Chapter Text
Unlike with the previous Creeportation, as he had started calling them, he had been somewhat prepared and caught Nico just before he collapsed. The boy in question seemed to be sleeping peacefully, no hint of his previous distress.
“What in Hades was that?” Annabeth said, slamming Helena’s door closed. “We just… just…”
“Got pulled into another dimension for like a second!” Leo said, excited. “And we landed in Vegas! This kid’s amazing!”
“I have never seen a child of Nike do that!” Annabeth started pacing. “Actually, scratch that, I’ve never seen anyone do that. Just what is he?”
“He’s a demigod, like us,” Percy said, glaring. “We all do weird things, you can’t blame what people do when they’re stressed or scared.”
Annabeth stared at him for a second before narrowing her eyes.
“You knew he could do this, and you didn’t tell us,” she accused him. Percy’s silence seemed to be a good enough response for her. “Why?”
“It seemed… private,” Percy said sheepishly. “Besides, that would only make you more suspicious of him.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nico’s right, you have something against him.” Percy frowned. “I don’t know why, but you do, and I didn’t want to make it worse.”
“By not telling me, you already made it worse, Seaweed Brain!” Annabeth was almost shouting now. “Before I didn’t know if I could trust him in a fight, now I can’t even trust him to not teleport behind me and stab me in the back!”
“You really think—”
“Hey,” Leo said loudly enough to speak over both of them, putting his arms around their shoulders. “I really don’t want to ruin this beautiful bonding moment, but we’re kind of in the middle of the street, just a couple miles or so from the best casinos, and I have a plan to get some more funds for our trip home.”
Percy and Annabeth glared at each other for what felt like an hour. She was the first to look away, huffing and opening the front car door, entering and slamming it closed again. Leo groaned.
“Helena is not made for that kind of abuse!” Leo complained. “You take care of Sleeping Beauty over there; try to get him awake before we stop at the first casino.”
Wordlessly, Percy helped Nico into the backseat, using the seatbelts to secure him as he rested his head in his lap.
He wasn’t completely sure he wanted to understand Annabeth, or her reasons for hating Nico.
A couple dozen people cheered as Percy defeated yet another burly man about twice his age and three times his size at arm wrestling.
Behind him, Nico struggled to stay awake while leaning on Leo, while Annabeth was sitting at the opposite end of the room, a disapproving frown on her face.
“And the champion remains undefeated!” the emcee shouted as people looked at him suspiciously, trying to figure out if he was cheating somehow. “Anyone else wants to try?”
The crowd went quiet. Leo made to raise his arm, but Nico just went and pushed it down.
“Well, if no one wants to try, I guess the thousand dollars cash prize is going to dear old Percy here…” the emcee continued goading the audience for a minute or so, before smiling. “Then our champion deserves a round of applause!”
The crowd did so, some much louder than the rest, making the audience seem much bigger than it actually was.
A girl wearing the casino uniform led Percy and his friends down to the lobby towards guest services.
“Okay, I’ll just need an I.D. to confirm your age, and your keycard as proof you’re staying with us.” The girl said, smiling.
“My what?” Percy said, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leo frown.
“The competition is meant only for guests staying at the hotel,” the girl’s smile faltered a little. “It was in the flyer.”
He hear a low slapping sound as Leo hit his forehead.
“Uh… I’m sorry, I—”
“He left his keycard in the room,” A woman said. She was wearing a long white cocktail dress and had a diamond tiara on top of her jet black hair. She smiled at Percy as she handed a card with his full name on it. “He’s very lucky I picked it up.”
The girl perked up immediately upon seeing the newcomer.
“Oh, Miss T, you know this young man?” she said as she checked the card and started counting hundred-dollar bills.
“Perseus is a… distant cousin of mine,” Miss T laughed, sending Percy right into fight or flight mode. Only gods and monsters used his full name. Annabeth and Leo seemed to catch on too, both reaching for their weapons, while Nico still seemed barely aware of the world around him. “It’s his second time in Vegas, just now he can actually bet.”
“Oh, then welcome to the real Vegas, Perseus.” She handed him the money. Percy took it gingerly with his left hand, his right still gripping Riptide in his ball pen form. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”
“I won’t, thank you.” He gave the concierge a tight smile and turned around, trying to get out as fast as he could.
However, before he could take even a single step, Miss T had already taken a hold of Nico. She clicked her tongue with disapproval. Percy tensed even further.
“Poor Nico is dead tired,” she cooed, also grabbing Annabeth’s hand. “Come on, you guys; let’s tuck him in before going back to the slot machines.”
Without any choice, Percy and Leo followed Miss T into an elevator, which closed behind them after she pressed the button for the top floor.
“Who are you?” Annabeth asked trying to get her hand away from the woman.
“Why I’m Miss T, of course,” the woman said with a small giggle. “And Las Vegas is kind of my domain.”
