AFTER BLOWING UP a parking lot, Brooklyn was very happy. And hearing Annabeth's voice down there helped matters.

She climbed down the rope ladder after Percy, sprinting to Annabeth and tackling her into a hug. She broke down in tears, staining Brooklyn's clothes, but she just scrunched up her nose and dealt with it.

"Uh, it's alright dude, or some shit, I don't know," Brooklyn stammered, and Annabeth snickered at her.

The crew gathered around them.

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

Annabeth started to explain, her words shaky, but then becoming more confident. When she finished, the crew's 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 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."

Brooklyn frowned. She imagined the Athena Parthenos jutting from their trireme with a sign across her pedestal that read: WIDE LOAD.

"What about you guys?" Annabeth 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. 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, his 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.

Percy must have felt it too. He guided Brooklyn and Annabeth a little farther from the edge.

"Bacchus mentioned something about my and Brooks's voyages being harder than we expected," he started. "Not sure why—"

The chamber groaned. The Athena Parthenos tilted to one side. Its head caught on a support cable, but the marble foundation under the pedestal was crumbling.

"Secure it!" Annabeth cried.

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

"Rude," Brooklyn scoffed. She wished she could fly.

"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 grabbed Brooklyn's hand that wasn't supporting Annabeth. "It'll be fine," he muttered.

Looking up, Brooklyn 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 Annabeth gasped and stumbled behind Brooklyn.

"What's up?" Brooklyn asked.

She tried pulling Annabeth toward the ladder. Why wasn't she moving? Her legs swept out from under her and she fell on her face.

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

Brooklyn frowned. Cut what? Her hand off? That wouldn't be good.

Percy and Annabeth didn't realize what Hazel meant either. Then something yanked Annabeth backward and dragged her toward the pit. The momentum carried Brooklyn and Percy along as well.

"Help them!" Hazel yelled.

Brooklyn 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.

Brooklyn bit back a hiss of pain as she hit the ground. Too late, she realized what was happening: Annabeth was tangled in the spider silk. It was attached to something heavy down in the darkness, something that was pulling her in.

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

But he couldn't reach Riptide without letting go of Brooklyn, who was the only reason why Annabeth hadn't dropped over the edge. She slipped over the edge. Brooklyn and Percy fell with her.

Brooklyn shivered as she looked down. She was dangling over the void, barely holding onto Annabeth below her. Above her, Percy had managed to grab a ledge about fifteen feet below the top of the chasm. He was holding on with one hand, gripping Brooklyn's wrist with the other, but she could feel herself being pulled down.

No escape, said a voice in the darkness below. I go to Tartarus, and you will come too.

Well, this'll be a good story to tell my mother, Brooklyn thought. Going to hell? As soon as she died down here, she'll fucking haunt her mother for the rest of her useless fucking life.

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 leaned over the edge of the chasm, thrusting out his hand, but he was much too far away to help. Hazel was yelling for the others, but even if they heard her over all the chaos, they'd never make it in time.

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

"Well, too bad, babe," Brooklyn said. "I'm spiteful, and that's a good trait to have when going down to hell, right?"

Percy snorted. "For once, I agree with her." He looked up at Nico, fifteen feet above. "The other side, Nico! We'll see you there. Understand?"

Nico's eyes widened. "But—"

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

"I — I will."

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

Percy tightened his grip on Brooklyn'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 hot. Except for maybe when he'd thrown the Minotaur off the bridge.

"We're staying together," he promised. "What kind of knight would I be if I let you go down there alone?"

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

"A really shitty one," she said. "But you're going to hell with me, so I guess you're forgiven."

"I'm going to have to third wheel you two," Annabeth groaned. "Assuming we don't die immediately."

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

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