Bethany smiled, "heya Uncle Luke! Aunt Anne!"
Luke grinned, "hiya kiddo!" he scooped her into his arms and grinned, "how have you been?"
"Fine uncle Luke," Bethany chuckled, "where's aunt Christy?"
"Oh she couldn't make it pumpkin, she's taking care of Andrew."
"Why did something happen to him?"
"Oh no sweetie, you see Andrew is just very young, he can't stay awake for long. So aunt Christy didn't want him going outside today."
"Okay, I'm glad he's okay, I like playing with him!" Bethany smiled.
"Well I'll be sure to bring him along next time," Luke smiled as he put her down.
"Where are your parents Bethany?" Annabeth asked looking around.
"Here Annabeth!" Thalia called out as she and Percy walked out of the kitchen to greet their guests.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, Thalia's apron looked hastily tied on along with her crumpled shirt. Percy's shirt was untucked, something Percy never did when he was working. Annabeth sighed, "really you guys? Again?"
Thalia hit Percy on the chest, "told you they would notice."
Percy chuckled, "hey super speed can only do so much."
"Were you guys hunting again?" Bethany asked her parents with innocent eyes.
Thalia smiled, "yes honey, daddy and I were hunting monsters again."
"Which was it this time? The 60 foot look Snake of the damned?" Luke asked stuffing a chuckle.
Percy smiled, "no, it was the 100 foot one, but in the end not a problem for Thalia and I?" Percy and Luke laughed while Thalia looked she was going to murder the two of them.
Percy and Thalia quickly went to the kitchen while Bethany went upstairs to play with her friends. Luke and Annabeth poured themselves glasses of wine as they sat next to the counter overlooking the kitchen.
"How's work Annabeth?" Percy asked as he finished up the cake he was making.
"Not bad," Annabeth replied.
"Really? Nothing exciting happened?" Luke sounded surprised, "you're the mayor of Gardiner island Annabeth, surely something is going on?"
"No, it's all quite for once. Thank the Gods. Which is why I was able to squeeze in a few hours in the lab."
"What are you working on now?" Thalia asked.
"A way to track Mist dead zones. They have become a problem lately, figured it would be best to find and get rid of them."
"That's good," Percy replied, "don't want to many of those lying around."
Ding Dong!
"I'll get it," Percy said as she rushed towards the door immediately and pulled it open revealing another couple. The man had black hair and brown eyes with short hair combed backwards and a goatee that was cleanly trimmed. The woman had light brown hair with darker brown eyes. She was taller than the man, though still a few good inches shorter than Percy. She wore a evening dress that hugged her curves and exposed her powerful muscular arms while the man had a blazer over his shirt and a pair of expensive looking shoes.
Percy grinned, "Michael!"
The Son of Apollo grinned, "Percy," the two friends hugged, "you look good man."
"I can definitely say the same to you."
"Where are the others?" Michael asked breaking the hug.
"In here Michael!" Luke called out.
Percy turned to Clarisse, "hey Clarisse, looking good."
"Thanks sea brain, I try."
"I think the triplets are upstairs playing with Bethany, want me to call them down?"
"No it's fine," Clarisse stepped inside letting Percy close the door behind her, "what's for dinner?"
"Thalia's making chicken pot pie."
"Oh dear...should we just order in?"
"I heard that Mrs. Yew!" Thalia yelled from the kitchen, "don't think just because you gave birth to triplets you are somehow a better cook than me!"
"I have three kids you have one, thereby I am three times the mom you are," Clarisse smiled as soon everyone gathered around the kitchen.
"Well I wouldn't say that Clarisse," Annabeth called out as she hugged her old friend, "from the way these two have been going at it I'm pretty sure Bethany is going get a couple of siblings soon."
Percy and Thalia blushed as the rest of their friends laughed at their expense.
"So Annabeth where's Nina?" Michael asked.
Annabeth sighed, "she's with her father and Leo. There had been problems with Kronos's cage, they needed her help re enforcing it."
"Oh dear, hope nothing happens," Michael sighed as he drank from his glass.
"If it does we'll be there to stop it," Luke responded flatly, "before it's too late."
"Yeah," Clarisse replied with narrowed eyes.
"Alright enough talk about Kronos," Percy said, "honestly, the one time we all get to meet up and immediately you people start talking about that asshole."
"Well he did try to kill us all Percy."
