PHILOXENIA ➸ Percy Jackson¹

εννέα

NINE—Death Beds

─── ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽☼☾.* :☆ﾟ｡ ───

Ciaran had become used to someone shaking him awake. This time, he woke to a  truck devoid of animals.

He groaned, his awareness coming back to him in small bursts. "What's going on?"

"You missed all the fun," Percy said with a smug smile.

"I did?" He looked around, squinting at the empty cages. "Where's all the animals?"

"We freed them," Grover declared happily.

"Riiightt," Ciaran drawled out. It was at this moment that he noticed the wide open doors of the back of the truck, leading out to sunlight-soaked streets, so bright that it was detrimental to his sight, the sound of people screaming traveling to him in muffled waves. "Like out into the streets?"

"Where else?" Annabeth crossed her arms.

Ciaran made several faces, all ranging on the confusion spectrum until he decided that it was too much for his barely functioning brain to think about. "You know what, forget it. Where are we?"

"Las Vegas." 

"And you released them out into the desert?"

"Don't worry, I placed satyr's sanctuary on them. They'll be able to water, food, and shelter until they find a safe place to live," Grover said.

"Too bad it can only be placed on wild animals," Annabeth continued and turned to Percy with a smirk. "Percy's going to be the only one who benefits."

"Still not funny," he grumbled.

Her shoulders rumbled with laughter as she hopped out of the truck. "Come on, let's get out of this filthy truck."

They stumbled out into the desert. It was so hot that the air around them was distorted, making them feel like they were stuck in a shimmering haze as everything became slightly blurry.

They passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM, as well as replicas of famous landmarks such as the pyramids and the Statue of Liberty, grateful that the ritziness of the boulevard distracted the tourists from noticing a bunch of kids walking around by themselves, one of whom has his face all over the news.

Ciaran didn't know where they were going or what they were looking for, exactly. Perhaps a place to sit down and recoup, draw another plan to go west. Hopefully not run into another monster or god in disguise.

They must have made a wrong turn, because they found themselves at a dead end, staring up at a neon sign of an unfurling lotus flower, the words "Lotus Hotel and Casino" written on the sign above it. The glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out cool air that carried with it the scent of something flowery.

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

Everyone regarded him with some degree of suspicion. Ciaran had learned to not trust anyone so easily, to look for the signs that something might be wrong, and to listen to his intuition. But Grover didn't react, not even after surreptitiously sniffing the air.