S T A R   W A R S

C H A P T E R   F O U R T E E N

( the final fall )

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          IT WASN'T DIFFICULT to bust a hole in the parking lot. Especially when a trigger-happy satyr was the one manning the ballistae.

The explosion sent dust billowing into the air, rubble flying everywhere and cars going up in flames. Sunlight filtered into the crater, revealing something that Aurora could only explain as incredibly weird. 

Chunks of asphalt as big as garage doors fell into the cavern beneath the parking lot, along with six or seven Italian cars that the owners would definitely not be happy about losing. Aurora caught a glimpse of something huge, pale, and glowing before a piece of rubble blocked her sight.

Sarah raced to the edge of the ship and looked down with desperate eyes. "Annabeth!"

"Here!" a sob came from the darkness and relief fell over everyone's shoulders. Annabeth was alive.

Aurora spotted the blonde limping her way to a gaping hole in the ground, trying her best to avoid all the falling rubble. She was covered in dirt, grime, cuts, and her hair was an absolute mess, but she still managed to smile through the tears.

The Argo II hovered to a stop about forty feet from the floor. Leo lowered the rope ladder, Sarah immediately jumping down with Percy and Aurora following quickly behind. Sarah went to Annabeth's side and helped her while Aurora and Percy studied the cavern, prepared to fight anything that came at them.

The cavern was covered with spider webs and dust, as well as pieces of cloth. Standing in the center, in all its glory, was the Athena Parthenos. It looked unharmed, like it hadn't been in a hidden cavern for thousands of years. Aurora had to blink rapidly to prove to herself that she wasn't imagining things.

The others got off the trireme and they all surrounded a sobbing Annabeth and a happy, relieved Sarah. Aurora knelt down beside Annabeth and looked at her leg with worried eyes. "Your leg," she muttered. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"

Annabeth started to explain while Aurora got to work on healing her leg. Talking was difficult for her, but as she went along, her words came more easily. Sarah didn't let go of her hand, which seemed to also make her feel more confident. When she finished, Aurora had to stop her hymn due to her jaw going slack from shock and amazement.

"Gods of Olympus," Jason said. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."

"Well . . . some of it with a broken ankle."

Aurora finished her hymn and grinned. "And now that ankle is as good as new. Just don't push it. Doctor's orders."

Annabeth nodded and Sarah grinned. "You made Arachne weave her own trap? I knew you were good, but Holy Hera—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."

Piper hit Franks arm. "Frank! It's not nice to comment on a lady's weight!"

Frank blushed and the demigods laughed.

"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 through pain from a woven jail." She looked at Annabeth with admiration. "It was Arachne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it."

With a lot of pain, Aurora thought.

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."

Aurora fought down a laughed as she imagined the Athena Parthenos jutting from their trireme with a sign across her pedestal that read: WIDE LOAD.

"What about you guys?" Annabeth finally asked. "What happened with the giants?"

Sarah told her about rescuing Nico, the appearance of Bacchus, and the fight with the twins in the Colosseum. Nico didn't say much. The poor guy still looked like he'd been wandering through a wasteland for six weeks. Sarah 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, Sarah's news made the cavern 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. That's when Aurora realized that the chasm behind them went straight to the Underworld.

The others must've felt it too because they nudged themselves away from the edge. Aurora spotted a line of spider silk that was stuck to Annabeth's ankle and she summoned Solstic, using the blade to cut through it. If Arachne had fallen into Tartarus, Aurora did not want her bringing Annabeth down with her. The blonde shot her a smile of thanks. 

Percy sighed. "Bacchus mentioned something about my voyage being harder than I expected. Not sure why—"

The chamber groaned. The Athena Parthenos tilted to one side. It's head caught one of Arachne's support cables, but the marble foundation under the pedestal was crumbling.

Nausea swelled in Aurora's chest. If the statue fell into Tartarus, not only would their quest fail and the battle be all for naught, but all of Annabeth's hard work would have been for nothing. Her solo quest of horrors would have been for nothing.

