Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in a while! I've been super sick, but I'm okay now! Just a little tired and run down haha. Enjoy the chapter! - N x
Guest (who answered the homework): That's the general gist of it, but there's a little bit more to it than that. Still, thank you for answering the question! Full marks for basically getting it hehe This is fanfic, this isn't school, so you should just worry about enjoying and having fun.
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.
I think I would have liked Venice if it hadn't been summer. You know, Venice but less crowds and more city. I would have liked to see more than just people crowded in the street and heads bobbing up and down with the steps the people took. What would have made it even better is if it weren't filled with those big hairy creatures.
One creature nibbed and licked at a crack between the stones until it dislodged some sort of green root. It sucked it up happily and kept walking along.
"Well," I said, "at least they're plant-eaters. That's good news."
"Let's hope they don't supplement that diet with demigods," Percy said. "We should really hurry up. The longer we're here, the more we endanger these people, ourselves, and Annabeth."
Hazel held my hand and squeezed it, almost to reassure me and to tell me to take it easy on Percy. Well, it worked. Venice suddenly didn't seem so bad walking with her at my side. I felt needed—useful.
Not that Hazel needed my protection, of course. Anybody could see that she handled herself just fine. Still, I liked being next to her and being her bodyguard anyways. If any of the creatures tried to harm her, I'd gladly turn into a rhinoceros and push them into the canal.
Nico stopped. "There."
We'd turned onto a smaller street, leaving the canals behind. Ahead of them was a small plaza lined with five-story buildings. The area was deserted—as if the mortas could sense it wasn't safe. In the middle of the cobblestone courtyard were a dozen of the creatures, sniffing around the base of a mossy stone wall.
"Lot of cows in one place," I said.
"Yeah, but look," Nico said, pointing at the far end of the plaza. "Past that archway."
I squinted, trying to see what he saw. Sure enough, at the end of the plaza was a stone archway, and behind it was a black building. It must've been the only black building in Venice.
"La Casa Nera," I guessed.
"I don't like that place," Hazel said, her grip tightening around my fingers. "It feels… cold."
I would disagree—I was almost drenched in sweat. Nico, however agreed.
"You're right, Hazel," Nico said. "The neighbourhood is filled with lemures."
"Lemurs?" I asked. "Like those furry little guys from Madagascar?"
"Angry ghosts," Nico explained. "They go back to Roman times. I've never seen so many in one place. My mom…" he hesitated. "My mom used to tell me stories about the ghosts of Venice."
I wondered about Nico's past, but I was afraid to ask. I caught Hazel's eye. Go ahead, she seemed to say. He needs to practice talking to people.
Before I could say anything, though, Percy interrupted.
"So how do we avoid them?" He asked.
"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."
Hazel pursed her lips. "Let's get going."
Halfway across the plaza, everything went wrong; but it had nothing to do with the ghosts.
We 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. I caught her. Six or seven of the creatures looked at us, and I glimpsed one of their glowing green eyes under one's mane. I was hit with a wave of nausea.
The creatures made deep throbbing sounds in their throats like angry foghorns.
"Nice cows," I murmured. I put myself between my friends and the creatures. "Guys, I'm thinking we should back out of here slowly."
"I'm such a klutz," Hazel whispered. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault," Nico said. "Look at your feet."
I looked down and caught my breath.
Under our shoes, the paving stones were moving—spiky plant tendrils were pushing up from the cracks.
Nico stepped back and the roots snaked out in his direction, trying to follow. The tendrils got thicket, exuding a steamy green vapor that smelled of boiled cabbage.
"These roots seem to like demigods," I noted.
Hazel's hand drifted to her sword hilt. "And the cow creatures like the roots."
The entire herd was now looking in our direction, making foghorn growls and stamping their hooves. I understood animal behavior well enough to get the message: You are standing on our food. That makes you enemies.
I tried to think. There were too many monsters to fight, and when I caught a glimpse of their eyes, I was immediately hit with nausea. Imagine what would happen if you made direct eye contact.
"Don't look into their eyes," I warned. "I'll distract them. You three back up slowly toward that black house."
As it turned out, I could not turn into a rhino, and I lost valuable time trying. The other three bolted for the side of street. I stepped in front of the monsters, hoping to keep their attention. I yelled at the top of my lungs, but with Ares and Mars constantly screaming in my head, I couldn't concentrate enough to turn into a rhino.
Two of the monsters peeled off from the herd to chase Nico, Hazel, and Percy.
"No!" I yelled. "Me! I'm the rhino!"
The rest surrounded me, growling. Emerald-green gas billowed from their nostrils, and I stepped back to avoid it. The stench itself, though, nearly knocked me over.
I tried to turn into an animal—any animal—but I couldn't hold the image long enough to panic. My eyes landed on a stone carving on one of the town-house balconies, and the next instant, I had turned into the symbol of Venice—a lion.
That'll do.