𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑭𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑵 𝑨𝑵𝑮𝑬𝑳 [ᕼᑭ ᙭ ᑭᒍO]

XXX || "What did you said, kid?"

✿⁠ ♡ ◍⁠ •⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠ ◍ ✧⁠ * 。♡

"I am Nico Di Angelo."

"I am Lilith Nightangel. Nice to meet you."

✿⁠ ♡ ◍⁠ •⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠ ◍ ✧⁠ * 。♡

They stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention.

They passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. They passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made Percy homesick.

Lilith's eyes were scanning everything quickly. She had been quite a few times in Las Vegas when she was practicing how to shadow travel. She still ends up sometimes in Egypt or Italy.

The last time Lilith ended up in New Rome, the girl was devastated that she couldn't go back and meet them. Meet her friends.

Lilith was deep in thoughts that she didn't even noticed the others stopped at some really expensive looking hotel.

Lilith darted her attention from her friends to the hotel. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting 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.

"Weird." Lilith muttered.

Annabeth looked at her friend, "Something wrong, Lils?"

The Nightangel girl gave the blonde a confused shrug, "Remember when I accidentally shadow travelled here?"

"Yeah."

"This hotel wasn't there. I took a whole tour of this city. "

"Maybe they built it after you left." Grover suggested.

"Maybe." Though the Nightangel girl was still suspicious about this heaven looking place.

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

Percy nodded, "we’d love to come in."

Lilith's friends moved inside the hotel but she was still suspicious, her eyes scanning each and every corner.

The doorman looked at her, smiling. "Come inside kid. Don't wanna be left behind, right?"

Lilith narrowed her eyes at him but moved inside to her friends.

Inside, the whole lobby was a giant game room. Not some cheesy old Pac-Man games or slot machines.

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 were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV.

Lilith noticed that 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 you can imagine.

"Hey!" a bellhop said. 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."

Percy stammered, "Um, but…"

"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill’s taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up 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."