LOST AT SEA | jason grace

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧.

Frank transformed into a giant eagle, and the two of them soared toward the ship. Jason wrapped his arm around Lorna. He turned to Percy. "Back for you guys in a sec." He summoned the wind and shot into the air.

Lorna caught a glimpse of Piper climbing up the ladder and the children of Hades talking with Annabeth. Jason made sure Lorna was safe aboard the Argo before flying off to help Frank and Leo. She saw grappling lines shoot from the Argo II and wrap around the statue. One lassoed Athena's neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from the helm as Jason and Frank flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them. Piper came aboard and stood beside Lorna, the two girls were shivering with nervousness.

"Lorna, your ring," Piper said. A bright light ignited from Lorna's hand and she looked at it in confusion.

It was glowing brightly, vibrating like crazy. She knew that when her ring glowed, it meant that Percy was in danger. But it had never vibrated before. Furthermore, ever since Lorna found Percy again, it didn't glow at all. "What? But they're down—"

Lorna immediately looked down as Nico had just reached the ladder when Annabeth stumbled. She tried to stagger toward the ladder. But she moved backward instead. Her legs swept out from under her and she fell on her face.

Then something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged. He grabbed her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well.

Nico hobbled in Percy and Annabeth's direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. Leo, Frank and Jason were still focused on the statue. Annabeth hit the edge of the pit. Her legs went over the side. 

Annabeth slipped over the edge. Percy fell with her.

Lorna couldn't see them now. But she could see Nico and Hazel looking down into the dark pit.

Lorna let out a strangled scream and was about to go down the rope ladder when Piper held her back. 

"What's going on down there?" Lorna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 

Lorna watched in horror as Hazel sobbed into Nico shoulder.

"Wha-what happened!" Lorna screamed. It felt hard to breathe. 

"The floor," Piper said. "It's going to give way."

Hazel and Nico scrambled up the rope ladder. Lorna held her arm out for Hazel. Hazel grabbed it, tears streaming down her cheeks as she sputtered out an apology.

"Hazel, what's wrong?" Lorna grabbed both her arms, rubbing them gently to comfort her. 

"Lorna," Nico choked out. "Percy and Annabeth fell."

"Well, we can just fly down to get them back. Leo is done securing the Athena Parthenos." Lorna gestured to the Jason and Frank, who was already flying back on board.

"No, Lorna," Nico shook his head. Tears gathered in his eyes. He looked straight into Lorna's sea green eyes, and said, "We can't get them back. The pit leads to Tartarus. They're gone."

Lorna didn't have time to process his words. The cavern floor crumbled and the Argo II was forced to leave the site. What was left was layers of debris.

Leo parked the Argo II on a hill overlooking the city. Jason, Hazel, and Frank had returned to the scene of the catastrophe, hoping to dig through the rubble and find a way to save Percy and Annabeth, but they'd come back demoralized. The cavern was simply gone. 

Lorna wasn't aware of her surroundings. She could barely feel Jason's arm around her. She didn't know what the others were saying. 

Not dead. Stuck.

The Doors of Death. Percy. 

Epirus. Romans.

One month. Archimedes sphere.

Gaea. Kill.

She barely caught on their words. Her mind was filled with sadness; her heart ached with anguish; her thought were filled with hate. Hate directed at Gaea. For her, for Percy and Annabeth, and for all the teenagers on the ship. 

Her hands shook with anger. But she could be angry tomorrow, right now, all she wanted to do was to curl up in her bed and cry. She wanted her mom to slowly stroke her hair and tell her that it would be alright. She wanted Percy to laugh at her and mock her for being a baby. But he wasn't here. He was in Tartarus, and Tremor was constantly reminding her.

The ring glowed and vibrated. A screech rang in Lorna's ears, a persistent remembrance that Percy was in danger. 

Lorna ripped the ring of her finger. It had been years since she taken it off, her hand felt weird without the weight on it. She threw it away, she didn't care where it was, as long as it was away from her. 

Her friends were looking at her, all waiting for her to break, to cry. And she did. She sobbed and wailed like a baby, her hands clenched around her chest, trying badly to ease the ache she felt. Hands wrapped around her and she felt her shoulders dampening with the tears of her friends. 

They were in this together.

They would find Percy and Annabeth.

They would fight every single monster that Geae sent their way.

And they would destroy her. 

Lorna smiled a little. She took one last look at the cityscape of Rome, turning bloodred in the sunset. She took a deep breath, as if she were absorbing the site one last time. But Lorna vowed to herself that this wouldn't be the last time she'd come to Rome. She vowed that she would save Percy and Annabeth, that she would end this war, and she would return to Rome. Rome was a beautiful place and she was not going to let Gaea ruin it for her.

She would return. She would return as someone who ended this war and not as someone who was visiting a gravesite.

Because she would save her friends.

She leaned into Frank's embrace, trying to remember the moment forever. It was the moment that they all stopped being children: they left their childhood behind to fight. Because they were going to save their friends. And because the weight of the war were on their shoulders.

As if it were agreeing with Lorna, Tremor returned in her hand. The weight of her weapon made Lorna sigh. It glowed and vibrated, and she couldn't get rid of it. 

"Stupid ring." Lorna said. 

"It won't stop glowing." Piper laughed, wiping her tears.

"I guess there's only one thing we can do." Lorna told her friend. "We got to save them."