Sabrina (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nomorepaths) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} dunwichgame,@ 2024-03-17 15:09:00 |
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| Entry tags: | !log/thread/narrative, ∙ plot: 014 from the deep, ◌ inactive: percy jackson (au), ◌ inactive: sabrina spellman |
Backdated to March 15
Sabrina & Percy
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Dreams| ⚠ sea gods
Sabrina had been avoiding dreaming since the Deep One had cropped back up in January. She’d locked her mind down tight, not allowing anything to penetrate the walls that she’d erected. There were still glimpses of him on the outskirts of those walls, the persistent feeling of him lurking just behind her defenses waiting to push through an eventual crack. And now some Mistakes had episodes, locking them in nightmares and all they could remember was a dark, endless sea.
It could have been a coincidence. They had no clue what else was in Dunwich, no idea what the creatures in Todash space were all capable of doing. The Deep One wasn’t necessarily behind the attacks. But Natasha’s words kept ringing in Sabrina’s ears.
You're not going to want to hear this, but I think it's a threat. "We can get to your people, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Sabrina had never really believed in coincidences. Especially not in places like Dunwich.
So she had let down her defenses when she’d gone to sleep.
There was no plan, aside from maybe shouting at the sea god if he did show up, but Sabrina had never been the best at planning ahead.
Her dreamscape twisted as soon as she fell into it. No longer the sanctuary she had built for herself but a sandy beach. The lighthouse was behind her, its light shining out across the endless black sea. Her feet were bare as she sat down, far from where the tide was coming in. The white dress that she was currently wearing seemed like a very pointed addition to the dream. As were the shells woven through her hair.
She considered pulling up a volcano from the depths of the ocean and letting it ruin the landscape of the sea front, but even in dream form she was wary of utilizing that much power in Dunwich. Instead Sabrina sat and waited.
Percy had been restless ever since he and Sabrina had encountered the lobstrosities—and the mysterious woman’s voice—at the lighthouse. As a demigod he didn’t normally require much sleep, but since that incident he hadn’t managed to get in more than a few hours at a time. And even those hours had him twisting and turning in his sheets. At times he even thought he was awake, standing on the rocky banks of Black Score Lake or the cold sand of the sea, only to realize he was simply in a deeper state of slumber that mimicked reality. A nightmare within a nightmare.
That was how he’d missed so many notifications of people experiencing their own panicked dreams of the vast and endless ocean. Reading was already a challenge for his dyslexic mind, but with the added lack of sleep—Percy had found himself incapable of keeping up with everything that was going on.
And then there was the voice.
True to her word, she hadn’t left him. Percy still didn’t know her name or what her intentions were, but he knew she was aligned with the Deep One somehow. Whether that alliance was based on relation or power or some other dark agency, Percy had yet to determine. But he knew he couldn’t trust her. He had an instinctual feeling that she was just as dangerous as the being who plagued Sabrina’s thoughts. But what did she want? And why was she infiltrating his mind? Percy didn’t have an answer to any of his questions. And when he was awake he was too tired to solve them.
He opened his eyes and found himself standing calf deep in the sea. His feet were bare, the wet sand creeping between his toes. He was wearing a pair of board shorts that clashed against his bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. His hair was longer. It curled around his ears and brushed over his forehead with each passing sea breeze. The waves gently rolled against his legs. That horizontal rocking sensation might have elicited nausea in someone else, but it was a comfort to Percy. The only comfort he could find in his dreams.
The air was murky, the colors of the environment blurred and oozing like a Dali painting. When he saw the young woman in the white dress, he thought it was her and his reaction was both instinctual and intense.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” he yelled, the sand shifting beneath his feet with the sudden tremor of his dream voice.
Sabrina had narrowed her eyes as soon as the man had appeared in the ocean in front of her. This was how the Deep One had entered her dreams before, masquerading as someone else, hiding his true intentions from her before he’d drag her down into the deep and show her the bodies of her sacrificed coworkers. He’d always smiled then, mouth elongating to reveal rows and rows of teeth before she couldn’t fully look at him any longer. His true form brought about madness.
She’d been reaching out, ready to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her mind constantly reminding her about balance when the man had screamed at her. Like she was the problem.
Sabrina binked as the sand vibrated, tiny hermit crabs scattering away from the path between the two of them. She knew that voice, didn’t she? And not from home. The light from the lighthouse shifted, illuminating the patch of the sea the man was standing in.
