Sunburn- phoebus apollo

-xv. getting stuck in a time-free hotel where everything's free is lowkey nice

THEY STUMBLED OUT into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten 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 along with pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but it still succeeded into making Rhea homesick. 

Rhea wasn't sure what they were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes (no offense to Apollo), find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west. 

They must've taken a wrong turn, because they found themselves at a dead end, standing in from of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lightning 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 blossom, maybe. Rhea had never smelled one, so she wasn't sure. 

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

Over the last week or so, Rhea had learned to be suspicious, so she figured that anybody might be a monster or a god, though it was hard to tell right away. This guy was normal though. One look at him, and the girl could tell. Besides, Rhea was so relieved to heard somebody who sounded sympathetic that she nodded.

"We'd love to come inside," Percy said.

Inside, they took one look around, and Grover gasped, "Whoa." 

The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There was a virtual-reality suits 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!" a bellhop said. At least, Rhea guessed he was a bellhop. 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," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on 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 LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed them each a green plastic credit card. 

"How much is on here?" Percy asked.

The employee's eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

"He means," Rhea piped up. "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. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds 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 over the Las Vegas skyline and take them right back out. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though Rhea doubted they'd ever find a time to look at the view with a room like this.