Calypso

It took us five hours to get there.

Or at least that's what it felt like. In reality it probably took us half an hour, but I've been waiting on the deck with my bag, next to Leo for twenty five minutes.

We all have.

Eventually, Zoé and I go off to one side to talk.

"So, what happened while you were in the jar? Could you hear anything?" I ask Zoé.

Zoé nods and slightly pales, "The Doors of Death are in Epirus."

I frown, "Are you sure?"

Zoé nods, "I am certain."

I nod thoughtfully but a strange look from Zoé brings me out of my thoughts, "What?"

"Do you not want to know how I am alive?" Zoé asks in confusion.

I grin at her, "Nah, the less I know, the less I can be convicted of by Zeus."

Zoé rolls her eyes but manages a small smile.

"What happened when I was banished?" I ask.

"Zeus decreed that I was to be banished also, but Artemis attempted to convince him otherwise, as I was one of her Hunters. Zeus finally allowed me to stay as lieutenant, but if I was ever to leave the Hunt, I was to be immediately banished to your island."

"It's too bad," I say seriously. "I could've used some company."

Zoé narrows her eyes but I laugh and pull her into another hug.

"Ogygia," I say when I pull back.

Zoé looks at me in confusion.

"That's what I called the island I was stuck on," I explain. "I had to name it something, it was my home for millenniums."

Zoé smiles, "Ogygia is a beautiful name."

"It was a beautiful island," I reply, smiling back at her.

Zoé's eyes travel to my neck, "You still have the necklace?"

"I didn't take it off until I got back here," I say.

Zoé looks at me in confusion, "Until?"

"Stupid Terminus made me take it off for the Senate meeting in case I decided to murder someone," I grumble.

Zoé gives me an amused look and I can almost read her thoughts.

"I would not have killed someone!" I exclaim. "At worst I would've broken a couples bones, but nothing else!"

Zoé looks at me and I cave, "Alright, I might've put an arrow in Octavian's throat, but he had the nerve to call us all traitors!"

"Calypso," Zoé says with an exasperated look. "I do not know who this Octavian is, nor any of your friends."

I look at her in shock, "Don't you? Octavian is just a typical boy, but I'll introduce you to my friends."

I drag Zoé back to the prow of the ship.

"Zoé, this is Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Leo and you know Annabeth and Percy," I say, pointing to each person in turn.

Leo holds out his hand for Zoé to shake and she narrows her eyes at it.

"Zoé," I say evenly. "Leo is alright, well, for a boy at least."

Leo sends me a small glare but Zoé grasps his hand tightly and shakes it firmly. I can't help but giggle when I hear a small crack from his hand.

Leo quickly withdraws his hand and curses loudly, grabbing his hand in his other hand. We all laugh at Leo misfortune, making him glare at us in between his swearing.

Zoé smirks, obviously pleased and moves to look over the railing.

"What the Hades?!" Leo hisses at me.

"She doesn't like boys," I say, grinning. "She was a Hunter of Artemis, what did you expect?"

I grab his hand and quickly detect his broken thumb. I heal the injury and quickly let go of his hand.

"There, all fixed," I say in a baby voice.

Leo glares at me and I smile back innocently at him.

I push him back to the wheel, "Go make sure we don't crash, Leo."

"Can this thing go any faster?" Percy complains for about the one hundredth time.

"Yes, Percy," Leo says sarcastically. "I'm just trying to make Annabeth die."

Percy tenses at that last statement and I quickly step in, "How much longer?"

Leo fiddles with the newly attached Archimedes sphere, "About two minutes."

"Alright," I say. "Percy, go get some ambrosia and nectar for Annabeth just in case."

Percy looks confused, "But I already got s-"

"Then go get some more," I say, not budging.

When Percy is gone, I glare at Leo, "Don't talk about Annabeth dying in front of him. She is not going to die and you do not need to stress Percy out."

Leo looks down and continues fiddling with the sphere, "I know. I'm worried too."

Suddenly Jason gives a yell and points at something in the distance, "Is that the Emmanuel Building?"

Leo glances at something on the controls, "Yeah, it is. Is the carpark supposed to be behind it?"

"Yes," Piper replies.

Percy comes running up the stairs, "What happened!?"

"We're here," I inform him.

Percy's face breaks into a slow grin as the Argo 2 slowly comes to a stop near the carpark.

I look at Leo, "Try not to destroy the building."

Leo presses a button on the Archimedes sphere and I hear several loud bangs, "No promises."

And then he fires.

The carpark ground collapses and falls, creating a thick layer of white dust over the hole.

"Leo, get us down there." I order, already standing by the rope ladder and ready to let it down.

The dust gets into my eyes as we hover above the hole but I ignore it. I drop the ladder and I am the first one down.

The first thing I see is a giant spider leaning over an injured Annabeth. Before I can even summon my bow, a green arrow sails past my head and into the spider. A net wraps itself around the spider and Annabeth quickly scoots out of the way.

Percy rushes over to her and hugs her, "What's wrong?!"

Annabeth grits her teeth, "My ankle, it was just starting to heal before Arachne fixed that."

Percy tries to feed her some ambrosia but she refuses it, "I already had some before I got to Arachne. I'll die if I have anymore."

And that's my cue.

I kneel beside Annabeth and examine her ankle. I screw up my face and concentrate on my powers. Underneath my hand, I can feel Annabeth's ankle healing. I intensify my efforts until her ankle is fully fixed.

I stand up, breathing heavily, "You all need to stop breaking your ankles, I'm not your personal Apollo."

Percy laughs and helps Annabeth up, giving me the ambrosia that Annabeth had refused. I take it gratefully and stuff it into my mouth.

