━━ chapter eight
children of athena

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

      COINCIDENCES didn't just happen as a demigod. The fact that Leo found a book from the Kerkopes they stole from a minor god in Venice, the place they were supposed to go as told by Hecate wasn't just something to ignore. Leo also found something made by Odysseus, which wasn't much, but Sam agreed when he said he found it fascinating. They were both like that━since Leo let Sam help out with the controls on the Argo II, he started to gain quite a liking to engineering, which very much linked to his want to take up architecture; as most children of Athena did. 

      And so they continued their way to Venice with the book and the God in mind. Sam waited it out by himself━well, not really, he was sitting with Annabeth in her cabin, trying to keep her company now that her best friend was in Tartarus after just finding him again for months. 

      He tried to ask questions about this minor god.

      Annabeth shrugged. She examined the book Leo found, peering at the strange designs. "I have an idea," she murmured. "Thing is, I haven't seen anything like these on Daedalus's laptop. And I can barely read this."

      Sam slumped, "That's encouraging," he muttered. "Is there anything you remember? I'm trying to think but nothing's coming up. There are so many minor gods."

      His sister passed back the book, a shadowy look in her grey eyes. Sam recognised it, and he mentally cursed himself. "Annabeth," he quickly said. "I'm not saying that you don't know anything━that's not what I meant."

      "I know," she grumbled. With a huff, she stood up and started to pace her cabin, glowering at her walls. There was very little in her cabin, it helped her concentrate and not get distracted because of her ADHD. "Just ..." she faltered, and sighed. Clenching her fists, she stopped by her desk, and her scowl landed on her old Yankee's cap; the one that used to be able to turn her invisible but stopped working ever since she talked to her mother about the Mark of Athena. Even after finishing the quest, it was useless. But she still kept it. Sam understood that. 

      He pulled his legs up to cross them on his sister's bed. "Annabeth," he tried, "it's not your fault. We're trying to get them back━and we will get them back. Don't feel guilty about it, okay?"

       "I don't feel guilty," she grumbled, but it was a lie━they both knew it. "I'm just trying to think all this through. So we will get them back, and there will be no chance that we won't."

      "You don't have to think of it yourself," Sam tried to persuade her. But it was difficult; even without this survivor's guilt she was carrying on her shoulders like the weight of the world all over again, Annabeth was closed-off, and she was determined to fix things herself. Her pride most definitely got in the way. Not that Sam was any better. Hubris was common in fatal flaws for Athena children, too. "Just take a breather and join us━we'll come up with a solution."

      Then, Annabeth's harsh glare faltered and with a sigh, she returned to her bed and sat down beside him. "I had this dream," she murmured.

      Sam nodded, and shuffled closer, listening.

      "I saw Reyna," she said, frowning. "She was standing in front of Thalia's tree back at Camp. She ... she looked at me, but when she spoke, it was Mom's voice."

      This made him frown, too. "What did she say?"

     Annabeth took a shaky breath and continued: "'You have done well. The rest of my journey must be on the wings of Rome. I must stand here. The Roman must bring me.' After that, the hill shook, and Gaea rose over Camp Half-Blood; there were Hellhounds, Giants, Cyclops, Earthborn, they were all coming to attack ... 'Hurry, the message must be sent ...'"

     And like that, her eyes widened. Sam titled his head━he knew that look. And it caused for a jolt of proud excitement; that was Annabeth's I have a plan look. "You're planning something," he soon grinned. He clapped his hands together, happy. "You've got your planning something look!"

     Annabeth frowned at her brother, "I don't have a planning something look."

     "Sure, you do━Percy agrees! Your eyebrows knit and your lips press together; it's hilarious━"

     She rolled her eyes and stood up. She scurried around her room, and then found what she was looking for. She pulled out a slip of paper from her desk. Then, she grabbed a pen. Sam's frown returned and he stood up, rushing over.

      "What are you doing?" he asked, hating how he had no clue.

      "Sending a message," she stated, as if it was obvious. "I just hope Rachel gets it."

     "Rachel?" Sam arched a brow. "You mean Rachel Elizabeth Dare━Oracle of Delphi Rachel━"

     "Know another Rachel?" 

       "... Now that you say that, no, no I don't ..." his words fell away as she finished her message, folded the paper and on the outside, wrote:

      Connor,
             Give this to Rachel. Not a prank. Don't be a moron. 

                           Love,
                              Annabeth.

      Then, she opened up Daedalus's laptop, signed in and searched the many plans and amazing properties before she found what she wanted. She clicked on the symbol of Hermes and the disk popped open. She slipped the note inside, closed it, and there was a whir before a ping! 

      Sam was dubious. Annabeth turned to him, before she said simply. "Hermes Air Mail━you've never used it before?"

      No, I don't have a o.p laptop from the greatest inventor of all time━

      "What did you just send Rachel?" Sam instead asked.

     Annabeth's gaze darkened to a stormy grey. She pursed her lips. "I've asked her to do something for me━it's dangerous, but if she succeeds ... I think we will have no chance of failing."

     "And if she doesn't?"

