Demigod Dreams and Wizard Letters

The Lightning Thief

Percy closed his eyes and relaxed into his sleeping bag, fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. He didn't expect to be able to get any sleep - he couldn't stop thinking about his mum, and the gods, and everything - but he was so tired, that before he knew it, he had drifted off and dreams took him.

~~~~~~

"Percy! You're home!" His mum called from the front door.

"But," he gaped. "You were - the monster - gone," he stuttered as his mum pulled him into a warm hug.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she ruffled his hair. "Come on, I made blue cookies!" Percy couldn't resist the delicious smell wafting from the kitchen, so he followed her inside. His mum turned the corner ahead of him, and when he caught up to her in the kitchen, he found the Minotaur holding his mum in its huge hand again. Percy looked around desperately at Chiron, who was waving the sword-pen at Percy.

"Help!" Percy yelled. "The sword!" He begged the centaur, but Chiron just shook his head with disappointment and snatched the pen away.

"Unclaimed still, I see," he said, and Percy screamed with frustration as the Minotaur glowed gold again - he had to save his mum! But the world was going fuzzy, changing into something else, and he grasped at the dream fruitlessly until it faded ...

~~~~~

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," a boy's voice swam through the darkness. "You can take the cloak, I won't need it now." Percy strained to make sense of the images coming into focus before him - he could see three figures standing in front of an open door, one of them holding something see-through and slippery ...

"Don't be stupid," another boy answered.

"We're coming," a girl said firmly. The first boy - dark haired, with glasses - lead the other two through the door, and Percy's eyes widened at the sight before them. A three-headed dog lay sprawled over a trapdoor, white mucus dripping from its jaw. A harp played softly in the background.

"... Snape must have left it there," the red haired boy was saying. Snape - that sounded familiar, Percy thought. Where ... ? And then he had it - Harry! This must be him, there was his scar, and here were Ron and Hermione. They must be on their stupid rescue mission, Percy thought bitterly. But how? Harry had said that they were setting off the day before yesterday ... Although if Percy could accept that he was seeing this, then times differences weren't much of a problem, were they? After all, if magic and the Greek gods were real, why not dreams that let you see what was going on in different places, different times?

"It's OK! It's a soft landing, you can jump!" Harry called out to his friends from below the trapdoor. Percy watched in amazement and terror as they were caught in the dangerous vine - Devil's Snare, he thought Hermione had said - and managed to escape. "This way," Harry lead the way again, and Percy was amazed at his ability to stay calm, and how he seemed to know exactly what he was doing - he was only 11, for the gods' sake! But there was more to come - Percy watched the trio catch the flying key, saw Ron sacrifice himself in the games of chess, pinched his nose at the disgusting troll, and followed Harry through the fire to face - Quirrell.

"You!" Harry and Percy gasped at the same time. Percy could tell who the professor was by his huge turban that Harry had told him about. What about Snape? Percy thought. Harry seemed so certain! But as Quirrell explained, Percy began to understand. When Voldemort appeared in the back of Quirrell's head and tried to convince Harry to hand over the Stone, Percy found himself yelling at Harry to stop. Somehow he'd know instinctively that no one would be able to hear him - it was obviously a dream, after all - but he couldn't help himself. In desperation, he tried to push Harry backwards, away from the Mirror, and to Percy's surprise Harry stumbled backwards a few steps, as if Percy had freed him from the Body-Bind Curse he'd heard about.