Aza had always hated jolting awake when she was half-asleep. The patterned knock on her door was so light she hazily opened her eyes and rolled over, already forgetting it had happened. She was just about to fall asleep when the knocks sounded slightly louder, and she groaned in response, peeking an eye open.
The door opened a crack, and through the light that filtered through the small gap Aza could just barely make out Piper's head sticking through the door; she could see some of Hazel's coils popping through the crack as she stood on her tip-toes behind the girl. Piper called softly, "Sorry, we didn't mean to wake you. We, uh - we're going to get some midnight snacks and tea. Do you wanna come with?"
"Mmm?" Aza groaned, and she rubbed her eyes, yawning loudly. She slowly shuffled to sit, resting back on her palms. She blinked slowly, her voice coming out slightly garbled, "Midnight snacks? Do we have Oreos?"
"I think I saw some hidden in the kitchen," Hazel's voice floated quietly through her room, "Are you interested?"
Aza swung her feet over the bed and slid them into her slippers, swaying slightly as she did her best to shake the sleep from her head. She pulled her door open and stepped out into the hallway; Piper and Hazel took a step backwards to make room. The daughter of Aphrodite smirked, "Nice pajamas."
Aza looked down at herself, her cheeks burning slightly as she nearly forgot what she had gone to bed in - her soft grey pajama shorts patterned by cartoon cows had been swallowed by her oversized blue shirt with little sharks. She tucked part of her shirt into the side of her shorts and said, "I swear, I'm wearing pants."
"Nice slippers," Hazel's eyes shimmered with mischief, and Aza's cheeks grew hotter as her gaze landed on them. She hadn't even thought about it before slipping on her light blue bunny slippers. She defended, "Mrs. la Rue gave them to me."
"And they're very cute," Piper placated, beginning to walk backwards down the hallway. She turned fully around once Hazel and Aza began to follow, and the three made their way down to the kitchen, starting to rummage through the cupboards the instant they entered. Hazel nearly fell off the small stepladder when she triumphantly pulled out a small box of Double-Stuff Oreos, "Aha! Aza!"
The daughter of Phobos' eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head, her face paling. She counted the cabinets to the one Hazel had been investigating. Aza's voice came out far harsher and more commanding than she meant it to, "Put those back! Not that cupboard - that's... that's Annabeth's stash."
"Oh," Hazel said slowly, and she gritted her teeth, glancing at Piper before slowly putting the cookies back, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Piper's eyes narrowed in Aza's direction, and she gave the girl a pointed glance. Aza sighed, rubbing her hands over her face, "Sorry - that came out wrong. I just... I want to leave everything the way she and Percy left it. For when they come back."
"You must really miss them." Hazel descended the ladder and moved it several shelves over, climbing back up and opening the cabinet. She pulled out yet another box of Oreos, which Aza nodded to and caught once the girl threw them, hungrily pulling it open. She nodded slowly, pulling apart the cookies and using her bottom teeth to scrape the cream into her mouth. She made a small pile of the cookies to burn as an offering once she was finished.
Piper made her way over towards the countertops, and she began to boil water. As she rifled through the shelves for tea-bags, she asked, "Aza, how long have you known them?"
She smiled dryly and ate another Oreo in the same way, collecting only the cream with her teeth. She missed Annabeth, who only liked the crackers - together, the two of them could put away an entire box in one sitting. Her voice was raspy, and in her sleepiness it was hard to hide the sadness, "I met Annabeth when I came to Camp. She hung around the Hermes cabin a lot because Luke was there, and I stayed there because I was unclaimed. We didn't really get along at first - she thought I was too mouthy, and I thought she was too bossy."
Aza pointed to the box of green tea when Piper silently offered them options, not wanting to interrupt the story, "But Luke had this way of making everyone friends. He's the only reason I can tolerate the Stolls - Hazel, if you ever meet them, don't trust them," she and Piper made eye contact and both laughed quietly, "So eventually, we just found ourselves seeking each other out. We were also the youngest campers for quite some time, and the two of us were of the handful of year-rounders. Then Percy came around, and we were twelve, and it was sort of like he was the missing piece. Like he balanced us out, and kept Annie and I together whenever we butted heads. He... he's sort of like Luke, like that. He keeps people together, so yeah... I really miss them. They're my best friends, even when they totally ignore me to go do..." she shivered, "whatever it is they do."
"Percy remembered Annabeth's name, at first. When we found him. That was all he remembered," Hazel mused, and she pushed herself onto the counter, popping a grape into her mouth once she settled, "And then when he got his memories back, the first thing he said was: something, something, Aza's going to kill me."