“Percy?” Maybe. His hair was longer and the shirt he wore was hideous. “What the heaven are you doing in my dream?”
Sabrina didn’t move from her spot on the beach, unsure if this was another trick, a way to try and break down even more of her defenses. Though she was at a loss for why the Deep One would pick Percy.
The gleam from the lighthouse momentarily blinded Percy from seeing her clearly. He raised his forearm, shielding his eyes from the glare. Soon the landscape came into focus and he realized it wasn’t her—it wasn’t the sea goddess. At least, he didn’t think it was. But even in his dreams, Percy had found his concentration to be weakened, much like his waking body. He didn’t know what—or who—he could trust anymore.
He narrowed his eyes, staring cautiously at her from his perceived safety of the sea. The waters around Dunwich might have been the Deep One’s to control, but this was Percy’s dream. He had the power here. He had the ability to manipulate the ocean like his father. This was where he had strength.
Wasn’t it?
“Sabrina?” Percy was confused. “Your dream? This is my dream.”
At least, he thought it was. Percy had been in the dreams of others before. Not in Dunwich, but back home. He’d inadvertently wandered into the mind’s of his enemies, into the memories of the past, and the possibilities of the future. He’d found himself lost in the nightmares of the gods. It wasn’t unheard of that he might be able to do the same in this world.
But why Sabrina? And why now?
Suddenly the waves stopped. The ocean stilled. And the water that once reached his calves, sank to his ankles. There was no more movement against the shore. No ebb and flow. And the silence of that sudden cessation was deafening.
Percy stepped out of the water and onto the dry sand of the beach. He wasn’t wet. Not a single drop on him. Not even the sand stuck to his feet.
He slowly approached her. “You swear it’s you?”
Sabrina knew Percy was the child of Poseidon but it was still odd to watch him emerge from the water without being wet. Even if being able to do so made sense in her mind and she knew she could walk through fire without getting burned, seeing it play out was still a sight to behold and left part of her wondering if her imagination was on overdrive. Dreams made the impossible possible, the paths in them seemingly endless in ways reality usually couldn’t be. Dreamwalking wasn’t as startling a concept. She was able to do it as were plenty of witches in her world and a few others in Dunwich, but it was still a rarity.
No one else had done so since she’d arrived at least.
She pushed herself up as he stepped onto the shoreline. The sudden stillness was unnerving and Sabrina found herself missing the cacophony of sounds the ocean created until his words broke the silence.
“I swear.” They weren’t words she used lightly. Not when there was magic intertwined when she did so.
The starless sky she’d first found was slowly giving way to colors, oranges stretching out into yellows as the sun slowly began to rise, illuminating and darknening the sea behind him in equal measure. “I was expecting to see the Deep One. Not you.”
“I thought you were her,” Percy said. “The sea goddess who invaded my mind at the lighthouse.”
She still hadn’t told Percy her name, but he’d picked up enough slips and hints in the things she’d said and the places she’d showed him in his dreams to know that, like the Deep One, she had a connection to the ocean. And while he didn’t think her connection was necessarily Dunwich sea specific, he’d found himself lumping her in the same category as Sabrina’s watery stalker.
The main difference was that the goddess hadn’t told Percy what she wanted. Not yet, anyway. Which made him wonder if she was just trying to distract him. Or possibly wear him down so he wouldn’t be helpful if a battle broke out against the Deep One.
“She’s been entering my dreams. Ever since the lighthouse I haven’t really been sleeping. Even when I do fall asleep, it’s like this. My mind stays active and I wake up feeling like I’ve been swimming in circles all night.” He tucked a chunk of curls behind his ear. “What about Nikolai? Is he still being attacked in his sleep? And you? Are you okay?”
Sabrina had hoped the sea goddess would fade away. It was a ridiculous hope and one she’d known had little chance of happening but she’d hoped all the same. Adding another god into the mix, one they knew even less about with an unknown agenda, only added to the chaos that had already been unfurling. She rubbed her fingers together as Percy talked about his dreams, trying to stave off the anxiety that had begun unfurling deep within.
Exhausting Percy felt tactical, like this new goddess didn’t want him at his best. He’d be a powerhouse in the water if they needed to take the fight there but the chances for mistakes increased with each fitful night. The Deep one had done similar to her back in October, leaving her vulnerable to Alice Marsh knocking her out.
