WHISPERS OF THE WIND

"there they were, on the edge of forever and never"

     BOARDING THE SHIP INCREASED HER NERVES. She had taken one step before hearing many people talking, asking questions constantly, while she wanted to scream and find Annabeth herself. Her best friend was in danger.

"You're alive!" Percy said to the others. "The giants said you were captured. What happened!"

Leo shrugged. "Oh, just another brilliant plan by Leo Valdez. You'd be amazed what you can do with an Archimedes sphere, a girl who can sense stuff underground, and a weasel."

"I was the weasel," Frank said glumly.

"Basically," Leo explained, "I activated a hydraulic screw with the Archimedes device—which is going to be awesome once I install it in the ship, by the way. Hazel sensed the easiest path to drill to the surface. We made a tunnel big enough for a weasel, and Frank climbed up with a simple transmitter that I slapped together. After that, it was just a matter of hacking into Coach Hedge's favorite satellite channels and telling him to bring the ship around to rescue us. After he got us, finding you was easy, thanks to that godly light showing at the Colosseum."

Ariadne had a more pressing questions than understanding what Leo said. "Where's Annabeth?"

Leo winced. "Yeah, about that...she's still in trouble, we think. Hurt, broken leg, maybe—at least according to this vision Gaea show us. Rescuing her is our next stop."

Her eyes twitched. Percy held her back, knowing she was most wanting to strangle the son of Hephaestus.

"Tell us about the vision," Percy said. "Tell us everything."

They sailed out of the Colosseum and veered south over the rooftops of Rome.

All around the Piazza del Colosseo, traffic had come to a standstill. A crowd of mortals had gathered, probably wondering about the strange lights and sounds that had come from the ruins. As far as Ariadne could see, none of the giants spectacular plans for destruction had come off successfully. The city looked the same as before. No one seemed to notice the huge Greek trireme rising into the sky.

The demigods gathered around the helm. Jason bandaged Piper's sprained shoulder while Hazel sat at the stern, feeding Nico ambrosia. The son of Hades could barely lift his head. His voice was quiet; Hazel had to lean in whenever he spoke.

Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres, and the visions Gaea had shown them in the bronze mirror. They quickly decided that their best lead for finding Annabeth was the cryptic advice Bacchus had provided: the Emmanuel Building, whatever that was. Frank started typing at the helm's computer while Leo tapped furiously at his controls, muttering, "Emmanuel Building. Emmanuel Building." Coach Hedge tried to help by wrestling with an upside-down street map of Rome.

Percy knelt next to Jason and Piper. "How's the shoulder?"

Piper smiled. "It'll heal. Both of you did great."

Ariadne smiled slightly. "We've had practice."

"There it is!" Leo said, pointing to his monitor. "Frank, you're amazing! I'm setting course."

Frank hunched his shoulders. "I just read the name off the screen. Some Chinese tourist marked it on Google Maps."

Leo grinned at the others. "He reads Chinese."

"How cool is that?"

"Guys," Hazel broken in. "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this."

She helped Nico to his feet.

"Thank you," Nico rasped. His eyes darted nervously around the group. "I'd given up hope."

"You knew about the two camps all along," Percy said. "You could have told me who I was the first day at Camp Jupiter, but you didn't."

Nico slumped against the helm. "Percy, I'm sorry. I discovered Camp Jupiter last year. My dad led me there, though I wasn't sure why. He told me the gods had kept the camps speedster for centuries and I couldn't tell anyone. The time wasn't right. But he said it would be important for me to know..." He doubled over in a fit of coughing.

Hazel held his shoulders so he could stand again:

"I—I thought Dad meant because of Hazel," Nico continued. "I'd need a safe place to take her. But now...I think he wanted me to know about both camps so I'd understand how important your quest was, and so I'd search for the Doors of Death."

The air turned electric—literally, as Jason started throwing off sparks.

"Did you find the doors?" Percy asked.

Nico nodded. I was a fool: I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I might as well have tried running from a black hole."

Nico started to speak, but whatever he needed to say must have been too terrifying. He turned to Hazel.

She put her hand on her brother's arm. "Nico told me that the Doors of Death have two sides—one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico back into the upper world. Then they transported him to Rome."

Piper must've been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger. "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"

Nico took a rattling breath. "The House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it on a map, but—but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in...in..."

A cold pair of hands gripped Ariadne's throat.

