━━ chapter nine
noxious clouds

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     SAM HATED how he got bad memories from the good memories that stemmed from Venice. It didn't put him in a good mood. He tried to keep his usual positive nature up and running, but the jokes and comments came out dry like he was a bottle with his final drip of water in a long-lasting drought. 

    It wasn't that Venice was a bad place. It was really nice━sure, it had its moments, but don't all tourist attractions? Sometimes, the hype really overshadows the truth. Like, Sam is pretty sure all those tourist pictures don't account for the really weird monster cows. Truth was, Sam didn't really remember seeing the guys the last time he was here, even if he had been young. Maybe he didn't stink 'Demigod' as much as he did then, but Sam had gone through his trip with his father to Venice monster-freak free. It wasn't until he got back that things started to change. 

     And not for the better. 

    Don't go down that hole, Sam told himself and instead focused on what these strange cows were eating, and what they might be. He hated not knowing; he should know. He watched one find something it seemed to like at the edge of a canal. It nibbled and licked at the crack between the stones until it dislodged some sort of green root. The monster sucked it up happily and moved along.

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

     Sam stepped closer; hesitant as he tried to see. He gripped Fiona's pugio, holding it very tight after almost losing it forever to those stupid Kerkopes. "Eh ..." he murmured as he did. "I wouldn't be too sure; best not to jinx it."

     Hazel slipped her hand into Franks, agreeing, "Yeah. Unless they supplement their diet with demigods. Let's hope not."

     "Maybe they're like a Brachiosaurus," suggested Sam. The others looked at him strange. He frowned. "You know, the dinosaur? The one with the long neck that ate plants? Literally right up there with the fame beside the T-Rex?" Hazel, Frank and Nico just stared at him blanky. "Right, 'course. Well, I was gonna say they could have multiple stomachs for digestion, but whatever. Probably don't want that ... because that might make them Omnivores━aka, weird greet root eaten to digest demigods."

     Frank made a face, "Yeah. Better not be that."

     Sam gave the crack in the stone another glance before he joined the others and they continued their walk through the narrow streets. The water of the canals struck at Sam's nose; muddy━like he had walked into an old home with wet, dripping paster and mold in the ceiling corners. 

     Nico suddenly stopped. "There."

     He pointed and they followed him into a smaller street, leaving the canal behind. Ahead was a small plaza lined with five-storey buildings. The area was deserted━as if the mortals could sense it wasn't safe. In the middle of the cobblestone courtyard, a dozen of the strange monsters were sniffing around the mossy base of an old stone well.

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

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

     Sam frowned. Nico's eyes must be way better than his. He squinted━at the far end of the plaza was a stone archway carved with lions. It led into a narrow pass where one town house was painted completely black━the only black building Sam has seen in Venice. 

     "Gonna take an estimated guess," he said. "But is that La Casa Nera?"

     Nico sent him a look. 

     Hazel's grip tightened around Frank's hand. Sam glanced at them, and then had to look away, hating how he felt a strike of jealousy. Not because he liked either of them, but because they were a couple, and Sam was single and lonely. It was such an unproblematic thing to worry about right now, but he was. "I don't like that plaza. It feels ... cold."

     Nico nodded. Maybe it was because they were children of Hades and could feel strange 'coldness', because Sam didn't feel anything. The Ghost King studied the town-house windows. Most were covered with wooden shutters. "you're right, Hazel. This neighbourhood is filled with lemures."

     "Lemures?" echoed Frank, nervous. "I'm guessing you don't been the furry little guys from Madagascar?"

     "Yeah, no," said Sam before Nico could answer. The Son of Hades frowned at him, if not a little miffed. Sam couldn't help it. He just had to explain. He needed to be the one to know things. His pride made him jump in at every chance, even if someone else knew the answer better than he could. "I mean, I wish, but no, these guys are angry ghosts. The go back to the Roman times and hung around a lot of Italian cities."

