▬▬▬ CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT ▬▬▬

GOOD NEWS: NICO WAS ALIVE.

Bad news: the world was still ending, but oh well.

Esmerelda was absolutely overjoyed to have Nico back, and as much as she'd like to throw some massive 'Welcome Back From Getting Kidnapped!' party for him (the Stolls held one for her after Ethan kidnapped her three years ago), she was too busy running around her bedroom like a headless chicken.

Nico had been (gently) dumped into bed by Ethan, who had sprinted out of the room to get proper food for him so she was left to fluff the pillows, enchant the comforter to make sure it was extra plushy, and carefully feed him with nectar and ambrosia.

"Is this really necessary?" Nico found himself wondering as she tried to put a thermometer scanner on his forehead. "I'm not sick, mom. I don't even think demigods can get sick. Why do you have this?"

She checked the screen and nearly had a heart attack. "It says you're two degrees!"

"You're reading it upside down." He pointed out.

"Oh." She read it the right way. "97.2 degrees then. That's... um, that's normal right?"

"I'm not sick," he protested before breaking out into a series of coughs.

Ethan burst into the room.

"I have the soup," he announced.

And then without another word, he took a spoonful of chicken noodle soup and shoved it straight into Nico's mouth.

"Be gentle with him!" Esmerelda fretted.

"I am!" He exclaimed. He turned back to Nico and went into strict parent mode. "You should take your time in eating this. If you eat too fast, you'll irritate your stomach. We'll start little, okay? That's why the bowl's so small. After this, we'll try out some fruits—some apple slices or a tangerine."

"Ensure Plus Nutrition shakes help too!" Esmerelda chimed.

Nico had been starving for days, so it was best that they had him start off little to slowly stretch his stomach back to its regular size rather than overwhelming it. She can already see Ethan's brain working to figure out a good meal plan for the kid.

The majority of the hour was spent cooing over him. Well, Esmerelda was doing all the cooing, Ethan was being his usual grouchy-but-lowkey-soft self.

Neither of them had any idea what was going on outside—they were all probably discussing what was going on with Annabeth's quest—but they didn't really care. The only thing in their mind was Nico and making sure he was okay.

The kid looked broken, and she didn't just mean physically. He looked in a greater state of distress than when he found out Bianca had died. His eyes were like shattered glass and his white skin looked so paper thin that she could see his bones jutting out from them. Ethan had given him some of his clothes to wear and she had magically shrunk the size down, but even then it was still loose on him. He looked so fragile and breakable—like all those photos of liberated prisoners-of-war from her old history textbooks.

"Guys," the young boy sighed for the umpteenth time. "You don't need to go so far for me. I'm not a baby."

"Yes you are," Ethan said bluntly.

If Nico wasn't feeling so weak, he would've smacked him in the face with a pillow Esmerelda just recently fluffed.

"You went through so much, Nico," Esmerelda told him gently. "You deserve a little bit of TLC."

"I'm surprised you're not using this to your advantage," Ethan commented, crossing his arms. "I'm literally willing to do anything you want me to do and you haven't tried to order me around or anything. What's wrong?"

He had a point, Esmerelda realized. Usually Nico would be using this chance to boss him around, but this entire time he had been oddly... passive. Or quiet, more like, with just the occasional little whine here and there.

Right now, a look of discomfort crossed over the boy's face. He was looking at them warily now, as if he was expecting one of them to get angry with him. Slowly, he sat up, resting his back against the backboard. He was so weak that pushing himself up left his arms trembling.

He hesitated a bit before answering, "Aren't you guys... upset with me?"

Esmerelda and Ethan shared a lost look.

"Why would we be upset with you...?" She asked with furrowed brows.

He looked at them incredulously. "I sent us to a death trap!" He blew up. "I thought up some stupid plan because I was dumb enough to believe that I could close the Doors of Death! And then I dragged you guys with me and then we—we...!"

His chin was wobbling with emotion and finally the tears went spilling.

