Grover jumped back, blinking at me.
"Um, you okay dude?"
"The truck stopped," hissed Annabeth, giving me a worried look. "We think they're coming to check on the animals. We need to hide."
I took a shaky breath as she vanished with her magic cap and disappeared.
The olive oil fighting the blood taste in my mouth grounded me, it was yuck.
Grover dove behind the feed sacks and I scrambled to follow him.
I was shaken from my dream, trembling slightly as I hid behind the sacks.
Grover shot me a worried look, but the trailer doors creaked open right then. Sunlight and fresh (if hot) air poured in.
"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his smushed nose. It looked like it had been broken five times too many. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.
"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, who snarled, then he splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face.
The lion roared in indignation.
Me and Grover tensed. My hand crept to my waterskin as my eyes narrowed.
I was still shaken by the scene the Pit Voice showed me, but I won't let them treat the animals like this. I could spend time considering the dream later.
The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra.
I noticed the taste of Olive Oil fade slightly.
"How ya doin' Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of you this stop. You like doing magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"
My vision went red, how dare they.
Free me, Prince. Please!
I flicked the lid off my water skin, but a sudden loud knock, knock, knock on the side of the trailer interrupted me.
The trucker inside with us yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"
A voice outside (probably Eddie) shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"
"What are you banging for?"
Knock, knock, knock
Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"
I glowered at Maurice, he was a disgusting excuse of a human being. How dare he treat the animals like this.
He rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot. The taste of Olive oil returned.
So that was Annabeth .
She suddenly appeared next to me. "This transport business can't be legal."
"No kidding," Grover said. He paused for a moment, his head tilted. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!"
That's right , the zebra agreed.
"We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at me, waiting for my lead.
Open my cage, Prince. Please. I'll be fine after that.
Outside I could hear those two wastes of oxygen yelling at each other, but they'd be back soon to torment the animals.
I opened the zebra's cage, then flicked my wrist, calling water from my waterskin to freeze the locks on the lion and antelope's cages, shattering them.
The zebra burst out, then turned to me and bowed. Thank you, Prince.
I dipped my head back and raised my hand. I wasn't sure if this worked for horses, but Triton did teach me a blessing meant to guard sea animals in the ocean. I could change it just a little to fit the land animals better.
The original translated to 'O Pontus, with wildest heart Grant them thy blessing, To continue on this path, onward safely through the waves, Towards tomorrow'. I'd change Pontus to Gaea, the earth mother, and change 'through the waves' to 'across the land'.
"Oi Mevua Gaea, tie ponati auru, tahou povi sa'opun hirupuk, ie haremuroi ri poiv opep, muroi pahitit ivemu ert vavav, iemuroi muroma."
I felt some energy leave me, making me feel like I'd just done some hard work.
Grover shot me a confused look, but raised his hands as well, saying something in goat talk. Probably another blessing.
I turned to the albino lion and antelope to give the same blessing. I wasn't certain of its effectiveness, but it was better than nothing.
Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street.
There was yelling and screaming and cars honking, We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs We'd just released a zebra into Las Vegas.
Maurice and Eddie ran after it, a few policemen running after them, shouting "Hey! You need a permit for that!"
"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said as we heard tires screeching and screaming.
The lion and antelope fled the truck as soon as Grover finished his blessing on them.
More tourists screamed.
I only looked back once as we stumbled out and into the desert afternoon (after making sure we had our things of course). I saw a few cars smoking, one flickering with flames. The policemen seemed to be radioing for backup.
Wow, that looked bad.
We kept moving, thankfully everyone was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention.
We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM, along with pyramids, a pirate ship that felt like the sea, and the Statue of Liberty that felt like chains wrapping around me.
I led Annabeth and Grover away from it. The heat was getting to me and I dug through the backpack and pulled out one of the waters from Ares.
I drank half the bottle at once, licking my lips as I reluctantly put it away. I could technically drink the salt water from my waterskin, but like… you never knew what had been through that water. I needed to preserve the water we had.
I wasn't sure what we were going to do now, perhaps find a place to rest for a bit?
I blinked as I noticed the faint shifting sands drifting over me. I sniffed, noticing some sort of flowery scent in the air. Lotus blossoms?
