Contents
VI
Overview
Annabeth and Percy plunge into the Cocytus, battling despair and cold until Annabeth anchors Percy with hopes for their future in New Rome. They reach a hostile shore, realize Tartarus itself is killing them, and discover Arachne likely survived. Annabeth decides their only chance is to find the River of Fire.
Summary
Annabeth hits frigid water that steals her breath and will to fight as the Cocytus’s wails urge surrender. Percy clasps her hand and forms a weakening whirlpool. Recognizing the river as the Cocytus, Annabeth combats its misery by forcing conversation about their future in New Rome until Percy focuses and helps swim.
Together they struggle sideways to shore. Annabeth laughs, briefly cutting through the despair, and they crawl onto a beach of black-glass shards under sulfurous, burning air. Injured, freezing, and stripped of supplies, Annabeth realizes her backpack and lifelong dagger are gone, and that Tartarus’s air, water, and ground are designed to harm them.
Surveying the landscape, they spot a crashed baby-blue Fiat—the same car from Rome—beside the Cocytus. Under its hood lies Arachne’s shredded cocoon; slash marks suggest she crawled away. Percy grimly notes monsters may be unkillable here in their home realm, though they hope she is dying.
Growing weaker and still bleeding, Annabeth concludes the environment itself will kill them unless they change tactics. Remembering what she knows of Tartarus and fire, she identifies their only viable strategy: find the River of Fire, believing it may offer a way to endure or counter Tartarus’s lethal conditions.
Who Appears
- Annabeth ChasePOV; saves Percy from the Cocytus’s despair, assesses their losses, and decides to seek the River of Fire.
- Percy JacksonExhausted by the Cocytus; buoyed by Annabeth’s talk of New Rome; helps reach shore.
- ArachneNot seen directly; her torn cocoon and tracks imply she survived the fall into Tartarus.