Changing the Future

Chapter 18

When I dropped onto the sidewalk in Vegas, a gift box in my hand, no one paid me much attention. Trust me, there were much weirder things happening in the middle of the street than a girl walking out of the shadows.

I stared at the box in my hand, sure that it hadn't been there when I left the Underworld. But I saw the little tag that read "Father" in Hades' elegant handwriting, and I knew he'd given me the box. Judging from its size, I figured there was a gift for both Nico and Bianca in there.

As I walked into the Lotus Hotel and Casino, I was immediately greeted by one of the bellhops, dressed in a green suit with gold epaulettes, reminding me of Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya De la Rosa Ramirez from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

Yes, I committed his entire name to memory.

No, I'm not sorry about that.

Anyways, the Esteban look-alike smiled at me, revealing his perfect teeth. I want in on these guys' dental plan, seriously. He even tipped his green cap at me before producing a silver and green Lotus Cash Card from his jacket. Luckily for me, I'd been here enough times that he didn't need to say anything, merely stepping aside and gesturing to the game room behind him.

Despite having been here a couple times, the game room managed to take my breath away. There were five different water slides than ran the length of the entire room, which was about the size of five football stadiums put back to back. Every type of video game filled the floor, something that would've made every single Chuck E. Cheese and Dave and Busters green with envy.

There was a huge dance floor, too, the floor itself made of these white bricks that lit up in time with the music's beat. Pressed against the wall were more classic card games, each semicircle taking up a good chunk of space. Everywhere you went, you'd bump into people dancing or playing games, generally having a good time, completely ignorant about the fact that time was speeding by outside the building.

I promise you, in the fifteen minutes that I've been here, a day has already passed by in the mortal world.

Clutching to the box so it wouldn't get knocked out of my hand, I jostled my way through the crowd, making sure no one spilled anything on the nice wrapping paper. I smiled down at the wrapping paper, surprised that Hades had actually taken an idea of mine to heart.

See, the first time I'd been sent to bring the di Angelos a gift from their father, Hades had wrapped the box in blood red wrapping paper with the Furies covering the paper, their fiery whips creating a pattern that resembled barbed wire.

"Do you think they'll open something that looks like this?" I had asked Hades, staring at the wrapping paper in horror and disgust. If someone gave me a present wrapped like that, I'd dispose of it ASAP.

"Do children not like Furies anymore?" Hades asked, genuinely curious. I bit back a laugh at the look of his face. He had been sure that he'd picked out the perfect wrapping paper.

"Not necessarily, my lord. Maybe something a little less frightening, perhaps?"

"And what do you propose?"

"Cartoon ghosts?" I shrugged. "You can't make them that scary, and it still represents you."

Hades has stared at me like I was crazy. I tried to explain the concept of Casper to him, which only resulted in a severely confused god and my trying not to burst out laughing. He'd then sighed and snapped his fingers, the paper melting into a generic stripe pattern, much to his chagrin.

The box I currently carried had the ghost wrapping paper I'd suggested, the ghost itself resembling the ghost emoji, which didn't exactly make sense in this timeline since the iPhone wouldn't be invented and sold until next year.