Chapter 1: Falling
Annabeth's Pov:
Annabeth had seen some strange things before, but she had never seen it rain cars.
As the roof of the cavern collapsed, sunlight blinded. She 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 biggest garage doors tumbled down, along with six or seven Italian would have crushed the Athena Parthenos, but the statue's glowing aura acted like a forcefield, and the car bounced off. unfortunately, it fell straight towards Annabeth.
She jumped to one side, twisting her bad foot. a wave of agony almost made her pass out, but she flipped on her back in time to see a bright red Fiat 500 slam into Arachne's silk trap, punching through the cavern floor and disappearing with the Chinese spider cuffs.
As Arachne fell, she screamed like a freight train on a collision course; but her wailing rapidly faded. All around Annabeth, 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. she wanted to believe that the statue had protected her, though she suspected it might have been nothing but luck.
The army of spiders had disappeared. either they had fled back into the darkness or they'd fallen into the daylight flooded the cavern, Arachne's tapestries along the wall crumbled to dust, which Annabeth could hardly bear to watch-especially the tapestry depicting her and Percy.
But none of that mattered when she heard Percy's voice from above: "Annabeth!"
"here!" she sobbed.
All the terror seemed to leave her in one massive the Argo II descended, she saw Percy leaning over the rail. His smile was better than any tapestry she'd ever seen.
The room kept shaking, but Annabeth managed to stand. the floor at her feet seemed to be stable for the moment. her backpack was missing, along with Daedalus' laptop. her bronze knife, which she'd had since she was seven, was also gone -probably falling into the pit. but Annabeth didn't care, she was alive.
She edged closer to the gaping hole made by the Fiat 500. jagged rock walls plummeted into the darkness as far as Annabeth could see. a few small ledges jetted out here and there, but an about son nothing on them -just strands of spider silk dripping over the sides like Christmas tinsel.
Annabeth wondered if Arachne had told the truth about the chasm. had the spider fallen all the way to Tartarus? she tried to feel satisfied with that idea, but it made her sad. Arachne had made some beautiful things. she'd already suffered for eons. now her last tapestries had crumbled. after all that, falling into Tartarus seems like too harsh and end. Annabeth was dimly aware of the Argo II hovering to a stop about 40 feet from the floor. it lowered a rope ladder, but Annabeth stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. then suddenly Percy was next to her, lacing his fingers with 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 OK or were alive. After all they've been through over the last year, he knew the most important thing was that they were together. she loved him for saying that.
Their friends gathered around them. Nico di Angelo was there, but Annabeth's thoughts were so fuzzy, this didn't seem surprising to seemed only right that he would be with them.
"Your leg." Piper note next turn examine the bubble wrap cast." oh, 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 her feel more confident. when she finished, her friend's faces were slack with amazement.
"Gods of Olympus" Jason said "you did all that alone. with a broken ankle."
"Well… some of it with a broken ankle"
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 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 think 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 in about 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."
Annabeth shuddered.
She imagined Athena Parthenos jutting from their trireme with a sign across her pedestal that red: WIDE LOAD.
Then she thought about the other lines of the prophecy; Twins snuff out the Angels breath, who holds the key to endless death.
"What about you guys?" she asked, "what happened with the Giants."
Percy told her about rescuing Nico, the appearance of Bacchus, in the fight between the Twins in the Colosseum. Niko didn't say much. the poor guy looked like he'd been wandering through wasteland for six weeks. Percy explained what Niko had found out about the doors of death, how they had to be closed on both sides. even with sunlight streaming in from above, Percy's news made the cavern seemed dark again.
"So, the mortal side is in an 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. That's when Annabeth new with certainty. the chasm did go straight to the underworld.
Percy must have felt it too. He guided her little farther from the edge. her arms and legs trailed spider silk like a bridal train. she wished she had her dagger to cut that junk off. she almost asked Percy to do the honors with riptide, but before she could, he said "Bacchus mention 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.
Nauseous welled up in Annabeth's chest. if the statue fell into the chasm, all her hard work would have been for nothing. their quest would fail.
"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.
Her 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 towards the ship.
Jason wrapped his arm around Piper. "back for you guys in a sec." he summoned the winds 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.
Percy gripped Annabeth's hand tighter "it'll be fine," he muttered.
Looking up, she 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.
Nico had just reached the latter when a sharp pain shot up Annabeth's bad leg. she gasped and stumbled.
"What is it?" Percy asked.
She tried to stagger towards 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!"
Annabeth's mind was woolly from pain. cut her ankle?
Apparently, Percy hadn't realized what Hazel meant either. then something yanked Annabeth backwards and dragged her towards the pit. Percy lunged. he grabbed her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well.
"Help them!" Hazel yelled.
Annabeth glimpsed Nico hobbling in their direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. their other friends were still focused on the statue, and hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and rumbling of the cavern.
Annabeth sobbed as she hit the edge of the pit. too late she realized what was happening: she was tangled in the spider silk. she should have cut it away immediately. she had thought it was just loose line, but with the entire floor covered in cobwebs, she hadn't notice that one of the strands was wrapped around her foot- any other end went straight into the pit. it was attached to something heavy down in the darkness, something that was pulling her in.
"No, Annabeth "Percy shouted. He struggled to stop me from being dragged toward the chasm. a sad light dawned in his eyes when he realized what was happening. "my sword…"
He turned a desperate look over to his pocket, frantic but he could not reach riptide without letting go of me. I didn't believe that Percy would risk it- he wasn't like that; and I screamed when I felt his hand let go. I started slipping faster, but with speed worthy of Hermes Percy reached into his pocket bringing riptide out and uncapping it. he jumped raising his sword above his head, swinging with all he had I heard a swoosh as the blade cut through the silk cable like butter.
I scrambled forward away from the pit turning around to see where Percy had landed, only too late did I realize his trajectory. I watched this time seemed to slow down as Percy fell his eyes showed relief and possibly fear. But then he disappeared from view, I rushed forward to see him dangling above the pit about twenty feet below. He had managed to grab a ledge the size of a bookshelf, but his arm wrong like it had been injured in the attempt to cling on. His other hand grasped riptide, the pain he was feeling was clearly written on his face.
Below her a voice echoed in the darkness. "No escape, I go to Tartarus then so does your lover" I couldn't be sure if I actually heard Arachne's voice or if it was just in my mind.
Nico leaned over the edge of the chasm, searching frantically until his eyes landed on Percy. Hazel was yelling for the others to help, but even if they heard her over all the chaos, they'd never make it in time.
"the other side, Nico! I'll meet you there. understand?"
Nico's eyes widened "But-"
"lead them there!" Percy shouted, "promise me!"
"I-I will."
below him the voice laughed in the darkness again. "sacrifices. beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess."
Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, falling into the endless darkness.