Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Chapter 29: Nightmares and Traitors
Camp Half Blood
Percy's POV
I heard the screaming of people and creatures in agony. I was in a dark cave with flames shooting into the air in different directions. The cave or cavern was huge, I saw someone run into the center of the cave he was a tall young man with bronze armor carrying a bronze sword. He ran into the clearing and turned toward me, he had sky blue eyes it was Luke. He was chasing someone, I wasn't sure who. Then I heard leather wings flapping and out of nowhere flew a creature. It dived toward Luke who easily beat it back with his sword.
"Alecto, I know you are the traitor, Hades has sent me to stop you." Luke said. Luke was looking around trying to figure out where the Fury was.
"It is too late hero, our plan has succeeded, the mother will soon be ours." Alecto said confidently.
"What are you talking about evil witch?" Luke yelled. A scream came from above and Alecto dove toward Luke, he rolled out of the way and threw his sword in one motion the sword hit the ceiling and then fell to the ground about twenty yards from where Luke stood.
"You are dead hero." Alecto yelled as she flew down, but an instant before she could hit Luke a large rock hit her in the back of the head. She fell to the ground unconscious. Luke jumped forward and put celestial bronze shackles on Alecto's winged arms and legs. Luke threw her over his shoulder and carried her back to Hades palace picking up his sword before he left. I wonder what she meant by the mother will soon be ours? I awoke suddenly startled by a voice. I looked up to see Chris staring at me.
"You ok Perce, you were really tossing and turning?" Chris asked concerned.
"It was just a bad dream, I'm fine. I was going to get up anyway." I said. Chris walked back into his room to get ready for today's activities. I stood up and went to the bathroom to get ready myself. I would make sure to talk with Luke about this dream today. After getting cleaned up and dressed, Chris and I left our cabin and walked to the mess hall for breakfast. We entered, grabbed some food and made our offerings to the gods. We walked to our table and sat down next to Annabeth and Terra who were already eating. Calypso and Rachel walked up and joined us about ten minutes later. Last to arrive was Luke, he looked terrible like he hadn't sleeped in weeks. He sat down with his food, but he just stared at it.
"Luke, you look like Tartarus itself are you all right?" I asked.
"I haven't slept well at all since I got back to camp. I keep having these terrible nightmares." Luke said.
"Does it have anything to do with Alecto and Tartarus?" I asked. Luke looked stunned.
"How did you know?" Luke asked curiously.
"I had a dream last night and it was you fighting Alecto in Tartarus." I said plainly.
"The nightmares are not just about Alecto, her sisters are in there as well as Crius and Iapetus. They keep talking about the same thing. They keep talking about finding the mother. I have no idea who or what the mother is." Luke said. I was getting worried now. "The nightmares keep coming and its the same ones over and over."
"We need to talk with Chiron about this." I said.
"Agreed, right after breakfast we'll go maybe he can recommed something I need some sleep." Luke said. Annabeth put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"It will be all right Luke, Chiron will help." Annabeth said.
"Rachel you haven't seen anything have you? Rachel?" I said, Rachel and Calypso both jumped when I yelled. They had been staring at Luke. "Rachel are you ok?" Rachel turned her gaze away from Luke and finally looked at me.
"No, I haven't had any visions nor any prophecies." Rachel said.
"Calypso!" I yelled. Calypso turned away from Luke as if she was in a trance as well. I've seen Rachel do this before, but never Calypso. "Are you ok?"
"Yes, Percy I'm fine." Calypso said, but I wasn't convinced.
"How are things going with setting up the band?" Chris said trying to change the subject.
I looked away from Rachel and Calypso, I focused on the question at hand. I could tell that Annabeth and Terra were still focused on the odd behavior of Rachel and Calypso.
"I spoke to Will Solace last night and he agreed although I think he was little concerned with Luke being in the band, but I reassured him." I said. Luke shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. "Luke its ok we should expect some resistance, but Will trusts me so he's good."
"All right Percy, I just hate people not trusting me, but its to be expected I have to earn back their trust." Luke said.
"So we have Will for lead guitar, Chris for drums, Luke for bass guitar and me for lead vocals and guitar. I still need to talk with Nico." I said. Annabeth shifted in her seat and glared at me.
"You're not really going to threaten him if he declines are you?" Annabeth asked anxiously.
"You're not serious, you're going to threaten Nico if he doesn't agree?" Rachel asked in disbelief. I could see Annabeth smile at Rachel's outrage.
"Does anyone else have a better idea?" I asked.
"What if we got someone to help with the whole thing about Nico hating me because of his sister?" Luke asked hypothetically.
"You're not serious, how are we going to get her to do that?" I asked skeptically.
"Who are you talking about?" Annabeth asked.
"Bianca of course." Luke added. Everyone stared at Luke like he was crazy.
"That's how Nico forgave me." I said. "So, I guess you have a plan to get Bianca to talk with Nico?"
Luke smiled and looked right at me. "I think if a certain hero of Olympus asked his uncle for a favor, especially when that uncle owed his nephew a favor in return." Luke stated confidently.