"I'm so sorry," he cried quietly. "This is all my fault. I put you guys through so much pain."

"Nico, there was no way to know how it would turn out," Esmerelda whispered, sitting down at the edge of the bed. "You had a good reason to think it would work."

"I barely knew anything about Tartarus," his face fell. "I was too hasty. It was foolish of me to think I could get us out of Tartarus anytime I wanted. It was foolish of me to think I could close the doors, and—"

"—That's enough," Ethan cut him off. "What matters most is that you're okay and you learned a valuable lesson from this. No need to concern yourself over what's long passed, alright? Just focus on recovering. We already forgave you for everything else."

While Esmerelda was the type to coo over kids and tell them they had done nothing wrong, Ethan was the exact opposite. He was the type to want them to learn from their mistakes rather than coddle them (that was his girlfriend's job, not his).

"Yeah," Esmerelda nodded in agreement. "Besides, I need to apologize to you as well."

He looked at her in confusion.

She swallowed thickly, feeling her throat growing dry at the memory of what happened in the Forest of Nightmares.

"That was you that I saw back there in the forest, wasn't it...?" She trailed off knowingly. His eyes widened, which pretty much confirmed that her dream had been telling her the truth. "Oh gods, Nico, I'm so sorry. I must have hurt you so much when I ran away."

"I don't blame you," he muttered, and Esmerelda was certain that she heard some bitterness in his voice. "With how I looked... Anyone would've ran away. It's fine."

She doubted that. She could tell that her actions had hurt him a lot. The Nico in her dreams may not have been the real deal, but she had a feeling some of his words weren't too far off from what the real Nico had been thinking.

"Let's forget about that now," Nico said, looking pained. "There's still some things that I—that I have to say... About Tartarus—"

Ethan shook his head. "—We can discuss that another time."

"You don't get it," Nico looked at them with so much agony on his face that left the pair shaken. "We almost had it right. But I messed everything up so badly."

Ethan frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I found a way to close the Doors. For real this time," Nico's hands trembled as he grasped the blanket. "But I was wrong in thinking that there was only one way to close it."

"You mean there's more than one way?" Esmerelda blinked. "That... that's good isn't it? We have more choices."

He shook his head. "Not like that. There's two ways, but they both need to be done at the same time. Someone needs to close the doors on the Tartarus side, and another person needs to close it on the mortal side. Simultaneously."

Esmerelda couldn't speak, and she didn't think Ethan could either. The one thing that she was getting from this was that someone would have to go to Tartarus to close those doors. What if... what if they were asked to go? They were the only ones who had ever survived the place, and they knew where the doors were. They were the best candidates for the job...

Suddenly a knock came at the door and she jumped.

"I-I'll go get it," she murmured.

She opened the door. It was Hazel.

"How is he?" The younger girl asked automatically. "Can I... can I see him?"

Esmerelda tried to push aside the horrible news Nico gave them and plastered on a dazzling smile as she opened the door wider.

"Of course! Come on in. He's doing alright for now. Ethan and I decided to have him start small when it comes to eating." She ushered her in. "We'll let you two have a moment to yourselves—oh but Hazel, can you make sure he drinks his nutrition shake? Thanks!"

She eagerly tugged Ethan out of the room and when the door shut, her smile dropped.

"We're fucked, aren't we?" She asked bluntly.

He nodded. "Oh yeah. Definitely."

They made it out on the deck, but the fresh air they were getting wasn't doing much to make them feel better. She couldn't get Nico's words out of her head. The only way to close the doors was if someone closed them in the mortal world and another closed them in Tartarus, and it had to be done at the same time too...

Esmerelda let out a sigh as she gazed over the railing. The Argo II was far away from the Colosseum now, soaring southwards over the rooftops of Rome. All around the Piazza del Colosseo, traffic had come to a standstill. A crowd of mortals had gathered, probably wondering about the strange lights and sounds that had come from the ruins.

