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All rights go to Rick Riordan.



Prologue:



We Take A Zebra To Vegas



We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino.



"Oh no." Nico paled.

"What?" Jason asked.

"You'll see, just-don't ever go in there." Nico said mystifying the Romans.



The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out,



"Definitely not out." Nico whispered, but everyone heard him.

Why? What's wrong? They wondered.



But the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers-lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure.



"Lucky you." Came Nico's sarcastic words.

"Seriously. What's up?" Gwen asked.

"Nothing."



The Doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"



"No." Nico scowled unknowingly drawing shadows near causing people to scoot away in fear.



I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal.



"Maybe he is but the place isn't." By now the Romans were getting frustrated. They wanted to know what was going on but Nico wouldn't tell them anything!



One look at him, and I could see.



"He just said, 'You just couldn't tell.'" Dakota pointed out. Gwen hit his head.



Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in. Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said,

"Whoa."



"Yeah, whoa." Nico grouched.



The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac Man games or slot machines. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. And no waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.



"Awesome!" People yelled.

"/Not /awesome." Nico corrected.

"Why not? You're crazy!" Somebody yelled.

"Fine. You go. See you next century."

"What?"

"Nothing. Just ... trust me." That made the Romans pause. That was /the whole point of reading this book, but Nico wasn't even there yet. How would he/ know?

"Fine."

Nico smiled a small smile surprising the Romans. Maybe we /were wrong. /They thought grudgingly. /Maybe./Whatever.



"Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with Lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

I stammered, "Um, but..."

"No, no," he said, laughing."The bill's taking care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 400I. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your Lotus Cash cards. They work in the restaurants and on the games and rides."



"That was weird."

"Yeah. Weird."



He handed us each a green plastic credit card.

I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids. But I took the card and said, "How much is on here?"

His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"

He laughed. "Oh, you're making ajoke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay.""



"What's going on?" Asked Frank.

"Read, and find out."

"You're starting to get really annoying."

Nico just shrugged.



We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this.



"Awesome! Come on, even if it is atrap you have to admit that's cool."

"It was pretty cool." Nico allowed. Was? He was there? They thought he learned about the hotel from stories not actually being there! No wonder he hates it so much. Wonder what happened.



"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said."This place is..."

"Sweet," Grover said."Absolutely sweet."

There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I found, thinking that this was a little strange.



"But you didn't question it?" Jason asked.

"It was his first quest on his first year of being a demigod. Well, knowing at least." Nico defended.

"But wouldn't that be even more strange in the mortal world?" Jason pointed out.

"Depends."

"On..."

Nico just shrugged.



I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can.



The Romans gasped.

"You don't throw away gifts from the gods!"

Nico just sighed.

"From what I understand he's always had problems with authority."

Reyna frowned. They didn't have room for rebels in New Rome.



Wouldn't need that anymore. When we left, I could just charge a new one at the hotel store.

I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three cokes,



"Pepsi's better!" Dakota exclaimed.

"No one cares," Gwen rolled her eyes.

"...and even if they did everyone knows Coke is the best."

Dakota looked at her scandalized and betrayed as Gwen stuck her tongue out at him.



and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. In the back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me.



"Yeah. Some /small /problem." Nico said.



I'd had a dream or something...I needed to talk to my friends. But I was sure it could wait.



"Knowing you probably not." Nico stated.

"Do you know who's thoughts we're reading?" Jason asked.

"I have a pretty good idea."



I came out of the bedroom and found the Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.

"All those stations," I told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"



"Of course focus on /that/!" Nico yelled exasperated.

"All these little hints and clues that something is wrong, but no! Don't pay attention to those! Annoying Annabeth, that definitely takes precedent!"

"Are you okay?" Hazel asked.

"/Fine/. He just makes me so mad sometimes."



"It's interesting."

"I feel good," Grover said."I love this place."



"Not for long you won't."



Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.



"Hey! How did they get a pair of dad's shoes!" The children of Mercury frowned.