We kept moving and I noticed how the sensations were getting stronger.
The presence didn't seem malicious… just… present?
It was almost soothing.
We kept moving, putting more distance between us and the animal escape. Along the way the sensations, the scent and shifting sands (it felt a bit different from the Titan's shifting sands, more twisting shifts than drifting) got clearer as we went.
I let my mind wander as we walked.
My dreams…
The first one with Lara and Medusa, their courting was so sweet and romantic. They really seemed in love.
And medusa said that Lara's death was because of the Gods.
Lara died defending Medusa, she died alone and in pain.
The Titan showed me it.
She died, was killed because Perseus (my namesake) decided that if she helped Medusa she had to be just as bad. And Zeus helped him do it.
But she'd fought hard, her control of the earth reminded me of Toph. She fought so well but once he took to the sky…
She didn't stand a chance.
… Could I control earth?
That was something to come back to later… though it would make sense, Poseidon was the Earth-shaker.
I shook my head, I didn't need to think about that right then.
The other dream though… the Godly War. It was supposed to have happened around the same time as World War Two.
The Gods hadn't acted like I would've expected. They were literally betting on the war.
Abel, the son of Hades, was trying to find children (were they the ones I saw in the infirmary?). But he'd hurt people to do it, and the other's didn't agree.
It was… sad… They'd all seemed to broken at the end.
Especially the children.
It ended as a fight of Hades versus Poseidon and Zeus, just like I was told. All three of them died in the end.
How come they didn't talk about that at camp? All of them gave me vague answers. Why didn't they know it? It seemed to be a major part of our history. It even made Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades swear to have no more children.
Gold eyes though…
They were just like the gold-eyed Titan.
I frowned, feeling like an idea was forming but I couldn't quite grasp it.
Hades kid with gold eyes…
We reached a dead end and I felt practically buried in sand at this point and couldn't smell anything but Lotus flowers.
I hadn't realized the sensations were getting so strong.
In front of us was what appeared to be the source of the strange sensations, The Lotus Hotel and Casino.
The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking.
There was no one going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open and spilling out air-conditioning.
The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired, do you wanna come in and sit for a minute?"
I frowned at the guy, but the only things I could sense were the shifting sands and the lotus blossoms, I didn't notice any buzzing. Plus, well, he actually sounded sympathetic and worried and that was more than any mortal around so far.
Grover didn't seem to smell any monsters. I figured it was fine, just for a short rest.
I was dizzy and nauseous from the heat and I really did need the break.
We moved inside, I felt tense, wary, but… the place didn't seem dangerous.
We took one look around and gaped.
"Woah." Grover muttered.
The whole lobby was a giant game room. An incredible one.
There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors, a rock-climbing wall on the side of a building that was built inside the hotel , and there's an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were even virtual-reality suits, that had working laser guns, and hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV.
Basically, if you could think of something game related, this place had it. And there weren't even that many people here. There were no lines, no wait, and there were snack bars all over.
We could use some of the money from Ares (and the waterpark) to buy some food!
The games almost distracted me too much to notice the faint hum that filled the whole area.
I frowned, maybe it wasn't a good idea to be here. Everything seems too good to be true, and unknown magic shouldn't be trifled with.
"Hey!" a bellhop said before I could suggest we leave again.
I turned to him and reconsidered. Was he a bellhop? What kind of bellhop wore white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirts with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops.
"Welcome to the Lotus Casino! Here's your room key."
I faltered, did Ares set this up? There had been a faint feel of shifting sands with him, left over from here maybe?
The bellhop had the faintest of buzzes.
Annabeth hesitated as well, sharing a look with me. Something felt off, but are we just being paranoid at this point?
"We can't-" Annabeth started.
"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, and no tips necessary."
He winked at us, "Though they certainly don't hurt. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever else you could want, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards by the way."
The man handed us each a green plastic credit card.
"They work in all the restaurants and on all the games and rides and well, really everywhere."
I stared, something about them, a faint metallic taste in my mouth, those had magic.
"Are you sure these are for us?" I asked hesitantly.
If they figured out they got the wrong people we'd be in big trouble.
