The Veiled Legacy | PJO - Book Two

sixteen

A VERY HARD FALL.

Ariana didn't remember much, she was running purely on adrenaline.

She did remember however, the Argo II lowering a rope and her and Percy climbing down them.
Ariana and Percy were next to Annabeth, Percy lacing his fingers in hers.

They turned her gently away from the pit and wrapped his arms around her. She buried her face in his chest and broke down in tears.

"It's okay." he said. "We're together. Me you and Ari."

He didn't say you're okay, or we're alive. After all they'd been through over the last year, he knew the most important thing was that they were together.

Ariana caressed her back, it pained her to see her best friend in this much pain. Their friends gathered around them.

"Your leg." Piper 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. Percy didn't let go of her hand and Ariana didn't let go off her back.

When she finished, her friends' 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." Annabeth said.

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!"

Ariana patted Annabeths back. "Good job, Annie."

Annabeth groaned. "Oh gods, not that nickname again."

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 of the end, I might have to wrap a flag around her feet or something."

Ariana shuddered. She imagined the Athena Parthenos jutting from their trireme with a sign across her pedestal that read: WIDE LOAD.

"What about you guys?" Annabeth asked.
"What happened with the giants?"

Ariana 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.

Ariana 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, Ariana'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.

That's when Ariana knew with certainty. The chasm did go straight to the Underworld.
Annabeth Percy must have felt it, too.