"And we kicked his ass. If he comes back then we can deal with him then, but right now we are going to focus on us, and the future. So there will be now talk of the crazy farmer in this house, got it?"
Michael chuckled, "you're the man Percy."
Percy smiled, "and don't you forget it. Oh and Michael just a quick question, is that goatee a permanent thing or.....?"
"Oh come on?! You too?!"
"Told you he wouldn't like it," Clarisse told her husband.
"But come on, it's not that bad is it?" Michael asked turning to her friends. As one they all shook their heads causing Michael to hang his head in shame, "I hate you all."
"Daddy!" three new voices suddenly called out. A pair of girls with blonde hair and a young boy with brown hair ran into the kitchen towards Clarisse and Michael.
"Hey kiddos, what's wrong?" Michael asked.
"Bethany is being mean again!" the girls cried out. The one on the left was in tears, "sh-she told us that she would feed us to Leo!"
"WOOF!" the giant wolf called out as he ran down the stairs with his tongue sticking out. Bethany was on his back as she used his collar as a saddle, yelling at the top of her lungs, "get them boy!"
"AWWW!" the triplets yelled as they ran away from the parents with Leo and Bethany at their tails.
Percy turned to Thalia, "you know she get's that from you right."
Thalia shot Percy a look, "it's your wolf."
"Yes, I know. But it's a mini version of you currently riding him."
Ding Dong!
Thalia looked up in surprise, "oh, it must be her! Percy get the door, I'll take care of Bethany and Leo."
Percy nodded in confusion. He walked to the door, 'who does she mean? Nina? Mera? Where is Mera anyway?' He opened the door and stared.
"Daddy!" a little girl called out. She jumped Percy as she hugged his legs with her tiny arms. She was young, the same age as Bethany and wore a silver parka with a quiver attached to her back. She looked up and smiled at Percy with her pearly white teeth. Her hair was red, bright red and her eyes were as green as the sea.
"Andrea!" Bethany cried out as she jumped off Leo and ran to the girl.
"Bethy!" the girl cried out as she pulled her into a hug, "how are you little sis?"
"Little sis?! I'm older than you!"
"Na huh! Mom told me you were born a hour after I was!"
"Yeah but I'm still taller than you. Come on! Carlos, Debbie and Phoebe are being mean again, so I'm having Leo teach them a lesson!"
"Cool! Count me in!" the two little girls ran into the house leaving Percy dazed and confused.
"Honestly she acts more and more like Apollo," a voice said in an annoyed tone, "and even after everything I did to make sure that didn't happen. Honestly Percy, I blame you."
Percy looked at the woman in front of him. She looked around his age with red hair that reached her hips tied back in a pony tail. Her eyes shined silver like the parka she wore. She was as tall as Thalia, and just as beautiful with full hips and a medium bust.
The woman blinked, "what's wrong Percy? You're staring."
"A-Arty?" Percy stammered unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Yes...why? Were you expecting your other immortal wife that was the goddess of hunting?"
"W-wife?" Percy gaped, his eyes fell to her hands where sure enough there was a sea stone green wedding band on her left ring finger. Percy looked at his own and found two wedding bands, one electric blue and the other silver.
"Arty!" Thalia called out, "so glad you could make it!" Thalia looked at Percy's stuck from, "Percy? Honey, what's wrong?"
"I-I'm married to Artemis?"
"Yes...are you feeling alright Percy?" Thalia asked, "are you sure you're fine?"
"Maybe he's come up with something?" Artemis asked, "did he seem odd before?"
"No he seemed perfectly fine. Percy maybe it would be better to sit down."
Percy looked between Thalia and Artemis, they both had identical rings of their fingers. 'No, no, this isn't possible. I would never...I don't think of Artemis like that, I....I'm dreaming...I'm in a dream. Why....Hypnos, he told me, he sent me to find Morpheus, that means,' Percy looked at the house, his daughters, his family, and tears came down from his eyes, "this isn't real."
And then reality exploded.
In the real world;
The building laid in ruins. The police and firemen had arrived and were searching the destroyed pile of stone and wood for survivors.
In the middle of the this all under the wreckage of tones and tones of metal and concrete was a perfect sphere made out of water. Inside the sphere were three figured, a bleeding Triton holding the staff of Neptune, an injured Iris that layed down beside an unconscious Percy Jackson.
"How are you holding up Iris?" Triton grunted looking down at the fallen goddess. Her arms were scrapped, the skin on her neck suffering from slight burns. Triton did his best but in the end he didn't have Percy's healing powers.
"I'm alright Triton," the goddess smiled, "thank you for worrying. But you are the one who is bleeding, how long can you hold this?"
"For sometime," the son of the sea assured her, "it's lucky that Percy had this with him. I can feel my father's power race into me, healing me, giving me the strength to keep this up."
"Is that how you saved us?"
"Yes, but unfortunately it came at a price. Now Percy won't be able to use this," Triton grumbled, "I can't believe Hypnos would betray us like that."
"Ambition makes fools of us all," Iris sighed, "he wanted Morpheus's powers and titles, Kronos simply gave him a way to do that."
"And he would have gotten away with it too," Triton turned and smiled at Percy's sleeping form, "I swear kid, you're a little miracle."
Iris chuckled, "maybe that should be his new nickname? 'The Miracle of the demigods'."
Triton chuckled, "seems appropriate." Suddenly pain rushed into his body as he winced in pain. The sphere of water shuddered causing the load over them to slowly shift down. Triton immediately recovered and concentrated on the barrier making the water stable once more.
Iris sighed in relief, "I can hear the mortal law enforcement digging through the wreckage. They won't reach us for some time though."
Triton nodded, "I can keep this up for now. Have you tried contacting the others?"
Iris shook her head, "Hypnos's charm is still in effect, I can't use my powers."
Triton growled, "great so the divine way is useless," he noticed Percy and an idea came, he smiled, "maybe the mortal way isn't. Iris check Percy's pocket, he should be carrying his mobile."
Iris nodded as she crawled towards Percy she sighed, "he's wearing his armour Triton, I can't reach into his pockets."
Triton cursed, "fuck, forgot about that detail. Guess having a building dropped on you can really mess with your mind huh?"
Iris sighed, "it's alright Triton, the others will hear of this. They will come for us, I promise you."
Dreamland;
Percy fell down and landed on his feet. He coughed as he unlocked his helmet's faceplate spitting out something white and sticky. Percy growled, it was all over his armor's surface, luckily the stuff wasn't inside it, otherwise that would be awkward.
Percy tried summoning the water from the air to douse himself when he found that there was not a single drop present in the air. It wasn't that the air was dry, it was like water didn't exist here. He couldn't feel it's presence anywhere, not around him and not inside him.
'Right, Hypnos said this was a dream world, that means none of this is real,' Percy growled, he looked up and saw pods among pods of filled with something white. There were silhouettes of people inside those things, 'the demigods, they must all be inside.'
Percy got his feet, they were wobbly for a few seconds but clicked into place. Percy sighed, this was a strange feeling, being in this place. It felt familiar, but Percy had never seen it before in his life.
He was in a huge hallway, at least the size of a four lane highway. The walls were a mix of red and purple swirls moving in an almost hypnotic way. The white pods hanging above him on the ceiling were creepy, and very strange.
Percy reached out with his mana sense and he felt a huge amount of mana being channeled into the pods. There was probably enough mana in here for Percy to use his interdimensional travel skill several times over.
'What is Morpheus doing?' Percy wondered, 'he's not getting anything back, and from what I can tell he's using vast amounts of mana to support these guys. It doesn't make sense.'
He immediately used Observe;
Pods of dream,
A container in which the human soul is kept when visiting the realm of sleep. In it the human starts to dream.
The pod is powered with mana from Morpheus.
Percy narrowed his eyes, 'wait...land of dreams...pods containing humans....dreaming of their life....fuck, this is the fucking Matrix!'
He groaned, 'alright, first things first, find Morpheus and the other demigods. If I was to guess they are all in these pods, but it's too much of a risk taking them out. I pulled myself out, don't know if forcing them out is a bad thing or not, so might as well not risk it. Okay then...let's find the God of dreams.'
Percy resealed his helmet and took out Waverider. He looked around for the staff of Neptune but found it nowhere. 'Shit, something must have happened,' Percy cursed without the staff this just got infinitely more difficult.
Percy shock his head, he needed to focus on finding Thalia first and if he was to guess she was probably hiding in one of these pods. And since he decided not to fuck with them he should probably focus on finding the god of dreams.
Percy looked down the giant hallway and sighed, 'no time like the present,' he then took off in a rush of speed. The hallway blurred together in a mix of purple and red as Percy ran faster and faster. But no matter how long he ran or how fast the world around him didn't change. It was the same hallway, it was the same body bags.
