Split Second

The Nightmare Part 1

After breakfast Percy and Holly had retreated to his room to talk.

"So what was last night about?" Percy prompted.

"The nightmare?" Holly asked, fiddling with the hem on her school shirt. Nervousness crept up on her as she thought back to last night.

"Yeah." He said as he hunted for school objects around his room. As he found them he stuffed them hastily into his bag.

"Well uh..." Holly stuttered. "Now that I think about it, the nightmare wasn't that big of a deal." She shrugged, sitting on the edge of Percy's mat.

Percy turned to look at her. The daughter of Nike wouldn't meet his eyes. He sighed and flopped down beside her. "If you think it was silly I'm not going to laugh at you. C'mon, you can talk to me."

Holly nibbled on her lip. "I just miss home, y'know? I'm so worried about what's going on, what I'm missing and the situation back at camp. What happens if while I'm gone, Laurel gets taken too? How many others are being taken as we speak? I guess it's all just getting to me, infecting my dreams or something."

Percy pulled the younger girl into his side for an awkward hug. What she'd told him didn't sound like a demigod dream, but still he couldn't shake the feeling that Holly wasn't telling him the whole truth. She was still hiding something. What that something was however, Percy couldn't say.

"We will make it home. I promise. The others will do as much as they can. Maybe Nyx has given up for now, I heard she's busy trying to find us from one of the gods." Percy said. He frowned as he felt Holly flinch at the use of Nyx's name. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't mentioned to anybody yet about who the mysterious person behind the shadows was. "Holly, you okay?"

Holly swallowed thickly and nodded, wriggling out of Percy's hug. "Yeah, yeah! I'm fine!" She smiled unconvincingly. "Oh, would you look at the time? Better get moving along, school starts soon!" And with that she was gone, out the door before Percy could say another word.

The time? Percy thought. We still have 45 minutes...

But try as he might, after the female demigod had high tailed out of his room he couldn't find her again. But she'd have to face him eventually. Especially because they had a meeting with Tsukauchi after school, to see if he had anymore ideas on them and so he could check up on how they were doing in their new home.

He would figure out what she was hiding.

~~~~

Holly ran out of Percy's room and didn't stop until she was sure the demigod hadn't followed her. She'd run into one of the gardens in the area where she climbed a tree as far as she could, balancing on the skinner branches that were more hidden from view. Her and Laurel competed all the time to see who could climb the highest and over time Holly had gotten good at it, learning which branches she could lean on more, or even if she could step on it in the first place.

Or at least we used to.

There was something she'd been told last night. It made her think that Laurel was still in camp. But that wasn't to say Holly's twin sister would stay that way.

She recalled the nightmare she'd had last night...

When Holly opened her eyes, at first she couldn't see anything. Nothing but darkness shrouded her vision. She knew she was dreaming, and yet it all seemed to real. Was she lucid dreaming? No, she had too many questions. There were too many signs that it was more than a dream.

This was a message. A method of communication.

What were they called?

Demigod dreams.

There was a laugh that echoed around the room, or was it all in her head? It sounded fake, like they were trying to be sweet, trying to give off the impression that they were nice but all that lurked beneath was seething darkness.

Once Holly focused, her eye sight became clearer and she could see. Not well, but well enough.

She searched for the person who was laughing. The walls were dark and teeming with writhing shadows. Holly jerked away from the wall, recalling the things that had landed her in this mess when she heard the clinking of chains. Holly could go no further. She was restrained. She fought the sick feeling stirring in her gut. Across the room Holly could make out the vague shape of a woman.

"Please let me go." Holly pleaded. The woman simply cocked her head to the side as if she didn't understand the request. "Can you hear me? Please, who are you?"

Holly stared at the woman as silence stretched on. Finally she spoke in a chilling voice.

"Why would I let you go, when you are here for a reason?" She asked, opening white shining eyes that bore into Holly's own.

Holly said nothing, having nothing to say to the woman who held her captive. She bit her lips to prevent from saying 'because I don't want to be here and you're scary'.

The woman's lips curled into a smile as if she heard Holly's thoughts. Did she?

A dreaded thought burst into mind. Could this woman keep her here forever? Forever locked in her own dreams?

"As for who I am, well darling, I am Nyx, the Primordial of the Night."

Holly gulped, forcing back the overwhelming threat of tears. "What do you want with me?"

"Hmm..." the primordial tapped her chin thoughtfully. "What do I want with you...?" She grinned, "A spy."

~~~~

Hello, hello! Saturday update, as promised.

What do you think is going to happen to Holly? What went down in the rest of her dream will continue next week, so stick around!

Peace,

BTSWD
Borntosingwithdrama