I doubled over in pain, clutching my stomach. Percy jumped off the bed he was lying on and caught me as I fell to the floor. He wrapped his arm around my stomach, holding me up and yelling loudly for someone to help. The room was spinning and growing dark; Percy's shouts grew fuzzy and distant. The door banged open and someone ran into the room, but as they reached out and grabbed my arm, I hit the floor and was out cold.

Immediately, I was in the Dream World, the familiar and welcoming white, endless room. Victoria and the group of captives were scattered here and there; I could sense that they were really getting on one another's nerves. Victoria looked up lazily at me from where she was spread out on the ground, red hair hanging in front of her face. She studied me curiously for a moment.

"Is something wrong? You're not usually here for very long."

I frowned involuntarily and strode up to where she sat, sitting down in front of her. "Why do you side with Kronos?"

"Honestly? I don't know anymore. I used to hate my father for never being there…but being stuck here as given me plenty of time to think. Kronos will only destroy humanity; the Gods maintain it."

I smiled slightly and she cocked her head with a shy grin, like she just admitted she loved a band she openly protested against. Victoria glanced over at a couple of teens standing a long distance away, talking quietly and shooting glares back at her. She turned back to me and sighed.

"They hate me for changing my alliance…but in time, they will side with the Gods. This place is boring, but you have a lot of time to think and argue with your heart."

I contemplated my father and my newfound abilities. It didn't make sense that I could do what I can with my powers. I could plainly see how I have my abilities, as everything is in some way connected to the Dream World, but I didn't understand how I could be more powerful than my father. Morpheus had a part in the Dream World, therefore he should understand it completely.

I would never be able to fully control someone or make them do something that they'd never willingly do that they didn't think was moral. I could control a vegan and make her do nearly anything I wanted, but she would begin to gain more control over herself if I attempted to do something like eat meat. At this point, she'd start to be able to resist my commands and eventually, I'd be pushed from her mind and body, reentering the Dream World against my own will.

My other abilities, of course, are also limited. I have telekinesis and similar powers because people have always dreamed of being supernaturally powerful. I would never be able to move mountains or buildings with this, but I would be able to possibly throw someone across the room, if I so desired. And that could possibly come in handy.

"So…why are you here?" Victoria's question snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked into her face and found a mixture between curiosity and concern.

"Well, it appears that I'm unconscious, and not willingly. I was stupid and thought it'd be smart to attack Kronos' army when they were on down time. Obviously, it wasn't a smart idea."

She winced, "You hurt bad?"

"I guess. It hurts like hell."

"Hopefully a child of Apollo's helping you."

"Hopefully they drugged me up with some morphine or something. I'm not good with pain."

Victoria nodded and stretched, yawning as she did so. I felt the urge to yawn as well and did so. She chuckled when she noticed what I did, "Did you seriously just yawn? I thought you were sleeping!"

"I am, but I can't see someone yawn and not then yawn. Are you tired?"

Victoria shook her head and frowned again, "I haven't been since you first put me in here. I haven't been hungry, thirsty, or had the need to pee. Here…there's nothing but my thoughts. How long have I been here?"

"About five months."

Her eyes widened and she seemed taken aback. "Five months? My gods…" she trailed off, muttering quietly under her breath, looking down at her shoes. Victoria stayed quiet for some time after this. I looked off in the direction of the other captives, who glared at me with hatred, minus a dark haired boy who was watching the two of us with curiosity.

Suddenly, there was talking, and not from my prisoners. Percy's voice was ringing throughout the endless room, clear as day. "Is she going to be okay?" His voice was laced with concern and anxiousness.

Another voice was present, at first unrecognizable, but then it occurred to me that it was Kayla's. "I'm not sure. I've done all I can for her injuries, but we'll have to wait and see when she wakes up. Who knows what Morpheus could have done to her if he got his hands on her?"

"Do you mean that her mind could be infected," came another female voice, unrecognizable amongst the fear in it.

