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Everything was going wrong.
The Athena Parthenos was threatening to topple over. Arachne’s strings were just barely holding it up as the marble beneath the statue’s feet crumbled.
Nausea swelled in Annabeth’s chest. If the statue fell into the chasm, all her work would be for nothing. Their quest would fail.
“Secure it!” Annabeth cried. Her friends understood immediately.
“Zhang!” Leo shouted. “Get me to the helm, quick! The coach is up there alone.”
Frank transformed into a giant eagle, and the two of them soared toward the ship.
Jason wrapped his arm around Piper. He turned to Percy. “Back for you guys in a sec.” He summoned the wind and shot into the air.
Annabeth breathed out a sigh and squeezed Percy’s hand in what she hoped was in a reassuring manner. He was more than willing to return the favor as he squeezed her hand back and covered them both with his other hand in a protective gesture.
“This floor won’t last!” Hazel warned, reminding them of the current urgent situation. “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 even 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 ladder when a sharp pain shot up Annabeth’s bad leg. She gasped and stumbled.
“What is it?” Percy asked.
She tried to stagger toward 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 wooly from the pain. Cut her ankle?
Percy seemed to have caught on because he drew Riptide in a flash and uncapped the pen, changing it into a bronze sword. He made a swing for what Annabeth now realized was the thread of Arachne still attached to her ankle and nearly took her head off as she was yanked backward towards the pit.
He tore after her, trying to get ahead so he could slash the invisible line that was tugging her down into Tartarus.
Annabeth groaned when the thread pulled her over a little slope, lifting her in the air for a few seconds before her body slammed back down into the rocky floor. Her forearms were scraped and bleeding now, and her shirt had ridden up to expose her stomach to the jagged ground.
“Help them!” Hazel yelled as she sprinted after Nico. He had seen what was happening and turned back to help. It wouldn’t matter, he couldn’t run.
Annabeth screamed when her feet went over the side. Percy lunged for her, wrapping his arms around her middle and heaved her in the opposite direction which slowed her descent for a moment. They didn’t stay still for long though because after a few hopeful moments, she was dragged backwards again, albeit a little slower, with Percy now being pulled along with her.
In one last desperate attempt, Percy freed his arm that was still gripping Riptide and flung the sword down towards Annabeth’s ankle. By some miracle, it clattered against the chasm wall just below her foot, and Annabeth felt her leg go slack.
Percy’s sword plummeted down into the dark expanse, and Annabeth had a feeling it wouldn’t be coming back. She felt a twinge of sadness for Percy at the thought of his weapon of choice of five years being lost forever, but she couldn’t bring herself to dwell on it. At last, her body could stop screaming and the two could finally breathe—or at least…, they thought they could.
While Percy and Annabeth had been too busy staring down at the pit and catching their breath, they neglected to realize that their current position on the edge of the cliff was unbalanced. With a jolt, she felt herself slide backward, her lower half weighing her down as gravity took her.
Percy gasped and grabbed blindly for her arm. He made contact with her wrist and held her tightly, but Annabeth’s momentum combined with the unnatural pull of Tartarus dragged him down with her.
Her body slammed into something. She must have blacked out briefly from the pain. When she could see again, she realized that she’d fallen partway into the pit and was dangling over the void.
Percy had managed to grab a ledge a few feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping Annabeth’s wrist with the other.
No escape, said a voice in the darkness below. I go to Tartarus, and you will come too.
Annabeth wasn’t sure if she actually heard Arachne’s voice or if it was just in her mind.
The pit shook. Percy was the only thing keeping her from falling, and he was barely holding onto the bookshelf-sized ledge.
Nico leaned over the edge of the chasm, thrusting out his hand, but he was too far to help. If he really tried, he could probably grab Percy’s hand, but even if he did, he wouldn’t be able to support the weight of them both. Hazel was yelling for the others despite them being too far away.
Annabeth attempted to hoist herself up and grab onto anything that could be used as a handhold, but she was cut off by Percy’s frantic yell.
