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

Chapter 76

As it turned out, nobody wanted to be tackled over the wall.

In retrospect, that had been quite relieving to see. I didn't want to risk my life again—especially not when the targets I was trying to hurt were primordials.

But it sure felt boring when Psi and Jessica surrendered after immediately seeing that I was alive.

Though that was probably because they thought Chaos had somehow died, which I learned from Eon later. 

The Void Generals quickly took Jessica and Psi into custody, taking their weapons. I thought they'd be tossed into the palace dungeon for an infinite amount of years—but Void simply ordered Eon to make sure they left the planet before warning the pair that, if they were spotted on her soil again, she'd make sure they'd never leave.

Jessica and Psi were understandably shaken up at the threat and didn't say a word as they were escorted away by Eon.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I saw them disappear down the tower out of my sight. I turned around to Void, smiling, happy that we'd won . . .

But my view was blocked by Rosaline. 

She was just standing there casually, as though nothing had happened—and that she wasn't an enemy. 

Meanwhile, I was panicked. Rosaline was very dangerous, and I didn't know what she would do after Chaos had been defeated. After all, she was the second-in-command for the Chaos army.

In addition, the rest of the Generals seemed ready to leave, and I didn't want to be left with my own devices agains an enemy primordial—something that had happened often enough that I didn't want to take any more chances.

"Put that down," Void calmly said as I drew Riptide and pointed it at Rosaline.

"What?!" I asked disbelievingly. "But she's on Chaos' side!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," Rosaline told me, but I didn't listen. 

Void shot me an icy glare. I quickly capped Riptide again. I'd gotten that same look from Artemis multiple times, and if Void had even a fraction of Artemis' personality, I was afraid of what she would do if I didn't listen. 

"Do you think I would've let her be if she was?" she asked pointedly.

"So . . . she isn't going to pummel me the second you leave?" I asked doubtfully.

"Nope," Rosaline said cheerfully.

I gave her a suspicious look, then raised an eyebrow towards Void, asking her to confirm.

"She saved me from losing my body once again," Void simply said.

That's all I needed to hear. Before I knew it, I was hugging Rosaline tightly, my suspicions about her allayed. 

"Whoa!" Rosaline said, catching us before we tumbled off the city wall. "Careful." 

I was too elated to be affected. "I'm just glad I didn't have to fight you."

Rosaline's voice turned softer. "Me too."

We both felt quiet, being comfortable in each other's embrace. Even though we'd only been friends for about a year, it felt more like I was hugging a sister I had a close bond with—

My peaceful thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hundreds upon hundreds of voices exclaiming in confusion. 

Rosaline and I jumped back from each other, our moment ruined.

I spun around, and I found more than five thousand Chaos soldiers staring at me from the ground.

I was overwhelmed for a second, thinking that Chaos had come back. But then I realized that Void had summoned them with a snap of her fingers. 

When the soldiers realized it was indeed me they were staring at, they started jeering and booing. Some picked up rocks from the ground and threw them at me—but all of them missed. Few searched their pockets, looking for weapons that would do damage.

Void stepped forward and snapped her fingers again. Suddenly, a loud boom filled the air, not unlike the sound of thunder.

Immediately, the soldiers froze and, somewhat creepily, shifted their attention to Void in unison. 

Void addressed calmly. "You have two choices: Surrender, and I'll send you back to your planet unharmed. Or stick by your master's side even in defeat, and die."

For a few seconds, there was utter silence as the soldiers appeared to process that, in a matter of minutes, they had lost. Then the air was filled with shouts as they chimed in with their opinions.

Void snapped her fingers again, and all of the Chaos soldiers disappeared.

I looked at her, impressed. "You knew who wanted what?"

"No," she said. "I was lying about killing the loyal supporters. I sent all of them back."

I stared at her for a moment, but before I could say anything, Void ordered the Generals, Rosaline, and me to search the entire city for any straggling Void soldiers.

I was reluctant to leave Void, but I made myself follow Rosaline, my body heavy and tired. I could rest after everything. After all, how hard could searching be?

I'd known Aurelia was a huge city, but I didn't know how huge until this endeavor. Plus, with seven people total, I thought this would be a piece of cake.

It took half a day to sweep the entire city, and all of my energy.

In the end, I was ready to drop with exhaustion. My feet hurt, my hands hurt, and my head hurt—but Eon wanted to do a secondary sweep to make sure all the invaders out.

Rosaline must've noticed my fatigue, because she suggested that we take it easy for the rest of the day.

"We've been working hard," she insisted.

So we made our way to the nearest inn and booked seven rooms. The beds were hard mattresses that were lumpy, but I immediately fell asleep.

It seemed like only a moment had passed when I was wakened up by Eon. The sun was streaming through the window.

And then we went back to searching.