“Nikolai is still having dreams but not like this.But others--I don’t know if you saw the posts?” Not everyone checked the network like she needed to for MIST. “There was an incident with a couple Mistakes. They were unresponsive and floating while locked inside their own nightmares. All they could remember was an endless, dark sea. Nothingness.”
She threaded her fingers through her hair as she tore her gaze from the ocean, hissing as one of the shells sliced her finger. Sabrina tore it from her hair and tossed it hard at the sea.
“Oh come on,” she groaned as she spotted the line of lobstrosities that were moving out of it and toward the two. Hadn’t they dealt with enough of these guys at the lighthouse? They really didn’t need to be part of the dreamscape too. Their claws lifted into the air as the water behind them began to churn.
DUM-A-DEEP! DUM-A-DEEP! DUM-A-DEEP!
“I saw the talk about floating people, but I didn’t hear about the dreams. It has to be connected.” Right? Percy didn’t believe in coincidences. He was from a world where the stories of ancient mythology were true. Coincidences only seemed like coincidences to those unfamiliar with the patterns and rhetoric of the gods. There was always a plan. Always a method. Sea goddesses. The lighthouse. Dreams of the ocean. This all had to be part of the Deep One’s strategy.
But something must have been different. He wouldn’t dare attack the way he had before. And what else did he want?
Percy had a bad feeling that his revenge might entail more than just getting his beloved bride.
“I think we need to get everyone—”
Percy cut himself off at the familiar sound of the lobstrosities. He turned and watched as they marched out of the dream ocean, claws raised in attack mode, their rumbling chant filling the air. Percy’s instinct was to reach for Riptide. But this was a dream. This was real, but it wasn’t real. And his sword only existed in the waking realm.
“Damn,” he muttered. Over the ocean the sky turned a dark gray, lightning flashing in the distance. Percy winced, thinking of his uncle. He glanced over at Sabrina. “Please tell me you’ve been successful using magic in your dreams.”
The floating people had been cruel, reminding everyone who’d been around during Vecna of what had happened. Two people had died back then, one while floating. Having that happen again had reopened barely closed wounds for so many and retraumatized a lot of the community. It had to have been a purposeful choice for it to work that way.
The most Sabrina had done in her dreams against the Deep One before had been to pull herself out of them but he’d never sent anything to attack her before now. His had been all about manipulation, drawing her into a false sense of security before showing her his true intentions. But dreams were just another realm for Sabrina. What she could do in one, she could usually do in another and thankfully she’d had plenty of practice manipulating her dreams.
The lobstrosities continued their chanting as they marched forward, pinchers at the ready. Sabrina rose slightly into the air, her blonde hair flowing behind her because of the wind that had picked up across the waves. Lightning flashed across the sky, moving closer toward them as thunder rang out.
She waited until the first line of them was fully out of the water, away from the sea god’s grasp, and quickly spread her hands through the air, opening up a chasm for the first line of lobstrosities to plummet into. Hellfire sprang up through the chasm, rising high into the air to burn the next group that tried to come forth.
The sea swelled behind them, water churning as something began to rise.
Percy should have spent more time attempting to use his abilities in the dream world. In his own dreams he knew he could sometimes control the outcome of events, but was this his dream? Was it Sabrina’s? A combination of both? Or was this another world where the Deep One and his minions had control?
There was only one way to find out.
While Sabrina opened up a chasm that devoured the initial wave of lobstrosities, Percy used his demigod powers to pull a wave of water towards the shore. As it approached the beach, the water broke off into individual spear forms, hardening in the air just before slicing into the second line of lobstrosities, skewering them through their hard exoskeletons.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the rising churn of the ocean, spiraling upward.
“Is that you?” Percy called out to Sabrina, blasting another wave of saltwater spears towards the lobstrosities. Some of them blocked his efforts with their large claws, forming a barrier that allowed the faster lobstrosities to skitter through.
Another flash of lightning was followed by a deafening roar of thunder that shook the sand beneath their feet.
Sabrina’s concentration faltered as the earth shook beneath her. Even from a foot above it she could feel the reverberation of the thunder, taste the electricity in the air. The sea before them kept swirling higher, spiraling up into a cone. At least the lobstrosities stopped moving forward, their claws raised upward as they continued on with their chant.
A monolith broke through the swelling water, towering over the nearby landmarks. The lighthouse light swept by it, revealing the symbol of the Deep One etched along it, spiralling downward. It was the large hand that followed it up, that shook Sabrina to her core. Its nails dug into the stone, nearly blending in with the darkening sea as it continued to swell.
