After he leaves... he stiffened as memories instantly started coming back to him, memories of the quest, of a possible WWIII, Andromeda's mum, the Underworld, everything.
'Shit! This place must have some kind of enchantment!' Jakob thought.
"I better go. See you." Jakob said, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Bianca called, causing him to look at her. "You never told me your name."
"Jakob!" The Son of Thor said before dashing off to find his friends.
"Jakob..." Bianca whispered, a small smile blooming on her face as she found she liked the name.
"I like him." Nico commented. "He seems cool."
"Yeah, he does." Bianca nodded in agreement, hoping that she'll see him again one day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mimir, what is going on?" Jakob demanded of the head as soon as he was away from Bianca and Nico, startling the head.
"Wha-Oh. Oh!" Mimir's eyes widened as he was hit by the same realization. "This must be the Lotus Hotel! I've heard of this place. It was created by the Lotus-eaters with the intention that anyone entering would never want to leave. The hotel lures kids inside with addictive games, food, and other activities, combined with the unlimited money on plastic cards. Guests seem to never age because time is severely dilated, elapsing at a much slower rate than it passes in the outside world."
Jakob's eyes widened. "We could've been in here for months and not even know it!"
"Aye! Find the others and get out of this place. As soon as possible." Mimir said seriously.
As soon as Mimir finished saying that, a voice called out. "Jakob!"
The Son of Thor turned and saw Andromeda running over to him. "Andie! We need tio get out of this place. Now."
"Yeah, i know!" Andromeda nodded "I've ran into people who think it's the 1970s."
"This is the Lotus Hotel." Mimir explained. "A concoction by the Lotus eaters with the intention that anyone entering would never want to leave. You could be in here for an hour or two and a day or more can go by outside without you even knowing it."
"Let's find the others and get out of this place." Jakob said, Andromeda nodding in agreement.
They met up with Grover and Annabeth as they headed to the exit.
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to meet them. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
He held out the cards but Jakob strode up, grabbed the bellhop and gave him a hard headbutt that knocked the guy out, causing the others' eyes to widen.
"No." Was all Jakob said as he made his way out, the others quickly following him.
They burst the doors of the casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same day they'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with lightning flashing out on the desert.
Ares's backpack was slung over Andromeda's shoulder, which was odd, because she was sure she had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001, but now she had other problems to worry about.
Andromeda ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when they went in. Then she noticed the date: June twentieth.
They had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.
They had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete the quest to stop WWIII from happening...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was Annabeth's idea.
She loaded them into the back of a Vegas taxi, as if they had enough money to pay for it. Well, Jakob might have some money, but not enough for a taxi. Annabeth told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."
The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."
"You accept casino debit cards?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe them first."
Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.
He looked at it skeptically.
"Swipe it," Annabeth insisted.
He did.
His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally, an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.
The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth.
The driver looked back at them, his eyes wide. "Where to Los Angeles… uh, your Highness?"
"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat a little straighter. They could tell she liked the 'Your Highness' thing. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."
The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.
On the road, they had plenty time to talk. Andromeda told them about her latest dream, but the details got a bit sketchier the more she tried to remember. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited her memory. She couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, but it was familiar somehow.
The servant had called the monster something other than 'my lord'… some special title or something…
"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."
"Maybe…" Andromeda said, though neither sounded quite right.
"That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."
Andromeda shook her head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit… I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."
Jakob's eyes widened as he connected the dots. Dark pit... evil voice that doesn't sound like a god's...
"What?" Andromeda asked Annabeth and Jakob, seeing their similar expressions.
"Oh, nothing," Annabeth answered. "I was just – No, it has to be Hades."
"No, it wasn't." Jakob said seriously, realizing he was right. Hades couldn't be behind all of this.
"No! It-it has to be Hades. You said the servant failed, right? So, the bolt is still out there. He must think we have it. It would explain the Furies coming after us." Annabeth tried to explain all this while paling rapidly.
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