I Meet a Brother and Sister

**I Meet a Brother and Sister** is the sixty-fifth chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on July 13th, 2018.

## Chapter

**Nobody edit below this box**

**Jasmine's POV**
We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must’ve looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals (which I’m glad for) to pay us much attention.
We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica.
I wasn’t sure what we were looking for.
We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—I’m guessing lotus blossoms. I’ve never really smelled one before.
*They are lotus blossoms*, my powers told me.
Ok, that settles it. It was a given.
The doorman smiled at us. “Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?”
I found that odd, mostly because it’s a casino and people under the age of eighteen aren’t allowed in one. Unless, I guess, an adult was with them.
Percy nodded. “We’d love to come in.”
Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, “Whoa.”
I had to agree.
The whole lobby was a giant game room. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it. There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine.
“Hey!” a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. “Welcome to the Lotus casino. Here’s your room key.”
“Um, but. . . .” Percy stammered.
“No, no,” he said, laughing. “The bill’s taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides.”
He handed us each a green plastic credit card, even Toothless.
. . . Ok.
“How much is on here?” Percy asked.
The bellhop’s eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, when does it run out of cash?”
He laughed. “Oh, you’re making a joke. Hey, that’s cool. Enjoy your stay.”
We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with four separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fifty towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, and sure enough, there was a skeet shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun.
Now that was cool.
The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing.
“Damn,” I said.
“Oh, goodness,” Annabeth said. “This place is . . .”
“Sweet,” Grover said. “Absolutely sweet.”
There were clothes in the closet, and they fit us. . . . Ok.
Percy threw Ares’s backpack in the trash can. We probably wouldn’t need it anymore.
We all showered and changed clothes. Toothless took a shower with me, which wasn’t weird since we’ve done it a million times before. It became easier to do once I got my powers since he wouldn’t always be so big. And, yes, he saw me naked. So what?
After our showers, Percy ate a bag of chips and drank three Cokes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart’s content. Toothless and I shared a bag of chips, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel.
“All those stations,” Percy told her, “and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?”
“I know,” I agreed.
“It’s interesting,” she said.
“To you.”
“I feel good,” Grover said. “I love this place.”
Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again.
“So what now?” Annabeth asked. “Sleep?”
“Sleep?” I asked in disbelief. “Really, Annabeth?”
Percy, Grover, and I looked at each other and grinned. They both held up their green plastic LotusCash cards.
“Play time,” Percy said.
“Now there’s a good idea,” I said, holding up my LotusCash card too.
I took turns playing with Annabeth, Percy, and Grover. Toothless stayed with me.
I could’ve turned him back to his real size considering how big this place was, but he’s pretty big, too, so I kept him as a baby, which he didn’t seem to mind.
I played with Percy most of the time because he’s more fun and extreme than Annabeth and Grover are.
We 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, both of which I rocked at.
I joined Grover a couple times, and we liked the reverse hunting game, where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. I really enjoyed that one. Of course, I enjoy anything that requires shooting a gun.
Annabeth played trivia games and other stuff like that. 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. It was cool, and Annabeth obviously thought it was too, but I wasn’t that interested in it, so Toothless and I went off.
I don’t usually like to play by myself, but I decided to do that this time.
I found a dance studio and a gymnasium, but it’s not as fun unless Annabeth were with me, so I passed it.
“So what do you want to do, Toothless?” I asked, looking at him on my shoulder.
He shrugged.
I wasn’t watching where I was going and bumped into a girl.
“Oh, sorry,” I said.
“That’s ok,” she said. “I wasn’t watching where I was going either.”
She was about my age, with dark silky hair and olive skin. She also had black eyes like mine. And the weirdest part was that I could feel a strong power from her.
“Have you seen my brother?” she asked me.
