Chapter Two: A Warning from Morpheus

 

That night, Hermie searched for Morpheus in his dreams. So far, his winged cousin was nowhere to be found. Hermie was running on…where was he? He stopped and looked around. He was on a ship on the wide, blue sea. Was it an aircraft carrier? It was the ship from The Avengers movie. But, there was no one around and nothing to do.

Too bad. It would have been nice to see Scarlet Johansson.

Hermie searched all around the deck. No computers. No video games. Not even a swimming pool. What kind of cruise was this? His parents had wanted him to go with them, but he’d rather stay home. Everything he needed to see and do could happen right on his desk, where the best computer ever made—built by Hermie himself—existed. Not only was it made of the best components, but Hermie had created his own programs, too.

Yes, it was one badass computer.

But, if Scarlet Johansson ever showed up, Hermie could be persuaded to stay on the cruise.

He saw a stack of cards on a nearby table. Maybe they were Magic the Gathering or Yugioh cards. He couldn’t play without an opponent, but he could look through the cards and think of what strategies he would use with whatever was in the deck.

Shoot. These were regular playing cards. Should he pass the time with a game of Solitaire? What were his options?

Wait a minute. He needed to find Morpheus.

Hermie jumped up from the table, the cards flying everywhere. “Morpheus! Hey, Morpheus! Where are you?”

Suddenly, the theme song from Scooby-Doo blasted over the speakers.

Gee whiz.

Hermie decided to look below deck. As he descended a ladder, he found himself entering the Underworld. He recognized the Phlegethon—also known as the River of Fire. He followed the winding light down an otherwise dark tunnel.

To no one in particular, he said, “Am I really in the Underworld?”

“No,” came a familiar voice behind him.

Hermie turned. “Morpheus?”

His bright, silver wings were folded behind him. Silver-rimmed black eyes peered from a lustrous, bronze face. Though not as tall as Hermie, Morpheus was stouter, his bare chest ripped like that of a bodybuilder.

Not that Hermie didn’t have muscles of his own. He enjoyed working out with his father in the basement. It was one of the few things they ever did together.

“Go on. Do the test, like you always do,” Morpheus said patiently.

Hermie took a deep breath. “Figment, I command you to show yourself!”

Morpheus lifted his palms. “See?”

Relieved, Hermie shook his cousin’s hand. “Thanks for meeting me. I can’t remember everything you told me last night. What are the gods fighting about? Why is my family in danger?”

Morpheus rolled his eyes. “Looks like I got in trouble for nothing. You really can’t remember what I said? Now I’ll have to hear it from my dad again.”

“Just tell me.”

“Write it down this time,” Morpheus said. “As soon as you wake up. Got it?”

Hermie nodded.

“Zeus’s spies think they finally spotted the son of Metis,” Morpheus said. “So, Zeus went to Apollo and asked him to reveal any visions he’d had about the future, even if they didn’t seem relevant.”

Hermie lowered his head. “So, Zeus knows about Apollo’s vision of me and my sister.”

“With Prometheus. Yeah.”

“Great. So now what? What did you overhear?”

“My dad thinks Zeus wants to kill you and Hestie.”

Hermie’s mouth went dry.

“Try not to freak out,” Morpheus added.

“Easier said than done,” Hermie managed to say. “Why would killing us help Zeus?”

“I guess Zeus thinks the vision means that you and your sister are going to help Prometheus and Metis’s son overthrow him.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Tell me about it.”

Hermie folded his arms across his chest. “So, what should we do?”

“I don’t know. Hide?”

“Hide? Morpheus, that’s not helpful. Not at all. How can you hide from Zeus?”

“I don’t know, cuz. Sorry to say it, but I think you’re screwed.”

***

 

Hestie opened her eyes and sat up in bed. From the dim light streaming through her windows, she could tell it was early morning—the sun had barely dawned. Hermie would still be asleep, but this couldn’t wait. She pulled on a pair of shorts and rushed down the hall to his room.

“Hermie! Wake up!” She jostled his shoulder. “This is important!”

Hermie frowned and rolled over.

“Wake up! We need to talk!”

He blinked and wiped his mouth. “Huh?”

“Wake up!”

“Wait a minute.” He sat up. “Get me a pen and that notepad over there.”

Hestie quickly remembered that Morpheus had told her to write down her dream, too. “Oh, yeah.”

She handed over the pen and paper and then rushed back to her own room and sat at her desk. She wrote down everything she could recall. She’d been in the mall with Lynn, checking out the newest styles at Forever 21, and Got7 had been there. And, of course, Lynn hadn’t known who Got7 was, so Hestie had had to educate her about Korean pop music. In the dream, others in the mall had noticed the band members and were pointing and chasing after them. Before Hestie could ask JB or Youngjae to take a selfie with her, they were scattering through the mall in all directions.

Hestie had run after them. She had caught sight of Jinyoung rounding a corner, but when she caught up to him, he’d vanished.

She’d cried out, “Jinyoung! I want to interview you for my Youtube channel!”

“Shouldn’t you be looking for me?”

She’d turned to find Morpheus.

“Oh, yeah.”

