This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―xv. the monsters that walk in the light

[tw: child abuse]

THEY STUMBLED OUT into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred degrees, easy, and they must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay them much attention.

They passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. They passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty—well, a small replica of it. Naomi wasn't sure what they were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west.

They must have taken a wrong turn, because they found themselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. 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, Naomi figured. 

The doorman smiled at them. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?" 

Naomi had always had a healthy level of "stranger danger," but after the week she'd had, she was too tired to do anything but follow her friends into the building.

"Whoa," Grover said. 

The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor water slide snaking around the glass elevator, which led 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 VR headsets with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. 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 imaginable. 

"Hey!" an employee said. At least, Naomi was pretty sure he was an employee. 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." 

"Um, but..." Percy stammered. 

"No, no," the guy said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up 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 Lotus Cash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed each of them a green plastic credit card.

"How much is on here?" Percy asked. 

The employee's 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."

They took the elevator upstairs and checked out their room. It was a suite with four separate bedrooms, and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. There was a hotline to room service; fluffy towels and waterbeds with feather pillows; a big-screen TV 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 take them right back out. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though wasted with everything else the room had going on. 

"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is..." 

"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet." 

Everyone split off to separate rooms, all eager to shower and change. 

After a week of grimy travel, Naomi vowed never to take showers for granted ever again. The hot water felt like a piece of heaven had found its way onto earth just for her. She couldn't tell how long she was in there—the hot water seemed to be endless. By the time she finally stepped out, cleaner than she might have ever been in her life, she was practically a prune.