"Violet."

I turned from my position on the Hermes Cabin floor, where I was polishing my sword. Michael stood in the doorway, bow slung over his shoulder. His face was serious and emotionless.

"It's time."

I paused as I went to swipe the blade with the polishing rag. Travis and Connor looked up from where they sat on Connor's bunk, going over plans for a new prank. The seven others in the bunk also became quiet, no longer chatting excitedly over an upcoming game of Capture the Flag.

Slowly, I stood, keeping eye contact with Michael.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Annabeth got the call from Percy."

I paused for a moment then nodded. I transformed my sword back into the bracelet it posed as and snatched my amulet off of my sleeping bag, pulling it over my head and rushed out of the cabin, the others right behind me. As soon as I stepped out of the Cabin, I got lost in a parade of demigods leaving their respective cabins and rushing to the Big House. I spun around, looking for Michael, but said boy gripped my hand.

I looked around desperately, hoping to catch a glimpse of Clarisse and her siblings, but they were nowhere in sight. Anger ran threw me; I'd hoped so dearly that Clarisse would have changed her mind after I yelled at her. Michael squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile. I had to look away from him. Thoughts of Aphrodite's warning words swarm into my mind.

We stopped in front of the Big House. Mr. D was noticeably absent; he never left unless it was urgent. We knew that the gods would take off to fight their own battles, but we didn't expect the War to come so quickly. Chiron stood in front of us, massive and sporting a bow strapped to his back. He grimaced at each one of us, a look of sadness gracing his features.

"You all know that we've been called to Manhattan to fight off Kronos and his followers, as the gods will be unable to apprehend the Titans," he called out loudly. "You all know the odds and the consequences for fighting with us…" he trailed off.

I watched Chiron closely as he swallowed hard. Tears rimmed his eyes, which were shining with an emotion I didn't recognize. Looking around at my fellow demigods, I saw mixed emotions. Some kids looked scared out of their minds, too young to process what was about to happen. Others looked haughty and proud, like this was our golden moment. My eyes drifted longer on the couples pointedly squeezing hands, much like Michael and I were doing.

"Some of you will not make it back to Camp," Chiron continued. "We will be outnumbered. There are gods on Kronos' side-we will have to fight twice as hard if we wish to be effective."

I snapped my gaze away from a young girl to Chiron's face; he was staring directly at me. Immediately, thoughts of my father drifted back to me. There was no doubt that I could take down my father when it was just the two of us. Constant practice and the reassurance of several gods who came to visit solely me planted that into my mind to the point where there is almost no other option.

But Morpheus has more physical advantages than me. For one, he has Kronos' protection. Dozens of monsters and traitor demigods would be protecting him, making sure that I would not be able to overthrow him. I was a threat to the Titans; overthrow the god of dreams, nothing will stop me from tampering with their army's minds. I would be able to access all of their dreams and in turn access their subconscious and force them to make decisions at my will; Hera had personally visited Camp to teach me how to control this power.

I would be fighting my father alone; it would simply be too dangerous to involve my fellow Campers. Things could get quite ugly quite fast. My father had a vengeance against me and would not give up his seat as the god of dreams easily, especially to someone who's destiny was to help him overthrow the gods, but turned on that destiny.

Chiron promised, however, that he would personally see to that the majority of demigods and monsters would be brought down before they can assist my father in our fight.

"I wish you all luck. Your parents will be so proud of you…as they should," Chiron rounded off. He looked over us for a last brief moment and turned away, cantering off to make sure the vans were ready to ship us off to Manhattan to meet with Percy.

Annabeth stumbled over to where Michael and I stood, looking a little sick. Campers dispersed, gathering last minute weapons and armor. Children of Apollo were shoving arrows into backpacks; daughters of Aphrodite were running around, giving others proper armor. Sons of Hephaestus were making sure their swords were sharpened; children of Athena were going over last minute battle strategies.

Looking past Annabeth, I caught a glimpse of Clarisse walking from the fighting arena to her Cabin in tow with two of her brothers, both of whom were looking at the others prepare with a longing expression on their faces. I knew better than anyone that every single person in the Ares Cabin wanted to help fight against the Titans; Clarisse was just too pig-headed to swallow her pride.

Clarisse opened her mouth to speak, but I turned my attention away from her quickly and back to Annabeth. Said girl was pale and looked as if she need a good toilet to throw up in.

"Are you alright, 'Beth?"

Annabeth's eyes shifted to mine. Of course she wasn't alright; we are about to fight a war for the god's sakes. We would go up against the Titans and their army, which was a lot bigger than ours. How many friends will we lose?