Fortunately, it didn't look like Ephialtes' and Otis' spectacular plans for destruction had come off successfully. The city looked the same as before. No one seemed to notice the huge Greek trireme rising into the darkening skies.

They went over to the helm where everyone else had been gathered. Piper was gingerly touching her shoulder, Leo was leading the ship to the Emmanuel Building, Frank was typing at the helm's computer, and Jason and Percy were leaning against the wall, exhausted. Esmerelda felt the same so she joined them at the wall.

Meanwhile, Coach Hedge tried to help by wrestling with an upside-down street map of Rome.

"How long till we get to the Emmanuel Building?" Ethan asked, sitting down on one of the seats.

"Not too long," Leo answered. "Twenty minutes at most. How's Nico?"

Everyone looked at them expectantly.

"He's doing a little better now..." Esmerelda sighed softly. "Don't get me wrong, he's still weak and it'll probably take him a while to recover, but Ethan and I already got a meal plan set for him we're hoping the ambrosia and nectar could help speed up the recovery."

"That's good," Percy smiled in relief. "I'm glad we managed to save him in time."

Ethan grunted in agreement, laying his upper body against the table to rest. "For a second, I really thought we were too late after that trap..."

Frank, Leo, and Esmerelda collectively grimaced, remembering their short but failed mission at the temple.

A few seconds later, Hazel walked into the room, supporting a wobbly-kneed Nico. He was using his sword for additional support like a walking cane.

"Nico!" Ethan shot up to his feet. He helped Hazel get him to the chair he had been initially using and opted to stand beside Esmerelda instead.

"Did something happen?" Esmerelda asked worriedly. "Why did you bring him here?"

"He needed to tell you all something," Hazel replied, looking pale. "You guys need to hear this."

Esmerelda and Ethan immediately knew what he would say and exchanged grim looks.

"First off, I'd like to thank you all," Nico rasped, his sunken eyes darting nervously around the group. "I'd given up hope."

"Nico..." Percy trailed off.

"I'm sure my mom and Ethan already told you what happened," Nico began. "But it was my fault that this whole mess happened and I'm sorry. I thought I could find the Doors of Death and close them on my own, but I was wrong. I was a fool. I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I dragged mom and Ethan with me."

The mention of the Doors made the atmosphere drop. Then the air turned electric—literally, as Jason started throwing off sparks.

"We already forgave you for that," Esmerelda said gently.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. Don't beat yourself up over it. What's happened has happened, and we all survived through it."

"Nico," Percy swallowed nervously. "Essie and Ethan told me that they made it to the doors, but they were unconscious when they came out, so they don't really know where the mortal side is. Do you happen to know? Maybe... maybe we can close it there and be done with it."

Nico started to speak, but whatever he needed to say must have been too terrifying. He turned to Hazel. She put her hand on her brother's arm.

"Nico told me that the Doors of Death have two sides—one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico, Essie, and Ethan back into the upper world. Then they transported him to Rome while Essie and Ethan were supposed to be taken to somewhere else in Greece."

Piper must've been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger. "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"

Nico took a rattling breath. "The House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it on a map, but—but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. It's... it's the Underworld side."

Frank sucked in a breath. "Wait, w-what? What do you mean? Can't we just close the Doors in Epirus?"

Nico didn't answer.

"No," Jason croaked. "No. Don't tell me that we have to—"

Nico made a sharp nod.

"They have to be closed on both sides, not just one," Nico's voice broke. "I didn't even know that there was a mortal side, I thought Tartarus was the only way, but that mission turned out to be a big mistake."

He, Ethan, and Esmerelda shared the same look. It was the biggest mistake of our lives, they all thought.

"I was so stupid," Nico whispered harshly under his breath. "They pulled me into the pit, Percy, and my parents came down with me. The things we saw there..."

Hazel pursed her lips. "No mortal has ever been to Tartarus," she explained. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum-security prison of Hades, where the old Titans and the other enemies of the gods are bound. It's where all monsters go when they die on the earth. It's... well, no one knows exactly what it's like."