This was the form that had driven the other Mistakes mad, screwing with their senses in ways she knew still affected a few of them even now. She wasn’t sure how it would affect her or Percy inside the dream.
She averted her gaze as the Deep One’s head broke through the surface and reached over for Percy, hoping he was doing similar. “I’m going to try and knock us awake, okay?”
Sabrina didn’t want to stick around to hear whatever the god had to say.
“What in the name of…”
But Percy didn’t get the chance to finish the colorful, and no doubt slightly juvenile, colloquialism that came to him as he watched the twisting waves give way to a towering monolith. His arms fell slack at his sides in shock, fingers itching to reach into his pocket for Riptide, but knowing full well that it wasn’t there.
The air swooped around them as the ground trembled, sand jumping like gnats against his bare feet. It was incredibly loud. Like standing in front of a giant wind turbine; a din of chaotic waves and cracking thunder. And beneath it the rhythmic chanting of the lobstrosities.
Ded-a-Deep! Did-a-Deep! Dum-a-Deep!
DUM-A-DEEP!
DUM-A-DEEP!
It was almost hypnotizing.
Almost.
Percy’s slack-jawed gaze was broken by the sound of Sabrina’s voice. She was looking away.
The Deep One rose out of the depths like a mythological beast about to swallow the earth. For some reason he was reminded of his first encounter with Medusa. A conflict between the mind’s eager curiosity to stare and the body’s instinctual terror to flee.
Look away! LOOK AWAY!
He turned towards Sabrina and clenched his eyes shut. “Do it fast!”
She could hear the beginning of her name coming from its mouth as the wind picked up speed. The chanting grew louder, sea spray hitting like tiny pricks of ice slicing into her skin. Sabrina ignored the pain, focused her mind on pushing at the confines of the dream that were keeping the two of them rooted in place.
Her vision shifted as she reached forward and yanked at the threads of magic woven through the dreamscape. They broke easily, dropping like bits of ash over the landscape as the Deep One roared.
Grabbing hold of Percy, she yanked the two of them backward, letting them free fall into the abyss that lay between the waking world and the dream. Tendrils of water pushed toward them, trying to yank them back upward, but the shadows closed in, enveloping the two of them in their nothingness.
Sabrina gasped as she bolted upright in bed. The seashells were still woven through her hair, white dress clinging to her body. Fuck.
She needed to call Percy. Make sure he was alright. Inform Julia and Natasha of this new development.
After she caught her breath.
It could have been a coincidence. They had no clue what else was in Dunwich, no idea what the creatures in Todash space were all capable of doing. The Deep One wasn’t necessarily behind the attacks. But Natasha’s words kept ringing in Sabrina’s ears.
You're not going to want to hear this, but I think it's a threat. "We can get to your people, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Sabrina had never really believed in coincidences. Especially not in places like Dunwich.
So she had let down her defenses when she’d gone to sleep.
There was no plan, aside from maybe shouting at the sea god if he did show up, but Sabrina had never been the best at planning ahead.
Her dreamscape twisted as soon as she fell into it. No longer the sanctuary she had built for herself but a sandy beach. The lighthouse was behind her, its light shining out across the endless black sea. Her feet were bare as she sat down, far from where the tide was coming in. The white dress that she was currently wearing seemed like a very pointed addition to the dream. As were the shells woven through her hair.
She considered pulling up a volcano from the depths of the ocean and letting it ruin the landscape of the sea front, but even in dream form she was wary of utilizing that much power in Dunwich. Instead Sabrina sat and waited.
Percy had been restless ever since he and Sabrina had encountered the lobstrosities—and the mysterious woman’s voice—at the lighthouse. As a demigod he didn’t normally require much sleep, but since that incident he hadn’t managed to get in more than a few hours at a time. And even those hours had him twisting and turning in his sheets. At times he even thought he was awake, standing on the rocky banks of Black Score Lake or the cold sand of the sea, only to realize he was simply in a deeper state of slumber that mimicked reality. A nightmare within a nightmare.
That was how he’d missed so many notifications of people experiencing their own panicked dreams of the vast and endless ocean. Reading was already a challenge for his dyslexic mind, but with the added lack of sleep—Percy had found himself incapable of keeping up with everything that was going on.
And then there was the voice.
