Stories from Camp Halfblood: Legends of the Heroes

by Amy Laine

The Lotus Hotel and Casino

  “Stay down,” Bianca di Angelo hissed to her little brother. Nico di Angelo looked up at his older sister with wide scared eyes. “What if the monsters come over here?”

  Bianca glanced over her shoulder. The monsters were coming down the alley now, following their scent. “They won’t,” Bianca promised, “Just stay down and cover yourself with these old boxes.” She pointed to the moldy cardboard boxes lying in the alley. They were crouched down behind them.

  The dracaenae female reptilian monsters slithered down the alleyway. “Come out children of Hades. We know you’re back here- we can smell you!” The lead dracaenae hissed.

  That was one thing Nico didn’t get. He peeped his head out from behind the boxes. “Hades? Like that Greek myth god- the one who rules the dead?” He asked out of curiosity.

  The monster nodded, baring her fangs. “You do not know who you are demigod?” She asked, surprised. Bianca tried to pull her brother back down, but he was stubborn. He came out from behind their safe shelter.

  “What are you? Are you those Greek monsters?”

  The dracaenae hissed uncertainly. There were only 2 of them, and they weren’t sure what they should do now. “We should kill them.” The smaller one said.

  “How do you know so much about us, if you don’t know what you are?” The first dracaenae demanded.

  Nico grinned showing off his two missing teeth. “I know all about the Greek gods and their enemies!” He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his Myth-o-magic cards, the card game he had been working on for a few months.

  “Is it true Zeus has a bucket of ‘bolts? Or does he only have one?”

  Bianca couldn’t sit there, while they tore her brother up. She revealed herself as well.

  The two snake women glared at the halfbloods. “Ridiculous boy! Of course he has the Master Bolt! Where are you learning that information?”

  Nico shuffled through his cards. “I don’t see you guys in my cards. What’s your attack power?”

  The monsters were getting impatient. “Impudence!” They shrieked in harmony. “Kill the offspring of Hades!”

  And with that the two dracaenae lunged for the two children. Bianca shoved her brother to the side, trying to get him to safety. “I wanna fight!” Nico protested crashing into the cardboard boxes.

  Bianca knew she couldn’t hold off these snake women. “Stay back!” She screamed. The knocked her to the ground easily. “I haven’t eaten in awhile. You’ll be the first in many decades.” The smaller dracaenae smiled evilly.

  Nico scrambled to his feet. “Stay away from my sister!” He commanded pointing his finger at the monsters. A force field of darkness left his hand and rippled to where the evil women stood.

  They flew backwards and slammed into the brick wall. Groaning they tried to stand up but Nico stood over them. “Go back to where you came from!” His voice quavered but in a poof! The two dracaenae disappeared.

  Bianca moaned from where she had hit the ground. She rubbed her head. “Nico?” She asked faintly. He ran to her side. “Are you okay?” He asked his sister worriedly.

  “How did you do that?” Bianca was stunned. She’d never seen her brother do that before, and it was kind of creepy.

  Nico shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m hungry…can we go eat somewhere?”

  As if by a sign they noticed a flyer taped in the alley.

  The Lotus Hotel and Casino:

  Food, warm place to stay, Free WiFi, & spa.

  Enjoy yourselves with our entertainment sources

  STOP BY TODAY! Located at 22cnd Avenue.

  Bianca shook her head. “No, Nico we can’t go there.” Nico looked up at her with his big pleading eyes. He was hungry, and cold. Besides, he liked the sound of ‘entertainment sources’.

  “One night?” He whimpered.

  Bianca hesitated. She looked at the flyer. The warm place to stay sounded nice. For the past week or so Nico and her had been doing their best to stay warm and always sleeping in uncomfortable places. Maybe, this was destiny.

  “Fine, we can go there. But only one night, got it?” Bianca decided. Nico put his Myth-o-magic cards back in his pocket. “Thank you! Thank you!” He cried jumping up and down with excitement.

  Nico di Angelo and his sister headed for 22cnd Avenue. Something bothered the young boy though. It seemed too good to be true. He got the sense the shadows were watching them.

  Go to the Lotus Casino, boy. In time, I will send someone to collect you. A voice breezed by Nico’s ear. He tensed, waiting for another monster. Nothing. Where had that voice come from? It sounded like someone he knew…and then he didn’t. He strained his memory but found nothing.

  They arrived at the hotel, cold and shivering. “Be polite,” Bianca said. “And maybe they’ll take pity on us and give us a free room.”

  A bellhop opened the door for them and led them into a giant crowd of people. “Ah!” The bellhop cried in delight, fixing his green cap. “Here are your premium room keys Mr. and Mrs. di Angelo.” He handed them neon green room keys.

  “These also work as cash cards, so you can pay for any food you would like. Your room is 411. The bill’s taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the first floor.” He paused to take a breath. “If you need anything, like more pillows, an extra bed, a massage…anything at all call down to the front desk.”

  Nico stared at him blankly. Bianca scratched her forehead but accepted the cash cards/room key. As they headed upstairs Nico glanced back at the Myth-o-magic comes to life game.

  “Can we come back down later?” He asked hopefully. Bianca nodded eyeballing the movie theater. “Definitely. I still don’t get though, why we just got in for free. It’s weird isn’t it?”

  Nico shrugged. “Who cares? We’re in, so we might as well enjoy it.” He unlocked the door to their suite.

  Inside the room was breath taking. There were two separate bedrooms- one for Nico and one for Bianca. There was a mini fridge in each room with chips, sodas and candy. The towels were amazingly soft and they had a little balcony over looking Nevada. There was even a hot tub out on the balcony! Nico whistled appreciatively. The view took Bianca’s breath away.

  “Oh my gosh.” Bianca breathed. “We are never leaving.” She breathed as she looked out over the little city. The sun was going down and the clouds seemed to go on forever, stretching out never ending.

  “This place is awesome!” Nico cried stuffing his face with chocolate.

  There were even clothes in the closet, and they both of the demigods. They didn’t dwell on it but it seemed a little weird.

  The two quickly changed their dirty street clothes, for the T-Shirts and Jeans. (Actually Bianca put on a skirt.) A bow and arrow hung over the elaborate fireplace.

  Bianca took it down and tested the string. She frowned, like she was thinking. “This feels…so right.” She muttered to herself, imagining herself in the forest shooting down some kind of prey.

  Nico studied a painting of skulls decorating the ground. It didn’t seem scary, just like…home. He knitted his eyebrows together trying to understand.

  Finally he gave up. “Can we go downstairs now?” Nico popped open a soda can. “In a moment.” Bianca turned on the flat screen TV.

  “What is that?” Nico asked staring at the TV. Bianca shrugged, her eyes hooked to the screen.

  “It’s a mini movie theater.” She said finally. “Cool!” Nico sat down on the lavish sofa with his sister. They watched a little of Bart and his Super dog but changed the channel.

  They found themselves hooked on a show called Hephaestus TV, Live at Olympus. Bianca frowned. “I have this feeling…” She began to tell Nico.

  Nico touched the TV screen. “This is weird.” He stated. “I like it!”

  Bianca watched as she saw a giant spider trying to weave a better tapestry then Athena. It was called Think You Can Weave Better Than a Goddess? In the back of her mind,
she was sure she knew more about Greek Mythology then her mind was supplying her.

  In frustration she turned off the TV. “Okay, let’s go Nico.” They headed downstairs.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Nico was in heaven. Waitress floated by fluttering their eyelashes at him and offering him every type of snack in the world. And they all tasted like angels had made it specifically for him from the oven of happiness.

  The first thing he did was start playing the Myth-o-Magic comes to life game. It was awesome the way the controls went in his hands, and the effects on the screen. Nico couldn’t believe he’d never heard of this before.

  He spent an hour maybe, he wasn’t sure, playing the game. When Bianca stopped by to check on him, her face was glowing. “Why are you so happy?” He asked jamming at the controls desperately trying not to die in the game as he talked.

  Bianca smiled. “I saw a movie in the theater- Nico! It was so…real.” She smiled to herself. “It’s wonderful and the sound effects.” She sighed dreamily.

  Nico stared at the video game screen. “Yeah,” He agreed absently. “It’s wonderful. We can’t ever leave this place- it keeps getting better and better!” He swiped a coke off a platter, as a waitress went by.

  Bianca ordered a shrimp plate. “I’m hungry,” She stated. “Do you want something to eat?” She asked Nico contentedly. Nico pointed to the pile of chocolate pretzels by his feet.

  “I’m good.”

  Bianca suddenly felt like she was getting an ear splitting head ache. “Ow.” She touched her head. Nico made the mistake of looking up from his game. “Drat!” He cursed. “I was on level 432, Bianca. What’s the matter?”

  Bianca rubbed her skull. “I have this feeling…” She winced, “That we aren’t supposed to be here. She ducked down like someone was about to hit her. Nothing happened, so she stood back up. “Odd,” She murmured to herself.

  “Never mind. It was a childish thought. Continue playing your game.” She blinked and walked away with her shrimp plate. Nico shrugged and pressed a red button so he could use one of his 25 extra lives to get him back in the game.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  When they finally left to go to bed (not Nico’s idea, but you-know-who) Nico wasn’t sure how long they had been down there. A couple hours? A day? A month? He scratched his head and plunked down on the bed.

  When he woke up, he wasn’t sure how long he’d slept either. “This is creepy.” He muttered to himself.

  He woke up Bianca and they found swimming suits lying on their dressers. “So…what now?” Bianca asked eyeing the swimming suits longingly. Nico grinned, and held up his trunks.

  “DUH.” He pointed to the swim trunks. “Swimmy time!”

  The pool was extraordinary. It was made out of marble that was multicolored and it changed colors every 5 seconds. Lights flashed in the bottom of the pool like an underwater disco party. To the sides and in the bottom of the pool were tanks, containing fish, sharks, and even dolphins! It looked just like the sea creatures were in the pool with them. And the pool was gigantic. It was about half the length of a football stadium. Waitresses supplied them with drinks and snacks, and there was a hot tub that let you breath underwater, and it had neon lights underneath the water.

  Again, the nine year old didn’t know how long they’d stayed in the pool. The water seemed almost magical, like his hands wouldn’t get all gross and squishy like they did when he stayed in the pool a long time. In fact, it seemed to refresh him, cleanse him and make him want to stay in the pool forever.

  Bianca floated around doing back paddles as Nico did dives and cannon balls into the pool. And the best part was, there was only one other person in the pool so nobody complained that he was splashing them.

  They didn’t leave for quite some time- because when they were getting out, and lying on the pool decks the hotel staff brought out a very good smelling barbecue. Nico felt like he couldn’t ever eat again, when he was done. He’d never eaten so well in his entire life.

  “Bianca,” He sighed looking up at the clouds, “Could this get any better?”

  Bianca moaned happily and rolled over on her back, patting her tummy. “I hope we find out…” She murmured thinking of the barbecue feast. “That did not agree with my stomach.”

  They were heading back up to their room when they passed the basketball court. Nico stopped in his tracks. “One game?” He pleaded with his sister.

  Bianca was about to say ‘no’ when she noticed the library just off to the right. “When you’re done, meet me in there.” She pointed to the door. They headed off in separate directions.

 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Time. Nico laughed to himself. What was time? Seconds? How long it took for him to order food from room service? He didn’t know. He didn’t care; this place was just too much fun.