a national park in the Appalachian Mountains.” Andi replied, reassuring Artemis.
Almost everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing that those animals got out of that situation safely.
“Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened the bag of Double Stuffed Oreos and nibbled on one half-heartedly; I tried to cheer myself up by concentrating on the fact that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to our destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn’t until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time.
On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it—he’d put up cameras and advertised me as entertainment. But even when the cameras weren’t rolling, I had a feeling my quest was being watched. I was a source of amusement for the gods.”
“That’s not entirely true. Yes, you were being watched. But you weren’t a source of amusement, at least not to me, and I am pretty sure not to Poseidon or Hestia either.” Artemis whispered into Andi’s ear. Andi just giggled in response.
“Hey,’ Annabeth said, ‘I’m sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Andi.’
‘That’s okay.’
‘It’s just . . .’ She shuddered. ‘Spiders.’
‘Because of the Arachne story,’ I guessed. ‘She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom at a weaving contest, right?’
Annabeth nodded. ‘Arachne’s children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there’s a spider within a mile of me, it’ll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you.’
‘We’re a team, remember?’ I said. ‘Besides, Grover did the fancy flying.’
Grover mumbled from the corner, ‘I was pretty amazing, wasn’t I?’
Annabeth and I just laughed.
She pulled apart an Oreo, handing me half. ‘In the Iris message . . . did Luke really say nothing?’
I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered me all evening. ‘Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn’t fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree.’
In the dim light, it was hard to read their expressions.
Grover let out a mournful bray.
‘I should’ve told you the truth from the beginning.’ His voice trembled. ‘I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn’t want me along.’
‘What happened with Thalia wasn’t your fault.’
This seemed to shock them. Apparently they didn’t think I knew about what happened.
After a minute, Annabeth nodded along, agreeing with me that it wasn’t Grover’s fault.
‘Just because Thalia didn’t make it, doesn’t mean you failed. Luke and Annabeth made it safely to camp. That has to count for something.’
Annabeth put down her Oreo, uneaten. ‘Like you said, Andi, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn’t have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They’d both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were . . .amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us.’
‘I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp,’ He said, sniffling. ‘Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don’t do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn’t just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought . . .I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the KIndly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I’d just been a little quicker. . .’
‘Stop it,’ Annabeth said. ‘No one blames you. Thalia didn’t blame you either.’
‘She sacrificed herself to save us,’ he said miserably. ‘Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so.’
‘Because you wouldn’t leave two other half-bloods behind?’ I said. ‘That’s not fair.’
‘Andi’s right,’ Annabeth said. ‘I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don’t care what the council says.”
“Maybe I should have left with only Thalia. I might have saved us a whole lot of trouble.” Grover said, folding his arms over his chest and scowling.
Andi nodded along, it definitely would have been less stressful without Luke and Annabeth around.
There were a few Wixen that didn’t agree, they still thought that what had happened to Annabeth was an over exaggeration, and that nothing needed to go that far. They were all ignored.
“Grover kept sniffling in the dark. ‘It’s just my luck. I’m the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Andi.’
‘Your not lame,’ Annabeth insisted. ‘You’ve got more courage than any satyr I’ve ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Andi is really glad you’re here right now.’
‘Of course I’m glad you’re here, you’re my best friend, Grover. You have been the only friend I have had in a long time. It’s not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You’ve got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You’re a natural searcher. That’s why you’ll be the one who finds Pan.’
I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I could tell from Grover’s energy that he was falling asleep.
‘How does he do that?’ I marveled.
‘I don’t know,’ Annabeth said. ‘But that was really a nice thing you told him.’
‘I meant it.’
We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully.
Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts.
‘That pine-tree bead,’ I said. ‘Is it from your first year?’
She looked. She hadn’t realized what she was doing.
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year’s beads. I’ve got Thalia’s pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress–now that was a weird summer . . .’
‘And the college ring is your father’s?’
‘That’s none of your—’ She stopped herself. ‘Yeah. Yeah, it is.’
‘You don’t have to tell me.’
‘No . . .it’s okay.’ She took a shaky breath. ‘My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn’t have gotten through his doctoral program at HArvard without her . . .That’s a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him.’
