CHAPTER ELEVEN ━━ VIVA LAS VEGAS

EURYDICE'S TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY STARTS WITH A DREAM. She can feel the hum of her breathing she stares around at the dark room, as if it's swallowing her whole itself. She can hear a clicking of shoes on the ground. But her eyes are only fixated on the ground of the dark room. She can feel herself taking a step forward, and within seconds. And It feels as if she's falling.

She gasps, but she can't hear anything. She breaths in shakily, but she can't hear any of her breathing. She can't scream. She can't breathe. She can't feel anything. She feels a blood curdling scream claw at her throat, but voice is void of any sound to scream it out. The silence is deafening and it kills her. There's ringing in her ears as she squeezes her eyes shut. The ringing in her ears subsides as she keeps her eyes shut. Horrified, she breathes again.

All she can make out is someone shaking her awake. Her breathing settled and she hesitantly opens her eyes. A woman is in front of her and she smiles. The woman is beautiful, she has gorgeous blonde hair and grey eyes. It's weird how painstakingly familiar the woman feels to her. The woman, taller than her bends down to her level. "Hello darling." The woman grins and runs her fingers through her hair.

It reminds her of the way her mom always would. She stared at the woman in confusion. "Who are you?" She laughs, a bright and beautiful one. And Eurydice is somehow even more confused now. "What a dream huh? Luckily I got here before you could have a nightmare little demigod." The woman winks at her, and she can feel her face burning slightly for no reason at all.

She takes a look at her surroundings and realizes that she's in strange looking van. "Uhm.. Miss? Where am I?" She asks the blonde haired woman in confusion. She takes in her surroundings and all she can see is bright pink.

The woman smiles again, laughing melodically. "Oh, honey. You don't have to call me Miss. We're family after all! Well not technically but you get the idea." She chuckles. Eurydice's confusion only doubles now. "What?" She mutters in confusion. The woman huffs slightly. "Silly girl aren't you? I'm Aphrodite, darling." She winks at her again, a smile forming at her lips. Eurydice's eyes widen in stunned silence.

For a second Aphrodite looks at her with amusement as she gapes at her like a fish. She blinks for a moment, momentarily breaking herself out of her haze. "You— You're Aphrodite?" She mutters in confusion. She hates the feeling of her cheeks heating up again as the woman giggles. "I am!" She smiles widely and she can't help but realize that the woman has the same smile as Percy. She chokes on her spit once she has that thought.

The woman's grey eyes are warm, the colour reminds her of Annabeth. But the warmness in the woman's eyes reminds her of her mother. She frowns slightly at the thought. Aphrodite smiles again, all perfect chubby cheeks and blinding white teeth. She didn't expect the goddess of love to look like this, a little too familiar for her liking. Her best guess was that she took on the appearance of people she loved, like her friends for example and her mother. Or Aphrodite just really looks like Margot Robbie.

Aphrodite clears her throat, and suddenly Eurydice realizes how pink the van they're in really is. It's the pinkest van she's ever seen, full of feather boas and multiple outfit changes all in all different shades of pink. It reminded her a bit of how a real life version of Barbie's dreamhouse would look. But instead it was cramped into a much smaller space. It was a little too weird how lately gods had been ignoring her up until now.

She grimaced as she stared at the blonde woman. "You seriously had demigods do your dirty work so you didn't have to get caught by your husband?" She glared at goddess accusatorially. Aphrodite just laughed in response. "Of course he already knows." She waved her hand at the demigod dismissively. "Wasn't it worth it?" She asked her wink a smirk. Eurydice blinked in confusion, completely lost. "No? What are you talking about?" Her eyebrow raised in concern.

Aphrodite giggled. "Oh, honey." She ran her fingers through her hair slightly, and patted the top of her head patronizingly. "You don't know don't you?" She felt her blood run cold for some unknown reason. "What?" She muttered in confusion, again. The goddess smiled sadly now. "I sense that your love life is going to the saddest one I've seen in a long time. Ever since the original Eurydice." The demigod blinked in confusion.