True to her word, she hadn’t left him. Percy still didn’t know her name or what her intentions were, but he knew she was aligned with the Deep One somehow. Whether that alliance was based on relation or power or some other dark agency, Percy had yet to determine. But he knew he couldn’t trust her. He had an instinctual feeling that she was just as dangerous as the being who plagued Sabrina’s thoughts. But what did she want? And why was she infiltrating his mind? Percy didn’t have an answer to any of his questions. And when he was awake he was too tired to solve them.
He opened his eyes and found himself standing calf deep in the sea. His feet were bare, the wet sand creeping between his toes. He was wearing a pair of board shorts that clashed against his bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. His hair was longer. It curled around his ears and brushed over his forehead with each passing sea breeze. The waves gently rolled against his legs. That horizontal rocking sensation might have elicited nausea in someone else, but it was a comfort to Percy. The only comfort he could find in his dreams.
The air was murky, the colors of the environment blurred and oozing like a Dali painting. When he saw the young woman in the white dress, he thought it was her and his reaction was both instinctual and intense.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” he yelled, the sand shifting beneath his feet with the sudden tremor of his dream voice.
Sabrina had narrowed her eyes as soon as the man had appeared in the ocean in front of her. This was how the Deep One had entered her dreams before, masquerading as someone else, hiding his true intentions from her before he’d drag her down into the deep and show her the bodies of her sacrificed coworkers. He’d always smiled then, mouth elongating to reveal rows and rows of teeth before she couldn’t fully look at him any longer. His true form brought about madness.
She’d been reaching out, ready to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her mind constantly reminding her about balance when the man had screamed at her. Like she was the problem.
Sabrina binked as the sand vibrated, tiny hermit crabs scattering away from the path between the two of them. She knew that voice, didn’t she? And not from home. The light from the lighthouse shifted, illuminating the patch of the sea the man was standing in.
“Percy?” Maybe. His hair was longer and the shirt he wore was hideous. “What the heaven are you doing in my dream?”
Sabrina didn’t move from her spot on the beach, unsure if this was another trick, a way to try and break down even more of her defenses. Though she was at a loss for why the Deep One would pick Percy.
The gleam from the lighthouse momentarily blinded Percy from seeing her clearly. He raised his forearm, shielding his eyes from the glare. Soon the landscape came into focus and he realized it wasn’t her—it wasn’t the sea goddess. At least, he didn’t think it was. But even in his dreams, Percy had found his concentration to be weakened, much like his waking body. He didn’t know what—or who—he could trust anymore.
He narrowed his eyes, staring cautiously at her from his perceived safety of the sea. The waters around Dunwich might have been the Deep One’s to control, but this was Percy’s dream. He had the power here. He had the ability to manipulate the ocean like his father. This was where he had strength.
Wasn’t it?
“Sabrina?” Percy was confused. “Your dream? This is my dream.”
At least, he thought it was. Percy had been in the dreams of others before. Not in Dunwich, but back home. He’d inadvertently wandered into the mind’s of his enemies, into the memories of the past, and the possibilities of the future. He’d found himself lost in the nightmares of the gods. It wasn’t unheard of that he might be able to do the same in this world.
But why Sabrina? And why now?
Suddenly the waves stopped. The ocean stilled. And the water that once reached his calves, sank to his ankles. There was no more movement against the shore. No ebb and flow. And the silence of that sudden cessation was deafening.
Percy stepped out of the water and onto the dry sand of the beach. He wasn’t wet. Not a single drop on him. Not even the sand stuck to his feet.
He slowly approached her. “You swear it’s you?”
Sabrina knew Percy was the child of Poseidon but it was still odd to watch him emerge from the water without being wet. Even if being able to do so made sense in her mind and she knew she could walk through fire without getting burned, seeing it play out was still a sight to behold and left part of her wondering if her imagination was on overdrive. Dreams made the impossible possible, the paths in them seemingly endless in ways reality usually couldn’t be. Dreamwalking wasn’t as startling a concept. She was able to do it as were plenty of witches in her world and a few others in Dunwich, but it was still a rarity.
No one else had done so since she’d arrived at least.
She pushed herself up as he stepped onto the shoreline. The sudden stillness was unnerving and Sabrina found herself missing the cacophony of sounds the ocean created until his words broke the silence.
“I swear.” They weren’t words she used lightly. Not when there was magic intertwined when she did so.