"Could be. Morpheus clearly as it out for Violet! He could have gotten into her head and messed it up all sorts. From the looks of it, Violet barely got out alive. By the way, how did she even get out?"

I could almost see Percy shrug at this question. "How would I know? All I can say is that I was getting ready to get some sleep and then a cyclone of sand appeared and Violet came out of nowhere! Maybe Morpheus took pity on her and transported her to safety!"

"Like he would do that for a traitor!" The voices became soft and distant, until they were gone all together. I immediately locked eyes with Victoria who didn't seem as shocked.

"Does that happen often," I questioned.

"Sometimes, usually when you sleep. But you wouldn't know that; you're usually somewhere else. It's not usually anything entertaining, just snippets of conversations around your body."

I raised my eyebrows. "That's so…"

"Weird, yeah. It's like having a TV on in the background."

We stayed quiet again for quite sometime, occasionally staring off in different directions, and sometimes finding ourselves watching one another, staring at our different clothing items. Victoria wore jeans and a tie dye tee-shirt, which looked just as new as it had five months ago. Then again, my prisoners were ageless in the Dream World. Somehow, I knew that if I let them out 60 years from now, they'd still appear to be the age they were when I trapped them; Victoria could be seventeen until I died, at which point she'd be released back into the real world.

I found myself wondering how the world would be different 60 years down the road. I was almost certain that there wouldn't be too drastic changes, because what we had was already pretty good. Hopefully there'd be less pollution, more wildlife, and less teenage skanks; I'd be good with just the latter. Would I be alive 60 years from now? Would the rest of my friends?

I locked eyes again with Victoria and then glanced back over at the other captives. An idea swarmed my mind, a potentially dangerous one. But it wasn't right to keep them locked up in here anymore. If they wanted to fight for Kronos, that was fine; it was their own decision.

I was going to release them from my own little prison.

Suddenly, the white was gone and I was staring back up at a cream colored ceiling. The pain hit me like a ton of bricks again and I was aware of a heavy blanket covering. There was a gasp the sound of glass breaking. I snapped my head to the left and found Victoria and the captives falling to the ground as they appeared out of nowhere. Percy, Thalia and Kayla fell back against the wall, surprised.

Victoria glanced up at me and cringed. She sprung up from where she landed on the floor and walked the few feet to where I lay on the bed. She glanced over my exposed arms and she subtly grimaced before she looked into my face.

"How bad is your pain, Violet?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but found it too dry and hoarse to talk. Somehow, she understood and glanced back at Percy. "She needs some water," Victoria announced. He regarded her for a second, pausing for mere moments. Percy then looked at me cautiously and I did my best to nod. He then backed out of the room promptly.

Thalia, however, stepped forward and eyed Victoria suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"My name is Victoria. I was trapped in the Dream World by Violet…but I guess she's let us out."

Thalia rounded on me, eyes wide. "Why would you let them out? Did they use mind control when you were with Kronos?"

I rolled my eyes as Percy came bursting back into the room with a cup of cold water. My throat stung as the chilled liquid hit my throat, but it immediately felt better. Clearing my throat, I croaked out, "There's no point in keeping them locked up. If they want to fight for Kronos, let them."

Thalia's eyes widened even more and her hair seemed to crackle with electricity. "Are you actually supporting their decision to fight against us? "

I opened my mouth to defend my thoughts, but Victoria's loud and offended voice cut me off. "I'm not fighting for Kronos, but who are you to question Violet? You act like you've never made a decision someone was against!"

"I'm not a traitor to the gods!"

"Neither am I! I've changed my perspective!"

"You can't just change your perspective!"

Kayla cut the two girls off as they began a heated argument, inching closer to one another, fists raised. "You are such a hypocrite, Thalia! You were so adamantly against Artemis and the Hunters, yet now you are their leader!"

"That's different," said girl rounded onto Kayla.

