Sweet Dreams

"My geography was never too great, but I'm pretty sure that's new," I said.

It wasn't like I'd ever been to Northern Texas before. The closest I got was Geryon's ranch, half the state away. But when I thought of the Lone Star State, active towering volcanoes weren't the first thing that came to mind.

But that was what was in front of us— a dark peak soaring thousands of feet above the dry lowlands behind us. The sun was setting, making caves across the peak's jagged surface stand out, orange glows emanating from deep inside. Dark smoke leaked from the top like a funnel. The entire area was about as hospitable as the Fields of Punishment.

Our chariots were pulling us closer, riding a ridge between the volcano and one of the smaller peaks nearby. Chipped stones and shards of metal littered the ground. This place set me on edge. It just didn't feel natural.

"In the old days, Krios ruled a domain mostly made of molten rock," Prometheus said from the other chariot. "It seems he remodeled his new realm to resemble the old one."

"He made all of this just because he felt homesick?" Thalia asked.

It wasn't just the volcano we were riding the edge of, although that was the biggest and most impressive. Dark peaks littered the horizon in either direction. As soon as we left Menoetius's domain they'd sprung up, the scenery changing completely in an instant.

We'd been riding between peaks for hours now. Calypso's wind spirits worked as efficiently as ever, but there were limits to what even they could do. We would need to stop soon.

"I guess he must've," I said, answering Thalia. "Maybe he really likes lava."

"It's more than that," someone insisted.

Turning, I found Aubrey staring at me, the usually-vacant woman Annie introduced me to on the day I woke up. I hadn't seen much of her since saving her from Rio's advances, but I had noticed she chose to follow me. I was proud of that. At times it seemed like she'd given up on life, but she still decided to risk everything at our side.

She certainly didn't look like she'd given up on anything now. In fact, she looked panicked.

"Krios wouldn't waste time on vanity," she said. "Everything he does has a purpose. Everything."

"You're talking like you know him."

She bit her lip before answering, as if to steady herself.

"You could describe it that way," she said.

She looked away toward the volcano. I followed her gaze. Most of the people in both chariots were looking at it, pretty much everyone except Mikey, who had fallen asleep resting his chin on the chariot's rim.

"If that had a purpose," I said, "what do you think it would be?"

"No idea," Aubrey said.

Yet, she wouldn't look away for as long as it was in sight.

O-O-O

We stopped for the night in the shade of the volcano. And, okay, I know what you're thinking— but Percy, why stay so close to an ominous thing like that? We would've preferred to leave it far in the rearview mirror too. But the terrain was rough and the night was getting dark. If anything went wrong, we'd be trying to protect mortals in tricky terrain with zero visibility. That wasn't something Calypso or I wanted any part of.

Of course, there was also the way Prometheus put it not long before we stopped.

"By the gods," he said, cracking his lower back with both hands. "I wasn't this stiff even when I was chained to the rock! Can't we take a rest soon? We're traveling more than fast enough to afford one."

The decision became unanimous not long later. As well as they had served us, standing upright in oversized chariots wasn't exactly the height of luxury, especially now that we'd added Thalia and the Romans into the mix.

There were no hotels to commandeer out here. Luckily Calypso showed how useful she was once agin, summoning everything we needed for a crude camp. The mood was good despite the setting. It was still sinking in what we'd done. We really took down the ruler of the west! For the first time, these people were feeling like they had power again.

Things only got weird after we settled down for the night.

I didn't dream anymore. It was just another quirk of being a god, one more strange difference separating me from mortals. I still slept, but it was more like hibernating for the night. One moment I was awake, the next I was awake again, hours later.

So when I came to somewhere that definitely was not the threadbare cot I'd gone to sleep on, I knew right away to be alarmed.

I lurched to my feet, and even though Riptide was long gone, my hands still scrabbled at my pockets for it on reflex.

Not only was Riptide missing, so was my pocket. I was completely naked. The ground was pure white and soft on the bare souls of my feet. It was some kind of an oasis, with a crystalline pool and short tropical trees heavy with fruit.