Annabeth shook her head and rubbed her temples. "I just can't believe it's actually time. A part of me was hoping that we'd never have to fight Kronos." A couple of Annabeth's siblings came out of nowhere and led said girl away, rubbing her back soothingly and talking in low voices. Annabeth nodded as one of her sisters whispered in her ear.

I sat watching Annabeth for a moment until Michael brought my attention back to him by giving me a tight squeeze of the hand. I snapped my head back to him to find Michael smiling sweetly and rubbing his thumb over my knuckles.

"Everything will be okay, Vi. Just have a little faith."

Michael pulled me closer to him and stretched up, giving me a light, yet loving kiss on the lips. The sparks set off, like every time we kissed. How in the world could Michael not be the one for me? Had Aphrodite been mistaken? Did she think I was someone else?

We pulled away and smiled. Here and now was Heaven. Sure, we were about to go into battle against the strongest beings in the world, but I had my Michael; I felt so safe around him, even if I was taller. There was just something about Michael that made me tick; he was perfect in every way.

Michael was always kind. He had a little too much pride and was constantly bumping heads with Clarisse and all of her siblings, but Michael generally kept peace amongst the Camp. He was always the first to insist that we stand together, or we'd fall apart.

Michael glanced off to the side where his siblings stood in a circle, watching us with mild interest. He grimaced and turned back to me.

"My brothers and sisters want me to join them. I'll be back in just a minute," he announced. I nodded once and he quickly ran over to his waiting Cabin mates. I stood awkwardly where he left me, demigods rushing around me. I could hear someone crying and another person comforting them.

"What if we all die? I don't want to die!"

"Don't say that! We're going to be fine!"

I closed my eyes tightly and blocked out the conversation. Immediately, I tried using my abilities to get into someone's mind who wasn't as worried about going into War. What I needed right now was positive thoughts. Everyone's thoughts I came across were dark, fearful, and worrisome.

'I wonder if it'll hurt to die.'

'Will anyone miss me when I'm gone?'

'Oh please let it be quick when I die. I don't want to suffer.'

Scrunching up my face, I wiped away all of the thoughts away and dragged myself out of the others' train of thoughts. I forced myself to enter the Dream World where my prisoners were still being held. Josie sat on the white ground with the other captives, picking at her shoe laces with a bored expression. She didn't even look up to glare at me when I fully entered the Dream World; she knew it would do no good.

"Josie?"

Her head snapped up and she regarded me with intrigue; I never started the conversations between us. Usually, it was her insulting me and declaring that Kronos would win the war.

"Have you given thought to the offer that Chiron and I are making? The one we gave to Ryan?"

For a while now, Ryan's been out of the Dream World and walking free, as long as he fights with us and not for Kronos. Ryan's not a bad kid, unlike the other traitor demigods; he actually believed that Kronos wouldn't hurt the mortals and leave the human world as is. Now that we've opened his eyes a little, Ryan's came around to agreeing that he'd fight for the gods. Right after convincing Ryan, Chiron and I've been trying to break Josie down too.

Said girl pursed her lips and frowned for a minute, contemplating. The other prisoners watched her carefully, as if daring her to join our side. Finally, Josie slowly nodded.

"I don't want to be stuck here anymore."

Carefully I asked, "Do you believe in our cause?"

For another moment, Josie stayed quiet, thinking this over. "I'm not sure. My father's told me since I was a little girl that Kronos would save the humans and give us demigods more rights in the world. But…I don't really know anymore."

I smiled dryly, "The only thing the humans need to be saved from is Kronos."

A prisoner with flaming red hair jumped up from where she sat and rushed up to me, getting into my face like Josie used to when she was first trapped. "Kronos is the greatest leader of all time! He will crush your pathetic gods!"

Josie rolled her eyes, "There's no point in trying to fight her, Virginia. This is her world, not yours; she'll always win."

The redhead turned around on the spot and started yelling at my cousin. "You've gone soft! You've dedicated yourself to Kronos since you were just a toddler! You're going to just turn your back on him now? When he needs us most?"

Josie jumped up too, a look of anger crossing her features. "I didn't know any better! Our parents were the only ones giving us information; we haven't seen the other side! Maybe Violet's right! Maybe Kronos will kill all the mortals!"

"Better them than us," Virginia spit. "They are nothing; they don't even have any powers!"

Josie's anger disappeared. Instead, her expression was one of hurt and betrayal. "It's the demigod's duty to protect the mortals. The whole reason we exist is to keep them safe from what they can not fight!"