Nico looked at her for a few seconds before looking down.
“Sorry we ruined your day,” Nico said respectfully. “You must be pretty mad at us.” Leo looked at him in confusion, but Miss T only laughed again.
“Not right now, but if I were feeling a little more Roman, I would have probably made one of those Big Burly Guys break Perseus’ right arm… ‘By chance,’ of course.”
She giggled again, as if her choice of words were the funniest thing ever.
“Um, Nico, do you know her?” Percy asked, trying to ignore Annabeth’s pointed ‘I told you so’ look.
“I never met her before,” Nico said, yawning. “But I’ve seen her nearly every day on Temple Hill.”
“You have quite the need for dramatics, don’t you?” Miss T squeezed his shoulder a little, making him wince. “Just come out and say it, boy.”
Nico bit his lip, but nodded.
“You’re looking at Lady Luck herself: Fortuna, or rather, Tyche.”
The elevator dinged open. Miss T stepped out, still dragging Nico and Annabeth along, maneuvering them to swipe a card on the door directly in front of her, leading them into a huge penthouse suite.
“Perfect timing,” she sing-sang. “What a stroke of luck.” She laughed at her own joke.
“Um, Lady Tyche? My arm…” Annabeth said. The goddess looked confused for a moment before realizing what she meant and let her go.
“Sorry, Annabeth, forgot you were there,” she laughed and helped Nico into a King-size bed. “Now young man, I’m sure you know that Nike and I have a deal about messing in each other’s domains.”
“I wasn’t aware,” Nico said. If he was lying, Percy couldn’t tell.
“Yeah, she doesn’t like when her little competitions are 'spoiled' by strokes of luck, so why should I allow her into the realm of chance?”
“We broke that deal when we used Nico’s blessing to win bets, didn’t we?” Annabeth guessed. Tyche nodded.
“Bets have an element of chance by their very nature,” she confirmed. “Raw skill can overcome it, of course, but when that skill is enhanced by the divine…”
“Then Nike is messing with your stuff,” Leo finished for her. “And I guess we're in deep trouble with you”
“Oh, it's not that bad,” Tyche took her purse and pulled out some very convincing fake I.D.s “Bring balance to me, and I’ll overlook the transgression.”
“What?”
“She means you need to bet the money,” Nico explained. Leo looked horrified. “Win or lose, once you have betted a thousand dollars on games of chance, she’ll consider the books balanced.”
“One thousand fifty dollars,” Tyche corrected. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten the money you swindled Sebastian out of in that basketball game.”
“Oh, come on!” Leo shouted, Annabeth pushing him slightly to try to remind him with whom he was speaking.
“Now, it’s just fair,” Tyche said, snapping her fingers and turning her dress red. “And you might come out of this with even more money than you entered. Everybody wins!”
“Or we might end in the red…”
“That’s the thrill of it, isn’t it?” She made a move with her hand and produced a small vial from thin air. “This will give you some energy Nico, drink it and stay here. I don’t want you tempting these guys to cheat Luck again!”
Tyche then ushered them out of the room and into the elevator, pressing the button to the Casino floor.
“I’ll join you in a second, I need something from my other purse.” She waved as the door closed, finally leaving them alone.
“So… what do we do?” Leo asked once the doors closed.
“Like it or not, she has Nico, so we need to do as she says,” Annabeth said. “The first casino we step in is the one where the Goddess of Luck happens to be… really, what are the odds?”
“I think, that’s the point,” Percy sighed. “She is the odds.”
Tyche returned to the room not even a minute after she had led the others out. She looked at Nico closely, her smile still in place.
“Well, drink up,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “You need your energy back if you are to go to the Lotus Eaters and back before they come to pick you up.”
“You knew?” Nico asked. “Then all that talk about you and Nike being at odds—”
“Still very true,” Tyche sighed, giving him a keycard. “I’d overlook this one easily, since it leaves her looking bad, but then you wouldn’t have your chance to sneak out.”
“If you don’t like her, why are you helping me?”
“I may not like your patron much,” Tyche said. “But your father is just marvelous. And he did ask me to look after you all those years ago when you first were brought to Vegas.”
“My father? Who is—?”
“Now, now, don’t count yourself that lucky.” Tyche laughed. “That answer is for you to find elsewhere. Right here, right now, there’s a more pressing matter for you, is there not?”
Nico nodded.
“Then good luck, Nico!”
She turned so bright Nico had to close his eyes. When he opened, the goddess was gone. In her place, there was a presenting card that seemed to glow on its own.
Miss T
Pit Manager
Lady Luck Casino
Not wanting to ignore luck that literally came from the goddess of fortune. He took the card and left the room, calling for the elevator.
He had a sister to find.
Finding the Lotus was not as difficult as he had feared. While most people just stared blankly when he had asked for directions, he only had to walk along Las Vegas Strip for about 15 minutes before the hotel he had spent untold decades on seemingly appeared right across the street when he turned around.
