Left behind

The Lotus Casino

The sound of muffled music rings in my ears, along with cheering and laughing.

My thoughts slow down as I wake up, making it harder and harder to think.

The more focused I become, the noisier it gets.

The sound of coins hitting against each other nonstop makes my headache grow, plus the constant sound of arcade noises beeping and booming "you win!" every second.

I open my eyes slowly, noticing two people kneeled over me. My vision is blurred, but I know by fact that it's Bianca and Nico, who else would it be?

I shake my head and sit up, careful not to anger my headache more then it is.

Bianca sighs in relief and pulls me into a hug.

Slowly, the muffled noises I hear seem to get closer and louder, which makes me more confused and irritated.

By the time I'm able to understand my surroundings, Nico and Bianca are staring at me, watching me to make sure I'm okay.

I blink and look back and forth at them, then around us at all of the people who haven't seemed to notice us, the intense crowds don't help with my overwhelming sickness. "is everything okay? Where are we? How long was I asleep?"

Bianca makes me calm down and talks as gentle as she can manage, probably for Nico's sake.

"We don't know, but Fath- er- Hades is gone, as well as the lawyer lady, I think we are at the place he mentioned, the Lotus Casino. but the Lawyer said we wouldn't be here long, she left an hour ago- I think"

I hold my forehead and look at the floor, trying not to meet their eyes, "you were awake?"

"I woke up first, probably because I was the first to go through the strange portal thingy, but she was still here when I woke up, she left before Nico got up"

I nod, "okay, but why a Casino?" I ask

She shakes her head and shrugs, "I- I don't know, but as long as we are here, we might as well get settled"

Nico smiles excitedly, "Maggie! You should see the games they have here! They look really fun! And the people here are Super nice! They gave us a free card so we can play as long as we want to!"

I manage to smile at him as I stand up, "okay Nico, we can play some games, as long as it's not mythomagic"

"Hey! Mythomagic is fun!" He argues, I sigh under my breath and take his hand, "okay, just show me the games you want me to play"

She nods and grabs Bianca's arm with his free hand, dragging us both through the crowds of people.

As I look around, I notice how strange the games look, most light up and show weird images, and a lot of them make super irritatingly loud noises that make you want to pull your hair out.

Though somehow the people look even stranger.

All of them have weird costumes on, most of the cloths the people wear are beyond my description, but some of the outfit choices make me want to hurl.

"Look!" Nico says, "people get money from these games! Just by pushing some buttons! And over here there are some weird mini games to play!" he tells me, pointing to a section of bright games crowded with kids cheering and yelling.

"Nico, I'm not so sure this is a good idea" I hear Bianca whisper to Nico, "these kids don't look very normal, and most don't look very controlled either"

Nico frowns and pouts, begging us to play with him, "but it looks so fun! We won't play for long! Just a couple of rounds!"

I sigh and look at Bianca, "what else are we gonna do? I prefer this more then a pop quiz on damage points for each Greek God"

"Hey!" Nico crosses his arms, "mythomagic is a very serious game! Why is this so hard to understand?"

Bianca and me look at each other, I meet her eyes and hold it, when I look at her, it's like I'm reading her mind, I can feel all of the emotions she is feeling, which is mostly just fear and anger.

Since we were little, we'd always had a communication that no one understood, it's not like telepathy, but the connection we have as twins makes it easier to read each other, it's a neat way of sharing privet information.

We exchange glances for a few seconds before I give her a small reassuring smile.

She sighs and looks away, and at Nico again, "okay, but not for long"

Nico smiles and cheers, pushing past crowds to get to a game.

We didn't know it then, but the moment we played our first game, addiction shut us out from the rest of the world, and into the Lotus Casino.