I heard giggling.

"Come here!" called a myriad of voices. "Come here, come here!"

I took a step back as somebody appeared from among the trees, stepping into view. The first was followed by a second person, who was followed by a third, and so on. They weren't monsters, gods, or even strangers. Every single one was a woman from my life… and they were just as naked as I was.

Calypso was there, with Annie and Grace and Leila. Then there were girls I hadn't seen in years, like Clarisse and Drew Tanaka. Even Silena Beauregard was there. It was just one after another, and I lost count around the fifteenth one.

Then the last one stepped into view, and I forgot about everything else.

Annabeth was just as beautiful as the day I lost her. This version was older and more mature, with the body of a woman instead of a girl. Her blond curls glinted in the sunlight. She made no move to cover any inch of her tanned body. She was perfect.

"Come here!" she urged, beckoning me with a finger and a smug smile.

"I'm going to fucking kill you," I said.

The women went on calling to me, waving for me to follow them to ultimate pleasure. They danced between the trees. The longer I didn't listen, the more urgent they became.

"It's for your own good," Annabeth said. "Just come along!"

"You don't get to use her voice," I said.

Her smile froze. One of her eyes twitched. As her body began to twitch and spasm, she said, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

The girls screamed.

Every one of them. All at the same time. They screeched as if set on fire, dropping to the ground. I watched joints bend backwards. Bones snapped and shapes changed. The trees soared, turning black and thin in the process. The white ground transformed into dry cracked dirt. 

I didn't pull my eyes off the Annabeth impostor. While the other girls became huge snarling monsters with dripping poisonous fangs and wicked barbed tails, she remained human. She grew tall and thin, a trench coat forming out of her skin. Soon every bit of resemblance was gone. It was a man standing before me, one with pale skin and white hair and a cruel smirk.

"Young gods." He shook his head. "You should have let this be easy. I was willing to accommodate your delusions of grandeur. An orgy with every girl you've ever lusted over— and when you woke up in chains, could you really say it wasn't worth it?"

I was hardly listening. The most dangerous monsters I ever fought made up the crowd, mixed in with deadlier-looking things I didn't recognize. But all I could do was stare at the man in front of me, keeping my mind sharp and focused to keep from acting rashly.

"This is a dream," I said. "It isn't real."

The man laughed incredulously.

"Of course it's a dream, but it's certainly real," he said. "My name is Morpheus. I have decided to capture you. If you wish to blame something for your fate, blame yourself for sleeping within my domain."

Morpheus. The god who nearly put Grover to sleep forever. The one responsible for Kronos's sleeping spell across the whole of Manhattan. The monsters around us charged, and as they did the distance between me and them shrunk, letting them cover less ground to reach me.

The first of the monsters arrived. It was the Talos prototype Bianca Di Angelo lost her life stopping. The automaton booted me with a bronze toe bigger than I was. I rocketed back, but somehow landed in the same place, despite having flown at least three football fields.

Morpheus wasn't lying. The pain, at least, was all too real.

"I have a question," I said.

Dr. Thorn the Manticore embedded three long spikes in my left side. Kampê pierced my thigh with her poison-barbed tail. I stood and took it, eyes still on Morpheus.

"Do you realize what's happening right now?" Morpheus shook his head. "You want to ask something now?"

Medusa appeared in front of me, every one of the hundreds of snakes in her hair hissing in my face at once. I put my hand on the side of her head and pushed her out of the way.

"When I first became a god, I slept for three years straight," I said. "I didn't think anything of it at the time. But as a god, I don't dream. The only other time I had one was right now… and it was your doing."

"Your point being?" Morpheus asked.

"Were you behind my first nightmare?"

I still remembered every detail. I'd never forget it— the image of my mother's corpse, Annabeth and Grover dying in front of me over and over again, and the deep feeling of guilt it beat into my heart.

"It hardly matters now," Morpheus said.

"Answer the question."

"So stubborn." He yawned. "Yes, that was my work. Kronos bade me do it."

The ground shook.

Cracks spread through the dry earth. Morpheus spun just in time, floating into the air and barely avoiding being trampled.

On all sides of us monsters sprinted or flew away as fast as their limbs could carry them. Talos dove for cover. The Manticore sprinted with his barbed tail tucked between his legs. Kampê was whimpering.

"What on earth?" Morpheus said, watching them flee. "Come back! This is a nightmare, not a comedy!" 

They wouldn't listen. Soon it was just us.

"I had this idea a while ago," I said. All across my body, the wounds opened by the monsters shut and healed. "We're inside my dream, right? This isn't the real world… so I don't have to play by those rules."

My body grew as easily as my wounds healed. Fissures formed, bright colors leaking out from the inside. I hit eight feet tall. My true form wrapped around me like a blanket, complete and unrestrained for once.

"I owe you," I said, visions of my three year nightmare flashing through my head. "But after this, there won't be anything left to owe."

Morpheus paled and ran.

He shrank to the size of a fly, shooting toward the horizon in a desperate attempt to escape my dream. He traveled faster than a bullet. I appeared in his path, slapping him toward the ground.

Despite his small size, the dry earth cratered where he struck it. He grew again— and this time he had four arms and eight eyes, all the eyes shut, taking on his own true form. He hurled all his arms out, and jagged peaks of earth spiked out of the ground to impale me.

Every piece that made contact snapped against my skin. 

Seeing his attack fail, Morpheus returned to running. He melted into a liquid, seeping beneath the ground.

I landed where he disappeared, and with one punch split the earth in two.

The dreamscape shattered around us. What was underneath was revealed— the familiar darkness my sleep was usually filled with. Everything else had been constructed by Morpheus, and now it was nothing but falling fragments. Morpheus appeared in front of me, trying to dig through dirt that no longer existed.

I grabbed him by the throat. He gasped, squeezing my wrist with two hands and pummeling my sides with the other two. I couldn't feel a thing.

"Impossible!" he gasped. "I'm the ruler of dreams! I can't lose here!" 

My fingers tightened slowly. His attacks stopped as he put all his hands toward trying to pry my fingers loose.

"Dreams are just your domain," I said. "You might be at your most powerful here, but that means nothing if you're weak to start with."

He couldn't even answer. His legs thrashed. Carefully, methodically, I squeezed tighter.

"If I destroy you here, I wonder what happens to your real body?"

"Please–" he mouthed.

His neck gave out with a decisive pop!

I tossed away the body, watching it disperse into dark flakes. I felt… not better, not yet, but slightly more satisfied. I took a deep breath, looking down at my true form one final time and wishing I could bring it with me. Then I woke up.

The air was cold. I was standing on rocks. Instead of the inside of a tent, I was halfway down a steep ravine, just barely able to see the ground beneath me by the light of the moon.

Somebody shouted in surprise. A second voice joined them. Looking around, I spotted mortals from the camp standing around me. Whatever led me this far hadn't been limited to me.

"To me," I said.

The order washed across the cliffside. Soon, every mortal in sight had gathered around me. I didn't spot Calypso or any of the demigods. Maybe they were up ahead.

"Go back," I told my followers. "The one that did this is gone now. Once you're at camp, you'll be safe."

"I saw footprints," said a girl. "There were others ahead of us."

"I'll get them," I assured her. "If you find others, take them back with you. I promise you'll be okay."

I could see that made them feel better. It wasn't empty talk, either. There was no way Morpheus could cause more trouble now. Not after what I'd done to him.

After I sent my followers on their way, I looked further down the slope. With long, empowered bounds, I skipped down the embankment at speeds near forty miles per hour.

Close to the bottom I pumped the brakes. I skidded to a stop, ducking behind a boulder. I'd heard voices.

And they weren't my friends'.

"Where's the rest!" barked a gravelly voice. "We were promised dozens! Not two!"