"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.

The others understood quickly.

"Zhang!" Leo cried. "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 and Aurora. "You two need to get out of here, now."

He summoned the wind and shot into the air after that, leaving Nico and Hazel behind with Annabeth, Sarah, Aurora, and Percy. 

"This floor won't last!" Hazel warned. "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.

Sarah helped Annabeth up and aided her toward the ladder while Percy and Aurora took up the back to make sure everyone got on the ship safely.

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. 

Annabeth and Sarah had just reached the ladder when Aurora felt something tug her one leg, causing her to let out a surprised shout and stumble.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Percy asked her, looking back at her with wide eyes.

Aurora frowned, trying to make her way to the ladder. Why was she moving backward instead? Her legs swept out from under her and she fell, cushioning her fall with her arms. Her eyes widened and she looked back, letting out a curse when she saw that the silk she'd cut from Annabeth's ankle had wrapped around her own and was dragging her across the floor.

"Her ankle!" Hazel shouted from the ladder. "Cut it! Cut it!"

Apparently Percy didn't realize what Hazel meant. Then the silk yanked Aurora backward and drug her toward the pit. Percy lunged. He grabbed her arm, but the momentum carried him along as well. Aurora's eyes widened in realization. Oh no. Oh no no no no no.

"Help them!" Hazel yelled.

Aurora glimpsed Nico hobbling in their direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. Sarah left Annabeth hanging on the rope ladder and raced toward them. Their other friends were still focused on the statue, and Hazel's cry was lost in the general shouting and the rumbling of the cavern.

Aurora felt a sob build up in her throat as she hit the edge of the pit. Her legs went over the side. She should have thrown the spider silk away from her and the others, not just let it lay. When had it even wrapped around her ankle? Was it when she'd sat up? When she'd moved away from the cavern's edge? She didn't know, but now she was regretting not throwing it into the cavern with the rest of the silk. It was attached to Arachne and the spider was pulling her toward the darkness below.

"No," Percy muttered, light dawning in his eyes. "My sword . . ."

But he couldn't reach Riptide without letting go of Aurora's arm, and Aurora couldn't get her own sword without letting go of him. Not only that, but she was sure she wasn't strong enough to hold herself up after all the healing magic she'd performed that day. She slipped over the edge. Percy fell 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 about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping Aurora's wrist with the other, but the pull on her leg was much too strong.

The pit shook. Percy was the only thing keeping her from falling. He was barely holding on to a ledge the size of a bookshelf.

Nico and Sarah leaned over the edge of the chasm, thrusting out their hands, but they were much too far away to help. Hazel was yelling for the others with Annabeth, but even if they heard them over all the chaos, they'd never make it in time.

Aurora's leg felt like it was pulling free of her body. Pain in her stomach and ankle washed everything in red. The force of the Underworld tugged at her like dark gravity. She didn't have the strength to fight it. She knew she was too far down to be saved. But Percy wasn't.

"Percy, let me go!" she shouted, her throat tightening in realization. "You can't pull me up! Go on and lead the others! I can close the doors!"

His face was white with effort. She could see in his eyes that he knew it was hopeless.

"Never," he said. He looked up at Nico and Sarah, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! Sarah! We'll see you there. Understand?"

Nico's eyes widened. "But—"

"Lead them there!" Percy shouted. "Promise me!"

"I—We will."

Below them, a voice laughed in the darkness. Sacrifices. Beautiful sacrifices to wake the goddess.

Percy tightened his grip on Aurora'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. And more idiotic.

"We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again. Understand?"

Only then did she understand what would happen. A one-way trip. A very hard fall.

"As long as we're together," she said.

She heard Nico, Hazel, Annabeth, and Sarah still screaming for help. She saw the sunlight, her father's symbol and one of her greatest powers, far, far above—maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.

Then Percy let go of his tiny ledge, and together, holding hands, he and Aurora fell into the  endless darkness.

