Las Vegas is a mirage. It rises out of the desert like a neon fever dream, promising everything and delivering nothing but a headache.
We stumbled out of the Kindness International truck on the outskirts of the Strip. We released the animals—I personally ripped the padlock off the lion's cage and watched him terrify a group of tourists—but now we were wandering.
"I'm done," I groaned, kicking a pebble. "We have no plan, barely any money, and I smell like a zoo."
"We need a place to rest," Annabeth said, wiping grime from her face. "Just for an hour."
That's when we saw it. The Lotus Hotel & Casino.
It didn't look like the other gaudy hotels. It was sleek, inviting, and the air conditioning blasting out the front doors felt like the breath of an angel. The doorman smiled at us. He didn't see three dirty runaways. He saw guests.
"Welcome," he said, handing us plastic key cards. "Platinum access. Enjoy your stay."
We walked in.
The lobby was a sensory overload. Gold pillars, velvet carpets, and the smell of lotus flowers and expensive perfume.
"Whoa," Grover bleated.
"I'm going to find the buffet," I said, my stomach rumbling. "If I don't come back in ten minutes, tell my mother I died doing what I loved: eating steak."
The Perfect TrapThe Lotus Hotel knew me.
It didn't just have a buffet; it had a carnivore's paradise. Prime rib, wagyu burgers, endless fries. I ate until I couldn't breathe, and then I felt perfectly fine five minutes later.
Then, I found the Games Room.
It wasn't an arcade. It was a cathedral of violence. VR rigs that felt real. Shooting ranges with lasers. Boxing simulators with haptic feedback suits.
I strapped into a game called Titan Slayer.
I spent hours—or what felt like hours—destroying armies of monsters. I felt amazing. No hunger. No exhaustion. No Zeus yelling at me in dreams. Just pure, unadulterated dopamine.
I forgot about the Bolt. I forgot about the Quest. I forgot that my name was Valerius. I was just The Champion.
"New High Score," the machine chirped. "Play again?"
"Hell yes," I grinned.
The StagnationI don't know how long I was there. It felt like an afternoon.
I was sitting in a plush leather chair in the lounge, drinking a soda that tasted like liquid electricity. I was watching a game of Mythomagic being played by some kids on the floor.
I felt... good. But there was an itch in the back of my brain.
It's too easy, a voice whispered. You won every game. You ate every meal. There's no challenge here.
My Fatal Flaw—Boredom—was starting to backfire on the trap. The Lotus Casino kept you happy by giving you what you wanted. But I wanted struggle. I wanted to overcome something. Being handed victory on a silver platter was starting to feel hollow.
I looked at the kids playing cards.
One of them was a small boy, maybe ten years old. He had olive skin, floppy dark hair, and he was wearing a bomber jacket that looked like it was from a WWII movie. He was playing against a rich kid who looked bored.
"I summon the Skeleton King!" the little boy shouted, slapping a card down. "Attack power 5000!"
"Whatever," the rich kid said, walking away. "This game is for babies."
The little boy looked crestfallen. He sat there, holding his cards, looking lonely.
I sighed. I stood up and walked over.
"Hey, kid," I said, crouching down. "He forfeited. That means you win."
The boy looked up. His eyes were dark, almost black. They looked too old for his face.
"I guess," the boy muttered. "But Bianca went to the spa. I have no one to play with."
"I'll play a round," I said, sitting on the carpet. "Teach me the rules."
The Surprise EncounterThe boy's face lit up. "Really? Okay! It's called Mythomagic. I'm Nico."
"Valerius."
Nico di Angelo.
I didn't know the name. I didn't know that in a few years, this kid would be terrifying. Right now, he was just a geeky kid in a hotel.
We played. Nico was obsessed. He knew every stat of every god and monster.
"You should use this one," Nico said, handing me a card.
I looked at it. It was Zeus.
"The King of the Gods," Nico explained. "He has the highest attack stat. But..." Nico frowned.
"But what?" I asked.
"He has a special rule," Nico pointed to the fine print. "If you use his Ultimate Move, Lightning Storm, he damages his own teammates too. He wins, but he ends up alone on the board."
I stared at the card. The little illustrated Zeus looked angry. He looked like the giant in my dream.
He wins, but he ends up alone.
A chill went down my spine that had nothing to do with the A/C.
"That's a stupid rule," I muttered.
