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There was only one day until the solstice.
They were out of options — no more bus tickets from pink poodles or smuggling in the back of animal traffickers' trucks.
They had to spend money. Which would be fine... if they had any. But despite their financial troubles, Annabeth called them a cab. She loaded the four of 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."
She handed him her green LotusCash 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 the kids, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"
"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. Rory laughed, knowing full well that Annabeth liked being called Your Highness. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."
Maybe she 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, the four had plenty of time to talk. Percy told Annabeth, Rory, and Grover about his latest dream, but it seems the Lotus Casino seemed to have messed with his memory. According to Percy, there was an invisible servant and he was sure it was somebody he knew. He said that the servant had called the monster in the pit something other than 'my lord'... some special name or title.
"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."
"Maybe..." he said, though it was clear from his face that it wasn't either of them.
"That throne room sounds like Hades'," 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."
Rory's eyes widened.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing. I was just..." she trailed off, and Percy tilted his head.
"You never seem convinced that it's Hades," he pointed out.
Rory shook her head. "No. No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the bolt, and something went wrong—"
