"We have to get her out," he said.
"Well, yeah," Leo agreed. "But, uh..." He looked like he wanted to say, What if we're too late? Wisely, he changed tack. "There's a parking lot in the way."
Percy looked at Coach Hedge. "Bacchus said something about breaking through. Coach, you still have ammo for those ballistae?"
The satyr grinned like a wild goat. "I thought you'd never ask.
Coach Hedge practically hopped in excitement (scratch that, he literally hopped like a mountain goat on a mission). Honestly, it was the first time I've found myself scared of Coach, since his height toned down his aggression. But no, he was way too trigger happy and it was seriously concerning.
Chunks of asphalt as big as garage doors tumbled down to the creepy lair, along with six or seven Italian cars. The spider woman fell, faintly screaming.
"Annabeth!" Percy shouted from above.
"Here!" she sobbed. The Argo II descended somewhat deeper towards the cavern, lowering a rope ladder, but Annabeth stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. Percy climbed down to her first and we followed in pursuit.
Annabeth buried her face in his chest and broke down in tears.
"It's okay," he said. "We're together."
"Your leg." I knelt next to her and examined the Bubble Wrap cast. It was such an intelligent idea but I wasn't surprised since it was Annabeth. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"
She started to explain. She had endured what anyone could easily consider torture.
"Gods of Olympus," Jason said. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."
"Well...some of it with a broken ankle." Percy grinned. "You made Arachne weave her own trap? I knew you were good, but Holy Hera—Annabeth, you did it. Generations of Athena kids tried and failed. You found the Athena Parthenos!"
Everyone gazed at the statue.
"What do we do with her?" Frank asked. "She's huge."
"We'll have to take her with us to Greece," Annabeth said. "The statue is powerful. Something about it will help us stop the giants."
"The giants' bane stands gold and pale," Hazel quoted. "Won with pain from a woven jail." She looked at Annabeth with admiration. "It was Arachne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it."
Leo raised his hands. He made a finger picture frame around the Athena Parthenos like he was taking measurements. "Well, it might take some rearranging, but I think we can fit her through the bay doors in the stable. If she sticks out the end, I might have to wrap a flag around her feet or something."
"What about you guys?" she asked. "What happened with the giants?"
Percy told her about rescuing Nico, the appearance of Bacchus, and the fight with the twins in the Colosseum. Nico didn't say much. The poor guy looked like he'd been wandering through a wasteland for six weeks. Percy explained what Nico had found out about the Doors of Death, and how they had to be closed on both sides. Even with sunlight streaming in from above, Percy's news made the cavern seem dark again.
"So the mortal side is in Epirus," she said. "At least that's somewhere we can reach."
Nico grimaced. "But the other side is the problem. Tartarus." The word seemed to echo through the chamber. The pit behind them exhaled a cold blast of air.
Percy took a breath in to speak. "Bacchus mentioned something about my voyage being harder than I expected. Not sure why—" The chamber groaned. The Athena Parthenos tilted to one side. Its head caught on one of Arachne's support cables, but the marble foundation under the pedestal was crumbling.
"Secure it!" Annabeth cried. We understood immediately.
"Zhang!" Leo cried. "Get me to the helm, quick! The coach is up there alone." Frank transformed into a giant eagle, and the two of them soared toward the ship.
Jason wrapped his arm around Piper. He turned to Percy. "Back for you guys in a sec." He summoned the wind and shot into the air.
"This floor won't last!" Hazel warned.
"The rest of us should get to the ladder." I suggested urgently.
Plumes of dust and cobwebs blasted from holes in the floor. The spider's silk support cables trembled like massive guitar strings and began to snap. Hazel lunged for the bottom of the rope ladder and gestured for Nico to follow, but Nico was in no condition to sprint.
I let him stumble onto me as I tried to prop him up to the best of my ability. Grappling lines shoot from the Argo II and wrap around the statue. One lassoed Athena's neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from the helm as Jason and Frank flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them. Nico had just reached the ladder in front of me when I heard Annabeth gasp from behind.
"What is it?" Percy asked. She tried to stagger toward the ladder. Her legs swept out from under her and she fell on her face.
"Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder, steps above us. "Cut it! Cut it!"
Then something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged. He grabbed her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well.
"Help them!" Hazel yelled. I turned and ran towards them, trying to grab Annabeth's hand. Nico hobbled in desperation behind me and Hazel tried to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. Our other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.
"No," Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. "My sword..."
Just before I could grab Percy and urge him forward with me, she slipped over the edge. Percy fell with her. Percy had managed to grab a ledge about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. I leaned over the edge of the chasm, Nico beside me. He was thrusting out his hand, but he was much too far away to help. I too extended my arm but at the realization it was no use, I begged Hazel to get the others. She was yelling for them, but even if they heard her over all the chaos, they'd never make it in time.
Percy and Annabeth were shouting things at one another. Percy looked up at us,
"The other side, guys! We'll see you there. Understand?"
Nico's eyes widened. "But—"
"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"
"We will." I nodded, gulping down my fear.
When they fell further into the abyss, I dragged myself away from the ledge with Nico right next to me. Hazel ran beside us and together we assisted Nico into grabbing the ladder. He could only put so much energy into pulling himself up, so I was left with Hazel's feet between my hands as I dangled from the very end of the ladder. My hands were cold from the sweat and horror when my body realized that below me, the floor was giving way.
