1794 (A Frazel AU)

Cold Blood

"I'll kill him. Simple."

"Frank..."

"No. I'll kill him. And I have a plan."

Hazel looked at him. "Can I help?"

Frank nodded. "With your help, we can free some, if not all of the slaves. Here's what we'll do."

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"Master Jupiter, his wife and his children have arrived", Marie informed Pluto.

Master Pluto was in his office, behind the desk, a feeling of longing filling his heart.

Pluto, staring desolately outside, barely nodded. "Okay...thank you."

Marie nodded and left.

Pluto turned back to the window and sighed. "Proserpina..."

Knock, knock knock, someone knocked at Pluto's door.

"Come in."

It opened, and Mars walked inside. "You asked for me, Uncle?"

"Yes, come sit with me." They sat at the office desk. "Mars."

"Yes sir."

"For as long as you have been master I have seen you work diligently. You work hard and I admire that. What if you and I co-partnered the plantation."

He said that like a command, Mars noticed.

"Of course! It would be amazing", Mars said happily. "It'll be amazing."

"Should we prepare a toast?"

"Why of course", Mars got up and walked to the cupboard. "Lets see...Sam Adams or ale?"

"Sam Adams."

Mars began to pour our the drinks and as he poured Pluto's, he slipped the salt shaker out of his pocket and shook the white powder into the glass. He finished and turned to Pluto with the cup. He raised his glass. "Raise a glass."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico sneaked around the house, trying to avoid Percy, when he walked into Jason. Literally.

"Hey Neeks", his cousin hailed.

"Don't call me that", the boy smiled back. "Hey Jason."

They hugged. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing much. Have to deal with Percy though so that isn't fun."

"He told me that a friend of yours was here day before yesterday night", Jason raised an eyebrow. "Was it William?"

Nico blushed. "No."

"Okay", his older cousin smirked. Then he frowned. "Does anyone else know?"

"Percy's too dense to figure it out", Nico looked down at his shoes. "But Frank's suspicious."

Nodding, Jason clasped the shorter boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, it'll be okay."

"Yeah, I promise I won't tell."

Nico and Jason turned to the new voice. Frank was standing there, awkwardly smiling as usual. Shifting from foot to foot, he waited for either boy to respond.

"How long...", Nico trailed off.

"Since Percy arrived. It was weird and a little obvious, and William in your room the other night confirmed it."

"Dang."

"Gotta keep the secret better", Jason extended his hand to Frank. "Jason Grace, pleasure to met you."

"Hello, I'm Frank Zhang." They shook.

"I guess you're my cousin."

"First cousin. One day we need to have a family reunion."

Jason laughed, "Gonna keep that in mind."

Coughing suddenly could be heard from Pluto's office. "Father?!", called out Nico, as he and his cousin ran for the door.

Nico threw the door open and found Pluto vomiting on the ground, with Mars rubbing his back. "Hurry, get help!", Mars commanded, pointing out the door.

Jason ran down the hall, but Frank and Nico just stood there, horrified, the obvious sprawled out in front of them.

Mars poisoned Pluto, with something stronger than Warfarin.

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"This is bad", Nico said, closing and locking his bedroom door behind him. "Uncle's becoming impatient."

"What did he poison Pluto with?", asked Percy.

Frank shook his head, "Who knows? We need to find out though."

The boys sat in silence, thinking. After about three minutes, Nico piped up, "What about getting a sample? I can ask Will about it."

"How can we get one though?"

Percy raised his hand for attention. "What about a slave getting some for us?"

"That's risky for the slave and us", Frank pointed out.

"We don't have much options", Nico responded.

Percy gasped. "Is the great Nico Di Angelo agreeing with me?"

"Shut up you-"

"No", Frank stomped his foot. "We're not putting anyone else's life at risk. The only slave that knows about this is Hazel",  Frank clenched his fist. "And I'm not putting her in danger."

"So what's our other option?"

Frank looked him dead in the eye. "Me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The plan was in motion a day later. Nico walked up to Mars, Jupiter and Neptune after they returned from rounds.

"Excuse me", he said to them. "About the sale of tobacco...um...I was wondering...how do you make so much money from sales?"

"What's wrong with you Nico?", Mars asked. "Its not like you to take interest in the family business."

"Says who? I was always curious."

"Well then", Neptune threw his arm around Nico's neck, causing the poor boy to freak. "Lets show him the ropes boys."

They walked towards the fields, as Percy and Frank watched from the window. "Good, lets go", said Percy. Frank nodded, a serious look on his face.

They rushed down the hall with one thing in mind: saving lives.

Percy stood guard as Frank entered the office. Perplexed, Frank didn't know where to start. He decided on the desk drawers, rummaging through them, but coming up empty. 

Dang it. Nothing. What about the cupboard?

He looked there. Peering behind every book and within each shelf, he studied the cupboard, still finding nothing.

Crap. He ran his hand in his smooth, black hair, trying to figure it out where the poison was. There's nothing here. Maybe I should try his room.

Frank knocked on the door twice slow,  twice fast and Percy opened it. "Found it?"

"No luck. It might be in his room."

Percy grinned. "Then lets go."

The boys walked to the room door and Frank, after convincing himself that this was a good idea, tried the doorknob.

No good. The door was locked.