‘That doesn’t sound so bad.’
‘Yeah, well . . .the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn’t want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn’t even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood.’
‘You think you’ll ever try living with your dad again?’
She wouldn’t meet my eyes. ‘Please. I’m not into self-inflicted pain.’
‘You shouldn’t give up,’ I told her. ‘You should write him a letter or something.’
‘Thanks for the advice,’ she said coldly, ‘but my father’s made his choice about who he wants to live with.’
We passed another few miles in silence.
‘So if the gods fight,’ I said, ‘will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?’
She put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. ‘I don’t know what my mom will do. I just know I’ll fight next to you.”
“I am pretty sure that that was the moment that Annabeth started getting obsessed with Andi.” Nico whispered to Grover. Andi and Artemis who were sitting right in front of them heard. They looked at each other, neither one of them could argue with Nico, they both could see how obsessed Annabeth was, that could actually have been the moment where it all went wrong. Though they will never know if it is the truth or not.
“The way she said that made my hair stand on end, and I don’t know why.
‘Why?’
‘Because you’re my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?’
I couldn’t think of an answer for that. Fortunately I didn’t have to. Annabeth was asleep.
I had trouble following her example, with Grover snoring and an albino lion staring hungrily at me, but eventually I closed my eyes.
* * *
My nightmare started out as something I’d dreamed a million times before: I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket. All the other kids were going out to recess, and the tether kept saying, Come one, Andi. You’re not stupid, are you? Pick up your pencil.”
The gods looked at each other, all wondering the same thing. ‘Was that really how their children felt when taking tests?’ None of them had an answer.
“Then the dream strayed from the usual.
I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket. She was my age, with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy green eyes, and freckles across her nose. Somehow, I knew who she was. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.
She struggled against the straitjacket, glared at me in frustration, and snapped, Well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here.
She’s right, my dream-self thought. I’m going back to that cavern.
The straightjacket melted off me. I fell through the classroom floor. The teacher’s voice changed until it was cold evil, echoing from the depths of a great chasm.”
The gods all grew nervous, Kronos had way too much power at that point, truly terrifying them.
“ Andi Jackson, it said. Yes, the exchange went well, I see.
I was back in the dark cavern, spirits of the dead drifting around me. Unseen in the pit, the monstrous thing was speaking, but this time it wasn’t addressing me. The numbing power of its voice seemed directed somewhere else.
And she suspects nothing? It asked.
Another voice, one I knew very well, answered at my shoulder. Nothing, my lord. She is as ignorant as the rest.
I didn’t need to look, I could already tell that the speaker wasn’t here. Well at least not physically.
Deception upon deception, the thing in the pit mused aloud. Excellent.
Truly, my lord, said the voice next to me, you are well-named the Crooked One. But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly —
You? the monster said in scorn. You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened.
But, my lord—
Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much. Zeus’s anger had grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card. Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hand . . . but wait. She is here.
What? The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. You summoned her, my lord?
No. The full force of the monster’s attention was now pouring over me, freezing me in place. Blast her father’s blood—she is too changeable, too unpredictable. The girl brought herself hither.
Impossible! The servant cried.
For a weakling such as you, perhaps, the voice snarled. Then its cold power turned back on me. So . . .you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige.”
The gods looked at each other, Andi was right, there were two items that were stolen.
“The scene changed.
I was standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. The empty, horrid throne was made from human bones fused together. Standing at the foot of the dais was my mother, frozen in shimmering golden light, her arms outstretched.
I tried to step toward her, but my legs wouldn’t move. I reached for her, only to realize that my hands were withering to bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with silk robes, wreathing my head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning into my scalp.
The evil voice began to laugh. Hail, the conquering hero!
I woke with a start.
Grover was shaking my shoulder. ‘The truck’s stopped,’ he said. ‘We think they’re coming to check on the animals.’
‘Hide!’ Annabeth hissed.
She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared. Grover had to dive behind feed sacks and hope he looked like turnips. I just cast an invisibility charm and stayed in the shadows.
The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in.
‘Man!’ one of the trucker’s said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. ‘I wish I hauled appliances.’ He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals’ dishes.
