Percy had groaned awake first, still barely able to move but he was able to take in what was happening. He was able to warn Hazel that the doors were still chained on this side as she fought, and the giant continued to boast and brag.
Leo was force-feeding Cressida ambrosia as Percy shook his head when he'd tried to offer it to him. He'd been awake, struggling to move his head, much less the rest of his body, but Cressida was still out of it, she needed it more than he did.
Hazel threw her sword—not at the giant, but at the Doors of Death. The chains on the right side shattered. Hazel collapsed in agony, her side burning, as the Doors shuddered and disappeared in a flash of purple light.
Clytius roared so loudly that a half dozen stelae fell from the ceiling and shattered.
"That was for my brother, Nico," Hazel gasped. "And for destroying my father's altar."
You have forfeited your right to a quick death, the giant snarled. I will suffocate you in darkness, slowly, painfully. Hecate cannot help you. NO ONE can help you!
The goddess raised her torches. "I would not be so certain, Clytius. Hazel's friends simply needed a little time to reach her—time you have given them with your boasting and bragging."
Clytius snorted. What friends? These weaklings? They are no challenge.
In front of Hazel, the air rippled. The Mist thickened, creating a doorway, and five people stepped through.
Hazel wept with relief.
Frank's arm was bleeding and bandaged, but he was alive. Next to him stood Nico, Piper, Jason and Annabeth—all with their swords drawn (Annabeth's being one of the many spare weapons they had on the ship, but it still didn't feel right in her hands).
"Sorry we're late," Jason said. "Is this the guy who needs killing?"
Annabeth had taken one look over her shoulder before seeing her fallen friends and she met Percy's eyes as hers widened, and she turned on the giant. She raised her stupid sword, and she channelled all the rage, the grief and the guilt she'd felt in the last month they'd been gone, every negative emotion, and she let out an enraged battle cry as she lunged at the giant and her friends followed.
They attacked him from every direction—Leo shooting fire at his legs, Frank and Piper jabbing at his chest, Jason flying into the air and kicking him in the face. Hazel was proud to see how well Piper remembered her sword-fighting lessons. Annabeth fought almost demonically as she slashed and stabbed and hacked at the giant. Each time the giant's smoky veil started creeping around one of them, Nico was there, slashing through it, drinking in the darkness with his Stygian blade before he pulled out a vial of golden liquid that he tossed to Leo who handed it to Percy who poured it down Cressida's throat.
Percy was awake and on his feet, weak and dazed but he had his sword in one hand as he hauled Cressida onto her feet. She was leaning heavily on Percy and her eyes were still fighting to stay open as her hand reached for her sword - when did she get a sword, Hazel didn't know but she appreciated the fact that they wanted to help even though there was no need because the giant was already surrounded.
Clytius snarled, turning back and forth as if he couldn't decide which of them to kill first. Wait! Hold still! No! Ouch!
The darkness around him dispelled completely, leaving nothing to protect him except his battered armour. Ichor oozed from a dozen wounds. The damage healed almost as fast as it was inflicted, but Hazel could tell the giant was tiring.
One last time Jason flew at him, kicking him in the chest, and the giant's breastplate shattered.
Clytius staggered backward. His sword dropped to the floor. He fell to his knees, and the demigods encircled him. Only then did Hecate step forward, her torches raised. Mist curled around the giant, hissing and bubbling as it touched his skin.
"And so it ends," Hecate said.
It does not end. Clytius's voice echoed from somewhere above, muffled and slurred. My brethren have risen. Gaia waits only for the blood of Olympus. It took all of you together to defeat me. What will you do when the Earth Mother opens her eyes?
Hecate turned her torches upside down. She thrust them like daggers at Clytius's head. The giant's hair went up faster than dry tinder, spreading down his head and across his body until the heat of the bonfire made Hazel wince.
Clytius fell without a sound, face-first in the rubble of Hades's altar. His body crumbled to ashes. For a moment, no one spoke.
The goddess Hecate faced her. "You should go now, Hazel Levesque. Lead your friends out of this place."
Hazel gritted her teeth, trying to hold in her anger. "Just like that? No 'thank you'? No 'good work'?"
The goddess tilted her head. Gale the weasel chittered—maybe a good-bye, maybe a warning—and disappeared in the folds of her mistress's skirts. "You look in the wrong place for gratitude," Hecate said. "As for 'good work,' that remains to be seen. Speed your way to Athens. Clytius was not wrong. The giants have risen—all of them, stronger than ever. Gaia is on the very edge of waking. The Feast of Hope will be poorly named unless you arrive to stop her."
The chamber rumbled. Another stela crashed to the floor and shattered.
"The House of Hades is unstable," Hecate said. "Leave now. We shall meet again."
The goddess dissolved. The Mist evaporated.
"She's friendly," Percy grumbled.
The others turned toward him and Cressida as if just realizing they were there, and Annabeth let out a cry as she threw down her sword and barrelled into him.
"Ow! Easy, Wise Girl. Still healing here," he said with how hard she squeezed him.
"Sorry, Seaweed Brain," she cried as she kissed his cheek in the heat of the moment, so happy to have her best friends back.
Leo was hugging Cressida who was still unable to stand on her own. "Good to see you Hollywood."
She let out a broken laugh, just allowing herself to be happy in this moment. "You too, Houston."
"Dude." Jason gave Percy a bear hug.