"So what's now?" Annabeth asked."Sleep?"



"With them? Never."

"Nico! Stop randomly commenting unless you plan on explaining." Hazel commanded.



Grover and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic Lotus Cash cards.

"Play time," I said.



"Of course, " Frank rolled his eyes.



I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video. A five-star Vegas hotel? Forget it.



"That's still fun." Someone said.



I bungee-jump the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing-where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks.



"Satyrs." Nico mumbled. No one heard him.



I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff.



Annabeth! You're supposed to be making sure Percy doesn't mess up! Not playing games! Nico mentally scolded.



They had this huge 3-D sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it.



Nico rolled his eyes. Of course she did.



I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong.

Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at the VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen,



Probably not.



I guess, but his clothes were weird. Ithought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and ared t-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girls on homecoming night.



"Ewwwwwww!" Someone shrieked.

"That is so last century!"

Venus kids. Everyone thought.



We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here 2 weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."



"What?"

Finally!



"/Groovy?"/



"Exactly!"



Later while we were talking, I said something was "sick," and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before.



Probably not.

"Weird."



"He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen.

I said, "Hey, Darrin?"

"What?"

"What year is it?"

He frowned at me. "In the game?"

"No. In real life."

He had to think about it."1977."

"No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really."

"Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."

After that he totally ignored me.



"Is he serious? This is from our time right?" A person asked.

"Yes to both. Just listen." Nico answered.



I started talking to people, and found it wasn't easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video games, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. They all claimed they hadn't been in here for very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn't know and they didn't care.



"Ok what is/ /going on?!" Dakota freaked.

"Wait." Nico was really starting to annoy the Romans.



Then it occurred to me: how long had Ibeen here? It seemed only a couple of hours, but was it?



'Bout time! Get out Percy!



I tried to remember why we were here. We were going to Los Angeles we were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld.



"What?!" The Romans screamed.

"What's wrong with the Underworld?" Nico an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" They said hastily.

"Hmph. Whatever."



My mother...for a scary second, I had trouble remembering her name. Sally. Sally Jackson.



"What? I thought this was in Nico's point of view." Reyna interrupted herself.

"No. I think this is my cousin's'point of view." Nico guessed.

"Then what does it have to do with you if you're not there?" Jason wondered.

"Just because he didn't see me, or know me yet, doesn't mean I wasn't there" Nico said.

"You make it sound so creepy." Dakota mumbled.

"Not back then."

"What?"

"Well I wasn't always like this."

"You weren't?"

"No!" Nico snapped.

"What were you like before?"

Nico turned red. "Nothing. You'll see."

"What happened?"

"I'm guessing that's what we're going to find out in the book if you would let me finish Dakota!" Reyna said.

"Fine."

Thank gods for her. Nico thought. I wonder if I was like that. I hope not. Question after question?That's just annoying.



I had to find her. I had to stop Hades from causing World War III.



Everyone looked at Nico who just shrugged.

"I didn't know yet."



I found Annabeth still building her city.

"Come on," I told her. We've got to get out of here."

No response.

"I shook her. Annabeth?"

She looked up, annoyed. "What?"

"We need to leave."

"Leave? What are you talking about?I've just got the towers-"



"Yes /leave. /Do it right /no/w!"

"Geez no need to scream in my ear!"

"OW! Hypocrite."

Flick!

"Ow! Ok sorry."

Smirk.



"This place is a trap."

She didn't respond until shook I her again. "What?"

"Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!"

"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes."

"Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever!"



"Wow."

"Wait a minute. Nico, didn't you say you were in there to?" Jason asked. Nico nodded.

"How long were you in there?" Hazel asked.

Nico shook his head.

"I'm sure you'll find out later in the book. Besides it was only a few years."

"Years!?"

Nico just nodded and then went silent, leaving the Romans to think about what else they didn't know about Nico and how many of their assumptions and judgementations were wrong.



"So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?"