Nearly choking on her spit she yelled out. "What?" Aphrodite continued, ignoring her obvious confusion. "You already love them too much. Isn't that sad? To love someone so much but to not get that love back?" She felt her insides twist painfully at that. "I don't think that's true." She shook her head at her in confusion. The goddess sighed softly. "You're so little now. But one day, you'll understand." Somehow Eurydice didn't believe that she'd ever understand.

The blonde smiled again, her white teeth blinding her again. "But I believe in you. You won't end up like the original Eurydice. I won't let you. You're much more of an Orpheus anyways." She chuckled. Her confusion was somehow even more heightened. Now the goddess's claim is just ridiculous! "I don't understand anything that you're saying but why are you here?" The goddess sighed. "Your father wanted me to send you a message." The goddess scoffed slightly. "He couldn't be bothered to do it himself."

Eurydice immediately deflated at that. He didn't want to talk to her? The love goddess pouted. "Ohh! You poor thing." She pinched her cheeks slightly. "Ow, ow, ow!" She complained, grimacing at the prodding nails on her face. The goddess let go of her with a gentle laugh. "That isn't entirely true though. Zeus practically banned him from contacting you in any way. Even in your dreams." Her voice had taken on a more serious tone now. She wasn't even aware that the goddess of love could sound this serious.

She frowned slightly as the goddess patted her head again. Aphrodite felt like one of those weird aunts you only see at family gatherings who kisses your cheeks with an obscene amount of lipstick on. The goddess grimaced slightly. "Your love life is going to be... hard. I'm sorry. But, you're not going to remember any of this after you wake up." She said this like it was nothing.

Eurydice was stunned. "What? Hold on what are you even talking about—" The love goddess stopped her. "We'll be seeing each other again soon, darling." She winked at her again. She hated the way she could feel her face burn. "But you won't remember any of this. You'll wake up with the news that your father is warning you not to go to the underworld." She stared at her in confusion. "What?" If there was an award for the most confused demigod, she'd be winning it at this point.

Aphrodite continued. "He wants you to know you cannot help your friend save his mother. But I think Hades can be swayed, with love." She grins and Eurydice can feel an uneasy feeling in her stomach. "Since love is the most powerful thing you can have after all." She laughs, the dimples on her face fully showing with her smile.

The woman grinned at her as Eurydice began to get even more uneasy. She felt like none of this information was properly processing itself in her brain. She was still asleep, right? She wasn't sure anymore. "We'll be seeing each other again soon, Eurydice." Aphrodite smiled at her one last time. Looking at her with a knowing like, like she could see right through her. The goddess's blonde hair seemed to glow in the sunlight reflecting off the van. "I'll leave you with a parting gift." She winked at her again.

Eurydice's eyebrow narrowed in confusion. "Uh, what kind of gift because if it's something weird I'll—"

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EURYDICE WOKE UP WITH A START. The first thing she noticed was that she was wearing something she didn't have on before. There were two golden star earrings now hanging from her ears. She touched the sides of her ears in confusion. "What the—" The studded sparkly earrings wouldn't get off her ears no matter how hard she tried to tug them out. She tried to pull them out again, but to no avail.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered to herself with a grimace. "Why won't these come off come on!" She complained as Grover eyed her with a concerned look. "Are you okay?" Eurydice sighed. "Long story, but help me get these off!" She complained as Grover ran to her side and attempted to help her pull them off. "Why isn't it working!" Dangling earrings weren't practical on a freaking quest! Seriously Aphrodite?

Grover had tried his best but they weren't coming off even remotely. "Uh... Eurydice I don't think it's working." He winced slightly as Eurydice gave him a freaked out look. "Oh no." She turned to look over at Annabeth and Percy who were looking at her in confusion. "Oh hey..." She gave them finger guns as she awkwardly attempted to stand up. Come on, act natural.

She nearly screamed once she saw the a holographic rainbow coloured version of Luke Castellan in font of her. "Is that Eurydice? Is she alright?" Luke asked in concern as she fell off the haystack she had been sitting on. She groaned in pain as she felt her head hit the ground. Curse her clumsiness! She groaned in pain as she laid on the ground.