"That might work." Annabeth added.
"So let me get this straight you both want me to IM Hades and ask him to have Bianca contact Nico from beyond the grave to tell him that he shouldn't blame Luke for her death." I said.
"Thats right." Annabeth and Luke said flatly at the same time.
"What if Bianca blames Luke for her death?" I asked logically. Luke's and Annabeth's smiles both faded. "Thats what I thought, ok I'll contact Hades, but if it doesn't work then I'm going back to plan 'A' which is to kick Nico's ass if he refuses to join the band." Annabeth and Luke both smiled. Chris and Terra started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"You trying to act all bad ass." Chris said. Terra was smiling fiendishly beside him.
"As I said before with friends like you all who needs enemies." I said with mock hurt in my voice. I stood up grabbed Luke under the arm and lifted him to his feet. Everyone's eyes grew big including Luke's. "Castellan your ass is coming with me to see Chiron, right now. If I have to talk to Hades then you need to talk to Chiron about those nightmares." I saw Luke visibly gulp and we started to walk to the big house with Annabeth hot on our heels.
"Percy slow down, why are you in a hurry? Chris and Terra were just kidding you." Annabeth said.
I let go of Luke and turned around with an evil grin on my face. Luke and Annabeth both stopped with surprised looks on their faces. Their faces were priceless, I started to laugh hysterically.
"Perseus Theseus Jackson, you just played us didn't you?" Annabeth accused. Luke just glared at me.
"You ... should have ... seen the looks ... on your alls ... faces ... gods ... priceless!" I said in between fits of laughter. Luke and Annabeth just glared at me in disbelief.
"How in Hades did you get so good at acting?" Annabeth asked clearly upset with just being made a fool of.
"Well, lets just say that not having a dark side and being in complete control of ones emotions has several upsides. Now are we going to talk to Chiron or not?" I said, this time seriously.
Luke and Annabeth both exhaled in defeat and followed me into the big house. For once I got the best of my friends, usually they felt obliged to gang up on me for some reason, who knows why. We found Chiron sitting at the kitchen table playing pinochle as usual with Mr. D. They both stopped when they saw us enter.
"You three look like you have a problem." Chiron stated as we entered the kitchen.
"Yes sir, Luke here has been having some strange nightmares and we wanted to get your opinion as well as Mr. Ds." I said as I pushed Luke forward. He gave me another death glare and I just smiled fiendishly in return. Luke told Chiron and Mr. D all about his nightmares and then I told them about the dream I had last night as well. When we finished Chiron and Mr. D sat and I could tell they were pondering what we told them.
"So in both of your nightmares they said something about the mother?" Chiron asked. Luke and I nodded in agreement. "Mother could mean the mother of the gods" He means Rhea. "Or it could mean the mother of the titans." Thats Gaea or mother Earth. "Or it could mean something totally unrelated to an actual person, god or titan. It could be Echidna, mother of all monsters for example." Yeah, I remember her and her little dog slash monster thing. "I will contact Olympus and inform the council they might have better insight on this, it might be related to whatever plans Iapetus and Crius are developing, but we'll see."
"I agree, we should let the council know if anyone can figure it out I would bet Athena could." Mr. D said. I hoped he was right.
"Is there anything I can do to get some sleep? I haven't slept since I've been back to camp." Luke asked. Chiron and Mr. D whispered back and forth for a minute.
"Percy would you teach Luke your concentration techniques, I'm sure Annabeth wouldn't mind continuing her training. You might want to invite Thalia and Nico as well." Chiron said.
"Well there is a problem, I don't believe they will want to join us if I'm there." Luke said sadly. Chiron looked at him sympathetically.
"I understand then the three of you should train. Theseus had a new room added on to the training center this winter. Its main purpose is for meditation please feel free to use it." Chiron said. We all thanked him and Mr. D for their help as we left the big house.
"So this training is it hard?" Luke asked. Annabeth and I both smiled.
"No, but its important. Percy and Theseus are the only ones who have mastered it, but Thalia, Nico and I have gotten further than anyone else." Annabeth said.
"It is about time that we continued, but Thalia and Nico need to get over their issues before I invite them back." I said. Luke and Annabeth both nodded in agreement. "If you two will excuse me I need to call my uncle for a favor." Luke and Annabeth both smiled as they walked off toward the training facility. I need to figure out what I'm going to tell Hades, I guess the truth wouldn't hurt, we'll see. I walked into my cabin and approached the fountain. A fine mist arose from it. I grabbed a drachma from the water and tossed it into the mist. "Goddess Iris hear my prayer I wish to speak with Lord Hades." An image appeared in the mist, it cleared until I saw an image of my uncle sitting in his large plush chair that looked into the fires of the underworld. I cleared my voice and Hades turned and looked into the mist.
"Percy Jackson, have you called to check on the torture of Atlas?" Hades asked hopefully. He's the only person who would have hopeful thoughts regarding torture.
