Chapter Text
Chapter One
I look out on the people playing arcade games, their smiling faces eating whatever the hotel attendants give them, ignoring everything outside of their bubble. There hadn’t been a new entry to the hotel since two weeks ago, so I was strained for food right now, but that's okay as long as I don’t end up like one of the brainwashed guys obsessed with the hotel's attractions. I watch the hotel attendants as I creep towards one of the elevators. If I could get to the first floor I could see if anyone new comes in and get the jump on them.
While they were dazzled by the Hotel's sweet honey like traps I would see if they brought any supplies and then go back to my hideout, (dubbed the Great Vadelzinators Lair), and plan for my grand escape. Ever since I had been practically shoved into this place over two months ago, I have been trying to get out. In the beginning I was only a little wary of the hotel attendants, but after they offered me a card with infinite money for free, not asking for something in return, I could smell something fishy was going on. So I ran away. I was too far from the entrance so I ran further into the hotel. Wandering around for a while and seeing how unresponsive some of the people here were I thought maybe I should investigate a little more. I waited for a few hours near where I thought the entrance of the hotel was to see how many people came in daily.
After waiting about four hours a new person came in. They were a tall man with a beard and a strange accent. At first they seemed confused as to how they got there until a hotel attendant came up to them talking about a card and offering them a strange flower shaped cookie. The man took the card and the cookie giving the attendant a confused look again. He thanked her and took a bite out of the cookie. The effects seemed almost immediate, his shoulders relaxed, his eyelids drooped and he smiled at the hotel attendant. The attendant said something and he nodded blinking lazily.
Damn, I thought, They're totally drugging their guests . I decided to follow the man to see where they were taking him. They took him to a desk and handed him a key. From where I was hiding, behind a trash can, I heard what the attendant behind the desk said.
“Here you are sir, room four thousand and eight just for you” The attendant smiles pleasantly watching as the man walks, no, drifted away towards an elevator. Hah that's not a red flag at all , I think to myself. I followed the man and got into the elevator next to him making sure the hotel attendants weren’t watching when I slipped in. The man hits one of the elevator floors and the elevator starts going up.
“So you come here often” I ask him. The man looks at me surprised. Apparently he hadn’t noticed me until right then.
“Uh-No” He says his voice gravely and gruff. He looks around the small room of the elevator trying to look at anything but me. I sighed and looked away from him. When the elevator reached his floor I made sure to wait a little by the elevator before following him. When he goes into his room he forgets to shut the door. I saw him stand there looking around for a minute before dropping a bag I didn't see him carrying into the trash, and going to the snack bar next to a window in his room. I stare at him, what the heck did he just throw away. As he starts eating, his shoulders relax more than they did when he ate the first cookie and the rest of his body seemed to deflate. That's when I started to put two and two together. Wait, do they drug all of the food in this place? I was hoping to snag a few things before leaving.
While he was distracted I went over the trash can to see what he threw away. Picking it up out of the trash and exiting the room to be safe I saw that it was a small fanny pack filled with granola bars, and his wallet. WHO JUST THROWS MONEY AWAY, I screamed in my head. I put the fanny pack around my waist and looked through the wallet, inside was a picture of the man with a beautiful woman and two kids.
“ Oh ” I said softly, as I looked into the picture, the kids were smiling, hugging their mother, looking up at her and her husband. I decided to put the picture back into the wallet. I slip it back into the fanny pack with the granola bars. I felt something roll down my cheek, reaching up to touch it and pulling away, my hand was wet.
I wiped my hand on my pants and looked down the hallway towards the elevator. I can’t think about that right now, not now , I had thought to myself. I walked down the hallways making contingency plans to escape this place and stockpile drug free food, and maybe report this place to the police afterwards, if they didn’t immediately send me back to foster care.
That's what led me to now. After a few escape attempts in the first few weeks made the attendants recognize me on sight. So I stuck to talking to the guests of the establishment, if that's what you could call the people who didn’t even know they were being held here. I had managed to snag a couple blankets from one of the hotel rooms and make a hidey hole in one of the smaller rooms near the entrance after breaking the lock on it. I had dubbed it the Great Valdezinaters Lair, to give myself some much needed flair.
Now I was waiting near the entrance of the hotel again with some of my supplies that I had gathered. I only had enough to last me till tomorrow, with it being rationed, but that was fine I intend to escape today after all. Waiting in my usual spot by the trash cans I see some new people enter the hotel. There were three of them a couple years older than me. One girl with blonde hair with piercing gray eyes, and two boys one with black hair and deep sea green eyes, and the other with curly brown hair and chocolate brown eyes.
It was a little weird that they were kids since most of the people who wandered into the hotel were above the age of fifteen or already full grown adults, but I don’t really care, and I had seen some other kids in the arcade area anyway so it was probably more normal than I thought. As long as I can get out of this place it didn't matter. I straighten my bellhop jacket, something I snagged from a staff room, and pull a hat out of my fanny pack. Perfect, I think to myself smiling a little. This is going to go great.
Percy POV :
When we arrived at the hotel, I will admit I was a little wary. Annabeth, Grover and I had been running since the quest started with everyone and everything we encountered tried to kill us so this was a nice and welcomed change when the hotel attendants did the opposite. As we entered the elevator to go to our room another person slipped in wearing the Lotus jacket and hat. They had a brown and black fanny pack strapped around their waist. The weirdest part about them was they looked to be a few years younger than us. He smiles a little awkwardly.
“Oh sorry didn’t know there would be guests in this elevator” He says his lip quivering a little as his words drift off into an awkward laugh. “Tell me if you need anything alright, I could take your bags or give you food, or well anything y’know” He gives us a dazzling smile as he presses the button to close the doors of the elevator. Behind him in the closing door there are hotel attendants drifting towards the elevator. Weird.
Now that I think about it I could just buy more supplies from the gift shop so I could get rid of the backpack Aries gave us. I look towards Annabeth gesturing towards the bag. She barely notices as she eats one of the cookies a hotel attendant gave her. When she sees she nods and goes back to eating. I look towards Grover. He seemed too busy eating his own food so I turned back to the hotel attendant.
“Actually there is something you can do for me” I say taking off the bag “Could you take this and, well I don’t know dispose of it or something, we don’t really need it anymore now that we’re here”
“Sure thing” he smiles taking the bag from my hand and placing it on his shoulder “Anything else”
“No that's it” I say as the elevator stops.
“Well I hope you enjoy your stay, and find your own way through this place” He says smiling again, although it doesn’t quite reach his ears, and now taking a closer look at him he has almost elf like features with pointed ears and everything. He still seemed too young to be a hotel attendant to me, but he could have just looked younger than he actually was.
There was no point dwelling on it really but something about the little guy seemed strange to me, almost like he was out of place among the others here, and the last thing he said to me was even stranger.
I turn around as the elevator doors close, frowning a little bit. Annabeth notices this however and gives me a weird look. This causes Grover to look over too. Seeing my frown he looks at me with worry in his eye.
“Hey you alright Percy '' He asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, it's just something about that ki-guy weirds me out. It's probably nothing.” I smile at him softly.
“Ok” He says “Hey do you want a cookie, they always make me feel better” He smiles back at me holding out one of the cookies from the hotel.
“Everything food related makes you feel better” I say, smiling wider, taking the cookie.
We continue walking to our room. There really was no point of dwelling on this anyway, Afterall it was just some random hotel attendant. I smile, taking a bite out of the cookie. It had a slightly floral taste to it but that made it taste better sure it couldn’t top my m- my… huh what was I thinking again. Oh well there's no point in dwelling on it, If I forgot it it’s probably not that important.