"It's balancing," Nico said innocently. "Bianca says power has a price. We've been here for a while, and she says the price is that we forget stuff."
"How long have you been here?" I asked.
Nico shrugged. "A few weeks? Maybe a month? We're waiting for our dad to come get us. He's a diplomat. He's very busy."
I looked at Nico's jacket. It was an aviator jacket. Real leather. The zipper was brass.
I looked at the card in his hand. It was an older edition. The artwork looked... vintage.
I looked at the newspaper sitting on the table next to us. LAS VEGAS SUN. The date read: June 20th.
June 20th.
We entered the casino on June 15th.
Five days.
My heart stopped. We had five days until the Solstice. We had just lost five days.
"Nico," I said, my voice trembling. "What year is it?"
Nico looked confused. "It's 1939. Obviously."
The world tilted.
This wasn't just a trap. It was a tomb. This kid had been here for seventy years. He was a ghost in the machine, frozen in time, waiting for a dad who was never coming.
And I was next.
"I win," I said, standing up abruptly. I dropped the Zeus card on the floor. "I'm done playing."
"Wait!" Nico called out. "Where are you going?"
"I have to go," I said, looking at the exit doors. They seemed miles away. "I can't end up alone on the board."
I looked at Nico one last time. I felt a pang of pity. I wanted to save him. But I couldn't. I didn't know how.
"Keep your deck, kid," I said softly. "You're gonna need it."
The BreakoutI ran.
The "Boredom" was gone. Replaced by sheer, cold panic.
I found Percy in the VR room. He was playing a jet-ski game.
"Percy!" I yelled.
"Not now, Val!" Percy laughed. "I'm about to unlock the Super Soaker upgrade!"
I didn't argue. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked. I used my strength. I ripped him out of the plastic seat.
"Hey!"
"We're leaving!" I roared. "It's been five days!"
"What? No, we just got here..."
I slapped him. Hard. Right across the face.
Percy blinked. The glaze over his eyes cracked. "Val? Why did you hit me?"
"Because you're drooling," I snapped. "Where's Annabeth?"
We found her building a holographic city in the architecture zone. She was muttering about structural integrity.
"Annabeth, move!" I grabbed her hand.
"Just one more tower..." she mumbled.
"No more towers!" I picked her up. Literally threw her over my shoulder like a sack of flour.
"Grover!" Percy yelled.
We found the satyr watching a reverse-hunting channel where the deer shot the rednecks.
I grabbed Grover by his arm.
"Run!" I ordered.
The hotel tried to stop us.
Waitresses appeared with trays of steaks. "Sir? Your ribeye is ready. Rare, just how you like it."
My stomach growled. It smelled perfect.
"It's fake!" I yelled, shoving the tray aside. "It's all fake!"
The doorman stepped in front of us. "Leaving so soon? You haven't even used your spa credits."
"Move," I growled.
"I can't let you do that, sir. You're Platinum members."
I didn't slow down. I lowered my shoulder.
I hit the doorman. He didn't feel like a person; he felt like a sandbag. He flew backward into the glass doors.
CRASH.
We burst out into the Las Vegas sunlight.
The Reality CheckThe heat hit us like a physical blow. The noise of the strip—cars, sirens, people—was overwhelming.
I dropped Annabeth. She stumbled, looking around wildly.
"What... what happened?" she asked.
I pulled the stolen credit card (from the Lotus) out of my pocket and checked the date on a nearby digital billboard.
June 20th. 4:00 PM.
"We have one day," I said, my voice hollow. "The Summer Solstice is tomorrow."
Percy looked at me, terrified. "We lost five days?"
"We almost lost seventy years," I whispered, thinking of Nico.
I looked at my hands. They were shaking. Not from fear, but from rage. I hated being tricked. I hated losing time.
"We need a car," I said, scanning the street. "And we need to drive to Los Angeles like the devil is chasing us."
"Because he probably is," Grover whimpered.
"Taxi!" Percy yelled, flagging down a cab.
We piled in.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
"Santa Monica Pier," I said. "And if you get us there before sunset, I'll give you this card with infinite money on it."
The driver looked at the Lotus Platinum card. His eyes widened.
"Buckle up, kids."
As the taxi sped away, I looked back at the Lotus Hotel. It shimmered in the heat, innocent and deadly.
I left him there, I thought. Nico.
I clenched my fist.
One day, I'm coming back to burn that place to the ground.