~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Friends To Save

{Kiara}

Kiara was still in shock.

   Everything had happened so quickly. They had secured grappling lines to the Athena Parthenos just as the floor gave way, and the final columns of webbing snapped. Jason and Frank dove down to save the others, but they'd only found Nico, Kiara and Hazel hanging from the rope ladder. Percy and Annabeth were gone. The pit to Tartarus had been buried under several tons of debris. Leo pulled the Argo II out of the cavern seconds before the entire place
imploded, taking the rest of the parking lot with it.

   The Argo II was now parked on a hill overlooking the city. Jason, Hazel, Kiaraand Frank had returned to the scene of the catastrophe, hoping to dig through the rubble and find a way to save Percy and Annabeth, but they'd come back demoralized. The cavern was simply gone. The scene was swarming with police and rescue workers. No mortals had been hurt, but the Italians would be scratching their heads for months, wondering how a massive sinkhole had opened right in the middle of a parking lot and swallowed a dozen perfectly good cars.

   Dazed with grief, Kiara and the others carefully loaded the Athena Parthenos into the hold, using the ship's hydraulic winches with an assist from Frank Zhang, part-time elephant. The statue just fit, though what they were going to do with it, Kiara had no idea.

   Coach Hedge was too miserable to help. He kept pacing the deck with tears in his eyes, pulling at his goatee and slapping the side of his head, muttering, "I should have saved them! I should have blown up more stuff!"

   Finally Leo told him to go below decks and secure everything for departure. He wasn't doing any good beating himself up.

   Kiara was no better. She felt horrible, but she didn't know why. She hadn't been exactly friends with Percy and Annabeth, but she respected them. Annabeth had always tried so hard to get Kiara to open up to her or talk to her, but the daughter of Pluto had always pushed her away. Maybe that was the reason she felt horrible.

   The six demigods gathered on the quarterdeck and gazed at the distant column of dust still rising from the site of the implosion.

   Leo rested his hand on the Archimedes sphere, which now sat on the helm, ready to be installed. He should have been excited. It was the biggest discovery of his life. If he could decipher Archimedes's scrolls, he could do amazing things. But like the rest of the crew, he looked miserable after Percy and Annabeth had fallen.

   "It's my fault," he said miserably.

   The others stared at him. Only Hazel and Kiara understood. They'd been with him at the Great Salt Lake.

   "No," Kiara insisted. "No, this is Gaea's fault. It had nothing to do with you."

   Leo looked like he wanted to believe that, but he couldn't. He thought they'd started this voyage with Leo messing up, firing on New Rome. He thought they'd ended in old Rome with Leo breaking a cookie and paying a price much worse than an eye.

   "Leo, listen to me." Hazel gripped his hand. "I won't allow you to take the blame. I couldn't bear that after—after Sammy..." She choked up. Kiara didn't know what her sister meant, but Leo seemed to understand.

   Nico shuffled over, leaning on his black sword. "Leo, they're not dead. If they were, I could feel it."

   "How can you be sure?" Leo asked. "If that pit really led to... you know... how could you sense them so far away?"

   Nico, Kiara and Hazel shared a look, comparing notes on their Hades/Pluto death radar. Leo shivered. Kiara knew he thought Hazel had never seemed like a child of the Underworld to him, but Nico di Angelo—the son of Hades creeped Leo out. As for Kiara... well, she was in the middle of those two.

   "We can't be one hundred percent sure," Kiara admitted. "But I think Nico is right. Percy and Annabeth are still alive... at least, so far."

   Jason pounded his fist against the rail. "I should've been paying attention. I could have flown down and saved them."

   "Me, too," Frank moaned. The big dude looked on the verge of tears.

   Piper put her hand on Jason's back. "It's not your fault, either of you. You were trying to save the statue."

   "She's right," Nico said. "Even if the pit hadn't been buried, you couldn't have flown into it without being pulled down. I'm the only one who has actually been into Tartarus. It's impossible to describe how powerful that place is. Once you get close, it sucks you in. I never stood a chance."

   Frank sniffled. "Then Percy and Annabeth don't stand a chance either?"

   Nico twisted his silver skull ring. "Percy is the most powerful demigod I've ever met. No offense to you guys, but it's true. If anybody can survive, he will, especially if he's got Annabeth at his side. They're going to find a way through Tartarus."

   Jason turned. "To the Doors of Death, you mean. But you told us it's guarded by Gaea's most powerful forces. How could two demigods possibly—?"

   "I don't know," Nico admitted. "But Percy told me to lead you guys to Epirus, to the mortal side of the doorway. He's planning on meeting us there. If we can survive the House of Hades, fight our way through Gaea's forces, then maybe we can work together with Percy and Annabeth and seal the Doors of Death from both sides."

   "And get Percy and Annabeth back safely?" Leo asked.

   "Maybe."

   Kiara didn't like the way Nico said that, as if he wasn't sharing all his doubts. She decided she would question him later. But one thought tugged at Kiara's mind: if the Doors of Death needed to be sealed from both sides, how could they do that unless someone stayed in the Underworld, trapped?

   Nico took a deep breath. "I don't know how they'll manage it, but Percy and Annabeth will find a way. They'll journey through Tartarus and find the Doors of Death. When they do, we have to be ready."

   "It won't be easy," Hazel said. "Gaea will throw everything she's got at us to keep us from reaching Epirus."

   "What else is new?" Jason sighed.

   Piper nodded. "We've got no choice. We have to seal the Doors of Death before we can stop the giants from raising Gaea. Otherwise her armies will never die. And we've got to hurry. The Romans are in New York. Soon, they'll be marching on Camp Half-Blood."

   "We've got one month at best," Jason added. "Ephialtes said Gaea would awaken in exactly one month."

   Leo straightened. "We can do it."

   Everyone stared at him.

   "The Archimedes sphere can upgrade the ship," he said. "I'm going to study those ancient scrolls we got. There's got to be all kinds of new weapons I can make. We're going to hit Gaea's armies with a whole new arsenal of hurt."

   At the prow of the ship, Festus creaked his jaw and blew fire defiantly.

   Jason managed a smile. He clapped Leo on the shoulder. "Sounds like a plan, Admiral. You want to set the course?"

   They would find the House of Hades. They'd take the Doors of Death. And if Kiara had to jump into Tartarus to save Annabeth and Percy, gods knew she would do it.

   "Yeah." He took one last look at the cityscape of Rome, turning blood red in the sunset. "Festus, raise the sails. We've got some friends to save."