     Nico glowered at him for a second longer before deciding to say, "I've never felt so many in one place. My mom told me ..." he faltered. Sam arched a brow, taken aback by the sudden pained look upon Nico's face. "I━I mean, she used to tell me stories about the ghosts of Venice."

     "You're mom was Italian? She was from here? Venice?" Sam asked before he could stop himself. His mouth moved before he could think about it━which was something new. He always thought things through. Talking to people and asking questions was as strategic as a battle plan, or a architectural design. If he had thought about it, he wouldn't have asked. But Nico had mentioned something about himself: about his past. He had a mother, which was absurd to find so absurd. But like Sam couldn't believe this boy had freckles, he couldn't believe him to be so human and normal that he had a mother, too. 

     (It made him feel a wave of guilt). 

     He expected Nico to scowl; to glare at him and make Sam feel like he was being devoured to the Underworld in shadows. But, to his surprise, the son of Hades nodded reluctantly. He refused to look at them, fixing his gaze upon the townhouse. "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."

      Sam hated how his lips parted slightly. Nico didn't look like he had been born around the Second World War. Not with that aviator jacket and skull ring. He looked like one of those emo kids you'd find in the back of the classrooms, who thought they were so much better than everyone else because they wore all black. But Nico had layers━a lot of them, it would seem. Freckles, dangerous powers, Italian and full-on a ghost from the past, forced into another time. (Did Sam mention the freckles?).

     "I ... uh ..." Sam tried to shake himself out of it. "You ... wait ..." he was becoming flustered. He noticed Nico and the others were watching him, confused by his actions. It made him unable to think, and ask a really stupid question which really hurt his pride. "Does that mean you saw Mussolini?"

     Nico frowned, back to being angry. "Yeah," he said with that strange sarcasm that almost made Sam believe him, and yet suspicious enough to not. "And I remember Stalin's Five Year Plans and the march onto Rome. No, I was in America before World War Two started and I barely remember anything before that."

     Sam was still gaping like a fish. Pull yourself together! He scolded.

     But he has freckles━

     Shut up!

     He went pink at the cheeks and had to turn away, very confused at the way he suddenly seemed to have a racing heart. Why was Nico so different today? Sam still found him frustrating and unnapreciative, freckles and sarcasm don't excuse that!

      Frank saved him by managing an awkward, "Must've been hard on your mom. I guess we'll do anything for someone we love."

     Nico stared at the cobblestones. "Yeah," he said bitterly, like Frank had brought up bad memories, too. "I guess we will."

     Sam wasn't sure what Nico was thinking, but he supposed even the Ghost King loved people; he would surely do anything for Hazel and Fiona, Sam could imagine that. And one of them was in grave danger. But it was more than that; it looked as though Nico had tried everything for someone he loved, and failed, losing them all the same. 

     "So ..." Sam swallowed his strange feelings all day, "... lemures. How do we avoid them?"

     "I'm already on it," said Nico. "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," she suggested.

     Halfway across the piazza, things did get messy, but it had nothing to do with the angry ghosts.

    They were skirting the well in the middle of the square, trying to give the cow monsters a wide birth, when Hazel stumbled on a loose piece of cobblestone. Frank caught her, but six or seven of the shaggy creatures turned to look at them. Sam glimpsed glowing green eyes under their manes and instantly, he was hit with a wave of nausea. His knees shivered. "Whoa ..." he let out, stumbling as well with a hand flying straight to his stomach. 

     The creatures made deep, throbbing sounds in the back of their throats. 

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

    "I'm such a klutz," cursed Hazel. "Sorry."

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

     Sam glanced down. His widened. That wave of nausea grew, but it was more a feeling of dread than anything else.

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

    Nico stepped back. The roots snaked out in his direction, trying to follow. They got thicker, exuding a steamy green vapour that smelled of boiled cabbage. Sam quickly stepped on one and it recoiled away from Nico and turned to him instead. The cows didn't like that. Sam gasped and struggled backwards, brandishing Fiona's knife. The root reared back like a furious snake.

