Eleutheromania

30)

I STAYED STRONG. Only Nico and Hazel saw tears rolling down my face. I quickly wiped them calming myself down. Everything happened so fast I didn't even understand anything.

Jason and Frank dove down to save us, but they'd only found Nico, Hazel and I hanging from the rope ladder. 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.

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 and Annabeth, but they'd 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, we 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 we were going to do with it, I 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!"

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 was wrapped under my arms. His head shoved in my chest. I kissed the top of his head telling him to calm down.

"It's my fault," Leo said miserably pulling away from me.

We all stared at him.

"No," she insisted. "No, this is Gaea's fault. It had nothing to do with you."

"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. I still did not know everything about these two and I really need to start asking.

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?"

Nico and Hazel shared a look, maybe comparing notes on their Hades/Pluto death radar. I saw Leo shiver looking at Nico. I wrapped my arms around him again kissing his temple. He leaned into my touch.

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

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.

Piper put her hand on Jason's back. "It's not your fault, either of you. You were trying to save the statue."

"She's right," I said. "Even if the pit hadn't been buried, you couldn't have flown into it without being pulled down."

Nico nodded at me giving me a short look. "I'm the only one who has 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."