Omega's POV
I couldn't lie to her.
I almost wanted to say the truth. Who I was.
But I knew she would be dead if I did.
Atleast hurt.
I went ahead of my three companions, not in such a good mood anymore. It felt nice to be outside, but I was tired from summoning Annabeth's bag and walking for such a long time. It was getting dark. I felt nervous in the dark, because I couldn't see anything. It was cold for a spring night. I hoped it would get warmer soon. I looked at the sun, which hid its last rays that lit up the road faintly.
"I think we should stop for the night." I said, stopping.
"Where do we sleep?" Renya asked.
I went into the woods, and they followed me. The air was better here than the dusty road that we walked all day. We found a small clearing and I cleared teh center for a small fire. The fire burned up, and we sat around the fire, melting or hands and feet.
"We only have two sleeping bags." Nico said bleakly.
"I don't need one." I said.
The three looked at each other.
"I don't need one either." Annabeth said.
Renya shook her head. "No, you should use the sleeping bag. It's cold."
"You two use the sleeping bags." Nico said.
"No." Annabeth said. "I'm not using it."
She was stubborn. I knew it. She would never go into the sleeping bag. And they both knew it too. Renya sighed.
"Next time, if we sleep out side, use it." she said.
Annabeth nodded.
Nobody was really hungry. We took out the two sleeping bags and rolled them out. Renya gave me back my coat. Annabeth and I had one blanket each. The two layed down, and went to sleep nearly immiedently. I wrapped the one blanket around myself and tried to sleep, but was haunted at the thoughts of nightmares. I wasn't sure I could keep myself from waking up.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
I could try.
Annabeth's POV
I almost wanted to bury a hole into the ground.
The cold wind blew into my bones, straight through my clothes and blankets.
I shivered and stared at Nico and Renya, who was sleeping peacefully. I wrapped the blankets closer and scooted toward the fire.
"Cold?"
I flinched at Omega's voice.
"Yes." I tried to keep my teeth from chattering. "It's cold for a spring night."
He unwrapped his blanket and gave it to me. "Here."
I stared at it. "Aren't you cold?"
"No, I have thick clothes."
The blanket was tempting. And he did have thick clothes. I took it from him and wrapped it around myself.
It was warm. And it smelled clean. And slightly like the sea. I sniffed. The wind still blew through, chilling my bones, but it was better than having one blanket.
I heard a flapping sound behind me.
Omega had scooted closer and he had unfolded his wings. It blocked out the winds. It was much warmer now. The cold wind slapped against my face, but my back wasn't so cold.
"Thanks." I smiled.
The wing slightly touched my shoulder and I got what he was doing. I didn't mind.
I scooted closer to him, and he wrapped his wing entirerly around me. His shoulder was touching mine. He was warm, abnormally warm. And his black clothes were soft. Also his wing. It was like this big, feathery blanket.
and he smelled of the sea.
Slighlty salty, but not in a bad way. Also something like mint.
"You know about the dreams, right?" He whispered.
I nodded, drowzy.
He bit his lip. "Go to sleep." he said, changing the subject.
I didn't mind. I was sleepy anyway. I closed my eyes and let myself drown in the darkness.
To Tartarus.
~~~
I woke up, yawning.
I blinked at the bright light. I saw Renya and Nico snickering. About what?
I tried to turn my head, but found myself with a mouthful of feathers. I spat them out and looked at Omega, who was still sleeping. He was drooling with his head in his knees. I stifled a laugh. He was kinda cute.
He mumbled something under his breath. I shook him lightly, and his eyes snapped open. He wiped his mouth immiedently, and Nico and Renya stopped snickering. He rubbed his eyes and retracted his wings.
Nico held out an energy bar to us. I took it and ripped the packaging and took a big bite, while Omega just didn't eat. He rolled up the sleeping bags and looked up at the sky for a long while.
"Zeus seems angry." He muttered.
I looked at the sky that was half covered by trees. But I could clearly see that the sky was gray and that it wouldn't get any warmer than yesterday. now thinking about it, I had no dreams. I never had a peaceful night before without Tartarus haunting my nights. I finished my energy bar and stood up, brushing of my clothes.
"We only have two umbrellas." Renya said.
"It's fine." Omega said. "I don't need one, and two of you can use one together or something."
We started walking, and rain started falling, one that fell like a fine mist and left us all damp.
"I don't think umbrellas would work." Nico said.
I squinted out into the mist. "I don't see a town."
Omega looked calm in the misty air. "I think it will rain more soon."
It did.
We took out our umbrellas and found out they were too small for two of us to use. If we used it together, our shoulders would stick out and it would get all wet. But we used it like that because it was better than getting soaked to the bone. But Omega didn't use one, so Nico used one by himself because his shoulders were wider than us. We reached a town, and the rain stopped and the sun shone by then. Omega was soaked, and Renya and I had wet shoulders but it started to dry in the sun.
"I think we should rest for today." Renya said. "We don't know how long it would take to reach another town, and we need supplies."
"Lets find a place to rest." I agreed.
"But we don't have any money." Nico said.
Omega handed a wad of bills to me. "Here."
I scanned it. It would be enough for a night. I looked up. "How-"
"It's complicated." He said. "Lets go."
We walked around the small town and ate lunch, while Omega still didn't eat. He seemed uneasy. He kept on looking out the window.
"I'll go and buy some supplies." He said, standing up.
The little bell rang as he went out and I looked at him going out.
"He seems familiar." I said.
"Huh?" Nico said with a big mouthful of happy meal.
