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chapter thirteen. ☄︎. *. ⋆
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YOU KNOW HOW SOMETIMES you can't hold in a secret any longer, and you tell it to the one person you weren't supposed to tell, and people call that "letting the cat out of the bag?" Well, Annabeth, Grover, Percy and I kinda did let the cat out of the bag—except it wasn't a cat, it was a lion, and it wasn't a bag, it was a delivery truck.
When we got to our stop in Vegas, Grover decided he couldn't let the animals stay in these living conditions under a good consciousness. He said he would place onto them a satyr's sanctuary, which none of us knew what it was, but he explained was some sort of blessing that would protect the animals from harm and provide food and water until they reached a safe habitat. We freed the lion, antelope, and the zebra, then hightailed our little butts out of there before the workers could find out that it was four teenaged stowaways that had released their illegally-smuggled animal apparatus.
Let me tell you firsthand, Las Vegas during the summer is hotter than the Underworld when Hades is angry. I was sweating by the time we made it down the block from the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck, but sweat was the least of my worries; we had abandoned our ride that would have taken us all the way to L.A., so we had to find a way out of Vegas, which was much easier said than done.
We stalked through the desert-like city, passing famous landmarks like the Monte Carlo, skirting around pyramids, pointedly avoiding a pirate ship, and we even stumbled upon a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. My stomach churned. At this point, all I wanted was to be home, even if it meant having to endure my unbearable aunt.
I don't know what we were looking for in Vegas exactly, but I'm not exactly sure what we found was what I had in mind. We found ourselves in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino, the big, neon flower above the doors blinking at us rhythmically. No one came in or out in the few moments that we stood in front of it, but the glittering doors were wide open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like lotus flower blossoms.
The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. Want to come in and sit down?"
I wanted more than anything to say yes, walk inside, collapse on one of their beds, take a nice long nap, and an even longer shower. The Tunnel of Love had mostly wiped the grime from the Mississippi River off me, but the stench was still there.
On the other hand, my instincts told me to run for the hills while I could. Only monsters were this hospitable to half-bloods. As I looked at him, though, I couldn't really picture this doorman as a monster. He just looked... nice.
We accepted the invitation and the doorman led us inside. Once we were in, we took one look around, and Grover said, "Woah."
"Woah" was right. My jaw hung open as I spun around to take it all in. The whole lobby was a giant game room, and not like an arcade room; I'm talking a giant waterslide arcing through the middle, a climbing wall on one side, indoor bungee jumping. It was straight out of a dream.
