The Lightning Thief: Apollo's Daughter

Lotus Casino

Percy's POV

I honestly wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes and make a new plan for getting west. We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking.

No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers. The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?" I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. But this guy was normal. 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 Skyler said, "Whoa." 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.

 Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine. It was like some kind of dream come true.

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

"Uh...we're not staying that lon-" Skyler tried to stammer out

"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. 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 LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He handed Skyler four green plastic credit cards. I knew there must be some mistake. He must have thought she was some millionaire's kid and we were her friends. But she took the cards hesitantly "How much is on here?" She asked slowly.

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

"She means, when does it run out of cash?" Annabeth asked.

He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."  He said, walking away from us.

"That was..." Grover started.

"Odd?" Annabeth asked.

"Insane?" Skye asked, looking down at the credit cards before passing them out amongst us. "Come on, we just got handed unlimited cash in this place and we have a room with beds. Let's enjoy it for a bit." She said, looking towards the elevator.

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.