No dreams?

It was 3 in the morning and restlessness was rife among the camp. There was some odd block to the dream world, that odd dimension that no one really knew about bar Morpheus, Hypnos and their offspring. The Hypnos cabin was the worst, thoroughly agitated that even they couldn’t manage to sleep. Campers were hurrying to them, asking for help and Larry rolled his eyes. It was a magical block, so he assumed it was one of the Hecate children. He could only guess. Perhaps they suffered from insomnia themselves or a spell went awry and now here they were with a wall separating everyone from sleep and dreams.

He stalked about, annoyed that everyone was up. He felt less alone somehow when everyone’s dreams surrounded him rather than everyone in a conscious state. He had been hiding for a bit recently. What with that stupid chariot race thing and oh marvellous, today is the fourth of July. So what? His face soured at the thought of the upcoming celebrations. Larry liked parties and fun, or he had before, but everything seemed fiercely sour in his mind.

Tired, and since there wasn’t anyone else asleep, he crawled into his empty cabin and collapsed on his bed. Closing his eyes and coming across the block, his unconscious state sighed heavily and clambered past it. Goodness, it isn’t that hard, he thought.

Happy Fathers’ Day

Larry sat down at the very edge of the borders of the camp. It was the closest he felt to his dad which made no sense of course.

“Hey dad,” he said softly. “I don’t know if you can hear me. What the hell as Zeus got you gods doing, shutting you off from the world. He can possibly hear me too, but frankly I don’t care.” He glared at the sky, challenging the clear night. He didn’t know how he was still awake. He hadn’t had more than three hours of sleep each night, but his body always felt like moving. Keep going, keep going.

“Do you know it’s Fathers’ Day, down here on Earth. Miserable Earth.” He muttered, crossing his legs and picking at the grass. “And since you’re clearly not listening, even though I’m your only demigod child as far as I know, but I need to talk to you. It’s Gaia. She’s been visiting me for ages. And recently…well I’ve been staying awake a lot. Maybe that’s what you’ve been doing. Helping me help escape my dreams.” This realisation dawned on him. “Maybe you do know about Gaia then. She’s overpowering you in everyone’s dreams, you must know. What are you doing about it? Is Zeus being all blissful in his attempt at ignorance and trying to stop you fixing it?” He gave the sky another deadly glare.

“She’ll win in the end. She’s so strong. So that’s why I’m helping her. And…and she threatened mum. I haven’t seen her in ages. I don’t even know where she is. But I loved her. She was good. She was great.” He swallowed and remembered nights with his mum in the caravan. He hadn’t needed any friends. They travelled about for years, just the two of them. She taught him to be strong, she…she wouldn’t have wanted him to be helping Gaia. But he didn’t doubt Gaia would hurt his mum.

“I’m going to do as she says. She wants me to mess with everyone. I just have to mess with their heads a little and they’ll be just that bit too much conflicted. I mean, I’m not doing that much harm am I?” Larry babbled on, more conflicted than any of the other campers could possibly be.

“I just thought you should know, I’m proud to be your son.”

He slowly heaved himself up off the grass and headed back to the cabins for an hour’s sleep before the sun rose with Aurora and Helios. Back to his Gaia nightmares as usual.

Cabin dreams

Larry had been put in with the Hypnos cabin, his dad being the son of Hypnos. However he was not like the Hypnos children. They all slept like logs. Literally. Straight out and dead to the world. He didn’t even bother sneaking past. The soles of his shoes made almost no sound as he walked out of the cabin filled with quiet snoring. The soft violin music and beds so soft you sink into the mattress did not attract him.

The night was clear. The weather was controlled probably. He turned to his left. He would make a round of the cabins. Let’s see what graecus dream of.

The Iris cabin is first. It simply gives off a cheerful demeanour and he didn’t even bother trying to probe the Iris’ children’s dreams. He approached the dark Hades’ cabin with caution. The green flames lick up the walls. He reaches a hand out, before snatching it back before he even touched the flames. There was no need to be pretentious. Only Levesque was in the Hades’ cabin, from the Fifth Cohort. He admired her, because although he doubted her and Zhang, along with everyone else, they came back. They did well and he may begrudge them it but he acknowledged it all the same.

Reaching out slowly into the cabin with his mind, unsure if these cabins had protection over it from gods, he came across her dream. She was surrounded by jewels and gold but she was terrified. Larry frowned confused and quickly hurried away in case she sensed him.

Next was the Hermes cabin. He had quite liked Connor Stoll. It was nice to talk with someone again…like they didn’t mind you. He scolded himself. No making friends. He could feel Gaia, preying in the back of his mind. He moved on from the Hermes cabin. Too many people dreaming.

He skipped over Hephaestus cabin too. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself after all. The Apollo cabin was almost as busy as the Hermes one but he decided to take a look anyway. One boy was squirming in his sleep with basilisks attacking a woman while he ran away. His mother, or a close relative presumably. “Good dreams, bad dreams, nightmares,” he murmured.

Ares’ children’s dreams were always interesting. Most of the time they are the ones who manage to cover up their fear best, but they can’t hide it in their dreams. He found one girl who dreamed of her father Ares and he scolded her furiously. So many fears in a demigod camp. Larry almost smiled.

Poseidon next. The cabin smelt of the seaside. He lingered outside for a while. That Percy Jackson. He insulted my father, he frowned. In fairness, he had good reason to. But he was quite headstrong to do so. But he did feel a little sorry for the kid. Being a son of Poseidon can’t have been fun. Larry wasn’t inhuman, he was actually kind as a child but had become bitter over the years.On a spur of compassion he quickly drew the nightmare from Percy. He would sleep soundly for one night.

He would never do that again, he said angrily to himself.

Zeus and Hera’s cabins were empty. He passed the grand buildings and gave them a look of distaste. Demeter, he passed over. He didn’t like the smell of the lillies outside. He admired the simplicity of Athena’s cabin but didn’t dare try and prowl in the dreams of those children. They’re too smart.

In the Artemis cabin there was a girl. He tilted his head, looking at the silvery cabin interested. Why was a Hunter here? Cautiously he reached out towards her sleeping consciousness. She was dreaming of leaving here, leaving the camp. It wasn’t a nice dream.

Aphrodite’s children…some of them at least, their dreams were just so shallow. He moved towards the Dionysus cabin. He didn’t know any of the Dionysus children. The Hecate cabin was interesting. Children who could use magic. Not just have control over something, they have magic. But the temple felt a lot more guarded and he decided not to strain himself trying to reach inside.

Fortuna, Juventas, Victoria. Tyche, Hebe, Nike. He was proud he knew all the gods Greek and Roman names. But he passed over these cabins. He couldn’t look in them all in one night after all. He has to leave some for later.

Nemesis. Inside he found dreams that even he recoiled a little from. He wondered what would happen if he tried to take away their revengeful tendencies towards any enemy.

Hypnos. Back to the cabin. It wasn’t his cabin though. No, he was just here temporarily.