"Yes, at camp. At home?!"



I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.

"Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy.

I made her look directly in my eyes. Isaid, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders.

That jarred her.



"Finally!" Someone screamed.

"Must be a child of Minerva." Sometime else concluded.

"Athena." Nico corrected them.

"Didn't she swear to be a maiden forever?"Jason asked. "That's a serious vow to break."

Many of the Romans nodded.

"She didn't break it." Nico defended.

"Then how do you explain all her children?She has disgraced herself." Reyna said angrily.

"They're concern of thought." Nico said testily. "They pop out of her head, when she thinks deeply about someone she loves or respects, much like how she popped out of Zeus's head after he ate Metis."

The Romans looked shocked at the revelation, taking time to collect their thoughts they continued reading.



Her vision cleared. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we-"

"I don't know, but we've got to find Grover."

We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.

"Grover!" we both shouted.

He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"



Everyone was laughing.



"Grover!"

He turned the plastic gun on me and started cooking, as if I were just another image from the screen.



They laughed even harder at that.



I looked at Annabeth, and we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes spring to life and started talking his legs in the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"



"So dramatic!" Nico laughed. This was the first time the Romans had seen him laugh. It was nice. Sometimes they forgot he was just a kid to.



The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us."Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We are leaving," I told him.

"Such a shame," he said, and Igot the feeling that he really meant it, that we'd be breaking his heart if we went. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out the cards, and I wanted one.



"No!"



I knew that if I took one, I did never leave. I'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon I'd forget my mom, and my quest, and maybe even my own name. I'd be playing virtual rifleman with groovy Disco Darrin forever.



People shivered.



Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."

We walked toward the door, and as we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. I thought about our room upstairs. We could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once...



"Don't!"



Then we burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day we'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.



"Oh no." Hazel whispered.



Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was odd, because I was sure I had thrown it in the trash can in the room 400I, but at the moment I had other problems to worry about.



"Yes you do." Frank interjected.



I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in.



"Phew." People sighed.



Then I noticed the date: June twentieth.

We had been in the Lotus casino for five days. We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.



"At least it was the same year." Nico said.

POP!

A note fluttered down. Reyna picked it up.



-------------------------

Dear Demigods,

This next part does not involve Nico either, but it is important you understand. My brother is often misunderstood as well as his children.

- Sincerely Vesta/Hestia

-------------------------



"Ok, let's finish this section." Reyna began to read again.



We Find Out The Truth, Sort Of



Skipping Some Pages.



Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.

Hades bellowed, "Do you think I wantwar godling?"



"Yes." Someone muttered. Nico glared at them.



I wanted to say, well, these guys don't look like peace activists. But I thought that might be a dangerous answer.



"No shi-"

"Nico!"

He just rolled his eyes.



"You're the Lord of the Dead," I said carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right!"



Exactly everyone thought but no one dared say it by the look on Nico's face. It was as if he was daring them to say something.



"A typical thing for my brothers to say!Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"



The Romans were taken aback.



"Well..."

"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?"



The Romans were not expecting that.



I opened my mouth to respond, but Hades was on a roll now.

"More security ghouls," he moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson.



"Finally! A name!" Dakota crowed.

Everyone glared at him.

"Sorry. Sorry." He held his hands up splashing some Kool-Aid on Gwen, who just glared even harder.



I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"

"Charon wants a pay raise," Iblurted, just remembering the fact.



Nico face-palmed.

"So, not the time Perce."



As soon as I said it, I wishedI could sew up my mouth.



"That'd be good too." Nico said to the still shocked/confused Romans.



"Don't get me started on Charon!" Hades yelled. "He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead and just keep arriving. /N/o, godling. Ineed no help getting subjects. /I /did not ask for this war."



Skipping Sentences.



"You took the master bolt /and /my helm."



The Romans gasped.



Annabeth spoke. I could tell her mind was going a million miles an hour. "Lord Hades, your helm of darkness is missing, too?"

