Chaos was now – ultimately and infinitely – invincible.

She stood before the three demigods, possessing Annabeth's body, the only sign of the shift being the solid black eyes that stared back at them coldly. They seemed as dark and bottomless as the void of Tartarus that lay before them, murmuring in anxiety, waiting . . . wishing . . . hoping . . . living . . .
Time had no meaning in the moments that followed, the four beings staring back at each other. The half-bloods were horrified, terror coursing through their veins as real as the blood that did the same. Chaos watched them with hungry eyes as her black tongue licked sharp teeth. With the small gesture, they understood one thing and one thing only: the Annabeth that stood before them was no longer the Annabeth they knew and loved; this was Chaos, and, no matter what, they had to kill her.

"The time has come, godlings," she rasped, her voice smooth and silky as ever, sending chills crawling down their spines. "It is time to die . . ." She raised her pale hand, aiming it at the three teenagers who now stood with a courageous defiance, readying themselves for the death they were sure would come.

But it never did.

When Isabella looked up at the goddess, she saw that her eyes had twinkled a sudden gold and silver, before reverting to their solid raven color. She saw that Chaos no longer wore an expression of pure triumph and evil, but of shock and surprise.

"Nidhogg and Amehait . . ." She murmured, ". . . dead." Her head shot up towards the three, staring at them as if she had just noticed them. "This girl – this human – destroyed much of them, imprisoning what was left of them back into their fateful penitentiaries."

Matt felt a twinge of hope in his stomach at the revelation. So Annabeth – with the power of Hope within her – had defeated the primordial beasts, saving New York City . . . for now. He had no idea – well, he had some ideas, but none of them pleasant – of what the goddess was planning to do, but he doubted that she would let any witnesses live. Then a bright light shocked him back to his senses as he shielded his eyes from the burst of shining energy.

Chaos whirled around to see the arcane door carved into the stone that, when activated by a tremendous amount of power, glowed white and led to any designated space. She shot one last glance at the demigods, and then spoke to the abyss beneath her. "Your time will have to be postponed, my love; I need your full power to destroy this world they call earth." Then, she turned and disappeared in a shattering explosion of light as she stepped through the door, leaving them alone in the impenetrable darkness.

They stood in silence for a few moments, the only sound the rapid beating of their hearts and the blood pumping in their own ears. And then, simultaneously, they collapsed on the craggy rock floor, exhausted. They huddled close together, knowing that if they strayed near the edge, they could easily slip into the darkness below, falling forever, for infinity. Falling . . . falling . . . falling . . .

Thalia suddenly stood up, brushing the dust and dirt off her scraped and tattered blue jeans. "OK, Isabella, ready?"

The daughter of Isis rose to her feet, wiping smudges of grime from her face with the back of her hand and sniffling slightly. "Yeah, I'm ready." She shrugged off her backpack, unzipped it and began to rummage through it, searching for something.

Matt was extremely perplexed. "Whoa, what . . . but . . . huh?!"

Thalia just rolled her eyes. "Seriously Matt, we came prepared. You have such little faith . . ."

"Prepared for what!?"

She shook her head at his ignorance but before she could answer his rambling questions, Isabella popped up, a shining piece of quartz crystal in her hand, its shape rough and jagged, like it just came out of the earth and hadn't been smoothed and cut. "Got it!" She said; her voice exuberant and almost childish in her excitement.

Thalia took the piece of white crystal and held it up to Matt's face. "Do you know what this is?"

"Uh . . . a shiny rock?" He suggested.

She rolled her eyes again. "It's a piece of quartz, and do you know how it's going to save us?" He shook his head. She sighed, getting angry with his little knowledge of what they were planning to do. "Quartz has been honored throughout millennia as something special and unique. To the ancient humani, it was a shard of the sky; it was a falling star; it was the eye of a god; etcetera, etcetera. The ancient people viewed it in myriad ways, but of what they didn't know of was its power." Matt looked at her blankly, so Thalia continued, "The energy within this crystal is almost infinite: it can heighten the intensity of basically any type of raw energy and channel it into Alpha level. And that is what we are going to do."

