#1 Daughter of Hera: Rise of Tartarus

Chapter 27 - When All Hades Breaks Loose

Note: I don't own PJO nor HOO. All credits goes to Rick Riordan for these two wonderful series. Credits to the artists of the pictures used in the cover.

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~Hazel Levesque's POV~

Before Clarisse could move a step out of the room, the ground suddenly shook. It was so sudden and violent that we toppled to the ground. Some of the wall ornaments fell out of place and things made of glass shattered upon impact to the ground. Screams of panic echoed from outside. We gathered our bearings, carefully standing one by one.

"What in Hades happened?" Travis asked, his eyes wild in shock.

"Shut up, Travis. Isn't obvious? An earthquake happened just a minute ago, and please stop using my father's name in vain or else I will send an army of undead soldiers after you." Nico said.

"Okay, people." Leo piped in."Which of you is stupid enough to make Percy's dad angry?"

"Leo...it wasn't Poseidon." I said.

Leo's eyes widened. "Don't tell me Percy did it?"

"Bro, if it's Clarisse, I would. But no, I didn't do it."

"What did you say Jackson?"

"Stop playing Sherlock Holmes, Leo." Piper said. She turned to Nico and me. "I supposed it wasn't any of you?"

I shook my head.

Nico stared down, seemingly thinking deep. "No. I don't think it's dad. That quake...it's different." He turned to me. "Do you?"

"No. Just like what I'm saying earlier, it wasn't Poseidon nor any of the three of us." I gestured to Percy who was muttering something about Mount Saint Helens. "Not even dad."

"Then, who? Gaea?" Jason asked.

"No..." Nico was about to say something when the door slammed opened. Leaning on the doorway was the son of Bacchus, Dakota.

"The ground...outside..." He huffed.

We all looked at each other and rushed outside, following Dakota. We stopped abruptly and stared wide-eyed at what lays before us. A huge and very long fissure had opened up from the ground starting from the edge of the dining pavilion up to the middle of the strawberry fields.

"What the..."

I looked to Nico who looked back at me. A simple message passed through between us, unspoken yet clear. Tartarus.

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~Hermes' POV~

I watched in grim silence as the other Olympian gods argue. All hell has finally broke loose. On my hand, my caduceus turned into a phone and snapped a photo of Ares smirking at the chaos in front of him. I rolled my eyes at his amusement. What else could expect from the god of war? He may have been waiting for them to smack each others' heads.

"...getting out of hand!" Demeter is saying. "If this continues, the agricultural production would be affected!"

"Well, that would be good!" Ares laughed. "There would be less cereals! And do you know what that means? We will not be forced to eat cereals every single day!"

I added a caption saying "A simple-minded buffoon." to the picture and posted it in my Facebook. Soon, a like from Athena popped out together with a comment saying, "No doubt about it."

"This is not a laughing matter, Ares!" Demeter wailed. "It would affect the nutrition of everyone! We will become physically unfit!"

"What does it have to do with our REAL problem?" Dionysus asked, slurping his Diet Coke.