He flashed us a smile though, "Who else could it be for? Anyways, enjoy your stay!"
He ushered us to the elevator with a bright smile. "You have room seven-thousand-two-hundred-and-seventy-eight B."
I blinked, that was a really big number… were all the other rooms filled?
We were in the elevator before I could really consider anything else and it went up rapidly.
Was seven-thousand-two-hundred-and-seventy-eight the number of floors? Or the number of rooms? Either way that was kind of terrifying, this place didn't seem big enough for that many.
The elevator dinged.
I blinked, that was fast. We walked down the hall, because what else do we do at this point? Finding our room wasn't hard, and Annabeth swiped the card to go in.
I did a double take, wow. The room was big.
It was a suite, with three separate bedrooms, a fully stocked bar (with everything from candy and sodas to alcohol it looked like), a hotline to room service, fluffy towels, water beds with feather pillows, a big-screen TV with satellite and high-speed Internet (according to the sign beside it), a balcony that had its own hot tub, and yes, a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun (was that even legal?).
The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing but looked way too hot. Plus, how many enjoyed the view with a room like this?
"Oh, Zeus," Annabeth muttered. "This place is…"
"Sweet," Grover crowed. "Absolutely sweet!"
There were clothes in the closet, and they were my size (and the style Triton got me). Maybe Triton set this up? But what was with the sensations? It was like I'm buried in the desert with how much sand I could feel.
It was rather uncomfortable.
I shook my head, the faint buzz that covered the place made me frown too. But a lot of Godly places have such feelings, right? Camp certainly did.
I placed my backpack on the bed and stopped Grover from tossing Ares' backpack in the trash. It was a reward from a God, you never know how much attention they pay to it.
I went through the closet, picking out some clothes.
It all seemed okay but… I think it's best to keep my things with me, and pack some more stuff in the bags… just in case.
I did end up taking a shower, Annabeth claiming the one from her room as well. It felt wonderful after the week of just using the water from the waterskin to clean off.
I changed clothes, found the laundry container and put my clothes in.
I glanced at the other two, Annabeth was drying out her hair and Grover was digging through the fridge for food.
Maybe we should order room service?
I went through the room service.
"What do you guys want?" I asked.
Annabeth perked up, "Good food?"
I snorted, "What kind of good food?"
"What's on the menu?"
She came over, looking over the menu.
I frowned, the buzzing seemed stronger around her. Was that supposed to happen? Was it stronger around me and I just wasn't noticing?
I shook my head.
"We should get steak! Oh, and they have sushi, do you like sushi?" She looked at me expectantly.
I nodded, "Yeah, I like sushi..." I thought so at least. I'd never had sushi with mortals, but it couldn't be that different from the fish we ate undersea right?
"Awesome," She said cheerfully. "I'll get two steaks and a seafood platter, for the two of us, and then a vegetarian delight meal for Grover. He should like that, right?"
I glanced over the vegetarian delight meal, it seemed like stuff Grover would like, carrots and lettuce and the like. There were even enchiladas.
"Yeah, that should be good."
She moved over and ordered the food and I moved to the TV.
Flipping through the channels quickly revealed channels from Hephaestus TV. I stared for a moment, was this a Godly channel?
I started looking through the Hephaestus TV channels, there was Hercules Busts Heads, Aphrodite's Love Advice, The Adventures of the Rogue God, Nature Watch, and a few dozen more channels. There were even music channels!
There was a knock on the door and room service delivered our food.
We settled in to eat.
"This place is great!" Grover cheered, digging into his enchiladas.
Without him even realizing, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.
The magic in them seemed… unstable? I squinted, the sand was hard to feel under the desert that is this building, but the faint tickling of feathers seemed… rougher?
Was the spell wearing off?
"So what now?" Annabeth asked, interrupting my thoughts. "Sleep?"
I hummed, sleep… I'd gotten enough sleep to last me awhile. And we slept not even an hour ago.
I ate one of the slices of fish (the little list that came with said it was sashimi, tuna sashimi).
"I think we might as well take a break. Maybe a God set this up for us?"
"It seems like it," Annabeth agreed.
Grover nodded, munching a carrot, "Yeah, maybe it's a bonus reward from Ares!"