“Hold on, Annabeth stop!”
She ceased her struggling and looked up at him—which was hard considering all the dust falling in her eyes.
“This ledge isn’t stable. It’s coming off the wall!” he explained hurriedly.
He leaned aside carefully so she could see for herself. Sure enough, the slab of rock was wiggling loosely under his grip. Anymore movement would likely break it off completely. Annabeth felt a lump form in her throat.
The force of the Underworld tugged at her like dark gravity. She didn’t have the strength to fight anymore. She knew she was too far down to be saved.
“Percy, let me go,” she croaked. “You can’t pull me up.”
He stared down at her intensely, his face white with effort. He gave no response, but she could see the cogs turning in his brain.
Below them, the voice laughed in the darkness. Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.
Percy tightened his grip on Annabeth’s wrist. His face was gaunt, scraped and bloody, his hair dusted with cobwebs, but when he locked eyes with her, she thought he had never looked more handsome.
However, upon closer inspection, she saw that his eyes were glassy.
Without breaking their gaze, he spoke, “Nico, you know the way to the Doors of Death from the other side.” It wasn’t a question, but Nico responded in turn.
“Yes, but—”
“Lead them there!” Percy ordered, turning his head to look at him. “Promise me!”
“I—I will.”
“Good.”
He dropped his head back down to look at Annabeth. He was full on crying now. One of his tears trickled down his face and splattered against her own. Out of all the years she’s known him, she’s never seen his eyes filled with this much love and despair simultaneously.
“I—” his voice broke, “I love you so much.”
Annabeth’s breath caught and her breathing began to speed up.
“Percy what—” She had no time to finish her sentence and was instead cut off by her own cry.
With his last remaining strength, Percy tightened his grip again, more than she thought possible, and pulled her arm up with all of his might, lifting her wrist above his head.
“No, no, no, no, Percy stop!” Annabeth pleaded.
He ignored her and used his knee as a platform to push her up by the feet.
“Hazel, Nico, grab her.”
“No! The ledge! It’s not safe!” she screamed.
Annabeth felt hands grasping her arm and sobbed when they replaced Percy’s. He put his hand under her foot and shoved her up into the arms of the children of the Underworld.
They grabbed her shoulders to hold her back as she wheeled around to stare into the eyes of the love of her life.
She reached a trembling hand out to him, but it was too late.
The piece of rock that Percy had been using to support them this whole time had finally given way. She saw the unmistakable look of fear cross Percy’s face as he fell away from the edge of the pit and into the inky black depths.
–
Annabeth was frozen. The shock of what had just happened was almost too much to comprehend. Percy was gone. He had sacrificed himself for her.
She could hear the muffled voices of her friends around her but couldn’t make out what any of them were saying. She could tell though that they were trying to coax her back to the ship from their way their hands gently pulled her away from the pit and towards the ladder.
They had to drag her because she couldn’t bring herself to move.
It was all so wrong. Percy and her, they were supposed to make it, to get out of this together, to go to New Rome University together. She should have known that the gods would never offer them more than a fraction of happiness. They lived eternally, yet they couldn’t even grant them a year of peace.
Her mind ran through all the things that she would never get to do with Percy if he died, all the stages of life that would be lost. She never pondered marriage much, but she couldn’t imagine being with anyone other than Percy.
It stung like a hundred daggers to imagine spending the rest of her life without him. It hurt to think of his mom and Paul and what they would think. She knew that they would never blame her, but that wouldn’t rid her of the guilt. Percy deserved so much better. He deserved to live.
Her head was spinning too much, and the proximity of everyone was too overwhelming. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry.
Someone must have noticed this because soon, everyone had backed away except for one. Looking up, Annabeth saw that that one was Piper. She must have made her way back down from the Argo after Jason flew her to safety.
Percy isn’t safe. He’s gonna die, her mind supplied for her. Shut up. She tried to block it out, but that image bore painfully into the forefront of her mind. She imagined Percy colliding with the ground, his body broken and bleeding on the dingy floor. Alone in complete darkness.