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

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

    "The root you just stepped on," grumbled Nico to Sam.

     Sam didn't even have a comeback, he just winced. "This isn't good."

    The entire herd was now looking their direction. The low, foghorn growls grew so loud they could be an entire fleet of ships. They stamped their hooves. Sam understood very well; they were standing on their food, and these cows do not like demigods who stand on their food.

     Sam tried to think, but the steamy green vapour that clouded around his sneakers was making him feel light-headed. That sick feeling returned, trying to force its way up his throat. He looked up to the cows and caught glimpse of those green eyes again. He almost doubled over, the nausea nearly becoming too much.

     Frank noticed as well. "Don't meet their eyes! I'll distract them. You three back up slowly towards that black house."

    The creatures tensed, ready to attack.

    "Never mind," said Frank. "Run!"

     He tried to run, but every few steps, he felt the need to puke. Sam grasped onto the bricks and edges of the buildings of the piazza, shivering like he had caught a terrible bout of the cold. He tried to keep up with Nico and Hazel who were bolting while Frank tried to turn into some animal to give them time. But neither was working well. 

     Sam gritted his teeth, pushing himself along. That rotten smell filled the back of his mouth and his nose. But he had to keep going. If he didn't, he was a dead demigod.

      Frank was not turning into an animal. And two of the cows of the herd broke off, and were going straight for Nico and Hazel. Sam's heart dropped.

     He pushed past his nausea and forced himself into a run, desperate to reach them. Behind him, Frank yelled, "NO! Me! I'm the rhino!"

     The rest of the beasts surrounded Frank, growling and emitting that rotten noxious green gas. Sam's grip on the pugio was weak and trembling; he was already breaking out into a sweat. He couldn't think properly. He only had one plan, stop those cows from getting to Nico and Hazel. 

     He heard a lions roar behind him, which he really hoped wasn't some hallucination and actually Frank managing to shapeshift. 

     They had made it to the arch, but so had the cows. Nico gritted his teeth and unsteathed his black Stygion iron sword alongside Hazel with her cavalry weapon, but they were going to be overwhelmed. Nico raised his hand and concentrated, but Sam was close enough.

     Somehow, he managed to calculate the right angle and moment to jump onto a lion statue for height and momentum━but he did. Leaping onto the edge, he remembered the little amount of times he paid attention to class at Camp (and somehow found the strength), Sam pushed off the statue and towards the cows. 

     He landed onto one's back and they shrieked, horrified. Sam held his breath, fighting the need to pass out by all the gas and those horrible eyes to bring up Fiona's pugio and down into the back of the cow's neck.

      As it turned to dust, Sam hit the cobblestone. He groaned. The world around him was dizzy. There were multiple Hazel and Nico's. He searched for the knife. Miraculously, he grasped the hilt and brought it upwards onto the cow breathing on top of him. But he missed. By a longshot. Turned out the cow to his left was just thin air and the real one had been the right.

      Sam struck the stone again. This time, he had no strength to get up. His vision was horrible. He saw Hazel crumpled, unconscious not far from him, and the remaining cow attacking them nothing but a puddle of dark shadows with Nico standing over ...

      He couldn't hold it back any longer. Sam's head dropped, and he was met with the dark. 

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     a/n: since sam isn't apart of the prophecy of the eight, i can't really make him pivotal in the quests or stuff like that. he has his moment coming up, and i'm sure you guys can guess how he helps stop gaea. but right now, he's around, helping, but he can't do too much otherwise he'd become important to the Eight even when he isn't apart of the prophecy. so, yeah, sorry for the short quest moment and him passing out, i just gotta do what i gotta do for the plot.

     but after that moment, nico owes sam his life like twice now, so ... boi better say thank you, like--

     also, i totally like forgot nico got turned into a plant in this part of the book ahahaha. i knew he did, but i forget when lol. 

     sorry if you don't like this chapter. we're getting another tartarus one next, whenever i get it out. i'm being lazy with updating, i'm sorryyy. i'm still a mess, but i'm always am lol