𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

87

The crew descended next to Annabeth. 

Percy jumped the last few feet, as did Hadrian. Nothing mattered except for the fact that Annabeth was alive. Maybe not alive and well. But at least alive. 

She stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. And then Hadrian was wrapping her in his arms. He was not going to lose another friend because of Gaea. He refused to. He turned her away from the pit gently and pulled her away. 

Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed in relief. 

Hadrian cleared his throat and let go when he sensed Percy next to him. He swallowed the jealousy rising like bile in his throat and forced himself to take a few steps back. Percy kissed her forehead and held on tight to her hand. 

Their friends gathered around them.

"Your leg." Hazel knelt next to her and examined the Bubble Wrap cast. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"

She started to explain. Talking was difficult, but as she went along, her words came more easily. When she finished, their faces were slack with amazement.

"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?" Annabeth asked. "What happened with the giants?"

Hadrian 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 Hadrian had guided her away from exhaled a blast of warm air. Hadrian shuddered, he bent down to take another look at her broken leg, swatting at the spider silk that wrapped around her cast. 

"Shouldn't take you too long to heal" He looked up at her and tried to force some optimism into his voice. They had busted in here expecting a fight, so his quiver was fully loaded and bow in hand. He slung the weapon on his shoulder. 

Percy let go of her hand for a moment. "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.