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

Chapter 40

The lockdown sequence at this Chaos base was way more efficient than the one I experienced in Chaos' palace—though that might've just been because there were fewer soldiers here than there.

As the order was passed throughout the compound, soldiers became more alert, but at the same time, didn't draw their swords and run around screaming, hoping to incapacitate the person who had invaded their base. (It wasn't a happy sight in my previous lockdown, because instead of looking for the enemy, I sometimes thought the soldiers were looking for the person who initiated the lockdown and teach him a lesson—which was me.)

Soldiers began taking stations all over the compound, so they could act as safety nets if the Eon was running away from a group of people towards them. Plus, they helped clear rooms without Psi and me having to check all of them by ourselves since literally everybody knew the face of Eon—Chaos had mandated it because she was the right-hand-woman of Void.

Meanwhile, at the exits, the presence of guards increased significantly. Nobody could go through without a serious and thorough identification and search. This involved showing your badge, then stating all your information—like your name, date of birth, where you live, and other things the Chaos officers would know of their soldiers—without hesitation to a scribe who would then run away and double-check these records with the nearest trustworthy Chaos officer while the guards at the exit would search every inch of you to see if you had contraband. 

We breezed past the exit with only a few glances aimed at us.

Everybody in the compound knew Psi, so there was no reason to check him (this also might've been the case because no one wanted to stir up trouble with the oldest baby in the universe). It might seem counter-intuitive to get out of the base that our target was in,  we didn't know if she was still there. She could've easily escaped before the lockdown—or she was hiding somewhere that nobody expected of her.

Like outside.

Psi and I had checked every corner of the base but had come up dry. We reasoned that if Eon was still in the base, the guards would catch her—or she would still be stuck there when we returned.

"Where did you even get your intel from?" Psi asked, frustrated.

We were searching the stables, the only thing outside left, save for digging into the ground. Not surprisingly, there were also several soldiers here to prevent Eon from escaping and grabbing a horse. Still, for the sake of being thorough, we made sure to check everything.

I turned towards Psi, prepared to tell him an elaborate story of how I had extracted the information that Eon was here from a soldier—which was not at all true. I had the sense that if he learned I had gotten my information from a horse, he would be furious.

But I was interrupted by that said horse as she peeked out of her stable. She looked as sad as a horse could be. Why did you leave so abruptly, milord? she asked in a sulky tone. What did I do wrong?

I made a show of acting with surprise at her and then started petting her. "You did nothing," I told her in my head. "I just had to do something real quick."

Charlotte shot me an are-you-stupid look. Then why are there so many soldiers here? I told you something bad, didn't I?

I didn't know how to respond. Technically, she did tell me something bad, but that piece of intel was very useful. However, if she had told me a bit earlier—which was certainly not her fault—we might've had a better chance of success. Anything I said would technically be untrue, and since I was already feeling guilty about abandoning her without a reason, I didn't want to lie unless it was necessary.

Instead, in my mind, I asked her, "How long ago did you see the person in gold armor?"

I'm not really sure, Charlotte admitted. I thought she was a normal guard so I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry . . . she seemed to get even sadder. I knew something was off. I should've been more alert.

I rubbed her mane reassuringly. "It is not your fault. You didn't know. That bit of information was helpful on its own."

I was going to add to this, but Psi interrupted me. "Don't tell me you got your information from a horse," he said, layering the word with so much disgust that even I was offended.

Immediately, I realized that I had paid too much attention to Charlotte that Psi somehow knew I was communicating with her. 

I immediately turned toward him, trying to salvage the situation before it was too late. "Why would you think that?" I said, doing my best to laugh disbelievingly, even though it probably sounded fake.

Psi gave me an are-you-stupid look. "You're a son of Poseidon. You can talk to horses. You've been looking at one for who-knows-how-long, ignoring what I've been saying."

I immediately gave up on changing his mind. "How did you even know?"

"I didn't. Your reaction just confirmed my suspicion." I had a feeling he had a triumphant smile behind that hood.

Since when did you become this smart? I wondered, doing my best to not listen to the part of me that wanted to pummel Psi for insulting Charlotte.

Is that the person everybody is searching for? Charlotte asked.

I turned around as fast as I could and looked where Charlotte was looking, making Psi repeat my movements.

A Chaos soldier was hurrying to get through the outer gate. Everything looked normal, and the guards at the gate checking the soldier's background seemed to be in no sort of distress. 

I was about to ask Charlotte why she brought attention to this soldier when a gust of wind shot past me, strong enough to blow the soldier's loose uniform a few millimeters up.

She was wearing golden armor underneath. Void gold.