Behind Kayla, I noticed one of my ex-prisoners inching towards the door. I frowned and concentrated back on Kronos' headquarters. A second later, the boy and the other traitors disappeared in a swirl of sand.

"How did you do that," asked Percy as he sat on the edge of the bed I was lying in, eyebrows furrowed and confused. "You didn't have that power before."

"I actually don't know. It's pretty cool though, huh?"

"You bet. I wish I could teleport."

"It actually takes a lot of energy out of you. So does almost anything I do; just knowing what you're thinking about makes me a little tired."

"That sucks," Percy grimaced a little, showing me some sympathy. He jerked his head back to Victoria and Thalia, who were still fighting; Kayla was trying to force herself in-between them, attempting to stop them.

"You trust her?"

I gave myself one moment to think over this, but knew my answer. "It's a habit of mine."

Percy smiled for a minute, but then his eyes flashed over. "You're not going to be in fighting shape. Wait. You said something about new abilities?"

"It's not a huge step up, Percy, trust me. I only discovered I take more out of the Dream World then I originally thought; it'll help us, but not enough to tip the odds in our favor. And yes, I can fight."

"But look at you! Kayla said you broke some bones."

As if I couldn't feel them, I thought miserably. My body was aching and I definitely didn't look good. But hey, I could make blue and purple bruises look good, especially if I ran into an Aphrodite kid on the battlefield.

"Kinder spiele! Seriously Percy, you don't need to worry about me! A giant threw me against the ground and all I did was break a few bones; it takes a lot more than that to keep me on the sidelines."

"A giant used you as a play toy?"

"Yeah, well, it's because I look like Barbie."

"But you look nothing like Barbie. Isn't she blonde and wears makeup?"

"My Gods, Percy! Can't you just let me use a simile?"

"Sorry."

I rolled my eyes and pushed the blankets off of me, standing up gingerly, more pain shooting through me as my feet touched the floor. I winced, but tried to not show any pain as Thalia and Victoria stopped fighting, turning their attention back to me. I grinned a little at the both of them, "Oh, realized I existed now?"

Victoria rolled her eyes and was immediately at my side, which surprised even me. Since when were we even friends? She put her hand on my back and helped me stand up straight. She grinned when I didn't acknowledge my pain. "See, you're not as broken as you look."

"Thanks?"

"Yeah, you're welcome."

The door opened, Will and Annabeth strolling into the place; Annabeth was still pale and sickly looking from her little incident. Respectively, their eyes widened in surprise. "You're up," Will questioned. Thalia rolled her eyes, looking back at him with an awed expression.

"No, she's still sleeping."

Will didn't acknowledge her comment and strode up to me, looking over my bruises on my exposed arms and the fresh cut on my cheek. "Why are you standing? You should be getting some rest."

Percy shook his head and crossed his arms, "Violet seems to think she's going to be fighting tonight."

"Which I will."

Will shook his head, "That wouldn't be wise, Violet. You're hurt and all your wounds are fresh."

"Like I care. I'm not going to just sit there on the sidelines when I could easily take down dozens of demigods! Do you know how many traitors I was able to take out before I got caught?"

Thalia's ears perked up and her expression became intrigued; she opened her mouth, but Kayla started talking first.

"Maybe she should fight. We don't have very many still standing and Violet easily counts as ten fighters. Besides, it's not like we're going to be able to baby-sit her or something. And in case you didn't realize, she's old enough to make her own decisions. She's nearly 17."

No one spoke. Everyone was watching me and I was doing my best to will their minds to agree with Kayla. Sure, I could only control one person at a time and people would get suspicious if I went through each of them to agree, but I still silently pleaded. Eventually, Percy started nodding his head.

"Kayla's right. We'll just have to let Violet do as she wants." He, however, then rounded on me, his expression serious. "If you do get too hurt, though, we will force you to sit out. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah Mom. Now someone get me something that isn't bloody, because just imagine what the daughters of Aphrodite will say if they see me like this."

