XVIII

Frank, Hazel, and Nico push through crowded, hot Venice, where shaggy, plant-eating monsters clog the narrow streets. Nico senses lemures and guides them to a deserted plaza dominated by an old well and a herd of the cowlike creatures. Beyond a lion-carved archway sits a single black-painted townhouse—La Casa Nera—emanating cold unease.

As they skirt the well, Hazel trips, and thorny roots surge toward the demigods, exuding green steam that attracts the herd. The katobleps turn hostile, their hidden green eyes making Frank nauseous. To protect Hazel and Nico, Frank orders a retreat toward the arch while he distracts the monsters.

Frank struggles to shapeshift under the mental clash of Mars and Ares, then spots a Venetian lion carving and transforms into a full-grown lion. He leaps atop the well, slashes three katobleps to dust, and momentarily intimidates the herd. When he edges back toward the arch, a katobleps blasts him with poisonous green gas, burning his face and forcing him back to human form, half-blind and sick.

Nico calls to Frank from the arch, having dispatched two pursuers with his Stygian iron, but Hazel has been hit full in the face by the gas and collapses. With more katobleps converging, Nico urges Frank to fly her to the Argo II, fearing they cannot escape on foot.

Before Frank can transform again, a young man appears in the doorway of the Black House, calmly stating that Hazel’s friends don’t know the cure. He claims he can heal her and warns that they have angered every katobleps in Venice, compelling them to hurry inside La Casa Nera.