Decidedly, he marched towards the entrance, where a man dressed in a stereotypical bellhop uniform gave a bow.
“Welcome back!” he said, giving him a very convincing smile. “The Hotel staff was quite worried about you.”
“Yeah, lost my way… and my keycard.” he said, giving a shrug. “Is my sister still in?”
“Let’s go to the front desk, I’m sure you qualify for a platinum card,” the spent human said brightly, walking a few steps ahead of him. Nico decided to humor him.
The girl at the Front Desk gave a vacant smile and offered a silver keycard at him. Nico felt something akin to pity.
Octavian had made him read about the Lotus Eaters back in Camp Jupiter so he could be ‘properly grateful’ for his rescue. They were shadows of people who allowed themselves to fall for shallow pleasures and let Apathy feed off them. Once they were spent, they were put to work, luring new souls down the same path.
Nico didn’t know if there was a god of Apathy, or even if such a deity required followers and cult like the Lotus Eaters, but the truth was that these people had existed and preyed on heroes and mortals alike since classical times. Of course, the narcotic plants they used on Odysseus’s crew just wouldn’t do the job in the modern world. The Lotus Eaters had to adapt, and what better place to live off empty excesses than the gambling capital of America?
“I want to look at your computer for a sec,” he said firmly. The girl kept smiling and offering him the card.
“Everything is in order, you certainly qualify for the upgrade,” she said in a fake cheery voice.
Annoyed, Nico pulled out the card Tyche gave him. As he expected, the slight divine power it radiated awoke something in the young woman, just like Nike’s wreath did a few years ago on the employees pestering Octavian.
“I know it is, but I want to see the guest list.” Not expecting an answer Nico went behind the desk and pushed the girl aside, who seemed torn between stopping him and using the slight independence he had gained from seeing the card to go away.
The fact that he didn’t know if she would escape or just go to play games and eat at the buffet troubled Nico more than it should have.
“These people are beyond saving,” he rationalized. “Bianca is not.”
For a place ruled by materialism and apathy, the database was very well organized, having a long list of names from all the way back to when the Lotus Eaters were just a small population on a faraway island.
Nico didn’t know when he and Bianca had arrived at the hotel. He was about to try and reach the vacant girl before his eyes caught small annotations along the bottom of the document.
“This is so tidy,” he commented, mostly to himself.
“It was a real mess before Excel,” the girl said, blinking slowly. “Before, we used parchment… so much clutter.”
Nico bit his lip, knowing that getting distracted would just make it easier to fall back with the Lotus Eaters. He realized he would never find what he was looking for in the endless registry list, so he decided to go for the checkouts.
As he expected, the list reduced greatly, having only a few dozen names, starting, of course, with Odysseus. He went straight to the end, knowing that it was unlikely anyone left after him.
He was surprised to find the names Annabeth Chase and Perseus Jackson among the checkouts, but he tried his best to ignore his wandering mind until he left the hotel.
After them, there was a Grover Underwood followed by what he assumed what his full name, Nico di Angelo.
There was only one more name after his.
That of Bianca di Angelo.
The door opened barely a minute after he had closed it. In came Miss T and his travelling companions, the latter looking very tired.
“So… did it go well?” Nico asked. “It must have, it’s way past breakfast already.” He glanced at the digital clock, the numbers 11:54 blinking in red.
“You’re not hungry, are you?” Percy asked, concern written across his face. Nico felt oddly touched. “Lady Tyche said she sent you room service, but—”
“I got it,” Nico lied. “Did you guys eat too?”
“We did,” Annabeth confirmed. “As for our winnings…”
“I don’t want to talk about it!” Leo said, plopping face first into the bed and screaming.
“We have $2500, which is pretty good,” Percy said as he patted Leo. “More than double what we had, but we managed to make $10,000 once.”
Leo’s muffled screaming became louder.
“He lost it all, didn’t he?”
“Lady Luck was literally smiling at me!” Leo said, lifting his head and glaring at everyone. “What was I supposed to do, not throw all my money at the least likely number?”
“I saw it coming… it was pretty funny,” Tyche laughed.
“You… do know that Tyche is the goddess of both good and bad luck, right?”
“I do now!”
The others laughed, even Annabeth let out a small smile. Nico laughed along to mask his worry.
His sister was gone. He didn’t know who, or what, had taken her. His only clue was the front desk girl telling him a lawyer had taken her out after he had waved Tyche’s presentation card about 50 times on her face.
The Greek camp was his last chance. He knew an untrained demigod like Bianca wouldn’t survive for long on her own, so he could only hope that lawyer had been the real deal and delivered her there.
Nico looked at the smiling faces of his travelling companions. He didn’t know their plans, their ambitions or their goals, but he would have to at least trust them to take him to safety, and he had to make them trust him in turn.
His life, and possibly Bianca’s, depended on it.