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Finally Leo told hi for departure He wasn’t doing any good beating hiathered on the quarterdeck and gazed at the distant colu from the site of the implosion

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 Archis He hardly dared to hope, but he ht 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 al 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 and Hazel But the sacrifice had been Percy and Annabeth 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 Leoon New Ro a cookie and paying a price much worse than an eye

"Leo, listen to ripped his hand "I won’t allow you to take the blame I couldn’t bear that after--after Sammy…"

She choked up, but Leo knehat she meant His bisabuelo had blaood life, but he’d gone to his grave believing that he’d spent a cursed diairl he loved

Leo didn’t want to ain, but this was different True success requires sacrifice Leo had chosen to break that cookie Percy and Annabeth 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 kno could you sense them so far away?"

Nico and Hazel shared a look,notes on their Hades/Pluto death radar Leo shivered Hazel had never seeelo--that guy was creepy

"We can’t be one hundred percent sure," Hazel adht Percy and Annabeth are still alive…at least, so far"

Jason pounded his fist against the rail "I should’ve been paying attention I could have flon and saved the 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"