Her eyes drifted to her brother, Esmerelda, and Ethan. The rest of her thoughts didn't need to be spoken: No one except them.

He wiped his eyes before continuing. "I got kidnapped by the twins and they made me wait at the Doors of Death for Essie and Ethan to come. They kept talking to me, and that was how I found out how flawed my plan was. We went through so many awful things... all for nothing... Now I understand why Hades hasn't been able to close the doors. Even the gods don't go into Tartarus. Even the god of death, Thanatos himself, wouldn't go near that place."

Leo glanced over from the wheel. "So let me guess. We'll have to go there."

Nico shook his head. "It's impossible. The three of us barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed us instantly. They're so powerful down there... no demigod would stand a chance. I almost went insane, and I'm sure mom and Ethan did too."

"We have to do something," Jason stressed. "There has to be another way to close those doors without us having to go to... Tartarus..."

"There isn't," Nico stated grimly. "The doors would have to be controlled on both sides to be closed. It's like a double seal. Maybe, just maybe, all nine of you working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you had 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 despaired.

Nobody volunteered any brilliant ideas.

Esmerelda was holding back the urge to have a breakdown. She didn't want to go back there to that hellhole. She didn't want Ethan there, or Nico, or Hazel, or Leo, or any of them to set foot in that gods awful place. But there really didn't seem to be another way to close the Doors of Death, and the horrid realization made her want to run out of the room and cry.

Percy's voice brought her out of her dark thoughts.

"We'll figure out the Tartarus problem later," he said. "Is that the Emmanuel Building?"

Esmerelda looked out. The entire ship was descending toward a big building like a palace. She recognized it immediately, but she had never stepped foot inside while she was Maria.

Leo nodded. "Bacchus said something about the parking lot in the back? Well, there it is. What now?"

Esmerelda remembered what Gaea and the twins told them, that Annabeth was in great danger. She would be facing her worst enemy, Arachne... or maybe she already had. She had no idea how she was doing right now. All she knew was that Annabeth's leg looked broken, which wasn't exactly a great condition to be facing against some ancient monster.

"We have to get her out," Percy 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."

Esmerelda quietly sighed in relief. She was glad Percy hadn't asked her to make the explosion instead. She was way too tired to do much of anything right now. She was pretty sure if she tried to use the exploding charm again, she'd blow up her head from the increasing pressure instead.

A few seconds later, they were hovering over the parking lot of the Emmanuel Building. There were a few fancy looking cars still there, and she hoped there weren't any mortals still inside there because neither of them were going to wait to leave.

Coach Hedge aimed the ballistae at the parking lot and when Leo yelled, "FIRE!" he released a barrage of explosives downwards.

The whole place exploded in a blast of fiery light.

Esmerelda had to squint, but when the light faded away, she could see the hard pavement break apart into a hundred pieces. Whichever cars that hadn't been blasted to bits started to fall as the hole grew larger.

"There it is!" She heard Ethan call out. "I see Annabeth too!"

She peered down the railing. It took her a while to see what he saw since chunks of asphalt as big as garage doors, along with six or seven Italian cars, kept tumbling down. It didn't help that the whole cavern was covered with silk threads.

"Arachne..." She whispered, shuddering when she spotted the hideous spider creature.

She finally saw the huge statue next. The Athena Parthenos was terrifyingly huge, and it's glowing aura acted like a force field. One of the cars bounced off of it and recoiled straight towards a blonde figure...

She let out a gasp, but thankfully, Annabeth jumped to one side, grimacing in pain. The bright red Fiat 500 slammed into Arachne's silk trap, punching through the cavern floor and disappearing.

As Arachne fell, she screamed like a freight train on a collision course; but her wailing rapidly faded. All around Annabeth, more chunks of debris slammed through the floor, riddling it with holes.

The Athena Parthenos remained undamaged, though the marble under its pedestal was a starburst of fractures. Annabeth was covered in cobwebs, but miraculously still standing.

