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

Chapter 31

There were four monsters; three hellhounds, and one dracaena. The hellhounds had their mouths open, brandishing their jagged teeth, ready to maul the first thing they saw. They were each easily as big as dumpsters and packed more muscle into their furry frames than a bodybuilder. Their eyes cased the surroundings like a laser, ready to burn anything they saw—or in this case, ready to maul anything they saw. Meanwhile, the dracaena had Void Gold armor on and had a matching sword and a metal net. I didn't know how or why a weird snake lady had tagged along with three rabid and wild monster dogs, but it sure wouldn't make the fight easier. In fact, it would probably make it harder, since snakes and dogs somehow mixed pretty well—especially when it was in the Greek world.

The monsters finally caught sight of us and started running towards us. I guessed that they had either stumbled across us accidentally or had smelled us from miles away. Still, they were far enough that we could probably escape.

That was when I realized I still didn't have total control of my body. It was something I had never seen before or experienced; it was like someone wrenched away the controls of a remote control truck from me—but instead of a truck, it was my body.

Rosaline seemed to understand I was in no shape or form to move either. "Get ready," she warned Psi and Adriana. "We're going to have to fight them."

Rosaline stood up to join them, and they prepared to fight. They spread out in a line in front of me, sort of like a human shield, so that I was protected. Fortunately, Psi was on the side and not in the middle, so if he decided to let the monsters maul me, Rosaline and Adriana could quickly recover.

Meanwhile, I was busy cursing my stupid body to grow a spine and get up; like most soldiers, I didn't like to be on the sidelines when I could help, especially when I couldn't defend myself if things delved into chaos—there were four monsters, and three of us fighting. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we were outnumbered.

The monsters now had crossed the river. Instead of diving straight into fighting, however, the dracaena stopped a few feet away from Rosaline, Adriana, and Psi. The hellhounds obediently sat down behind her, signifying she was the leader.

"Well, well," the dracaena hissed out, her reptilian tongue slithering out of her mouth with every inflection. "What do we have here? A few humansssss on their own, traveling through thissss dangerousss little forest?" The dracaena hissed a bit louder, and even with my repeated encounters with them, it took me a few seconds to realize she was laughing. "Don't expect me to ssspare you, now." Still, she kept her sword pointed towards the ground non-threateningly, like she was talking to us casually, and not trying to intimidate us.

However, Rosaline was not fazed by this. "Look, lady," she began, pointing the tip of her sword towards the dracaena. Even though the weapon was a mere meter from her chest, and Rosaline could easily shish kebob her spleen in a second, the dracaena still didn't react. "We're not scared of you. In fact, you should be the one scared of us."

"Why?" the dracaena taunted. "All I sssee are three humansss pointing their measssly mortal weaponsss towards me. Even if you could kill me, which isss highly unlikely, I would immediately sstart reforming in Tartarusss."

"Our weapons are made of Chaos Steel," Psi said proudly. "And we've beaten better foes than you in the past. You're just a meager creator that nobody loves. Nobody will miss you even if you fade for eternity."

Rosaline looked towards Psi and frowned. "That's going a bit too far. We're enemies. Not bullies."

"B-but they're monsters!" Psi exclaimed, enunciating the word as though it was worse than trash. "It's all true!"

"No it issn't." The dracaena glared at Psi, looking as hurt as a snake lady could. "I sssstill have feelingssss. You can insssult them as long as you want, and they won't care. They don't have brains." She jabbed a finger towards the hellhounds behind her, who perked up at her movement, but sat down again when she turned back towards Psi. "And you. I'll make ssssure I keep you alive sssso I can torture you."

Psi gulped, and his confidence disappeared. "That won't happen," Psi said weakly, then turned towards Rosaline. "Right?"

Rosaline ignored him and stared straight at the dracaena. "Would you be willing to let us go if I gave you Psi?" she asked curiously.

Psi gulped again, seriously concerned with his safety. Even though I was essentially restrained on the ground, it was still satisfying to see Psi sweat it out.

"Unfortunately, I'm under ordersss to kill anyone that stepsss into hiss foresst," the dracaena said apologetically, making Psi sigh with relief. "Otherwise, I would gladly take your offer."

It seemed like the dracaena was done talking. She readied her weaponss, hissed out some sort of battle cry—but before she could charge, Rosaline interrupted her by saying, "You sure you want to fight us? We just killed this guy a few minutes ago." She gestured towards me, stepping out of the way just slightly so the dracaena could see me, but if she decided to charge at me, Rosaline could quickly step back and defend me.

While this was going on, I was confused; I obviously wasn't dead, but I understood it was a lie—but how was the lie going to change anything? A dead person was a dead person; nothing about our situation would change.

The dracaena seemed as confused as me. "And? You just made my job eassier." But then her eyes widened in what I imagined in horror as she stumbled back a few steps. "Isss that . . . Percy Jackson?! The unkillable Dracaena slayer?"

"Is that what he's called these days?" Rosaline asked, amused. "Huh. I would've never thought someone that easy to kill would have a title." She disguised her knowing smile as a glance backward at me.

"That issssn't possible," the dracaena said desperately, as though trying to convince herself. "You're . . . lying."

"I wouldn't take that chance if I were you," Rosaline warned. "I killed him, and I'm not afraid of killing you."

It was at that time my body decided to move. I groaned, and my hand reached up to itch my head. 

Stupid body, I scolded it. First, you revolt, then you try to get us killed? What are you doing?! Have priorities!

But it was too late. The dracaena was furious. "You will die for tricking me," she hissed, her confidence restored. "Except the whiny kid," she added. "He's getting tortured.