Camp Hermit-Blood: The Titan's Curse

Bdubs

Forgot to publish this on Monday whoops

~~~

Bdubs found Tango making a bunch of fart land mines in the forge.

He pursed his lips, annoyed at Tango's lack of helpfulness, and stomped right up to the Son of Hephaestus and yanked the hammer out of his hands.

Tango jumped. "AH!"

Bdubs glared. "We need to talk."

Tango stared at Bdubs blankly for a minute, then he put his fart land mine down and followed Bdubs outside.

Bdubs decided to go bluntly. "Mumbo and Annabeth are captured by Luke on his monster cruise ship, Gem is in California, and Grian is in a cave somewhere."

Tango blinked. "What?"

Maybe it was his lack of sleep that was making everything get on Bdubs' nerves. "While you were busy goofing off, I was IM'ing the people who are missing. Gem is okay, or she was when I messaged her. Grian is alive, but he's keeping secrets and won't tell me anything. Mumbo... apparently he was looking for Grian? I don't quite know what was happening there."

Tango's expression turned serious. "We need a quest. Like, right now. What is Mumbo doing on Luke's ship? He's a mortal."

Bdubs shook his head. "We can't rescue them. Not yet. Let's wait for Zedaph and Percy and Thalia and Grover and them to get back first. Then we can all work together."

Tango folded his arms. "But what if they kill Mumbo or Annabeth?"

"They won't," Bdubs said confidently. "Mumbo and Annabeth have some sort of escape plan."

"Yeah, that sounds like Annabeth," Tango admitted. "But I still can't get my head around the fact that Mumbo is capable of any sort of plan involving anything but redstone."

"It does involve redstone. Anyway, as soon as the people on the quest get back, we'll look for Gem and Grian, too."

"Wow," Tango said. "Never thought I'd see you being responsible."

Bdubs puffed his cheeks in annoyance. "I AM RESHPONSIBLE!"

"You betrayed Impulse over a clock in Third Life!"

"IT WAS A NICE CLOCK."

---

That night, Bdubs' mood only worsened.

He dreamed of that room on Olympus again, that plush, comfortable area full of pillows and bean bags. An almost overwhelmingly sweet aroma filled the air. Soft golden light streamed in through large windows, suggesting the oncoming embrace of twilight. Everything about the space coaxed Bdubs to lie down for just a moment, to rest, to close his eyes, but something told him he wouldn't wake up in the real world if he did.

"Ah, welcome back," Hypnos yawned.

Bdubs turned to face him. "What is it this time?"

Last time he'd been here, he was in a panic and terrified because the entire camp except him had fallen asleep. Now, he was just annoyed.

Hypnos sighed. "I didn't bring you here. You came here yourself."

Bdubs blinked. "What?"

"You're the son of the god of sleep. It makes sense that you'd be able to navigate dreams somewhat. And you didn't seem to do it on purpose, so something in your subconscious wants to be here..." he stared off out the windows. "Hmm, this is more Morpheus' domain. But if you're wandering through dreams enough to end up here, you've really been feeling lost in the waking world, haven't you?"

Bdubs stared at Hypnos.

"No," he lied. "I'm fine."

Hypnos stood up and rubbed his eyes. Maybe he didn't notice the lie. Or maybe he just didn't care whether Bdubs was fine or not. "You'll learn to control it. The dream travel, I mean. You can learn a lot through dreams. I can't teach you anything myself though, unfortunately."

"Why not?" Bdubs demanded.

"Because I'm not supposed to," Hypnos sighed. "I can't help anyone from Camp Half-Blood."

That explained nothing. Bdubs glared.

"Kronos' orders," Hypnos added.

It took Bdubs a second to process that.

Kronos' orders.

Kronos' orders.

Rage boiled up in his stomach. "KRONOS? YOU'RE WORKING FOR KRONOS?!"

Hypnos looked offended. "Us 'minor' gods are sick of being pushed around!"

"Yeah, I get that, but there's probably a better way!" Bdubs crossed his arms. He really wanted to punch the god, but there was the issue that said god could snap his fingers and vaporize Bdubs.

"If there was a better way, we would have found it in the millenia that we've existed," Hypnos argued. "If you join him, I can teach you everything you want to know. Zeus can't enforce the no interferences rule if he doesn't exist."

Bdubs shook his head. "This isn't about controlling the dreams anymore."

And then the dream shifted. Bdubs didn't know whether it was Hypnos' doing or his own, but the rest of his night was aimless, drifting helplessly through mazes and fields and the Minecraft landscape he missed so dearly, and then falling through clouds and storms and torrents of rain.

And then he woke up.

He barely knew his father. He had met him twice. Hypnos hadn't even tried to be there for him, but still, Bdubs felt betrayed.

Maybe Tango had been right to distract himself.

This week sucks.