"Back from Tartarus!" Leo whooped as Piper threw her arms around Cressida and Frank ran to Hazel to check on her. "That's my peeps!"
"Hey, Books," Cressida called, still leaning on Piper as Annabeth finally turned on her best friend in the world. "Do I get a hug as well?"
And Cressida was able to take all of a step forward before Annabeth was wrapping her in a hug, happy tears trailing down her face.
Percy had turned to Nico, who was talking to Hazel and was about to thank him for keeping his promise, but before he could say anything, the ceiling shuddered. Cracks appeared in the remaining tiles. Columns of dust spilled down.
"We've got to get out of here," Jason said. "Uh, Frank...?"
Frank shook his head. "I think one favour from the dead is all I can manage today."
"Wait, what?" Hazel asked.
Piper raised her eyebrows. "Your unbelievable boyfriend called in a favour as a child of Mars. He summoned the spirits of some dead warriors, made them lead us here through...um, well, I'm not sure, actually. The passages of the dead? All I know is that it was very, very dark."
To their left, a section of the wall split. Two ruby eyes from a carved stone skeleton popped out and rolled across the floor.
"We'll have to shadow-travel," Hazel said.
Nico winced. "Hazel, I can barely manage that with only myself. With eight more people—"
"I'll help you." She tried to sound confident. She'd never shadow-travelled before, and had no idea if she could; but after working with the Mist, altering the Labyrinth—she had to believe it was possible.
"Me too," Cressida said despite the look Percy gave her but he couldn't exactly protest if they wanted to get out of here alive.
An entire section of tiles peeled loose from the ceiling.
"Everyone, grab hands!" Nico yelled, making sure they placed Cressida between him and Hazel, Annabeth taking Percy's hand as she noticed his anxiety at being separated from her even just a little bit as they made a hasty circle.
Hazel envisioned the Greek countryside above them as she felt a surge of strength and power flow through her. The cavern collapsed, and she felt herself dissolving into shadow.
******************************************************************
They appeared on the hillside overlooking the River Acheron. The sun was just rising, making the water glitter and the clouds glow orange. The cool morning air smelled of honeysuckle.
They had no idea how Percy moved as fast as he did, but the second they were on solid ground he was between Hazel and Nico as he caught Cressida, his entire body trembling as he eased her onto the ground. Nico moved away from the couple, especially after realising he had held Percy's hand.
"I got it," Annabeth said, a little scared of how scared Percy looked. She crouched next to him as she tipped her vial of Solace Solution into Cressida's mouth.
Leo staggered backward. "You know...I think I'll sit down." He collapsed. The others joined him. The Argo II still floated over the river a few hundred yards away.
Percy was still holding Cressida tightly as she began to wake up again, still hugged to Percy's side but as much as she wanted to, she just couldn't bring herself to hold Annabeth's hand - it almost felt like she'd infect her with all the pain Tartarus put her through. Everything that happened was finally sinking in.
Annabeth was just glad that the two of them were sitting in front of her to notice it.
They began to exchange stories.
Frank explained what had happened with the ghostly legion and the army of monsters—how Nico had used the sceptre of Diocletian, and how bravely Jason, Piper and Annabeth had fought.
"Frank is being modest," Jason said. "He controlled the entire legion. You should've seen him. Oh, by the way..." Jason glanced at Percy. "I resigned my office, gave Frank a field promotion to praetor. Unless you want to contest that ruling."
Percy grinned. "No argument here."
"Praetor?" Hazel stared at Frank.
He shrugged uncomfortably. "Well...yeah. I know it seems weird."
She tried to throw her arms around him, then winced as she remembered her busted ribs. She settled for kissing him. "It seems perfect."
Leo clapped Frank on the shoulder. "Way to go, Zhang. Now you can order Octavian to fall on his sword."
"Tempting," Frank agreed. He turned apprehensively to Percy. "But, you guys...Tartarus has to be the real story. What happened down there? How did you...?"
Cressida shuddered as she turned towards Percy, resting her head on his jaw as if the word physically pained her. Percy just gripped her tighter.
Hazel happened to glance at Nico and saw the pain in his eyes. She wasn't sure, but maybe he was thinking how lucky Percy and Cressida were to have each other. Nico had gone through Tartarus alone.
Annabeth was more concerned with how something in Cressida seemed to have dimmed. That sarcastic, fun light in her eyes seemed to have gone out and it worried her because it was so similar to how she looked when Castor died.
"We'll tell you the story," Percy promised. "But not yet, okay? I'm not ready to remember that place."
"No," Cressida agreed. "Right now..." She gazed toward the river and faltered. "Uh, I think our ride is coming."
It was a good thing that the Argo II veered to port, its aerial oars in motion, its sails catching the wind, Festus's head glinted in the sunlight, because Cressida had no idea what she'd been going to say.
"That's my boy!" Leo yelled.
As the ship got closer, you could see Coach Hedge standing at the prow.
"About time!" the coach yelled down. He was doing his best to scowl, but his eyes gleamed as if maybe, just maybe, he was happy to see them, especially when he saw Cressida sitting with them. "What took you so long, cupcakes? You kept your visitor waiting!"
"Visitor?" Hazel murmured. At the rail next to Coach Hedge, a dark-haired girl appeared wearing a purple cloak, her face so covered with soot and bloody scratches that Hazel almost didn't recognize her.
Reyna had arrived.