Leo pulled the Argo II out of the cavern seconds before the entire place imploded, taking the rest of the parking lot with it. 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, 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. Dazed with grief, we carefully loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold, using the ship's hydraulic winches with an assist from Frank Zhang, part-time elephant.
Coach Hedge was too miserable to help. He kept pacing the deck with tears in his eyes, pulling at his goatee and slapping the side of his head, muttering, "I should have saved them! I should have blown up more stuff!"
Finally Leo told him to go below decks and secure everything for departure.
Us six demigods gathered on the quarterdeck and gazed at the distant column of dust still rising from the site of the implosion.
"It's my fault," he said miserably. The others stared at him. Only Hazel and I seemed to understand. We'd been with him at the Great Salt Lake. He was guilty about that fortune cookie-thing. But without it, he wouldn't have been able to save us.
"No," I insisted. "No, this is Gaea's fault. It had nothing to do with you."
"Leo, listen to me." Hazel gripped his hand. "I won't allow you to take the blame. I couldn't bear that after—after Sammy..." She choked up.
Nico di Angelo shuffled over, leaning on his black sword. "Leo, they're not dead. If they were, I could feel it."
"How can you be sure?" Leo asked. "If that pit really led to...you know... how could you sense them so far away?"
Nico and Hazel shared a look, maybe comparing notes on their Hades/Pluto death radar.
"We can't be one hundred percent sure," Hazel admitted. "But I think Nico is right. Percy and Annabeth are still alive...at least, so far."
Jason pounded his fist against the rail. "I should've been paying attention. I could have flown down and saved them."
"Me, too," Frank moaned. The big dude looked on the verge of tears. Piper put her hand on Jason's back.
"It's not your fault, either of you. You were trying to save the statue."
"She's right," Nico said. "Even if the pit hadn't been buried, you couldn't have flown into it without being pulled down. I'm the only one who has actually been into Tartarus. It's impossible to describe how powerful that place is. Once you get close, it sucks you in. I never stood a chance."
Frank sniffled. "Then Percy and Annabeth don't stand a chance either?"
Nico twisted his silver skull ring. "Percy is the most powerful demigod I've ever met. No offense to you guys, but it's true. If anybody can survive, he will, especially if he's got Annabeth at his side. They're going to find a way through Tartarus."
Jason turned. "To the Doors of Death, you mean. But you told us it's guarded by Gaea's most powerful forces. How could two demigods possibly—?"
"I don't know," Nico admitted. "But Percy told us to lead you guys to Epirus, to the mortal side of the doorway. He's planning on meeting us there. If we can survive the House of Hades, fight our way through Gaea's forces, then maybe we can work together with Percy and Annabeth and seal the Doors of Death from both sides."
"And get Percy and Annabeth back safely?" Leo asked.
"Maybe."
Nico took a deep breath. "I don't know how they'll manage it, but Percy and Annabeth will find a way. They'll journey through Tartarus and find the Doors of Death. When they do, we have to be ready."
"It won't be easy," Hazel said. "Gaea will throw everything she's got at us to keep us from reaching Epirus."
"What else is new?" Jason sighed.
Piper nodded. "We've got no choice. We have to seal the Doors of Death before we can stop the giants from raising Gaea. Otherwise her armies will never die. And we've got to hurry. The Romans are in New York. Soon, they'll be marching on Camp Half-Blood."
"We've got one month at best," Jason added. "Ephialtes said Gaea would awaken in exactly one month."
Leo straightened. "We can do it."
Everyone stared at him. "The Archimedes sphere can upgrade the ship," he said, hoping he was right. "I'm going to study those ancient scrolls we got. There's got to be all kinds of new weapons I can make. We're going to hit Gaea's armies with a whole new arsenal of hurt."
At the prow of the ship, Festus creaked his jaw and blew fire defiantly.
Jason managed a smile. He clapped Leo on the shoulder. "Sounds like a plan, Admiral. You want to set the course?" Everyone always kidded him, calling him Admiral,
"Yeah." He took one last look at the cityscape of Rome, turning bloodred in the sunset. "Festus, raise the sails. We've got some friends to save."
An overwhelming sense of guilt was clouding over me, since I was the closest to saving them. As everyone dispersed, I spent a little time watching Rome slowly disappear as we headed east towards Greece on the main deck. It was beautiful, but not the appealing kind. That kind of beautiful like a rose on a grave, like glistening eyes after crying.
Once it was dark enough, I sighed and turned to head back down the deck. But something grabbed my arm. It yanked me gently and I was pulled into the close vicinity of none other than Leo Valdez.
"Hey Fire Hazard. What's up?"
He said nothing, just stood there with my hands in his, panting as he stared at me. I watched as his eyes went from the left side of my face to the right, as if he were changing which eye to look at. Then, they finally ended up on my lips. The triangle method? Oh, I knew what he was doing. I was going to kill Piper (if a monster didn't do it for me.)
"What are you-?" I asked, his breath warm on my face. Before I could furrow my brows and question him, I was interrupted as he leaned his head in and pressed his lips gently onto mine. I closed my eyes and kissed him back softly for a second before moving back to breathe.
"I had to do that. I planned this whole love-confession-thingy but I- I just.. needed to at least do that."
"What?"
"You're my best friend, Y/N."
And with that he ran back to the quarterdeck, a spring in his step. Leaving me standing perplexed in the doorway...
the end...