The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4)

surrounding crowd: ‘Group A-22! Hurry up, you sluggards!’
    A dozen Cyclopes rushed forward, waving little red tickets and shouting excitedly. They shouldn’t have been able to fit inside those human-sized doors, but as the Cyclopes got close their bodies distorted and shrank, the Doors of Death sucking them inside.
    The Titan Krios jabbed his thumb against the UP button on the elevator’s right side. The Doors slid closed.
    The frame shuddered again. Dark lightning faded.
    ‘You must understand how it works,’ Bob muttered. He addressed the kitten in his palm, maybe so the other monsters wouldn’t wonder who he was talking to. ‘Each time the Doorsopen, they try to teleport to a new location. Thanatos made them this way, so only he could find them. But now they are chained. The Doors cannot relocate.’
    ‘Then we cut the chains,’ Annabeth whispered.
    Percy looked at the blazing form of Hyperion. The last time he’d fought the Titan, it had taken every ounce of his strength. Even then Percy had almost died. Now there were
two
Titans, with several thousand monsters for backup.
    ‘Our camouflage,’ he said. ‘Will it disappear if we do something aggressive, like cutting the chains?’
    ‘I do not know,’ Bob told his kitten.
    ‘Mrow,’ said Small Bob.
    ‘Bob, you’ll have to distract them,’ Annabeth said. ‘Percy and I will sneak around the two Titans and cut the chains from behind.’
    ‘Yes, fine,’ Bob said. ‘But that is only one problem. Once you are inside the Doors, someone must stay outside to push the button and defend it.’
    Percy tried to swallow. ‘Uh … defend the button?’
    Bob nodded, scratching his kitten under the chin. ‘Someone must keep pressing the UP button for twelve minutes, or the journey will not finish.’
    Percy glanced at the Doors. Sure enough, Krios still had his thumb jammed on the UP button. Twelve minutes … Somehow, they would have to get the Titans away from those doors. Then Bob, Percy or Annabeth would have to keep that button pushed for twelve long minutes, in the middle of an army of monsters in the heart of Tartarus, while the other two rode to the mortal world. It was impossible.
    ‘Why twelve minutes?’ Percy asked.
    ‘I do not know,’ Bob said. ‘Why twelve Olympians or twelve Titans?’
    ‘Fair enough,’ Percy said, though he had a bitter taste in his mouth.
    ‘What do you mean the journey won’t finish?’ Annabeth asked. ‘What happens to the passengers?’
    Bob didn’t answer. Judging from his pained expression, Percy decided he didn’t want to be in that elevator if the car stalled between Tartarus and the mortal world.
    ‘If we
do
push the button for twelve minutes,’ Percy said, ‘and the chains are cut –’
    ‘The Doors should reset,’ Bob said. ‘That is what they are supposed to do. They will disappear from Tartarus. They will appear somewhere else, where Gaia cannot use them.’
    ‘Thanatos can reclaim them,’ Annabeth said. ‘Death goes back to normal, and the monsters lose their shortcut to the mortal world.’
    Percy exhaled. ‘Easy-peasy. Except for … well, everything.’
    Small Bob purred.
    ‘I will push the button,’ Bob volunteered.
    A mix of feelings churned in Percy’s gut – grief, sadness, gratitude and guilt thickening into emotional cement. ‘Bob, we can’t ask you to do that. You want to go through the Doors, too. You want to see the sky again and the stars and –’
    ‘I would like that,’ Bob agreed. ‘But someone must push the button. And once the chains are cut … my brethren will fight to stop your passage. They will not want the Doors to disappear.’
    Percy gazed at the endless horde of monsters. Even if he let Bob make this sacrifice, how could one Titan defend himself against so many for twelve minutes, all the while keeping his finger on a button?
    The cement settled in Percy’s stomach. He had always suspected how this would end. He would have to stay behind. While Bob fended off the army, Percy would hold the elevator button and make sure Annabeth got to safety.
    Somehow, he had to convince her to go without him. As long as she was safe and the Doors disappeared, he could die knowing he’d done something right.
    ‘Percy …?’ Annabeth stared at him, a suspicious edge to her voice.
    She was too smart. If he met her eyes, she would see exactly what he was thinking.
    ‘First things first,’ he said. ‘Let’s cut those