Daughter of Wine

Leo

I'm still in shock. 

Everything happened so quickly. We hads 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 only found Nico, Hazel, and Calli hanging from the rope ladder. Percy and Annabeth were gone. The pit to Tartarus has been buried under several tons of debris. I 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 is now parked on a hill overlooking the city. Jason, Hazel, Calli, and Frank returned to the scene of the catastrophe, hoping to dig through the rubble and find a way to save Percy and Annabeth, but they come back demoralized. The cavern is simply gone. The scene was swarming with police and rescue workers. No mortals had been hurt, but the Italians will be scratching their heads for months, wondering how a massive sinkhole opened right in the middle of a parking lot and swallowed a dozen perfectly good cars. 

Dazed with grief, we all carefully load the Athena Parthenos into the hold, using the ship's hydraulic winches with an assist from Frank Zhang, part-time elephant. The statue just fits, though what we're going to do with it, I have no idea. 

Coach Hedge is too miserable to help. He keeps 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, Calli tells him to go belowdecks and secure everything for departure. He isn't doing any good beating himself up. 

Calli, on the other hand, seems fine. It's terrifying how okay she is after watching two of her best friends fall into a death pit. But she's calm, cool, and collected, directing us on how to best get the statue into the hold, directions on where to fly, keeping everybody focused. I don't know what to make of it. I know she's burying her emotions, but right now, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. She really seems okay, and we need guidance. With Annabeth gone, she's taken over as leader of the quest. 

The seven of us that are left gather on the quarterdeck and gaze at the distant column of dust still rising from the site of the implosion. 

I rest my hand on the Archimedes sphere, which now sits on the helm, ready to be installed. I should be excited. It's the biggest discovery of my life, even bigger than Bunker 9. If I can decipher Archimedes's scrolls, I can do amazing things. I hardly dare to hope, but I might even be able to build a new control disk for a certain dragon friend of mine. 

Still, the price had been too high. 

I can almost hear Nemesis laughing. I told you we could do business, Leo Valdez. 

I had opened the fortune cookie. I'd gotten the access code for the sphere and saved Frank and Hazel. But the sacrifice is Percy and Annabeth. I'm sure of it. 

"It's my fault." I say miserably. 

Calli immediately turns to me, a reassuring expression on her face. "No, it's not." She rubs my arm comfortingly. 

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

I want to believe them, but I can't. We started this voyage with me messing up, firing on New Rome. We ended in old Rome with me breaking a cookie and paying a price much worse than an eye. 

"Leo, listen to me." Hazel grips my hand. "I won't allow you to take the blame. I couldn't bear that after- after Sammy..."

She chokes up, but I know what she means. My bisabuelo had blamed himself for Hazel's disappearance.