She let out a breathy sob. Her tears had slowed but her face was still a mess.
Annabeth felt so hopeless. The feeling scared her, made her feel uneasy. It was so unlike herself. Usually she’d wrack her brain for a solution, brainstorming until the very last second with one of her feet in the grave. But this time, she’d given up so easily.
Why?
With the others climbing up the ladder a few paces ahead, and Piper’s arms wrapped around her, she could finally think a little clearer. Her mind was still in a bit of a daze, but Annabeth realized that she could understand people’s voices again when she heard Piper speak to her.
“Annabeth? Come on, it’s just a little further. We have to move.”
Annabeth only noticed that she had paused when Piper pointed it out. She’d been letting the girl walk her over to the base of the ladder a short ways behind the others. Now, she was rooted to the spot, unmoving. She didn’t know why she was hesitating, but at the same time, she knew more than anything.
A weird sense of calm fell over her and a sureness in herself. She turned to Piper, and with her best confused voice, she pointed up at the ship, “Hey, what’s that?” Piper turned and looked up at what Annabeth was pointing at which, in this case, was nothing.
It was so simple that she could have laughed if they were in a different situation. Using this as a distraction, Annabeth wrenched her arms free from Piper’s embrace and shoved her towards the ladder.
Piper grunted as she fell to the ground, and Annabeth heard Jason shout something angrily in Latin. Hazel gasped and clasped a hand to her mouth while Leo stared down at them with an expression of exasperation, clearly stressed at how long this was taking them. Annabeth ignored all of it and bolted back towards the pit.
It was hard with her messed up leg, but she blocked out the pain by gritting her teeth and limp-sprinted over to the edge of the chasm. Piper finally got her wits about her and screamed for Jason and Frank to do something, but they were all too far away by now.
Annabeth didn’t stop when she reached the edge. She only squeezed her eyes shut, and with her good leg, she leapt into the black sinkhole as if she were merely jumping into a swimming pool.
The last she heard of her comrades before disappearing below the surface was a bloodcurdling scream from Hazel and the sound of Leo yelling that they had to leave before the cavern collapsed.
The darkness overtook her. The atmosphere almost made her feel as if she were in a subway or a sewer. It was claustrophobic and megalophobia at the same time. Imagine being in a tube with intense pressure and no clear end in sight.
Annabeth didn't care about an end though, she only cared about catching up to Percy. She flattened her arms to her sides and put her legs together to pick up some more speed, and she scanned the emptiness below her.
It was hard to make out anything when there wasn’t much to make out in the first place, but she still searched the void desperately.
It was hard to recall any knowledge about the pit in the moment, and Annabeth couldn’t remember how long it took for a person to fall into Tartarus. She could only pray that she wasn’t too late.
If he hadn’t reached the ground yet, there was still hope. Percy had been falling for a few minutes before she jumped, so she rationalized that it would only take a few minutes to catch up with him, maybe less if she was falling faster.
The strong suction of Tartarus was an undetermined variable, and the thought crossed Annabeth’s mind that you might fall faster the deeper you got, but she pushed that thought away.
By the grace of the gods, her original theory was proven correct when Annabeth finally spotted a mop of curly blonde hair about twenty feet below her.
She suppressed a sob, but her eyes still filled with fresh tears. She knew he’d be there, but it was still indescribably relieving to see his face again.
Annabeth knew he’d probably hate her for this. She’d rendered his final stand meaningless in her own act of love. Although, he would only see it as an act of foolishness. However, the sight of him alone wiped that worry away in an instant. He looked exactly as he did ten minutes ago. His face was pale, and his hair was a mess of dirt and cobwebs which trailed behind him in ghostly strands. He had an array of scrapes and cuts littered all over him and numerous holes torn into his shirt. The shirt that was rising and falling over his chest evenly. Annabeth felt that she could finally breathe.