     Annabeth's gaze told him everything. Sam nodded, "Cool, cool, cool, okay━great! Let's ignore that question."

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

      "WHAT are they?"

      Sam whole-heartedly agreed with Hazel's question. 

      Look, let's be honest. One time in Monster Class at Camp, Sam once asked how many monsters there were in Greek Mythology. He always found it easier to learn a list of things when he knew the number; like in biology. He was able to teach himself the scientific names of animals and remember them by catagorising them by their groupings, knowing how many animals are in each group (and making up weird names to synomise their fancy ones by). But Greek monsters could be like math numbers; infinite. You could try and group them into positive numbers up to one hundred, or ten thousand, but then you also have your negatives, and your millions, and your trillions that have the capacity to go on forever, and then you have your Invisible numbers, and fractions━and then it gets confusing. Lucky for Sam, he understood math, but only to a certain degree; the same with monsters. 

      There are some things he's still learning, some things that are harder to learn, and so many equations, rules and theories to remember that they sometimes come together and muddle his head. 

       But as a child of Athena, he and Annabeth were always expected to know the answer. Because, apparently, that meant they had an infinite amount of knowledge━if they did, someone should have let him know, because that would have made his mortal schooling through the camp computer in the Big House way easier. 

      This expectancy was horrible in the way it made him want to know everything, and get frustrated because he didn't━and why shouldn't he? He's the son of Athena! He should know everything! And that's when his pride comes to annoy him, because he knows he's better than this. 

      Or maybe that's his Dad. He can never tell the difference between the derogative shouts.

      You can't do this! You can't be this! That's unnatural━they never really leave, if he was to be honest ...

      But what he's trying to say, was that he managed to learn a lot about monsters and gods by Mythomagic, a common game amongst Demigods. He had a set he played with back in his cabin with his siblings━it helped them learn alot.

     But Sam has never seen a card about these guys, for sure. 

     They had docked at a busy warf in Venice. On one side stretched a shipping channel about half a mile wide. On the other spread the city━red-tiled roofs, metal church domes, steepled towers and sun-bleached buildings in red, white, ochre, pink and orange. Sam once visited Venice when he was younger and his father still was in his life. He remembered the statues of lions, and green canals where streets should have been, and the smell, too. He remembered a tiny bit of Italian, if he really thought about it, but those were parts of Sam's life he didn't like to think about too often. It brought forward troubling memories he liked to push away ... deep, deep and deeper until one day, hopefully, they'll never resurface again, and he can stay this happy, light-hearted, jokester he liked and wanted to be; maybe eventually completely who he wishes to be. Someone comfortable in his mind and body. If not ... well, Sam didn't want to think who he'd be. 

       The man attraction and attention, however, for the demigods, wasn't venice itslef, but the dozen of weird shaggy cow-monsters milling through the crowds. They had a back like a broken horse, matted grey fur, skinny legs and black cloven hooves. Their heads seemed way too heavy for their necks, but that didn't matter, for all they did was dip their long anteater-like snouts to the ground, grazing something on the sidewalks in the nooks of bricks and stone. 

      The tourists all parted around them with no concern, as most mortals do. Sam figured they saw nothing but stray dogs or pets.

       Jason agreed with him, "The mortals thing they're stray dogs."

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

      "I think I saw that movie," mumbled Sam, and she gave him a glance. "Or saw a poster in the Aphrodite Cabin."

      She replied with a strained smile. 

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

      Sam turned his gaze towards Annabeth, arching a brow. She had her thinking face on again, but din't come up with an answer. But this time, she didn't seem to beaten up over it━her message to Rachel (whatever it was) seemed to both motivate her, but also make her beaten up already. 

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

     "Harmless?!" Coach Hedge laughed. The satyr wore his usual: gym shorts, sport shirt and coach's whistle like they were all players in his baseball team. He still had one pink rubber band stuck in his hair from the prankster dwarfs in Bologna, but none of them mentioned anything (it might be wise not to). "Valdez, how many harmless monsters have we met? We should just aim the ballistae and see what happens!"

     Annabeth glowered at him, "No," she snapped. "There are too many of them and there are tourists. We're not shooting anything!"

     Coach looked like he wanted to storm off and whine. He had been begging for a ballistae fight for days. 

     "We'll have to walk through them and hope they're peaceful," then went on Annabeth. "It's probably the only way we're going to track down the god who owns that book."

     Leo pulled out the leather-bound manual from underneath his arm. He had slapped a bright sticky note on the cover with the address he had been given. "La Casa Neva," he read. "Calle Frezzeria."

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

      Sam didn't realise he had been standing beside him. It shocked him, considering Nico had been avoiding him like he was the plague. He stared at him, mouth-agape. They were similar height━maybe Sam might just be a little shorter, but it made him able to stare him in the dark eyes, and he wasn't sure whether that was worse than seeing them from a distance. They were dark, and haunting. Not because he was the son of Hades, but because it was easy to tell they used to be full of youthful light, but now were dull as if everything amusing, and good had been drained; taken away and replaced with a ghostly shell. He really seemed like he had been risen straight from the dead. 