"No sir, I have called to ask a favor of you." I said calmly. Hades looked at me and smiled.
"Well I do owe you for stopping Atlas and sending him to me in such as rough condition. It has helped immensely in his interrogation." Hades said, I could see the glee in his eyes, it sent a cold shiver down my spine. "What kind of favor my boy?"
"I would like Bianca to visit her brother and convince him that she does not blame Luke for her death." I said, hoping for the best. Hades had a thoughtful expression on his face and then smiled.
"I should be able to arrange that, I take it that my son blames poor Luke for Bianca's fate?" Hades asked knowingly.
"Yes sir." I said plainly.
"Well, I will contact her, but I make no promises I do not know my daughters feelings toward the son of Hermes. My debt to you is paid nephew, I must get back to my work." Hades said, but before he could swipe through the message I told him about Luke's nightmares and my own. "Who else knows of this?"
"My friends, Chiron and Mr. D." I said. Hades smiled fiendishly.
"So the rest of the council doesn't know yet?" Hades asked.
"No sir, Chiron was going to tell them this afternoon." I said. Hades hit his fist on the arm of his chair and laughed. If you haven't heard Hades laugh well lets just say it makes nails on a chalk board seem serene.
"Great, for once I know something before them. Thank you my nephew I will process this information and I will contact my daughter straight away." Hades said as he swiped his hand through the mist cutting off the message. Thank the gods that is over, Hades has mellowed a lot over the years, but he's still weird and scary. I walked into my room and closed the door. I knew of only one way of spying on Nico when his sister arrived to talk to him and that was one of my newest powers astral projection. I locked the door to my room and laid down on my bed. I concentrated and soon my body was asleep, but my mind and spirit floated over my sleeping form. I soared through the ceiling and roof of my cabin, I floated over camp until I saw the Hades cabin. I soared toward the cabin and entered through the roof. Nico was sitting on a bunk reading a horror novel from Stephen King, but unlike most people he was chuckling as he read it. Yeah, thats Nico all right. Suddenly I saw Nico shiver and then I could see his breath. The room became very cold and Nico looked around expectantly then the image of a young girl in her early teens appeared. She had pale skin with dark hair and dark eyes. She looked exactly how I remembered her, it was Bianca Di Angelo.
"Bianca, you're here." Nico said happily. Bianca looked at her brother and smiled sincerely.
"Yes Nicky, I'm here. Our father asked me to speak to you about a certain fellow camper of yours." Bianca said.
"Which camper?" Nico asked curiously.
"Luke Castellan, son of Hermes." Bianca said. Nico's face turned into a frown and hatred shown in his eyes.
"He doesn't deserve to live while you are still dead. I do not understand how father could have made a deal with that traitor." Nico said disgustedly.
"Nicky, do not blame Luke he was just a pawn in Kronos's games. Yes, he betrayed those he cared for because of his anger toward the gods, but remember his mom's problems were caused by our father's curse on the oracle. Luke did not kill me, that was the minions of Kronos and Atlas." Bianca said. I could see by the look on her face that she didn't feel animosity towards Luke only pity. Nico's face turned from hatred to a look of bewilderment.
"You don't blame him?" Nico asked in confusion.
"No, my dear brother and neither should you. Kronos could not have been defeated without Luke's sacrifice. If Annabeth and Percy can forgive him, I think you should as well. I forgave him for his deeds because I knew he was not to blame. I must go now my dear Nicky. Take care of yourself and Thalia, I'm so happy that you have someone to share you're life with. Farewell." Bianca said as her image faded, but suddenly my astral form was thrown out of the cabin and into the woods. Standing in front of me was Bianca and she could see me.
"I heard that you could astral project, but I did not believe it till now. It's not nice to spy on your friends." Bianca said.
"I'm sorry, but I needed to know that you forgive Luke." I said. Bianca just stared at me and smiled.
"You're power has grown incredibly Percy no wonder the titans fear you so, but Luke is in danger. I know about his dreams, father told me. He was a host to Kronos and as such he is attune to the mental wavelengths of all titans, especially those outside of Tartarus. Now that he is alive he will be having these dreams and they will show him things regarding the titan's plans. This makes him a liability to the titans and as such they will try to kill him. One last thing, the camp may not be the safest place for him, if the titan's can turn the harpies to their side then it easy to assume that they could turn a camper. Be careful there may be a traitor in camp. I must leave now good luck." Bianca said as she disappeared. I made my way back to my cabin and reentered my body I awoke with a gasp of air. I checked the clock in my room and I had been gone for an hour. I stood up and ran out of my cabin. I needed to talk to Chiron about my conversation with Bianca, I just hoped he would believe me. As I ran to the big house my thoughts kept coming back to the possibility that there was a traitor in camp, someone who wanted to kill Luke.
AN: This story may last a little while longer, thanks for the idea on a traitor in camp. It can't be Luke though as some suggested because he's the one being targeted, so who could it be? A very good question indeed, I know, do you? Sorry for the mixup with Furies and Harpies, I have corrected that here.