Annabeth and Percy immediately helped her up. "Are you okay?" They both asked her in concern at the same time. The two of their turned to look at each other for a second once they realized they had said the exact same thing. Eurydice dusted herself off and begrudgingly got up. "I'm fine." She winced slightly. "Why the hell is Luke in a rainbow?" She muttered in confusion as she stared at the mirror like rainbow image of the son of Hermes questioningly.

Annabeth sighed softly. "That, is an Iris message. From Iris the god of rainbows." This did nothing to help Eurydice understand anything at all. Luke cleared his throat. "Anyways, what were you saying Percy?" He asked him in confusion. "We know who stole the bolt." Percy said. Luke gave him a confused look. "How do you know?" He had a worried look on his face.

Annabeth explained for all of them. "We ran into Ares, and Grover got him talking and realized Ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them. So, who would Ares cover for other than..." Luke seemed to be on the same line of thinking as Annabeth. "His favorite daughter. Clarisse is the lightning thief." He announced, a look of realization on his face.

Eurydice couldn't shake the odd feeling she got about Luke. It hadn't been there before, but it was weird. She hid it in the back of her mind. Annabeth trusted Luke so she'd have to trust him too. Percy nodded in agreement. "Chiron's gotta arrest her, find out what she knows. There's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger. Don't ask me how I know, you just gotta trust me."

Something about Clarisse being the lightning thief didn't make sense to her. Sure, Clarisse was a bully but that didn't mean she was evil. Right? From what she knew about Ares was that he didn't seem to like demigods in general, even his own kids. So it didn't make sense to her that Ares would help his daughter if he claimed to not care about her.

Luke nodded. "Okay, I'm on it. So, Ares, huh? What was that like?" He asked them with a narrow of his eyebrow. Eurydice winced. "It was... something alright." She grimaced once she thought about the video the god had shown to her of her mom. Percy shrugged. "Well... compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse."

Annabeth shook her head at him. "Medusa was Saturday." She insisted. "She was?" Eurydice muttered in confusion. "I don't even know what day it is.." She trailed off slightly. "I thought Sunday?" Percy added in confusion. Annabeth shook her head at them. "No monsters on Sunday. Monday, you died in the river." Eurydice had a look of realization. "Oh right! I forgot about that." She grimaced again.

Percy nodded. "Right. So, Medusa on Saturday." He realized. Meanwhile Luke was extremely confused. "Guys, what is this?" He asked them in confusion. "What?" Percy and Annabeth muttered in unison. Luke eyebrow narrowed again. "When did you and Annabeth turn into an old married couple?" Eurydice immediately burst out laughing. The two of them glared at her in response.

She choked down her laughter. "Sorry! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I swear. That was funny—" She took a breath in from the laughter bubbling up in her throat. "Grover- Grover gets it right." She pointed at the satyr to help her out. Grover blinked in confusion from the other side of the truck. "Huh?" Eurydice frowned. "Nevermind." She shook her head at him in disappointment.

Percy awkwardly cleared his throat. "Not to change the subject, but I'm gonna. We could use your advice on something. We're headed to Las Vegas to find your dad..." In a flash of light Luke's figure disappeared out of sight. If Eurydice hadn't just woke up right now she would have started freaking out.

Mythological world magic was weird.

Percy stared at Annabeth in confusion. "What was that about?" The girl sighed deeply. "You can't ask Luke about his dad." Annabeth said defensively. Percy blinked. "Well, now I certainly can't." He shrugged. Annabeth sighed again. "If you tell him we're going to see Hermes, he's gonna try to talk us out of it. We don't need that right now."

Eurydice frowned slightly. "Oh, I'm guessing they don't get along then." She winced. Annabeth nodded. "At all." She sighed. Meanwhile Grover had come back from his trip to visit the animals that were in the truck with them. "Okay, got some updates. The men driving this truck are not nice people. Traffickers." He seemed upset that the poor animals were being treated like this. Eurydice winced. "Oh, that's not good."