      It made Sam stammer for a second, and he ended up asking a really stupid question, "Y━You speak Italian?"

     Nico shot him a warning look. Watch the questions, he said. Sam just kept staring. "Annabeth is right," then said the son of Hades calmly. "We have to find that address. The only way to do it is to walk through the city. Venice is a maze. We'll have to risk the crowds and those ... whatever they are."

     Thunder rolled in the clear summer sky. They had passed through some storms the night before. Sam off-handedly thought they were over, but apparently not. He was still locked in this stupid gaze he couldn't get out of ... like he had spaced out expect he was counting the number of freckles on Nico's pale cheeks. 

      Freckles.

      This dangerous, haunting and deadly demigod who could swallow them all in shadows if he wanted to had freckles. 

      Jason frowned at the horizon. "Maybe I should stay on board. Lots of venti in that storm last night. If they decide to attack the ship again ..."

     He didn't need to finish. Annabeth nodded and unsheathed her dagger. "I'll stay with you and help."

      Considering Jason was the only one who really had much luck fighting them, Sam suspected Annabeth was just begging to find a way to be useful. She had been the same way when Percy went missing; except this time she couldn't go end to end searching. She was stuck on a ship while her best friend was possibly dead━

     No. They weren't dead. 

     Coach Hedge grunted. "Well, I'm out, too. If you soft-hearted cupcakes are going to stroll through Venice without even whacking those furry animals on the head, forget it. I don't like boring expeditions."

     Sam could finally pull his strange gaze away from Nico to stare at the satyr, incredulous. "I thought satyrs hated hurting animals?"

      Before Coach could explode in some violence-balances-nature-speech and shake his baseball bat at Sam, Leo spoke up, "It's okay, Coach," he 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."

      Sam wanted to help with that━that sounded really cool, but there was a part of him that really wanted to go on this quest. That feeling to impress. To impress who? He didn't know. He just blurted out before he could stop himself, "I've been to Venice before, I could come. I━I also know a little bit of Italian━" he glanced briefly at Nico. "You know, just━um━just━some words━some phrases ... some ... stuff ..."

     What is wrong with me? He screamed at himself. What was that?!

      Nico didn't look any different than he usually did. He just scowled back at him. Sam found himself giving him a bright and nervous grin. 

     "Well ..." Piper shifted her feet. "Whoever goes with Sam should be good with animals. I, uh ... I'll admit I'm not great with cows."

      Sam remembered that story. 

      (He tried not to laugh for Piper's sake).

     "I'll go," then offered Frank.

     But he looked very unsure as to why he even volunteered. 

     However, Leo grinned. He patted him on the shoulder and handed him the manual. "Awesome! If you pass a hardware store, could you get some two-by-fours and a gallon of tar?"

     "Leo," Hazel chided, "it's not a shopping trip."

     "I'll go with them," decided Nico.

      Sam felt something in him spark with that need to impress. And then there was an annoyance━of course, it would be Nico he'd want to impress. Considering he came here to save his life and hasn't receieved any acknowlegdement to the matter, it made sense, and now he was back to being frustrated.

     "You ... you're good with animals?" he instead asked, arching a brow at the son of Hades.

     Nico smiled for the first time Sam's known him. But there was no humour. "Actually, most animals hate me. They can sense death. But there's something about this city ..." his expression turned grim. "Lot's og death. Restless spirits. If I go, I might be able to keep them at bay. Besides, as you noticed, I speak Italian. Fluent," he added, pointedly at Sam. "Not ... stuff."

      Was that ... was that a sarcastic jab at Sam?

      (Is Nico okay today? First he stands beside him, then Sam wants to impress him, and he has freckles━freckles!━, and he smiles without humour and then tries to make a sarcastic quip━?)

      Leo scratched his head. "Lot's of death, huh? Personally, I'm trying to avoid lots of death, but you guys have fun!"

      Hazel caught a look on Frank's face. One Sam didn't see because he was back to staring━if not a bit incredulous━at Nico, trying to think of a comeback, but couldn't. She slipped her arm through Frank's. "I'll go, too. I'm good with horses ... maybe I'm good with monster cows, too?"

      Nico stared at the canals, as if wondering what new and interesting forms of evil spirits might be lurking there. "All right, then," he said. "Let's go find the owner of that book."

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

     a/n: sorry that this isn't edited, but i need to like go paint━like now. so, hope you enjoyed this chapter!!! sorry to leave it so long, and also leave percy and fiona on a small cliffhanger, but we love sam chapters. 

     i also wanted to give annabeth importance for this part. she sends rachel that message in tartarus, which fiona can't obviously do because she doesn't know rachel. and so, annabeth does it on the ship; and it helps give her the slow realisation that she is still capable, and she does still have plans, and ideas and is still smart.

     it's just so hard to write her in something she isn't in, especially when her character is so driven to fix things, and she can't in this situation. 

      but yeah. anyway. 

      sam, everyone noticed you staring at nico ... you werent subtle ;)

     (sorry if there are any mistakes. lol, i accidentally had percy tell fiona the story about kelli twice. i'm such a mess ahahaha).