“Your brother?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah. He’s a little shorter than me.”
“Umm . . .” I noticed a little boy about ten years old, hiding behind one of the games about twenty feet in front of me and looking in our direction, giggling.
He looked similar to the girl standing in front of me, so I guess he was her brother. He was hiding from her, for some reason, so I decided not to blow his cover yet.
“I haven’t seen him,” I told the girl.
“Ok. Thank you.” She walked off and called for her brother. “Nico!”
He looked similar to the girl standing in front of me, so I guess he was her brother. He was hiding from her, for some reason, so I decided not to blow his cover yet.
“Hi,” I said to him, giving him a friendly smile. “Are you Nico?”
He nodded. “What is that?”
He pointed to Toothless. Toothless moved onto my arm.
“This is my pet dragon, Toothless,” I said. “And I’m Jasmine.”
“Can I pet him?” Nico asked.
“Of course. Do you want him to, Toothless?”
He nodded and jumped down next to Nico’s feet.
He bent down and touched him, then picked him up. “Cool.”
I smiled. “Nico, why are you hiding from your sister?”
“You won’t tell her you found me, will you?”
“No. But why?”
“We’re playing a game.”
“Like hide-and-seek?”
He nodded. “Yeah. But she doesn’t want to play.”
“So you’re making her.”
He nodded. “Yep.”
I laughed. “I know the feeling. But I’ll play with you.”
Nico beamed. “You will?”
“Of course. Toothless, too.”
“Cool!”
I laughed. Well, he’s cute.
“Well, you two go hide and I’ll come find you,” I said.
“Ok,” Nico said. “Come on, Toothless. Count to a hundred!”
“Ok.”
I watched him for a moment and thought about how he’s like my little brother, Johnathan. God, I miss him.
I closed my eyes and counted to a hundred. When I was done, I found Nico and Toothless quick, especially since they hid together. We played a few more rounds of hide-and-seek, then we played a video game.
That’s when Nico’s sister found us.
“Nico,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“It’s my fault,” I said, coming to his defense. “I noticed him when you asked me where he was earlier, but I lied to you and said no. Then I talked to him, and we played together.”
“I just wanted to play hide-and-seek,” Nico said.
His sister sighed. “I’m sorry. But don’t run away like that again.”
“Will you play hide-and-seek with me then?”
“Sure.”
“Yay!”
I laughed.
His sister faced me. “So you played with him?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Thanks. I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”
“Oh, not at all. He’s really cute.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t have to live with him.”
I laughed.
“My name is Bianca,” she said.
“Hi,” I greeted. “I’m Jasmine, and this is my pet dragon, Toothless.”
“A dragon?”
“Yeah.”
“Bianca,” Nico said. “Do you want to play with us?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “There’s room for one more, and we could use another helper.”
“Sure,” she said.
I smiled. “Great.”
I was about to pick up my controller again, when I heard Annabeth singing “Gift of a Friend.”
“What’s that noise?” Bianca asked.
I knew it was my phone ringing, because (1: Annabeth never sings in public; and (2: I set it as my ringtone.
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was my dad.
“What’s that?” Nico asked me.
“It’s my smartphone,” I replied.
“What’s a smartphone?”
“It’s like a cell phone.”
“What’s a cell phone?” Bianca asked.
“You don’t know what a cell phone is.”
They shook their heads.
Ok. Cell phones have been around long before I was born, and I’ve known what they were since I was a baby. I even knew how to use it as young as I was. So how come Bianca and Nico don’t?
I know that you shouldn’t always expect people to know certain things like you do, even if they’ve been around for years and many people have used them. But it’s still weird. Even Toothless looked confused. He jumped back onto my shoulder.
My phone kept ringing.
“Uh . . . I’ve gotta take this,” I said.
I walked a few feet away and answered my phone.
“Hello?”
“Jasmine?” my dad said on the other line. “Are you ok?”
“Umm, yeah. Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. We just haven’t heard from you in a while.”
“Well, I’m on a quest, Dad.”
“I know. But I didn’t think that it would take this long.”
“Well, it is.”
“Right. Umm . . . Jasmine, do you know what today is?”
“Uh, June fifteenth?”
“Umm, no. It’s your mother’s birthday.”
“What? No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Her birthday is June twentieth.”
“I know, which is today. Is everything ok?”
I wasn’t sure anymore.
How long have I been here? It felt like it’s only been a few hours. Then I remembered the quest and the whole reason why we were even here.
“Dad,” I said. “I think I’m in trouble. I’ve gotta go. Bye.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond. I just hung up and ran to find Annabeth, Percy, and Grover.

