{ ' WE TAKE A ZEBRA
TO VEGAS ' }

009. . . ( lotus casino )

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... 𝐏andora felt the effects of exhaustion quicker than she realised. After what felt like five minutes, she took her place on the dirty, disgusting floor and rested against the back of one of the animals crates. The nose of a zebra tickled the shell of her ear as it sniffed her, and she sleepily giggled at the feeling, reaching out an arm to pet it, which it allowed. After her short interaction with the striped-horse, she slipped of into a dream-filled slumber.

"Pandora. . ." A delicate voice called out. It was light and fluffy, but it came out like song. "Pandora. . ."

The girl opened her eyes, only to find herself in her old room. The room from her house with her dad. It was painted a cream colour, and featured ballet-slipper pink quilts, blankets and pillows. It was cutesy and small, the perfect size for a nine year old. Stuffed animals littered the floor by her bed, which was neatly made. The walls were covered in mystical drawings, creatures from her dreams.

A small girl sat in the corner of the room, her hair in two pigtail braids, resting over her shoulders. Pandora wasn't able to see the front of her, only the back. Her shirt was plain white, with dainty floral patterns decorating the fabric. She wore a pair of light grey sleep shorts. Her small hands fiddled with her dolls as she moved them into position, putting them all around the homemade doll house.

Pandora remembered that dollhouse vividly. Her dad had crafted it for her from scratch. Shaped the wood and they painted it together. It took him at least two months, but it was her most prized possession and she cherished it with her whole heart.

The sweet smell of nostalgia and strawberries flooded her senses, but the sweetness turned bitter as she reminisced on her childhood memories and only felt sadness and grievance with the way she missed them.

"Pandora, come on, it's movie night!" Another voice said. This time, it seemed more real, as if it was actually there. It was a mans voice. It was her dad's voice.

The little girl in the corner laughed excitedly and left her toys as they were and rose to her feet. Pandora stood with her, reaching out a hand, however, the young child ran straight through her, as if she was an apparition. The brunette frowned and spun around quickly, watching as the younger disappeared behind her door. Of course she knew where she was, who she was with.

Following her instincts, she crept out the door and down the stairs careful not to make any noise, although she knew it wouldn't be heard anyway.

When she reached the living room, she saw her younger self cuddled up on the couch with her dad, a blazing fire to the left of them. It was this sudden heat that made Pandora realise that it was winter, and as she gazed out the window, light rain had collected on the ground in shallow puddles.

She sat herself on the other end of the couch, leaving some space between them, when the movie began playing.

A very upbeat and suspenseful then began to play from the television as the opening credits rolled, and the sight of two animated children running around on the screen trying to escape the toppling text, reminded her of what movie she was watching. Honey I Shrunk The Kids. It was old, but classic, and the memories of the movie filled her brain. The film never ceased to make her laugh, so John Lamansoff had grown used to playing it every time she felt sad about her mom not being there.

As the film progressed, Pandora's eyes drifted away from the TV and towards her dad. Oh, how she missed him. His ridiculous jokes and stupid faces. His poorly cooked meals and terrible outfit choices. The way he showed up to all of her school plays and productions and archery competitions without fail, and helped her with homework. The way he always knew how to handle one of her terrible breakdowns, where she would scream and cry about how she 'missed her mommy', but knowing she had never truly met her. Being the father of Pandora Lamansoff was a difficult ordeal, but one that John never seemed to give up on. Ever.

Towards the end of the film, the television switched off, and all lights went out abruptly. The rain outside had began to relentlessly pelt down on the house, thundering on the roof and the sound of raindrops ricocheted of the windows.

A small whimper escaped the eleven-year olds lips, and John was quick to console her, wrapping a protective arm around her.

A slim figure with a pointed head and curled in wings was silhouetted against the glow of their porch light, and Pandora's face contorted into one of horror.

"Okay, listen to me, sweetheart." John turned to face his daughter. "Listen to me, don't look out there, listen to my voice. I'm here."

His words were soft and had no malicious volume to them, but it was very difficult to ignore the strange creature outside.

"I was going to tell you this later. But. . . there's no time. Just, promise me to believe everything I say." John smiled lovingly at his daughter. The young girl nodded. "Remember how I tell you about the time I met your mom? It was—"

"The coffee shop downtown when you got stood up." Pandora finished, knowing this story off by heart.

"Yeah, that's right. Now, I always tell you about how beautiful she was, and how she was the most beautiful woman to ever exist. Well, I wasn't wrong. Think about all the lessons I've given you over the years, all the games you and Theo played when you had sleepovers." John waited for his daughter to answer, praying that she would piece the story together. "The card games. The video games. What did they all have in common?"

"The Greek gods?" Pandora stared at her dad, her jaw slack in disbelief. "You're telling me that a Greek goddess is my mom? That's crazy!"

"I know! I know, baby, believe me. But it's the truth, and I didn't want you to find out because I wanted to keep you safe, but all those creatures you've been seeing in your dreams, the ones you draw? They're all real."

"No they're not!" Pandora exclaimed, standing up. "I have crazy dreams because I'm weird. My brain is weird. Not because my mom is literal goddess! My dreams are just dreams!"

"No, no, 'Dora—"

"My dreams are just dreams!"

Older Pandora observed the scene before her with distress. She hadn't forgotten about this night, she had just decided to put the memory in the back of her brain. It wasn't one she would like to resurface. The night her whole life changed and she lost the only pieces of constance in her life? No thanks.

The door banged aggressively, and it appeared as if someone was trying to get in. Not someone. Something. There was no more time for arguing, as a threatening hissing noise echoed throughout the living room.

"You go upstairs, you get your bow and arrow. Okay?" John ordered, raising a shaky hand to smooth out her hair. "Then, you climb out your window, and if I'm not out in. . . ten seconds. You run. Okay? Listen, Theo and his friend Elio will be outside waiting for you. Okay?"

"Theo? Like. . . Like my Theo?" Pandora queried, confused on this brief and panicked explanation.

"Yeah, baby, your Theo." John nodded with a slight smile. "Remember that hill that we used to have picnics on? And we would bring your little bear?"

"Mr Diddles?" Pandora sniffled, rising with her dad from the couch.

"Yeah, that's right. Mr D." John smiled, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly as another bang sounded on the door. "Okay, now go."

Little Pandora followed his orders, running upstairs.

"Give me the half-blood!" A venomous voice hissed as the door snapped off its hinges, and the bullet-like rain splattered the front entrance of the house.

"You'll never take her." John shook his head stubbornly, pulling a kitchen knife out of one of the pillow cases.

The Fury before them screeched deafeningly, before flying forwards. Then, it all went black.

"Pandora. . ." The voice was back. The unrecognisable one. "Pandora. . . It's okay, mommy's here. Oh, my sweet precious. Pandora. . . Pandora. . ."

"Pandora!" Grover shouted, waking her up. She lurched forwards with wide eyes and slight disorientation. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, shaking him off and rising to her feet.

As she looked around the space, she saw that all the animals were awake and bleating loudly, and Grover had stuck his head out of the skylight again. She also noticed that Annabeth was fiddling with the ethereal. Percy was sat beside her, staring intently at the rainbow patterns that were being projected onto the wall of the truck.

"Show me Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth ordered, as the projections danced around. "Chiron's office."

"Iris, huh?" Pandora tilted her head, looking at the light refractions.

"Yeah." Percy nodded, moving up slightly, allowing her space to sit on the haybale.

She denied his offer and sat in front of him on the floor instead, resting her temple on the inside of his knee.

"Luke?" Percy called out, noticing the back of his first friend at camp.

"Elio!" Pandora grinned, sitting up straight as she saw her blond companion besides the son of Hermes.

"Pandora." He smiled, approaching closer. His voice was distorted and echoing slightly, due to the poor connection.

"Annabeth, Percy!" Luke said in shock, turning to face them. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Annabeth nodded. "Where's Chiron?"

"Chiron's holding camp together with both hands." Luke sighed, looking at Elio as they nodded at each other. "Everyone thinks we're going to war, so the cabins are taking sides.

"Ares, Apollo and Aphrodite are all siding with Poseidon, more or less, and Athena with Zeus, to absolutely no one's surprise." Elio informed. "Please tell us you're calling with good news."

"We know who stole the bolt." Percy told them confidently, shifting slightly as he moved to rest his elbows on his knees.

"How do you know?" Luke faltered, surprised by their news.

"We ran into Ares and Grover got him talking and realised Ares knew who the thief was but was covering for them." Annabeth explained. "So who would Ares cover for other than—"

"His favourited daughter." Luke gasped in shock, taken aback by the idea. "Clarisse is the lightning thief."

"Chiron's got to arrest her, find out what she knows. There's more to this than just the bolt, something bigger." Pandora looked up at Percy with confusion as he spoke. "Don't ask me how I know, you just gotta trust me."

"Okay, we're on it." Elio said, smiling at the trio. "So. . . Ares, huh? What was that like?"

"Awful." Pandora replied straight up. "I hated every moment of it. Love, though. . . or whatever."

Elio snorted at her response and Luke shook his head with a chuckle, they expected nothing less of the girl.

"Well. . . compared to the Chimera on Monday and Medusa on Sunday, could have been a lot worse." Percy shrugged.

"I thought Medusa was Saturday." Pandora frowned, looking up at the boy.

"It was." Annabeth confirmed.

"I thought Sunday?" Percy questioned. Now he and Pandora were both very confused.

"No monsters on Sunday. Monday, you died in the river." Annabeth reminded the boy. "Although, I guess the monster on Sunday was dealing with a grumpy Grover and Pandora." The girl chuckled slightly at the end of her sentence.

Pandora looked at the floor with a slight shake to her head. She knew what Annabeth was trying to do. She was trying to rekindle their friendship through harmless banter. Pandora kept her eyes trained at the floor, as her hand raised in direction of the girl, a vulgar finger standing upright amongst her curled back others.

Percy grabbed her hand and kept all her fingers as a clenched fist and held it against her chest, now slightly bending over the girls shoulder. "Right, so Medusa on Saturday."

"Guys, what is this?" Luke chuckled, looking at them amusingly.

"What?" Percy and Annabeth asked at the same time, though the latter's was louder as Percy didn't feel like shouting down Pandora's ear.

"When did you turn into an old married couple with a bratty child?" Luke snorted with a teasing tone.

Percy and Annabeth shared uncomfortable and awkward looks before Pandora rolled her shoulders, nudging Percy off of her. He frowned down at her but decided to say nothing, knowing that now wasn't the time or place. Her tongue poked the inside of her cheek in annoyance.

"Not to change the subject. . . but I'm gonna." Percy cleared his throat and slumped his back against the wall behind him. "We could use your advice on something. We're headed to Las Vegas, to find your dad—"

Before Percy could finish his words, Annabeth twisted the ethereal and hid it in her denim jacket, cutting all contact with the boys.

"Hey! We didn't even get to say goodbye!" Pandora exclaimed, staring at the girl with a burning fire in her eyes.

"Well, Percy was about to go and ask Luke about his dad!" Annabeth retorted before turning to the boy. "You can't ask him about that."

"You're so selfish! It's no wonder you haven't got any real friends!" Pandora yelled, standing up and walking away, joining Grover in talking to the animals in attempt to calm down.

Percy and Annabeth were taken aback by her sudden outburst, sitting in shocked silence before continuing to discuss the relationship (or lack thereof) between Luke and Hermes.

"That was a bit unnecessary." Grover commented, speaking lowly so only he and Pandora could hear each other.

"She's been pissing me off for a while." Pandora grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she bent down to peer into a cage. "I could've said worse."

"I get it, you know. I really do." Grover smiled comfortingly at her. "Percy's the first guy you've really ever paid much attention to in a romantic way, since, you know—"

"Don't. Just. . . Don't say his name."

"I wasn't going to." Grover put in politely. "But now she's swooping in and—"

"I don't like Percy." Pandora furrowed her brows as she looked up at the satyr.

"You're scared to like him. You're scared after what happened with. . . you know." Grover said cautiously, careful not to upset the girl further. "You don't want to lose someone like that again—"

"I don't like Percy." Pandora repeated with a firmer tone.

He gave her a 'really' look and continued talking. "Not to mention, your mothers already have a pretty tense relationship. I understand that you feel angry, but this is a quest. We have to stick together."

"Well, I'm not apologising first." Pandora muttered, stroking one of the goats slowly.

"I'll pass the message on." Grover smirked, making the two laugh slightly.

He continued to converse with the animals before finishing and walking over to Percy and Annabeth, assuming that Pandora was either listening or following. "Okay, got some updates."

Percy and Annabeth stood at the words.

"The men driving this truck are not nice people." Grover informed the group. "Traffickers."

"We can do our best to help all these animals escape, but not if it means we're jeopardising this quest." Annabeth said with her arms crossed.

"Never mind the safety of animals." Pandora mumbled under her breath, picking at the flaking metal on a cage.

"Do you have a problem?" Annabeth finally spoke up.

"Yeah, actually. I do." Pandora nodded firmly, "You think you're so much—"

"Woah, okay!" Grover bleated out, interrupting a possible heated argument. "They animals already got a plan to get themselves out." He smiled in satisfaction, resting his arm on top of a cage. "And us, too! I mean, some of these guys, so smart. They were only really missing, like, one piece of the puzzle to get the cages unlocked."

"Let me guess, thumbs?" Pandora guessed sassily, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, actually." Grover grinned at her. "But, we're here now, so. . . all good."

"And once the cages are open, they have a plan from there?" Annabeth queried, making sure this plan was secure.

"Yeah. Really Elegant." Grover confirmed. "I mean, these guys, they're. . . they're like artists."

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... 𝐏andora wasn't entirely sure what Grover's definition of an artist was, but it was safe to say that theirs were not the same. At all. However, they had successfully freed themselves from the toxic smell of the truck, and were now stood on the sidewalk in Las Vegas, watching chaos ensue around them.

Kids were poking their arms and heads out of the car windows to try and get a stroke on any of the animals that were passing by. The camel, the zebra, the bull. Some people had their phones out and were recording, no doubt going to upload it to social media later. But then there were people who were aggressively honking their horns at the animals and cars in front, demanding a movement in the traffic.

"This seems dangerous." Percy said, gazing between each scenario in front of him.

"Oh, they'll be totally fine. I gave them a Satyr's blessing, so they'll be able to reach the wilderness safely." Grover reassured, smiling with contentment.

"I meant for the people." Percy corrected his friend.

"Oh. . . Them. . ." Grover faltered, not having any defence for that. "Well, I mean, I'm sure they'll. . . yeah, I don't know. But the animals are all set."

"Good to know where your priorities lie, Grover." Pandora grinned up at the satyr. "'Cause I completely agree. Animals over humans any day."

"Okay, come on, before the cops show up." Annabeth rushed, walking backwards away from the safari-like scene.

"So, how do we know which hotel is the Lotus?" Percy asked the obvious, but it was also something neither of the other teenagers had considered.

"Bit of a wild guess here, Perce, but maybe the one with the giant lotus on it?" Pandora shrugged, her eyes staring off behind the small group, and at the large, extravagant building.

"You were like, two seconds ahead of me. Seriously." Percy rolled his eyes sarcastically, making Pandora laugh and shake her head. She walked forwards, the rest of them following behind. "Sometimes, it might be okay to just let the easy ones go. Can we agree to just try it, maybe?"

When the four of them entered, they were greeted by a grand entrance and loud cheers of excitement and victory from multiple up-front game tables. They couldn't even see the back of the casino, and not to mention it had multiple floors. This place was massive. It was like a maze. A vast, neon maze full of entertainment and adrenaline.

