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

Chapter 66

A/N-Bonus chapter for this week! (AKA me trying to finish the chapters left in this darn book)

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Unfortunately, I could've guessed Omega would've betrayed me two days ago. All the clues were right there—but I kept on pushing them away, refusing to believe that one of my best friends would do such a thing.

But it seemed that only I knew the meaning of a "best friend."

The first clue was simple: Wherever we were, whenever we were there, it seemed as though the Chaos soldiers knew. At first, I had pegged it on their numbers; it seemed as if ninety-eight percent of the population was enemy soldiers. But, given the size of their patrols, they wouldn't be able to patrol the entire city; there'd be blindspots—few of them, but there'd still be some.

Secondly, none of the soldiers seemed surprised to stumble upon us again and again. But if I was one of those soldiers, I would be surprised that I found myself. Truth be told, patrolling an entire city was boring; within minutes, you would already be wishing to be off your shift—and exciting things tended to happen at the most surprising times. The only exception was if you knew where your enemy was.

The frustrating feeling of having enough clues but not taking action tempered the pain of getting betrayed. And fortunately—unlike almost all the other betrayals I had experienced, Omega stayed the same; a nice, loyal primordial. Save for the sword at my throat.

I sighed in disappointment, raising my hands in surrender. The only positive part of this situation—if you could call it that—was that the other Chaos soldiers were stranded on the rooftop with no way down without serious injury. So it gave me some time to talk to Omega and try to find a way to free myself. 

If I could free myself. Omega was a primordial—and a powerful one, at that. If I so much as lifted my hand, he would be on alert. 

So I had to distract him.

"Let me guess," I said, making sure to be as stock still as possible. "You were never against Chaos."

Omega moved so he was in front of me and facing me. He lowered his sword to jab the tip to the left of my sternum, in line with my heart. It hurt, but I got the message: don't do anything stupid.

He knew me well.

"Of course I wasn't," he replied. "I am forever loyal to Lord Chaos. I owe everything to him."

"Then why did you pretend to be with Void? You could've easily helped Chaos capture Aurelia."

"Well, simply for one thing: You."

I suddenly understood. "You needed to get me out of the way for Chaos' plans to go smoothly."

"Precisely."

"But here's what I don't get: Why didn't you capture me before I went on the quest with Rosaline and Psi? Wouldn't that be much easier than wasting so much manpower to delay me?"

"But it wouldn't have worked. Sure, we could've put you in a jail that even Lady Nyx couldn't escape when Lord Chaos punished her for destroying a planet, but we're talking about you; the most irritating person in the world . . ."

Okay, he probably didn't say that (really, what friend has said that before?). But I wasn't really listening for two reasons.

1) I was too distracted studying the surrounding area for things I could use to escape. You see, I didn't really want to know why Omega had chosen such extensive tasks to delay me, since by choosing the obviously worst method he'd given me a chance to do something about my position.

2) And then Charlotte and Fauvel began talking to me.

She was quiet about it, however, even though Omega couldn't hear her. Yo! Milord! Let me help you escape!

Fortunately, I'd practiced talking to horses in my mind without giving external clues. And this might be the way I would flee.

I maintained eye contact with Omega, doing my best to seem as though I was listening to his spiel. Please do. I need all the help escaping I can get. Then I thought of something and realized Fauvel hadn't said anything. Fauvel. Are you going to help?

Charlotte wheeled towards the steed, understanding my train of thought: Fauvel was a very loyal horse, similar to Omega. There was no way he would help me, essentially betraying his master . . . right?

His tail swished nervously. I'm not sure . . .

C'mon, Charlotte pleaded with him. I won't tease you anymore.

Fauvel hesitated, visibly wavering. But he shook his head. I can't. I'm sorry.

I started to question him but was interrupted when Omega trailed off. "Are you listening to me?" he asked, sounding offended.

"Of course!" I retorted, albeit a bit sarcastically—I hadn't heard a word he'd said. "But why are you telling me this—"

"—instead of capturing you?" Omega finished. "Well, I'm waiting for backup."

I bit back a laugh, then pointed towards the soldiers on the roof, who were still staring at us. "Doesn't look like they're doing much to get off the roof."

"I'm not talking about them."

I froze, a shiver of fear traveling down my spine. I fell silent and listened. Aside from everybody's breathing, the city was eerily quiet. I could hear every breeze—

The thud, thud, thud of hoofbeats suddenly permeated through the air. And with each ticking second, they seemed to be coming closer.

Omega grinned at me. "Try escaping now."