That’s when he’d told her to write everything down as soon as she woke up. He’d told her about Prometheus and his prophecy about Metis and Zeus’s son. He’d told her about Uranus taking over Aether’s body and nearly swallowing Uncle Hip. He’d told her about Apollo’s vision of her and her brother—all things she’d already known. But then he’d said that Zeus wanted to kill her and Hermie!

She ran back to her brother’s room. “What the truck are we gonna do?”

Hermie dropped his pen and rubbed his head. “Let’s go back to sleep and ask Mom and Dad when we wake up.”

“Go back to sleep? You’re crazy! We need to figure this out now!”

***

 

Hypnos disintegrated and dispatched to the Fields of Asphodel to confront his son. He’d tried to reach out to him telepathically, but hadn’t gotten a reply and wasn’t sure whether Morpheus was ignoring him or unable to hear him.

Even though slumber was Hip’s primary duty, requiring him to fly around the globe day in and day out, he oversaw the Dreamworld, too—not because he didn’t think Morpheus could handle it, but because he worried about his safety. Zeus and the others knew Morpheus was close to Than’s twins, and Hip feared Zeus had spies who manipulated Morpheus in their dreams, where they collected their intel. What was worse, Morpheus collected intel of his own while he visited the dreams of the other gods. Hip had caught him doing it on more than one occasion.

He would much rather be with Jen during one of her few off-duty moments for a little roll in the hay or playing Night Frisbee with Morpheus, Ariadne, and Asterion than delivering a scolding; but, tensions were high now that Zeus was hot on Metis’s trail.

Morpheus lay among the flowers, half on his belly and half on his side, his wings spread over him like a blanket. Although he wasn’t granted the ability to disintegrate outside of the Dreamworld, he was permitted a single godly form in addition to the one lying here.

Hypnos was constantly amazed by how much his son had grown and learned in the brief fifteen years since he’d been adopted. A mortal boy of four from Africa with no surviving family members, no possessions of his own—not even a name (everyone had called him Muggie, which meant tiny bug)—he had transformed more dramatically than any other being Hip knew. Morpheus was full grown and would probably keep his youthful appearance for many centuries to come. One couldn’t know for certain, since the gods aged at different rates, but most deities developed quickly at infancy and then aged so slowly, once they were fully grown, that they didn’t seem to age at all.

Hip tapped his son’s shoulder. “Tell me where you are. We need to talk.”

Half asleep with hooded eyes, the boy said, “With Iris. Rainbow.”

“Where?”

Morpheus closed his eyes and shrugged.

Frustrated, Hip lay down beside his son, closed his eyes, and sought him out in the Dreamworld.

***

 

Her golden wings were smaller than his silver ones, but Iris was still faster than Morpheus. Maybe it had something to do with how small she was. Not quite three feet tall, she was nearly half his size. As Morpheus chased Iris up the rainbow, he was dimly aware of his father calling out to him over by the Gates of Horn.

“Where in the Upperworld are you?” his father cried out. “We need to talk!”

Iris giggled and flew up to the clouds with her full pitcher. Morpheus jumped up into the bright sky after her, making note of the land below.

It was the Amazon rainforest. Was that Venezuela below? Morpheus was still learning his geography.

“I’m in the sky above what I think is Venezuela,” he said to his father at the Gates of Horn.

Instantly, his father was in the sky beside him.

Iris glanced down at Morpheus from where she was pouring her pitcher into the clouds.

“I’ll come right back!” he called up to her. “And when I do, you better tell me the name of that flower. I mean it!”

Morpheus followed his father toward the forest, where they hovered out of earshot of Iris.

“What’s that all about?” his father asked him.

Morpheus blushed. He’d been after Iris all week to reveal the name of her favorite flower. He wanted to paint her a picture of it to keep in her room on Mount Olympus. He figured it would always remind her of him. “Nothing. What’s up?”

His father took his hand, and they god traveled to Morpheus’s room in the Underworld.

“You disobeyed me again,” his father said.

“Pops, I’m worried about them, that’s all.”

His father crossed his arms and scratched his chin. “You’re making it worse by interfering.”

“How? Shouldn’t Hermie and Hestie know they’re in danger? That Zeus wants to kill them?”

His father’s brows shot up. “What makes you say that?”

“I may have overheard you talking to Mom.”

“Zeus is not trying to kill them. Oh, Morpheus. What have you done?”

“What do you mean?” Morpheus was getting worried now.

“You heard something you didn’t understand, and now you’ve put the twins in danger.”

“If Zeus isn’t trying to kill them, why would they be in danger?”

“Don’t you think Hermie and Hestie are talking about this? Don’t you think Zeus will suspect them to be working with Prometheus, as Apollo predicted?”

Morpheus hadn’t thought of that. “Go put them back into the deep boon of sleep. I can fix this. I’ll tell them not to talk.”

“I’m trying. Hermie’s nearly out again, but Hestie is resisting me.”

Morpheus noticed his father’s face turn grim.

“Pops? What’s wrong?”

“Ares and his sons. They’ve just arrived at Than and Therese’s house. Come on!”