The starless sky she’d first found was slowly giving way to colors, oranges stretching out into yellows as the sun slowly began to rise, illuminating and darknening the sea behind him in equal measure. “I was expecting to see the Deep One. Not you.”
“I thought you were her,” Percy said. “The sea goddess who invaded my mind at the lighthouse.”
She still hadn’t told Percy her name, but he’d picked up enough slips and hints in the things she’d said and the places she’d showed him in his dreams to know that, like the Deep One, she had a connection to the ocean. And while he didn’t think her connection was necessarily Dunwich sea specific, he’d found himself lumping her in the same category as Sabrina’s watery stalker.
The main difference was that the goddess hadn’t told Percy what she wanted. Not yet, anyway. Which made him wonder if she was just trying to distract him. Or possibly wear him down so he wouldn’t be helpful if a battle broke out against the Deep One.
“She’s been entering my dreams. Ever since the lighthouse I haven’t really been sleeping. Even when I do fall asleep, it’s like this. My mind stays active and I wake up feeling like I’ve been swimming in circles all night.” He tucked a chunk of curls behind his ear. “What about Nikolai? Is he still being attacked in his sleep? And you? Are you okay?”
Sabrina had hoped the sea goddess would fade away. It was a ridiculous hope and one she’d known had little chance of happening but she’d hoped all the same. Adding another god into the mix, one they knew even less about with an unknown agenda, only added to the chaos that had already been unfurling. She rubbed her fingers together as Percy talked about his dreams, trying to stave off the anxiety that had begun unfurling deep within.
Exhausting Percy felt tactical, like this new goddess didn’t want him at his best. He’d be a powerhouse in the water if they needed to take the fight there but the chances for mistakes increased with each fitful night. The Deep one had done similar to her back in October, leaving her vulnerable to Alice Marsh knocking her out.
“Nikolai is still having dreams but not like this.But others--I don’t know if you saw the posts?” Not everyone checked the network like she needed to for MIST. “There was an incident with a couple Mistakes. They were unresponsive and floating while locked inside their own nightmares. All they could remember was an endless, dark sea. Nothingness.”
She threaded her fingers through her hair as she tore her gaze from the ocean, hissing as one of the shells sliced her finger. Sabrina tore it from her hair and tossed it hard at the sea.
“Oh come on,” she groaned as she spotted the line of lobstrosities that were moving out of it and toward the two. Hadn’t they dealt with enough of these guys at the lighthouse? They really didn’t need to be part of the dreamscape too. Their claws lifted into the air as the water behind them began to churn.
DUM-A-DEEP! DUM-A-DEEP! DUM-A-DEEP!
“I saw the talk about floating people, but I didn’t hear about the dreams. It has to be connected.” Right? Percy didn’t believe in coincidences. He was from a world where the stories of ancient mythology were true. Coincidences only seemed like coincidences to those unfamiliar with the patterns and rhetoric of the gods. There was always a plan. Always a method. Sea goddesses. The lighthouse. Dreams of the ocean. This all had to be part of the Deep One’s strategy.
But something must have been different. He wouldn’t dare attack the way he had before. And what else did he want?
Percy had a bad feeling that his revenge might entail more than just getting his beloved bride.
“I think we need to get everyone—”
Percy cut himself off at the familiar sound of the lobstrosities. He turned and watched as they marched out of the dream ocean, claws raised in attack mode, their rumbling chant filling the air. Percy’s instinct was to reach for Riptide. But this was a dream. This was real, but it wasn’t real. And his sword only existed in the waking realm.
“Damn,” he muttered. Over the ocean the sky turned a dark gray, lightning flashing in the distance. Percy winced, thinking of his uncle. He glanced over at Sabrina. “Please tell me you’ve been successful using magic in your dreams.”
The floating people had been cruel, reminding everyone who’d been around during Vecna of what had happened. Two people had died back then, one while floating. Having that happen again had reopened barely closed wounds for so many and retraumatized a lot of the community. It had to have been a purposeful choice for it to work that way.
The most Sabrina had done in her dreams against the Deep One before had been to pull herself out of them but he’d never sent anything to attack her before now. His had been all about manipulation, drawing her into a false sense of security before showing her his true intentions. But dreams were just another realm for Sabrina. What she could do in one, she could usually do in another and thankfully she’d had plenty of practice manipulating her dreams.
