~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Breaking Through

{Percy}

The air turned electric—literally, as Jason started throwing off sparks.

   "Did you find the doors?" Percy asked.

   Nico nodded. "I was a fool. I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I might as well have tried running from a black hole."

   "Um..." Frank chewed his lip. "What kind of black hole are you talking about?"

   Nico started to speak, but whatever he needed to say must have been too terrifying. He turned to Hazel and Kiara. Kiara put her hand on her brother's arm. "Nico told us that the Doors of Death have two sides—one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico back into the upper world. Then they transported him to Rome."

   Piper must've been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger. "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"

   Nico took a rattling breath. "The House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it on a map, but—but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in... in..."

   A cold pair of hands did the itsy-bitsy spider down Percy's back.

   A black hole. An inescapable part of the Underworld where even Nico di Angelo couldn't go. Why hadn't Percy thought of this before? He'd been to the very edge of that place. He still had nightmares about it.

   "Tartarus," he guessed. "The deepest part of the Underworld."

   Nico nodded. "They pulled me into the pit, Percy. The things I saw down there..." His voice broke.

   Hazel pursed her lips. "No mortal has ever been to Tartarus," she explained. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum-security prison of Hades, where the old Titans and the other enemies of the gods are bound. It's where all monsters go when they die on the earth. It's... well, no one knows exactly what it's like."

   Her eyes drifted to her brother. The rest of her thought didn't need to be spoken: No one except Nico.

   Kiara handed him his black sword. Nico leaned on it like it was an old man's cane. "Now I understand why Hades hasn't been able to close the doors," he said. "Even the gods don't go into Tartarus. Even the god of death, Thanatos himself, wouldn't go near that place."

   Leo glanced over from the wheel. "So let me guess. We'll have to go there."

   Nico shook his head. "It's impossible. I'm the son of Hades, and even I barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there...no demigod would stand a chance. I almost went insane." Nico's eyes looked like shattered glass. Percy wondered sadly if something inside him had broken permanently.

   "Then we'll sail for Epirus," Percy said. "We'll just close the gates on this side."

   "I wish it were that easy," Nico said. "The doors would have to be controlled on both sides to be closed. It's like a double seal. Maybe, just maybe, all seven of you working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you had a team fighting simultaneously on the Tartarus side, a team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory—"

   "There has to be a way," Jason said.

   Nobody volunteered any brilliant ideas.

   Percy thought his stomach was sinking. Then he realized the entire ship was descending toward a big building like a palace.