"Thanks, Calypso," Annabeth smiles before kissing Percy.

Percy pulls away grinning, "Annabeth, guess who's here!"

Zoé steps away from our group and towards Annabeth.

"Zoé!" Annabeth says happily, letting go of Percy and instead engulfing Zoé in a hug.

"Annabeth," Zoé says warmly.

Annabeth pulls back, "I'm so sorry you got killed saving me. I-"

Zoé cuts her off, "It is fine. Percy already apologised, several times."

Annabeth smiles, "Meaning you couldn't get him to shut up?"

Zoé nods in confirmation, making Percy turn an unhealthy shade of red.

Annabeth stares at the giant hole in the ground, "It goes straight to Tartarus."

"A one way trip," Percy agrees.

"That's also where the Doors are," I say. "One side of them at least."

Everyone looks at me in confusion and I shrug it off, "Zoé and I will explain on the ship."

"Where's the statue?" Leo asks.

Annabeth points towards a dark section of the cavern, "There. The Athena Parthenos."

The statue glares down at me as I walk over to it.

Athena has ivory skin and a golden dress. In one hand, she holds Nike, goddess of victory and in the other hand, she holds a shield. From what I can tell, it looks exactly how I remember Athena.

"Where are we going to store this?" I ask of no one in particular.

Leo comes up beside me and squints at the forty foot statue, "I reckon I can fit it in the stables. Do you reckon the horses will mind?"

I give Leo a exasperated look, "We don't have horses."

"Right," Leo says hastily. "Annabeth, can you work the controls on the ship while we secure Athena? Percy can help you."

It's really thoughtful of Leo to say that. He, like everyone, knows that Percy is mentally freaking out. Percy needs to know that his girlfriend is safely out of harm's way and not in some dark cave. Of course that won't help if there's an ax murderer on the ship, but that's a minor detail.

Percy nods, relieved, "Frank, can you take us?"

Frank transforms into a giant eagle and Percy and Annabeth climb onto his back. Frank soars towards the ship and you can vaguely see Annabeth and Percy's dark silhouettes as they jump the narrow gap onto the ship.

Frank lands beside Hazel and turns back. Several ropes begin to fall down towards us and I have to jump back to avoid one hitting me in the head.

Leo picks up the end of a rope, "This was way easier in my head. How the Hades do we do this?"

Frank steps forward awkwardly, "I've got an idea. This sounds kinda weird, but what if I shoot her-"

"Dude," Leo interrupts. "You want to shoot a goddess?"

Frank turns a dark shade of red, "With a Hydra arrow."

Leo opens to mouth but I cut him off, "That's actually not a bad idea."

Leo, Hazel, Zoé, Piper and Jason all look at me like I'm crazy.

"Calypso, just because you're an expert in disrespecting gods, doesn't mean that Frank should shoot Athena," Piper says in exasperation.

"Aim for the chest," I advise Frank.

Frank slings his backpack of his back, which then turns into a bow. Frank picks a blunt green arrow from a mass of celestial bronze arrows and notches it.

"You're going to shoot Athena," Leo says. "You're going to shoot Athena."

Frank fires the arrow and it hits the statue in the chest, immediately expanding to net the goddess.

There's a resounding slap noise as Leo hits his forehead with his hand, "You shot Athena. Zhang, you just shot a goddess. You just shot a goddess with a vendetta against Romans."

"What happened to the rest of your arrows?" I ask Frank.

"They all got used in the battle with Otis," Frank says sheepishly.

I shrug, "They weren't going to survive until the battle with Gaia anyway."

"Alright, Leo!" I say, clasping my hands together. "Let's get the statue secured."

I grab two rope ends and make my way over to the Athena Pathronos. I pull at the net, testing it's strength. Satisfied, I loop a rope through the net and tie it back onto itself.

"Leo, help me," I order.

Leo grumbles to himself but makes his way over with a few rope ends.

We work together, knotting, double knotting and triple knotting the ropes. Finally, we finish and I take a few steps back from the statue to admire our work.

"Not bad."

Piper, Jason, Zoé, Hazel and Frank come up behind us.

"Tell Annabeth to lift it," I command Frank.

Frank turns into a giant eagle and takes off, soaring towards the ship in the sky.

Frank flies over the Argo 2 and never comes over the other side. He must've landed.

A few minutes later, the ropes start to tense and the statue rises about a metre off the ground. It then falls and slams into the already unstable floor.

A great rumbling noise sounds and the floor starts to shake.

Jason glances at the floor uneasily as cracks form in the ground. He grabs Piper by the waist, "Be right back for you guys."

Jason and Piper shoot into the sky and I look at the giant hole next to us. I grab Leo's arm, "Let's move away from the hole."

Leo gulps, "Agreed."

The floor by the crater starts to fall and Leo and I sprint towards the rope ladder. Hazel and Zoé have already reached it and gesture frantically for us to move faster.

Right beside me, a large chunk of concrete falls. Leo yelps as the ground beneath him gives way and starts to fall.

I lunge forward and grab his hand, but I am jolted from his sudden weight. As we fall I manage to grab onto a small ledge.

My breath comes in heavy pants and my arm starts to ache, but I keep my grip on Leo's hand, holding onto to it like its my lifeline.

"Calypso!" Hazel's voice reaches us.

"Hazel! Zoé!" I yell back as loudly as I can. "The Doors! Get to Epirus! They're the exit to Tartarus! Meet us there!"

"But-"

"Meet us there!" I insist.

"I will," Zoé yells back, her voice clearly cracking.

I look down at a dust covered Leo, "I hate you so much."

Leo manages to grin at me.

And then I let go, and we begin the descent into Tartarus.

-Stars