CHAPTER FIVE:
STORMS & SAINTS

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THE FOLLOWING MORNING, AS the last of Mel's fleeting burst of life faded into a sleepless night plagued by nightmares that Annais sat and bore witness to, the Argo II docked at a bustling wharf. Listening to the faint murmur of muffled voices, Annais stretched the tension out of her limbs and unfolded her body from the chair at Mel's bedside, leaving the snoozing girl to check what was happening above. The others were already gathered at the starboard rail; Hea was between Nico and Hazel, her dark onyx hair pulled back in a tight braid, eyes bright and alert. Annais joined them just in time to hear Hazel ask, "What are they?"

Oh, God. What was it now?

Jason turned to smile tightly at her, golden as ever beneath the sun, though Annais caught the tell-tale signs of another restless night etched in the purple eyebags she was sure matched her own. "You sleep alright?" he murmured so no one else would hear. 

"Did you?" she retorted, and his lips twitched, as if to say touchè. "What's going on?"

Wordlessly, Jason stepped aside, allowing Annais to move in front of him and have a better look at where they'd docked. Venice was striking in its beauty, sharp and colourful. Annais wished she could stop to admire it, truly; red-tiled roofs, glittering green canals dotted by motorboats, sun-scorched streets littered with people and bronze statues in the shapes of lions. There were dozens of them -- on every corner, above the rooftops; they seemed to monitor the streets of Venice, guarding the keenly hidden secrets that were buried in otherwise innocuous streets. 

From these shadows, dozens of monsters had swamped into the crowd, practically bowling tourists over, not that they seemed to notice. Annais had to wonder what they saw, if the facade of the Mist properly disguised the jarring nature of their appearances. They were the size of cows with thick, matted fur the colour of mush. Their heads seemed too heavy for their necks to hold up, their snouts stooping to the ground, obsidian eyes peeking through manes that were not unlike horses.

"The mortals think they're stray dogs," Jason explained to her, pointing out a couple who were petting one of the monsters. In a flash that came and went quicker than Annais could blink, the thing changed to a tiny beagle, its tail wagging back and forth eagerly.

"That's... disgusting," she grimaced, the only word that came to mind.

"My dad shot a film in Venice once," Piper commented. She was leaning over the edge of the railing, her expression matching Annais' with her nose scrunched up at the sight. "I remember him telling me there were dogs everywhere. Venetians love dogs."

Annais couldn't help but think how lonely Piper's childhood must've been with her dad always moving around. At least Annais had her sisters, close or not, in some of their darker days. Piper had stories bought home from a man who was half-father, half-ghost. But no matter what, she loved him. Annais had witnessed it firsthand, Piper McLean's loving heart.

"But what are they?" Frank repeated Hazel's question warily. "They look like... starving, shaggy cows with sheepdog hair."

Annais thought the description was rather accurate. She had no name for them, and neither did Hea, who shrugged when Frank turned to her like she would somehow know. 

"Maybe they're harmless," said Leo. "I mean, they're ignoring the mortals."

"Harmless," Gleeson scoffed out a laugh of disbelief. Annais had to agree with him. "Valdez, how many harmless monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens."

"Uh, no," Leo shook his head, eyes widening when he spotted Hea's thoughtful expression. "No way. Not a chance, Hea."

"You're right," she sighed. "Too much blood."

"Too many monsters," Annais mumbled in correction. There were dozens of them, enough that she couldn't help the wary sense of fear that trickled in. Something just wasn't right about Venice...

"We'll have to walk through them and hope they're peaceful," Frank gritted his teeth at the thought. "It's the only way we're going to track down the owner of that book."

Leo's eyes momentarily brightened as he pulled out the leather book he'd taken from the Kerkopes. In Leo's messy hand-writing, Annais could just make out the address that his new buddies had given him.

"La Casa Nera," he read to the group, who should've been well versed in the name considering how obsessed Leo was with tracking the original owner down in Bologna. "Calle Frezzeria."

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

"You speak Italian?" Frank asked curiously. 

Nico shot him a pointed look then, and Frank took the silent warning and ran with it, inching further into Hazel's side much to her bemusement. "Frank is right," Nico did say, though, which only seemed to confuse the son of Mars. "We have to find that address. The only way to do it is to walk around the city, but Venice is like a maze. We'll have to risk the crowds and those... whatever they are."

Annais sighed once more. "This would be much easier if we could just use a phone."

More and more, the monsters that leaked out of Tartarus were unrecognisable. With Gaea controlling the blasted Doors of Death, she picked and chose the nastiest creatures she could find, and Annais began to worry that one day, there would be a monster they could not cross.

