The Heroes of Olympus: The Black Swordsman

Kirito

Las Vegas was more like a theme park then a city. Everywhere there were lights, and attractions. In fact I was wondering whether there were any actual residential areas. As Darren drove down the street past the multiple casinos, all I could do was stare at everything, and I mean everything.

"Uh.. Is there anything here that isn't a casino?" I asked.

"Some stuff," Hazel said with a matter of fact voice. I looked at her.

"You've been here before?"

Hazel nodded. "Once, with Percy and Annabeth. We stayed at an old hotel where we were nearly killed by a couple of gorgons."

"Yeah..let's not stay here." I said.

"No choice, "Darren said. "We can't teleport for another 17 hours, and either we stay here over night and then drive to our destination, or we drive there and sleep in the desert."

"Where is the teleport point?" Hazel asked curiously.

"It says on the GPS that it's right outside of town in some gas station parking lot. Supposedly it's going take us right to Colorado Springs, but since it's not that long of a drive where we need to take 17 hours, I would rather stay at a hotel-"

"A hotel in Vegas ?" Hazel exclaimed. "No way, we are going to find a plain motel."

From Hazels expression I took it that Hazel had more then just gorgon problems at the Hotels here. I looked out the window to try and see if I could find a motel. But this was one of Las Vegas's many entertainment districts. That meant the chances of finding a motel here were nope, nada, zip. But since it was still early in the day, we decided that it wasn't a huge issue yet. So we decided to look for a diner instead. I checked my backpack in the area where I usually kept cash. "Um guys, I hope one of you has cash cause....."

"No worries,"Darren said. "We have cash funds from camp, it's not much, but as long as we stick to something cheap, I think we'll be fine."

Something cheap huh? I immediately saw something that fit the bill perfectly. "Anyone up for donuts?" I pointed at a sign that said Monster Donut.

"Definitely not those Donuts", Hazel said after she took a look at that sign.

"You sure? I've been there before and they definitely sell cheap..."

" Trust me Kirito, we would better off at McDonalds." And speak of the devil..

"Hey look," Darren said excitedly. "McDonalds!" Sure enough I saw the double gold arches in the distance.

"Okay, I am pretty sure that restaurant wasn't there before." Hazel said with unease.

"Really?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure it was always there."

"Yeah, "Darren said. "It's been there like forever."

"Hold up!!" Hazel looked bewildered. "Have any of you actually been to Vegas?"

"Nope"

"Never"

The hairs on the back of my neck seemed to rise a few feet. What the heck? For a moment it felt like I had always known that McDonalds, even though I was pretty sure even with I amnesia that I had never been here before. And it hadn't been one of those normal déjà vu feelings either. It felt like that I had lived in that McDonalds. Darren must have had a similar experience. Because he had an expression on his face that said 'holy cow that was freaky'.

"Umm..that was a little weird." Darren said.

"It's the Mist trying to trick us." Hazel said. "Let's just find a Wendy's or something."

Me and Darren muttered in agreement and instead of turning into the McDonalds parking lot we kept driving on. Eventually I pointed out what looked like an Arby's, so we turned into it. That's when looked around to find that we had just turned into the McDonalds that we were pretty sure we had left behind.

"Your kidding me." I said as my jaw started to drop.

"But we passed it." Darren said. "I know we did!!"

"Darren don't park," we need to get out of here." Hazel said frantically.

"I can't stop it, the car is moving on its own!"

Sure enough, no matter how hard Darren was pulling on that steering wheel, it seemed to move on its own. Seriously freaky. The car parked in an empty space, next to an old SUV. The gear switched to park and our doors flew open. In the distance, the front doors of the McDonalds did the same.

"What should we do?" Darren looked pale as he said this.

"This feeling... I know this feeling."Hazel said. "Come on, let's go in."

I looked at Hazel feeling that the Mist must have addled her mind. "What?"

"Trust me." Hazel said. "Whatever is in there doesn't want to kill us...probably."

Before I could try to change her mind, Hazel got out of the car and began walking towards the McDonalds. Me and Darren got out of the car to follow, as we got out, I took Elucidator with me. No use going for a creepy Misty Big Mac without something to defend myself with. The closer we got to the entrance of the McDonalds, the thicker the Mist seemed to get until I could actually see it twisting around like a thick fog around my legs. By the time we got into the fluorescent lit restaurant, it was like the floor had a fog machine. No one was currently inside except the cashier. The cashier in question was a beautiful woman with golden hair tied in a high pony tail Ancient Greek style. She wore your typical McDonalds employee uniform.

"Hello children." The woman said with a small smile. "May I take your order?"

I just gaped and stared. Darren pointed and said, "I-I saw you- you.." Hazel on the other hand..

"Guys, this is Hecate, Goddess of Magic."

Hecate smiled. " I have been waiting for you Kazuto Kirigaya. Now would you like to order something?"