ch.11 I make a impossible promise

I have seen strange things before but raining cars is new. As the roof of the cavern collapsed, sunlight blinded me. I got the briefest glimpse of the Argo II hovering above. It must have used its ballistae to blast a hole straight through the ground.

Chunks of asphalt as big as garage doors tumbled down, along with six or seven Italian cars. One would've crushed the Athena Parthenos, but the statue's glowing aura acted like a force field, and the car bounced off. Unfortunately, it fell straight toward Annabeth.

She jumped to one side and she flipped on her back in time to see a bright red Fiat 500 slam into the wall. All around us, more chunks of debris slammed through the floor, riddling it with holes.

The Athena Parthenos remained undamaged, though the marble under its pedestal was a starburst of fractures. Annabeth was covered in cobwebs. She trailed strands of leftover spider silk from her arms and legs like the strings of a marionette, but somehow, amazingly, none of the debris had hit her wanted to believe that the statue had protected her, though I suspected it might've been nothing but luck.

The army of spiders had disappeared. Either they had fled back into the darkness, or they'd fallen into the chasm. As daylight flooded the cavern, Arachne's tapestries along the walls crumbled to dust, which I could hardly bear to watch - especially the tapestry depicting me and Thalia.

But none of that mattered when I heard Thalia's voice from above: "Thece!"

"I'm down Here my Electric Angel!" I yelled.

All the terror seemed to leave me at the sound of her voice. As the Argo II descended, I saw Percy and Thalia leaning over the rail. Her smile was better than any tapestry I'd ever seen.

The room kept shaking, but Annabeth and I managed to stand. The floor at our feet seemed stable for the moment. Annabeth's backpack was missing, along with her laptop. Her bronze knife, which she'd had since she was seven, was also gone - probably fallen into the pit. But Annabeth didn't seem care.

She edged closer to the gaping hole made by the Fiat 500. Jagged rock walls plunged into the darkness as far as I could see. A few small ledges jutted out here and there, but I saw nothing on them - just strands of spider silk dripping over the sides like Christmas tinsel.

I know Arachne told the truth about the chasm.

I was completely aware of the Argo II hovering to a stop about forty feet from the floor. It lowered a rope ladder, but I stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. Then suddenly Percy was next to Annabeth, lacing his fingers in hers.

He 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."

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.

Our friends gathered around us. Nico was there, this didn't surprise me. It seemed only right that he would be with them after my threat.

Piper says. "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, which also made me want to hug him but that would be out of character. When she finished, our friends' faces were slack with amazement.

"Gods of Olympus," Jason said. "You did all that With only two people."

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 and Thece 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."

With a lot of pain, Annabeth thought.

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."

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

Then I thought about the other lines of the prophecy: The twins snuff out the angel's breath, who holds the keys to endless death.

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

Percy told us about rescuing Nico, the appearance of Bacchus, and the fight with the twins in the Colosseum. Nico didn't say much. Little bro 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 behind them exhaled a cold blast of air. I knew where the chasm went so does Nico.

Percy must have felt it too. He guided Annabeth a little farther from the edge. Her arms and legs trailed spider silk like a bridal train. Percy said, "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.

Nausea swelled in my chest. If the statue fell into the chasm, all our work would be for nothing. The quest would fail.

"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.

Our friends understood immediately.

"Zhang!" Leo cried. "Get me to the helm, quick! The coach is up there alone."

Frank transformed into a giant eagle, and the two of them soared toward the ship.

Jason wrapped his arm around Piper. He turned to Percy. "Back for you guys in a sec." He summoned the wind and shot into the air.

"This floor won't last!" Hazel warned. "The rest of us should get to the ladder."

Plumes of dust and cobwebs blasted from holes in the floor. The spider's silk support cables trembled like massive guitar strings and began to snap. Hazel lunged for the bottom of the rope ladder and gestured for Nico to follow, but Nico was in no condition to sprint. I grabbed him and shot into the sky black-fire covering my shoes pushing me onto the ship.

I see Percy grip Annabeth's hand tighter. Looking up, I saw grappling lines shoot from the Argo II and wrap around the statue. One lassoed Athena's neck like a noose. Leo shouted orders from the helm as Jason and Frank flew frantically from line to line, trying to secure them.

Annabeth gasped and stumbled.

"What is it?!" Percy asked/yelled.

She tried to stagger toward the ladder. Why was she moving backward instead? Her legs swept out from under her and she fell on her face.

"Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder. "Cut it! Cut it!"

I look and I Percy didn't realize what Hazel meant either. Then something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. Percy lunged. He grabbed her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well.

"Help them!" Hazel yelled.

I jumped down using black-fire slowing the fall,Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. Our other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.

I ran up but I couldn't reach them and black-fire over Tartarus is not a good idea.

"No," Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. "My sword..."

But he couldn't reach Riptide without letting go of Annabeth's arm, and Annabeth's strength was gone, we both knew it. She slipped over the edge. Percy fell with her.

Percy had managed to grab a ledge about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping Annabeth's wrist with the other, but the pull on her leg was much too strong.

No escape, said a voice in the darkness below. I go to Tartarus, and you will come too.

I wasn't sure if I actually heard Arachne's voice or if it was just in my mind.

The pit shook. Percy was the only thing keeping Annabeth from falling. He was barely holding on to a ledge the size of a bookshelf.

I leaned over the edge of the chasm, thrusting out my hand, but I was much too far away to help. Hazel was yelling for the others, but even if they heard her over all the chaos, they'd never make it in time. The force of the Underworld tugged at her like dark gravity. She didn't have the strength to fight. I knew she was too far down to be saved.

"Percy, let me go," she croaked. "You can't pull me up."

His face was white with effort. I could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless.

"Never," he said. He looked up at me, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Thece! We'll see you there. Understand?"

My eyes widened. "But - "

"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"

"I - I will."

Below them, the voice laughed in the darkness. Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.

Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth's wrist.

"We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again."

Only then did I understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.

"As long as we're together," she said.

I heard Nico and Hazel still screaming for Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Annabeth fell into the endless darkness.

I say,"I promise Percy I'll see you again on the other side."