Disclaimer: All rights go to Rick Riordan

A/N: So, I didn't post last week... oops. I literally have no excuse except for that I completely forgot. I woke up Sunday morning and was like, well sh*t, I forgot to update. Oh well. Anyway, that will not happen again without some sort of warning beforehand.

Anyway, on with the story.

Next weeks options are:

-Nico

-Athena

-Will

-Piper (future version)

-Percy (future version)

Also, if anyone has any advice for preventing procrastination, I would love to hear it. (Seriously, it's becoming a bad problem. I have an entire book to read for next Friday and I'm not even a fourth of the way done.)

Well, this has certainly been interesting.

I can't say I care for the demigods (why would I?), but I do find their lives entertaining, I'll admit.

I mean, immortality might seem amazing, but really, was it so hard for Zeus to tell me before he made me immortal how miserably boring it truly is.

Percival had the right idea when he turned it down. It may have been the only sensible decision he has made in his entire life.

Falling into Tartarus is one thing. Willingly falling into Tartarus is something entirely different. Sure, Anniebell was about to fall to her death but did you really have to fall with her. She's just a girl! Save your own godsdamned skin.

We get it, you love her. You would have gotten over it. Now you'll just end up dead.

Stupid. Classic demigod.

Hm... well, they're taking a break. I guess that means it's a good time for a nap.

Something hit my head, starting me from my sleep.

I glared, looking around to see Apollo sniggering with Hermes in the corner. A small pebble lay in my lap.

I started to stand up so I could attempt to murder them. (If they weren't immortal, they would be dead. Alas, life isn't always fair)

However, before I could, Hera started reading in the horrible nasally voice of hers.

FRANK MIGHT HAVE LIKED VENICE if it hadn't been summertime and tourist season, and if the city wasn't overrun with large hairy creatures. Between the rows of old houses and the canals, the stone pavements were already too narrow for the crowds jostling one another and stopping to take pictures. The monsters made things worse. They shuffled around with their heads down, bumping into mortals and sniffing the ground.

How gross.

One seemed to find something it liked at the edge of a canal. It nibbled and licked at a crack between the stones until it dislodged some sort of greenish root. The monster sucked it up happily and shambled along.

Seriously, gross.

'Well, they're plant-eaters,' Frank said. 'That's good news.'

Just because they eat plants doesn't mean they won't kill you. Seriously, everyone wants to kill demigods. Monsters, gods, even mortals would if they knew about the Greek pantheon.

Hazel slipped her hand into his. 'Unless they supplement their diet with demigods. Let's hope not.'

At least one of them has a brain.

Frank was so pleased to be holding her hand that the crowds and the heat and the monsters suddenly didn't seem so bad. He felt needed – useful.

No one wants to know about this. You'll break up with her in a few months, like all teenage relationships.

Not that Hazel required his protection. Anybody who'd seen her charging on Arion with her sword drawn would know she could take care of herself. Still, Frank liked being next to her, imagining he was her bodyguard. If any of these monsters tried to hurt her, Frank would gladly turn into a rhinoceros and push them into the canal.

Gross.

Could he do a rhino? Frank had never tried that before.

Well, thats going to come back to bite him in the butt.

Nico stopped. 'There.'

They'd turned onto a smaller street, leaving the canal behind. Ahead of them was a small plaza lined with five-story buildings. The area was strangely deserted – as if the mortals could sense it wasn't safe. In the middle of the cobblestone courtyard, a dozen shaggy cow creatures were sniffing around the mossy base of an old stone well.

Finally, some action. I hope one of them dies. That would make this story slightly more entertaining.

'A lot of cows in one place,' Frank said.

'Yeah, but look,' Nico said. 'Past that archway.'

Nico's eyes must've been better than his. Frank squinted. At the far end of the plaza, a stone archway carved with lions led into a narrow street. Just past the arch, one of the townhouses was painted black – the only black building Frank had seen so far in Venice.

'La Casa Nera,' he guessed.

Hazel's grip tightened on his fingers. 'I don't like that plaza. It feels ... cold.'

Well, Venice is full of lemurs, so that's not that surprising.

Frank wasn't sure what she meant. He was still sweating like crazy.

But Nico nodded. He studied the town-house windows, most of which were covered with wooden shutters.

'You're right, Hazel. This neighborhood is filled with lemures.'

See, there you go. I guess two of them have brains. I always did prefer children of Hades. They're always much more realistic than the rest of the demigods. Who thought a summer camp would be enough to keep those brats safe?! I mean, seriously. If you're trying to protect yourself with a place to stay, build a godsdamned city! Not a tiny summer camp that only protects you for three months of the year! That's what the Romans did.

I winced as pain flared in my head.

'Lemurs?' Frank asked nervously. 'I'm guessing you don't mean the furry little guys from Madagascar?'