"Annabeth!" Percy called out to her.

"Here!" She sobbed.

The Argo II descended, careful not to hover over the gaping hole made by the Fiat 500. Esmerelda didn't know why, but looking down at that abyss made her sick. It sent a familiar feeling of horror and despair through her, and when she glanced at Ethan and Nico, she could see that they were feeling the same.

"You feel it, don't you?" She couldn't help but ask.

Nico nodded, his whole body shaking. "Tartarus," he whispered. "We're right over it."

Ethan swallowed anxiously and stepped away from the railing.

They hovered to a stop about forty feet from the floor. The ship lowered a rope ladder, and Percy was the first to climb down to meet with his girlfriend. They followed suit and gathered around them. Annabeth stared at each of their faces, looking dazed as if she thought that she was dreaming.

"Oh gods," Piper looked down at the bubble wrap cast around Annabeth's leg. "What happened?"

She started to explain. Talking was difficult, but as she went along, her words came more easily. Percy didn't let go of her hand as she spoke. She talked about how Tiberinus and Rhea Silvia dropped her off at the Roman underground to get the quest started, the many challenges she had to complete, and how she tricked Arachne into trapping herself with a recreation of Frank's Chinese handcuffs (which she endearingly called 'spidercuffs'). When she finished, her friends' faces were slack with amazement. Even Ethan couldn't hide the way his brow quirked up.

"Gods of Olympus," Jason said. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."

"Well... some of it with a broken ankle." She smiled weakly.

"Don't sell yourself short," Esmerelda snorted. "You're amazing."

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."

"Essie, do you think you can shrink it?" Ethan asked his girlfriend.

She shook her head furiously. "Definitely not. I can feel all sorts of magic surrounding it. It's protected, there's no way I could shrink that. Plus, it's way too big and heavy for me to try and shrink down."

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?" 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. Nico didn't say much. Percy 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," she said. "At least that's somewhere we can reach."

Nico grimaced. "But the other side is the problem. Tartarus."

He looked down at the edge and shuddered.

"This chasm..." Hazel inched closer to Ethan and Esmerelda with a hand clasped over Nico's arm. "This leads straight to the Underworld."

"Wait what?" Frank squeaked. "You mean we're literally right above Tartarus?"

"Yep." Esmerelda answered.

"Swell."

Jason rubbed his hands together nervously. "Well, at least we're right where we need to be..."

Percy gently guided Annabeth away from the edge, her arms and legs tangled with the spider silk that covered the room.

"Bacchus mentioned something about my voyage being harder than I expected," he spoke up, frowning. "Not sure why—"

A second later, he got the answer he was looking for.

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. Her friends understood immediately.

"Essie! Keep the statue steady!" Leo ordered. "Don't let it fall over the edge!"

"Got it!" She turned to Ethan, Hazel, and Nico.

Hazel shook her head. "You guys go! I'll stay here to help Nico! Ethan, get her up there and go!"

Ethan nodded in understanding and rushed to the ladder with Esmerelda. He kept an arm over her head to protect her from all the falling rubble. If she was knocked out, then they had a lesser chance of stabilizing the statue.

"And Frank!" Leo said next. "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.

Piper was already scrambling for the ladder.

Jason 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."

Up on the ship, Esmerelda and Ethan already got to the deck. Ethan was working together with Jason and Frank to get the grappling lines ready while Esmerelda stood before the railing, her eyes glowing green with focus. The tilting statue glowed green in response and slowly started to straighten back up, no longer teetering dangerously over the edge.

But she would have to keep stabilizing it until the grappling lines were released to hold on to it next.

"Please, please hurry..." She begged under her breath, feeling her mind burn. The statue weighed tons, there was no way she could hold on to it for long.

Luckily for her, Ethan, Jason, and Frank finally managed to release the last of the grappling lines. They shot from the Argo II and wrapped themselves around the statue. One lassoed Athena's neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from the helm as the boys ran and flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them.

"Essie!" Jason shouted. "We've got it!"

She released her hold on the statue and fell to the ground, nearly losing consciousness.

Down below, Nico and Hazel just managed to reach the ladder with Annabeth and Percy still staggering behind them. In fact, Annabeth was moving backwards instead, like she was being dragged...

"Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder. "Cut it! Cut it!"

Percy didn't realize what Hazel meant. 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.

Nico was hobbling in their direction, Hazel was trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. Their other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.

Annabeth sobbed as she hit the edge of the pit. Her legs went over the side. She had realized too late that she was tangled in the spider silk, and something heavy down in the darkness was pulling her in.

"No," Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. "My sword..."

But he couldn't reach Riptide without letting go of Annabeth's arm, and Annabeth's strength was gone. She slipped over the edge. Percy fell with her. Now they were partway into the pit, dangling over the void.

Percy had managed to grab a ledge about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping Annabeth's wrist with the other, but the pull on her leg was much too strong.

"HELP!" Hazel shrieked up at the ship. "HELP! PLEASE! HELP!"

Ethan, who had been busy tending to the blood pouring out from Esmerelda's eyes and nose, snapped his head up when he heard the familiar cry.

"Something's wrong. Stay here..." He muttered, rising up from his feet. He gingerly had Esmerelda lean against the mast before running to the rails. He leaned down to see what was wrong and nearly screamed.

Hazel and Nico were still down there. Annabeth and Percy were about to fall to Tartarus. Flashes of what he went through attacked his mind, and he knew he couldn't let any of them go through what he did. As annoying as he found them, Tartarus wasn't a fate he would wish upon them.

He unfurled the watch around his wrist and it quickly shifted into his sword. Then he sprinted for the ladder, jumping when he was about ten feet away from the ground.

The pit shook and he nearly stumbled. He just barely managed to reach them when he heard their conversation:

"The other side, Nico!" Percy was shouting. "We'll see you there. Understand?"

Nico tried to protest. "But—"

"—Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"

"I—I will."

"PERCY! ANNABETH!" Ethan finally reached the edge, but they were already falling. He shot his whip down and willed it to grow longer. He could see Percy reach out for it, but it escaped his grasp. The two of them were swallowed by darkness.

Ethan nearly threw himself down the ledge, but someone grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him back before he could slip and suffer the same fate.

It was Esmerelda.

She kept tugging him back until they were several feet away from the edge. After that, the two of them collapsed to the ground with Hazel and Nico.

Neither of them could keep their eyes away from the edge. They couldn't believe it.

Percy and Annabeth had fallen down to Tartarus.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

The world wasn't ending but it might as well be.

Esmerelda felt numb with grief as she struggled to understand what had just happened.

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. Esmerelda and Ethan had to drag a weakened Nico and a sobbing Hazel to the ladder before they could fall into the pit with... them.

She still couldn't believe it.

Percy and Annabeth were gone.

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.

(And gods, she hoped there really weren't any mortals there. If they were, then the only thing she could think of was that at least they would die quickly. Mortals didn't stand a chance there. They would probably die from the fall alone.)

The Argo II was now parked on a hill overlooking the city. Jason, Hazel, Frank, Esmerelda and Ethan 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. 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, 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, they had no idea.

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!"

The rest of the demigods gathered on the quarterdeck and gazed at the distant column of dust still rising from the site of the implosion.

Leo was staring off at Archimedes' sphere, and then he looked up to open his mouth.

Ethan beat him to it. "It wasn't your fault." He said immediately.

The others stared at them, but only Hazel seemed to understand.

"It is," Leo said miserably. "Ethan... I was the one who opened the cookie—"

Ethan shook his head. "—It's not your fault," he insisted. "This is all Gaea's fault. Not yours."

Hazel nodded in agreement. She had been with him at the Great Salt Lake when Nemesis first gave him the fortune cookie, and she knew that he had opened it so that he could save her, Frank, and Esmerelda from being killed by the eidolons.

