Chapter Four - All according to play…just not mine.

I ran through the forest, I could see why they sent forgery and Nico, a stealthy person down into the dark parts of it.

Luckily I could see in the dark, it seems that Dad also had some passive powers.

"Psst! Over here!" A person whispered and I stopped, turning to my left to find a guy with blonde hair sitting there.

I hurried over and sat against a tree trunk, he peered over the rock he was hiding behind then back at me.

"Nobodies here yet," He tinkered with a metal chain that led into grass. "I'm Roger, Roger Humphrey, Son of Hephaestus."

"Morf Lane, Son of Morpheus." I nodded.

He glanced at me then at my helmet, "Stuck in Aphrodite Cabin huh…makes sense since the camp is basically divided into neutrals and the opposing Council Cabins."

"What do you mean?" I sat forward.

"Haven't you noticed? Dionysus purposely set the teams like this because of the Council Decision yesterday." He scoffed and stopped messing with the chain. "Don't worry though, even some of the opposition likes you."

That didn't help whatsoever, the Camp was divided because of me?

"How bad is it?The division I mean." I asked nervously.

"Not that bad," He glanced over the rock, gesturing for me to hush up. "We're only divided during competitive activities…otherwise we're fine and also we're the only ones in this sector so don't leave me behind if we run."

"Wait what?" I asked and spear struck the trunk beside me.

He pointed at the rock cover to our right and we dashed to it, arrows flying by, one almost nicked me when I jumped behind cover.

"Looks like a group of Hunters and Apollo Cabin," He groaned. "Not a great combo to fight…great melee thanks to the Hunters and range due to both."

I must've looked panicked because he frowned at me and sat next to me, "Listen my traps will buy us some, including the turret so I'll help you manifest your abilities."

"I thought you guys couldn't use fire?" I asked.

"Some of us can," He corrected me. "Just everyones afraid of those who can because of an incident…so don't tell anyone I can."

He took a deep breathe in and looked at me, "I assume its based off your imagination and theirs…so I need you to imagine you're in their heads, primarily where Dreams and Nightmares are stored…summon their nightmares by using your emotions and create a landscape from your own imagination."

I frowned and tried, it was far simpler than I thought. It was difficult but the way it worked was simple, the terrain changed from that of a forest to a House with stairs.

"Why a house?" He hissed and I shrugged.

"It's my Aunt's place!" I said and an arrow struck the door behind us.

We ran down the middle of the area and into a hall, it had a split off to the right and left.

"Whatever you go left and I'll go right," He huffed and glared at me. "Try to summon those nightmares."

"It's hard!" I groaned. "Their minds are like steel!"

Footsteps could be heard over us and near the stairs behind us, "They're down there somewhere!"

"Just do it! Look at the walls, they're colored which means you're improving quickly!" He hissed again.

"How do you know about that?" I was confused.

"Me, Jackie, and Irene came to Camp together," He glanced behind us. "Now go!"

He ran the other direction before I could ask who Irene was. An arrow grazed my shoulder and I winced, sprinting to the left.

I closed my eyes as I sprinted, the hallway was long and straight so I didn't bump into anything, I could feel the house change as I imagined things to get in the Hunter's way. Eventually I tried entering one of their heads but it didn't work, so instead I targeted an Apollo Kid.

A giant snake popped into my head and I opened it, turning and pointing at the ground, a 10 foot Snake sprouted out of darkness in full color.

It hissed and slithered towards the campers behind me, their screams echoed down the hall as I ran down the opposite direction.

I tried locating Roger with the house and saw he was pinned in a room by a group of girls, they screamed insults and stabbed the door.

He had barricaded it with a bed and wardrobe, I closed my eyes and took a breather.

"Roger," I said and he looked around confused. "Daydream…I want to try something."

He looked even more confused before it dawned on him and he grinned, closing his eyes and I could feel him imagining things. I focused a lot and felt a large supply of energy leave me as I appeared in his daydream, he looked at me in it and I grabbed his arm.

"Pull us out now." I groaned and suddenly we were both in the room.

"Woah." He exclaimed.

I slapped my face a bit to keep myself awake and focused on the Hunters outside, each one had a mind of steel and then I realized there was an Athena kid out there with them.

"Not much easier but it'll do." I muttered with my eyes closed.

I grabbed a gigantic spider from her head and placed it down the hall from them, watching them bang against the door unaware of the 6 foot tall tarantula to their right.

"Scare them…do not harm them." I murmured and it began crawling towards them.