Renya rolled her eyes. "I thought like that too, before you came back to life. But..." She looked at the door. "His past is private. He doesn't like people nosing at his past."
I nodded. "Still."
Renya sighed. "You're too curious Annabeth."
I rolled my eyes and took a big bite, not answering her. We ate in silence. When I was done eating, Omega came in.
"Lets go." He said, a little breathless.
Nico frowned, still eating. "What?"
"Now."
Renya stuffed the rest of her hambuger in her mouth and gulped down water. "Monster?"
"Nico."
Nico scowled and slipped his toy in his pocket, while following Renya's example. Omega rushed out the store, and walked fast, pushing us along.
"Wait." I gripped his arm. He flinched. "Where are we going?"
"We have to go now." He said, his voice tight.
I let go of his arm. It felt...
He rushed ahead. We had no choice. He moved fast. We moved back to the road, and thankfully found another close town after a few hours. It was getting dark. Omega had changed back to his form dark blue eyes. He moved swiftly, but when we went into the town, he slowed down. He was the last to come, and he kept looking back. I slowed down to stay next to him. He was running from something. We were.
Why?
"Where are we going?" my voice was small.
"Go faster." his voice was tight.
I didn't go ahead. I could hear him. His breathing was labored, and his steps seemed to get slower.
"Omega-"
He fell.
I caught him before he could land face first in the street. Renya and Nico turned back. I looked up helplessly at them. He was warm, uncomfortably warm. Something ran down my sleeve. I could barely see in the dim light. I swallowed.
Blood.
I rolled up his sleeve to see a long, deep scar. It was bleeding. His head drooped like a wilted flower. Nico helped me support him.
"We need to find somewhere to rest. Quick." He said.
He was tall, and heavy. Soon, we were close to giving up hope until we found a small hotel. We payed for two rooms, one for the boys and one for Renya and I. Nico and I layed Omega on the bed. He had changed to his form with the mask, I didn't know when. Renya rolled up his sleeve to see the wound. Seeing it now at a bright place, it was slightly green at the edges. He flinched as Renya started to clean the wound. The jagged scar was deep, and it ran down the length of his forearm.
"Its poisoned." I said.
"Ambrosia?" Nico suggested.
Renya shook her head. "Get me some nectar. and some bandages."
I rummaged around her bag and fished out a canteen of nectar and a roll of gauze. Renya drizzled the nectar on his arm, but the scar didn't heal very much.
"Maybe it's because of the poison." I said. "The nectar isn't working."
Renya sighed and drizzled nectar on the bandages. She wrapped it up and stood up.
"What are we going to do now?" Nico asked.
I wasn't sure. We couldn't leave him, and we couldn't go with him. But we needed to move fast, or the camp would be destroyed.
"Lets wait." I said. "If we can't do anything, lets IM someone at camp to take him to camp."
Nico stuck his hand in Omega's pocket and took out a few bills.
"I'll go buy some medicine. It might work." he said.
I sighed. "We can try."
Nico went out and Renya took his temperature. She frowned as she looked at it, than took his temperature again.
"Uh... Annabeth?"
"Why?"
She showed me the thermometer. I put a hand on his forehead.
"What kind of poison is this?"
Renya shrugged. "We don't know."
I shook my head. "Maybe the effects of the poison is showing up. I think he was attacked by a monster at the other town."
"And we didn't know."
"We were in a hurry." I tried to assure her.
The door swung open.
I looked up. "Nico-"
My voice trailed off when I saw a very angry person scanning the room with his blue eyes. Nico was behind him, looking uncomfortable.
"Victor?"
He marched into the room and kneeled next to Omega. He unwrapped his bandages. He sighed, and glared at Omega.
"What happened." He said, taking out a few small jars from his bag.
"We don't know." I said.
"You don't know."
"Yeah?"
We watched him put the ointment on his wound and rebandage it.
"Chimera." he said.
Renya furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"
"Chimera posion."
"How do you know?"
"Ran into a Chimera while coming here. Probably chasing you." His eyes flitted towards me.
"Me?" I asked, dumbfounded. "Why?"
"Cause." he said matter-of-factly.
Omega groaned and moved his arm away from Victor. Victor scowled.
"Do you know how worried I was when you dissapeared?" He scolded.
"Uh, can he hear you?"
Victor scowled again. He stared at all three us of, one by one.
"What happened? From the start."
~~
"So. He forced you to let him go."
Nico nodded his head so hard it looked like it would fall off. I didn't blame him. Victor looked ready to kill. He eyes scanned me, his target changing to Annabeth.
His blue eyes were somwhat dark, even though they were a bright blue like all Apollo kids. He sighed.
"I can't blame you."He said. "It's his fault anyway." He glimsped at Omega. "You three should leave tommorow. I'll bring Omega back when he's okay enough to move."
"I'm going."
Omega sat up with effort, staring straight at Victor. "I'm going with them."
"You're being selfish."
"I'm going with them." He repeated, now glaring at Victor.
"You can't even stand up straight."Victor said. "And they need to move fast. The camp's in danger."
"I know what I can do and what I have to do Victor." Omega said coldly. "You'll be going to camp alone."
"You're crazy." Victor hissed. "They are leaving tommorow idiot. You need atleast a week to recover."
"Don't you understand! I need to go on this quest."
Victor sighed, exasperated. "Get out."
It took some time to get it to my head. "Oh. Okay." I pushed Renya and Nico out of the room, to the other room and left the two to figure it out for themselves.