The lobstrosities continued their chanting as they marched forward, pinchers at the ready. Sabrina rose slightly into the air, her blonde hair flowing behind her because of the wind that had picked up across the waves. Lightning flashed across the sky, moving closer toward them as thunder rang out.
She waited until the first line of them was fully out of the water, away from the sea god’s grasp, and quickly spread her hands through the air, opening up a chasm for the first line of lobstrosities to plummet into. Hellfire sprang up through the chasm, rising high into the air to burn the next group that tried to come forth.
The sea swelled behind them, water churning as something began to rise.
Percy should have spent more time attempting to use his abilities in the dream world. In his own dreams he knew he could sometimes control the outcome of events, but was this his dream? Was it Sabrina’s? A combination of both? Or was this another world where the Deep One and his minions had control?
There was only one way to find out.
While Sabrina opened up a chasm that devoured the initial wave of lobstrosities, Percy used his demigod powers to pull a wave of water towards the shore. As it approached the beach, the water broke off into individual spear forms, hardening in the air just before slicing into the second line of lobstrosities, skewering them through their hard exoskeletons.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the rising churn of the ocean, spiraling upward.
“Is that you?” Percy called out to Sabrina, blasting another wave of saltwater spears towards the lobstrosities. Some of them blocked his efforts with their large claws, forming a barrier that allowed the faster lobstrosities to skitter through.
Another flash of lightning was followed by a deafening roar of thunder that shook the sand beneath their feet.
Sabrina’s concentration faltered as the earth shook beneath her. Even from a foot above it she could feel the reverberation of the thunder, taste the electricity in the air. The sea before them kept swirling higher, spiraling up into a cone. At least the lobstrosities stopped moving forward, their claws raised upward as they continued on with their chant.
A monolith broke through the swelling water, towering over the nearby landmarks. The lighthouse light swept by it, revealing the symbol of the Deep One etched along it, spiralling downward. It was the large hand that followed it up, that shook Sabrina to her core. Its nails dug into the stone, nearly blending in with the darkening sea as it continued to swell.
This was the form that had driven the other Mistakes mad, screwing with their senses in ways she knew still affected a few of them even now. She wasn’t sure how it would affect her or Percy inside the dream.
She averted her gaze as the Deep One’s head broke through the surface and reached over for Percy, hoping he was doing similar. “I’m going to try and knock us awake, okay?”
Sabrina didn’t want to stick around to hear whatever the god had to say.
“What in the name of…”
But Percy didn’t get the chance to finish the colorful, and no doubt slightly juvenile, colloquialism that came to him as he watched the twisting waves give way to a towering monolith. His arms fell slack at his sides in shock, fingers itching to reach into his pocket for Riptide, but knowing full well that it wasn’t there.
The air swooped around them as the ground trembled, sand jumping like gnats against his bare feet. It was incredibly loud. Like standing in front of a giant wind turbine; a din of chaotic waves and cracking thunder. And beneath it the rhythmic chanting of the lobstrosities.
Ded-a-Deep! Did-a-Deep! Dum-a-Deep!
DUM-A-DEEP!
DUM-A-DEEP!
It was almost hypnotizing.
Almost.
Percy’s slack-jawed gaze was broken by the sound of Sabrina’s voice. She was looking away.
The Deep One rose out of the depths like a mythological beast about to swallow the earth. For some reason he was reminded of his first encounter with Medusa. A conflict between the mind’s eager curiosity to stare and the body’s instinctual terror to flee.
Look away! LOOK AWAY!
He turned towards Sabrina and clenched his eyes shut. “Do it fast!”
She could hear the beginning of her name coming from its mouth as the wind picked up speed. The chanting grew louder, sea spray hitting like tiny pricks of ice slicing into her skin. Sabrina ignored the pain, focused her mind on pushing at the confines of the dream that were keeping the two of them rooted in place.
Her vision shifted as she reached forward and yanked at the threads of magic woven through the dreamscape. They broke easily, dropping like bits of ash over the landscape as the Deep One roared.
Grabbing hold of Percy, she yanked the two of them backward, letting them free fall into the abyss that lay between the waking world and the dream. Tendrils of water pushed toward them, trying to yank them back upward, but the shadows closed in, enveloping the two of them in their nothingness.
Sabrina gasped as she bolted upright in bed. The seashells were still woven through her hair, white dress clinging to her body. Fuck.
She needed to call Percy. Make sure he was alright. Inform Julia and Natasha of this new development.
After she caught her breath.