Camp Half-Blood

I Have a Sweet Dream... I wish.

Note to all my readers! I'm sorry it's been so long. I honestly thought this story was dying, but you've shown that you are hungry for more, so I'll try to deliver. Also, first Demi-god dream sequence I've done... Ever.

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Dale came out of the bathroom looking for more ointment and then a few minutes later she brought Joanna and Kaire back out. I jumped up and ran over to Joanna. 

"Hey are you ok? I'm so sorry I let you get smacked around! I should have been the one to get hit." I stammered.

"What, so you could fight the Cyclops by yourself. It's better that I was the one down and not you. Besides you never would've never learned about your pyrokinesis." Joanna said, suprisingly calm.

"Yeah...but...." I broke off. I knew it wouldn't do any good to argue with her.  Our group headed over to the check-in counter and rang the small silver bell. A man came out wearing a name that said 'Olympus Hotel: Manager' followed by a name I couldn't read very well with my dyslexia. It started with an 'H.' He was really strange looking.  For one, he was an kindly-looking older man with white hair and a wispy beard. In fact, he looked like Gandalf without the hat.  His eyebrows were massive and had an odd shape; they looked like wings folded up against his forehead. They twitched.  I looked down and saw he was in blue and white striped pajamas and bunny slippers. I had to stifle a laugh.

"Can I help you?" He asked. His rythmic voice, the smell of warm milk on his breath, and his droopy eyes made me feel very tired. I yawned and ordered two rooms. He snapped his fingers and a man in a purple bellboy uniform came out. He had dark skin and when he smiled, there was a gap between his front two teeth. If he'd been wearing black, he would've been a dead ringer for Morpheus from the Matrix. Then it struck me, plain as day, 

"You're Hypnos, god of sleep." I pointed to the older guy. "And he's your assistant, Morpheus, god of  dreams." 

"Yes... Welcome to Olympus Hotel! May you sleep well" Hypnos told me. "Morpheus, lead them to their rooms, please." 

Morpheus came out from behind the desk and led us across the stairs to an elevator.  Inside, it looked just like the one at the Empire State building. Sure enough he hit a button for the 600th floor.  The elevator music sounded like a lullaby, and between that and the hypnotic ringing of the elevator as it went up, I almost fell asleep. When we reached the top, we could see Mount Olympus in the distance. Wierd, I thought. Washington D.C is nowhere near New York City. But then again, it was magic and ancient mythology come alive.

"Where are we?" We all asked in unison. Weird....

"Morpheus stared out at Olympus. "We are on another plane of reality. The dream world. Your bodies are currently in suspended animation while your mind drifts into the realm of thoughts, memories, nightmares, dreams, and emotions." 

We looked around. Sure enough, we were standing in the middle of a ghostly hologram of Mount Olympus. It was made of purple smoke but was solid. Silver and gold sand covered the ground ankle deep. I picked up a handful gingerly and looked at it curiously. 

Morpheus chuckled. "You know the legend of the Sandman?"

"The guy who visits kids in their sleep and puts dream sand in their eyes? Yeah, what about him? " I answered.

"That was based on Hypnos and I. This gold sand induces sleep and the silver causes dreams. We invented it ourselves." He grabbed my wrist causing my hand to open. He blew my handful of dust into my face. "Sweet dreams."

I felt my eyes close. The last thing I saw was Morpheus' face smiling eerily over me. Suddenly, I awoke at Camp Half-Blood.  I surveyed the area. It was in ruins.  The sky was red and fire burned everywhere. I walked throught the ash covered grass, which was burnt into a blackened crisp.  I saw skeletons and corpses in tattered orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts.  In the middle of them all, I saw the body of a horse. Correction, it was a centaur. I saw Bram's face. It looked pained, as if writhing in agony.  The corpse was decaying. I'm no doctor, but I knew it had happened from the inside-out.

Then the dream shifted and I saw a dark silhouette, against a red moon. I could see his red eyes glowing like embers; as if they were empty sockets through which the moon shone. Then he raised his arms as if he were some mighty conqueror.

Then he spoke. His voice was like a million voices, screaming in horror in unison."Prepare for the Era of Terror, for I am the god of fear!"

 He was joined by a second person who joined in a similar, yet smaller voice. It seemed more directed at me personally, rather than at the whole universe, as the first had been. "And I his brother, god of phobias!" My mind flashed with images of my worst fears. My friends and family suffering and dying, Camp Half-Blood in ashes again. The face of Bram, dead and decaying. A full plate of broccoli being force fed to me as I hung suspended from chains in a prison."

I gasped in shock, then the dream faded. I shivered as the purple fog enveloped around. I saw my friends curled on the ground, in sleep. Slowly they awoke, one by one. We all looked at eachother and I knew we had all had the same dream. Morpheus was still grinning at us like the Cheshire Cat, and I had to hold back my rage.  

"Who was that?" I glared at him, scared as heck.

"The fate of you and your, 'oh so precious', little summer camp, should you fail! Deimos, god of fear, and Phobos, god of phobias!"  Morpheus answered.

I gulped and glanced my friends.  The stakes had gotten a lot higher and this was a fight we could not afford to lose.