invisible string | f. zhang

xl. Tartarus

forty. Tartarus

     THEIR DEATH MIST CAMO PLAN seemed to be working as far as Maribelle could tell. Which is why she awaited the downfall. The closer they got to the doors, Annabeth and Percy both froze.

"Oh, gods," Annabeth murmurs as Maribelle stumbles from the abrupt halt. "They're the same."

She wasn't quite sure what they were talking about. The Doors of Death had frost spreading from the base of them, the purplish glow in the air around them, and the chains that held them fast. Cords of black iron ran down either side of the frame, like rigging lines on a suspension bridge. They were tethered to hooks embedded in the fleshy ground. The two Titans, Krios and Hyperion, stood guard at the anchor points.

The entire frame shudders and black lightning flashes into the sky. The chains shook, and the Titans planted their feet on the hooks to keep them secure. The Doors slide open, revealing the gilded interior of an elevator car.

So close . . .

Hyperion yells to the surrounding crowd: "Group A-22! Hurry up, you sluggards!" A dozen Cyclopes rush forward, waving little red tickets and shouting excitedly. They shouldn't have been able to fit inside those humansized doors, but as the Cyclopes got close, their bodies distorted and shrank, the Doors of Death sucking them inside.

The Titan Krios jabs his thumb against the up button on the elevator's right side. The Doors slide closed. The frame shudders again. Dark lightning fades.

"You must understand how it works," Bob mutters, "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."

"Then we cut the chains," Annabeth whispers.

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

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

"Mrow," replies Small Bob.

"Bob, you' ll have to distract them," Annabeth says. "Belle, Percy and I will sneak around the two Titans and cut the chains from behind."

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

Percy tries to swallow. "Uh . . . defend the button?"

Bob nods, scratching his kitten under the chin, "Someone must keep pressing the UP button for twelve minutes, or the journey will not finish."

Maribelle frowns. Twelve minutes . . . and then her, Bob, Percy, or Annabeth would have to keep that button pushed for twelve long minutes, in the middle of an army of monsters in the heart of Tartarus, while the other three rode to the mortal world.

"Why twelve minutes?" Percy asks.

"I do not know," Bob says. "Why twelve Olympians, or twelve Titans?"

"Fair enough," Percy says.

"What do you mean the journey won't finish?" Annabeth asks. "What happens to the passengers?"

Bob doesn't answer.

"If we do push the button for twelve minutes," Percy speaks, "And the chains are cut —"

"The Doors should reset," Bob says. "That is what they are supposed to do. They will disappear from Tartarus. They will appear somewhere else, where Gaea cannot use them."

"Thanatos can reclaim them," Annabeth says. "Death goes back to normal, and the monsters lose their shortcut to the mortal world."

Percy exhales. "Easy-peasy. Except for . . . well, everything."