(How right she was, in some ways.)

Annais was interrupted from her thoughts as thunder rumbled warningly overhead. The sky was a clear blue, shattering in a way that reminded her of Jason's eyes, but the air was thick and sticky against her skin. Jason frowned at the horizon, his muscled arms pressed against her back.

"Maybe I should stay on board," he declared. "There were lots of venti in that storm last night. If they decide to attack the ship again..."

Enough said.

"Well, I'm out too," Gleeson said, which surprised Annais. "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."

"It's okay, Coach," said Leo, smirking deviously. "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..."

"I'll help too," Hea volunteered, mainly to annoy Leo and Gleeson, the latter of which looked ready to change his mind about staying back, boring or not. "I've had some ideas myself, Leo."

"I'm so excited to hear them," he forced out through clenched teeth.

"Looks like I'm coming along then," mumbled Annais, who refused to even entertain the thought of waking up Melanie. "Any other volunteers or is this a solo mission?"

"I don't want you going alone," Jason frowned, not that he needed to worry.

Much to Annais' surprise, it was Frank who stepped forward. "I'll go."

"Awesome," Leo patted (more like smacked) him on the shoulder before stuffing the leather book into his hands. "Oh, if you pass a hardware store, could you get me some two-by-fours and a gallon of tar?"

"Anything else, Valdez?" Annais rolled her eyes at the same time as Hazel crossed her arms and chimed in, "Leo, this isn't a shopping trip."

Blushing, Leo had begun to stammer out a response when Nico offered, "I can go with Annais and Frank."

"Uh, you're good with animals?" Frank asked while Annais shot him a tired smile.

Nico mirrored her grin. "Annais definitely isn't," he commented. "And most animals hate me. They can sense death. But there's something about this city... lots of death. Restless spirits."

The sharpness to the beauty.

"If I go, I may be able to keep them at bay," Nico continued as Frank's face paled at the mention of ghosts. "Besides, as you noticed--" He spared Frank another cautious look. "I speak Italian."

Lots of death. Huh. So just another day for Annais, then. But where she was unbothered... people like Leo were a tad more apprehensive. Surprise, surprise.

"Lots of death?" he echoed through a nervous burst of laughter. "Personally, I'm trying to avoid 'lots of death' but you guys have fun! Don't forget the tar, Annie."

"Shut up, Leo."

"I'll go too," Hazel said as she slipped her arm through Frank's. "That's enough for a demigod quest, right?"

Annais shrugged. "I mean, I was cool with my solo mission, but if you wanna come along..."

Jason made another noise of protest, prompting her to smirk and nudge his chest.

"Now that's sorted," she said, shrugging on the leather jacket that Hea held out for her. It was warm and Annais doubted she'd wear it the whole time, but it seemed to put Hea's mind at ease. For all her easy going nature, she cared for Annais like a mother. Just... a forgetful, fleeting one. "We ready to go?"

Nico tore his gaze from the canals, the dark green seas a mere echo in his gunmetal eyes. "Let's go find the owner of that book."

One-by-one, they climbed down the rope ladder. Annais wasn't sure what the tourists saw in replacement of their giant war ship, but no one looked their way once let alone twice. They were pretty much invincible, but something uneasy settled in Annais' stomach as she watched Nico, Frank and Hazel climb down to the ground. Like Nico mentioning death had shaken something in her, and now she was reeling from the impact.

Jason came up behind her, the two of them watching Frank sway midway on the rope ladder as Nico and Hazel coaxed him down. Jason pushed back her hair, taking advantage of everyone else being busy as he kissed her neck and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"You stay safe, okay?"

Annais chuckled. Her skin burned where his lips had been. She longed for him to kiss that spot again, to burn her up from the inside out. "You always say that."

"And I always mean it," he mumbled, then paused, seemingly reading her mind and kissing her neck again. So softly that Annais almost didn't hear him, he whispered, "I love you."

Annais' heart froze.

Fortunately for her (and unfortunately for Jason) Frank had joined the others then, and Nico was impatiently calling for her to hurry up, eyeing Jason's lips on his sister's neck suspiciously. Annais hesitated, turning to Jason with wide eyes, her throat tight as her gaze traced over his easy smile. 

"Go," he said, releasing her waist. "And--"

"Stay safe," she teased. "I'll be sure to let the monsters know my boyfriend wants me back in one piece."

With flushed cheeks, she turned her back on Jason's smile shifting into a smirk. At the bottom of the rope ladder, Hazel greeted her with a cheeky, sisterly grin while Nico glared up at Jason.