"But how the Niflheim does that help us?" Matt cursed, rising to his feet, beginning to grow aggravated.

Thalia opened her mouth to respond, but Isabella cut in, answering his question. "Do you know what a sonic-boom is?"

He blinked in surprise, but nodded. "Yeah, it's when planes and stuff break the sound barrier and go faster than the speed of sound, and it makes a giant "boom", right?"

She nodded. "Well, the "boom" that is created, is really the fabric of space being torn." She saw his vacant look and continued, "And when this thick layer is ripped, it creates a rift . . . in mid-air . . ."

Matt's eyes suddenly grew wide at the prospect. "Like a rift created to travel extremely far distances," then he stopped, his brow furrowing. "But wait, how did you guys know to be prepared like this?"

It was Thalia who answered his question. "Matt, we did research on Chaos the same as you, but unlike you, we did research on her strategies while you studied her powers. They are equally important, but in this scenario we just so happen to be better than you right now." She smiled broadly, showing her white teeth, then continued. "We knew she was manipulative and cunning, and it was a long-shot, but we guessed she would release Tartarus, her ex-lover. We hoped we were right, and we are, so now we can put plan "Family Reunion" into action."

"What's plan "Family Reunion"?" Matt asked. Thalia smiled, but said nothing as Isabella finished carving several intricate symbols into the chunk of quartz.

"All done!" She said, handing the crystal to Thalia. She grabbed Matt by the elbow and quickly pulled him back done the craggy rock, back towards the side of the cavern and away from the daughter of Zeus.

"What is she going to do?" He asked, confused.

Isabella nodded towards her with her chin. "Just watch."

Thalia clutched the quartz in both hands, focusing all her energy into it. Her hair stood on end and began to stick up from the static electricity she was emitting. She knew that since Tartarus had no opening to the sky, her power would have to come from within and there was no source to depend on; no one to call out to for help. Long tendrils of lightning began to whip out from around her, shocking and destroying craggy rock all around the cavern. She feared that she might bring down the entire out-post of rock if she released too much energy, but she put the idea aside, knowing that what she was about to do was the only way.

She channeled her power into the quartz crystal which began to shine a stark white, a deep contrast against the endless darkness that encompassed them for eternity. The piece of rock began to shake, sending off waves of energy that pushed Matt and Isabella flat against the cave's wall. Then, when the quartz had absorbed practically all of Thalia's energy . . .

She slung it like a fastball into the darkness.

Matt yelled, but was blocked out by a tremendous booming sound that sent all three of them careening across the craggy rock. Dust swirled around them, making it almost impossible to see. For a moment Matt thought it had failed and they were doomed, but then he saw a large, white slash in the air that was pulsing in an unsteady fashion.

"It worked," he said in awe, helping Isabella and Thalia to their feet. "I can't believe it worked! You actually created the portal!" He looked at each of their faces in turn, smiling broadly. The returned the expression of joy as they danced and jumped in happiness.

"We better hurry," Isabella said, claming down. "We don't know how long the rift will stay open nor do we know when Chaos will come back."

"Where did she go anyway?" Thalia said, brandishing her spear.

Isabella swallowed in fear. "She went back to New York City to finish what Nidhogg and Amehait started . . ." She paused, seeing the color drain from their faces. "Chaos has gone to the great city to utterly destroy it and the small army that stands against her."

They grew quiet for a while, and then Matt cleared his throat, slinging forth a whip of pure, blue energy and standing in front of the portal. "Well, I guess it's time to go," he said, smiling to encourage the others. They stood by his side, eyeing the white slash in the air. "Where does this lead, anyway?" He asked.

Thalia smiled. "To the original Mt. Olympus in Greece. It's time for Chaos to have a family reunion . . . and it's up to us to give it her."

They nodded and, together, they stepped through the rift, and into . . .