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Leo LII

"Leo LII," Leo tiredly grinned, rolling his eyes.

The readers slumped in their chairs, ready to get this chapter over with. Lacy and Grover's eyes were half-lidded and puffy from the constant rubbing and tears. There were still a few sniffles heard in the room and soft hiccups, but otherwise everyone was quiet.

How could there be another chapter? What more could be said after what happened? There was unsaid worry amongst the gods and demigods that this chapter had more bad news to come.

"LEO WAS STILL IN SHOCK." Leo snorted. "That was putting it mildly."

Devastated was more like it. Leo had even blamed himself for not noticing his friends had vanished into the Pit until it was too late. He went so far as to accuse himself for essentially cursing the couple to fall by having opened Nemesis's fortune cookie. It seemed silly now that he looked back on it, but at the time, Leo had genuinely believed that.

The son of Hephaestus grimaced, remembering how terrible he felt.

Everything had happened so quickly. They had secured grappling lines to the Athena Parthenos just as the floor gave way, and the final columns of webbing snapped. Jason and Frank dove down to save the others, but they'd only found Nico and Hazel hanging from the rope ladder. Percy and Annabeth were gone. Leo fought back a wince.

Everyone else shuddered.

Percy visibly paled. Annabeth squeezed her eyes shut and took a slow deep breath. Thalia rubbed small circles into her hand, the daughter of Zeus was blinking back more tears.

The pit to Tartarus had been buried under several tons of debris. Leo pulled the Argo II out of the cavern seconds before the entire place imploded, taking the rest of the parking lot with it.

"Gods," Will breathed, feeling a shiver run down his spine. It was completely unrelated, but he couldn't help but think back to the collapse of the Williamsburg Bridge. Michael.

The son of Apollo immediately stopped his train of thought.

"Even if they wanted to go after us, they can't..." Annabeth muttered, holding her dad's college ring. Their only hope of making it out was traveling through Tartarus.

The Argo II was now parked 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,

Knowing it was pointless, the readers grimaced. A few let out heavy sighs.

but they'd come back demoralized. The cavern was simply gone. The scene was swarming with police and rescue workers. No mortals had been hurt, but the Italians would be scratching their heads for months, wondering how a massive sinkhole had opened right in the middle of a parking lot and swallowed a dozen perfectly good cars. Leo gave a strained smile.

Dazed with grief, Leo and the others carefully loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold, using the ship's hydraulic winches with an assist from Frank Zhang, part-time elephant. The statue just fit, though what they were going to do with it, Leo had no idea.

I still have no clue, Leo thought to himself with a slight frown.

Normally Athena would have rejoiced to the statue being saved. She might have even bragged to the other gods if given the chance. But now all she felt was empty. The goddess finally had her statue after all these centuries in exchange for her daughter.

Athena tightly clasped her hands together. I will not let this happen. Annabeth will never set one foot in Tartarus. I won't allow it.