Virginia shook her head and walked back over to the group of prisoners, muttering something inaudible under her breath. Josie turned her attention to me, looking weak.

"I'm not saying that I believe you when you say Kronos will kill the mortals…but I want to see the other side to this. I want to see it from your point of view."

I grimaced, "I'm afraid there won't be time for that. We're going to leave to go into War any minute now. You'll just have to trust us…just like I'll be trusting you."

Josie seemed shocked and I could appreciate that. I've thought over this a lot. If I let Josie out right now, there'd be a chance that she runs to Kronos when we go into battle and I'd have to end up fighting her in the midst of War. But that's something I could handle. I've expanded my powers and I could easily track her and drag her back into the Dream World where she wouldn't be able to do any damage. Same goes for Ryan.

After having a staring contest for a minute, Josie finally seemed to recover from her shock and nodded slowly. "You have my word; I will not join Kronos if it means I get to live."

A split second later, I was out of the Dream World and opening my eyes. Barely a moment had passed from when I'd shut my eyes; everyone was in the exact position they'd been in when I entered the Dream World. The only difference? Josie was standing in front of me, looking stunned again.

Her eyes widened as she looked around Camp and the demigods getting ready for battle. She eyed Ryan who was talking to Chiron on the steps of the Big House; he was still a scrawny little thing, but he at least looked tough with his sword at his side. Josie snapped her face back to me.

"I'm really out? No more white?"

I laughed heartily and nodded as Michael ran back over from where he was talking with his siblings. Giving Josie the strangest look I've ever seen, he raised his eyebrows at me.

"You're really going to trust her?"

I shrugged and he seemed to accept that as a fine answer. "How good are you at fighting, Jo?"

Said girl shrugged, "My father never wanted me to learn to fight as a regular demigod; he wanted all of my fighting to be based on my abilities."

Michael nodded swiftly, "Then we'll have all of your fighting be done with your abilities. I think you and Ryan should stick with Violet during the War; you'll all get a lot more done if you're working together."

As if on cue, Ryan appeared on my right. He was smiling, but seemingly in shock. "Josie? She actually let you out?"

Chiron came right up from behind Ryan, talking before Josie had the chance to speak.

"Are you sure about this Violet?"

"No…but we don't have a lot of options right now."

Chiron's jaw tightened, but he didn't object. Instead, he turned away and called for everyone's attention; immediately, chatting ceased and demigods stopped running around.

"It's time," he announced. "If you will all head to Half Blood Hill, we have vans waiting to take all of you to Manhattan to prepare for battle."

No one moved for a minute, taking in the finality of his words; this was it. A million emotions flashed across everyone's faces before they took on one last expression. Together as one, the few of us willing to fight traveled up Half Blood Hill and began to pile into the waiting vans disguised as strawberry transportation. I sat with Michael, Josie, Ryan, Annabeth and several other demigods whom I never really bothered to learn their names.

As the doors closed and the van started, I realized the look on everyone's faces. Determination. We wouldn't let man kind down-we couldn't let them down. We were their only hope._

*Author's Note*

First and foremost, sorry this chapter sucks. Towards the end of it, I just wanted to end it so I can get a head start on the good stuff: a new story I'm making. Don't worry, I'm going to finish Sleepyhead, I'm just excited to start working on the next story (one that does not involve Violet, whom I'm getting completely bored with).

Secondly, sorry I keep taking forever to update. Between work, friends, graduation parties, and family time, I have a hard time getting the inspiration to write something I'm not interested in anymore. I love Percy Jackson and the Olympians still, but I've gone through the storyline for Street Rat/Sleepyhead so much that I just can't get excited about Violet anymore. I'll try and get excited for the last few chapters, though.

But like I said, I'm working on a new story! Only my friend Becca has a faint idea what the story is about (very, very faint), although you guys won't find out for a little bit.

Anyway, I really appreciate all of the support my loyal readers have given me with these past two stories. They're my first fan fiction, so it means a lot that you guys actually thought they were even worthy enough to glance at. They aren't nearly as good as my "real" (original) stories, but that's only because there's only so much I can make up in a story based on someone else's writing. Then again, I don't like my writing at all, so it doesn't really matter.

But thanks again, especially to Katoo, my very loyal reader (who gets first dibs on first chapters from new stories). It really means a lot to me. Reviews are nice, especially since no one reviews for Sleepyhead; I always had a lot for Street Rat, which helped me with constructive criticism and making me feel inspired. I'm starting to think no one likes Sleephead.

XxSamacoyxX