"Tartarus," she guessed. "The deepest part of the Underworld."

Nico nodded. "They pulled me into the pit, Percy, Ariadne. The things I saw down there..." His voice broke.

Hazel pursed her lips. "No mortal has ever been to Tartarus," she explained. "At least, no one has ever gone in and returned alive. It's the maximum-security prison of Hades, where the old Titans and the other enemies of the gods are bound. It's where all monsters go when they die on the earth. It's...well, no one knows exactly what it's like.

Except for Nico.

Hazel handed him his black sword.

Nico leaned on it like it was an old man's cane. "Now I understand why Hades hast been able to close the doors," he said. "Even the gods don't go into Tartarus. Even the god of death, Thanatos himself, wouldn't go near that place."

Leo glanced over from the wheel. "So, let me guess. We'll have to go there."

Nico shook his head. "It's impossible. I'm the son of Hades, and even I barely survived. Gaea's forces overwhelmed me instantly. They're so powerful down there...no demigod would stand a chance. I almost went insane."

Nico's eyes looked like shattered glass.

Then we'll sail for Epirus," Percy said. "We'll just close the gates on this side."

"I wish it were that easy," Nico said. "The doors would have to be controlled on both sides to be closed. It's like a double swap. Maybe, just maybe, all eight of us working together could defeat Gaea's forces on the mortal side, at the House of Hades. But unless you had a team fighting simultaneously on the Tartarus side, a team powerful enough to defeat a legion of monsters in their home territory—"

"There has to be a way," Jason said.

Nobody volunteered any brilliant ideas.

Ariadne stared at the young boy. Something beneath him had shattered, no doubt cracking whatever composure he had left.

"Oh, Nico," she whispered.

Her strong arms captured him tightly, leaving his head to hit her shoulders. The action took him by surprise, but the boy melted like a puddle in her hold, shoulders shaking from invisible sobs. He was a wreck, and being reminded of his sister only added onto the pain, of how similar Bianca had been to Ariadne, and how willingly Ariadne was to be there for him.

For now, they needed to focus on Annabeth, but for Nico, that single hug was enough.

***

ANNABETH FELL, HER LEG FLARING WITH PAIN. She slashed wildly at the webbing with her dagger as Arachne pulled her toward her snapping spinnerets.

Annabeth managed to cut the strand and crawl away, but the little spiders were closing around her.

She realized her best efforts had not been enough. She wouldn't make it out of here. Arachne's children would kill her at the feet of her mother's statue.

Andrea, she thought, I'm sorry.

At that moment, the chamber groaned, and the cavern ceiling exploded in a blast of fiery light.

She had seen some strange things before, but she'd never seen it rain cars.

As the roof of the cavern collapsed, sunlight blinded her. She got the briefest glimpse of the Argo II hovering above. It must have used its ballista to blast a hole straight through the ground.

Chunks of asphalt as big as garage doors tumbled down.

The moment she heard Ariadne's voice, her mind was blurry: "Annie!"

"Here!" she sobbed.

All the terror seemed to leave her in one massive yelp. As the Argo II descended, she saw Ariadne and Percy leaning over the rail. Their smiles were better than any tapestry she'd ever seen.

The Argo II hovered to a stop fourth feet from the floor. It lowered a rope ladder, but Annabeth stood in a daze, staring into the darkness. Then suddenly Ariadne was next to her, arm around her shoulders.

Percy turned her gently away from the pit and wrapped his arms around the two girls. She buried her face in Ariadne's chest and broke down in tears. The two shared a grieving eye for their close friend.

"It's okay," Ariadne whispered. "We're together."

Their friends gathered around them.

"Your leg." Piper knelt next to her and examined the Bubble Wrap cast. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened."

She started to explain. Talking was difficult, but she went along, her words came more easily. When she finished, her friends' faces were slack with amazement.

"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 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."

"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 picture frame around the Athena like he was taking measurements. "Well, it might take some rearranging but I think we can dig 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."

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

Percy 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 looked like he'd been wandering through a wasteland for six weeks. Ariadne 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, the news made the cavern seem dark again.

"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.

Ariadne felt it too. She guided them a little farther from the edge. Annabeth's legs trailed spider silk like a bridal train. The brunette looked at her best friend. She said, "Only the last two lines of the prophecy remain; Daughter's mind spun through pain
Blood spilled in the gods' name. I hope you didn't hurt yourself, Annie. Besides, Bacchus mentioned something about my voyage being harder than I expected—"

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

If the statue fell into the chasm, all Annabeth's work would be for nothing. Their quest would fail.