Aza smiled softly, and she accepted the mug that Piper handed towards her, pouring a small bit of milk into the mug. Hazel handed her a spoon, and after stirring she added a bit of sugar, "It was terrifying when he was gone. Just poof, out of the blue," she clenched her jaw and sighed, taking a small sip. "At least he and Annabeth are together, I guess. But I can't help but wonder... should I have gone in after them? In an infernal darkness of fear and negativity, I..."
"You wonder if you could help them," Hazel asked, and when Aza nodded she sighed and shrugged softly, yawning slightly. "Maybe. A third ally would never hurt, but – we need you here, Aza. You might be one of the most experienced demigods; we need you to lead us."
"Jason could led us," Aza sighed, and she swallowed thickly. "Or Nico, or Piper, or you, or Frank. It doesn't matter who the leader is; all of us are–"
"You're the most powerful," Piper cut in. "Or at least, that's what I think. I mean, Jason is plenty powerful, but–"
"You're terrifying," Hazel said with a soft chuckle. "I feel a lot safer with you on this ship."
Aza stared at her teacup, and she felt the sudden burden of responsibility settle on her shoulders like a heavy coat. She was glad that Hazel felt safer with her; her lips pulled into a soft, prideful smile - but that also meant that if anything bad happened, if anything went south, it would be on her. She sighed and said, "I'm glad you feel better with me here – thank you for the tea, Pipes. I'm going to go to bed." She gave them a small smile and left without another word.
It wasn't uncommon that mortals were willfully blind to the monsters that often lurked nearby, waiting for the next demigod to pass by. But Aza had to admit, she had never seen so many of them gathered in such a small area, without even any mortals seeming to find anything odd about their day.
Her day had started relatively normally - for the first time in a while, she woke up according to her own body, and even had enough time to shower and braid her hair in twin french braids. After dressing in light-weight cargo hiking pants and a plain red t-shirt, she had eaten breakfast in the dining room. Of course, that was where her peaceful morning had been interrupted; Hazel had burst in and insisted she and Leo, who sleepily ate his eggs, had to come to the deck.
The Argo II had docked at a busy wharf. A shipping channel about a half mile wide stretched on one side; on the other, the city of Venice spread out - red-tiled roofs, metal church domes, steepled towers and sun-bleached buildings all in soft reds, ochres and pinks. Where streets would have been, green canals etched their way through neighborhoods, each one overflowing with motorboats. Tourists mobbed the sidewalks along the docks, mingling in tourists shops and cafes.
She found Piper, Jason and Nico gathered at the railing. Leo, Hazel and her joined, and she heard Frank's distant footsteps; she didn't know how, but she had slowly memorized each of her friends' footsteps - Jason had more of a march, and Leo shuffled slightly, dragging his feet. But Frank had distinct thuds.
Dozens of shaggy monsters milled through the crowds; each of them was about the size of a cow, with a bowed back like a broken-down horse, matted grey fur, skinny legs and black cloven hooves. Their heads seemed much too heavy for their skinny necks, and their long, anteater-like snouts sagged to the ground; their eyes were covered completely by their overgrown grey manes. Aza had never seen anything like them.
Frank made his way over and pointed at one, "Look." She followed his fingertip - one of the monsters shuffled across the promenade, licking and sniffing the pavement as it moved. The tourists merely wove their way around it - some didn't glance at it, but a few bent down to pet it.
Before Aza could wonder what the mortals were seeing, Jason grunted, "The mortals think they're stray dogs."
"Or pets roaming around," Piper said. "My dad shot a film in Venice once. I remember him telling me there were dogs everywhere. Venetians love dogs."
"I mean, I like dogs, too," Aza leaned against the rail and peered closer, "But those definitely aren't dogs. What are they?"
In the silence that followed, Aza found herself - as always - wishing Annabeth and Percy were there. Because, of course, her curly-haired blonde best friend would absolutely have the answer, just like she always did. Leo drummed his fingers against the rail and suggested, "Maybe they're harmless. They're ignoring the mortals."
"Harmless!" Gleeson echoed with a bellowing laugh, "Valdez, how many harmless monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens!"
"Uh, absolutely not," Aza shook her head. Of all the bad ideas her protector had, that was by far one of the worst - not only would they blast a Venetian plaza to smithereens, but all the mortals would die either from the explosion, the falling rubble or a stampede of panicked monsters. It was slightly scary to Aza when she was the voice of reason.
Frank shuffled his feet, "We'll have to walk through and hope they're friendly. It's the only way we're going to track down the owner of that book."