‘You hot, big boy?’ he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion’s face.
The lion roared in indignation.
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ the man said.
How dare this stupid mortal treat animals this way. Next to me, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. I can understand his anger, I felt the same.
The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. ‘How ya doin’ Stripes? Least we’ll be getting rid of you this stop. You like magic shows? You’re gonna love this one. They’re gonna saw you in half?’
The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at me. I don’t know how he was able to even see me. Maybe animals can just see through some enchantments.
There was no sound, but as clear as day, I heard it say: Free me, my lady. Please.
I don’t know how I was able to understand the zebra. I know I can understand horses, they were created by my father. But the zebra is related more to a donkey than a horse.
There was a loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer.
The trucker inside with us yelled, ‘What do you want, Eddie?’
A voice outside—it must’ve been Eddie’s—shouted back, ‘Maurice? What did ya say?’
‘What are you banging for?’
Knock, knock, knock.
Outside, Eddie yelled, ‘What banging?’
Our guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot.
A second later, Annabeth appeared next to me. She must’ve done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. She said, ‘This transport business can’t be legal.’
‘No kidding,’ Grover said. He paused, as if listening. ‘The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!’
That’s right , the zebra’s voice said in my mind.
‘We’ve got to free them!’ Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at me, waiting for my lead. It’s like they expected me to not agree to set the animals free.
The zebra said, Open my cage, my lady. Please. I’ll be fine after that.
Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but I knew they’d be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. I grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra’s cage.
The zebra burst out. It turned to me and bowed. Thank you, my lady.
Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing. Most likely one that will help the animals get to safety.
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the nose, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. We’d just released a zebra in Las Vegas.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, ‘Hey! You need a permit for that!’
‘Now would be a good time to leave,’ Annabeth said.
‘The other animals first,’ Grover said.
I cut the locks with my sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he’d used for the zebra.
‘Good luck,’ I told the animals. The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets.
Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos.
‘Will the animals be okay? Annabeth asked Grover. ‘I mean, the desert and all—’
‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I placed a satyr’s sanctuary on them.’
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning they’ll reach the wild safely,’ he said. ‘They’ll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live.’
‘Why can’t you place a blessing like that on us? Annabeth asked.
Grover looked at her like she was stupid. ‘Because it only works on wild animals.’
‘So it would only affect Andi.’ Annabeth reasoned.
I don’t know what is with this girl. One minute she’s acting like a daughter of Athena, and the next she’s acting like a stereotypical blonde. Not to mention all of the snide remarks and back-handed comments. I’m getting really tired of this girl’s attitude.”
Murmurs of agreement were heard around the hall. Athena didn’t know what to think, Annabeth had been her favorite child. Yes, she had lost most of that favor with the crap she pulled at camp. And yes, she got some of that favor back when she retrieved her statue from Arachne. But from what she was seeing now, she wasn’t sure what to think. The only thing she did know was that Annabeth wasn’t her daughter anymore, she had done too much to be forgiven, and even if Athena did forgive Annabeth, none of the other gods or demigods would, nor would they trust her again.
‘Hey!’ I protested. I really wanted to hit this girl.
‘Kidding,’ she said. ‘Come on. Let’s get out of this filthy truck.’
I don’t actually think she was kidding.
We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must’ve looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention.”
Leo, Travis and Connor all snickered at that description. They all loved Andi’s sense of humor. It just livened up the place.
“What is that in celsius?” a first year asked, confused.
“That would be about 43 degrees.” Athena responded.
“We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick.
I wasn’t sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west.
We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and casino.”
“NO!” “Leave!” “Get away!” and “Why did it have to be that one?” rang throughout the hall. Mostly from the demigods, though a few gods knew what that place was and also shouted. Everyone else was super confused as to what they were all shouting at.
Nobody would answer why they had yelled. But just by their reactions alone, everybody was tense.
“The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossoms, I don’t know how I knew that, I just did.
Wait . . .Lotus?. . .crap. I know what this place is, this is not going to be great.
The doorman smiled at us. ‘Hey kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?’