The children of Ares truly were idiots, weren't they?

'Angry ghosts,' Nico said. 'Lemures go back to Roman times. They hang around a lot of Italian cities, but I've never felt so many in one place. My mom told me ...' He hesitated. 'She used to tell me stories about the ghosts of Venice.'

Again Frank wondered about Nico's past, but he was afraid to ask. He caught Hazel's eye.

Go ahead, she seemed to be saying. Nico needs practice talking to people.

Ha.

The sounds of assault rifles and atom bombs got louder in Frank's head. Mars and Ares were trying to outsing each other with 'Dixie' and 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic'.

Frank did his best to push that aside.

Just tell them to shut up. That worked before, didn't it?

'Nico, your mom was Italian?' he guessed. 'She was from Venice?'

Duh.

Nico nodded reluctantly. 'She met Hades here, back in the 1930s. As World War Two got closer, she fled to the U.S. with my sister and me. I mean ... Bianca, my other sister. I don't remember much about Italy, but I can still speak the language.'

How the hell can you still speak the language if you never actually speak it? Seriously, when was the last time he spoke it? The 30s?

Frank tried to think of a response. Oh, that's nice didn't seem to cut it.

He was hanging out with not one but two demigods who'd been pulled out of time. They were both, technically, about seventy years older than he was.

Explains why they are 70x smarter than you too.

'Must've been hard on your mom,' Frank said. 'I guess we'll do anything for someone we love.'

Hazel squeezed his hand appreciatively. Nico stared at the cobblestones. 'Yeah,' he said bitterly. 'I guess we will.'

Did no one else notice what was going on here?

Frank wasn't sure what Nico was thinking. He had a hard time imagining Nico di Angelo acting out of love for anybody, except maybe Hazel. But Frank decided he'd gone as far as he dared with the personal questions.

He probably would have killed Francis if he asked anymore.

'So, the lemures ...' He swallowed. 'How do we avoid them?'

'I'm already on it,' Nico said. 'I'm sending out the message that they should stay away and ignore us. Hopefully, that's enough. Otherwise ... things could get messy.'

Please let things get messy. I'm tired of the lengthy dialogue and imagery. Fight already!

Hazel pursed her lips. 'Let's get going,' she suggested.

Halfway across the piazza, everything went wrong, but it had nothing to do with ghosts. They were skirting the well in the middle of the square, trying to give the cow monsters some distance, when Hazel stumbled on a loose piece of cobblestone. Frank caught her. Six or seven of the big grey beasts turned to look at them. Frank glimpsed a glowing green eye under one's mane, and instantly he was hit with a wave of nausea, the way he felt when he ate too much cheese or ice cream.

The creatures made deep throbbing sounds in their throats like angry foghorns.

Finally.

'Nice cows,' Frank murmured. He put himself between his friends and the monsters. 'Guys, I'm thinking we should back out of here slowly.'

That's not going to work.

'I'm such a klutz,' Hazel whispered. 'Sorry.'

True.

'It's not your fault,' Nico said. 'Look at your feet.'

How was that not her fault?!

Frank glanced down and caught his breath.

Under their shoes, the paving stones were moving – spiky plant tendrils were pushing up from the cracks.

Why are they not running?! Katobleps breath poisonous gas and can kill you with a look. So why are they still standing there?!

Nico stepped back. The roots snaked out in his direction, trying to follow. The tendrils got thicker, exuding a steamy green vapor that smelled of boiled cabbage.

'These roots seem to like demigods,' Frank noted.

Hazel's hand drifted to her sword hilt. 'And the cow creatures like the roots.'

Run.

The entire herd was now looking their direction, making foghorn growls and stamping their hooves. Frank understood animal behavior well enough to get the message: You are standing on our food. That makes you enemies.

Run.

Frank tried to think. There were too many monsters to fight. Something about their eyes hidden under those shaggy manes ... Frank had got sick from the barest glimpse. He had a bad feeling that if those monsters made direct eye contact, he might get a lot worse than nauseous.

'Don't meet their eyes,' Frank warned. 'I'll distract them. You two back up slowly towards that black house.'

That's not going to work.

The creatures tensed, ready to attack.

'Never mind,' Frank said. 'Run!'

Finally!

As it turned out, Frank could not turn into a rhino, and he lost valuable time trying.

Like I said before, that would backfire on him.

Nico and Hazel bolted for the side street. Frank stepped in front of the monsters, hoping to keep their attention. He yelled at the top of his lungs, imagining himself as a fearsome rhinoceros, but with Ares and Mars screaming in his head he couldn't concentrate. He remained regular-old Frank.

Now Fabian's own father is going to get him killed.

Two of the cow monsters peeled off from the herd to chase Nico and Hazel.

'No!' Frank yelled after them. 'Me! I'm the rhino!'