"He's right," she said firmly. "Gaea is the reason for all of this. It had nothing to do with you."

As comforting as their words were, Leo still looked like he was being stabbed in the heart.

"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 started to choke up at his name.

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?"

"He was able to sense Ethan and I when we were down there," Esmerelda murmured. She was staring off at her son. "Right?"

Nico nodded his head. "I was able to sense that you were still alive. I... I had my doubts, I admit that, but I clung on to that thought as much as I could. It was the only thing keeping me sane... So I can still sense Percy and Annabeth despite the distance. They're still alive..."

The 'for now' didn't need to be said, but they all knew there was a strong chance they could die there.

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.

Esmerelda said nothing and borrowed her face in her hands. After securing the statue in time for the boys to get the grappling lines ready, she had to get dragged away to the mast to rest. She hadn't been aware of what was happening until it was too late.

The worst part? She knew the spells that could've saved them.

She lifted her head up and glanced at Ethan. His face was rigid and expressionless, but she could see the tenseness in his back and shoulders as he crossed his arms. He had been so close too... she knew he was beating himself up for it too.

"It's not your fault, any of you," Piper spoke up quietly. "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. Essie, Ethan, and I are the only ones who have 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. Even with Mom and Ethan trying to pull me away..."

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 me 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."

Esmerelda rubbed her forehead. "Gods... We should've talked more about what happened to us down there. I'm sure they could have used the information we have..."

There was so much they could've told them about. Like how the Doors were located at the very heart of Tartarus, how they would need to go through the Mansion of Night, the River Phlegethon, the abandoned shrine of Hermes that they could get fresh food from...

There was so much that they needed to hear. If she had known something like this would've happened, she would've detailed the whole journey no matter how painful recollecting it would've been.

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.

"We don't have a choice either way," Ethan pursed his lips. "It's the whole purpose of this stupid quest after all. Seal the Doors of Death, defeat the giants, and stop them from raising Gaea. Otherwise her armies will never die."

"And we've got to hurry," Piper added. "The Romans are in New York. Soon, they'll be marching on Camp Half-Blood."

Esmerelda sucked a breath. She remembered Lou Ellen mentioning to her in an Iris Message how she and Mabel were going to head over to Florida for a week to celebrate the daughter of Demeter's birthday in Disney World, but that fun date was probably being cut short for war preparations...

A flicker of anger coursed through her. Her little sister and her girlfriend couldn't even enjoy themselves for a week. They couldn't have even a moment of normalcy before the Fates were throwing a second war at them. It was unfair. Lou Ellen deserved better than this. Mabel deserved better than this. They all deserved better than this.

"We've got one month at best," Jason said grimly. "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. "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?"

The look of fierce determination on Leo's face was contagious. Soon enough, everyone was straightening up their backs, their expressions mirroring his.

They would find this House of Hades. They'd take the Doors of Death and save Percy and Annabeth. And then they would destroy every fucking giant that messed with him before destroying Gaea at last.

And then after that, they could finally go home.

"Yeah." Leo said. He took one last look at the cityscape of Rome, turning blood red in the sunset. "Festus, raise the sails. We've got some friends to save."

— author's note —

Gods Percy if you just held on a few seconds longer instead of letting go like a drama queen, Ethan could've reached you guys with the whip and pulled you back up to safety 🙄

Anyways... WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE END OF THE MARK OF ATHENA 🥳🥳🥳

Don't mistake this as me saying that Steresis is over. It is NOT. We just finished with the MOA portion, but Steresis is still going on. I've stated it in the Foreword that Steresis is going to be about the remaining HOO books. So after this, the next chapter's going to start off The House of Hades.

(Which means there's two more books full of Piper POVs that I gotta torture myself by reading through again... fun...)

Btw, since I'll be writing about four books in here, Steresis is probably gonna be my longest book ever 😍

A summary of Essie's entire character:

Percy realizing he and Annabeth could've been saved if he just waited a few more seconds for Ethan to reach them and extend the whip down:

From espielouloudi: