¹𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 ━ 𝗽. 𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

012

⋆ ˚｡⋆ʚ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄 ɞ⋆ ˚｡⋆
─── ❛ just a bit of a stretch ❜ ───

IT WAS ANNABETH'S IDEA

she loaded them into the back of a vegas taxi as if they actually had money, and told the driver. "los angeles, please."

the cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them up. "that's three hundred miles. for that, you gotta pay up front."

"you accept casino debit cards?" annabeth asked.

he shrugged. "some of 'em. same as credit cards. i gotta swipe 'em through first."

annabeth handed him her green lotus cash card.

he looked at it skeptically.

"swipe it." annabeth invited.

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 them, his eyes wide. "where to in los angeles... uh, your highness?"

"the santa monica pier." annabeth sat up a little straighter. isabella could tell she liked the "highness" thing. "get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

you shouldn't have told him that.

the cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the mojave desert.

on the road, they had plenty of time to talk. percy told isabella, annabeth and grover about his latest dream, but the details got sketchier the more he tried to remember them. the lotus casino seemed to have short-circuited all their memories.

"the silent one?" annabeth suggested. "the rich one? both of those are nicknames for hades."

"maybe..." he said.

"that throne room sounds like hades's." grover said. "that's the way it's usually described."

percy shook his head. "something's wrong. the throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. and that voice from the pit...i don't know. it just didn't feel like a god's voice."

no. isabella's heart started to beat faster and a worried look painted her face. she looked at annabeth and by her look she was thinking the same thing.

"what?" percy asked noticing their faces.

"oh...nothing. i was just— no, it has to be hades. maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong." isabella said.

"like what?"

"i- i don't know. but if he stole zeus's symbol of power from olympus, and the gods were hunting him, i mean, a lot of things could go wrong. so this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. anyway, he failed to bring it to hades. that's what the voice said in your dream, right? the guy failed. that would explain what the furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

"but if i'd already retrieved the bolt." percy said. "why would i be traveling to the underworld?"

"to threaten hades." grover suggested. "to bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

percy whistled. "you have evil thoughts for a goat."

"why, thank you."

"but the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items." the boy said. "if the master bolt is one, what's the other?"