"I think they're coming now," said another voice. "Swear I heard something."

"What do we do if we don't get new blood here?" the first voice muttered. "We're already behind. Quotas getting further away. We need this."

"Quit flapping your lips like flippers! I swear I heard something."

I heard another sound, sharper and much quieter: sniffing.

"Shut up both of ye," said a third voice. "This whole thing feels dangerous."

I peaked out from behind the boulder. There, less than twenty feet away, stood three full-grown Telekhines. The dog demons were carrying spears and nets. Another net was not far behind them— and tangled up in it was a familiar face— Piper.

The girl was awake, but keeping very still. She watched her captors carefully. I noticed her hands at her side, relaxed as if they were the ones in the net.

I looked left and right. There were no signs of more monsters, just lots of empty nets. It occurred to me that this was all a trap: Morpheus would make us sleep walk straight into the demon's clutches, and they'd drag us in chains to wherever they crawled out of.

But their god was gone, and I was the one that did it. There was no need for subtlety anymore.

I picked up two rocks from beside me. Then I strolled into sight.

"There!" barked one Telekhine.

"I told you we weren't alone!" said another.

"But why doesn't he look scared?" wondered the third.

His answer was a rock piercing his eye faster than he could see.

With a choked gasp, the first of them disintegrated. In the time it took the others to react, a second rock had lobotomized another of them.

The last one had some survival instincts. He turned his spear toward the girl in the net.

"Not a step closer!" he wailed.

Piper rolled her eyes.

"Stab yourself," she said.

The Telekhine glanced down at its own spear suddenly sticking from its stomach. It didn't seem to understand, and to be fair, I wasn't sure I did either.

When I got close I asked, "What was that?"

"Charmspeak," Piper said. "You like it? Us daughters of Venus have to have some tricks of our own. Now can you get this net off?"

I could, and did. Piper knocked sand off as she stood up. She sighed with relief, rubbing the spots the tight net had chafed her dark skin.

"Could you have made them stab each other the whole time?"

Piper tucked a braid behind her ear. "More or less," she admitted. "Once I woke up in that net, I wanted to get a feel for what was happening before I acted. I figured help would be on the way. Then you showed up, and now we have her."

She pointed into the air. A moment later, someone landed beside me on a brisk gust. Shielding my face from the loose sand being blown up, I turned to find Thalia.

"Where's the monsters?" demanded the daughter of Zeus. "If you drag me out in the middle of the night, you get turned into a power outlet. Those are the rules!"

I pointed at the piles of dust at our feet. Thalia cursed.

"Damn it!"

"Were there any others with you," I asked Piper.

"Well…" she said. "Not in the net. But there's something I think you could see."

The base of the ravine had a shallow creek at its lowest part. This time of year it was basically just muddy ground… but that was enough to form footprints.

One distinctly human set was there, moving the opposite direction of the Telekhines flippered tracks. They followed the ravine a long way, moving toward one thing in particular: the towering volcano.

"They're old," Piper said. "They were there when I got here. Which means, for some reason, somebody traveled this way before the Telekhines ever set this trap up."

"Think they're from our group?" Thalia asked.

Piper shrugged. "They have to be, right? I mean, nobody is out here other than us."

"There's one way to find out for sure," I said.

I started walking. The girls shared a look, then paced after me.

"Just like that?" Piper asked.

"If it's one of ours, we'll bring them back," I said. "And if it's not, maybe they'll be one of ours in the future."

"And if there are more monsters?" Thalia asked.

"Didn't you say you were looking for a power outlet?"

She cracked her knuckles. "Brilliant."

Piper stopped, just looking at the two of us.

"You guys are wild," she said finally.

"You coming or not?" Thalia asked.

Piper sighed. "I really should, shouldn't I? Fine. Somebody has to make sure you two don't set off an eruption getting carried away."

The three of us walked toward the end of the ravine… and the volcano that lay beyond that.

"Spoilsport," Thalia said.