Leo pulled the leather-bound manual from underneath his arm. He read from the neon-green sticky note, "La Casa Nera. Calle Frezzeria."
"The Black House," Nico translated, "Calle Frezzeria is the street."
"You speak Italian?" Frank asked.
Aza glanced around her shoulder to smile at Nico; he twisted his skull ring, and looked up only for a moment, not bothering to smile back. It was hard for her to admit, but he had changed yet again. After Bianca died, he was no longer the same energetic, outgoing kid. He grew up far too fast, and he lost his sense of childishness just when he hit double digits. No matter how hard Aza tried, she couldn't bring back the old Nico, just like she couldn't bring back Bianca; sometimes she saw a hint or a whisper of the kid she knew, who shoved Mythomagic cards into her face every chance he got.
She hadn't seen him in months, and he was even different than that. She didn't know what happened in Tartarus, but her best guess was that it all but broke him; he seemed to be hanging on by a thread, and she hadn't yet gotten the chance to fawn over him and prod for details. She had a feeling she wouldn't get anywhere; he seemed even more closed off than usual, and seemed to speak mostly with Hazel.
She was happy that he had another sister. Of course she was - more than anything, Aza wanted Nico to be happy. But, the pang of jealousy that sometimes made her jaw clench was hard to ignore; she used to be the person Nico would whisper to, and would entrust with whatever information he was too scared to tell the others.
Nico cleared his throat and spoke calmly, though his voice felt empty to her, "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 they are."
Thunder rumbled in the summer sky. She had fallen asleep to a thunderstorm the night before, but she thought it was over - now, the air was thick and hot. She had only been out in the heat for a few minutes, but she was already beginning to feel sweaty, and she could practically feel her stray hairs curling from the humidity.
Jason frowned at the sky, "Maybe I should stay on board. There were loads of venti in that storm last night. If they decide to attack the ship again..."
He didn't need to finish - against the wind spirits, Jason was really the only one of them that stood a chance. It irritated Aza to no end that her sword would merely pass through them. Gleeson grunted, "Well, I'm out, too. If you softhearted cupcakes are going to stroll through Venice without even whacking those furry animals on the head, forget it. I don't like boring expeditions."
Aza rolled her eyes and shook her head, but before she could chide the satyr, Leo grinned and said, "It's okay, Coach. 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."
"Well," Piper shifted her feet uncomfortably, "Whoever goes should be good with animals. I, uh... I'll admit - I'm not great with cows."
"I'll go," Frank volunteered. He looked like he wanted to punch himself right after he said it, but he straightened importantly and almost looked like he was waiting for someone to object. Leo patted him on the shoulder and handed him the book, "Awesome. If you pass a hardware store, could you get me some two-by-fours and a gallon of tar?"
"Leo," Hazel chided, "it's not a shopping trip."
"I'll go with Frank," Nico offered.
Frank's eye started twitching. He shifted his weight from side-to-side and asked, "Uh... you're good with animals?"
Nico's smile held no humor, "Actually, most animals hate me. They can sense death. But there's something about this city..." His expression turned dark. "Lots of death. Restless spirits. If I go, I may be able to keep them at bay. Besides, as you noticed, I speak Italian."
Leo scratched his head, "Lots of death, huh? Personally, I'm trying to avoid lots of death, but you guys have fun!"
When Aza thought Frank was going to throw up on the deck at the thought of going with just Nico, she cleared her throat and rasped, "I'll go, too. I don't like having nothing to do - I don't like twiddling my thumbs."
She knew she made Frank nervous - she could sense it, and smell it; but when he glanced at her she saw nothing but relief. That made her wonder just how terrified of Nico he was, that she was a comforting presence, but she smiled at him and cracked her knuckles, "Well, what are we waiting for. Let's go."
Aza had never been the biggest fan of crowds, and so she was unnaturally twitchy as they wove their way through the streets of Venice - she had a feeling that with their luck, they were there during peak temperatures and tourist season, and she fanned herself with one hand as they walked. For the most part, the monsters didn't seem to notice them; either they couldn't lift their heads, or they didn't care enough to.
She almost thought they were cute as they passed one pawed and snuffled at something in a crack between the stones. It nibbled and liked, pulling out a small patch of weeds - the monster happily sucked it up and moseyed further down the path. Frank said, "Well, they're plant-eaters. That's good news."
"I wonder if I could keep one as a pet," Aza pondered, and she resisted the urge to quickly stroke the side of one of the monsters they passed, "I mean, Mrs. O'Leary is a very tame hellhound. I want my own... whatever this is."
Nico stopped and held out an arm to stop the others, "Look - there."