No your not.

The rest of the herd surrounded Frank. They growled, emerald-green gas billowing from their nostrils. Frank stepped back to avoid the stuff, but the stench nearly knocked him over.

Because it's poisonous.

Okay, so not a rhino. Something else. Frank knew he had only seconds before the monsters trampled or poisoned him, but he couldn't think. He couldn't hold the image of any animal long enough to change form.

Then he glanced up at one of the town-house balconies and saw a stone carving – the symbol of Venice.

So, a lion then. Better than a goldfish or something similar.

The next instant, Frank was a full-grown lion. He roared in challenge, then sprang from the middle of the monster herd and landed eight meters away, on top of the old stone well.

The monsters growled in reply. Three of them sprang at once, but Frank was ready. His lion reflexes were built for speed in combat.

Maybe I'll spend a few months in the form of a lion. Actually, never mind, I'll spend a few months in the form of a leopard. That way I don't have to talk to anyone, and I can still kill them if I want to. Plus, it would get me out of this sack of flesh those humans call a body.

He slashed the first two monsters into dust with his claws, then sank his fangs into the third one's throat and tossed it aside.

Yes, graphics, much better.

There were seven left, plus the two chasing his friends. Not great odds, but Frank had to keep the bulk of herd focused on him. He roared at the monsters, and they edged away.

They outnumbered him, yes. But Frank was a top-of-the-chain predator. The herd monsters knew it. They had also just watched him send three of their friends to Tartarus.

Yeah, but they have poisonous breath and can kill you with a look.

Poisonous, deadly glaring bull, or an ordinary lion?

He pressed his advantage and leaped off the well, still baring his fangs. The herd backed off.

If he could just maneuver around them, then turn and run after his friends ...He was doing all right until he took his first backward step towards the arch.

Of course, that plan wasn't going to work.

One of the cows, either the bravest or the stupidest, took that as a sign of weakness. It charged and blasted Frank in the face with green gas.

He slashed the monster to dust, but the damage was already done. He forced himself not to breathe. Regardless, he could feel the fur burning off his snout. His eyes stung. He staggered back, half-blind and dizzy, dimly aware of Nico screaming his name.

'Frank! Frank!'

So Noah does care for him. Hm, it was hard to tell.

He tried to focus. He was back in human form, retching and stumbling. His face felt like it was peeling off. In front of him, the green cloud of gas floated between him and the herd. The remaining cow monsters eyed him warily, probably wondering if Frank had any more tricks up his sleeve.

He doesn't. Please kill him now.

He glanced behind him. Under the stone arch, Nico di Angelo was holding his black Stygian iron sword, gesturing at Frank to hurry. At Nico's feet, two puddles of darkness stained the ground – no doubt the remains of the cow monsters that had chased them.

He didn't have to change into a lion to defeat the katobleps, so why did Francisco.

And Hazel ... she was propped against the wall behind her brother. She wasn't moving.

Why is she dead? Kill the son of Ares, not the daughter of Hades, she actually had something in her head other than air.

Frank ran towards them, forgetting about the monster herd. He rushed past Nico and grabbedHazel's shoulders. Her head slumped against her chest.

'She got a blast of green gas right in the face,' Nico said miserably. 'I – I wasn't fast enough.'

Oh boo hoo, run if you want to save yourself.

Frank couldn't tell if she was breathing. Rage and despair battled inside him. He'd always been scared of Nico. Now he wanted to drop-kick the son of Hades into the nearest canal. Maybe that wasn't fair, but Frank didn't care. Neither did the war gods screaming in his head.

'We need to get her back to the ship,' Frank said.

What are they going to do? Watch over her dead body?

The cow monster herd prowled cautiously just beyond the archway. They bellowed their foghorn cries. From nearby streets, more monsters answered. Reinforcements would soon have the demigods surrounded.

'We'll never make it on foot,' Nico said. 'Frank, turn into a giant eagle. Don't worry about me. Get her back to the Argo II!'

Well, now they are both going to die.

With his face burning and the voices screaming in his mind, Frank wasn't sure he could change shape, but he was about to try when a voice behind them said, 'Your friends can't help you. They don't know the cure.'

I realized that people had been chittering their reactions to the chapter, but I couldn't be bothered to listen to their cliche reactions.

Frank spun round. Standing on the threshold of the Black House was a young man in jeans and a denim shirt. He had curly black hair and a friendly smile, though Frank doubted he was friendly. Probably he wasn't even human.

Don't follow him. Everyone wants to kill demigods, remember?

At the moment, Frank didn't care.

'Can you cure her?' he asked. 'Of course,' the man said. 'But you'd better hurry inside. I think you've angered every katobleps in Venice.'

Idiots.

A/N: Come back next Saturday for the next chapter. And PLEASE COMMENT!