The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 20

"Do those mountains look funny to you guys?" Rosaline asked.

Percy focused into the distance, squinting through the waning sun.

When they had reached the shore, Rosaline, Adriana and Psi refused to rest (well, more like Rosaline and Adriana; Psi collapsed of exhaustion when they reached the shore, but Rosaline spurred him into action by kicking him in the side), and began leading Percy towards the mountains.

Hours had passed as they trekked through the dense jungle, and the mountain range they had decided as their destination didn't seem to be coming any closer to them. Even Percy was getting tired now, but he was too afraid to voice his thoughts lest Rosaline kicked him in her cranky state. But now, it seemed like there was another thing wrong with the mountains.

"The sunlight's streaming through them slightly." Adriana heaved an exhausted sigh. "Just great."

"Maybe it's because of sleep deprivation," Percy suggested, keeping his eyes fixed on the mountains, worried about his mental health. The mountain range seemed to fade slightly out of view every few seconds, as if it was made out of the same mist that seemed to make the forest they were traveling through smell a bit musty, and not rock.

Rosaline shook her head in disagreement. "It's something else," she insisted. "I can feel power coming at me from every direction."

"Power?" Percy immediately uncapped Riptide, ready for action.

"Not that kind of power. More passive. Like someone cast a spell over the land. Something doesn't feel right. Keep on your toes."

At her words, Percy relaxed. As he moved to cap Riptide again, however, he saw a glimpse of the green, grassy ground on the shiny Celestial Bronze blade.

It was golden sand.

Percy frowned. Maybe he was hallucinating. He'd pulled many all-nighters—even multiple consecutively, but the only symptoms he had was extreme tiredness and the desire to collapse right there and then and take a nap. But now, he was just exhausted, as one would be after running a marathon. 

So it had to be real.

For the sake of being thorough, he bent and touched the ground. 

It wasn't dry, wet, or any of the things grass would've been in a rainforest. It was grainy, cold, and seemed to suck out all of the heat in his hand like a leech.

Exactly how sand felt in the night.

Next, he straightened up and attempted to put his hand on a giant sequoia whose trunk was as big as a small car, and whose leaves were blocking the sun.

His hand passed right through it.

He definitely was hallucinating. Maybe he had passed out on the shore, and now he was in a hyper-realistic dream of what his mind thought would happen next. He certainly felt stronger and more energetic than ever before, but he had pegged that upon adrenaline, which, in the number of quests he'd gone on, had been a playing factor of why he didn't drop of exhaustion after every fight. But now it didn't seem like the case.

"I'm definitely dreaming," Percy muttered under his breath as he jumped over a log.

"What's that?" Adriana asked, hot on Percy's heels.

Percy blushed, not expecting anybody to hear what he said. "Nothing . . . I was just thinking of what Rosaline said."

He suddenly realized he could only see Adriana. "Where are Psi and Rosaline?!"

Adriana looked around and drew her sword. "I don't know! Psi was a few steps ahead of me, grumbling about how he should be paid for his hardships."

Percy didn't know how to respond to that for two reasons: