Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 70

Bob hefted his broom, like he was ready for a messy cleaning job. "We must hurry," he said, which Percy noticed wasn't really an answer. "Follow me."

Cressida could breathe even less than before when she finally saw the Doors for the first time.

Actually, it wasn't the first time. Because the Doors were exactly the same as a pair that she was very familiar with, that she had passed through numerous times. Because despite the fact that the colours were inverted, those Doors, they looked exactly like the elevators in the Empire State Building, the entrance to Olympus.

Oh, she was so going to tell Annabeth to redesign the hell out of those doors. Cruel symbolism be damned.

As for Percy, he couldn't breathe because of how homesick he was. He didn't just miss Mount Olympus. He missed everything he'd left behind: New York City, Camp Half-Blood, his mom and stepdad. His eyes stung. He didn't trust himself to talk. The Doors of Death seemed like a personal insult, designed to remind him of everything he couldn't have.

Cords of black iron ran down either side of the frame, like rigging lines on a suspension bridge - chains. They were tethered to hooks embedded in the fleshy ground. The two Titans, Krios and Hyperion, stood guard at the anchor points.

As they watched, the entire frame shuddered. Black lightning flashed into the sky. The chains shook, and the Titans planted their feet on the hooks to keep them secure. The Doors slid open, revealing the gilded interior of an elevator car.

Percy tensed, ready to charge forward, but Bob planted a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait," he cautioned.

Hyperion yelled to the surrounding crowd: "Group A-22! Hurry up, you sluggards!"

A dozen Cyclopes rushed forward, waving little red tickets and shouting excitedly. They shouldn't have been able to fit inside those human-sized doors, but as the Cyclopes got close, their bodies distorted and shrank, the Doors of Death sucking them inside. The Titan Krios jabbed his thumb against the up button on the elevator's right side. The Doors slid closed. The frame shuddered again. Dark lightning faded.

"You must understand how it works," Bob muttered. He addressed the kitten in his palm, maybe so the other monsters wouldn't wonder who he was talking to. "Each time the Doors open, they try to teleport to a new location. Thanatos made them this way, so only he could find them. But now they are chained. The Doors cannot relocate."

"Which means that we have to get past the Titans and break the chains before we can go up," Cressida filled in.

While she was filling herself with determination, not allowing herself to be scared when they were so close, Percy was filled with dread. Not just for him but for her because he remembered the last time they fought Hyperion. Cressida was still healing from the wound of a poisoned blade when she gave Percy her strength so he could summon a hurricane and help Grover turn him into a tree. Both of them nearly died then and now there were two Titans with several thousand monsters for backup. And perhaps a million more helping hands than Kronos had.

"Our camouflage," Percy said. "Will it disappear if we do something aggressive, like cutting the chains?"

"I do not know," Bob told his kitten.

"Mrow," said Small Bob.

"Bob, Cas you'll have to distract them," Cressida said. "Percy and I will sneak around the two Titans and cut the chains from behind. Attack plan Macedonia."

Percy nodded. He could do that. He knew what that was.

"Yes, fine," Bob said. "But that is only one problem. Once you are inside the Doors, someone must stay outside to push the button and defend it."