"Okay, Hotshot," she was more amused than anything by his sudden protective little-brother act. "I thought you said we needed to hurry up."

"Whatever," Nico mumbled petulantly, forcing himself to turn away and lead them deeper into Venice.

She'd underestimated how busy it really was. Not even ten minutes of walking came and went, and she was ready for the nap of a lifetime. People crowded in at every corner, stopping in the middle of the streets to pat those weird monster things. None of them had come close enough to the group of four, but Annais paused to watch as one dislodged some sort of plant from the ground that it quickly vacuumed up.

"Well, they're plant-eaters," Frank declared, having stopped when Annais did. "That's good news."

Hazel slipped her hand into his, shuddering to herself. "Unless they supplement their diet with demigods. Let's hope not."

"There."

All of a sudden, Nico disappeared around the next corner, prompting Annais, Hazel and Frank to rush after him. He'd lead them onto a smaller street where a vacant five-story plaza soared into the sky. No mortals were present, just a dozen of those creatures sniffing around the large cobblestone courtyard.

"A lot of cows in one place," Frank frowned.

"Yeah, but look," Nico insisted. "Past that archway."

Annais followed his line of sight and tensed. At the opposite end of the plaza was yet another statue of a lion carved into a great stone archway. In the distance, framed by the arch was a townhouse painted in pitch black paint, the odd one out on a street full of colourful villas. The life had seemingly been sucked out of the land, leaving it desolate. It could only mean one thing.

"La Casa Nera," Frank sighed.

Hazel shuddered again. "I don't like that plaza. It feels... cold."

Like Nico, she seemed to speak it into existence for Annais. Suddenly, she was grateful Hea made her wear the jacket; it was like she had predicted what the quest would involve. Annais looked at the plaza and pulled her jacket tighter around her. The plaza was like a graveyard; Annais, a headstone in a sea of dead corpses. 

"You're right, Hazel," Nico murmured, glancing at Annais to confirm the same expression on her face. "This neighbourhood is filled with lemures."

"Lemures?" Frank repeated, frowning. "I'm guessing you don't mean the furry little guys from Madagascar?"

"I wish," Annais sighed, stomach twisting with dread. "Lemures are pretty much angry ghosts."

"Oh... that's nice..."

"They go back to Roman times," Nico explained further. "They hang around a lot of Italian cities, but I've never felt so many in one place. My mom told me..." He hesitated, glancing at Hazel for assurance. When she nodded at him in encouragement and Annais didn't counter her, he forced himself to open up just that bit more. "She used to tell me stories about the ghosts of Venice."

"Nico, your mom was Italian?" Frank asked, his curiosity returning in bounds. "She was from Venice?"

Nico nodded, jaw clenched, his knuckles bone-white around the hilt of his sword sheathed at his side. "She met Hades here, back in the 1930s. As World War II got closer, she fled to the U.S. with my sister and me. I mean... Bianca, my other sister." 

Frank blinked at the unfamiliar name. Annais wasn't sure if Frank had heard Nico speak so much in their entire trip let alone in one minute. It was certainly the most she had witnessed Nico share lately. When her brother was young, before Bianca died, he was completely different... sweet, soft-hearted, a child. He changed, not that she blamed him, and at first, she didn't fully understand the desolate ghost in her brother's place. The boy made of bitterness and sour death. But he was her brother, and she loved him like a sister would, forgiving to the point of blind faith.

"I don't remember much about Italy, but I can still speak the language."

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

Nico averted his gaze to the cobblestones, his face flushing a faint pink as Annais patted his arm and grinned pridefully. "Yeah," he glanced at her then away. "I guess we will."

Sensing that was as much as Nico was willing to give, Frank moved the conversation along again. "So, the lemures... How do we avoid them?"

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

"Wanna make a bet?" Annais grimaced, eyeing the gloomy townhouse once more.

Hazel pursed her lips and shook her head. "Let's get going."

They didn't make it very far before shit hit the fan. As usual. Annais wasn't even shocked at this point, though it didn't have anything to do with the dead as they first expected. As they edged around the monsters in the centre of the courtyard, Hazel tripped on a loose piece of cobblestone, fortunately caught by Frank before she could tumble forward and bring Annais down with her. It was then that the monsters noticed them, their eyes glowing green. Annais' head spun as she looked at them, the blood draining from her face to her feet.

"Nice cows," Frank murmured, suddenly stepping in front of Annais and blocking her view. She put her hands to her head as the monsters began to make deep, growling sounds in their throats. "Guys, I'm thinking we should back out of here slowly."