I hummed, "I think we should take a little bit to relax, get some food, stock up on supplies…"
Annabeth nodded, "That's a good idea. We should make a list of what we need. And maybe we can have a little fun while we're here too. We'll just take a day, we're not far from L.A. so it shouldn't hurt our time much."
We both agreed, Grover finishing his enchiladas.
"So, list."
Annabeth wrote it out (in Ancient Greek), clothes (we could get from the closets), food (the stores probably had what we needed), water bottles, we agreed on another blanket, plus medical supplies.
I didn't think we needed much else though. Annabeth agreed.
"So, should we go shopping now?" Annabeth asked.
Grover looked longingly at his card, "Yeah, then we can spend some time playing games!"
I smiled, it was fair that he was interested. I'd never been someplace like this either. I was pretty interested in playing some games too.
Annabeth rolled her eyes fondly, "Yeah, games after we get supplies."
We grabbed our bags and went to the store. I frowned, feeling faint sensations from one store we almost walked past, a misty buzz was the big thing, but there were other things I couldn't quite pick out.
My head was hurting from all the sensations.
"Let's check this store," I offered.
Blinking when I realized both were drifting off, gazes caught by games.
I shook my head at the buzzing and grabbed both of them, dragging them to the store, "Games later guys."
"Right, yeah, my bad." Annabeth mumbled, shaking her head.
We browsed the store, Annabeth snagging a new backpack, I went to the drink section and raised an eyebrow at the variety. There were all kinds of things.
I slowly looked through, furrowing my brows. Some of this didn't look like English or Greek or even Latin. That looked like… hieroglyphics? Like from Ancient Egypt? And that was Spanish, but that was like… Runes? And that there was Arabic I thought.
I hummed, I had no idea what half of this says.
"Can I help you with something?"
I turned and blinked at the sudden feel of… cool moonlight, it pierced right through the shifting sands and while overpowering on its own… it was a breath of fresh air.
A man stood in front of me, dark skin and glowing silvery white eyes.
So not human, not a monster either.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh ah, I was trying to read the labels, but I only speak a few of the languages."
His eyes gleamed.
"Oh, how nice, not many find their way into my shop," his gaze flicked to the card in my hand.
"Er, the card does work here… right?"
He flashed a smile, "Nothing here costs money, you've already paid the price."
Not terrifying at all.
"Now then, let's see, what are you looking for in particular Godling? I have healing potions, strength potions, this one will give you a burst of energy, but you'll be dead on your feet after, and oh this one makes you able to see in the dark."
He was motioning to the bottles that had hieroglyphics as the labels.
"Ah, and here we have some nectar, you are Greek yes?" He studied me. "Mostly I suppose."
I blinked, mostly?
"Here we go, nectar, that is the staple of the Greek powers, though I do have some unicorn drought from the Romans…"
A basket was suddenly in my hand, made of woven reeds.
I blinked as he tossed a handful of healing potions from the hieroglyphics section in, then three of the energy potions, and another two of the seeing in the dark potion. Then he swept a dozen bottles of nectar and unicorn drought into my basket as well.
Should I be worried about him giving things so freely? He said we already paid the price but…
"They're safe for mortals to use as well, the Egyptian potions, no Godly materials. Now, over here-"
He led me from spot to spot, rattling off facts about them as he did so. He seemed to like the ones related to healing, something about giving time?
"You always pay the price in the end," he said slyly.
"So, uh, what price did I pay for these?"
He flashed a smile, "Time of course, that is what all people pay in the end. Now, did you only need drinks?"
I shook my head, "I guess medical supplies are covered, but we were gonna get um, regular drinks, like water, and some food… and two blankets if we could, plus another backpack."
He flashed a sharp smile, "Of course."
He guided me out of the one drink section and into another that was filled with types of water.
I gaped.
"Now then, you said just plain water? Hmm, this water bottle holds enough to fill a pond, that should last you."
He plucked a bottle off a shelf, made of a shimmery white material and labeled with hieroglyphics (I made a mental note to learn those now), and dropped it in my basket.
"So how did I pay with time?" I asked as he swept me into another aisle.
