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HOMEWORK (if you choose to accept it): Why do you think I'm not writing Percy's POV? You can actually find the answer in this chapter!

Happy reading! Have fun! - N x

FRANK

Saying that I argued with voices in my head would have made me sound insane, but for a half-blood, it seemed almost normal.

I woke up to a splitting migraine with Mars and Ares bickering in my head. Well, they weren't so much bickering than they were just constantly telling me to destroy Greece or Rome.

Fight them! yelled Mars. Take this ship! Defend Rome!

The voice of Ares shouted back: Kill the Romans! Blood and death! Large guns!

My father's Roman and Greek personalities screamed back and forth in my mind with the usual soundtrack of battle noises, all throbbing behind my eyes.

I sat up, dizzy with pain. As I did every morning, I took a deep breath and stared at the lamp on my desk—a tiny flame that burned night and day, fuelled by magic olive oil from the supply room.

Fire was my biggest fear. Keeping an open flame in my room terrified me, but it also helped me focus. The noise in my head quieted down, allowing me to think.

I'd gotten better at this, but ever since the fight at Camp Jupiter, the two voices had started screaming at each other nonstop. Ever since, I had been stumbling around in a daze, barely able to function. I'd act like a fool, and I was sure my friends thought so too.

I couldn't tell them what was wrong. There was nothing they could do, and judging from the way they were acting, they likely didn't have the same problem. Besides, they didn't need to worry about this too. Not with Annabeth gone.

My friends needed me now more than ever. Without Annabeth, I was the closest thing they had to a battle strategist. They would need me for the trip ahead.

Annabeth had been kind to me. Even when I was so distracted and acted like a buffoon, Annabeth had been patient and helpful. Despite Ares and Mars' yelling, I had grown to respect her. Keeping sane and helping the group was something I could do to help her. It was something I needed to do.

After getting dressed and continually ignoring the voices in my head (at some point he even got them to quiet down!), I climbed above deck to meet the others.

The Argo II was docked at a busy wharf. On one side stretched a shipping channel about half a kilometer wide. On the other spread the city of Venice—red-tiled roofs, metal church domes, steepled towers, and sun-bleached buildings in all the colors of Valentine candy hearts—red, white, ochre, pink, and orange.

There were statues of lions everywhere—on top of doorways, pedastals, on the porticoes of the largest buildings. They must be the city's mascots.

Where streets should have been, green canals etched their way through the neighbourhoods, each one jammed with motorboats. Along the docks, the sidewalks were swamped with tourists shopping at kiosks and stores, and lounging across acres of outdoor café tables. It was insane.

Nobody else paid attention to it though. All my friends had gathered at the starboard rail to stare at the dozens of weird shaggy monsters milling through the crowds.

Each monster was about the size of a cow, with a bowed back like a broken-down horse, matted gray fur, skinny legs, and black cloven hooves. Their long, anteater-like snouts drooped to the ground. Their overgrown gray manes completely covered their eyes.

"The mortals thing they're stray dogs," Jason said.

"Or pets roaming around," Piper added with a shrug. "My dad shot a film in Venice once. I remember him telling me there were dogs everywhere. Venetians love dogs."

I frowned. I had forgotten Piper's father was an A-List movie star.

"Does it matter?" Percy asked in a monotone. "Let's go do what we're supposed to."

I looked at Percy, and I really looked at him. I hadn't noticed how pale and thin he's gotten. His eyes seemed to sink into his head, and the black-purple bags seemed to only be getting deeper and deeper. I'd never been to the Underworld, but in the state he was in, it looked like the souls of the dead looked better than he did.

Percy hadn't talked much since Annabeth had fallen, and whenever he did, he seemed to have the same sentiments as Coach Hedge when it came to dealing with enemies—destroy them quick and keep moving. I imagined that losing Annabeth again and knowing she'd have to go through Tartarus on her own made it feel like walking in the Mortal world without her was the same thing.

I looked at Hazel, who I trusted with a piece of firewood that was tied to my lifespan. If I lost her the way Percy lost Annabeth…

Well, I couldn't blame him for acting the way he was.

"But it doesn't make it wise," he could hear Annabeth say. "He needs to take care of himself. Be in the best shape he can be."

She would be right. Percy compromising his health wasn't wise at all. It wouldn't help Annabeth. If he got sick or too fatigued to use his powers, it would only make things more difficult to save her.

I noted the way he was speaking and acting. The empty look in his eyes made things clear. Percy wasn't thinking right now. As much as he may want to, he can't. To Percy, shutting off his brain was probably better than the alternative.

Like I said, I couldn't blame him. If it were Hazel, I'd be losing my mind too. I'd be thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Thinking of whether or not she was still alive. I'd probably shut off that part of me to, if it meant for it to hurt less.

"We should probably figure out what to do about them first," Jason reasoned.

"Maybe they're harmless," Leo suggested. "They're ignoring the mortals."

"Harmless!" Gleeson Hedge laughed. "Valdez, how many harmless monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens!"

"Uh, no," Leo disagreed.

I agreed with Leo. There were too many monsters. There was no way to take them out without causing collateral damage in the crowds of tourists, and that's without considering if one of them were to cause a stampede.

"We just halve to walk through them and hope they're peaceful," I said. "It's the only way we're going to track down the owner of that book."

Leo pulled out the leather-bound manual from underneath his arm. He'd slapped a sticky note on the cover with the address the dwarfs had given him in Bologna.

"La Casa Nera," he read. "Calle Frezzeria."

"The Black House," Nico translated. "Calle Frezzeria is the street."

I tried not to flinch when I realized Nico was at my shoulder. The guy was so quiet and brooding, he almost seemed to dematerialize when he wasn't speaking. Hazel might have been the one to come back from the dead, but Nico was way more ghostlike.

"You speak Italian?" I asked him.

Nico shot me a warning look, telling me not to ask anymore questions. "Frank is right. We have to find that address. The only way to do it is to walk the city. Venice is a maze. We'll have to risk the crowds and… whatever those are."

Thunder rumbled in the sky. We had passed through some storms the night before, but I thought they were over. Now, I was thinking that they probably weren't.

"I'll stay on the ship," Jason said. "We had a lot of venti in that storm last night. If they decide to attack again…"

He didn't need to finish. We all had experiences with the angry wind spirits. Jason was the only one who had much luck fighting them.

"Well, I'm gonna stay here too," Coach Hedge said. "If you guys aren't even gonna think about knocking those things out? Forget it. I don't like boring quests."

"That's okay, Coach." Leo grinned. "We still have to repair the foremast. Then I need your help in the engine room. I've got an idea for a new installation."

Great. I wasn't a fan of the "new installations" Leo would try out ever since he got the Archimedes sphere. They usually exploded or sent smoke billowing upstairs into my cabin.

"Well, whoever goes should be good with animals. I, uh… I'll admit I'm not great with cows," Piper said, shifting her feet.

"I'll go," I said.

"Awesome," Leo said. "If you pass a hardware store, could you get me some two-by-fours and a gallon of tar?"

"It's not a shopping trip," Percy reminded Leo, who frowned. "I'll go too."

As much as I appreciated Percy, him coming with me to find the owner of the book wasn't something I looked forward to.

"Me too," Nico said. "There's something about this place. Lots of death and restless spirits. If I go, I'll be able to keep them at bay. Besides, as you noticed, I can speak Italian."

And, not to mention, Nico was basically put in charge of babysitting Percy while Annabeth was away. Normally, I wouldn't have been thrilled about Nico coming either, but with Percy being the way he was, it was easier to be enthusiastic about his presence.

"I'll go too," Hazel said. "While three is best for a quest, I figure since Hecate said we had to come here, I should go."

Hazel linked her arm with mine and I fought back a smile. Thank you, thank you, thank you, I tried to tell her with my eyes. She made walking around Venice with the other two less terrifying.