Angling herself down even more, Annabeth hurtled towards Percy like a wild harpy. Once she was within a couple of feet of him, she straightened herself out like a parachute so she wouldn’t miss her chance.
He must have sensed something because Percy turned around just in time for her to crash into him, hugging him so fiercely that he couldn’t even get a word out. All that came out was a wheeze and incoherent sputtering.
Annabeth loosened her grip on him after a moment of bliss, but still held onto him like he could be ripped away from her at any second. These days, he really could. Percy trained his wild eyes on her and opened and closed his mouth like a crazed fish before finally being able to get something out.
“Annabeth! What—” She cut him off with a kiss which might have not been the best idea since Percy was struggling to breathe, but she allowed herself a few seconds of selfishness before facing the inevitable storm that was coming.
When she pulled away, Percy was staring at her. He seemed to be trying to glare, but was failing miserably. Annabeth couldn’t blame him. All the anger and resentment she had previously felt for him had been instantly forgotten the moment she saw him. Percy’s voice finally sputtered to life.
“You were safe! Hazel and Nico had you! How—how could you—”
“—Jump after you?” Annabeth countered furiously, “How could I not?! Did you really think you could get away from me that easily, Seaweed brain?!” She felt Percy’s hands come up to grip her shoulders. They held her firmly but never too hard to actually hurt her.
“You were supposed to stay! You can’t do that!” he cried. Annabeth realized that he must be crying too, but it was too hard to tell. The tunnel was getting dimmer and dimmer as they plummeted further and further away from the sunlight.
She furrowed her brows as she remembered what he just said.
“‘I can’t do that?!’ What about you, Percy?!” she bit back. “You get to throw your life away whenever you feel like it but I don’t get to do the same? How many times do I have to tell you?! It doesn’t work that way!”
“I know that! But you were safe! You could have gotten on the Argo and finished the quest! When it was me, we were both gonna die! With you, it wasn't a life or death situation anymore!”
“Guess that just means I love you more.”
“Bullshit!” Percy spat back. Annabeth only laughed in response. All she wanted was to hold Percy and be done with this, but she knew he was devastated right now. He wouldn’t be okay until there was some reconciliation. With a sigh, she pulled him into a hug and pressed her face close to his ear so he wouldn’t miss what she had to say.
“I’m sorry.” she whispered. She felt him slide his arms down to rest on her waist. It was a good sign that he was listening, so she continued. “I know you wanted to be comforted by me being up there instead of down here. Believe me, I get it, but…this—this is a two person relationship and I couldn’t bear it if—if…” She paused, thinking over how to explain to him that he was the most important person in the world to her.
“I just had this gut feeling that you needed me, and well, it’s just…anytime you’re alone and hurting, it feels like I’m being gutted from the inside out—like I can’t breathe—or function—or do anything.” She let out a shaky breath. Percy buried one of his hands into her braids which were probably covered in grime and cobwebs, but he didn’t seem to care. She closed her eyes and breathed in his oceany scent, feeling a little more at peace. She might as well just say it.
“You’re the most important person in the world to me. I love you more than life itself, and…if our roles were reversed, I know you would’ve done the same for me.”
Percy was quiet for a moment, taking in her words, and then, he used his hand that was already on the back of her head to draw her in for a gentle kiss. It was slow and warm and a little uncomfortable because they were still in midair, but Annabeth still kissed him deeply. The gesture was so innocent and intimate that it could've been a hug.
She tasted the trace remnants of ambrosia on his lips when she recognized the flavor of her dad’s popcorn, though she knew that it tasted like his mom's chocolate chip cookies to him.
This is what she needed—what they both needed. She knew it. Deep down, she knew he would have lost himself without her. She would’ve been lost without him too.
As they continued to fall down into complete darkness, Annabeth pulled Percy to her chest. She didn’t regret jumping after him, despite knowing that they would probably die like this: holding each other close like they were the other’s missing puzzle piece. Strangely, she found that she wasn’t even scared. As long as they were together, she could face whatever fate had in store for them.