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

Chapter 49

A/N-I forgot to press publish yesterday. Apologies for the delay. Enjoy the chapter!

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

In a burst of luck, I blindly grabbed for the edge of the roof and actually caught it. My shoulder was almost dislocated from the force, which racked my arm with pain but I was still alive. I quickly grabbed the ledge with my other hand and sighed in relief. 

That's when I realized Adriana was still above me. She smiled devilishly and said, "You're not out of trouble yet."

And then she stomped down on the fingers of my left hand.

I howled in pain and immediately let go of the roof with that hand, cradling my injured fingers to my chest. It hurt, a lot, and it felt like my fingers had been smushed down physically a couple of centimeters. 

I was now hanging on with only my less-injured arm, which was beginning to feel like my shoulder was actually going to dislocate—or worse—from the weight it had to hold from gravity.

My eyes widened in shock as Adriana positioned her foot above my other hand. "W-wait! Let's talk about this."

Adriana paused, thinking about it. "Alright. What do you want to say?"

I looked at her, so surprised that, for a short time, I forgot I was—literally—hanging on for dear life. "You're not going to kill me?"

"Of course not," Adriana said dismissively, making me sigh in relief yet again. "The fall is not high enough for you to die."

Any relief that I had immediately dissipated. I took a cautious look at the ground and immediately regretted it, quickly looking back at Adriana when my head started spinning at the height. "Y-you can't take that risk! If I fall on my back or my head it'll be game over."

Adriana shrugged. "Not my problem. Just make sure you fall in a safer position."

I looked away and muttered, "When did you get so heartless?"

"This was always my personality," Adriana told me, apparently hearing what I didn't want her to hear. "I hid it from you, Rosaline, and Psi."

"But I thought your father was a Chaos general!" I exclaimed desperately, knowing that she had my life in her hands.

"That was a lie. He was a Void general who captured Chaos soldiers for a living. I swear, it's so easy to trick all you Chaos soldiers." She laughed, proud of her deception.

I sighed in disappointment at myself. I need to stop trusting people.

Something then occurred to me. "If you're going to kill me . . . then why haven't you?"

Adriana laughed. "You want me to kill you?"

"No no no," I hurriedly said. "Forget I said anything."

My arm was beginning to cramp up. I couldn't hold on for much longer.

However, Adriana stubbornly refused to forget. "You asked to talk," she reminded me. "I'm merely obeying your wish."

"But . . . why?" I had to ask.

"You believed in me from the starting, even though I did some particularly suspicious things. I felt bad when I betrayed you. So in a way, this is me repaying your kindness."

"Er . . . I didn't kill you," I said. "So I don't think this will necessarily cancel out your bad actions." I did my best to act as though what she had said about me was true, but really, I was only following Rosaline's perspective.

Adriana was getting annoyed now. "It's a start. Now, I'm afraid you're running out of time."

"But we haven't even talked about the dagger yet!" I exclaimed, trying to do my best to sound disappointed.

My arm was tingling now, not getting enough blood flow. If Adriana didn't finish me off soon, my arm would do it for her.

Adriana seemed to buy it. "Alright. But if I allow you to talk, you have to forgive me for maybe killing you."

"Er . . . alright," I said, hoping that this wouldn't happen. "Why did you go through all of this trouble for a dagger?"

"Yes," Adriana said simply, then lifted her foot up above my hand.

Because of the extended time I was holding my arm in such a bad position, it began to burn in pain, and my grip on the roof began to subside. 

"What do you mean by 'yes'?!" I yelped out, confused at her answer but terrified for my life. "I asked a question."

"And I told you an answer."

"It wasn't a yes-or-no type of question! How is that answering it!?"

"An answer is anything that is a reaction to a question. So, me saying 'yes' is an appropriate answer."

"Well, could you answer my question correctly?" I asked trying to buy as much time as possible before I had to act.

"Of course not. That would be giving away everything. How stupid do you think I am?"

From personal experience, I knew that it was a rhetorical question. "Then why aren't you killing me? There must be something you want to say."

"I was kind of hoping you would fall off on your own and I would only be a bystander," Adriana admitted. "Making your death your fault."

I gulped, not liking the sound of that. "Why don't you just go, and I'll kill myself when the time comes?" I suggested hopefully, well aware I would just climb up once she was gone.

Adriana cocked her head to the side as though she was actually thinking about it. "I don't think that would—"

She was interrupted by a sharp Chaos metal sword on the back of her neck.

"Why don't we slowly back ourselves up away from Percy?" Rosaline asked calmly, even though we all knew it was an order. 

"Ah, Rosaline, you're here too?" Adriana said, not sounding surprised.

Rosaline sighed. "I assume you were waiting for me," she said.

"That would be correct."

"But why?" I asked, confused. 

"So you would get a last goodbye," Adriana said.

And then she stomped on my hand that was preventing me from dying.