We sailed out of the Colosseum and veered south over the rooftops of Rome. Luckily, as we flew over the city, none of the giants' plans to destroy Rome were successful. The mortals were going about their day normally and safely.
We gathered around the helm. Jason bandaged Piper's sprained shoulder. She had irritated it while climbing down the emperor's box. Thankfully it wasn't dislocated anymore. Hazel sat at the stern, giving Nico another small piece of ambrosia. Getting out of the emperor's box had drained the little energy he had regained. He could barely lift his head. His voice was quiet and Hazel would have to lean in whenever he spoke.
Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres, and the visions Gaea had shown them in the bronze mirror. We quickly decided that the best lead to find Annabeth was the cryptic advice Bacchus had given us: the Emmanuel Building. Frank started typing at the helm's computer while Leo tapped furiously at his controls, muttering, "Emmanuel Building. Emmanuel Building." Coach tried to help by wrestling an upside down street map of Rome.
"You okay?" Percy asked me, eyeing my healed arm.
"I'm fine, just going to have a scar." I nodded. "You okay?"
"I'm okay." He sent me a soft smile before he frowned. "I swear, even in his Roman form, your dad still wants to make my life miserable."
"I know." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "You don't help sometimes, though, making it worse."
"Well, he starts it." Percy muttered with a shrug. I gave him a look. He gave me a sheepish smile. "I'll work on it."
"That's all I ask." I smiled up at him, pecking his lips.
"Come on, let's go check on the others." Percy slung an arm around my shoulder and led us to Jason and Piper. They were sitting on the ground. "How's the shoulder?"
"It'll heal." Piper smiled. She glanced at both Percy and Jason. "Both of you did great."
"Great team work." I nodded along.
"Not a bad team, you and me." Jason elbowed Percy.
"There it is!" Leo cried, pointing to his monitor. "Frank, you're amazing! I'm setting course."
"I just read the name off the screen." Frank hunched his shoulders. "Some Chinese tourist marked it on Google Maps."
"He reads Chinese." Leo grinned at us.
"Just a tiny bit." Frank said.
"How cool is that?"
"Guys." Hazel broke in. "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this."
She helped Nico to his feet. He still looked pale, but thankfully not as bad as before.
"Thank you." Nico rapsed. His eyes darted nervously around the group. I gave him a reassuring smile. "I'd given up hope."
"We'd never leave you, Nico." I told him.
"You knew about the two camps all along." Percy brought up. "You could have told me who I was the first day I arrived at Camp Jupiter, but you didn't."
"Percy, I'm sorry." Nico slumped against the helm. "I discovered Camp Jupiter last year. My dad led me there, though I wasn't sure why. He told me the gods had kept the camps separate for centuries and that I couldn't tell anyone. The time wasn't right. But he said it would be important for me to know..."
Nico doubled over in a coughing fit. Hazel held his shoulders until he could stand again.
"I-I thought Dad meant because of Hazel." Nico continued. "I'd need a safe place to take her. But now...I think he wanted me to know about both camps so I'd understand how important your quest was, and so I'd search for the Doors of Death."
The air turned electric-literally. Jason started throwing off sparks.
"Did you find the doors?" Percy asked.
"I was a fool." Nico nodded. "I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I might as well have tried running from a black hole."
"Um..." Frank chewed his lip. "What kind of black hole are you talking about?"
My dream about me falling popped into my mind. I held back a gasp as I realized the hole in my dream was Tartarus. My hands started to tremble at my sides. Percy glanced at me with furrowed brows, eyeing my shaking hands. He slipped his hand into mine and gave it a comforting squeeze. The trembling lessened. Nico started to speak, but whatever he needed to say must have been too terrifying. He turned toward Hazel.
"Nico told me that the Doors of Death have two sides-one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld." Hazel put her hand on Nico's arm. "It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico back into the upper world. Then transported him to Rome."
"Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?" Piper's cornucopia shot out a cheeseburger, which was odd since she was a vegetarian.
"The House of Hades." Nico took a rattling breath. "It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it in a map, but-but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in...in..."
"Tartarus." Percy pieced together. He glanced down at me, finally realizing why my hands were shaking. "The deepest part of the Underworld."
"They pulled me into the pit, Percy. The things I saw down there..." Nico's voice broke.
"No mortal has ever been to Tartarus." Hazel pursed her lips. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum security prison if Hades, where the old Titans and the other enemies of the gods are bound. It's where all monsters go when they die on earth. It's...well, no one knows exactly what it's like."
Her eyes drifted to Nico. The rest of her thought didn't need to be spoken: No one except Nico. Hazel handed him his sword.
"Now I understand why Hades hasn't been able to close the doors." Nico leaned on his sword as if it were a cane. "Even the gods don't go into Tartarus. Even the god of death, Thanatos himself, wouldn't go near that place."
"So let me guess." Leo glanced over from the wheel. "We'll have to go there."
"It's impossible." Nico shook his head. "I'm the son of Hades, and I even barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there...no demigod would stand a chance. I almost went insane."
Nico's eyes looked like shattered glass. I was worried if something inside him had broken permanently from his time down there. I wanted to go over to him and bring him into a hug.
"Then we'll sail for Epirus." Percy said. "We'll just close the gates on this side."
"I wish it were that easy." Nico stated. "The doors would have to be controlled on both sides to be closed. It's like a double seal. Maybe, just maybe, all eight doors you working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you have a team fighting simultaneously on the Tartarus side, a team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory-"
"There has to be a way." Jason said.
No one volunteered any brilliant ideas. My mind kept thinking about my dream with Gaea and the hole. Then I felt like my stomach was sinking and the sensation of falling overwhelmed me. Panic overwhelmed me. It was then that I realized the ship was descending to help Annabeth. I wasn't falling. I was okay.
"We'll figure out the Tartarus problem later." Percy told us. "Is that the Emmanuel Building?"
"Bacchus said something about a parking lot in the back?" Leo nodded. "Well, there it is. What now?"
"We have to get Annabeth out and help her." I said.
"Well, yeah. But, uh..." Leo looked like he wanted to say, What if we're too late? "There's a parking lot in the way."
"Bacchus said something about breaking through." Percy turned to Coach Hedge. "Coach, you still have ammo for the ballistae?"
"I thought you'd never ask." The satyr grinned.
🍇
Cars rained down the hole Coach had blasted through the parking lot. There was a loud scream and I was praying it wasn't Annabeth. I could see the Athena Parthenos as Leo lowered the ship. I peered over the railing looking for my blonde haired friend through all of the dust.
"Annabeth!"
"Here!" I heard sob.
"She's alive." I said in relief, glancing at Percy who stood beside me.
The both of us spotted our friend hobbling out of a dust cloud. We grinned down at her. The room trembled. Annabeth edged closer to the gaping hole. Percy and I made sure the rope ladder was secure before we quickly climbed down to greet Annabeth. The ship was hovering about forty feet from the door.
We jumped off the last five feet. Percy and I ran over to her. We brought Annabeth into a hug. The poor girl looked like she was fighting shock. She broke down in tears, placing her head on my shoulder. I eyed the pit nervously, rubbing soothing circles on Annabeth's back. It looked exactly like the one in my dream.
There was a large chunk of concrete that had fallen from the parking lot we blasted. It was teetering on the edge of the pit. I wouldn't be surprised if it tumbled into the hole soon.
"It's okay." Percy reassured her, carefully watching me.
He followed my gaze and frowned. Our friends gathered around us. Annabeth stepped away, wiping her face. Piper knelt next to Annabeth.
