GOLDEN | annabeth chase

xi

IT WAS ALL ANNABETH'S IDEA, EVE COULD NOT HAVE TAKEN CREDIT FOR IT EVEN IF SHE WANTED TO.

she loaded them into the back of a vegas taxi as if they actually had money, and told the driver, "los angeles, please."

the driver chewed his cigar and sized them up. "that's three hundred miles. for that, you gotta pay up front."

"you accept casino debit cards?" annabeth asked.

he shrugged. "some of' em. same as credit cards. i gotta swipe 'em through, first."

annabeth handed him her green lotuscash card. 

he looked at it sceptically.

"swipe it," annabeth invited.

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. he looked back at them, his eyes wide. "where to in los angeles... uh, your highness?"

"the santa monica pier." annabeth sat up a little straighter. 

eve could tell she liked the "your highness" thing. 

"get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

"and you can swipe mine too!" eve showed him her own lotuscash card.

maybe they shouldn't have told him that.

the cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the mojave desert.

on the road, they had plenty of time to talk. percy told them about his latest dream, but the details were sketchy- the lotus casino must've messed with his memory.

he couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, yet he told them firmly it was someone he knew. the servant had called a monster in the pit something other than "my lord"... some special name or title...

"the silent one?" annabeth suggested. "the rich one? both of those are nicknames for hades."

"maybe..." percy said, though it seemed like neither sounded quite right to him.

"that throne room sounds like hades's," grover said.
that's the way it's usually described."

percy shook his 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."

"i think percy's right-" eve realised. "why would hades of all people need to speak to his servant from a pit?"

annabeth's eyes widened.

"what?" they both asked at the same time.

"oh... nothing. i was just – no, it has to be hades. maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong –"

"like what?"

"i – i don't know," she said. "but if he stole zeus's symbol of power from olympus, and the gods were hunting him, i mean, a lot of things could go wrong. so this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. anyway, he failed to bring it to hades. that's what the voice said in your dream, right? the guy failed. that would explain what the furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

eve wasn't sure what was wrong with her. she looked pale.

"but if i'd already retrieved the bolt," percy said,"why would i be travelling to the underworld?"