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

Chapter 32

The monsters charged at Psi, Adriana, and Rosaline as I watched with apprehensive eyes for my safety. 

Rosaline was the only one I wasn't worried about; she was primordial, and she could beat several primordials in a fight at once. I was more worried about Psi and Adriana, since I had only seen them fight a few times—and in those few times, only in a few places, because I was also fighting too.

Sure enough, Rosaline engaged a hellhound in a fierce fight between sharp claws and a sharp sword. I could tell that it was an easy battle for her, but the only thing stopping her from killing the monster was that it kept on retreating out of Rosaline's range when it knew it had a disadvantage. And Rosaline couldn't walk forward to kill it, because if she did another hellhound might try to flank her, or even worse—try to go for me.

Meanwhile, Psi and Adriana were holding their own, but just barely. That didn't mean they were bad fighters since these hellhounds obviously had the advantage for a fight; they were at least five times bigger than Psi and Adriana, and they had three sets of weapons; their right claws, left claws, and teeth. Psi and Adriana also had to be very careful, because one injury would mean reformation.

That's when I realized something was off.

Psi, Adriana, and Rosaline were each fighting a hellhound. But where did the dracaena go?

I found my answer when I heard a loud hissing sound from behind me. "Finally!" the dracaena said, coming into my view. "I can get my revenge for my sisterssss!"

This proclamation was so loud that Rosaline heard it. She quickly glanced forward and her eyes widened in horror as she realized what was going to happen. 

Meanwhile, I had to resort to watching the situation out of the corner of my eye, since it seemed I had no control over any of my body's functions. It was very inconvenient since I couldn't even watch my death clearly.

The dracaena raised her sword over my chest as Rosaline threw a dagger toward her hellhound. She began sprinting at an inhumane speed toward me, the monster behind her howling in pain as it turned into golden dust which gently fell onto the ground. 

Adriana and Psi automatically moved closer together so that their fight became one big one instead of two different ones.

Rosaline wasn't going to reach in time. I watched in apprehension as the dracaena's sword began its downward descent toward my heart.

But it didn't reach. Instead, it plunged deep into the soft dirt, in the spot my heart was. 

The moment before this, I suddenly felt an unknown emotion course through my veins. Why was  I waiting for my death? I still had a long life to live. And I couldn't leave Artemis alone. Was I going to die but the hand of a dracaena? The same species that had taken my power, my life away from me?

That was the second I realized it was anger that was flowing through me. As though it was lava melting ice, I felt my control over my body being replaced once again. I looked up, realized I was about to get killed by the pointy end of a sword, and simply rolled out of the way.

The dracaena just looked at me, dumbfounded as I calmly got back up to my feet. "H-how?" she spluttered out. "Weren't you just unconssscious?"

"I wish I had a better answer, but I know as much as you do," I said truthfully. Then, before she could react, I pulled out Riptide and sliced her head clean off. I watched, satisfied, as her body transformed into golden dust.

I barely looked away before I was enveloped in a tight hug by Rosaline. "You stupid man!" Rosaline scolded me, her voice full of emotion. "You were so close to dying! What were you thinking?!"

"It's nice to know that you care about me this much," I teased her, avoiding the question. Because I didn't know what I was thinking—or more like what my body was thinking.

"Don't think too highly of yourself. I'm worried about what Artemis would do to me if you didn't come back. Especially since you refuse to take up immortality." But I noticed how she wasn't letting go of me like she was afraid I would do some kind of stupid stunt that would get me killed—which, in her defense, was highly likely.

"I'm hurt," I said mockingly. But then all of the playfulness dropped out of my voice as I heard yelling behind us. "We should probably go help Adriana and Psi."

Rosaline pulled back, looking sheepish. "Right. I forgot about that."

We both pulled out our swords and joined the rest of our group in battle. 

"Fancy that you can help now," Adriana said when I appeared next to her, taking some of the load off of her to fight her hellhound. To the left, I saw Rosaline do the same thing to Psi. "What even happened?"

"I don't have a clue," I admitted, slashing at the hellhound which forced it to move back a few steps. "I stepped into the water, and then I couldn't move. I could think, and all my senses were perfectly fine, but I couldn't do anything else."

"Looks like you're once again a threat to the Void soldiers." There was an emotion in Adriana's voice that made me apprehensive about what would come next.

"You could say that," I replied uneasily.

"I would say I'm sorry for this, but I'm not."

Then everything went downhill.

I swung my sword at the hellhound, fully intending to kill it. 

But Adriana's sword met mine, stopping Riptide in the air before I could finish the stroke. I looked at Adriana in shock, not understanding what was happening.

Then the hellhound took its chance.

It dove at me, and I was forced to let go of Riptide and roll out of the way. I crashed into Psi.

"Watch it!" Psi snapped as I balanced both of us.

"Adriana betrayed us!" I exclaimed suddenly, so shocked that I wasn't even insulted by his tone.

But that's when I realized everything. And my mistake. 

I spun around, my hand drifting to my pocket to pull out Riptide . . .

Only for the black fur of the second hellhound to collide with Psi and me.

Its sharp claws dug deep into my stomach, cutting through muscle skin, and filling my veins with liquid pain.

We collided into a tree a second later. Most of my ribs broke with a loud crunch, and I suddenly was racked with so much pain that I couldn't move.

The world swirled into darkness as the hellhound shadow traveled with Psi and me in tow, and I found myself lying on the hard floor of a modern building, staring at the dark ceiling that was decorated with light bulbs every few feet.

The hellhound roared as people surrounded us, armed with weapons. I was covered with gold dust as the monster was sent back to Tartarus, but I didn't have the strength to complain. I was hurting too much.

Then I blacked out.