"Your leg." Piper stated. I glanced down to see a Bubble Wrap cast around Annabeth's leg. I didn't notice it before, too caught up with my best friend being alive. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"
Annabeth started to explain. She started with how she found the room and the Athena Parthenos. Then she went on about her challenge with Archne and tricking her to weave her own trap. When she finished, we all looked at her with amazement.
"Gods of Olympus." Jason said. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."
"Well...some of it with a broken ankle." Annabeth corrected.
"You still did it all by yourself." I beamed, patting her back.
"You made Arachne weave her own trap?" Percy grinned. "I knew you were good, but Holy Hera-Annabeth, you did it. Generations of Athena kids tried and failed. You found the Athena Parthenos!"
We all 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 stand gold and pale. Won with pain from a woven jail." Hazel looked at Annabeth with admiration. "It was Archne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it."
Leo raised his hands. He made a finger picture frame around the Athena Parthenos. I noticed the spider webs all over Annabeth. I started to help her take them off and watching the webs fall to the ground. She sent me a thankful smile.
"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?" Annabeth 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. I also brought up that I now had a pet leopard back at camp. Annabeth raised a brow at my enthusiasm. Nico didn't say much when it came to him explaining his end of the story. I explained what Nico had found out about the Doors of Death, and how they had to be closed on both sides.
"So the mortal side is in Epirus. At least that's somewhere we can reach." Annabeth said.
"But the other side is the problem." Nico grimaced. "Tartarus."
The word seemed to echo through the chamber. The pit behind us exhaled a cold blast of air. Percy guided both Annabeth and I a little further from the edge. His hand slipped into mine and pulled me as close to him as possible.
"Bacchus mentioned something about a voyage both Ivy and I had to take being harder than I expected." Percy brought up. "Not sure why-"
The chamber groaned. The Athena Parthenos tilted to one side. Its head caught on a support cable of sorts, spider webs, but the marble foundation under the pedestal was crumbling.
"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.
"Zhang!" Leo called. "Get me to the boat, 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." Jason summoned the wind and shot into the air.
"This floor won't last!" Hazel warned. "The rest of us should get to the ladder."
"Come on." I urged Annabeth and Percy to get as far away from the pit as possible.
Plumes of dust and cobwebs blasted from the holes in the floor. The large chunk of concrete fell into the pit. The spider's silk support cables trembled like massive guitar strings and began to snap. I made sure Annabeth was in front of me since she was hobbling with her broken foot. Hazel lunged for the bottom of the rope ladder and gestured Nico to follow, but Nico was in no condition to sprint.
"It'll be fine." Percy gripped my hand tighter.
Grappling lines shot from the Argo II and wrapped 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 with Annabeth right behind him when a sharp pain came from my ankle. I gasped and stumbled.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
"I don't know." I said, trying to stagger toward the ladder.
Instead of moving toward the ladder, I was moving away from it. I glanced down at my feet to see a spider crawling over my foot. It hopped off my shoe and scurried away. My blood ran cold.
I glanced up at Percy with wide eyes. Before I could tell him anything, my legs were swept out from underneath me and my hand fell out of his grasp. I fell face first. My chin stung and ached from the scrape I received. Percy reached to grab my hand but missed it by a few millimeters.
"Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder. "Cut it! Cut it!"
"No, no, no." I frantically clawed at the ground to stop myself from being moved.
I managed to stop. Percy was confused as to what Hazel was talking about as he scrambled back to his feet. Annabeth had turned around looking at my ankle. Her eyes widened as she pointed at something. I tried to reach for my necklace, to get something to cut off whatever was pulling me, but I was yanked backward and dragged toward the pit. A scream got caught in the back of my throat.
Dread pooled in my stomach. My arms and palms scraped against the floor as I hopelessly tried to grab onto something. Percy ran toward me and lunged. He managed to grab my arm, but the momentum carried him along with me. Fear overwhelmed me.
"Help them." Hazel yelled.
I saw a glimpse of Annabeth and Nico hobbling in our direction. Hazel was trying to disentangle her calvary 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.
I sobbed as I hit the edge of the pit. Flashbacks of my dream was playing in my mind. My legs went over the side. It was then that I noticed the thick wrapping of spider silk glistening in the lighting around my ankle.
That damn spider.
"No." Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. He was holding onto something. "My sword..."
Percy couldn't reach Riptide without letting go of my arm. I tried to use my free hand to grasp onto the ledge, but my palms were rubbed raw and pain flared. I bit back a cry, forcing myself to try to grip the rocky surface anyways. The spider silk must have been attached to something. It had to be heavy as well, because I could feel something weighing me down, pulling me to the pit.
Pain erupted around my ankle from another sharp tug. I heard a pop and I let out a cry. My hold on the ledge was loosening. Then it happened suddenly. My grip on the ledge went away and I slipped over the edge. Percy fell with me.
My body slammed into something. Hard. I must've blacked out briefly from the pain. I blinked away the black dots as I tried to regain my vision. Once my vision was cleared, I realized I'd fallen partway into the pit and was dangling over the void. Percy managed to grab a ledge about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping my wrist with the other, but the pull on my leg was too strong. It was too much.
The pit shook. Percy was the only thing keeping me from falling. He was barely holding on to a ledge the size of a bookshelf. Nico leaned over the edge of the chasm, thrusting out his hand, but he was too far away to help. Annabeth was frantically looking around to see if she could find anything to pull us up with. Hazel was yelling for the others.
My leg felt like it was pulling free of my body. Pain washed everything in red. Tears rushed down my cheeks and I tried to hold back a sob. The force of the Underworld tugged at me like dark gravity. I didn't have much strength to fight it. I was too far down to be saved and I didn't want to drag Percy with me. I couldn't.
"Percy, you got to let me go." I choked out, feeling my hand starting to slip from his grasp. "You can't pull me up."
His face was white with effort. He adjusted his hold on me and tightened his grip. I could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs. He glanced at me with glistening green eyes.
"Ivy, no." He breathed in horror.
"Percy, it's okay." I swallowed back a sob and gave him a weak smile. "It's okay. Let me go."
"No." Percy shook his head frantically. His voice was thick. Percy's arm started to tremble. I wasn't sure if it was because of the strain he had to hold onto me or because of what I was telling him to do. "No, you're not leaving me."
"You have to." My heart ached and the pit in my stomach dropped. I was going to fall into Tartarus. I tried to speak but the words got caught in my mouth. I closed my eyes to try and stop the fresh tears from rushing out. My heart crawled into my throat. I looked at Percy one last time. Tears blurred my vision. "Percy, I love you. But you have to let me go."
"No, I'm not losing you again. Never again." Percy told me, his eyes setting with determination. He looked up at Nico. "The other side, Nico!"
"Percy." My heart stopped at the realization of what he was saying. I breathed out a sob. "Percy, no."
"We'll see you there." Percy continued, his grip tightening on my wrist. "Understand?"
Nico's eyes widened. Annabeth's jaw dropped in shock.
"But-"
"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"
"I-I will."
Below us, a voice laughed in the darkness. Sacrifice. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.
I locked eyes with Percy. My heart stuttered in my chest. Despite his cuts and scrapes and the cobwebs in his hair, I thought he had never looked more handsome. My throat tightened.
"Percy-"
"We're staying together." He promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."
"As long as we're together." I replied, knowing I wouldn't change his mind.
I was selfishly thankfully that I wouldn't have to be going into Tartarus alone. I'll have Percy beside me as we face the trials below. With him by my side, I'll be okay. Up above, Nico, Annabeth, and Hazel were still screaming for help. I saw the sunlight far, far above-maybe the last sunlight I'd ever see.
Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, we fell into the endless darkness.
Why not celebrate Valentines Day with these two falling into the pit of Tartarus and ending ACT IV ✌️
P.S. YALL THE HOLD THIS CHAPTER HAD OVER ME