"I have said nothing of the Helms disappearance," Hades snarled, "because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. Ican ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. So I searched for you myself."

Some of the Romans were starting to feel bad about judging Hades. While others have different ideas. One in particular.

"He has to be lying. There's no way Hades is evil." He said. Nico stood up.

"My Dad is /not /evil! He's misunderstood. People think Hades is evil because they're afraid of death. But without death there isn't a balance. Life means nothing if it goes on forever. If you want to be happy you need to have things in your life worth dying for. If you live forever nothing will ever change. Except people will keep being born every day, every night, every minute, people will keep being born in the world and it will overpopulate. People would turn against each other fighting over space; killing everything in their path. Earth would be a war zone. Destruction would be everywhere and it would be eternal. Blood would be on the hands of everybody and we would descend into chaos. People are scared of death because they don't understand what would happen if they lived forever. They don't want to leave their loved ones. But it's something that has to be done. Ithought Romans weren't afraid of anything. They're supposed to be Proud, Strong, And Smart. If you can tell me one good reason why my dad is perceived to be evil please tell me."

The Romans looked down. So Nico continued.

"My dad was banished to the underworld because juice is too scared of the power that he has. But my dad never tried to take over Olympus ever. He's bitter because he was banished for no reason. Right out of the stomach of his father and right into another place full of fear and blood never able to come out without the permission of his family who abandoned him in first place. Family is supposed to be there for each other. The gods may be related to each other and they may be related to us but we are a long ways away from being a family. Don't judge people by what you hear. Listen to their side of the story too, before you make assumptions."

The Romans flinched under his glare.

"My Dad isn't the only misunderstood God either. What about Apollo? He's the God of prophecies and /knowledge/!He can see all the wrong with the world. Imagine knowing when every one of your children is going to die. Watching all the wars before they happen. Knowing when your best friend and your family is going to fade. Apollo acts like he does, so that he doesn't give in to misery."

The Sun shone brighter as if agreeing with Nico and the Romans looked down never have thinking about that.

"Same goes for Aphrodite. She can feel every heartbreak, every break up, every single sad moment in arelationship. Over half of the relationships in the world end in misery. She just has her own way of coping."

Nico looked around, pausing to catch his breath.

"Hera, I can't believe I'm defending her, has a similar situation. People think she's bitter because she hates demigods. But I think she has a right to. Watching your husband be disloyal to you for millennia over millennia well being the goddess of /marriage/would be really hard. All the divorces and half the stuff Aphrodite feels as well. Don't presume to know something you know nothing about." Nico finished as he sat down looking straight forward.

"Continue please."



I Settle My Tab



Skipping Stuff.



My trip through Olympus was a daze.



No one said anything about him being on Olympus still feeling a little guilty about Nico's rant.



Skipping Sentences.



I climbed the main road, toward the big palace at. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld. There, everything has been black and bronze. Here, everything glittered white and silver.

I realized Hades must have built his palace to resemble this one. He wasn't welcomed in Olympus except on the winter solstice, so he built his own Olympus underground. Despite my bad experience with him, I felt a little sorry for the guy. To be banished from this place seemed really unfair. It would make anybody bitter.

"-That's it" Reyna finished.

The Romans were still down. Especially about the part where he said they were supposed to be strong and smart.

"I think you should read the next chapter to. We can each read two at a time." Nico suggested. "Don't worry about what I said. I only know one other human or demigod who figured it out on their own."

"Who?" Hazel asked.

"My cousin. The one who's point of view were reading from. His name is Percy. He's really good at reading people and keeping secrets. He's a really good friend and very understanding. Forgave me for a lot of stuff." Nico mumbled that last part. "He figured it out all by himself because he sees the best in people and understands. But don't ever tell him I said that!"

Hazel laughed. It was like her mood was contagious. Suddenly all the Romans felt a little better.

"Okay, let's continue reading." Frank suggested.

"Okay." Reyna said.

My Rescue Operation Goes Very Wrong