Omicron, Chaos's Commander (A Percy Jackson Fan Fiction)

Chapter 20

[A/N: Dedicated to Leonidas_son_of_Nike. It was a WWI Sopwith Camel. Thank you for all of the continuing support! :)]

Annabeth's POV

We had only been at camp for a few hours when I noticed one of the Chaos soldiers, Perseus, suddenly stop moving and stand perfectly still. A faint black glow appeared around him, and then faded a few seconds later. He immediately formed a portal and ran into it, ignoring the startled looks of the other soldiers.

I ran through camp to the spot where the portal had closed behind him, noticing the other soldiers gathering there as well. They just stood there, ignoring the campers moving around them on their various tasks to get the camp ready for another attack.

"Why did he leave?" I asked frantically, worrying about Percy. "What's going on?"

Malcolm turned to me, looking grim. "We don't know."

Suddenly, a portal opened in the air behind him, dropping three people in a heap on the ground.

"Thalia!" I yelled, hurrying over to help her up. "Are you okay? Where's Omicron?"

She grabbed my arm and pulled herself gracefully to her feet, looking frustrated. "I don't know! He got one of his soldiers to bring us back here before we could help him!"

A voice interrupted us. "Little help here?"

I rushed over to help Nico support Luke, berating myself for forgetting about him. Before we could take him to the infirmary, though, Bianca made a stretcher of Chaos energy. We positioned him on it and I watched worriedly as she left with Luke floating on the black mass beside her.

I turned back around in time to see one last portal open and Perseus to step out.

I stormed over to him. "What happened? Where's Omicron?"

The other soldiers closed in behind me, clearly just as curious about the answer as I was.

Perseus took a deep breath, and then explained how he had received a message from Omicron to get Thalia, Nico, and Luke back to camp. "When I tried to create a portal for the commander," he continued, "Hyperion grabbed him from behind and held a sword to his throat. He ordered me to leave without him, so I did. I always follow his orders."

As he finished, I noticed my eyes were filling with tears. That seaweed brain! His selflessness is going to get him killed someday. He might already be dead, for all I know!

'Keep it together,' I told myself. Breaking down won't help Percy at all. I wiped away a stray tear and started thinking about how we could help him. "Is there anything we can do to rescue him?" I asked Perseus.

He shook his head. "Void has already shielded his power from us. They could've moved him anywhere."

I turned away and marched down to the beach, knowing that any further questioning would be pointless. I just needed some time alone to process everything.