Eurydice would have been more empathetic to the animals if the truck didn't smell so bad. She's gonna be smelling like a bunch of farm animals for the rest of the week! She highly doubts that she's going to find a shower wherever they're supposed to go next. That's a one in a million chance. What she would give for a break for once.

Annabeth crossed her arms at the satyr slightly. "We can do our best to help all these animals escape, but not if it means we're jeopardizing the quest." She told him with an unhappy look on her face. Grover shook his head frantically. "Oh, no, no, no. They've already got a plan to get themselves out. And us, too." He said.

He put an arm on top one of the cages the animals were in. "I mean, some of these guys, so smart. They were really only missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked." He told the three slightly concerned demigods with a chuckle.

Percy blinked. "What's that?" He asked. "Thumbs." Grover answered like it was obvious. Eurydice shook her head sympathetically. "Even geniuses have their limits. And... these animals one seems to be having no hands." She joked slightly. Grover nodded. "But we're here now, so... all good." He grinned, tapping one of the cages enthusiastically.

Annabeth, however still didn't look convinced. "And once the cages are open, they have a plan from there?" She asked. Grover nodded with a smile. "Yeah. Really elegant. I mean, these guys, they're... they're like artists." Eurydice snorted. "Good for them." She said, a smile on her face. She tried really hard not to laugh. But it was hard.

They haven't died so far, so what do they have to loose?

Okay, in hindsight Eurydice didn't expect the animals plan to be THIS dumb. She watched in horror as a crowd of animals ran out into the streets of Las Vegas. Her eyes were wide in horror as she watched a camel and a bunch of cows loiter in the middle of the street. A million of cars honked at the animals, all of them stopped as they weren't really interested in running over lost zoo animals.

She heard people shouting swears angrily at the animals as the four of them stood on the sidewalk watching intently. "Oh... wow. This... this sure is something Grover." She shook her head slowly. "Wow." She was too stunned to speak. Percy nodded, equally as horrified. "This seems dangerous." He muttered. Grover chuckled. "Oh. They'll be totally fine." He waved his hand dismissively.

Grover smiled, sounding like he was proud of himself. "I gave them a Satyr's blessing, so they'll be able to reach the wilderness safely—" He reassured with a wave of his hands. A few seconds later they watched an ostrich interrupt traffic by stepping into the street while a car honked its horn at it.

Percy interrupted him. "I meant for the people." He corrected. The horns and yells of angry people began to get louder. "Oh..." Grover muttered, trailing off. "Them." He muttered. The four of them could hear shouting in the background as the ambulance sirens got louder.

Eurydice slightly grimaced. "I... I don't think they're happy Grover." She told him with a wince. The satyr laughed nervously. "Well, I mean, I'm sure they'll... Yeah, I don't know. But the animals are all set." Annabeth sighed deeply. "Okay, come on, before the cops show up." They could hear a siren blaring in the distance.

Eurydice's eyes widened anxiously. "Yeah! We should go." She looked behind them to see a large fine in the distance. There were rollercoaster tracks all around the building that oddly resembled a flower. There were children her age screaming as they rode the rollercoaster. It just might be the coolest thing that she's ever seen. By the looks of it, they have to head over there if they wanna see Hermes. 

Percy, ever the bright asked. "So, how do we know which hotel is the Lotus?" Annabeth stared at him for a second, considering making fun of him. She turned around to point out the large dome behind them. "I'm guessing the one with the giant lotus blossom on it." She smiled in amusement.

Percy immediately looked back to see the sign as he had just realized. "Ohh.. You were like two seconds ahead of me. Seriously." Eurydice laughed. "Idiot." She muttered fondly as she followed Annabeth into the direction of the lotus. Percy scoffed. "Okay, Sometimes, it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. Can we agree to just try it, maybe?" He asked as the four of them walked towards the building.

