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

Chapter 4

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

Ba-dum.

The sound was scrambled and distorted, as though Percy was underwater. His head felt like someone was hitting it with a hammer while every time his heart thumped his body felt like it was full of scalding lava as though even his arteries had been scalded from the blast. 

He tried to open his eyes, only to realize they were stubbornly stuck shut. He tried to move, or even use any of his sense, but everything felt . . . off.

He couldn't smell, or even feel. It felt like he was floating.

So he did the only thing he could do:

Fall back asleep.

~~~

The next time Percy awoke, he felt significantly better. The pounding in his head had faded into a distant thudding, and he could finally feel the soft fabric of a cot underneath himself. He was so relieved that his senses had been returned to him, he didn't realize he had opened his eyes until it was too late.

Tears slid down his face as he clenched them closed, blocking out the harsh light of reality which seemed to travel through his pupils and bore into his brain like a laser.

He took deep, rattling breaths as his headache spiked up. Slowly, he opened his eyes again, squinting around the room.

He was in his cabin, back at Camp Half-Blood. Artemis was sitting at his feet, sorrow clouding her beautiful features. When she noticed him staring at her, she immediately leapt onto him.

"Careful," he groaned, his voice scratchy as Artemis' weight forced him deeper into his blankets while pushing the air out of his weak body.

"Do you have a death wish?" Artemis hissed directly into his sensitive ear, making him wince. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The pain and anger in her eyes hit Percy like a train, and Percy realized how worried he had made her. In the heat of the moment, it seemed the right thing to do—but when he thought about how he would feel if Artemis had done what he did, he grasped the severity of the situation.

He had almost died for a foolish reason.

Percy pulled Artemis closer to his chest. "I'm sorry," he said, letting his regret flow into the words.

"You should be," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt.

"Can't . . . breathe," he gasped out as she squeezed him with all of her godly strength.

Artemis just glared at him. "Good." She released him from her iron grip, giving him a peck on the lips and muttering, "I'm glad you're not dead," before giving him reprieve from her weight and moving back to her original spot, next to his feet.

"How long have I been out?"

"Two whole days."

Percy's eyes widened in horror. "I have to meet Chaos!"

He frantically thew the blankets off of himself and jumped up to his feet, only to realize this was a bad idea.

"Careful," Artemis warned, helping Percy back to the bed as his vision turned black and almost fainted. "You need to rest first."

Percy was too weak to struggle. "Just dunk me into water or something."

Artemis gave him a wicked grin, and he resigned himself to his fate as she carried him towards the fountain in the center of his cabin.