"Your ankle," I say, crouching down by Annabeth's foot, "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"
She looks exhausted and in pain. Her hair is matted with dirt, her ponytail pulled all the way down to her neck with a few strands falling out. Her camp shirt is ripped and bloody. Her ankle is wrapped in bubble wrap. She's a mess but she's alive, and that's the only thing we all care about. Percy pulls her into arms and murmurs words to her. She leaning on him, looking incapable of standing herself. I smile. They're both fine.
We all gaze up at the Athena Parthenos.
"She's huge," Frank says, "What do we do with her?"
"We can load it in the stables." Leo says after walking a full circle around it. "I saved a special spot for her." He winks at the statue.
"Yeah, that'll be fine." Annabeth says, tired.
"Alright," Leo says, clapping his hands together. "This will take some work."
Leo saunders back up the ship, tossing some rope from the deck. Frank and Hazel start tying it around the statue.
The floor wobbles a bit, almost unnoticeably. The others are all too much in a rush with the statue and reuniting with Annabeth to notice. I tap my foot on the ground. Cracks form on the floor with every step forming wider ones. I frown, stepping back. The cracks are spreading like spider webs. A slight silver catches my eye. It's a strand, coming from the gaping hole in the ground, tied to Annabeth's ankle. My eyes widen. Im about to tell her about her ankle when the ground suddenly starts breaking apart. Little pieces fall into the hole. Everyone starts running towards the ladder hanging from the ship. Frank has turned into an eagle and is carrying Hazel up. Jason is trying to get to me in all this chaos, his hand outstretched in my direction. My eyes drift to Annabeth's ankle. The strand is slightly pulling on her ankle, slowing her down. I run to her and take out Katropis. As she's pulled in full force, her ankle in the air, I cut the string. She falls on the crumbling ground and scrambles back up, running toward Percy. I nod at her grateful smile, getting up to run when, suddenly I'm pulled back towards the hole. The strand is curled around my dagger, pulling on it. Even letting Katropis go won't help. The gravity in the hole is too strong. I'm yanked into the hole when I see a hand coming towards me. I grip the hand as I dangle off the cliff. It's Percy. He's on the top, trying to pull me up. Another hand comes for me, more urgent as Percy tries to pull me up against the weight of my dagger. I let it go, watching it tumble down in the darkness, my only weapon. I reach out and grab the other hand, already knowing it's Jason's by the touch of it. Together, they heave me up and get me back on the cliff.
Immediately after being pulled up, I feel a pair of arms envelope me in their warmth. I lean into him, before pulling back and gesturing to get to the ship. Jason nods and, taking my hand, runs to get ready to fly. I slip my hand out of his last minute. He turns to me, frowning.
"Get Annabeth first." I nod to the blonde, struggling to climb up the ladder with her broken ankle, Percy not too far behind. "Please."
Jason eyes me wearily before nodding and helping Annabeth up. I start climbing the ladder, gripping the wood tight. My heart is still beating rapidly at the almost-fall. If it wasn't for Percy or Jason, i would've been tumbling down to Tartarus by now. The sounds of the floor crumbling below me make me cringe. As I pull myself further up, the rope breaks and the ladder starts falling apart. My head hits a few steps before my foot catches on the last one. I'm dangling headfirst from the ladder, trying to reach up and grab hold of the rope in vain. The step breaks and all at once, I'm falling for the second time to that large, black hole leading to Tartarus. I think I hear my name being screamed over the sound of my own shriek. I see Jason fly towards me. He grabs my hand and holds onto the unbroken steps of the ladder, the gravity of Tartarus too great for him fly upwards. He and I are hanging from the ladder that Leo is desperately trying to pull up.
"Jason!" I shout. "There's no point! You have to let me go!"
He looks down at me, the hopelessness clear in his eyes.
The left side rope breaks and we're pulled further down. I look down at the hole. It's gravitational pull gets stronger and more urgent. I look back up at Jason. I can't keep holding on. Pretty soon the hole will claim me and, if he doesn't let go, will take him too.
"Jason, please, you have to! End this war for me! Give the statue to the Romans! Just..."
He holds my hand tighter, if thats even possible, a desperate look in his eyes.
"Jason," I say. "Please."
He closes his eyes tightly. A look of determination is in his them once they open. He takes a deep breath. "Leo!" He shouts, looking up at him. "I'm sorry! We're-we're sorry! We'll see you at the Doors of Death!"
"Jason-"
He looks back at me, smiling sadly. "There is no way I will ever let you go, Piper Mclean! You should know that by now."
My eyes widen at what he's about to do.
I shake my head, no.
Jason, you can't.
He let's go of the step, falling in with me. The last thing I see before dropping into complete darkness is Leo's horrified face.
As we plummet down the hole to Tartarus, I feel Jason's warm arms wrap around me as if shielding me from the dangers yet to come. I bury my head in his chest.
"I love you." He responds to my declaration at the nymphaeum. "And I promise we'll get out of this alive."
I smile through the tears, ignoring the nagging of the phrase 'An oath to keep with a final breath'.