"By entering the building of course. The Lotus Eaters have paid me in the essence of those that enter their territory for a long time. In exchange, all that is in my shop is available to those who enter."
I nearly tripped, Lotus Eaters? Like from the Odyssey?
Oh no.
"Now then, food. Here's an excellent set," he plucked up a lunch box that had a snake design on it. "Renenūtet's set. I traded her three extra minutes of moonlight in exchange for each." He dropped it in my basket.
If the objects had sensations I couldn't really feel them, the being in front of me (I was ninety percent sure he was a God) had the strongest sensation of everything.
"Um, how much time have I given up?"
"Oh, not to worry, enough to pay for all of this. Now then, blankets. I have some excellent ones right over here. Did you only want two?"
I scrambled after him, beginning to panic. I couldn't exactly walk away from a God, a moon God especially.
He wasn't a Greek one, nor Roman, but Moon Gods are hugely important. But what did he mean I'm mostly Greek!? I needed to learn more about other mythologies it looked like.
I really needed to get out of here if we were paying in time though. We'd only been here maybe two or three hours, but I could pay for enough items that they had to cost at least a day.
"Um, I'll take three I guess," I mumbled when he looked at me expectantly.
"Wonderful," he dropped three blankets into my basket. "Made by Tutu, he's such a great supplier, only cost twenty minutes of moonlight for the whole set. Ha, Set."
I blinked, I had no idea why that was funny.
"Now then, last but not least, another backpack!"
He swept me off to another section cheerfully.
"Here you are," he handed me a backpack with a moon pattern emblazoned on it. "One of my specialty backpacks. It'll survive travel through just about anything. And keeps the items inside unaffected by moonlight. Do you need anything else?"
I shook my head, "No thank you. I appreciate your help."
I twisted my hand into the proper motion of gratitude.
He beamed, matching my motion, "Thank you for finding my shop. It's always so fun to meet Godlings, especially when they pay so well."
I forced the bolt of panic down, "A pleasure to be here. Ah, I need to get my friends…"
"They left a bit ago, you'll have to find them amongst the Lotus. Perhaps next time we meet we can play a game for time."
He smiled at me, dangerous and sharp.
I nodded, "Perhaps." I quickly put everything in the two bags, then hurried out to find the others.
I nearly slammed into some kid, black hair and gold eyes.
"Sorry," he called.
I faltered, gold eyes? I turned to look at the boy, but he'd already disappeared into the crowd.
I frowned but moved on. I needed to find Annabeth and Grover. I should've known better. The sensations were similar but different, sand yes, but something else.
The moon god obviously had something to do with time (giving moonlight?) but he didn't feel of sand. Was that a Greek feel?
Was sand a sign of time? In that case… the gold-eyed Titan, was that Kronos then?
I chewed my lip as I searched through the area.
It took me far too long in a place that costed you time, but I finally found Annabeth playing a game where she could build her own city. She seemed completely engrossed in it.
"Annabeth," I called.
She didn't even twitch.
"Annabeth," I repeated, reaching her.
I frowned, she had a strong buzz around her.
I grabbed her shoulder, turning her around and looking her in the eyes.
"Annabeth," I said firmly.
"What?" She snapped, annoyed.
I reached for the buzzing, hopefully this didn't go like that kid at Yancy. I gathered my power, and shoved at the buzzing. Forcing it back and off. My head was hurting.
There was a brief moment of silence, no buzzing at all.
A dozen people around me stumbled. Annabeth shook her head.
"Percy? What?" Her eyes widened.
The buzzing crashed back down, but not on Annabeth.
"How long have we been here?" She asked.
"I don't know," I said solemnly. "But according to the God in that store, we've paid plenty of time."
She paled, "We've got to get out of here."
I nodded, "Let's find Grover."
We finally found him another ten minutes later playing a deer hunting game, except it was the deer hunting the humans.
He tried to shoot us with the gun "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"
I pushed the gun away and focused my powers on him. Shoving the buzzing away was no easier this time especially with my head pounding, making it harder.
I managed though, and Grover came back to awareness with a jolt, his eyes widening.
"Percy! What happened?"
"We need to get out of here. It's a trap."
I made a relieved note that the Ares backpack was still on his back, and I handed Annabeth the moon backpack.
We hurried to the door.
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
I opened my mouth, ready to tell him that we weren't accepting any cards from him anymore, but suddenly the God from the store was there.
"Oh, they've paid enough," his eyes gleamed. "Time for them to head out."
The bellhop smiled, "Of course Yā rabb Khonsu."
The apparent Khonsu (I was remembering that) smiled brightly and ushered us out the door.
He was gone when we stepped outside.
It seemed like afternoon, like the time we'd gone in, but the weather was different, with clouds filling the sky and heat lightning flashing out in the desert.
I swallowed and moved over to the nearest newspaper stand.
Reading the year relieved me, at least we didn't lose that much time, but then I saw the day. June nineteenth. We had been in the Hotel for five days.
We only had one day left until the summer solstice. One day left to complete our quest.
OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO
Triton POV
"Well you took your sweet time, Khonsu."
Khonsu smirked, stretching out lazily on the seat across from me.
"You didn't tell me your little brother was so interesting. His history is a delight."
My eyes narrowed, "You went to check on him five days ago! Why did it take so long?"
"He wandered into the Lotus Hotel," Khonsu drawled. "I led him out and made sure he was equipped for his quest. For dirt cheap compared to my normal prices as well."
I blinked, "Wait, since when did you have a store?"
"The Lotus Hotel, a Hotel where you play games, paying with your cards." He flashed a smile. "They only paid me four days of moonlight, normally I would've charged up to a month."
"You run the Hotel?"
He shook his head, "No, no, it's entirely a Greek thing. I just… get a bonus from it. I get to keep the time from every game lost. The other day of moonlight they lost was to the Hotel itself, for the room, clothes, food, and those cards. The hotel takes time and moonlight you know. I keep telling the hotel that connecting them straight to the company account is dumb, they'll be able to use the cards out and about without paying in time, or at least until the hotel cancels the cards."
I ran through that. I hadn't known any of that…
"Don't you prefer playing people yourself?"
"Oh, most definitely, and I do on occasion. But the runners get annoyed if I take the essence of too many hotel guests. Bad for business or something. Anyways, he still has a day left, so he should be fine."
I focused on that now, my eye twitching.
"You… you left them a day?!"
Could Persi finish the quest in just a day!?
Khonsu nodded, "Yes, though it likely would've been worse without my aid. Then again, that little brother of yours is clever, he picked up that something was wrong with only the barest of hints. He might've figured it out on his own."
I pursed his lips. Khonsu was a pain, but at least he didn't charge them their life essence or something. He was far more known for doing that. And he was a friend, if an obnoxious one at times.
"Is he alright."
"Physically? Just fine. Emotionally? A bit strained. Mentally? You should probably invest in a therapist. You Greeks do things in such a strange way."
I just shrugged, "Those are land matters. We don't act so idiotically in the sea."
Khonsu hummed, "Now then, that pays off my debt to you I believe."
"Yes, consider the debt paid."
"Excellent," Khonsu flashed me a sharp smile. "It was almost enjoyable, Triton. Do have fun with that little war that's brewing. Let me know if you want to play for some moonlight."
"Only a fool plays you for moonlight." I muttered as Khonsu vanished. "Who would risk their soul to play him?"
My shoulders slumped, at least I could be assured that Percy was prepared for whatever happened. Even if he was now on an even tighter deadline.
Khonsu wouldn't have taken all their time, he knew I would get my revenge for that.
At least I was able to help Persi, just a little.
Once he was back home from camp I'd make sure he was completely safe.
And if anything happened to him… Well, Zeus had never truly seen how dangerous the sea can be when enraged.
"Triton-re'aia?"
I turned to one of my messengers, oh dear.
"Someone mixed up Nanmu and Nammu's mail again."
I dropped my head. Of course they did.
You'd think they'd be able to not mix up one of the ancient sea Goddesses and the young Goddess of Earth and trees from the Black Sea area but ever since she started gaining attention six hundred years ago, everyone started mixing them up.
You'd almost think Gods could get dyslexia with all the trouble it's caused.
Neither of them took too kindly to it.
So much paperwork.