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As soon as they stepped into the Lotus Casino. Eurydice was bombarded with kids around their age playing games on the arcades machines, and racing games together as oddly familiar music blared in the background. She could see adults playing poker at the long tables situated at the back of the room. All of them had oddly different kinds of clothing. Some people looked like they were wearing outfits from the 80s, while others looked like they wore 70s and 90s outfits.

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. These people must really like their vintage stuff. She stared at the millions of arcade machines and games in the front of the room. "Holy shit." She muttered, completely starstruck. Imagine how many of those video games she could play! It'd only be for a little bit! It wouldn't take too much time out of their quest if she just got one teensy-weensy high score! And they they'd go back to the quest.

It wouldn't take that long! Grover held his hand over her mouth again. "Please stop swearing! Who taught you to swear!" He exclaimed frantically. Eurydice shrugged in response. "My mother?" She said questioningly. Grover ran his fingers through his hair stressfully. "Eurydice. Please." He sighed deeply.

She laughed nervously. "Oops. Sorry, Grover." She muttered sheepishly. The satyr rolled his eyes at her fondly. Eurydice noticed how the lights were dimmed to a pink colour. Aphrodite had nearly ruined her favourite colour for her. Needless to say the stained glass windows of the lotus casino fixed her newfound dislike for pink.

Percy stared at the casino as awestruck as Eurydice was. "I know we're supposed to be saving the world, but would it be unprofessional if we just hung out here for a bit?" He looked mesmerized by the place. Eurydice narrowed an eyebrow as she looked up to see one of the large trees in the room look suspicious like a lotus flower.

The trees colours were like cherry blossom trees, but the flowers looked less like blossoms and more like what the lotus flowers appeared to look like. Eurydice nodded in agreement as she looked away from the tree. "I'd take staying in this place for 70 years over saving the world." She muttered as she watched a few kids play pac-man a few meters away from her.

Annabeth placed her hands on her and Percy's shoulders to stop them from running right towards the arcades. She shook her head at them with a sigh. "We find Hermes, we get him to hook us up with a ride to Los Angeles and a plan to get into the Underworld, and we are out of here ten seconds later." Eurydice pouted slightly. "Aww.." She frowned.

Percy laughed sheepishly. "I was kidding." He defended himself, but it was clear he was lying. As they were about to walk inside of the main area of the casino, Grover stopped them. "Wait, hang on." He said. Percy looked at hiked expectantly. "What?" He asked him in confusion. "Your moms told you all the stories. Right?" He looked at Eurydice and Percy for an answer.

Eurydice immediately blanked out. "Uh.... I like to think she did most of them!" She shrugged hopelessly. Grover sighed softly. "Did either of you read the Odyssey?" He asked. Eurydice shook her head. "Uh... yes. But I forgot." Annabeth sighed deeply. "Seriously?" Eurydice grimaced. "Hey! I'm sorry I have bad memory okay! I've been more concerned with trying to stay alive in my defense!" She exclaimed.

Percy cut in. "I read the graphic novel." He said. Grover and Annabeth stared at him in concern. There was a beat of silence before Percy muttered. "It counts." He shrugged. Eurydice tapped her foot onto the ground along with the beat of the song playing in the casino absentmindedly. She swears she's heard this song before, but where?

Grover started explaining the Odyssey to them. "Odysseus lands on a beach. There's these guys who've forgotten where they came from, forgot everything that was important to them, and they got that way because they ate..." Eurydice's brain finally clicked, and she remembered something she had long forgotten. "The lotus flowers." She answered with a snap of her fingers.

Grover nodded. "If we go in there and then forget everything, that would be bad on a number of levels." He grimaced nervously. Percy frowned. "But if Hermes is in there, though, then what choice do we have?" Eurydice nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I don't think there's any other way out of this. Unless we just call Hermes up." She shrugged. Percy glanced over at Annabeth. "What do you think, Wise Girl?"

Annabeth looked surprised at the nickname but smiled slightly. "Just don't eat anything." She said, looking at Grover specifically. The three of them started walking inside as Grover attempted to process what Annabeth had just said. He narrowed at eyebrow at them. "Wait, why were you looking at me when you said that?" He followed them out a few seconds late.