I opened my eyes and sat back on a bed, exhausted. Their screams filled the air and I could hear running and arrows hitting wood.

"That's three things summoned in color." I grinned weakly and closed my eyes to rest a bit.

It was dark in the area, my Father sat on the pitch black floor in chains.

"Son…you're doing great." He looked up and smiled at me. "But you're nowhere near as strong as I need you to be…continue training."

He said and waved, this dream was even shorter than the one before so when I woke, I woke violently. Standing up and grasping my player.

I was still in the room, Roger was sitting on the floor and the house was silent.

"The House didn't disappear," He grinned. "You're strong for a newbie…not only that but to do it in your sleep is something new."

I released my grasp and sat back down, "It took a lot out of me to do all this."

"I'm sure it did," He nodded. "But the more you do it then the stronger you'll get…and the more you'll be able to summon all at once."

"How do you know all this again?" I looked at him with a curious face.

"Irene could do similar things," He cleared his throat. "But she was way weaker compared to you."

"Irene?" I asked. "Is that the one who betrayed Camp?"

He nodded and stood, pointing at the door, "Mind checking?"

I shrugged and searched the house for the girls, they were stuck in the far end kitchen. The snake and spider scratching and hissing at the door.

"They're crying!" I laughed.

Roger shook his head and grinned, "Let's get out of here and find that flag."

I nodded and looked out the window, it was still day out.

"Before we go, how long was I out?" I asked.

"Just about 15 minutes," He nodded. "Really good."

I nodded and put my hand on the wall, the House began to disappear. As the floor disappeared below us we dropped down behind a tree trunk and waited for the others to drop out.

The spider and snake also disappeared, and the campers dropped to the floor, scrambling up and running away.

"What exactly did you bring out to make Hunters run like that?" Roger eyed me.

"It was just two things," I grinned. "They had an Athena kid so I took out a spider for her and a snake for the Apollo kids."

"They were afraid of those little things?" He frowned. "I know they're cursed but wow."

"Totally yeah…totally little." I nodded and peered over the trunk.

Nobody was in sight, Roger also looked over and gasped.

"What?" I asked high on alert.

"My toys!" He pouted

I looked all over the place to find metal broken and arrows lodged in between gears. Rolling my eyes I climbed over the trunk and walked past the ruined gadgets. He followed closely and we continued through the forest, it began brightening.

"You hear that?" He stopped and asked.

I stopped and listened, there were sounds of shouting and metal clinging.

We began sprinting towards the sounds, his wide and tall frame had no problem hurdling roots.

The fighting got closer and we came to a clearing below us, we were on a rock that stretched out above the battle. It was about 10 feet high so we hesitated about jumping.

"Look, it's the flag!" He pointed and I looked.

The White Flag had a thunderbolt and was surrounded by Athena kids, they were running all over the place trying to shout orders to their soldiers below.

"Here goes nothing." A voice murmured behind me and I was pushed off the rock, falling toward the ground.

I screamed and suddenly felt something spring out of my back, pushing myself up and soaring towards the Flag. I looked around and noticed large black wings sprouting of my shoulder blades.

I laughed and whooped as I flew towards the flag, the kids below me stopped fighting and stared in awe.

"Go Morf Go!" I looked back to see Jackie was the one who pushed me.

I didn't care though, my feelings were high as I soared to the flag. I landed on my feet, my feet long wings sprouted outwards.

The Athena kids didn't even try to fight me, my daggers and wings must've scared them because I walked up to the flag, put a dagger away and grabbed it.

A horn blew as I thrusted it in the air, cheering ensued but it was cut short by the sound of thunder.

Peering towards the water I found Nico, Percy, and Thalia fighting. Nico manipulated the dead that tried to get near Thalia but it didn't work because lightning struck them down, and Percy fought her with his sword, she just kept blocking with her shield and jabbing with her spear.

This looked epic, almost like a movie.

I stared in awe as Percy waved his hand and a wave of Lake water hit her, she washed out and he pointed a sword at her throat seconds later. She yielded and many of the campers cheered, there must've been history behind this I thought.

Otherwise they would've stopped at the horn.

Everyone from our side celebrated as we left the forest, Me,Jackie, and Roger talked about the bout that Thalia had with the two.

"It was amazing!" Jackie grinned. "Unreal even!"

"You think that was amazing?" Roger scoffed. "Should've seen Morf, used his power like no other!"

We left the treeline and sunlight beamed on us. Roger checked his watch and frowned, "An hour in there seems short."