The group turned onto a smaller street, leaving the canal behind. A small plaza lined with short, five-story buildings was strangely deserted - oftentimes, Aza found that mortals actually had a pretty good sense of when they shouldn't enter a place, as if they could sense the things they couldn't see. In the middle of the cobblestone courtyard, a dozen of the cow-sized creatures were sniffing the base of an old, moss-covered stone well.
"A lot of cows in one place," Frank glanced at Aza and Nico.
"Yeah, but look," Nico said, "Past that archway."
Aza had to squint - at the far end of the plaza, she saw a stone archway carved with - were they lions? Or maybe gargoyles - leading into a narrow stone street. Just past the arch was one of the only black buildings she had seen so far in Venice. Frank guessed, "La Casa Nera."
"This place is weird, right?" Aza unclasped her necklace, and her double-sided sword appeared in its place. She fiddled with it and glanced at Nico, "Any bad vibes?"
Nico studied the windows of the town-houses, which were covered with wooden shutters. Aza suddenly felt a chill at the back of her neck, and she got the brief instinct to bolt. She rolled out her neck and glanced at the windows behind her when she felt someone's gaze burning into her, but no one was there. Nico responded after a long silence, "The neighborhood is filled with lemures."
"Lemurs?" Frank asked nervously, shuffling his feet. "I'm guessing you don't mean the furry little guys from Madagascar?"
"Angry ghosts," Nico's voice was soft, "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 and glanced at Aza, shuffling slightly closer, "She used to tell me stories about the ghosts of Venice."
Frank caught Aza's eye, and she tilted her head subtly, warning him to proceed cautiously. She hoped he understood that the slight force in her slight smile meant that Nico was sensitive, especially about his past. Frank proceeded cautiously, "Nico, your mom was Italian? She was from Venice?"
He 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."
Frank was silent for a few moments, as he clearly struggled to find a response. Finally, he said, "Must've been hard on your mom. I guess we'll do anything for someone we love."
Aza blinked slowly, and her jaw clenched tightly as Nico stared at the cobblestones beside her. He said bitterly, as though the words were poison in his mouth, "Yeah. I guess we will."
"So," Aza cleared her throat, and she sent a soft smile in Nico's direction, "how do we avoid the lemures?"
"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."
"So, let's keep going," Aza cracked her knuckles, and the three crossed the plaza. They made it about halfway, skirting the fountain in the middle to give the monsters some space when Aza tripped on a loose cobblestone. She stumbled, throwing her arms out for balance and caught herself, freezing on her feet. Her face morphed into a guilty expression as she slowly turned around - half of the large grey monsters turned to look at them. She shuddered when she glimpsed a glowing green eye from under one's man and was instantly hit with a wave of nausea.
The creatures made a deep, throbbing noise in their throats like angry foghorns. Frank stepped forward, putting himself between Aza and Nico and the monsters. He held up his hands in a soothing manner and murmured, "Nice cows. Guys, I'm thinking we should back out of here slowly."
"I'm with you on that," Aza pinched herself, "I'm so sorry, I–"
"It's not your fault," Nico whispered, "Look at your feet."
She glanced down and caught her breath. Under her plum-colored Doc Martens, the paving stones were moving. Spiky plant tendrils pushed up from the cracks, growing faster than any normal plant. She took a step back - these weeds were a gardener's worst nightmare. The roots snaked out in her direction, trying to follow and growling all-the-while.
"The roots like demigods," Frank noted, and he backed away from another. Aza glanced back at the cow-like creatures, which continued to growl. They began to stomp their hooves, and she didn't speak their language but she got the message well enough; they were standing on the cow-creature's food, and they were pissed.
Frank warned, "Don't meet their eyes. I'll distract them. You two back up slowly towards that black house."
The creatures tensed, clearly ready to attack. Aza froze, and adrenaline rushed through her veins. Frank said, "Never mind. Run!"
Aza grabbed Nico's wrist and turned, bolting for the side-street. She paused when they made it past the archway and skidded to a stop. She tossed her sword back into her dominant hand and turned - Frank was surrounded by most of the monsters, but two of them were charging straight towards the archway. She barely had enough time to think - Aza's arm lashed out like a whip, and she sliced the snout off of one. The other kicked up gravel as it halted just as quickly as Aza had, and its mane flipped.
The monster's eyes were an enchantingly acidic green. It snorted a few times, pawing at the ground, and sneezed out a similarly green gas. It reminded her of the color of the Sea of Monsters. As soon as they made eye contact, Aza's stomach clenched, and her throat tightened. Her jaw went slack, and she turned to her right and dropped her sword, clenching her stomach with both hands as she vomited her breakfast into the street.