"I'm such a klutz," Hazel cursed, steadying Annais with a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Nico said, regarding Annais with the same look. I hope you're good but also snap out of it, his eyes seemed to scream. "Just look at your feet. Deep breaths."

Annais listened to him. It helped, a bit, though everything seemed dull now... desolate as the place waiting for them at the end of the road. She took a step back and almost tripped again as the tendrils snaking beneath the cobblestone -- those plants they thought they saw one of the cows eat -- shot up and attempted to wrap around her ankle. They did the same to Nico, who followed her with wide eyes.

"These roots seem to like demigods," Frank muttered nervously.

"And the cow creatures like the roots," Hazel mumbled.

"Well, shit," deadpanned Annais.

Closing the distance between them, the creatures seemed ravenous now, looking from the roots chasing their feet to the demigods themselves. Unless they supplement their diets with demigods...

"Hazel, you jinxed us," Annais groaned.

"I know," her sister said miserably, face paling as she caught just a flash of one cow's glowing eyes. "Oh..."

"Don't meet their eyes!" Frank warned, righting her as she swayed. "I'll distract them, okay? You three back up slowly toward that black house."

"You sure you don't want help?" Annais asked, to which Frank shook his head, opening his mouth to reply just as the creatures tensed and charged. "Never mind. Run!"

She didn't need to be told twice. Her movements were still sluggish, but Annais could feel some of her resolve clearing as her feet pounded against pavement, her heartbeat echoing every inch of ground covered. The fog cleared in her head, blood pounding in her ears as she slipped off her ring and her sword took its place. Behind her, Frank yelled at the top of his lungs, the sound muffled to her ears as she pushed a slowing Hazel forward.

It was then the first monster struck.

It came at Hazel from the side, tackling her stumbling form into a blast of green gas that leaked from its eyes. Annais, panicking as some of the gas seeped towards her, didn't hesitate to swing her sword through its neck. The monster collapsed in a pile of dark goo, the gas gone, but Hazel didn't get back up.

"Nico," Annais shouted for her brother just as the second cow attacked. She cried out as its teeth grazed her leg, stomach lurching at its green eyes, and then -- stygian iron ripped through its gut and it exploded.  There Nico stood, panting from running back to them, eyes wide as they landed on Hazel's unconsious form.

"Is she--?"

Annais checked her pulse and shook her head. "Alive."

He breathed a sigh of relief, then took off running to find Frank. In Frank's place when Annais turned back was a giant rhino. He stumbled and swayed in a spray of green gas, clawing at his face as he collapsed and transformed back into his human form. Dread had a tight hold of Annais' heart as she pulled Hazel into her arms, trying and failing to rouse her with a shake of her shoulders. She wondered if Frank would be next, but spying Hazel seemed to sober him.

The remaining monsters gave them a wide berth.

"She got a blast of green gas right in the face," Nico told him miserably as he dropped to his knees at her side. 

"I didn't see," added Annais, her voice shaky, all the air knocked out of her lungs. Hazel's face was so pale, but so far... no black shadows... "I tried to stop it, Frank."

Frank said nothing at first, and then, "We need to get her back to the ship."

But what were they meant to do? No one knew what these monsters were. Bringing her back to the others was pointless, hopeless... 

More cow monsters were appearing at the fringes, hanging back but making those blasted noises from before. Nico grimaced, caught between avoiding their eyes and averting his own gaze from his sister's... dead-looking form. "We'll never make it on foot," he said. "Frank, turn into a giant eagle. Don't worry about us. Just get her back to the Argo II."

"Nico's right," added Annais, voice tinged by rising desperation. She wasn't sure what the others could do to help, but she'd rather die herself than let Hazel, her sister, get eaten by one of those things. She and Nico would find a way. She passed Frank Hazel's body. "Take care of her."

But Frank hesitated. "I--"

Before he could finish, a new voice sounded behind them. "Your friends can't help you." In an instant, Annais had rounded on the stranger with her sword pointed at his chest. He was young, dressed in jeans and a denim shirt. A questionable choice, but innocent enough upon first glance. He seemed unbothered by Annais' anger, smiling serenely as he said, "They don't know the cure."

"Can you cure her?" Frank asked.

"Who even are you?" Annais spat.

The boy regarded her for a moment before nodding at Frank. "Of course I can," he answered his question. "But you'd better hurry inside. I think you've angered every katobleps in Venice."

And with the cow monsters -- katobleps -- roaring and charging at them in a sea of matted grey fur, Annais had little choice but to follow this stranger into the desolate lands of the (his?) town house, feeling like she was racing into a tomb.