Percy rolled his eyes, "You're such a guy." But the everyone did wander off, some getting in some cat naps while others mentally prepared themselves for the next battle. Kayla strolled in with some clean clothes after I took a shower, which hurt like crazy, but I figured I could use it. And I was right; I looked 10 times better after I cleaned off all the blood.

I dressed in jeans and a tee-shirt and left the room, wandering around the hotel. We had taken over the top levels of the Plaza, which were generally more comfortable and roomy. We didn't plan on having a battle last several days, so staying at a hotel was a spur of the moment idea. Annabeth led us to the nearest hotel, so I suppose it was a good thing there wasn't a rundown motel nearby.

"Violet! Are you okay?" I snapped my head to the left and was almost run over by Josie as she jumped out of the doorway of a room. She looked me over with anxious eyes.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Good as new. Are you alright?"

Josie nodded as Ryan strolled up beside her, a large bruise on his right eye and a cut on his forehead. "There weren't that many that attacked us, so we got let off easy. Ryan was a little overwhelmed, though," Josie explained. Ryan grimaced and twitched his eye.

"But what were you thinking," Josie suddenly reprimanded me. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

I grinded my teeth to try and keep myself from rolling my eyes. Why was everyone telling me how stupid I was? Couldn't anybody see that I could clearly see the consequences of my actions and I had no fear? There was nothing holding me to this Earth, to this life. What was the point?

Will Solace was suddenly there, "Violet! Chiron wants to speak with you." He jerked his head in the direction he had come and I was grateful to get away from Josie and Ryan, who were giving me looks mixed between anger and concern. I didn't know which one was worse.

I followed Will down a flight of stairs and into a huge common room. The war council sat on the couches and Chiron stood near the fireplace, looking into his reflection in the mirror about the fire. Katie smiled as I sat down next to her and looked up at Chiron.

Said centaur turned around and looked into each of our faces. "You have fought very bravely so far, children. The gods and I are very proud of all of you, but things are only going to get harder. At the beginning, we were very strong…but we've already lost a large number. We'll have to fight harder and longer than ever before if we want to win this war."

I frowned and made eye contact with Katie. Connor leaned over Annabeth to whisper to Pollux, "Is this supposed to be encouraging?"

I turned my attention back to Chiron who was looking directly at me. "You must track down Morpheus, Violet. Find him and overpower him; this is crucial. With your newfound abilities, you should be able to do so without too many difficulties."

"Why do you have so much faith in me? I just discovered these powers; I don't know how to control them," I whined. Katie patted my back reassuringly and sympathetically, but Jake shook his head violently.

"You don't seem to get it," he practically shouted. "Morpheus is dangerous; a demigods' most powerful weapon is their dreams. He can get into our heads and make us change alliances or do something we would never do. He needs to be stopped."

I shook my head, "But Morpheus can't make you do anything you don't want to! I completely understand wanting to take Morpheus out, but I don't understand why I'm the one expected to do it. Percy once beat up Ares-he could easily take Morpheus!"

I glanced at Percy to see his reaction, but his face just tightened and he didn't look too happy with what I said. Chiron sighed and moved closer to me. "But this is your destiny. The gods refuse to tell me too much, but Lady Athena and Aphrodite say it's very important. The latter said something about a boy…"

I felt myself blush, but I forced myself to pretend that I didn't hear the last sentence. "I understand that the gods it's important for me to do so, but anyone could just do it. Morpheus is generally weak-I've realized that."

Chiron shrugged and sighed with irritation. "I'm sorry Violet, but that's just the way it is."

*Author's Note*

Sorry this took so long. Somehow, my internet got disconnected and we couldn't figure out the problem for quite a while. Anyway, it's kind of just a filler and I hope you guys did get the point that Violet isn't as strong as I made it out to be in the previous chapter. Violet's very powerful in terms of being a demigod, but she isn't some sort of super demigod or something.

Please review!

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