"Aza!" Nico yelped, and he rushed forward; her eyes began to well with tears from gagging, and she collapsed onto her knees, just barely having enough sense to avoid her pool of vomit. She fell on her hands, too, and groaned, "I – I'm fine–" but she vomited the rest of her food, and more than a little bile. The back of her throat burned, like someone had poked it with an iron, and her vision blurred. Her last thought was that she should have held her hair back, because she had gotten a little bit of puke in it, before she teetered to the right. Her eyes fluttered shut before she hit the ground.
"Holy shit!" Aza's eyes flew open, and she shot up, leaning back on her palms. Her head whipped from side to side, and she saw Frank - only, he looked different. He was slightly taller, and he looked more muscular; more chiseled like a child of Ares. She said again, "Holy shit! Frank, uh - what? What happened to you? Gods, how long was I out?"
"To me?" Frank asked, and he looked down at himself. "I don't... uh... Maybe I can fix it."
"It's not a bad thing," Aza shrugged, "Just different. Whatever you prefer. But you look older and taller - did you get the blessing of Ares? Or, sorry - Mars?"
A man clapped in the corner, and she jumped and cursed loudly in Greek. He was dressed simply in jeans and a denim shirt; a young man, with curly black hair. His friendly smile reminded her of Travis Stoll's, so she immediately knew it was anything but. He said, "Perfect - you prefer Greek!" He turned back to Frank, "Yes, obviously some sort of blessing from Ares, Mars, whoever. Congratulations, blah, blah, blah. Now, if we're done here..."
Frank glared at him, "We're not done. Heal Nico."
"Heal Nico?" Aza echoed, her eyebrows sewing together. The man rolled his eyes and pointed to a corn plant beside the table she lay on, and Nico appeared right in front of her eyes in an explosion of corn silk. He looked around in panic, his dark hair flopping at the movement, "I - I had the weirdest nightmare about popcorn," He frowned at Frank. "Why are you taller?"
"Everything's fine," Frank promised. "Triptolemus was about to tell us how to survive the House of Hades. Weren't you, Trip."
Triptolemus raised his eyes to the ceiling, as if silently asking, Why me? He sighed and shook his head, "Fine. When you arrive at Epirus, you will be offered a chalice to drink from. It will be filled with deadly poison."
"Offered by whom?" Nico asked.
"Doesn't matter!"
"So you're saying you shouldn't drink it?" Aza asked slowly.
Trip shook his head again, clearly already frustrated with the conversation. He impatiently explained, "No! You must drink it, or you'll never be able to pass through the temple. The poison connects you to the world of the dead, lets you pass into the lower levels. The secret to surviving is -" his eyes twinkled, "barley."
Frank blinked slowly and stared at him. He echoed incredulously, "Barley?"
"In the front room, take some of my special barley. Make it into little cakes. Eat these before you step into the House of Hades. The barley will absorb the worst of the poison, so it will affect you, but not kill you."
"That's it?" Nico demanded. "Hecate sent us halfway across Italy so you could tell us to eat barley?"
"Special barley," Triptolemus winked at them before sprinting across the room. He jumped into a chariot, pulled by snakes, "And Frank Zhang, I forgive you. You've got spunk. If you ever change your mind, my offer is open. I'd love to see you get a degree in farming!"
Aza chuckled quietly when Frank muttered, "Yeah. Thanks."
The god pulled a lever on his chariot, and two snake-wheels turned; built-in wings flapped and at the back of the room, a garage door opened. The god cried, "Oh, to be mobile again! So many ignorant lands in need of my knowledge. I will teach them the glories of tilling, irrigation, fertilization!"
The chariot lifted off and zipped out of the sky. The god shouted, "Away, my serpents! Away!"
Aza looked away from the garage door and stared at Frank. She said slowly, "I feel like I missed a lot."
Frank looked like he was holding in tears - he looked like he needed a hug. She wanted to get them back to the Argo so he could see Hazel, so the best Aza settled for was clapping him on the shoulder and giving him a tight smile. For the first time, he reminded her of her uncles. He said, "Those cow monsters - the katoblepones - poisoned you. I had to destroy them."
"That was brave," Nico sounded impressed, "There must have been, what, six or seven left in that herd?"
"No," Frank cleared his throat. "All of them. I killed all of them in the city."
He definitely reminded her of her uncles. Nico and Aza stared at each other, both of their jaws dropping open. They both turned to stare at Frank, and she saw him in a whole new light. It made sense to her, now, that he was a child of Mars. After a few moments of silence, Nico broke the tension, "Well, does anyone know what barley looks like?"