I had learned to be suspicious, especially over the last week. I could definitely tell that this guy wasn’t a mortal, though he wasn’t an immortal either. He looked normal, but he didn’t feel normal. I could see Annabeth and Grover looked relieved, maybe because someone sounded sympathetic, both of them started nodding and said they would love to come in. They completely ignored my protests. Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, ‘Whoa.’
The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I’m not talking about cheeky old Pac-Man games or slot machines. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. NO waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.”
Every Wixen sat in shock. None of them had ever seen anything like this in their lives. The Pure-bloods especially, were shocked that muggles could come up with so many things without magic. The Muggleborns and half-bloods were still shocked, they were just shocked at how far technology had come.
Every child—Pureblood, muggleborns and half-blood included—thought the same thing, ‘I want to go there.’ None of them said anything, too stunned to speak.
Though the demigods were shocked at just how much fun the Casino looked, they knew it was a trap.
“Hey!’ a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. ‘Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here’s your room key.’
I didn’t like this, it was like they were expecting us.
Annabeth stammered, ‘Um, but . . .’
Well at least I know Annabeth has a few Brain cells.
‘No, no,’ he said, laughing. ‘The bill’s taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides.’
He handed us each a green plastic credit card.
This felt so wrong, but no one was listening to me.
‘How much is on here?’ Annabeth asked.’
His eyebrows knit together. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, when does it run out of cash?’
He laughed. ‘Oh, you’re making a joke. Hey, that’s cool. Enjoy your stay.’
We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big screen television with satellite and high-speed internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn’t see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we’d ever find time to look at the view with a room like this.
‘Oh, goodness,’ Annabeth said. ‘This place is . . .’
‘Sweet,’ Grover said. ‘Absolutely sweet.’
There were clothes in the closets, they were in my style and they fit me. I frown, I know this was a bad idea, but I also knew that there wouldn’t be a better chance to get expensive clothes like this again. So I grabbed A bunch of things, put an undetectable extension and feather weight charm on my backpack and put all the clothes into that.
I saw Annabeth throw Ares’s backpack in the trash can. Something told me that we needed to keep that, so I fished it out of the trash and put it on the bed.
I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate an apple, drank some lemonade, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. After eating only junk food for an entire week, I needed something healthy. In the back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me. I knew we needed to leave, but I figured giving Annabeth and Grover a few minutes wouldn’t hurt.
I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart’s content, while Annabeth cranked up the Nation Geographic Channel. Must have been a daughter of Athena thing.
‘I feel good,’ Grover said. ‘I love this place.’
Without even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.
‘So what now?’ I asked. ‘Sleep?’ I was really hoping that they weren’t going to say what I think they are going to say.
Annabeth and Grover looked at each other and grinned. They both led up their green plastic LotusCash card.
‘Play time,’ Grover said.
I sighed, now it was going to be even harder to get them to leave. Just great. Might as well have a little fun.
I couldn’t remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video. A five star Vegas hotel? Forget it.
I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other Brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic building rise on the display board. It looked pretty cool.
I’m not sure when I first realized something was wrong.
Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen, I guess, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was some Elvis impersonator’s son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl’s on homecoming night.
We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, ‘Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better.’
Groovy?
Later, while we were talking, I said something was ‘sick’, and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he’d never heard the word used that way before.
He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen.
I said, ‘Hey, Darrin?’
‘What?’
‘What year is it?’
He frowned at me. ‘In the game?’
‘No. In real life.’
He had to think about it. ‘1977.’
‘No,’ I said, getting a little scared. ‘Really.’
‘Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening.’
After that he totally ignored me.
This is not good. I completely forgot about the quest, now I have no Idea just how much time has passed. For all I know the summer solstice could have already happened. This is really bad.”
All of the Wixen and most of the gods got scared at this, especially the Wixen, they had no idea that such a time dilation existed. Dumbledore had a look of greed in his eyes, thoughts of how he could use such an environment to his advantage ran through his mind.
“I started talking to people, and found it wasn’t easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video game, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1963. They all claimed they hadn’t been in here very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn’t really know and they didn’t care.
I needed to find Grover and Annabeth and get out of here, even if the solstice had already passed, I needed to know, and we needed to leave.
I found Annabeth still building her city.
