A Little More Than A Daydream

❂ Chapter Nine ❂

We stopped at a beach in Santa Monica that Percy needed to go to. Something about summons from his father. We followed Percy to the beach, but when he started walking into the water; none of us followed.

Annabeth and Grover talked together while Will and I played tick tack toe in the sand. It was some time before Percy surfaced, holding three pearls. And after the few days we had had, it was nice to spend some time just sitting in the setting sun, relaxing.

We thought about camping on the beach during the night, but with our deadline so close, we decided to work through the night. It was strange. As we walked into L.A., I grew more and more tired. Will looked as if he was about to drop off too.

I guess Annabeth was right, I realized. Me and Will are no good during the night.

Our father was the god of the sun, so it kind of made sense, but it didn't make me feel any better about it, or any less tired.

We walked reasonably quickly, trying to find DOA Recording Studios, which was where the entrance to the underworld was. When Percy had mailed off Medusa's head back at her lair, he had seen an address slip with that information on it. Good thing he had, because I couldn't remember where it was. Sometimes my memory was good, but sometimes it was terribly unhelpful.

We didn't bump into anything, which struck me as quite odd. But I was too tired to think properly.

While Percy, Annabeth and Grover went to persuade Charon to take them to the underworld, Will and I quickly collapsed on the sofas. It must have been clear that we weren't going to make it any further, because when Will and I woke up, the others were gone.

Charon was back though and was giving us odd looks. Will and I waved goodbye and quickly exited the DOA Recording Studios before Charon made sure we would never leave.

"Well... I wonder how the others are doing" Will looked at me guiltily.

I bit my lip. "I hope they're okay. I can't believe that we just fell asleep" I bit my lip.

"I can...." Will admitted. "Apollo's kids just don't do well at night time."

"Hopefully they will get out safely." I looked across the street. "C'mon, there is a park right there. We can sit there and figure out a plan."

I searched my backpack as we sat down, wondering if there was anything I could do. I found the glass prism that Luke had given me and felt a twinge of guilt. I had only Iris Messaged Luke once, and that was with the entire group. And that was before we had got stuck in the Lotus Casino, so while it only felt like a couple of days, for him, it was an entire week. A lot of stuff could happen in a week.

Will was busy feeding the ducks, so I went over to the fountain in the center of the park and chucked a drachma into the mist where I could see a rainbow.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please show me Luke, wherever he is" I asked.

Luke's face appeared in the fountain, and I prayed that no mortal could see the iris message. Luke's face lit up when he saw me, but then he frowned.

I flinched. "Hi, Luke. Sorry, we got stuck in the Lotus Casino for five days, home to the Lotus Eaters" I apologized.

Realization crossed his face "That's why I haven't heard from you the past few days."

"Yeah..." I quickly summed up what had happened. After that, Luke and I just chatted together until the iris message faded, at which point, we said goodbye. I walked back over to Will, who seemed to know exactly what I had been doing.

Will sighed, looking up at the sun. "It's already nine in the morning. They should be back by now!"

I sighed. "I know. But there's nothing we can do. Charon won't be bribed twice, and even if we do get in, we won't know where they are."