Well, sorry dear viewers that this took longer than I expected and it's still so short. Anyways, I got a new schedule by the way since three fanfics are gone and two have taken their place. Here it is!

Mortal Ties (Two Chapters)

Companion of Dragons (Two Chapters)

Phoenix Light

Child of the Moon

Forgotten and Betrayed

Chaos's Chosen

Demigods, Wizards and Magicians

The two chapter thing will stay until I see fit to remove it, if I ever will. See you all in Chapter 9! - Steven

Chapter 8: The Lotus Casino

Zack's POV

"Ow! Damn, that hurts." I said as Grover bandaged up my wound. We had headed off into the forest to rest for a bit while Grover healed me, although I did tell them I would be fine. However, they insisted so I decided just to give in. There was no point in arguing with them. Once Grover finished bandaging my wound, he gave me some nectar to drink. I drank that and almost immediately I felt my injury start to close up. "Well, let's continue on shall we?" I said. "Now that you're finished with this." I gestured to my shoulder.

"Yeah we are." Annabeth replied.

"Then let's go." Percy said. With that we kept walking west, through the forest and out. Eventually we took many buses and trains, burning through a lot of our cash, but we got pretty far and eventually we were now in Vegas. Don't ask how we got there through all of this. Just don't. Anyways, we were just three demigods and a satyr in Vegas, and we pretty much were looking for a place to crash down at for the night. We really couldn't find anything at first, especially since we were in Vegas, a place filled with expensive hotels and all that. With our meager supply of cash that we had left, we definitely weren't going anywhere with it. However, I was apparently mistaken, because we managed to get into one place, and I now that I think about it I am very embarrassed I didn't see it earlier. You see, while we were walking past this certain place, the bellhop standing in front of the door walked up to us and said, "Do you need somewhere to stay for the night? Come here! I'll even give you these." The bellhop offered us four green cards.

"What are these?" Percy asked.

"These are your cards for the casino of course! Now follow me, and I'll show you your rooms." With that the guy left, and as we went in, something was nagging at the back of my head, but I brushed it aside. I looked up to see the name of the casino, and I saw it. It was the Lotus Casino. Now, I know what you're thinking, first off, how did you guys get into a casino, and why did you even go in? Well geez guys I know, but for some reason even with my instincts screaming at me that something was up I just pushed them aside thinking like nothing was going on. The four of us entered the casino, and we all looked around in awe at the inside of this large building.

The place was jam packed with both people and many things to do. I saw a huge arcade, a pool and a whole other slew of stuff that you could during your stay. The bellhop lead us to an elevator and ushered us in. Once we all got in, he got in and pressed the button for floor 17. We headed upwards listening to music until the doors opened with a ding. The bellhop led the way through the hallway until eventually we reached four doors. "These are your rooms." he proclaimed. "Once you get settled in, you can come downstairs and do as you please. I hope you enjoy your stay." he said before he left, leaving the four of us alone.

"Well, might as well do what he said right?" Percy asked. Annabeth shrugged.

"Might as well. See you guys downstairs" she said before she went into her room. Me, Grover and Percy all did the same. Once I went in and closed the door, I turned around to have a look around at my room. It was pretty nice, with an large TV, a huge king-sized bed and a mini fridge. The place must have cost a fortune, but I suddenly had the thought about how we even got in. I just brushed it aside again before I left my stuff in the room and headed downstairs. I found Annabeth, Grover and Percy in the arcade, playing on the many selections of games in the place. Waiters walked around with trays of some kind of food or snack shaped in an lotus flower. They would walk around with those trays and offer them to the residents at the casino, and then walk off. My instincts screamed at me for the hundred time today that something was up, and by owe I had to admit I did feel the same way.

I racked my brain for any info I could come up with, trying to think of anything, when it suddenly clicked in an instant. In the Odyssey, Odysseus ended up at the island of the Lotus Eaters. If you ate the fruit that the trees there bore, you would feel like you want to live there forever. If everything got relocated from Greek mythology into modern times, why not the island? On top of that, everything here was related to lotuses. I immediately sprang into action at this revelation. I first found Percy, who was standing near a classic Pacman arcade looking thoughtful. "Oi, Perce!" I yelled as he looked up at me in surprise. Once I got to him, he said,

"Thank the gods you're here! I was just talking to a guy here. He seemed so strange, not understanding certain things I said. I got suspicious, so I asked him a question."

"What was it?" I asked, a cold dread creeping up my spine at Percy's words.

"I asked what year it was right now, and he said it was 1977. I went around and found another guy that said it was 1985. Another said 1993. They all said they were here for days, weeks at most." I paled.

"We gotta get Annabeth and Grover before we get out of here." I told Percy. "Go get Annabeth. I'll get Grover." He nodded before we both split, looking for our respective friends.

I found Grover playing an arcade game with a plastic gun, shooting who knows what. I just grabbed him and dragged him away from the place as he protested trying to get back to his game. I dragged him outside the arcade, where luckily Percy and Annabeth were waiting. "Percy explained everything to you right?" I asked Annabeth.

"He did. We better get out of here quick." she said. With that the four of us left the casino, while I still dragged Grover out. We got some weird looks from passerby since I was dragging Grover, but they left. Almost immediately Grover stopped struggling against my grip and I let go at that.

"What happened?" he asked. While Percy explained everything to Grover, I ran off to the nearest newspaper stand and looked at the newspaper there. Fearful of Percy's words when he talked to other residents of the casino, I looked at the date. Thankfully, the year was the same, but when my eyes travelled to the date, my heart skipped a beat. I didn't know what kind of sorcery this was, but it definitely wasn't good. It had been five days since we walked into the Lotus Casino. According to Annabeth, we had to finish the quest by the summer solstice, and that would be my the next day. I immediately started to run back to my friends, all the while praying to the gods that we could find the bolt and deliver it back to Zeus before World War III broke out and destroyed the world.