They walked through the crowds of the lotus casino. There were at least more than fifty people inside of the entire building itself. It looked massive. No wonder so many people were at this hotel. She passed a claw machine and stopped for a second to look at it. There was a young girl around her age at the claw machine attempting to grab a large plushie.

She immediately stopped moving stare at it. Her eyes lit up as her eyes landed on a large Hello Kitty plushie. She put her hand over the glass of the claw machine. "Oh my gods." She stared at the plushie longingly. She hadn't even noticed that the others had passed her at this point. She stared at the stuffed animal for a second.

She didn't know what was coming over her. But she really. really wanted it.

A few seconds later, someone had finally realized she had strayed a little too far away from the group. She felt a someone's hand dragging her away by the arm to get away from the claw machine. She gasped loudly as Annabeth pulled her away by the arm, she attempted to get her to let go but she couldn't. "Nooooooooo—" She complained loudly as the other girl dragged her away.

Annabeth sighed deeply. "Come on, Death Girl we've got more important things to do than stare at claw machines all day." She sounded She dragged her by the arm softly while Eurydice pouted in response.

Eurydice tried to rip her hand out of Annabeth's gasp again. "But she was so cute!" She pouted. Annabeth sighed. "We'll get you one some other time. Okay?" Her eyes lit up in response. "Really?" The other girl laughed softly. "Yes, really. Let's just go, alright?" Eurydice nodded enthusiastically, relenting slightly. "Okay." The dark haired girl didn't let go of her hand until they got back to Percy and Grover.

She couldn't help but feel a weird feeling in her chest when Annabeth called her "Death Girl," she hadn't ever received a nickname before from someone who wasn't Percy or Grover before. She smiled despite the weird feeling. Aphrodite was wrong, romance is overrated. Whatever she was talking about made no sense. She'd probably be fine with never getting married if it meant she could be with her friends for the rest of her life.

Grover stared at the casino in awe. "This place is a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. He could be anywhere." He realized with a small sigh at his lips. Annabeth sighed, trying to come up with an idea of what to do. "Let's split up." She said, sounding like they had no other option. Eurydice grimaced. "I don't think that's a good idea. When you split up in horror movies it never ends well." She shook her head, grimacing slightly.

She stared out at the crowds of people you could get lost in. The rows of people at the poker machines just seemed to be getter longer and longer. Percy looked at Annabeth in shock, raising an eyebrow. "I thought we didn't do that anymore. Also, you guys have seen him before, but me and Eurydice haven't. So we aren't gonna be much help alone." He said.

Eurydice nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I'm not too fond of going up to every vaguely older man I meet and asking them if they're Hermes." They'd probably think she was a crazy person if she did that. She wasn't really keen on getting sent to a mental asylum anytime soon, please and thank you! Annabeth looked like she was deep in thought, taking a deep breath in as she thought of what to do. Finally she came up with something.

The daughter of Athena cleared her throat. "Go check that side of the floor. I'll take Percy this way. And you'll take Eurydice that way." She told Grover pointing towards the right side of the casino. "One way or the other, we meet back in the lobby in 20 minutes." She said. Grover nodded slightly. Eurydice however wasn't as comforted. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Alone, Grover and Eurydice are two of the most reliable people. But together, the two of them tend to.... get distracted more than they'd like. It was a curse, surely. Which was why they never did things without Percy. For some reason they only seemed to have braincells when making sure Percy doesn't make irreversible mistakes.

Usually it ended in them getting so distracted that they forgot what they were even supposed to do in the first place. Percy grimaced, knowing how the two of them are alone. "I don't know. What if something happens?" He asked nervously, fiddling with his hands.

Grover gave her a nervous look. "We'll be fine. Right?" He looked at her for a moment. Eurydice took a few seconds to answer. "Uhhh..." She blanked out for a second. "Yesss..?" Annabeth sighed. "Good enough for me." She muttered. Grover turned to look in the direction they were supposed to be heading in. "What do I say to him if I find him first?" He asked.

Annabeth shook her head at him. "Nothing. Meet me here and you'll take me to him." She told him. Grover nodded slightly. "Yeah. Of course." He said. Eurydice gulped nervously as Grover turned around to go. Hopefully this wouldn't end as badly as she thought it would.

Percy and Annabeth gave her one last look before she followed him. "Hey, we'll see you on the other side, Death Girl. Alright?" Percy said to her, and she couldn't help but want to believe him. She nodded as she smiled softly at him. "Yeah. See you soon Seaweed Brain." She tipped her imaginary hat at him and ran up to Grover.

Grover smiled at her as she ran up to him. "So, let's start searching for Hermes alright?" Eurydice nodded eagerly. "Uh... quick question. What does he look like?" She shrugged hopelessly . "Y'know, just in case I spot him first." She muttered as they started walking together. Grover winced slightly. "I'm like 100% sure that he's literally just Lin Manuel Miranda." He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

Eurydice choked on her spit. "WHAT?" She yelled loudly enough that a few of the adults playing poker looked concerned. All of the blood drained from Grover's face as he apologetically dragged Eurydice away from the adults prying eyes. "Dude!" Grover gave her a look of disbelief. "You've gotta be careful around here! If you're a little too loud.. people are gonna get suspicious."

Meanwhile, Eurydice felt like the air had been knocked out of her. "Hermes is Lin Manuel Miranda?" She asked, in absolute disbelief. "No, no, no he's not." She shook her head in denial. Grover sighed deeply. "Yes, yes he is Eurydice. Oh my gods." He sighed again. "He's not. No, no, he's not." She had a hard time believing one of the most genius writers of their time was fucking Hermes.

Eurydice's eye twitched slightly. "You're fucking with me, right?" Grover slapped his hand over her mouth again. "Please! Stop with the swearing Eurydice. Come on." She yelled out a yell that was just muffled into Grover's hand. As soon as she managed to pry his hand off her mouth she muttered. "Oh gods. You aren't lying." Her eyes widened, slightly mortified. Now the fact that Aphrodite look a little bit like Margot Robbie made sense.

She immediately blurted out as she stared at Grover in utter shock. "Are all of the gods famous people?" She asked him seriously, shaking his shoulders. Grover nodded, still confused. "Yes? I guess so???" He muttered, still lost. Eurydice just felt like the most earth shattering news had just been delivered to her.

She could feel her face pale. "Now I think a lot of things I noticed about celebrities make sense." She stared at her own hands in shock as Grover gave her an annoyed look. "Okay, you know what we should just go—" He dragged her softly by the arm down the hallway filled with adults. After a few minutes of looking around, suddenly the hallway began to fill with more and more people.

Until she and Grover were squished in between a crowd of adults and kids around their age. She could feel her head spinning as she attempted to keep up with Grover. There were just so many people that she was trying to keep him. She frantically followed the figure of Grover right in front of her as best as she could. But she could only feel the crowd getting more and more crowded.

In the crowd of people, she could suddenly feel the absence of Grover's hand pulling her fowards. In a flash of light suddenly, she felt herself fall on her own two feet. She groaned in pain as she hit the ground. She had tripped on an untied shoelace. And as soon as she had picked herself back up, Grover was gone. Eurydice could feel the anxiety creep up on her like an old friend. She stared out into the crowd of people, horrified. She was lost. There was no sign of the satyr in sight.

How could she fuck up this badly? All she needed to do was stay with him! She looked around in a panic as the crowd of people cleared up. All she could make out was the crowd clearing up as she felt tears well up in her eyes. There was only one other time she had ever gotten lost in her life. But this time, her mom wasn't here to save her. She was all on her own. And that was horrifying.

She felt completely disoriented as she stared around at the crowd of people she passed as she run with no apparent direction. She felt her heartbeat quicken. She could hear the thumps of her heartbeat in her ears as she frantically searched for Grover. In a state of panic she started yelling out for him. "Grover! Grover! Where are you?" She yelled out fearfully.

She yelled again, but nobody came. "Grover?" She muttered, quieter now. There was no knowing where he was now. He could be completely be on other side of the casino at this point! She wiped the tears in her eyes as she frantically paced around, searching for someone to help her. In a wave of emotions she suddenly stopped walking.

She stopped right beside one of the arcade machines she had been so excited to see earlier. Now all she could feel was the unsettling awareness of her own heartbeat in her chest thumping loudly. She didn't know what to do. She didn't have anywhere to go! Annabeth and Percy were gone and so was Grover. She slid down the wall beside the arcade machines with a heavy sob.

She could feel her breathing quicken as tears flooded from her eyes. She's never been so afraid. She's scared and she just wants to go home. She can't even remember which direction she had come from now! How is she going to get back to the others. She curled in on herself, her head in her hands as she sniffled quietly.

She could hear the loud noises of coins in the slot machines, and kids playing games in the background. But all she felt was scared. She hadn't been truly alone in such a long time that she had no idea what to do with herself. There was always someone there to hold her hand and save her. Now, there was nobody.

She sniffled again as she rested her head in-between her knees. She could hear a shuffling of feet right in front of her. She peeked her head up slightly as she stared at the short figure in her vision. "Um, are you okay?" The little boy asked, a worried expression on his face as he stared at the older girl. She sniffled slightly as she shook her head at the boy.

The boy went to bend down to sit next to her. "What's wrong?" The little boy's eye shined with innocence as he stared at her in worry. He wore a light brown newsboy cap on his head as he scooted over to sit a little closer to her. Eurydice's voice crack as she tried to speak. "I— I lost my friend." She muttered, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It's stupid." She muttered, shaking her head at him.

The little boy shook her head at him. He wore a dark brown cardigan that looked a little too big for him over his shoulders. "It's not stupid. My sister, she says big feelings are never stupid." He smiled at her softly. Eurydice wiped the tears from her eyes slightly. "Really?" Her voice wobbled slightly as she held her held up a little higher to look at him.

He nodded, smiling at her brightly. "Really." He told her. He held his hand out to hers to shake. "My names Nico, Nico di Angelo." He smiled at her brightly. She felt herself smiling back, despite herself. She shook his hand after a second of silence. The younger boy stared at her for a second. "What's your name?" He asked. Her mind blanked for a second.

She blinked in confusion. She knew her name. Right? She knew her name a few seconds ago. "Thank you Nico." She smiled at him. "Oh.. I'm... I'm." She stared at her hands completely disoriented. "I..." She stuttered. "I don't know." She muttered, completely and utterly unable to remember her own name. No matter how hard she tried, what her name was escaped her.

Nico frowned as he looked at her. "Oh. That's okay. Maybe we can remember together!" He said enthusiastically. "I'll take you to my sister. She'd like you!" He smiled at her as he suddenly stood up. He pulled on her arm like a little brother would to nag her older sister. "Oh. Uh... okay." The girl nodded as the young boy grabbed her hand tightly. "Bianca says you should always hold onto someone's hand in case you get lost."

She nodded slowly. "Yeah.. yeah.. I.. I think someone else told me that too. A long time ago."  Her memory felt foggy every time she tried to remember. Nico squeezed her hand tightly as he dragged her to the arcade machines at the other side of the room to meet his sister.

█⠀⠀⠀. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ RAI SPEAKS!! . . .
              ◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡     Words: 6487

We made it to the lotus casino baby! A lil Nico cameo for you and Eurydice loosing her memories! Jason Grace core fr. Next chapter will have a few more scenes between Eurydice and Bianca and Nico before she's found by the others. Eury's up in here pulling side quests while Annabeth and Percy talk to Hermes.

It was so insanely fun to write this chapter. It took a while but this is the just first part! The second part to the lotus casino episode will be coming soon! Eurydice being flabbergasted by Hermes being Lin is so me coded. I too am a hispanic kid who grew up with Lin's stuff, and I was be as gagged as she was.

Eurydice is not having a good time this chapter 😭 It's just bad luck to even more bad luck for her. We'll see what the gods have in store for her next time! Thank you for reading!