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Leo 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, Hazel, Annabeth, and Sarah hanging from the rope ladder. Percy and Aurora 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, Frank, and Sarah had returned to the scene of the catastrophe, hoping to dig through the rubble and find a way to save Percy and Aurora, 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, Leo 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, Leo 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 belowdecks and secure everything for departure. He wasn't doing any good beating himself up.

The six demigods gathered on the quarterdeck and gazed at the distant column of dust still rising from the site of the implosion. Sarah and Annabeth were belowdecks, the daughter of Ares tending to Annabeth's injuries.

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—even bigger than Bunker 9. If he could decipher Archimedes's scrolls, he could do amazing things. He hardly dared to hope, but he might even be able to build a new control disk for a certain dragon friend of his.

Still, the price had been too high.

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

He had opened the fortune cookie. He'd gotten the access code for the sphere and saved Frank, Hazel, and Aurora. But the sacrifice had been Percy and Aurora. Leo was sure of it.

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

The others stared at him. Only Hazel seemed to understand. She'd been with him at the Great Salt Lake.

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

Leo wanted to believe that, but he couldn't. They'd started this voyage with Leo messing up, firing on New Rome. 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, but Leo knew what she meant. His bisabuelo had blamed himself for Hazel's disappearance. Sammy had lived a good life, but he'd gone to his grave believing that he'd spent a cursed diamond and doomed the girl he loved.

Leo didn't want to make Hazel miserable all over again, but this was different. True success requires sacrifice. Leo had chosen to break that cookie. Percy and Aurora had fallen into Tartarus. That couldn't be a coincidence.

Nico di Angelo 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 and Hazel shared a look, maybe comparing notes on their Hades/Pluto death radar. Leo shivered. Hazel had never seemed like a child of the Underworld to him, but Nico di Angelo—that guy was creepy.

"We can't be one hundred percent sure," Hazel admitted. "But I think Nico is right. Percy and Aurora 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."

It was then that Leo remembered who Aurora was. Not only was she a big part of their team and Percy's girlfriend, she was also Jason's cousin. The one person he remembered from his whole amnesia episode. She was the only family he had left aside from Thalia, and Zeus knew where she was at the moment. The pain he must've been going through knowing he'd just gotten her back only to lose her moments later had to be worse than the guilt Leo was feeling.

"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 Aurora 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 Aurora at his side. They may have just met, but those two are a powerful team. 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 Aurora and seal the Doors of Death from both sides."

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

"Maybe."

Leo didn't like the way Nico said that, as if he wasn't sharing all his doubts. Besides, Leo knew something about locks and doors. 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 Aurora 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, hoping he was right. "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 kidded him, calling him Admiral, but for once Leo accepted the title. This was his ship. He hadn't come this far to be stopped.

They would find this House of Hades. They'd take the Doors of Death. And by the gods, if Leo had to design a grabber arm long enough to snatch Percy and Aurora out of Tartarus, then that's what he would do.

Nemesis wanted him to wreak vengeance on Gaea? Leo would be happy to oblige. He was going to make Gaea sorry she had ever messed with Leo Valdez.

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

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A U T H O R S   N O T E

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And thus ends STAR WARS. Guys, I am so so so proud of how far this book has come and how much you guys love it! I couldn't ask for a better fanbase for this story. You readers are the ones who give me ideas and inspiration and motivation to write this story and continue working on it even when I feel a lack of inspiration. I love you all for that and I can't wait to see your reactions to this story once it is fully published!

There will be a sequel to this story, so look out for that. It will contain House of Hades and Blood of Olympus. There will also be an imagines book that will have some stories from Aurora's past, some cute moments of her and Percy, moments with her and the rest of the people from the Argo II, and even some of her meeting people from Camp Half-Blood (like Will and other Apollo kids.) There will also be some crossovers: Teen Wolf, Harry Potter, Shadowhunters, Vampire Diaries, Kane Chronicles. You name it!

Please comment and vote!

I love you all!

~ a.h.