Percy fall into Tartarus Alone

Chapter 2

Leo Pov :

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 only found Nico, Annabeth, and Hazel hanging from the rope ladder. Percy was 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.

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, but they had 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, Leo and the others carefully loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold, using the ship's hydraulic winches with assistance from Frank Zhang, the part-time elephant. The statue just fit, though what they were going to do with it, Leo 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 him! I should have blown up more stuff!" Finally, Leo told him to go belowdecks and secure everything for departure. He wasn't doing any good beating himself up. The seven demigods gathered on the quarterdeck and gazed at the distant column of dust still rising from the site of the implosion.

Leo rested his hand on the Archimedes sphere, which now sat on the helm, ready to be installed. He should have been excited. It was the biggest discovery of his life—even bigger than Bunker 9. If he could decipher Archimedes's scrolls, he could do amazing things. He hardly dared to hope, but he might even be able to build a new control disk for a certain dragon friend of his. Still, the price had been too high.

He could almost hear Nemesis laughing. "I told you we could do business, Leo Valdez." He had opened the fortune cookie. He had gotten the access code for the sphere and saved Frank and Hazel. But the sacrifice had been Percy. Leo was sure of it. "It's my fault," he said miserably. The others stared at him. Only Hazel seemed to understand. She had been with him at the Great Salt Lake. "No," she insisted. "No, this is Gaea's fault. It had nothing to do with you."

Leo wanted to believe that, but he couldn't. They had started this voyage with Leo messing up, firing on New Rome. They had ended in old Rome with Leo breaking a cookie and paying a price much worse than an eye. "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, but Leo knew what she meant. His bisabuelo had blamed himself for Hazel's disappearance. Sammy had lived a good life, but he had gone to his grave believing that he had spent a cursed diamond and doomed the girl he loved.

Leo didn't want to make Hazel miserable all over again, but this was different. True success requires sacrifice. Leo had chosen to break that cookie. Percy had fallen into Tartarus. That couldn't be a coincidence. Annabeth was in some sort of daze. Nico di Angelo shuffled over, leaning on his black sword. "Leo, Percy is not dead. If he were, I could feel it."

"How can you be sure?" Leo asked.

"If that pit 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. Leo shivered. Hazel had never seemed like a child of the Underworld to him, but Nico di Angelo—that guy was creepy.

"We can't be one hundred percent sure," Hazel admitted. "But I think Nico is right. Percy is still alive... at least, so far."

"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 been to 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 doesn't stand a chance either?"

Nico twisted his silver skull ring. "There is a reason Percy is the most powerful demigod in the millennium. His power comes from emotion—the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets. No offense to you guys, but it's true. If anybody can survive, he will. He is going to find a way through Tartarus."

Jason became jealous and angry. Why did this demigod have so much attention turned toward him?

"To the Doors of Death, you mean. But you told us it's guarded by Gaea's most powerful forces. How could one demigod 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 and fight our way through Gaea's forces, then maybe we can work together with Percy and seal the Doors of Death from both sides."

"And get Percy back safely?" Leo asked.

"Maybe."

Leo didn't like the way Nico said that as if he wasn't sharing all his doubts. Besides, Leo knew something about locks and doors. If the Doors of Death needed to be sealed from both sides, how could they do that unless someone stayed in the Underworld, trapped? Nico took a deep breath. "I don't know how he'll manage it, but Percy will find a way. He'll journey through Tartarus and find the Doors of Death. When he does, 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 saw him and nodded.