The whole lobby was like a giant game room, a luxurious game room. There was an indoor water slide somehow snaking around the glass elevator, which went up more floors than Pandora could count. There was a climbing wall on one side of the building, where multiple children were scaling it, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge directly opposite. There were working laser guns connected to virtual reality headsets and suits and more video games than they could count, each being displayed on a widescreen television. Anything you could name, the lotus casino had it.

Pandora wondered just how this place had came to be. How was it possible for this many attractions, usually built for outside areas, to be crammed into one indoor skyscraper, but leaving enough room for people to still walk and eat and have space.

"I know we're supposed to be saving the world, but would it be unprofessional if we just hung out here for a bit?" Percy offered, observing the casino with awe.

"I wouldn't mind, but I feel slightly under-dressed." Pandora frowned, looking around at everyone's eccentric, glittery outfits, and comparing them to her plain boring, muted one.

"We find Hermes, we get him to hook us up with a ride to Los Angeles and a plan to get to the Underworld, and we are out of here ten seconds later." Annabeth said strictly, stopping anyone from running off and doing irresponsible things.

"I was kidding." Percy lied, sending a discreet wink to Pandora.

"Wait, hang on." Grover spoke up, stopping anyone from walking ahead. "Your mom told you all the stories. Did she read you the Odyssey?"

"The graphic novel." Percy shrugged, feeling awkward under the judging stares of the two girls. "It counts."

"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—"

"The lotus flowers." Percy finished off for his satyr friend.

"If we go in there, and then forget everything, that would be bad on a number of levels." Grover stressed.

"But if Hermes is in there, though, what choice do we have?" Percy argued, bringing up a decent point. "What do you think, pretty girl?"

Pandora's ears perked up at this, and she looked at Percy with confusion, before realising he was referring to her. She had spent the last few moments nodding along to the pop song that was playing in the background. "I. . . Uh. . . I wasn't listening." She admitted sheepishly.

She wasn't listening, not until he called her pretty girl. No one had ever openly spoken about her beauty before, everyone had just accepted it to be a trait and factor of hers. But here Percy was, dropping it into conversation like it was the most normal thing for him to say. Like he's thinking it constantly, and his brain acted before his mouth.

Percy chuckled to himself, glancing down at the floor before back up to her. "Do you think we should go in?"

"I mean. . . as long as we don't eat anything. Right?" Pandora shrugged, her eyes trying desperately to hold his eye contact, but Gods, his eyes were piercing.

"Great. Let's go." Annabeth finalised, tightening the straps on her bag.

Pandora pulled out a compact mirror and stared at herself intently, watching with pride and joy as her hair turned up into curls and a light amount of makeup covered her features. She could feel the groups stares on her.

"What? You don't wanna stick out like a sore thumb!" She defended herself, sliding the mirror back into her jean pocket.

"Don't eat anything." Annabeth repeated sternly, making sure the words were engraved in everyone's brain.

However, she noticed the way Pandora's eyes and emotional presence was somewhere off in the crowd. Her eyes were squinted in confusion as she craned her neck to try and look through the hoards of people.

"Pandora!" Annabeth called out.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Pandora replied, though she seemed distant. "Meet back here in twenty minutes, Hermes or no Hermes."

"Sounds good— Hey!" Percy exclaimed, watching the daughter of Aphrodite speed off, pushing through the people. "Be safe!"

She had her arms in front of her, using them as a guide to weave herself in and out of the bodies. She muttered apologies when she accidentally shoved someone, but she didn't care too much about the offended and disgusted looks she was receiving by the older gamblers. Pandora had sworn she had spotted a familiar face. One that she hadn't physically seen in ages, not until this morning.

Not until her dream.

— 𝒋𝒂𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔

i feel like i'm behind on publishing
but i really have no idea. like what...

anyway i hope we liked this
chapter, a bit more insight into her
past and what she went through.

it's my boyfriends birthday tomorrow
so i won't get any writing done i'll
just have to cram it all in tonight😭😭

love you all x