ᴾʰᵒᵇᵒᵖʰᵒᵇⁱᵃ [ᴶᵃˢᵒⁿ ᴳʳᵃᶜᵉ]

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THE scent of the suitors was enough to make the translucent layer of Odysseus's palace, shimmering with the same splendor as the first time the spirits lazed around, suck Aza deeper into the past. Crumbling columns, yellowed with age, lay beneath the surface; atop it, a mirage of painted columns supported proud stucco walls. The mortal plane grew increasingly translucent the more the spirits poisoned Aza's presence.

It wasn't fear that rolled from their body, nor sulfur that burned her nostrils, but her nose crinkled as a ghoul caught her wrist before she could escape his presence. A serpentine smile revealed his yellow teeth and a rotted exhale. "You – you're the serving girl who spilled wine on Lord Antinous just a moment ago. Don't you know better than to show your face?"

She lifted her gaze for a moment. Annabeth slowly approached, her grey eyes comfortably burning into Aza's back. Across the room, Piper allowed a suitor to trail his hand up her arm, though her gaze was pointedly on the daughter of Phobos.

Aza swallowed her nausea with a flighty laugh, and she batted her eyelashes in the way Silena taught her long ago. She managed a velveteen purr even through gritted teeth, "I apologize. But then, who would serve such an important lord as yourself?"

His fingertips were ice cold upon her cheeks, and his grasp on her chin only grew tighter after she instinctively tried to pull away. It was difficult to hide her fury and to resist the urge to slice off his hand. He simpered, "You are too beautiful to be kept away. You are very... exotic."

Aza's eyebrows flew to her hairline, and she swallowed her rage. It had been years since she heard a similar comment, but as a child she merely cocked her head and pondered what they meant. It was his exhale of desire – desire for an exotic girl, such as herself – that helped her place the scent of the suitor's greed: it stunk like the back of the Humane Zoo Transportation truck. The fresh, floral breeze of the island was smothered by dirty animals and decay.

She raised her eyes and tried to find the right words. If she were Aza, she would have made him choke on his tongue. But she was a serving girl, and they were meant to be passive and gentle. To the suitors, buried under years of their hate and pride, serving girls were meant to be pretty and mindless, and to keep a smile on their face despite what men said to them.

Annabeth slowly approached, watching the spirit predatorily. Aza met her eyes, with a rare look like an ensnared rabbit. In the center of the palace, Jason found the pair. Rage wove with his wrinkles as he studied her, trapped between the ghoul's icy fingertips: rotted, bloodless fingertips brushing against his girlfriend's velveteen cheek.

Jealousy was foreign to the son of Zeus and yet, as he watched the girl he loved freeze, his anger was kerosene as his insides set ablaze. His girlfriend, whose fiery assertion and self-reliance snared his attention, shrunk. Her shoulders curled; for once, he thought, it would have been difficult to imagine her heritage.

He turned back to Antinous and jabbed a finger, "Maybe you should explain to me why you all are worthy of Gaea's favor? All I see is a dawdling crowd of dead folk chasing serving girls, enjoying themselves and not helping the war effort. What shall I tell the Earth Mother?"

Annabeth appeared on the spirit's other side before Aza's shock ceased and her fury returned tenfold. The blonde extended a wooden serving plate, "Cheese, my Lord?"

He released Aza's chin, a sneer winding across his lips as his flat eyes fell upon the blonde. "Someone should teach you not to interru – this plate is empty! Useless girl!"

Annabeth feigned surprise with wide eyes. "I apologize. Someone must have taken the last piece whilst I wasn't looking. Az... Azalea, you wouldn't mind helping, would you?"