Grover and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic LotusCash cards.
"Play time," I said.
I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video. A five-star Vegas hotel?
Forget it.
I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D
sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it. I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong.
Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen, I guess, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night.
We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."
Groovy?
Later, while we were talking, I said something was "sick," and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before.
He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen.
I said, "Hey, Darrin?"
"What?"
"What year is it?"
He frowned at me. "In the game?"
"No. In real life."
He had to think about it. "1977."
"No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really."
"Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."
After that he totally ignored me.
I started talking to people, and I found it wasn't easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video game, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. They all claimed they hadn't been in here very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn't really know and they didn't care.
Then it occurred to me: how long had I been here? It seemed like only a couple of hours, but was it?
I tried to remember why we were here. We were going to Los Angeles. We were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld. My mother ... for a scary second, I had trouble remembering her name. Sally. Sally Jackson. I had to find her. I had to stop Hades from causing World War III. I found Annabeth still building her city.
"Come on," I told her. "We've got to get out of here." No response.
I shook her. "Annabeth?"
She looked up, annoyed. "What?
"We need to leave."
"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers—"
"This place is a trap."
She didn't respond until I shook her again. "What?"
"Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!"
"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes."
"Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever."
"So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?" I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.
"Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy.
I made her look directly in my eyes. I said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders." That jarred her. Her vision cleared. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we—"
"I don't know, but we've got to find Grover."
We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.
"Grover!" we both shouted.
He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"
"Grover!"
He turned the plastic gun on me and started clicking, as if I were just another image from the screen.
I looked at Annabeth, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"
The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"
"We're leaving," I told him.