‘Come on,’ I told her. ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’
No response.
I shook her. ‘Annabeth?’
She looked up, annoyed. ‘What?’
‘We need to leave.’
‘Leave? What are you talking about? I’ve just got the towers—’
‘This place is a trap.’
She didn’t respond. That’s it. I turned her around and smacked her as hard as I could across the face.”
Cheers rang throughout the hall. Andi sat in Artemis’ lap with a smug look on her face, she was very glad that she had gotten to slap the girl. Everybody around them was glad that Annabeth had finally gotten slapped, it was the least that she deserved. The only people that were not happy were the people that didn’t matter or were irrelevant.
“She was stunned. ‘Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!’
‘First off, that hurt. And second, come on, Andi. Just a few more minutes.’
‘Annabeth, there are people here from 1963. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever.’
‘So?’ she asked. ‘Can you imagine a better place?’
I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.
‘Hey!’ She screamed and hit me, it took everything in me to not flinch, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy.
I made her look directly in my eyes. I said. ‘Spiders. Large, hairy spider.’
That jarred her. Her vision cleared. ‘Oh my gods,’ she said. ‘How long have we—’
‘I don’t know, but we’ve got to find Grover.’
We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.
‘Grover!’ we both shouted.
He said, ‘Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!’
‘Grover!’
He turned the plastic gun on me and started clicking, as if I were just another image from the screen.
I looked at Annabeth, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, ‘No! I just got to a new level! No!’
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. ‘Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?’
‘We’re leaving,’ I told him.
‘Such a shame,’ he said, and I got the feeling that he really meant it, that we’d be breaking his heart if we went. ‘We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members.’
He held out the cards, and I wanted one. I knew what I needed to do.
I reached for all three cards. Annabeth and Grover had shocked looks on their faces. ‘Thanks, mister.’ I said, trying to make it look like my eyes were glazing over. The bellhop just smiled and walked away.
Annabeth and Grover both tried to protest, like they thought I was under their spell again.”
“Of course Potter’s daughter would be greedy and want all the money for herself.” Snape said, either completely forgetting that Andi wasn’t James’ daughter, or not believing that she wasn’t his daughter at all.
Every god, demigod and even some of the Wixen turned to face the sorry excuse of a man. Snape didn’t even look bothered that everyone was looking at him, nor did he seem like he regretted what he said.
“That’s it!” Artemis and Andi shouted while they stood up. “We are sick and tired of your attitude, and you thinking that you can get away with everything just because Dumbledore said so. No more. This stops now. You seem to have forgotten that there are people more powerful than your Headmaster. It’s time you faced all of the consequences of your actions. From this day forward, you will feel every pain you have inflicted on others, whether it be physical, emotional, psychological or even spiritual. You will feel every heartbreak of having a loved one die. You will feel every wound you have inflicted on others. You will feel every emotion. And there will be no reprieve. There will be no getting away from it. No potion or spell you can cast or make that will grant you rest. Any time you see someone you have wronged, you will feel all of their pain 10 fold. You will never be able to be in the same room as children ever again. This I swear.” And with that Andi cast a very powerful curse on the dungeon bat. Instantly screams rang throughout the hall. As quickly as they came they quickly disappeared. Not because they stopped, but because of the silencing charm around Snape.
After a moment for everyone to get over their shock, cheers and shouts of joy rang throughout the hall. Everyone was in agreement, the Dungeon Bat had finally gotten his just deserts.
“Once I could no longer see the bellhop. I turned to the other two and said, ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Annabeth and Grover were even more shocked, like they hadn’t expected me to fool the bellhop like that.
Then we burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day we’d gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.
Ares’ backpack was slung over Annabeth’s shoulder, which was odd because I didn’t remember grabbing it off of the bed from the hotel room, but at the moment I had other problems to worry about.
I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in. Then I noticed the date: June twentieth.
We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.”
Everyone was still high off of the excitement that Snape was effectively nurtured. Though they could all agree that they couldn’t wait to hear what happened next.
(A.N. I am so sorry I haven’t updated in a while, I have been going through some things and I just couldn’t figure out how to start this chapter. Again I am so sorry. The author: Im_a_nerd336)