I ran right into Percy.
And, since I have super strength, I launched him pretty far and into a game that luckily no one was playing at the moment.
Toothless had to dig into my shoulder to hold on.
“Oh my God,” I said. “Sorry, Percy.”
“Ow,” he groaned.
I helped him up and out of the destroyed game.
“How did you do that?” he asked.
“I have super strength,” I said. “Sorry, again. I think we’re in trouble. I was playing with two kids, and they have no idea what the hell a cell phone is, even though they’ve been around for years.”
“I met a few people who think it’s the late 1900s.”
“Seriously?”
Percy nodded. “Yeah. We have to get out of here.”
“Agreed.”
We found Annabeth still building her city.
“Come on,” Percy told her. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
No response.
“Annabeth,” I said.
She looked up, annoyed. “What?”
“We need to leave,” Percy said.
“Leave? What are you talking about? I’ve just got the towers—”
“This place is a trap.”
She didn’t respond.
“Annabeth,” I warned. “Don’t make me smack you, because you know I will.”
“Listen,” Percy tried again. “The Underworld. Our quest!”
“Oh, come on, Percy,” she said. “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? Can you imagine a better place?”
Oh, this is so not like her. I was about to smack her when Percy grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game.
“Hey!” She screamed and hit him, which I couldn’t help but laugh at.
Percy made her look directly in his eyes.
“Spiders,” he said. “Large, hairy spiders.”
That jarred her. Her vision cleared.
“Oh my gods,” she said. “How long have we—”
“I don’t know,” Percy said. “But we’ve got to find Grover.”
We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter.
“Grover!” the four of us shouted.
“Die, human!” he said. “Die, silly polluting nasty person!”
“Grover!”
He turned the plastic gun on Percy and started clicking, as if he was just another image from the screen.
Percy looked at me and 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,” Percy told him.
“Such a shame,” he said, and I think that he really meant it, that we’d be breaking his heart if we went. “We just added an entire new floor of games for platinum-card members.”
He held out the cards, and I wanted one, but I kept myself back and my powers helped me. Toothless reached for the card, but I slapped his head and he stayed back. Jeez, even animals are affected by it.
Grover also reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm.
“No, thanks,” she said.
We walked toward the door, but I stopped when I noticed something that I didn’t see before when we first came in: a car.
“Jasmine?” Annabeth asked.
“Let’s take that,” I said, pointing to the car.
“Are you serious?”
I gave her a knowing glare.
She sighed. “Of course you are.”
“Uh, yeah. Come on.”
“Fine.”
We got to the car and the doors were unlocked.
Annabeth opened the driver door, but I slammed my hand on it.
“Hey,” I said. “It’s my idea. I should drive it.”
“Rock-paper-scissors?” she suggested.
“Fine.”
We shook our hands and chose rock, paper, or scissors.
Annabeth chose scissors. I chose rock.
I won.
“Two out of three?” Annabeth asked.
“No,” I said. “Now get your ass in the car.”
“Then I at least call shotgun.”
“Fine. Now get in. You guys, too.”
Annabeth got in shotgun; Percy, Grover, and Toothless got in the back, and I got into the driver’s seat.
“No keys,” I said. “They’d be idiots to leave them in the car. No problem. I can just hot—”
Annabeth pulled down the mirror above my head and the keys fell into my lap.
“I stand corrected,” I said. “They are typical idiots. And you just ruined what would’ve been a cool moment.”
“Just drive,” Annabeth said.
“Fine. Buckle up.”
We all did. I put the key in the ignition and turned on the car.
“Hold on,” I said.
I pushed the gas pedal and off we went out of the casino.
I have never driven a car before and it was awesome and scary. Mostly because I have to remind myself that this is real with real people and not a fake video game with fake people.
I tried to drive the speed limit once we got onto the road, but I couldn’t spot the damn sign anywhere, and I’m pretty sure that I was going too fast.
“So how long do you think it will be before she stops us?” Annabeth asked.
In response to her question, we just suddenly stopped moving, our seatbelts tightening across our chest as we lurched forward.
“Damnit,” I cursed. “She couldn’t give me five fucking minutes?”
“Who couldn’t?” Percy asked.
“Who do you think?”
The car was levitated to the curb and we stopped moving all together.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car.
My grandmother, Nick, Pikachu, and the animals landed in front of us.
“Seriously, Grandma?” I asked. “You couldn’t let me drive for five fucking minutes?”
“No, Jasmine,” she said. “You’re still too young to drive. You can wait three more years.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
Grandma looked at everyone else. “Hi, guys. You’re really making it hard for us to cover your tracks and make you innocent. Especially you, Percy.”
“It’s not my fault,” he said.
“I know. But it’s still hard. I tried to talk to you guys in New Jersey, then in St. Louis, but you all left pretty quickly after those incidents.”
“We had to,” Annabeth said.
“I know. And I’m glad you’re all ok. How’s your quest going?”
“Well, ok,” I said. “But now I think it’s become harder.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Hey, Raylee,” Percy said. “Can you tell us what today is?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Dad called me and told me that it’s Mom’s birthday today. It isn’t, is it?”
“Yes, it is,” Grandma said.
I sighed. Damnit.
“What?” Nick asked.
I looked at Annabeth, Percy (who had Ares’s backpack slung over his shoulder, which was odd because I thought he’d thrown it in the trash can in room 4001), Grover, and Toothless.
The five of us knew what that meant.
We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days.
We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest.

With the addition of Jasmine, of course I was going to have her meet Bianca and Nico. As for the part with the car, if you remember, that was apart of the movie. As crappy as all the movies were, the Lotus Casino was the best scene in the whole movie. What do you think?
And Annabeth's birthday was yesterday. Happy birthday, Annabeth!
**Please review** here**.**

**Nobody edit above this box**
## Character Appearances

### Main Characters

* Jasmine Saturday
* Annabeth Chase
* Percy Jackson

### Minor Characters

* Grover Underwood
* Bianca
* Nico
* Raylee Hollinger
* Nick
* Pikachu Hollinger