"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.

Her friends understood immediately.

"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 Ariadne. "Back for you guys in a sec." He summoned the wind and shot into the air.

"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.

Percy squeezed Ariadne's hang tighter, scooting closer to Annabeth. "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 like to line, trying to secure them.

Nico has just reached the ladder when a sharp pain shot up Annabeth's bad leg. She gasped and stumbled.

"Annie?" Ariadne said.

She tried to stagger toward the ladder. She moved backward instead. Her leg swept out from under her and she fell on her face.

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

Apparently Ariadne had mistaken where she stepped, her body slipping up while her foot was dragged backwards, with Percy lunging a little too late. The brunette grabbed Annabeth's arm, but the momentum carried her along as well.

"Help them!" Hazel yelled.

Ariadne glimpsed Nico hobbling in their direction, Hazel trying to disentangle her cavalry sword from the rope ladder. 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.

Annabeth sobbed as she hit the edge of the pit. Her legs went over the side. The strands on their feet went straight into the pit. It was attached to something heavy down in the darkness, something that was pulling them in.

"No," Ariadne muttered, light dawning in her eyes. "My sword..."

But she couldn't reach it without letting go of Annabeth's arm, and Annabeth's strength was gone. She slipped over the edge. Ariadne fell with her.

They had called partway into the pit and were dangling over the void. Ariadne had managed to grab a ledge about fifteen below the top of the chasm. She was holding on with one hand, gripping Annabeth's wrist with the other.

The pit shook. Percy had his hand thirsted out over the edge, but it never grazed his girlfriend's. He was too far away to help.

"You need to take my hand, Aidan," Percy croaked. "Pull yourselves up."

Ariadne flicked her eyes to the blonde girl, watching as pain swam through her eyes, so intensely. "Perce, I can't. If I let go we'll fall."

She attempted to lift Annabeth with enough force, but the ledge was cracking under the pressure, weighed down as the slim was tugged harsher than before. It was no use.

"Ari, let me go," Annabeth croaked. "You can't pull me up."

Her face was white with effort.

"Like hell," Ariadne said. She looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! Make sure Percy and the others get there. Understood?"

Nico's eyes widened. "But—"

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

"I—I will."

Percy's eyes were tearful, begging her while he leaned further, resisting Nico's weak hold on his collar. "Take my hand. I'm not losing you again; I refuse."

Ariadne managed a pained smile. "You know you're my forever, right? I'll see you on the other side, love. Just...get there for me first. Stay strong. I've got Annie, but I'll see you again."

"No!" Percy shouted. It was a broke sob clawing at his throat. "You don't get to do that! You can't just leave after I got you back. We stay together, like we said. You and Annabeth are going to be pulled up, so take my hand!"

She looked at Annabeth.

"We're staying together, sis," she promised. "What did I tell you? I'm never leaving you alone, not if I can help it."

Annabeth sobbed.

She heard Nico and Hazel screaming for help. She saw sunlight far, far above—maybe the last sunlight she would ever see.

The Ariadne felt her lips say a lasting word to her beloved. A sweet melody of despair and love. For her hand scraped the rocks, bleeding a few drops, before she let go.

And together, holding hands, she and Annabeth fell into endless darkness.

All while Perseus Jackson screamed his heart out, wishing to follow them into the unknown, cursing the gods above.

authors note:

ITS HERE!

I'm so sorry this is late! I've needed a break and achool started on Wednesday!

So, imma take a break before continuing because I feel tired. I love you guys and we have hit the Tartarus scene.

I really debated on sending the couple, but this seemed better. Ariadne had always promised to follow Annabeth, and because of the circumstances, I felt like having Percy rival what Ariadne felt in those months, not know how she was and all, it was a better parallel. Besides, it means the two girls gain another trauma bonding, which leaves them with more questions and a realization for Ariadne.

Please don't hate the decision!!!

Q: What song do you see playing in this scene in the movie?
A: I always imagined either way down we go or what a wonderful world

Love you guys! Let me know what you think

I always wanna ask you guys to comment how well you think the book is turning and what you think of the whole span of the story and growth of everything with Ariadne's character. Your thoughts on her in more depth! It would mean a lot, thank you!!!