"Back to the first thing, what do you mean he used his power like no other? He could barely use them a day ago." She stopped and we turned to face her.

"Yeah well he's learning abnormally fast," Roger said. "He managed to change the landscape physically and summon two creatures! IN COLOR!"

"Physically? That's extremely rare for a Child of Morpheus," She murmured. "And in color? Chances near zero."

She looked confused and continued murmuring to herself, she walked past us and towards the camp, we shrugged and followed.

I was still holding the flag in my right hand, we returned to the Pavilion and was greeted with sore faces from the losing team. The winning side whooped and hollered, even Aphrodite Cabin came out and gloated.

"I knew he could do it," I overheard drew. "His body is great,face is great, hair is great, and not only that but he just seems like he'd win."

I shook my head and grinned, "Looks like you guys got two wins in two days."

Roger grinned as well and went off to join his Cabins Table, Jackie had already gone to hers so I returned to Aphrodite Table, still feeling a tad uncomfortable.

Chiron stood at the other end and cleared his throat, quieting the tables.

"Congratulations to the Ares team for their victory!" He boomed and we cheered. "And to the clear roles played by Clarisse,Nico,Percy, and Morf!"

More cheers ensued, but we got sneers from some of the Demeter kids.

"And to Thalia and Annabeth for doing their best on the defensive end," Chiron grinned. "Great power and numbers can't beat will though."

Everyone cheered AGAIN and he released to eat our reward, it was a feast of dessert.

I sat there, not touching my food because Drew was eyeing me.

"You must've been a real warrior out there," She grinned. "Maybe we should call you Sandy after your father."

"I wouldn't call myself a warrior," I shrugged. "I didn't even use my blades."

She raised her eyebrows, "Oh really?" She leaned forward, using her hands to hold her head up by her chin. "Then how'd you deal with any campers?"

"My abilities," I grinned and then frowned because I didn't realize her Charmspeak was working me like a dog. "Charmspeak?"

"Yep," She popped her lips. "Good job though, very impressive for a newbie."

I nodded and grabbed my plate with a finger, sliding it towards me slowly. She sat back and began talking to her siblings, they glanced at me once in a while.

"Hey Morf," Nicos voice came from behind and I jumped from how quiet he was. "Sorry about that, mind if we talk?"

I nodded and stood, walking with him out of the pavilion and down on the steps. We sat on the bottom step and he looked at me with a serious face.

"My father actually likes you which is rare," He started and pulled a wrapped figure out of his pocket. "So he wanted to give you this…kinda to be my friend."

"A bribe just to be your friend?" I frowned. "I don't need it, I'll be your friend Nico, at no cost."

That put a slight smile on his face, "Good but you still need to take it…he'd find it rude if you didn't."

"Oh!" I grabbed it and held it.

"Anyways we should hang out sometime." He stood.

"Definitely, we can play ball at a place I know of in Manhattan." I nodded. "Schools out I heard because of lots of damage to the city."

He nodded, "When you wanna go?"

"How is…tomorrow?" I asked and looked at the sun, it was setting.

He nodded, "Meet at the front?"

"Got it." I smiled, he grinned and climbed the stairs back up to the pavilion.

"Looks like Nico got over Percy," Jackie joined me on the stairs. "You're going on a date?"

I frowned and shook my head furiously.

"No, no way he likes me and no it's just a hangout." I explained.

She nodded, "Okay well he does like you because he never goes out of his way to plan something."

I scoffed, "Doubt it."

She shook her head and sighed, "Look it's not even a day after the Battle and I have a quest…you and Roger are coming with me."

"Don't you ha-" I started and she hushed me.

"I already asked him so now just you," She said. "Don't disappoint."

I pursed my lips and thought about it, looking at the beautiful orange sunset. It was breathtaking, almost entirely unreal like Jackie said.

"Ill do it," I said. "What's it about?"

"Thou shall go west and find the Camp that no other knows, you shall aid each other and slay the being that reigns over the North." She spouted. "That was our prophecy…pretty big but Chiron also said we can't say anything about this other Camp."

I frowned and nodded, "When do we leave?"

"As soon as your da- I mean hangout is over." She grinned.

"HaHa very funny," I sighed. "It's really not a date…I don't swing that way anymore."

She raised her eyebrow, "Just hurry up and get some sleep…we'll talk about THAT tomorrow on the plane."

She stood and hurried up the stairs into the pavilion, "Plane?"