Back To Black | Luke Castellan

14

Nadia stood in the lobby and stood with Annabeth, staring at the doors as they waited for Percy. After a few minutes he came by and stood next to them. "We have a huge problem." He said and looked at them.

"I know it seems like we've only been here for like 20 minutes, but it's already Thursday. We've been here for days. Time moves differently here. Faster. Every second in here is like minutes outside." Percy explained.

"Hermes let us sit at that table the whole time, knowing the clock was running out on our quest." Annabeth said and Percy nodded. "Yes."

"Then I feel a lot better about having stolen his keys." She said holding them up. "Exactly." Percy said and he looked at her. "Wait, what?"

"Got invisible. Picked his pocket."

"You picked Hermes's pocket?" Percy asked her. She put her hand down. "I'm multi-talented." She said and Percy smiled. "Now, all we have to do is find his car and it'll instantly teleport us anywhere we wanna go." Annabeth said.

"We still have time to finish this quest before the solstice, if we hurry." Nadia said. He looked at her. "Hermes told me something else. The reason we can't feel time passing is because of the lotus fruit." Percy said.

"We didn't eat any lotus fruit."

"They pump it into the air. It makes you forget. Hermes reminded me there was something we needed to do before we could leave." He said.

"Grover." Annabeth said and Nadia follow where she was looking. "Who's Grover?" He asked and Nadia nodded her head. Percy turned around to see they were looking at a satyr.

"Grover. I remember Grover. Man, Grover got really old." Percy said, looking at him. "How long have we been here?"

"Hey!" Annabeth called out walking towards him and Nadia and Percy followed her and they walked up to him. "We're looking for our friend, a satyr. Have you seen him?" She asked.

The man didn't say anything but his face said something else. "Where is he?" Percy asked as the man started to run. "Wait!" Percy shouted running after him. Annabeth grabbed Nadia and they ran the other way.

Percy managed to get it out of him and he told them where they could find him. They walked around to the video games, where Nadia was originally, talking to a kid that she met. She wondered if he found his sister. She should have asked him what his name was.

But after looking around they found him, playing with vr headsets. They looked at each other and walked up to him. "Grover?" Percy asked and nudged his bag.

He flinched and turned around. "Grover?" He asked and Percy stepped on the platform and took the headset off of him and stepped back down.

Grover looked at the three of them.  "I was so close." He said. "I know, I hate it when someone does that to me. And I can't believe I'm the one saying this, but it's really time to go." Percy said.

"Of course. Where are we going?" He asked them. "You don't know who we are, do you?" He asked.

"Yeah. No, I don't. Have we met?" Grover said, putting his hand out. Percy took it. "Percy. Annabeth. Nadia. We're your best friends."

"Really?" He asked. "Oh, boy. Grover, we're on a quest. We can't do this without you. We're short on time, and we gotta go. Right now." Percy explained to him.

"A quest? That sounds amazing!" He said, unzipping his vest and taking it off. "But is it dangerous? It's not a dealbreaker, I'm just curious."

Grover looked at Annabeth. "Also, I'm sorry, what was your name again?" He asked.

Nadia and Percy managed to get Grover out of the casino and they all went to the parking garage and walked around, trying to find Hermes car.

Nadia took notice of all the different vehicles from different time periods.

"Okay, god of travelers. What kind of car does the god of travelers have?" Percy asked as they walked. "Guys, I gotta say, so far, this quest is really exciting. Really hoping we find the car." Grover said.

Nadia looked at him. "Finding the car isn't the quest." She said to him. "There's more?" He asked and Nadia shook her head. "Jeez. We'll explain it to you on the way. We're in a bit of a hurry." Percy said.

Annabeth and Nadia walked ahead and they found his car. A cab, of course Hermes drove a cab.

Annabeth grabbed a note that was on the windshield. "Guys!" She called out at the boys walked over to them.

"Hermes drives a cab?" Percy asked. "And left us a note." She said to him. "How do we know that's for us?" He asked.

Annabeth turned it so the three of them could read it. To the dumb kids. "Cute." Nadia said rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. 

"Should've known the god of thieves noticed his pocket getting picked." She said opening the letter and reading it. "Back door to the underworld, magic word, map in the glove box. And it says we'll become travelers once we're on the road." She read off.

Annabeth looked up at them. "And then the car will take us wherever we wish to go."

"So, one of us just had to drive it out of the garage." Percy said and they looked at Grover and he noticed. "Oh, I'm still not 100% sure what we're doing here, which seems disqualifying."

"Yeah." Percy said and they looked at Nadia.

"No, I am not getting behind the wheel. I don't like cars. Not since my mom died. And I wouldn't trust me operating one." Nadia said.

Percy nodded and they looked at him. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. I mean... I killed the Minotaur on my first try, right? How hard could this be?" He asked throwing the keys in his hand and catching them. 

Percy got in the front seat and Annabeth got in the passenger seat, while Grover and Nadia got in the back seat. He started the car and pressed on the gas petal and they crashed into the pillar In front of them.

"My fault. That was me." Percy said and they looked at him. "No shit." Nadia said, holding on to Annabeth's seat.

"How do you make it go backwards?" He asked, swinging the gears and stepped on the pedal and crashed into the pillar behind them.

"You're going great." Grover said.

"Maybe try aiming for the middle." Annabeth said and he stepped on the gas and kept stopping and going. "Look, you're welcome to give this a try." Percy said to her and she shook her head.

They drove a bit and a car drove in front of them, thinking their horn and Percy slammed on the breaks and looked at the car.

"That guy didn't even slow down!" Percy said, angrily and pressed the horn. "Okay, keep going. Up to the street." Annabeth said and crept forward.

He shortly stopped and they looked ahead to see a curved ramp as an exit. "It's okay, you've got this." Annabeth told him. "Percy, go slow this time." Nadia said and he nodded and stepped on the gas.

He turned the corner slowly and they all smiled in relief. Percy was looking over at Annabeth, not knowing that he was scrapping the wall until it was too late.

"Pay attention, you idiot!" Nadia shouted and Percy turned the wheel and straighter the car out, and they swerved and hit the cones, and he turned the wheel again.

Percy then drove through the checking out pole and they made it out to the street and they looked to see a truck coming at them.

Nadia put her head between her arms, waiting for the impact only for it not to come and the car stopped. "Where are we?" Percy asked.

"Turn off the lights." Annabeth told him and he did. The three of them stepped out of the car but Nadia didn't. Annabeth noticed and she opened her door to see her bawled up.

"Nadia. It's okay. We're okay." Annabeth said, putting a hand on her shoulder and she flinched. "Just give me a minute." She said and Annabeth walked away from her and three of them went to the front of the car.