DON'T BLAME ME! (p. jackson) (#2) (ON HOLD)

- thirty

ROSE HAD NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED TO DESTROY SOMETHING.

they all huddled in leo's bedroom as coach prepared to fire. they stared anxiously at a walkie-talkie that sat on leo's bed. he had given the other one to hedge, who was supposed to radio them when they could come up.

after a very loud explosion, and several hundred car alarms, the walkie-talkie crackled.

"get your asses up here!" said hedge's muffled voice.

rose had never scaled a flight of stairs so fast. she leaned over the side. "annabeth!"

"here!" annabeth yelled back.

as soon as the rope ladder dropped, rose was climbing down and rushing over towards her. she pulled annabeth into her arms, away from the pit in the floor.

annabeth sobbed into her shoulder. tears welled in rose's eyes, but she tried to push them back, for annabeth's sake.

"it's okay," rose said. "you did it."

their friends gathered around them. if annabeth noticed that nico had joined them, she didn't mention it.

"your leg." piper knelt next to her and examined the bubble wrap cast. "oh, annabeth, what happened?"

when she finished, they all looked shocked.

"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 shit—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 powerful. something 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."

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."

rose stood, helping annabeth up.

she did not notice the web that had wrapped around her ankle.

"what about you guys?" annabeth asked. "what happened with the giants?"

rose told her about rescuing nico, the appearance of bacchus, and the fight with the twins in the colosseum. nico didn't say much. he had literally been trapped in hell. rose felt awful for him. he was so young. percy explained what nico had found out about the doors of death, and how they had to be closed on both sides. even with sunlight streaming in from above, percy's news made the cavern seem dark.

"so the mortal side is in epirus," annabeth 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.

"bacchus mentioned 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.