𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

30

Ajax wasn't sure if he was dreaming or watching what was going on in real time.

He watched when the minor god- Triptolemus asked Frank for a favour- a snake to fix his chariot.

Ajax had his doubts about this guy. He didn't like how Trip had paused when Hecate was mentioned.

Strangely, Ajax couldn't see or sense Nico anywhere.

Everything afterwards was a bit of a blur. It was almost as if he was inside Frank's mind. Two voices yelled at the poor guy- one Ares and another Mars.

Ajax was suddenly grateful his mother neither talked to him inside his mind nor did she have a Roman counterpart. This sounded like hell.

Then again, Ajax  thought it must get really awkward if Frank went to the bathroom and these voices still yelled at him. Also could Ares tell what Frank was thinking about? That would really suck.

Ajax watched in awe as Frank killed monster after monster. The katoblepones barely got close enough to him before they were dead already. The son of Mars was on a bridge, something about proving himself like Horatius- The point is, he succeeded.

What seemed like seconds later, Ajax's eyes flew open.

The inside of house wasn't very bright, still Ajax squinted. He coughed, as if to expel all the green gas he had inhaled.

"What-?"

"You're alive" Frank chuckled, a little madly. "Thank the gods"

"No, thank me" Triptolemus spoke up. Frank glared at him to make him shut up which he complied.

Ajax realised why Trip seemed so afraid of Frank all of a sudden.

"Oh wow. You got... buffed up... man" Ajax tried for a no homo response. He didn't know how a cis, straight guy would say it, but he tried okay? It sounded horrible coming from him. Truthfully, Ajax couldn't help looking him up and down. Ooh boy, why did everyone have to be hot?

Ajax tried to look away.

His throat burned like he had swallowed sand.

"What do you mean?" Frank looked down at his body like it was someone else's. Though he didn't look disappointed. "Oh"

"Oh" Ajax mocked. "Clearly, I missed a lot"

Triptolemus heaved a dramatic sigh. "Yes, obviously some sort of blessing from Mars. Congratulations, blah, blah, blah. Now, if we're done here...?"

"Where's Nico?" Ajax looked up at Frank. He felt a little pathetic now, passed out, helpless. Maybe he really wasn't cut out for this hero business.

Frank didn't answer him, only looked at the corn plant to Ajax's left.

"You're kidding" Ajax wheezed, "I am never going to let this go"

He tried to mask the concern behind the humour. Was Nico even okay? Was it a reversible process? What if Trip didn't turn him back-

"Get him back" Ajax said, a little firmer when Trip didn't move- "I said, heal him"

The farm god rolled his eyes. He pointed at the corn plant, and BAM! Nico di Angelo appeared in an explosion of corn silk.

Nico looked around in a panic. "I—I had the weirdest nightmare about popcorn."

He paused, staring at Ajax for a while before seeing the son of Hecate bursting out laughing. Nico glared at him.

"YOU WERE A CORN PLANT"

"Maybe we should've left you to die" Nico rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you?"

Ajax was taunting him, toying with him.

"We saved your life as a moral obligation"

Liar

Nico's mind whispered.

Nico shook his head, best not to dwell on those thoughts. He frowned at Frank. "Why are you taller?"

"Everything's fine," Frank promised. "Triptolemus was about to tell us how to survive the House of Hades. Weren't you, Trip?"

The farm god raised his eyes to the ceiling, like, Why me, Demeter?

"Fine," Trip said. "When you arrive at Epirus, you will be offered a chalice to drink from."

"Offered by whom?" Nico asked.

"Doesn't matter," Trip snapped. "Just know that it is filled with deadly poison."

"So of course we have to drink it" Ajax smiled wide, his sarcasm evident.

"Yes, you must drink it, or you'll never be able to make it through the temple. The poison connects you to the world of the dead, lets you pass into the lower levels. The secret to surviving is"—his eyes twinkled—"barley."

Frank stared at him. "Barley."

"In the front room, take some of my special barley. Make it into little cakes. Eat these before you step into the House of Hades. The barley will absorb the worst of the poison, so it will affect you, but not kill you."

"That's it?" Ajax demanded. "My mother sent us halfway across Italy so you could tell us to eat barley? That was her big "Treasure"?"

"Good luck!" Triptolemus sprinted across the room and hopped in his chariot. "And, Frank Zhang, I forgive you! You've got spunk. If you ever change your mind, my offer is open. I'd love to see you get a degree in farming!"

"Yeah," Frank muttered. "Thanks."

Ajax and Nico stared at him in confusion while he only shook his head.

"Don't ask"

The god pulled a lever on his chariot. The snake-wheels turned. The wings flapped. At the back of the room, the garage doors rolled open.

"Oh, to be mobile again!" Trip cried. "So many ignorant lands in need of my knowledge. I will teach them the glories of tilling, irrigation, fertilizing!" The chariot lifted off and zipped out of the house, Triptolemus shouting to the sky, "Away, my serpents! Away!"

"That," Ajax said, "was very strange."

"The glories of fertilizing." Nico brushed some corn silk off his shoulder. "Can we get out of here now?"

"Are you okay?" Ajax looked at Frank. If he was tall before, Frank was a skyscraper now. Then Ajax asked the question that plagued Nico as well, "What did Triptolemus make you do?"

Frank tried to hold it together. "Those cow monsters...the katoblepones that poisoned you...I had to destroy them."

"That was brave," Nico said. "There must have been, what, six or seven left in that herd."

"No." Frank cleared his throat. "All of them. I killed all of them in the city."

Ajax couldn't help the way his mouth dropped open. "Like.. all of them?"

Frank nodded.

Holy shit.

Nico and Ajax stared at him in stunned silence. How many monsters had they seen from above? Two hundred? Three hundred?

Ajax almost doubted him, but he could feel it. He could feel the death and carnage Frank had unleashed, he could feel the gift of Mars, Frank's glowing aura was brighter now. It was weirdly attractive.

"Well, Hazel's gonna love.. This" Ajax looked Frank up and down again, this time with no shame and a humorous smirk. He didn't even care that Nico smacked him

"So" Nico said after a while, "does anyone know what barley looks like?"

Whenever i get impatient, i just post a lot. So enjoy