σɾɳιƚԋαʂ (ρʝσ x ɱαʅҽ σƈ)

I Go Shopping for Water Beds

Theo's POV

I was hoping that we'd have the master brought back to Olympus three days BEFORE the solstice. Now, we have less than 24 hours left AND WE STILL DON'T HAVE THE MASTER BOLT!

Annabeth loaded us into the back of a Vegas taxi as if we actually had money.

Annabeth: (to the driver) Los Angeles, please.

The driver chewed his cigar and eyed us up.

Driver: That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay upfront.

Annabeth: You accept casino debit cards?

Driver: (shrugs) Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first.

Annabeth gave him her LotusCash card, which he looked at skeptically.

Annabeth: Swipe it.

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 us, his eyes wide.

Driver: Where to in Los Angeles...uh, Your Highness?

Annabeth sat up a little straighter. I could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing.

Annabeth: The Santa Monica Pier. Get us there fast, and you can keep the change.

It was probably a good thing she said that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below 95 the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. Percy told us about a dream he had back on the truck, which had the same voice he heard after Medusa, but this time talking to an invisible servant. The servant had called the monster in the pit something other than "my lord."

Annabeth: The Silent One? The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades.

Percy: Maybe...

Grover: That throne room sounds like Hades's. That's the way it's usually described.

Percy: 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.

Annabeth's eyes widened.

Theo: What?

Annabeth: 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—

Theo: Like what?

Annabeth: 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.

She looked pale, which concerned me.

Percy: But if I'd already retrieved the bolt, why would I be traveling to the Underworld?

Grover: To threaten Hades. To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back.

Theo: (whistles) You got some pretty dark thoughts for a half-goat.